Early Game Stellaris in a Nutshell

[@s0ck06438]

this is amazing. I loved when the player joined the galactic community saying "this is a worthy endeavor... no its not nothing will ever get done" fucking perfection

[@philip8498]

Eh, the 20-40% tradevalue increase are worth it

[@darkest_eclipse8271]

@@philip8498 it’s always worth it for me when I play mega Corp, just means I get the rule the galaxy with only 5% of its territory!

[@badpiggies988]

Especially when a xenophile empire and its allies inevitably gain more diplomatic weight than you and your 1-2 fellow xenophobes if playing as a xenophobe and then start proposing resolutions that you’ll be in breach of by definition and can no longer nuke

[@wu1ming9shi]

It's actually been a while since I joined them last time. Now that I think about it.

[@philip8498]

@@badpiggies988 if you dont have more diplo weight than all other empires combined you arent playing efficient

[@marangod2347]

This is why I prefer to just turtle down as soon as it is feasable. Rapid expansion to the chokepoints, and then weather the storm. Knowing the game everyone will once again have the opposite of my ideology...

[@alexandererhard2516]

And then you just fortify your border, tech up and destroy every stupid AI empire that tried to attack your High Level Starbase and lost instead of teching up themselves. 😄

[@galacticbunny1205]

As a machine empire i once had 7/12 empires be spiritualists. my artificial life was pain

[@Mikalent]

@@galacticbunny1205 Sitting as a fanatic materialist/militaristic empire, I had 26/30 be spiritualist/fanatic spiritualist, 2 spiritualist fallen empires spawn, and no other empire was materialist, I spent the entire game with unhappy factions, almost got beat down by a spiritualist FE, and had the unbidden spawn on the opposite side of the galaxy, and had to wait until 1/3 of the entire galaxy was consumed by the unbidden and their extra spawn empires, before the galactic council could be formed and I could finally push through focus: the unbidden via emergency measure.

[@danclassic7065]

@@galacticbunny1205 I think the game deliberately has a higher chance to spawn empires ideologically opposed to the player. There's always loads of authoritarians and fanatical purifiers for my xenophile egalitarians to contend with. I always make sure to introduce them democracy, in 30 mm freedom packets delivered at 2100 liberties per minute.

[@katier9725]

I once played as Rogue Servitors and my neighbours were also Rogue Servitors. We even had the same colour. Naturally this happened only once and after several campaigns where everyone else was of course completely incompatible. I think the game took pity on me that time.

[@CSLucasEpic]

Solution: Play as a fanatic purifier.

[@liobuster4565]

Or robotic murderhobos

[@abracadabra6203]

and they die to 6 united enemies

[@Berek71182]

or Krogans

[@marianm8174]

@@abracadabra6203 Maybe when you do it.

[@ghostiulian1]

Every time

[@davidshea6272]

This deserves way more attention, truly top tier shiposting!

[@spiderFern]

This is why "galactic conquerer" always ends up being my strategy, although it's usually not what I was planning starting out. Look, it's not my fault the despotic slavers decided to pick a fight with my assimilator AIs that were perfectly happy just expanding peacefully and gave them a taste for utter and complete conquest of the galaxy, leading them to overtake literally half of the galaxy. The single ally I have is just on my side in hopes that they will be spared for last.

[@Airsickword]

I always go pacifists And then proceed to "liberate" all the other empires and vassilize some others while fully annihilating any and all unreasonables that can't or won't be pacifists

[@EdricLysharae]

Ahh Driven Assimilators: the ultimate way to play wide.

[@MrZaranthan]

I wasn't planning to conquer the galaxy, I just picked a crisis civ type before the game began. :P

[@vladprus4019]

Oh yes, the realist approach

[@heinzlilio4612]

Not another pointless war, please... Every Stellaris game in a nutshell, even to Pacifists

[@Airsickword]

Me playing pacifists be like: We will make you all swear to peace and prosperity.... *by force*

[@LAZERAK47V2]

*ESPECIALLY* to Pacifists

[@jacthing1]

@@Airsickwordpacifist to other empire: please stop trying to kill each other. It's wrong....and if you don't then I'll wipe you from the face of this galaxy

[@michimatsch5862]

I am currently playing a fanatic pacifist, it is 2430 and I never had a single war. Everyone was friends. Then I built some hyperweapons cuz they looked cool.

[@StarboyXL9]

I've managed peace really easily in most games. Very few wars happen to me that I was not prepared for, or did not declare myself. Dunno what you guys are doing.

[@jimskywaker4345]

“I must find a way to open the L gates” VON KARMA NO!

[@aptspire]

It's usually how it goes until you get cruisers where you just follow the most up-to-date meta and the AI slaps whatever guns on it and they lose all the fights where they don't heavily outnumber you.

[@voidimperial1179]

The last time I followed the meta was back when the big thing was full plasma broadside cruisers. Then I stopped playing for a bit. What's the "meta" now? Currently I run my cruisers with 3M kinetic and 3M plasma.

[@aptspire]

@@voidimperial1179 I'd advise 1 kinetic artillery at the front (or neutron launcher if that's what you have) for long-range sniping, strike craft hangar because the a.i. still struggles to counter them, and the final medium slot is the opposite type of your large turret (coilgun to neutron, plasma to kinetic). Your defense should be as many shields as possible, and put crystal plating in the balance (unless you have dragonscale, then use that). Obviously use a carrier computer asap.

[@voidimperial1179]

@@aptspire Wait, PDX finally made strike craft good?

[@thebirdwizard5947]

@@voidimperial1179 yeah strike craft are so much fun now, they beat the shit out of corvettes

[@alexandererhard2516]

@@thebirdwizard5947 Especially Missile Corvettes. Basically invalidates 2 out of 3 slots.

[@eas2252]

My latest playthrough is actually going splendidly. The empire to my north was becoming ever more hostile. But to my great surprise and joy, they failed to leave their home world before it exploded. I quickly took the choke point one system in and sealed off a vast section of the Galaxy for my eventual colonization. As I began exploring, I fully expected to run into more empires. It never happened. Eventually I discovered a fallen empire blocking a choke point on the other end! How nice of them to preserve this whole quarter of the Galaxy for me. Ps- Almost forgot to mention the fanatic purifiers to my south. Essentially a free nation to conquer. Also have the not so small empires to my northeast and southwest swearing allegiance to my might..... and protection.

[@starlightbreaker561]

yeah, those playthroughs are great power fantasies, and make up for when the whole galaxy teams up against you.

[@FrostSylph]

I feel that player. Just last night I accidentally got my fleet lost for a few years when I sent them into the wrong system trying to clear mining drones. It was immediately at that point that my neighbor (who's border was two jumps away from my capital) declared war on their neighbor who I had a defensive pact with. I was on good terms with both of them before...

[@ninjartist36]

Me: On the verge of losing Console Commands: You could not live with your failure and where did that lead you? Back to me

[@deplorabledegenerate2630]

Yeah, my ally kept doing dumb shit that got me dragged into pointless wars in my last game. The Ketling Star Pack spawned. Allies vassalized them. ... the Ketlings spawned next to Militant Isolationists. That I shared a much larger border with than my ally. So imagine my shock when my defensive pact autopulled me into a war mid game with a fucking fallen empire. A xenophobic fallen empire with a colossus. I considered just scrapping that playthrough. Glad I didn't... because I actually managed to put up a fight. Even caught their planet killer all by its lonesome and blew it the fuck up. Still lost, but I went down swinging. ... thats when I knew as soon as I got titans I could take them. That war was way more devastating for them because I could smell blood in the water. I got titans. I colonized the former ketling worlds (rip) and rivaled them and started claiming all their shit. To my shock they were slow to anger this time, like they knew. By the time they finally declared on me I had claimed their whole empire. Their shit got wrecked. Their fleets were scraped. Gene Warrior Speesss Mareen kitty cats fell in droves onto their worlds and smashed their xenomorph armies. Their territory became my territory. But best of all? I was playing Xenophobe Militarist Egalitarians. Just for fun. Citizen Service. Their people became second class citizens that will NEVER be allowed to do their part.

[@ivanelias3916]

Join now to the federation military. SERVICE GUARANTEES CITIZENSHIP 👍 *do you want to know more?*

[@cirroc213]

@@ivanelias3916 yes

[@molybdaen11]

Best way is when you play as a machine empire which pampers its organic victims. So you invade they worlds, just to make them jobless and send them all to the, new utopian homes. They can watch the news about the glorious wars you fought with they ressources now, while getting a massage from the same species which conquered them.

[@youssef2575]

@@molybdaen11 we call that the retirement home lmao

[@aria5614]

Kitten is that you?

[@Suksass]

Ah, gotta love the L gate opener. Now I have tempest invading me periodically while galactic community also fights some swarm that is slowly encroaching. My military is slowly drained due to poor economy meaning I can't repair and build new ships quickly enough to restore my loses.

[@yoruichixx6951]

as a megacorp player....what do you mean *no economy* ?

[@godsavethequeen4675]

1:33 my spiritualist empire that has a high enough tech level to put advanced ai starts to shame : laughs in holiness

[@dariustiapula]

That's why I prefer being alone. Than build up until someone makes a mistake. Then strike while they are down.

[@KitKatHexe]

"oh for the live of the spiritualist's god" fucking god

[@OlafJorigson]

Galactic community in a nutshell: Buzzworld standards Sanctions Sanctions SANCTIONS

[@MiGujack3]

How about some tiyanki stuff as well?

[@badpiggies988]

This is how pretty much every single early game goes for me: Energy credits: +10/month *ONE MONTH LATER* Energy credits: -250/month Me: Researches energy grids and starts spamming them on every world, of which I have about 5 Energy credits: -249/month Every midgame: Energy credits: +158/month Literally just one small fleet: leaves starbase to fight rapidly-snowballing shardlings so I can finally start expanding again Energy credits: -40/month Me: *sigh* what the f**k (slows down the loss by selling a bunch of food and consumer goods)

[@MrZaranthan]

Fleets have energy upkeep. That upkeep is decreased while docked. You need to plan for that, and not undock fleets with double digit energy surplus.

[@dragnus12]

Okay, this mini-series was amazing. Try doing more please! If you need more material you can always look into the modded experience... say, gigastructures and it's extra fun times?

[@Pizzarugi]

The galaxy: Would you like to form the galactic community? Me: Oh boy! Time to invest heavily into my fleet to gain so much power that I dominate every vote.

[@dalken_isthun]

This speaks to me on a fanatic materialist level. XD

[@usernotfound-jw7xs]

until the mid game i typically focus on one or two external empires and mosly focus on economic growth, because otherwise i just have massive defecits by the mid game

[@patrickmurphy6578]

Seriously. I started playing with a mod to increase AI empire “personalities” but all it seemed like was mega corps, purifiers and swarms. So I am allied with my home empire (I’m a lost colony) and they declare a war on my neutral next door empire. After that war I am weakened and then these plant purifiers decide they have to invade RIGHT NOW and I lose half of my empire. Probably gonna call quits because that mod is broken

[@AsbestosMuffins]

the best way to play is to refuse to join the galactic community and see how long it takes for the AI to even get it formed. there were games where it didn't form till the 2400s

[@Riku-Leela]

Not only is this an amazing video it's so clever that this is the prequel to the previous video with the same characters, love it

[@cstains5543]

This is why you set up strong boundaries and keep out of alliances even if you're effectively xenophile. Live the Robert Frost poem about good fences making good neighbors... so long as you also maintain a good supply of guns and ammo to keep them on their side of the fence.

[@irondude0611]

Let's face it we're only Xenophiles to get those sweet sweet Envoys to boost our diplo power in the Senate. I might not be able to become Emperor rn bc I'm on console. I'm the Senate, permanent seat on the Council plus only one seat. I'm Emperor of the Galaxy in literally in everything but name LOL.

[@lilpotayto]

I love Edgeworth as the Spiritualist in these.

[@JakeCos.]

In terms of money, me have no money

[@bulochka_uwu6483]

L-gate Opener is trully accurate

[@KertaDrake]

And then the crisis spawns in their empire... and their military is no match, so now the crisis is abusing the L-gates to strike the whole galaxy at once.

[@mekhazen4289]

Thats why u just go EoM mode and do a organogram: is mankind>>>>>loyal to imperium>>>>live anything else>>>>>>fucking dies

[@MaxHaydenChiz]

I clicked on this video thinking, "surely they can't do a meme for that long and keep it interesting". I'm glad I was wrong. Great video. Checking out the other 3 now.

[@CrusadingJello]

Spiritualists and Materialist factions spitting fire at each other, was the best part of this video!

[@novasnake2532]

Honestly, i just annex every friendly empire i can, that way i don't (usually) have to deal with pointless wars

[@michid8188]

Very nice, keep it up!

[@sebu6831]

*Galaxy at turmoil and conflict* "Guys ! I made it ! I opened the ..." *Grey Tempest appears*

[@spritemon98]

0:49 you typed teach you twice

[@generalfisch2017]

These are so underrated. Nice work.

[@hailtothejew1944]

It annoys the hell out of me that Paradox apparently ignores the fact that there are religions that worship technology, or venerate death. Stellarus needs a religion design system. Just like two dozen options within a dozen yes or no options. Maybe a few hundred lines of code?

[@Nukestarmaster]

There's a mod for that (Pantheons of the Void).

[@tecnochilemapper4121]

Spiritualist need some rework, but don't the materialist should have a rework too, like a DLC that add more posibilities

[@tecnochilemapper4121]

@Dominotik Ivan Tulovskiy yes i also think that it should be a civics thing more then a DLC only for that

[@samuelfawell9159]

Having a grey tempest spawn is I find quiet useful now, it really stops the more expansionist empires.

[@madman026]

the only plus side of joining the galactic community is the law benefits if the laws are good but other wise it doesn't give you jack all

[@puddlel1ama327]

my last run had an empire on the other side of the galaxy open the L-gates in 2280. two Grey Tempest fleets immediately spawned in the middle of my empire. i had a total fleet power of around 14k on the high end, and i had actively gone for fleet expansion and military tech.

[@ChaingunCassidy]

"I was only allied with you to prevent you from declaring a stupid pointless war on me"

[@aaronswart5222]

Extremely well made

[@YoutubeChangedmyusername]

Almost makes me want to start the 8hr download to play it again

[@samueltrusik3251]

Seems like the devouring swarm was having fun at least...

[@jeangermain837]

great video man

[@faded_ink3545]

The swarm does not care for these petty issues… it merely hungers.

[@oliviaconstanzewoodward-wh7361]

joining the galactic community so you can invade members of the galactic community without them all banding together against you.

[@evilemperorzurg9615]

I had a game where the Prikki Ti spawned on the opposite side of the galaxy. For some reason they decided to declare war on half the galaxy just so they could get to me. My allies did absolutely nothing of course.

[@MiGujack3]

Teh local syndicate: New building slot? How about a useless precinct house.

[@StarboyXL9]

"Nothing will ever get done" Well that's your fault for not becoming Custodian.

[@vanjek9148]

In reality, the player would be the reason of random wars

[@padraigdynes526]

Such effort for a stellaris shitpost, unbelievable

[@spun1930]

My game started as void dweller Fanatic spritualist, got zroni precursor after 30 runs of just the yuht, go 5 systems away, run into a federation start, go up, meet an easy ally, attack federation, take some of their territory, sue for peace, wait 10 years, start war with them for more land with my new, bigger army and then i see a message saying my neighbor who was stronger joins their federation, get stuck between a rock and hard place and let them humiliate me because i can just wait 10 more years and have a doomstack ready.

[@alestiiidaeno_last3075]

Stellaris memes never get old

[@someonethatdefonitelyexists]

In my current playthrough i put my empire between two chokepoints but i put my shipyard at a black hole with an L-gate in the middle of my empire and now every time i fight someone they can come straight in

[@berkowk]

Okay. You sold me Stellaris, I hope Johan will pay you!

[@ShogunPlasma]

This is why I only play Stellaris games with only a few starting empires. Maybe 3 AIs and 1-2 Fallen Empires. Maybe a Marauder.

[@DJtheEmoPirate]

Never thought I would see Stellaris combined with Phoenix Wright, but I am so happy this exists!

[@ZekuChanU]

Stellaris is a game where you go in with guns blazing

[@squirrelonmapletree]

This is some quality writing

[@rpf920]

so relatable but im a materialist empire with 2M power on 2 of my Armada going to town against purifiers and Religious civ XD and yes i got Mega ship yard from "DR.Blood." not a Crapyard.

[@EmptyBrewsky]

This is so painfully accurate...

[@jacobp.2024]

That's every single Stellaris game I ever play: token worthless Ally and me vs. *the world.*

[@lima6638]

So nice to hear Sam Riegel's voice :D

[@tylertheultimatebadass87]

Prethoryn Scourge: Hai :3 Devouring Swarm: Oh sh*t!

[@OriginalUnjustifier]

Only one thing was missing...those gawddamn Prikkti-Ti.

[@SomeKrieger]

My second run went like almost exactly like this. So I first got on good terms with some evangelizing zealots who grew to be 1. while I grew to be 2. Which then we went to neutral terms. After transcending and my nation becoming spiritualist any form of diplomacy died. 2 centuries of peace went out the window and I was forced to kick off a holy war of fealty because 2/3 of the subjects wanted to join me despite then being materialists who incorporated some undesirables into their empire.

[@AlteFore]

In my current save, the god-damn Kilojun Intelligence kept attempting to drag me into a war WHILE I WAS FIGHTING A FALLEN EMPIRE. It took -337 opinion for me to break that federation and form a new one with more stable allies, but by then the damage was done... Now I have to deal with multiple 100k fleets... Most of mine are 150k-200k. Oh, and this is a fight on two fronts.

[@exginto8053]

Damn this shit is golden

[@archmagemc3561]

Can you please do one regarding Gigastructures, ACOT/ACOT beyond the gates, or StarTech AI? Those mods have a lot of fun memes you can make with them, esp Gigastructures.

[@Turnil321]

These videos are a lot better with music.

[@dandruff2865]

Yeah... that does just about sum it up! Especially if you play with a lot of other races X3

[@battenro]

EU4 war alert sounds!? Glorious

[@thefaithfulwisp6272]

This happened to me on my second game of stellaris, my ally of shrimps kept dragging me into wars against 3 empires or agains 2 that have a fleet power nore superior or the technology more superior than mine In the end i manage to held off and my allies empire is no more

[@GuyWhoWatchesStuff]

Materialists are winning that war

[@Mogamett]

Every one of these is art.

[@Talon1124]

Can confirm... every. Damn. Time.

[@thatroxxguy]

Daily Reminder, that "Purge" exist for a very good reason!

[@donkeylover4449]

Dude, the spiritualist is top tier holy.

[@isafleader]

It’s me I’m the devouring swarm. Hahaha

[@NewHorizon89]

“Why do you keep dragging me into your random wars” This is so damn true. I joined an alliance because I had a hive sitting northeast right above me. The hive attacked my ally dragging me into the war and then my southern neighbor attacked me because he was the hives ally. After that war my ally kept waging war. And I was sandwiched between two clowns that kept repeatedly forcing me to fight on two fronts. I couldn’t end the war since I didn’t wage it. Where was my ally? Nowhere to be seen when I was attacked. I was like screw these alliances

[@gamester512]

That's why I really only deal with my own Protectorates & Vassals (which are usually uplifted Primitives). Anyone else is given much more scrutiny before I even consider agreeing to an alliance (if their nearest, or perhaps only, neighbor is a mutual threat like a Fanatic Purifier, Devouring Swarm, or Determined Exterminator, then I will usually agree to the alliance and then provoke that empire into declaring war so that we can wipe them out....or I just take all choke-point systems that allow said Empire to even leave their own territory, then end the war and build a Maginot World and station an Executor SSD in that choke-point system, pretty much trapping that empire within their own territory until such a time as I either choose to put them out of their misery by wiping them out, or they finally decide "screw it, to war!"....and then I again wipe them out entirely). Though, in most cases, any would-be allies instead ask to become my Protectorate/Vassal instead, since once I have carved out a nice niche for myself in the galaxy, I usually focus on consolidating what territory I already hold (unless a particularly juicy system is found nearby, then I'll go and grab it for myself). By the time rampant wars start breaking out, I'm usually one of, if not *the* most stable and powerful empires in the galaxy (so most other Empires would still leave me alone since I could pretty easily wipe them out even if I were outnumbered). So much so, that I've even been made Galactic Custodian as a Driven Assimilator more than once (and then I inevitably turn into the Imperium once the Crisis is over, for obvious reasons).

[@entropic-decay]

this is why I like playing machine intelligences with one of the 3 specializations for them. I *always* have a reason to go to war with people, whether it's for more unity production, more free drones, or to purge their filthy organic forms from the galaxy

[@Ataylor088]

I find myself asking the question why “did I join the galactic community” probably every time I join it. Which I do every game I play for some reason

[@katherineminor3402]

This is so accurate haha

[@JTZMansur]

Don’t even play these games and this is still great to watch, I watched the late game vid first lol.

[@reeven1721]

Accurate depiction of trying to get anything done in the galaxy.

[@chengzhou8711]

Expand correctly, optimize your planets, and Missile Corvette spam

[@ramiel7666]

The galactic community just keeps passing laws and immediately repealing them......

[@brianrussell2441]

I have been playing aquatic democratic militarist xenophiles and have been randomly positioned in a section of the solar system with all of the ai empires that are; peaceful, corporate, and xenophobic surrounding me while I rapidly advance my technology. I have made sentient robots full citizens with leadership roles available and have almost one of every factions species on one of my worlds, except aggressive species that would eat me from the inside out. All of the dangerous factions are on the other side of the disc and I have murader mercenaries patrolling those chokes and L gates. Hell I was unintentionally put into a galactic senate and became the one with the most power despite have a small claim size, I have the rubicator multiple rare techs and deals with the merchant factions that move around.

[@bettertobethoughtafool]

Hey man come back

[@Oorillon]

this is amazing! Very Accurate!

[@sipofsunkist9016]

Everything was accurate as hell except for, I think a war in heaven is hell to avoid.

[@samcormackk9849]

Perfection all i can say

[@ultris07]

But this isn't early game, unless early game lasts a long time for you

[@monauralsnail0669]

Literally the only thing AI allies are good for in my experience is a diversion. They almost all always get slaughtered in the war but if I’m able to sneak my transport fleet to the enemy homeworld whatever.

[@jiwoo2820]

I play as extremely open and democratic empire so every weaker empire that borders me becomes my vassals after a few years until there is no one stronger that will be able to resist joining my empire.

[@Epic24123]

I always join federations then put up with policies that directly harm my nation in particular despite how many favors I call in against it

[@whitewolfspectre2388]

I play 2 ways here, materialist with droids and habitats with 6 systems that are all reinforced with 7 habitats each so I become like a fallen empire or I am massive take everyone as a subject and own half the galaxy within 50 years...materialist is easier imo

[@Stian_95]

Do Crusader Kings 3 next!

[@Nora-transspire]

Omg im in love with this 😂😭😂💗 I always wanna do a community-less run lol, but idk seems a worthy endeavour every time....

[@DragonKnightJin]

Can't become a Galactic Imperium without the Galactic Community. To be fair, by the time I declared myself Imperium, I'd already become the most powerful diplomatic entity that run. If I didn't want something passed, it wasn't gonna pass. If I wanted something to pass, even the entire galactic community banding together in opposition wouldn't stop it passing. It was only a formality at that point.