How to Play Stellaris 2.7 - Exploration & Expansion

[@TemplinInstitute]

*takes notes furiously*

[@cnlbenmc]

You should have listened more carefully to Aspec's advice Before the GTU campaign, would have resulted in fewer headaches.

[@MooShaka89]

I

[@davecrupel2817]

Tf are you doing here? :D Welcome!

[@twoscarabsintheswarm9055]

Ayo it's you

[@GertMcBert]

You should have seen me watching Dwarf Fortress tutorials. Almost filled a notebook.

[@melfice999]

In all my times playing Stellaris, I've not noticed that there was an ability to tell fleets to try to avoid systems.

[@mikaelhans4861]

I found that function when looking for another function

[@Snoogen11]

@@mikaelhans4861 What function were you looking for?

[@mikaelhans4861]

@@Snoogen11 create new sector, i had previously used it but my brain went full idiot and completely forgot where the button was

[@Baalsfeuer]

Over 400 hours and I didnt know that too.

[@alan6685]

100 hours in and this is new to me too. It would be helpful to have an in-game tutorial. Although Aspec has been a huge help. Thanks.

[@Roberto577_One]

Lmao, I heard him say "We're 15 years into the game" and I was so shocked I checked the release date on Steam. I'm an idiot...

[@Peanutcat]

It took me 2 solid minutes to even realize what you were saying here.

[@maxedout1046]

Dude this should be a meme

[@gallendugall8913]

The world of "Like and Subscribe" is better known than its sister world "Comments Improve Metrics"

[@REDACTED_Wolf]

Don’t forget the moons “Algorithm” and “Recommendations”

[@destrik4115]

THE CTRL SHIFT WILL CHANGE MY LIFE

[@EdricLysharae]

CTRL! CTRL! You must learn CTRL!

[@Vodius]

The way you slipped in "Like and Subscribe" has got to be the most clever I've ever seen. Rather than being annoyed by hearing it I was so pleasantly surprised. Granted, I couldn't do anything with it since I had already liked the video and was already subscribed, but still...bravo.

[@agarab852]

I just got Stellaris a few days ago and searched for tutorials for how to play. Absolutely perfect timing for you to upload this series. I have played a lot of HOI4 and wanted something more unique than WWII over and over again. This game is exactly what I was looking for and with your videos, I have been able to skip some the first 100 hours that it usually takes me to figure out how to play these strategies games. Thank you!

[@Raber-nf5bw]

I just want an update that makes my enemies surrender once I take all their planets

[@thiccthunderx912]

I like it this way though. It’s realistic, as much as it seems otherwise. There are a few examples of governments being displaced during war without surrendering. The best example I can think of is France during world war 2. As far as I know, they never actually surrendered, but rather set up a temporary central government in England.

[@bkane573]

@@thiccthunderx912 France totally surrendered. The ex-pat government was illegal. Unlike say, Denmark, which fled and had a legitimate government in exile. France should have been removed from the world for their betrayal of the allies in WWII. Read Sir Winston Churchill’s history of the 2nd world war, or Manchester’s The Last Lion. The British actually had to sink the French fleet, the 2nd most powerful in the world. The French empire was also the 2nd largest. Had France actually kept fighting in exile, many tragedies. Like the starving in India, might have been avoided, or at least limited.

[@jonathanbauer2988]

@@bkane573 Wait legit can you tell me more about this I want to learn more this is some dope history I havent heard of. Where can I learn more about this?

[@andthusitis3178]

@@jonathanbauer2988 look up Mers El Kebir. France surrendered and refused to move their fleet out of German occupied territory despite the threat of the Germans taking their fleet and using it to invade Britain. So Britain was forced to destroy it

[@meoff7602]

@@andthusitis3178 France got steamed rolled over. They didn't have much choice. It was that or watch citizens get slaughtered on the streets.

[@Tom___1]

2:08 love the subtlety

[@Gringlish]

I've never managed to get into Stellaris despite trying a couple of times - until watching your first couple of tutorial videos that is. Enjoying the game and at least have a basic clue as to what I'm doing and how stuff works. Great job, keep it up!

[@ravenwiley9918]

I play quite a bit but watching you play this tutorial helps out in a lot of little ways, never knew you could prioritize jobs, the control shift thing! And changing your planets specialty...... i looked and looked and decided that it must be ai controled,thank you this helps a lot.

[@robertkitchen3487]

Thanks so much for making these videos! I just started the game a few days ago and was completely lost...even after doing what I thought was a ton of research. You break it down in a way that makes sense and is easy to follow!

[@hhuntteri]

I picked this game up yesterday, its already growing on me. The customizable class creator makes it fun to dump time into your novel playthrough

[@WastelandDrifter101]

You're a blessing. Thank you so much

[@Le-Coup-de-la-Panne]

Exactly the tutorials Stellaris needed. Thanks !

[@JDBlack3347]

Learning more with each video, thanks ASpec!

[@DJMightyChip]

Dude, I cannot get enough of your videos on Stellaris. Even as an experienced player, I always learn something new from you.

[@UnlimitedFlyers]

ASpec, I am the liaison of a friendly neighborbood Machine Empire that just wants to establish a foothold in a sizable corner of the Galaxy long enough to evolve to become part of the fabric of Reality itself. Yet, hippie space lizards keep trying to humiliate them, and they said they don't build fleets unless they are HELLBENT ON ERADICATING ALL ORGANIC LIFEFORMS. *Would you kindly* do a video explaining how to go on Offensive and Defensive Wars and SUBJUGATING ALL WHO OPPOSE US? ... pretty please? 😎

[@ferros8215]

"We have discovered a new alien empire, which is a Devouring Swarm, ok folks time to bring out the big stick..." Don't actually know if Devouring Swarms are in the base game.

[@elvimartinez5629]

yes they are and they are really dangerous if they are

[@SirFelyne]

Hell yeah, thanks for these videos!

[@macbeth2354]

Well, this goes to show that even after 2-3 years of watching YT videos on this game and actually playing it, there's still things to learn. Basic things, not brought by expansions or new iterations of the game.

[@aerdyn3635]

Amazing video, thanks for helping me start this game. Btw, I honestly think "Lets put it that way." Should be your catch phrase or slogan at this point dude. hahaa.

[@Crafty420]

Sometimes it feels like learning a paradox game is learning an entirely new skill. Wanna play crusader kings? Learn the piano! Wanna play stelarris? Learn to draw!

[@DanksterPaws]

Imo crusader kings is significantly less c9mplex

[@Reddude24]

Just started this game and am mostly liking it so far. Little complicated, but with experience comes power!

[@singularitysquaredllc.895]

If this game is as much fun playing it, as it is watching it, I'm going to have a ball... thanx. Getting it is on my todo list for tomorrow.

[@Lehmuska]

You briefly touched on amenities. Even though it's a bit too soon for this, it'd be great to see a video on planet management down the line when you've got a couple more populated planets. What to build on planets, why you should specialize your planets good and what to specialize a planet in, how amenities, happiness and stability tie together and why habitability matters. And lastly, how to avoid massive unemployment due to all of your planets, ring worlds and habitats being overcrowded.

[@MartyMonstah]

It took me way longer than it should have, to understand the naming of your new colony "Like and Subscribe"

[@johnwhalen7579]

Populations and planets... that’s what took me down in my campaign that I tried. They got so out of control! Riots everywhere. Not enough jobs, not enough specialists. Man that’s where I need to improve

[@VulpesChama]

Make them slaves, create ridiculously large garrisons. Like for real, this game has brought the ultimate authoritarian god emperor out of me. - But, that was my struggling point in the beginning as well. It gets almost completely negated with certain playstyles (going psionic creates a very stable population. Trust the Psi-Corps.) Especially as I tend to go imperial, I usually start any planet with administration, precinct and a fortress (if able to afford that), also usually either not enslave the first non-space faring (I always invade their planets. Their pops are way too precious to not take them over) species and make it a residence species, so that it a) boosts pop output and b) can take over certain jobs so other species can be controlled without spreading my main species too thin. I also go for "Indentured Servitude" for all slave pops (except space roaches. Space roaches must be purged), it allows them to take over specialists jobs. (Including security jobs, funny enough) - This also allows for massive resettlement if necessary. I spend a lot of time switching pops around. I also always go for an Ecumenopolis and Ringworlds as they can solve overpopulation proplems. (I don't allow species, except my main species to migrate on their own. It's a tedious level of control, but a rather necessary one) And as soon as possible Thrall Worlds, which is bound to be a slaver, but it increases stability further (I never bother with housing too much on them, and focus more on stability and basic ressource output) - In addition to all of that, even as spiritualists I go for Robot assembly, but I dismantle the Robot Assembly Plant as soon as the population of a planet reaches 75. (It is kinda important to take them away, as they a) would produce robots endlessly which creates a lack of jobs as the robots tend to take over the jobs and b) the robots need energy. It ain't a problem after some years, but it is an unnecessary cost)

[@Murph_.]

Subscribed. Great videos, and love your accent.

[@derekmensah-kane3728]

These tutorials are on point! Interesting, informative and engaging. I played while watching and listening and it helped me no end. Keep up the awesome work!

[@Vollser]

21:08 I have played this game for 4 years and I never click on this button. Now I know that I can change the planetary designation. Thank you for this tutorial

[@Pkroc138]

Thanks, very useful. I'm waiting for the next video!!!

[@obanvar1]

Excellent tutorial! makes newbies like me actually like Stellaris even more!

[@stephenmcorby]

I think you may have misspoke about the "specialist jobs" around the 10:15 mark. Pops won't grow into those jobs... they'll automatically move into them if whatever you have prioritized down below is full and they have the capacity to do so. In other words, creating lots of specialist jobs can ruin your base economy if you don't carefully manage it.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Thanks for guides! I seem to be mainly struggling with pop though. My system had so few decent planets but only just getting third and fourth planet colonies set up after a while. But my other two colonies I can’t seem to get the pop growth up, they seem very slow and stagnant. But not sure how best to increase this growth rate. I got minerals pouring out of my ears but nothing to spend it on.

[@D_Giffy]

The humans met the Vulcans this episode lol. Also I had no idea you could set more than one envoy to the same task

[@bcordone]

31:00 why didn't the new ship effect your naval capacity? It was a cruiser, but your naval capacity didn't budge from 3/20? You mentioned earlier cruisers are worth 4 fleet capacity.

[@nairobi8056]

Not a new player. But I realized that I still have a lot to learn.

[@rendigmor]

never seen one of his videos this early...great work by the way

[@warthundercanblunder850]

The best way to expand is be a fanatic purifier cos of the starbase cost and the pop growth and militarist for the claim cost reduction and the first acention perk should be interstellar dominion cos then starbases cost 22 influence

[@wezbox327]

These are so helpful cheers.

[@oscarredfearn3492]

Now this is epic

[@sammikinsderp]

Thank you very much, this was helpful

[@davidurban528]

You know, you could say "To boldly go where no one has gone before" instead of "where no man has gone before", then you quote Captain Picard instead of Captain Kirk and safe yourself from having to say "or woman" all the time!

[@paulschumacher4308]

Also, Picard is more awesome than Kirk.

[@SargR]

Imagine imagining Only nerds imagine, imagine that

[@noahshomeforstrangeandeduc4431]

SargR wait

[@liikerirl8971]

oh wow.. I always just saved my influence to be able to hoard as much space as possible

[@dylanbrown5087]

As a new console player, idk how you have so many star ports so fast. I have a cap of 3 as of now

[@alphariusfuze8089]

I had play with too much mods that I almost forgot how small the vanilla building slots had

[@SomeOne-nf9ir]

Hey Aspec? Gigastructures is at it again... There is now a ship the size of a solar system...

[@lebowski1947]

I wish there was numbers on guide videos. I cant figure which video is next... I like your videos. i just installed game and watching your videos to learn the game.

[@AaronCorr]

There is a playlist on his channel in order

[@lebowski1947]

@@AaronCorr thank you

[@briancraword409]

my head is about to explode , thanks man.

[@MovieBG]

Great way to teach the mechanics. Thank you! Will there be a new episide?

[@DerBeppone]

Come to think of it. Which galaxy size would you recommend actually?

[@A_Spec]

Medium

[@makrinthor]

hello, i love your tutorials, but one question: why put a shock node in Athyr and not in Howoz ???

[@kereminde]

So I might be missing something but... what is the benefit of manually setting the version of world which is going on instead of letting the designation happen instead from what you build there?

[@wjmackenzie955]

Good strat... but its also all highly dependant on map setup. If you are playing in a crowded galaxy, if you dont have your core constelation claimed by year 10.... good luck.... My last playthru, I ahready had 3 neighbors talking with me in the same space as your exploration ship had with big empty sapce, and that was by year 5, with the closest one having their homeworld 4 jumps from mine

[@vladimiravich7260]

26:18 I'm pretty sure the warrior space elves immediately closed their boarders after hearing the sound of thousands of Warhammer 40k Eldar fanboys collectively screaming with with glee.

[@c0horst]

> Encounters Cacodemons > BFG Division intensifies.

[@Rhukzy]

Pops are life? Last vid they where king.

[@darkstorminc]

You didn't mention the 50 percent malus to growth speed on new colonies as well.

[@Contevent]

I'm playing on PS4, and the rules aren't exactly the same. The Map The Stars edict isn't permanent, meaning that instead of holding back my science vessels until I had the Edict, doing exploration, I waited until I had the edict to go on a survey frenzy, not investigating a single anomaly. I have 3 ships exploring the 3 direction from which one can go to my homeworld, and one scooping up behind them. I just recently made first contact, not counting the independent space station, and I'm lucky enough to have them as federation builder. On the other hand, I have 2 leviathan not that far from me, roughly 8 jumps from my homeworld. The Edict is about to stop, so I'll switch to an investigation frenzy, coupled with just enough expansion to lock my system down. I'll wait until I have seen your video on Alien Relation before moving on. PS: I'm playing Xenophile, Fanatic Materialism, technocary/mechanist with bonus in science jobs. I chose the slow breeder trait, along with weak and another one, despite everyone telling me not to because it is a death sentence, but I love the idea of a race which population was so low they built robotic workers to compensate. Besides, I wonder if I can handle low habitability worlds by populating them with workers specialized in mineral production. I have only one actually good planet with my biome in the vicinity, which I like in a RP way. I'll how yo handle yours. PPS: my last trait is Venerable. I hate losing heroes :(. And I love the "Ancient, super intelligent race of space explorers" trope. And in order to be ancient, well it has to be long lived. I would have made a robot race, but I can't choose my Ethos, it's necessarily AI Something, which I don't like.

[@vvbr2372]

Aspec nest empire you create call it "like and subscribe" that'll be suble enough

[@picies2020]

I started yesterday thinking meh... how hard could it be.... 3 hours later... "you can build outposts, wtf, how do I do that?"

[@tommypiette2480]

I have a question! Can you give us tips on values scales? Like, is 2k food to much and it means i do something wrong? What decisions should we make regarding our ressources disponibility?

[@dylanbrown5087]

I dont see the trade/piracy video listed. As a new player just finding these, I feel like the playlist could be organized better

[@convictseahorse3799]

Hi. I'm new to stellaris and its SO helpful to find a detailed guide. I play on console and have been watching your vids and they are excellent. You explain things clearly and in a way that's easy to understand. Thank you very much for the effort and time you put In. Its much appreciated. I have a question and sorry if its been covered already. I'm playing as a fanatic materialist/egalitarian and am reaching the point where I'm getting over population. No jobs or housing left on a couple of planets. As an egalitarian I'm unable to force resettlement, or curb pop growth without upsetting factions. I realize I could just do this regardless and it wouldn't be a major issue but it seems to defeat the purpose of playing egalitarian if I'm gonna force pops to do things. I switched to utopian ubandance but my Consumer goods went through the roof! My question is do you have any other advice to combat this? Am I meant to be allocating entire plants to making strictly consumer goods factories to keep up? Sorry if its abit of a noob question. I'm still learning lol

[@Laharal55]

''Plays and hairdressers'' Aspec really gets his crowd :)

[@florianhoffken126]

What are the littel signs near the systems

[@DJGots]

Question about the anomality trait on scientists: Does it work on all scientists if you have just the one? So you have the edict plus the trait and it would stack on all scientists? Otherwise it would seem I have to survey every system with that 1 scientist specifically. Atleast thats what I assumed, so it would make my life much easier. Also I guess it doesnt stack, so having 2 scientists with that trait doesnt do anything? Or is it just to speed up the surveying that you use multiple?

[@jasper4331]

Awesome tutorial video's, thanks a lot! I was wondering something though. You waited for Map the stars with surveying the close systems. Then you recruited a scientist with +10 anomaly chance. But then you also started surveying those systems with a scientist who does NOT have the Anomoly +10 chance. Is that bonus factionwide then or something? I thought its only that THAT science ship then? But then you'd only let that ship survey the nearby systems right?.. EDIT: In the later videos it seems like you do do the surveys only with the meticulous one so I guess that question is answered ^^

[@salmonaco3479]

How do you queue your science ship routes ?

[@Rebius]

What I still don't understand though, why are you sending science ships to survey the same systems?

[@antred11]

Because they do it faster that way. They split up the planetary bodies to survey between them, needing less time to complete the job.

[@michailshatkus9250]

Why dont you put maniac researcher to do physics research? Cause they level up better doing surveying?

[@RealLife1971]

I’m not seeing the button to restrict your boarders... is there something I need to do before that?

[@mikeschmidt9298]

Thank you!

[@A_Spec]

You're welcome!

[@bc64100]

is there any way you can play with no alien in the game i never have or will believe in alien just try to play the game my way solo

[@Dazzle343]

Coming back after a long time. What is the deal these days with sector and planet automation? Seems when set to auto develop even when in a sector with a governor it does nothing?

[@johnfink6073]

How do you know if a race is a fallen empire?

[@TewbBelrog]

New player here from the humbun, not exactly a fan of the playstyle that anomalies presents. Far exploration and hirescumming seems like highly unintuitive measures to maximize empire potential and I'm kinda tempted to restart my save knowing I'm missing out on what might be bonus 20% resources in my early systems.

[@bc3909]

Are there going to be ship design? I used the last ship designer videos.

[@canthurtcr8t503]

Assist research...? I never know that. I always scrap most of my science ship after finishing exploration

[@kawatika]

How does he hide the orbital lines in systems?

[@Daralyndk]

So you mentioned it in first video I believe, so this in time changes into new let's play?

[@Darthpathfinder]

I just noticed you put your two starbases on the wrong choke points. The one on the right could have gone one system forward and the one on the left could have gone two systems forward.

[@hughgeoghegan1042]

Yep, and maybe it's because I play at lower difficulties, but I always try to push out a bit further for my chokepoints in the early game

[@לאונידחומיאנסקי]

I also tried salveging the giant ship from the gas giant but it failed. Why is that?!

[@A_Spec]

Because events can have different outcomes

[@Brandothegamer]

What would you suggest I do when my empire sprawl is significantly over its cap. Is there a way to increase the cap other than research and the administrative office?

[@micasa8421]

Wheres the 2.7 review ASpec

[@mealyaUrtem]

As a psychotic loving min maxing, the Athyr choke node should be move to Howoz :D

[@stephenmcorby]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@cubegaming2300]

[@AltimeFAILS]

what video r u gonna talk abt the game details when starting a game? I played for like 200 hrs and I still don't know what each slider does and stuff

[@macbeth2354]

That is unfortunately not a thing in this series, creating a custom empire becomes a thing (and makes sense) only after fully understanding what the basic features do. And now with origins, basic features (default empires) have become increasingly interesting again. It is a shame we don't get it in this video, but that would probably take a full series by itself and for the new player it would be a bit chaotic.

[@upirrr]

Aspec so, why carriers tech is important in early game? You kinda skipped the explanation part.

[@bkane573]

To keep pirates away. Even if you have the ameba tech you need it for star bases.

[@TrabberShir]

At 10:59 I cringed really hard. You had 2 science ships assisting research, one on a developing colony and the other on your capital with practically all your research production. So you take the one off your capital to do exploration cutting your research output by about 14% where using the other one would have cost nothing.

[@gufosufo337]

Oof

[@A_Spec]

Oof

[@mango4554]

“How dare you not play absolutely perfectly during a quick explanation of basic exploration and expansion mechanics1!1!1!1!”

[@OnlineKenji]

Oh man! Never knew about CTRL-SHIFT!! Thanks dude.

[@TemplarX2001]

the way it took me like 50 years to get to the point

[@realyoriginalchanel3218]

I knew I shouldn't overextend but I was in a very tense political situation and I needed a easily protectable borders from all sides

[@russell6270]

Yes!

[@hydranmenace]

This game gets patched and radically changed so often that its hard to keep up. I just picked Stellaris up during the summer sale. Are there any good recent and relevant tutorials on pop? In this game Aspec made a big deal about building the robots. I didn't build robot factories because I assumed it would lead to rampant unemployment which kills all sorts of other things. How do you deal with this? I was banging right along on my first attempt at gameplay then all of a sudden I was negative food, negative money, and negative minerals. I had had such a surplus I was selling it all off for the first couple hours playing. It was literally like a light switch flipped and everything was on fire. I don't even know why.

[@alvarob2443]

Downloaded tiny outliner and left a coment thanking you 🙏, any other mod to be aware?

[@Metroid1310]

I realize this comment's 2 months old, but if you haven't found them on your own, here's a few visual mods I like to use: - "Pinwheel Galaxy (Purple)" it makes the galaxy look really nice in the galaxy map instead of being just a gray blob broken up by stars - "Quadrant Fixed" adds circles at certain points to denote specific regions of the galaxy. doesn't affect gameplay, just aesthetic. could be useful for communicating in MP games - "Simple Leader Skill Icons" Makes the leader's level badge say the number of the leader's level instead of however it conveys it vanilla (i've played with it for so long I don't remember) - "Tier Numbers: Tech" Adds Tier numbers to the icons for a few techs that follow a strict progression system but don't have numbers in the base game (for example, shields, thrusters, or disruptors) None of the mods affect the game in any substantial way but I quite like all 4 of them.

[@alvarob2443]

@@Metroid1310 thanks mate, i will check it out tonight, im loving this game, even though i still dont know how to finish a match, but it was a great buy

[@kajetan9906]

I never been here so early

[@aloharay]

so you gained Map the Stars AND a scientist that has the increased chance of discovering anomolies, yet you still assign a different science ship to survey the nearby systems in your sector. Does this reduce your anomoly discovery chance? Wouldn't you want to have the science ship with the better scientist doing ALL your nearby surveying? Okay, 34:45 you redirect that second lesser science ship....