Stellaris 3.8 Beginners Guide - UNDER 16 Minutes

[@AgainPsychoX]

I consider myself Stellaris verteran, but I still would love to watch Advanced Guide 🙏

[@mikeg905]

Please montu

[@xxspike156xx]

Agreed!

[@bombek9220]

Me too!

[@lucasjanot8092]

Me to I’ve been playing Stellaris for years now and i always get overwhelmed mid to late game, my mind can’t process to many planets at once…. I would like a advanced guide to this situations

[@SkilledKill]

​@lucasjanot8092 I'm in the same boat I have the early game down but the amount of micro gets a bit overwhelming by mid game. I think we're supposed to automate colonies/sectors past a certain point to remedy that but I just don't trust the AI to manage my shit correctly. I usually pause on the 1st of the month and check whatever might need micromanagement. In my mind I RP it like a monthly cabinet meeting.

[@YouLikeBosch]

16 minutes is such an underrated window for a Paradox tutorial. Well done.

[@rayk.5979]

"Learn to play in 16 minutes". Completely new player, watch video, jaw drop at how in depth game is.. yea I'm gonna need more than 16 minutes lol

[@readysetgo4468]

same here need more than 16 mins as well........ did you ever managed to understand the game? i just bought this cause it was on sale im playing it today XD

[@Nate-kd5wz]

@@readysetgo4468 real

[@rayk.5979]

@@readysetgo4468 After a ton of youtube videos I ended up getting a decent grasp on it, but there are so many subtle little nuances that I still haven't mastered. Really fun game though!

[@readysetgo4468]

@@rayk.5979 it took me 2 and a half weeks to understand the necessary things on expansion , combat and economy now im struggling with ship building.This stellaris vids really help me a lot. May the emperor of mankind bless the stellaris community

[@gujaratsantana]

Welcome to Paradox game, it needs at least 40hours of a gameplay to understand 😂

[@davidh8271]

I've played hundreds of hours of Stellaris, but man, the recent-ish changes have made it feel like a new game. So much more character focus and so many mechanics shifted around.

[@letsplaysvonaja1714]

I love how we get a little event and decision each time a leader dies I even got to shoot a dead scientist into space like in Star Trek

[@eklu65]

I know some are upset with it, but I kinda like having some rpg elements with leaders in this game.

[@shatteredstar2149]

Putting the R in Roleplay

[@KnightspaceORG]

@@shatteredstar2149 Only if you like your rpgs with no random mechanics.

[@dumont7478]

It is great that you included the maximum monthly trade limits for the internal market. That is a life saver for when you can't remember whether you can buy 8 alloys per month or 10.

[@gogogoff]

Agreed, wasted like an hour on Saturday trying to find them.

[@BrockPlaysFortnite]

just about to try this game out and mannnnn is it complex already super overwhelmed haha

[@MK8MasterJunjie]

How the hell do you have more subscribers than me?

[@blackcavalry9298]

DAMN 885k SUBS

[@MK8MasterJunjie]

@@blackcavalry9298 No, I only have 150K subscribers.

[@blackcavalry9298]

@@MK8MasterJunjie not you bro

[@CaptainChaos1701]

Best gaming video ever have seen. Tight, concise, simple and thorough, the perfect length. Tells you everything you need to know to play basically, and after 1000 hours I learned something new! I didn't know fleets with admirals could enter unexplored territories. Great job!

[@cattusvakarian6182]

The ability for fleets with Admirals to explore was only added with Paragons (or around then) so its understandable that, that was new to you.

[@tdogger]

What a clutch move Montu, I just recently got back into Stellaris and was watching your old beginners guide. So glad you had an updated version because stuff has definitely changed. Thank you!

[@Zeralium]

Thank you so much! I just got the game and the turtorial in the game wasn't very comprehensive and didn't really feel like it guided me, it just told me what things were if I clicked them. I look forward to playing this a lot :D

[@MontuPlays]

Glad I could help!

[@Neoburner]

Finally a real base grasp on this game, I’ve only just managed to buck up the courage to start playing, like you say, the overwhelming windows and clicks on beginning is huge, this finally broke the 20% down to start me off! Thankyou!

[@paulbigbee]

11:55 is the thing I see most people misunderstand when I introduce them to the game. Thanks for making it explicit Montu!

[@gerryw173ify]

Thank you Montu. There is always a great need for short guides in Stellaris.

[@mariotcarreon]

Thank you, Montu! This video is a great help to my friends who I have just recently gotten started with Stellaris.

[@Snipfragueur]

Did not you forget the most important thing : the goal of the game ? How to achieve victory, or at least what you kind of end-game goal you can set for yourself ?

[@s.j.j3598]

Brand new to the game, literally just finished the tutorial. Great video but still pretty overwhelming. Did NOT realize what I was getting myself into

[@MontuPlays]

Welcome aboard!

[@christowers7307]

I'm brand new as well, this is quite a lot!! Best of luck to you, hopefully we'll get through ti lol

[@TexFilms]

By far the BEST video for help getting started with Stellaris. Top tier production Montu!

[@maxxloki2110]

Definitely need a tutorial on how to setup up my first 5 colonized planets and what to make them specialize in that’s what normally takes my emipires out

[@AzoRevan]

You cannot super specoalize super early, because of no population. I'd say give new colonies one Gene Clinic and two resource districts and you should be good to go until the first planetary colony upgrade. Or smth like one gene clinic, one housing district, one robot plant and one resource district. Any way you dice it, colonies are gonna be a drain on your capital until they get 10 or so pop.

[@MasterElements]

I've already linked this to some people with whom I'm trying to convince to get the game. This is a great start.

[@satyrian9840]

Nice video. I have played Stellaris since it was new, but recently I have persuaded some friends to give the game a try. This video should be quite helpful to them =)

[@mellow_yellow3]

Been contemplating this game, you sold me.

[@azulral]

This game has changed too damn much over the years, every time i come back i get lost not knowing the new huge change they made.

[@garriustius12]

Thank you so much for this sir, years after i bought the game it finally 'clicked' for me after watching this. I did watch other tutorials but they're usually bloated with information that a beginner doesn't need. They end up becoming confusing and overwhelming. It's quite strange that I didn't see your older video last year when i tried learning how to play for idk how many times now. I got some dlcs and it's been a very fun ride so far. Thank you again, you earned yourself a new subscriber. Cheers.

[@VicZam9]

Never played Stellaris, always heard good things and I love strategy games. As a Warhammer 40K fan, i was intrigued by your 40K Great Crusade challenge video and now im here. The game and its dlc is on sale on Steam at the time of this comment. I picked it up and am now going to watch, like, and subscribe. Looking forward to more content from you.

[@walkir2662]

...I completely forgot they added fleets with admirals being able to scout.

[@gabrielrockman]

I'm still a beginner at Stellaris, but I've mastered the basics of early empire building and empire management. However, I'm completely lost when it comes to how to handle Fallen Empires or a Crisis. When I'm fighting wars against other empires, it feels like I'm on a level playing field against them, and as I've gotten better at the game, I'm getting better at holding my own against the other empires. However, I've never been able to do even a noticeable amount of damage to a Fallen Empire, and I've only once defeated an enemy fleet during a crisis, where I pooled together my two biggest fleets and sent them at the enemy, only to have the enemy use a second fleet to completely demolish my fleet just months after my first and only victory against a crisis fleet. Are there any good resources to teach us how to hold our own against Fallen Empires and Crisis that have fleets with power numbers in six figures?

[@MrDazmo]

Right there with you buddy, same here. I've got early game down and even getting better with mid game changes but just cant quite figure out what I need to change to succeed. Trying to find more advanced guides that aren't totally out of date compared to the current game version.

[@KabuVG]

Thank you for simplifying this, it makes it much easier to understand now. Still have lots to learn, but I’ll figure that out as I go along.

[@Acchanman]

Massive help for new players like myself, thank you sir.

[@dieltolo6112]

I've been playing this game for seven years now, and it's become like second nature to me. My friends think I'm crazy for being good at it, lol.

[@classicwow9858]

Couple things that I've seen newbies struggle with not covered in this video is constantly having campaigns fail due to rebellions caused by low faction approval and failing to meet war goals due to not occupying enemy planets. Factions spawn around 10 years in(except in a couple cases such as taking parliamentary systems civic). Factions represent ethics and each pop in your empire belongs to an ethic tying them to same ethic faction. The second tab of government screen has your factions and on the left hand side their list of "demands". Green means they are met, red means they are not. Do note that just because something is red doesn't mean it is lowering approval, mouse over to see it's affect. Most of them are related to your government policies or your interaction with other empires. If Faction approval is very low this will greatly reduce the happiness of those pops which, depending on their political power, can greatly reduce the stability of your planets. Generally the game will default your policies to "work" with your starting ethics. In war, as long as a system doesn't have any planets you will fully control a system by defeating the starbase in the system. HOWEVER if it has planets you will not fully control the system until EVERY planet in the system has been conquered. In the latest patch you can now potentially force planets to surrender through orbital bombardment however the traditional way is to build assault armies on your own planets and move them to land on enemy worlds and defeat the defensive armies. If the enemy has allies in the war do remember that in order to force the enemy to surrender you may need to occupy all of them and NOT just the 1 empire you are targeting.

[@Trazynprints]

So I shouldn't immediately start with a highly xenophobic militaristic imperium of man playthrough...got it. Mightve been my mistake lol

[@kylesparks1826]

That's what I did. It was pretty awesome, especially when the xenos were initially very open to peaceful relations, only to get completely eradicated by the forces of man kind. Purge the xenos, purge them for the good of mankind.

[@MithridatesOfficial]

Have had this game for a week and still have no idea what I'm doing.. *10/10 *

[@evilfam123]

Thank you for this video, I just bought the game and was so lost when started it

[@Smibeanie]

Hey i just picked up the game and dipped my toes in it for bit. I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of information and options. So thanks for this video!

[@DenysAlmaral]

This game is the most beautiful, deep, extendible, complex, well designed, entertaining, and dynamic real-time Excel spreadsheet I have ever seen!

[@TomaszRogala]

Thanks for the tutorial, 16 min and is all information required to start! :)

[@Kingshade994]

New player here and thank you so much Recognized my mistakes and now know my remedies without having to start over

[@nuclear_caliber-we3pc]

Good one Montu. I was just thinking about this the other day.

[@BassTangent]

Great timing! I just redownloaded the game and the last time I played was during the original launch.

[@bernardosales1044]

I'd like a more in depth guide personally, especially about military. I just started this week and I'm having so much trouble with fleets and combat. Apart from that, this has cleared up some things I was confused about. Very good guide!

[@watsinhorde]

Just what I was looking for! Thank you!

[@Jcrosay]

Just bought this game with the sale. You’re a real one for this.

[@kodamasdad9562]

I just spent 2 hours trying to figure this game out 😢 I've always loved civ, age of empires, etc.. but this... this is a whole nother beast of a strategy game. I might try to pick it back up. But if i spent 2 hours in the tutorial, plus this video, and im still completely lost. Then i dont have much hope for myself to learn the niche mechanics of this clusterfuck.

[@ghosteffectV01]

Can you do a guide for console version? Up to date with all dlcs. I cant find any except for pc. And you guys are ahead of us so a lot of stuff is different.

[@Shadow.24772]

15:00 Cruiser guide when? xD loved the Corvette and Destroyer videos.

[@MJ-dn4pb]

Me: Montu still managing to take a pointed dig at farmers in a basic guide? It's not possible. Montu: No. It's necessary.

[@lordvyse8882]

Thank you so much for this! Seriously when these new updates come out I feel like I gotta relearn everything and I start looking all over and your guides are life saver man. Keep up the good work.

[@psypsynos]

I was randomly thinking about Stellaris yesterday although I haven't played it before. Then I see it on discount on stream. Seems pretty fun so far.

[@SteveClark-ob1kj]

I note the amounts you can buy/sell on the market have been nerfed in 3.8 by about 20% and 60% respectively compared with 3.7.

[@steamavila1818]

Been watching a few beginner guide tutorials trying to get into the game, what it looks so complicated its the planet management, dunno if people making guides are making it look so complicated or the management of planets its actually difficult to understand, I got the basic understanding of everything else but the management of planets, and based on what I read its the essential part of your economy xD

[@CaptainMetal92]

@MontuPlays Did the numbers on buying/selling change? Until now I've used the values from your "Stellaris 11 Tips To Minmax Your Empire" from 7 months ago.

[@usurpererenyeagar4587]

thanks man i got in and the amount of words and numbers reminded me of my calculas classes so thanks for explaining it

[@JesseBakerH]

I have so many friends with 2000+ hours on this game but every time I try to play I start for 10 minutes then just get bored and close it lol

[@Colisseus88]

Thx great video, you explain everything i was missing :D

[@CommonVVealth]

Good idea. A lot of ppl started to play or returned to the game after awhile recently, in my experience. And there are close to none good guides of newer patches for new or returning players. Game changed A LOT since vanilla, even tho the core is still there, so... Yeah, like i said, good idea.

[@goodwillhunter21]

Holy Crap thats a lot of information. I never knew theses games got this deep/complexed.

[@s0r480]

This is the perfect guide, thanks dude

[@SGz_Eliminated]

The last five minutes is exactly why I feel overwhelmed with this game and haven't played it in years. I played hundreds of hours of it when it first came out but there's so many mecahnics bolted onto it since I highly doubt I could keep on top of everything and actually make any progress game time wise

[@mrawood1]

Never seen stellaris, loaded this video, and skipped to random points to see the game action. Every single time I skipped, I was presented with a wall of text. The last time I played a game with so much text, I tried to eat Gandalf.

[@0_Body]

Haven't played in a while and still found this guide very helpful. I never got past unpausing as I forgot how to I took a moment to appreciate the OST and just left it there

[@seanmahoney2671]

I started playing a couple weeks ago... this is exactly what I would have wanted to see right before jumping in. Now to figure out how to get decent at ship design and wars. I keep making dumb mistakes and just feel like it is mostly making a fleet with big numbers and mashing it into a fleet with smaller numbers to win... but this game has so much depth there has to be a lot more. Like, how do I know what weapons my enemy is using? How do I know where my fleet stats should be to be safe? I am guessing this is all part of espionage? Would sensor work? Can I scan them with a science vessel before war? etc. etc.

[@schwingedeshaehers]

Having intel allows you to see the designs, iirc Also, after battles, you can see, what did damage to your ships (in the message with the log)

[@ВиталийКотиков-т5э]

Some advanced tip would be to zoom in to enemy fleet to look at their weapon slots - explosive weapons will be pretty distinguishable. So, you can build some air-defense ships, for instance. At the start of the game missile corvettes sprinkled with some point-defense weapons would be the top fleet composition. Missile corvettes can be later replaced by frigates with torpedoes and torpedoes cruisers later on. Destroyers can be used for point defense or close combat/artillery. Once you or some of your opponents unlocked battlrships I would recommend to move on to more artillery/strike craft composition since the long range weaponry and alpha(first)-strike became crucial especially in mass-encounters with lots of enemy fleets who could destroy your fleets from a far before the explosive weapons could ever be launched. And if you have First Contact dlc you can also support your navy with stealth torpedoes fleet of frigates and cruisers (with more advanced tier 3 cloaking device) - they are good at hunting fleets at the rim of the systems.

[@mikeielOFFICAL]

thank you so much i have like 10 hours and still have no idea what im doing untill now

[@trlavalley9909]

Quick Expansion Question Monty, Is it better to create Islands on planets and choke points, and then try to fill in the blanks before another empire jumps into "your space", or is it better to keep to one continuous group and expand the envelope of your boarders? Your thoughts would be much appreciated. BB.

[@perspectivaerronea]

Hi. This will help me try get into this game one more time. Thanks!

[@senohara]

this is basicallz the only up to date beginners guide, very helpful

[@Carrinthe]

So I just bought a bundle with some of the most recommended DLC included ( Utopia, Federations, Humanoid species, Ancient relics and Synthetic Dawn) . For my first game is it advisable just to turn all dlc off and play the vanilla game just to get familiar with it or should I just start with everything?

[@Herbertti3]

Honestly I used to be good stellaris player but after all the updates and dlc I'm having harder time succeeding. Advanced guide would be great!

[@Laast_Chaance]

Thanks for this. Great guide.

[@DaKwynth]

I did not now you needed armies to defends your planets, will definitely be raising those when I play next.

[@sincereflowers3218]

I play machines and defense armies can stack at a rate of 0.5 each army.

[@noducksgivenandthensome2547]

After 6 attempts I finally have an empire that hasn't revolted, or been destroyed by in war. This game is dam addictive.

[@SomewhatLazy]

I wish you covered things like fleets and generals and combat.

[@PedroHenrique-gu2si]

I downloaded the game yesterday and I'm completely lost.... gonna need some days to study on how to play it lol

[@westcoastdean]

Super great content! Thanks so much!

[@CuratorFoxy]

I'm not a beginner, but this guide is so good even Markus could understand it

[@GGGONEXT67]

Im an hoi 4 player who has always wondered how a version of the game would look on a galactic scale. Are the skills transferable or is this essentially starting from square one? It LOOKS similar both in UI and certain mechanics

[@digitalworms]

I just bought this for ps4! I bought the deluxe version was cheaper than just the base game and got season pass 1! Been wanting to play this for awhile now!

[@ingerasulffs]

What about attack, defense, ship and ground combat, war, espionage? Are these not important for basic gameplay?

[@epicchocolate1866]

There’s 2 hours worth of content to cover, start with the basics

[@fabuloussloth8670]

I need some advice when it comes to trading/selling resources, please. How much should I sell each time?

[@abewright2201]

Still my fav stellaris ytuber

[@nathanjohnson3668]

Saw this game on my game pass and came here to see what the game was all about. Holy cow this game has a lot going on with it but looks super fun. It kinda reminds me of that old game Deadlock, although this one is not turn based like Deadlock was.

[@insertnamehere6659]

I would kill for some advanced guides, as well as ways to optimize my playstyle. I have been a Stellaris enjoyer since it first came out, and yet I still struggle.

[@royelloppress]

Just started playing and within an hour I was being attacked. Immediately ran to a starter guide XD

[@SuperEvilUG]

Wow, with this level of complexity you could run a real interstellar empire.

[@user-vp1bs1yt8h]

Justo conseguí el juego ayer y sale esto, los astros se alinearon

[@art-games6230]

Monty forgot to mention something about a “crisis” but don’t worry, that’s not something that will be a big problem for you, I promise

[@albertocaro5150]

basically u need a master degree...

[@TheFeed816]

I'm not good at these types of games but after about 4 hours of stumbling around I started getting the hang of it. It's more user friendly than it looks

[@ATom-jm2jw]

@@TheFeed816 I completely disagree. You're probably either extremly good with them or young with too much time and not enough money to buy better games. When I see a game which requires "40hours+ to understand and get good" - it should be immediatelly called "waste of time". Imagine going into Cinema, watching 3 films straight for 2 hours each and friend be like "yo, now watch other 17 and you will understand it's greatness" Actually we already have it - it's called Marvel movies. You have to watch like 10+ of them including series to understand the hell is going on in the great scale of things.

[@Lt-Doc]

​@@ATom-jm2jwdamn, salty. I started today (its my day off) I played for around 4 hours. I watched a couple videos (about 45 minutes worth) and I'm already getting the hang of it. It's not that hard. You just don't want to try :/

[@ATom-jm2jw]

@@Lt-Doc you're right on both. I have more games in the lib to try out, so I dont mind to throw this out if it doesnt respect novice players as other games do.

[@Bluesabergaming]

😂😂😂😂 you can't be a novice playing this lol

[@clarkeysam]

I can't believe I've spent so long on this game and never set up a monthly buy and sell order! It normally annoys me that I have too much food, etc, and not enough alloy.

[@toastertubbo]

thank you. i want to play this game but every time i open it up i have a mini aneurysm

[@realaccount3887]

what?! you can select science ship to do sites and anomalies automatically?! how did i not know that?! I have suffered pointlessly all this time???

[@berlindude75]

These expanded options have been a recent addition (with patch 3.8 I believe).

[@realaccount3887]

@@berlindude75 ohh makes sense then lmao.

[@rageavictor8099]

great video! thx !

[@keltongillanders5736]

i hope this can help me, the 1st time i tried to learn this game after 3 hours my brain was mush 😂

[@DrownedInExile]

Sorry I just can't. The sheer amount of customization options and information overload is too much. It's a video game, not a second job! Happy to stick with Master of Orion or Civilization, thank you very much.

[@CaptainChaos1701]

oh thanks for the info!

[@The_Empowered_Q]

hey, im new and i bought all the DLC tgt. What is trade value and what does it do?

[@CMD-Puggy]

Im thinking abt getting it and idk what to do do i get any dlc or no do i get a specific version like normal or uh galaxy i think

[@ljbarrett5176]

This guide felt a bit rushed. This is the Stellaris community we're talking about... we got time lol. I would love to see some in-depth guides around 30 mins each perhaps... on early, mid, and late game management. I think that is something the community desperately needs.

[@robobo2650]

I just don't know if I can pickup this game. I really want to play it but it makes me feel overwhelmed and pretty dumb! I suppose I could give it a day and play along to some guides or something.

[@SalvLav]

Wait, did they lower the max sell value before price drop on internal markets?

[@normal6969]

Fine one! How to unclaim systems? One with DLCs? Thanks. :)

[@vasheroo]

I found going over naval capacity to be waaaay less of a big deal then starbase capacity.

[@spugggaldon361]

I was today years old when I Iearned I can modify the outliner order and what's on it😮

[@sylnz97]

strategy games bore me to death but I really love the concept of this game so Imma give it another try