Siding With The Darkness - Fear Of The Dark | Stellaris Full Playthrough & Gameplay

A little late due to a few weeks of rough times in real life, but here we are at last with the full playthrough of the Fear Of The Dark origin in Stellaris! To side with either our paranoia and need for survival at all costs, or to side with the potential benefits of friendship and co-operation!
Well the title says It all... just how bad CAN we be?
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[@theaexperiment9365]

He's joining the war on darkness. On the side of darkness.

[@sepalmq1229]

I am going to join the war on drugs. On the side of the drugs.

[@terminator9489]

​@@sepalmq1229Max0r reference ?

[@hardcorelace7565]

​@@sepalmq1229 me when playing britain in vic 3

[@sepalmq1229]

@@terminator9489 yeah

[@LordDragox412]

If you can't beat them, join them.

[@erikm8373]

I really thought that the quest to find and obliterate the guys who shot your planet would culminate in you _getting_ that planet destroying gun. Maybe there's some other path you have to take, like showing mercy to the planet and they share their technology, but I just feel like you really deserve the ability to claim the weapon of your nightmares and wield it against the galaxy.

[@isuckatusernames4297]

there's a mod for that iirc

[@HappyGingerWolf]

They did say that the civilisation had used up all the tungsten in their entire system by firing the gun at everything

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

It would be unbalaced af to put a weapon behind a single origin. Plus, if we actually start having planet destroying weapons from a distance, we are talking about relativistic kill missiles. Those are incompatible with Stellaris on the most basic level. Gigaengineering is a great example of how Stellaris doesn't really function well on that level. Not only does it break game systems but it's just incompatible with multiplayer competitions. Even the AI has to be bound away from building and using the Nycol Dyson Beam. Implementing relativistic kill missiles turns most of space sci fi pointless. It genuinely means that the dark forest is real, that any advanced species can snipe fledglings from galaxies away. It means fleets are near pointless and the first species to use these weapons wins, a shoot first scenario. There isn't even much that you can do to defend yourself. It's nearly impossible to see a rkm coming at you. Even if you see it, you cannot stop them all. Best case scenario, you fire a volley back and get mutual assured destruction. But the attacker could build self replicating drone swarms that destroy any planet with life signs. Even if the defender fires back, it's not the homeworld of the attacker and instead gets flagged as the new top priority threat.

[@DemonKing19951]

The weapon is too slow. Remember these systems are potentially 10 to 20 light years apart after just too hyper lane jumps. It isn't a viable weapon against FTL empires, but I guess it could be used as a good surprise crack against another empire. You just fire it 10 to 20 years before you intend to go to war with them and potentially wipe out 1 planet before things have even begun. Obviously the counter is the higher their intelligence is against you the more time they get to stop it.

[@DemonKing19951]

@@LuizAlexPhoenix To be fair the origin kind of points out the flaw with the weapon in a game like stellaris. The first is that its effectively a mega structure build using the resources of one solar system, meaning more or less there's a good chance another empire will discover FTL technology and come greet you before you get time for a second shot. Even if fire it off and it lands before they crack the technology there's a good chance you'll have developed habitats to accommodate for a growing population. Habitats that would be neigh impossible to attack with a weapon like this, and you just basically made them aware that they need to use their freshly destroyed planet to build weapons against you. The possible worst thing about all of this is that it's just slow. The type of damage this weapon can do can be discovered in less than 100 years of discovering ftl in the form of a planet busting weapon that can can make a lap around the galaxy in less than 100 years. It has its uses that I pointed out in the other comment, but it's just impractical in a universe like stellaris. The only people that could possibly hope to make use it are in systems not connected by hyper lanes and the moment jump technology is available the game is over. They'd be better off building drones who's sole purpose is to wipe out signs of intelligent life so when their colonists get there they either get shot dead by the survivors or have a whole new planet freshly terraformed for them.

[@Chris11502]

All hail the algorithm, all hail the stellaris gods.

[@justgoodvibes1500]

All hail the algorithm, all hail lathrix.

[@ollyravenhill7341]

@@justgoodvibes1500 HAIL THE ALGORITHM

[@samuelarldien4746]

Hear hear

[@soenke294]

Have mercy on this oh so long video, oh mighty algorithm

[@ChallengerNinety]

All hail the algorithm, may it be ever merciful.

[@HappyGingerWolf]

43:50 I don't know if you realise this later in the video or not, but the fanatic purifiers civic you get from this origin is different to regular fanatic purifiers, not in any major ways, but there are a few small things like the observation posts and armageddon bombardment that are different

[@jep1st]

I was just thinking literally an hour ago when is Lathrix going to post another high quality Stellaris full playthrough. Nice! Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued in the future!

[@guiogvizda9444]

The day when Lathland uploads new Playthrough , it's good day

[@SCI-FIWIZARDMAN]

Fear of the dark is such a weirdly designed origin. Don't get me wrong, I love the flavor of the origin and the IRL Dark Forest theory it's based on. But think about it: this entire point of this origin is that it focuses on the concept of your civilization having a 1|2 ratio split between people who are scared of space and people who aren't. The part of the civilization that you play as is supposed to be the part *isn't* scared of space and *disagrees* with the astrophobic nuts. You'd think you'd be rewarded for sticking to your guns, but in terms of gameplay, disagreeing with and impeding the separatists' xenophobic actions will do nothing but hamper your relationship with them. Meanwhile, all of the best rewards the origin offers come from making decisions that *align* with what the separatists want, getting additional tech and improving your relationship with them at the cost of making everyone else in the galaxy your enemy. That's cool and all, but if you agree so much with the separatists, then why did they separate in the first place? I just think it's a strange design choice to have the game reward the player for making choices that run contrary to the entire founding principle of the origin.

[@SomeUnsoberIdiot]

Nah. You're part of the "xenos are cool" faction, and then realize that you were wrong and xenos need purgin'.

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

The weidest part is that they needed an enemy that was strong enough to attack you. But then somehow aren't any longer. Plus, to avoid questions such as "can we just build that same weapon?" they contrived a limit by saying it takes a whole system's tungsten. To a wide empire, that is not that big of a deal. Presumably, there are millions more systems out of the hyperlanes, so they are useful too. Finally, just weaponize the Dyson Sphere into a Nycol Dyson Beam.

[@DemonKing19951]

To be fair disagreeing with them is just playing a normal empire with some flavor that survived an initial strike. I think the point of this origin is that you let the darker voices win, since it gives you a falling to darkness kind of fantactic purifier empire. Similar to how with clone army, descending is basically 'we had our fun, now lets be a normal empire'.

[@melfice999]

Actually you get a Free Civic Slot, if you stick to your guns, so you are rewarded. So your options is to go Mid-game Fanatic Purifier, or a Civic Slot if I am not mistaken

[@nexdemise4182]

@@LuizAlexPhoenix The problem is different I guess, part of it being physics - mass driver would accelerate it to some fraction of a speed of light and it will take years for it to hit. Second problem is gameplay, yeah a wide empire could very much afford to create and upkeep a weapon like this, but is it a good design choice to basically have a "destroy enemy planet in X years" mechanic? Nope. Especially that vs a tall empire you could stagger the launches in such a way that they hit right next to each other which is just complete cheese.

[@thelensimon7862]

Huge props for not letting your speech impediment stop you from doing what you love. I find your way of talking to be very calming to listen to. Keep up the good work.

[@archapmangcmg]

The big problem with the Dark Forest scenario is that the others you find should already know you're there while you're still evolving so you can't shoot before they know you're a potential threat. And almost certainly can't do it without them retaliating.

[@SomeUnsoberIdiot]

The bigger problem is that space is very very very very big, and 'finding' someone is very difficult. Visiting is even harder. And by the time you see someone, they might be long gone.

[@archapmangcmg]

@@SomeUnsoberIdiot We can look billions of light-years away for signs of powerful civilisations, the kinds that could be a threat. By 2200, we'd already know about any Fallen Empires from their constant emissions. A number of the regular empire types we'd also know of, same reason. You can't hide your thermal footprint unless you hide inside a nebula. And even those move over time. And that's with FTL available. In real life, no, you learn about any neighbours long before you can meet them or shoot them. And if you're new, they're likely millions of years older and stronger.

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

​@@archapmangcmgThe thing is, even if you start firing at everyone and somehow they don't destroy you on one go, then someone just outside your detection range will immediately know and deem you a huge threat. Say that we are the first civilization ever, just create a self replicating swarm that expands out of our habitable cloud. This swarm can fire away from us into any planet inside the habitable zone of a star and any planets with life signs. After a while, the newborn civs would get blown from galaxies away without any ability to properly retribute.

[@keenirr5332]

@@archapmangcmg Yes, we can look billions of light-years away -- at things as they existed billions of years ago. And anything that is there *now* can look at us -- and they'd only see what we looked like billions of years ago.

[@archapmangcmg]

@@keenirr5332 The universe is OLD. Civilisations could have begun before our Sun formed. They could have watched that event, watched Earth cool and develop life. There is no hiding from that. The idea that two independent groups developed simultaneously is ludicrous. You'd never accept that as a scientist until you had a LOT of evidence that it actually happened that way. Billions of years available and two chose the same 0.0001% still leaves a gap of thousands of years. Enough time for the older group to be in space while the younger was discovering agriculture. By the time the young ones are in space, the old ones are so far ahead militarily that they cannot be defeated. This isn't a Dark Forest. It's a young child opening its eyes and waiting the second or two for their eyes to clear and see everything around them. Is it a park in the middle of a city? Is it open plains? Either way, it's not scary, just vast, and they won't do anything useful throwing a pebble.

[@Lucifer_Nihilum]

Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne! Comments for the Algorithm! And Milk for the Khorn Flakes!

[@sjknights26]

All hail the Lord Lathrix and to another Glorious full playthrough!

[@catincognito1382]

hail youtube gods

[@destrik4115]

Love the long playthroughs you are seriously one of the best stellaris creators and frankly players

[@OrbOfChaosXbox]

Agree

[@LAZERAK47V2]

I'm not sure if you realized this later in your playthrough (commenting halfway through), but the reason you don't have Armageddon bombardment is likely because you have to enable it in your Policies, since you got FP midway through the game and by default, you'd have Indiscriminate set.

[@sparrow9663]

So the Parliamentary civic probably plays well into oligarchic and I can see ways to absolutely stack faction unity till its super high, but yeah starting with less pops will kinda hurt you there.

[@dajosh42069]

My duuuuuude!! Haven't watched the video yet, but you absolutely just made my day.. I love these full playthroughs, and have been rewatching about a dozen or of your newer full playthroughs, along with a few of the Gigastructual Engineering ones too. I really hope you'll do more Gigastructures stuff in future... but until then, I'm very grateful for the time and energy you put into these videos, and look forward to watching *this* video shortly. 😁😁😁

[@RedHerring86]

Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued in the future! Mostly because it's just so clear how much fun YOU are having with it!

[@clemensthauer2755]

My mood always lights up when I see one of your Stellaris playthroughs, thank you

[@minotaur470]

Woooo engagement I love commenting in order to signal to the algorithm that this video should be pushed!! That aside though this origin is so cool thematically, I'm glad you got a chance to play through it :D

[@dajosh42069]

Fantastic run, as always! Thank you for pouring so much time into these videos, and doing the mountain of editing required for it, too!! I _VERY MUCH_ enjoy these full playthroughs!

[@ottotheshatteredmind5984]

I hope your speech therapy goes well dude, I know how saddening it can be to return to something you thought you'd moved past like that. But it just means there's even farther up you can go in the world, to the stars friend! Keep up the great videos man!!

[@OriChild]

awh yiss, another full playthrough! i think ive pretty much watched them all now :D

[@courtjester2564]

Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued in the future.

[@garychisholm2174]

Lath I just want to say Thank You for being willing to exit your comfort zone to do these videos. I love your lyrical erudite voice and you've provided me - literally - countless hours of entertainment. You are priceless.

[@jostone2223]

I am always looking forward to your next Stellaris full playthrough. Thank you for still making them even though they are not the best for the youtube algorithm.

[@Soapie001]

Love these long plays. Been binging your vids.

[@BlackReshiram]

ugh lathrix i fucking love these longform rp playthroughs!!!! Please never stop making them

[@rjhardesty334]

Ty for coming back. We have missed you. Love you always

[@elessarwraith547]

All hail the Darkness! All hail the Algorithm!!

[@thefaulnt3562]

Yes, give the hail of comments to the algorithm.

[@KeeleDave]

Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued in the future!

[@NikolaiManning]

Thank you for mentioning Block Stammer. I have that as well, and get stuck quite often. I am fortunately not as bad off as you seem to be, but it is still noticeable when I get really excited about something or if I have to speak quickly and not have time to plan my words.

[@constantlylily]

Oh la la a new stellaris video! Appreciate you Lath! Just what I needed

[@samueleveleigh2767]

the storm caster seems like it would pair well with a more defensive playstyle regardless of how introverted the empire is. pair it with a couple fortress worlds and uber bastions from the unyielding traditions and the ammount of fleet you need is suddenly much lower. it might also be quite useful against end game crises who like to just wonder in my territory without attacking stuff *also hi, this is my contractual per video interaction

[@enthusiasticpaunch]

"I'm not one to complain. Generally pretty positive." As he purges the galaxy of the unclean. Just found your channel waiting for a chronically late friend. Good fun.

[@Utrina]

Keep the videos coming, thanks for making my day when I really needed it

[@SephirothRyu]

Me, on Lath's shoulder: "More Stellaris, heheheh. MORE." Lath: I'm sorry, which shoulder did you say you are on? Me: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS **flaps wings with great anticipation**

[@ianmurray2340]

I love the monotone voice, it gives a more calming feel while watching and not so anxious when something is not going your way haha

[@garycross4893]

Your style of oratory is perfect for a Stellaris playthrough. You are in role-play mode except when explaining complex elements of the game. Keep up the great work.

[@LAZERAK47V2]

I'm actually surprised FEs can't take stuff from genocidal empires, considering they actually CAN if you use the Become the Crisis Total War CB. Guess who found out the hard way and had to rebuild his Aetherophasic Engine after the FE he was obliterating sneaked a fleet to his home system and swiped his capital?

[@frylad]

It's actions by the AI like those that make me think they're powered by spite. Like yes they're completely incompetent at times but they manage to somehow be infuriating in the best ways. Fallen Empire: "Do what you must, I have already won"

[@LAZERAK47V2]

@@frylad I mean, props for being able to identify a threat. Crisis empires are existential threats. Everyone dies if they win. So if you have to sack your planets to stop them, it's worth it. A shame they can't coordinate better, but ironically enough, that war was followed up by my vassals mass revolting, I was literally at war with every single one of them. But because it was a war for independence, they didn't have the TW mechanics, so they couldn't keep what they took. I just surrendered when they got close to my capital and forced them into a 10 year peace deal so I could blow up the galaxy uncontested.

[@awildfilingcabinet6239]

I've never really bought into the dark forest theory. There are some reasons why you should isolate, but we have scientific proof that cooperation is beneficial and usually the most effective option.

[@TheIllmatix]

Love the long play origins, really gives me insight on how to play them in ways I wouldn't think of. Keep up the great videos!

[@existentialnihil]

Thank you so much for these videos! I hope all starts to go well for you, take care!

[@gloriousrobotbunny3275]

on speech impediment: its amazing that a job like youtube allows you to edit it out and make it unnoticable, as someone where english isnt my first language ive never noticed the flat accent. hopefully you arent beating yourself up about it, the stammers you have left in so far have been somewhat funny :3 sometimes my brain reads something wrong, and when you then read it outloud in a third wrong way it makes me laugh cus now my brain is extra confussled. hope you have a good day and i hope i too get to eat welshcakes :D

[@102728]

I've waited from the first second of the video for you to say "please like the video" just to maniacally laugh and say "oh, but I already did"

[@pyxisdiv84]

14 mineral systems are rookie numbers. Once found a 42 mineral system (84 after the tech buffs).

[@radagast25a]

Thank you for your wonderful videos. I like the game and you are showing me a lot of things I never would have darked do. I appreciate your hard work.

[@Top.Ramin.Noodles]

I really do enjoy these longer playthroughs.

[@kv1_t34]

I love your videos, thank you for your content.

[@rainbowchutney]

Great to see you back, Lathland! Life can indeed be challenging at times, but remember, your community is always here for you. Now, onto the gameplay. The Fear of The Dark origin really sets an intriguing stage for the game. Your decision to grapple with the paranoia versus potential cooperation added a fascinating layer of complexity to the narrative. It's interesting to see you exploring the darker paths, and I can't wait to see just how "bad" it gets. Stellaris provides such a rich tapestry for storytelling and your commentary always brings it to life. Looking forward to the next episode!

[@dragonforce5169]

At this point I don't even think about it. I see a Lathrix video, I click, I watch. That simple.

[@CatLover-gk8uu]

My obligatory comment for the algorithm as i love the full playthroughs

[@pendragon7294]

Lathrix upload means my day is 22hrs instead of 24hrs

[@jaketorstenson754]

Thanks lathrix for great study noise. you were the angel on my shoulder this evening keeping me going through finals studies. Thank you my top tophatted friend

[@IvanDogovich]

> insert contribution to insane interaction here: Love these, bud! Cheers, Ivan :D

[@derphunk5338]

Honestly Parliamentary Systems works best when you only have it in the early game when factions are most important, I usually dump it for meritocracy or beacon of liberty after a few decades.

[@VenomSteak]

Hey Lath, I just wanted to remind you your videos are loved. Been with you since 2017, here's to the next 6 years!

[@tommyjohnston853]

As future Lathrix commands, my mandatory comment to say Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued. Thank you for the time you put in!

[@snakevenom7847]

This has brought great joy, always amazing to see another full playthrough

[@FunkyMonkeyI]

Great job as always, surprised to see you playing a theocratic republic but right on love your Stellaris videos I rewatch them when I can.

[@benjamminraps1030]

Walks through the Darkened Forest, embracing the need to engage every algorithm we see along the midnight path is the kind of content I want to see more of.. oh, and Lathrix

[@anbuagent12]

I am super excited to see not only this video, but what he's gonna do with the new leaders system. It's rife with RP potential.

[@256crazyman]

for me personally the longer the video u make the more i look forward to it

[@SillyHammer]

Stellaris is a series i would love to see continued in the future - as well as terra tech

[@iplaybadguys1457]

Love your content, wish you would leave a bit more in/do multiple episodes, so you could explain decisions/options, but you’re definitely one of my favorite stellaris content creators:-)

[@tobiasGR3Y]

1:20:43 The madlad actually hit us with it. Oh my lord.

[@Mini_LeBlanc]

It is great to hear that you are working on yourself with the therapy. In any case, love your style of vids, love the vids in general, and keep up the good work!

[@nvelsen1975]

Lath going for the 'join the dark side, we have cookies' approach

[@robertpeck434]

Thanks for your hard work Lathrix! Can't wait to see you take on the new leader content!

[@mihaipuscasu7357]

I tried stellaris. Gave it a really good shot. Cannot like playing it. I do love watching you play it.

[@Xexelli]

This is the way. Much less frustration watching than playing.

[@gragrayson]

Thank you for uploading stellaris full playthroughs, i always enjoy watching them while playing games, i hope you do go back and look at some of the new stuff in gigastructures like the redone birch world origin or expand into showing playthroughs of other mods such as ACOT

[@shinyforehead5519]

one of the coolest full playthrus youve put out!

[@prateekkarn9277]

Hey lath, thank you for your videos, they give me the joy of a child listening to their cool uncle telling them stories. Especially when you have been so busy for the past years

[@raptorofwar4415]

These full Stellaris playthroughs are my favorites of your videos. Please sir can I have some more?

[@4anime988]

All hail Lathland, the youtuber who somehow always takes my attentional span and eats it for breakfast

[@danyael777]

I hereby, in sound body and mind, interacted with this motion picture content (henceforth video) to the full possible extend in written (henceforth comment) and emotional (henceforth like) form not exceeding 200 (two hundred) letters and 1 (one) click. All hail the algorithm, all hail Lathrix!

[@TheHopperUK]

Oh fantastic! I'm so glad to have another of these to watch.

[@kylepawlowski5892]

I love stellaris so much, every day i check for an upload just incase :)) Though it would be refreshing to see some more ftd :))

[@NstHarlequin]

I see someone is a fan of the “Three body problem” good hard sci-fi book :) The whole concept of “the dark forest” in first contact. Whoever gets seen first gets killed

[@jasonelder4111]

thanks for yet another stellaris playthru!!

[@corrupted_vessel2843]

Always fun to see your vids!

[@SephirothRyu]

Also, leave it to Lath to be jumpscared by a cat. .... He is the lizard emperor and cats terrify our reptilian brethren.

[@Devire666]

BTW, you could've renamed your home planet to Restored Unity after becoming a fanatic purifier. That would've been cool. Edit: Oh, you've changed the empire name instead. That was also cool.

[@sueagplant]

I hate spotting a new lathe stellaris full play through early in the day. It's a massive distraction until I get to a point in the day when I can finally sit down and watch

[@keenirr5332]

This is an awesome video! Great work, Lathland!

[@prisonerofthehighway1059]

+1 for the algorithm. Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued.

[@awesomenerd5584]

thank you for continuing with stellaris

[@karlph1sher344]

welcome back, love those stellaris playthroughs.

[@unknowngamer37415]

Always love your videos ,you give every empire so much personality

[@Devire666]

24:00 I don't think that displacing aliens makes sense for this empire. Either destroying them outright or keeping them in your empire to prevent them from attacking you in the future would make more sense. Letting them go just creates a whole bunch of people who hate you and can potentially join your enemies.

[@Dinner_Daddy]

2 hour lath video? Christmas came early

[@neoboaz9157]

1:17:51 - This is because the hostility parameter change is only updated on the next in-game day after war is declared.

[@Lathland]

Thats not the issue at play here though sadly, wish It was! Multiple days passed and the enemy AI who was at war with me had not became hostile until I manually attacked a station. This means the AI would never have been able to start attacking me first DESPITE being at war with me for multiple days. It also happened earlier in the run and the entire war I just didn't attack or be attacked by one of the participants of the war with my ships moving through their space and right next to their stations/fleets.

[@Nikolai0169]

Something I found out in my own playtrough of this origin is that if you wait before dealing with the hunters then haven will slowly be terraformed, first into a more compatible planet, and later on into a gaia planet.

[@DeadbyDefault17]

Lmao Lathland "I have 18k tech." Like that's not even a big deal. I love your videos man

[@tj2000tytjty]

Found the channel through stellaris and love these videos!

[@charlesgonzales6928]

I'm still waiting the Full Playthrough for the All Crisis type, But I'm still happy with any stellaris content

[@Chineselegolas]

Bring on the talking about stuttering and struggling to speak. As someone with a minor lisp and a stress induced stutter, I do greatly enjoy how you push through it to create such great content for us. If you do talk about the difficulties in full, mind talking about what tricks you use to help get through? I hate how effective swearing is at getting my tongue untangled, but it works.

[@patrickmiller7399]

Always great to see a new playthrough!

[@evanpettijohn4049]

Honestly just love your content

[@Threeve703]

Love these! Looking forward to your playthroughs of Paragons!

[@RangerTrust]

Would love to see another full playthrough with this origin, with trying to min-max like you said. I think it would be super interesting to see how far you can take it.

[@PapaFlashFlud]

Can’t wait for you to play the new dlc that just came out