Should You Buy Stellaris Galactic Paragons?

[@gallendugall8913]

After so many DLC exclusively benefiting PVP players and ruthlessly punishing role players this DLC is a great change of pace.

[@michaaugustyn5414]

As somebody who loves both RP and MP I can assure u it did just masacred them both, simply due to having an absurd amount of stackable fleet discounts, ppl are currently talking about having 90% ship discount and it even can randomly happen on RP

[@oldomen3788]

I've found out that broken shackles and payback is actually fantastic for techno rush but even more so. The traditions rush. For payback you can get a really BEEFY habitat within a few years. Just make it a research station with robots or whatever you can. You also get a 10% boost per month with unity that stacks For broken shackles. You get unity in most of the story events that come up. You also get a 10% monthly unity that stacks

[@Admiral-General_Aladeen]

With the number of traditions/civics ever increasing it makes you wonder if we ever get more slots for them

[@Admiral-General_Aladeen]

​@@Uberspective i see myself choosing the same over and over again unless i specifically roleplay because some are just not worth it with the limited slots

[@Medvelelet]

@@Uberspective Can you just answer? I dont want to watch it

[@caradine898]

I always feel like I want 1 (sometimes 2) more tradition trees in the end game because the flavorful ones aren't really the ones that are powerful

[@Софија-крафт]

​@Jannie Kirsten not an excuse for bad game design

[@AoShinden]

There are just things you want to keep consistent and official. Saying mods is just a lazy answer

[@darthvaderreviews6926]

I think the fact Gestalts get screwed here would hurt a _bit_ less if we finally were allowed to make non-Gestalt machine empires. Give me my fucking Decepticon imperium NOW

[@Bloodlyshiva]

One of the few things you'll get both sides to agree on. "Where's Cybertron!"

[@MagnorCriol]

....somehow I'd never considered that until now, and now I'm sad about it.

[@edwing72]

You can only do that if ascend synthetically as a bio empire.

[@quuaaarrrk8056]

​@@edwing72 And frankly, this is fine. You can turn your entire empire into robots, but you don't have this from the beginning. Compared to biological pops, robots are superior in a lot of ways early game (habitability, life expectancy) and thus having an advantage to this would be unfair.

[@darthvaderreviews6926]

@@quuaaarrrk8056 To be serious though, I think in terms of RP it's very limiting and that's justification enough to fix it. While robots do have a lot of early game advantages, I really don't think it would be absurdly difficult for Paradox's balancing department to solve. In fact, the ideal solution might be non-Gestalt robot empires sacrificing the traditional benefits of robot pops like immortality, and instead having differences more comparable to regular species differences

[@AnomonomonA]

For those wondering why it feels like Gestalts don’t get a lot of love, it’s how Paradox handles the DLCs. They generally try to avoid you having to buy DLC for your DLC since Gestalts came with Utopia and Machine Intelligences with Synthetic Dawn. They can obviously do more for them, or just make them a base feature but that’s their stance.

[@43games]

They also generally prefer to update DLCs in Custodian updates rather than Crisis

[@Kyle496]

I get why but it's still annoying to see so many new origins and civics when you main hive mind and get nothing.

[@MrVictor1227]

​@@Kyle496So don't main hive mind lol.

[@Sanvone]

I'm only wondering about part of community that was complaining about having to buy DLC for DLC. I would rather pay for nice content instead of saving due to lack of content. The only solution I see from that crowd is: "Paradox should make more free content". It is good for us players but given reality of world we live in - it is what it is. Also CK2 had model in which some religions/regions were unlockable by more than 1 DLC and they just differed between themselves in what options they give.

[@GGWP-gm5cq]

A bit of self contradictory really, since Megacorp is also a dlc.

[@BendeBoas]

Paragons be like: "Wait, it's all Horatio?" "Always has been."

[@CyroTheSpider]

From what I've seen from official Stellaris multiplayer matches in 3.7, normal bio empires weren't picked almost at all. So I think this is a way to make them a bit more interesting.

[@ChaoticNeutralMatt]

That's a valid take.

[@chicken_burgers]

I think it’s like world of war ships, fantasy stuffs works best bc they are built with dreams and hopes.

[@Mike__B]

And so they screw over single player all to try and "balance" multiplayer.

[@shetlandapache949]

​@Mike B you can always load up an older patch if playing sp and play your favorite version

[@silverwolfe3636]

@@Mike__B Welcome to Paradox's balance mantra for the last decade or so

[@kurozumi9834]

We really need a dlc that allows us to explore more galaxies. Basically a dlc that would let us carry our empire to multiple playthroughs or actually be able to switch between multiple galaxies through charging times to not overload the game. A Distant Horizons dlc, really. Could also have a crisis dlc that pushes Stellaris into a near fantasy like theme with eldritch horrors, insanely powerful relics and more roleplay features when it comes to the crisis.

[@lolasdm6959]

What do you mean? Stellaris is s fantasy game, necromancers are in the game for a long time now.

[@OmniGundam777]

As someone who consistently plays machine, this is finally what i need to try something else. (I REALLY hated the mandates system).

[@OmniGundam777]

Update: I haven't played it yet because a game I had imported arrived. Lol

[@coel3572]

@@OmniGundam777 bro, why do you care about mandates? do you, like, need to choose democracy? imperialist/oligarchy is way better anyways

[@OmniGundam777]

@@coel3572 because I'm a good boy. I have a hard time being evil. But you're right, mandates weren't the main reason I avoided bio. It was mostly the "free will". Why bother wrangling people when you can command robots.

[@coel3572]

@@OmniGundam777 well, you can have good living standards anyways, and democracy in stellaris(with YOU choosing who's elected with like a 90% chance iirc) is rigged, which makes it a de facto oligarchy I mainly run empire just because elections are annoying :( Also, I agree about the free will, I'd play gestalt if they had trade as I usually make a trade league and enjoy my free space bitcoins, consumer goods and unity Oh, and btw, every govt in stellaris is socialist anyway, because they provide free food and consumer goods(what even are they???) to everyone, even the unemployed population

[@TheRewasder97]

I have this wachky theory that, as this dlc undermines gestalts so much, the next one might probably be a big one for them. Maybe we will finally get our organic hives

[@MediumRareOpinions]

Organic Ship set please

[@LowbrowDeluxe]

@@MediumRareOpinions Organic ship set, full bio-tech line of techs, and Psionic based Gestalt/assimilation is what I've been hoping for

[@slipknottin]

I don’t think they can make a dlc for gestalts. Because then that dlc will be gated behind the gestalt dlc as well. I think if anything they need to give them love through free updates. But if that’s what they decide to do I don’t know how much they will invest into it.

[@michaaugustyn5414]

I am afraid that might be the last DLC for this game, considering closure of Pdx Arctic and rumours about stellaris 2

[@teaser6089]

@@LowbrowDeluxe Same, Organic ships that you actually have to grow!

[@Nomadic_Gaming]

this def makes overtuned way less useful early game as u want leaders to not die early however overtuned cyborgs and cyborgs in general are gunna be pretty busted w these changes given the long long lifespan hell this is gunna make necroid leaders insane as well necroid cyborgs or psychics are probably insanely busted now leader wise

[@delrunplays2903]

Overtuned hives might be decent, maybe? After all, doesn't the gestalt "ruling council" consist of immortal nodes?

[@Nomadic_Gaming]

@@delrunplays2903 yeah but youd be missing out on preginator bonuses or devourer bonuses which are way better overall later on id say proginator hives are def the thing to use w hive mind and these changes unless you wanna do necroid hivemind which is where the real fun begins

[@nickholk3379]

I’m loving this DLC. Been playing it since I got home from work. It adds so much it’s almost like a different game. Love it

[@MaxTheFlyingCat]

I am somewhat sad that they didnt go for a mix between Bio and Hive functionality wise for the Progenitor Hive Origin

[@frank83153]

Me watching all of Montu’s “should you buy” videos before buying all of the dlc regardless because I’m a sucker and I love Stellaris

[@toughrei2762]

As someone who only really plays PVE, this is my favorite dlc in stellaris so far.

[@iq_pi7211]

12:50 I was playing as a Rogue machine empire and got an immortal Renowned Governor named "Oracle" : An advanced AI specialized in optimizing colony output. She has a unique method, reducing individualism.

[@evgzarproductions2752]

There are few leaders who you can get even as gestalt, Oracle is one of them

[@sharifabdelal4149]

I’d have liked for Gestalts to at least have differentiated nodes based on Civics picked. I think that would have solved the issue.

[@adventure_skaut]

15 euros for this is insane i hoped that first contact was an exception, but if all of their dlcs are gonna be this expensive from now on, then ill just start cracking them instead

[@TheClefto]

Yo Montu, just tried a progenitor hive as a test. If you get a couple of council members with +council XP You can get level 4 council members by year 9. This seems insanely good as I didn't need to employ any amenity generating drones or hunter seeker drones. The only reason why I had any of them was to make sure my unity stayed decent

[@David-bf2cg]

Do you get a normal council with Progenitor Hive?

[@matthewedwards6025]

What I noticed is that unless you draw leaders with a bunch of negative traits, there's really no bad leaders anymore. All you have to do is wait to level up and you'll eventually get some of the good traits you've been waiting for.

[@lolasdm6959]

I feel like there should be a chance where you just get a negative trait when you level up, and leaders with no negative traits should be rare. This would make it a balancing act for feudal empires, so maybe a assasination mechanic as well. It should be most people are crap but there is a "Child of destiny" like in Crusader Kings 2.

[@NightmareOmega66001]

I feel sad as a gestalt player :/ I feel like our leader at least could get a destiny trait (among other stuff I'd like to see) Oh well, have fun bios!

[@MagnorCriol]

I haven't gotten to update & play with the new patch yet but overall I'm very excited about this new stuff. I don't generally play the empire types that are getting a bit left out in the cold here, though, so that probably helps lessen that particular sting. Honestly though, as excited as I am for things like the new leader stuff, new origins, etc etc - and I am excited for them - I think i am even *more* excited about the basic QoL stuff that's happening in the patch. Better science shop automation, better army automation & options, better ship builder and fleet manager options & UIs - all that is going to be so very very good to have.

[@ejune98]

Just arrived when the video is hot and ready to serve

[@TheDrexxus]

Hive Minds may not be as powerful trait-wise as the biologicals, but I do love thematically how your singular consciousness immortal leader is the one taking all the traits an keeping them forever. Thats cool. If it was me, i'd have given them a way to eat/brain rip legendary leaders to add the legendary traits to the collective but hey thats what mods are for right? I've never liked the idea of hive mind empires having leaders at all. The only one where it makes sense is the... Whats it called... Progenitors? Where some of them are more independent mined. Otherwise, it should be the immortal hive mind itself doing all the research and whatnot. I'd love an overhaul of hive mind empires altogether but meh, it is what it is. I'll be playing some sort of god emperor start and wanting to see what all I can get away with for megacorps. They're my favorite. :>

[@andrewcrawford2977]

Exactly. Gestalt Consciousness is by its very definition the antithesis of empires with strong, individualized leaders that have personalized quirks. If hiveminds or machine consciousness builds need to be buffed, then they should be buffed, but that doesn't mean they should be homogenized to have the same gameplay style as biological empires with a focus on powerful leaders.

[@balinthebrave9996]

Every time I watch one of your vids I realise I have so much more to learn a bout this game

[@tenebrisdumplin4583]

This looks like a huge balance patch within the dlc. I'm not particularly into competitive, but I seem to remember gestalt empires being the most popular choice for a long time. This has finally added a substantial downside to having such a streamlined game path as a gestalt empire.

[@comet.x]

they haven't been the most popular for a long time iirc. progenitor could be quite good but that was about it

[@frogvie3624]

@@comet.x idk about hives but outside of silly clone army stuff that’s banned in any serious mp game machines have been the best for a while now. especially rogue servitors.

[@jeanmarc6517]

@@comet.x Progenitor got an indirect buff with this DLC and Rogue servitors players have been winning games hand behind their back since those came out, and got even better with the Overlord origine...

[@7he_last_5urvivor]

Damn I really want to get this DLC but I have finals in 2 days so I’m going to keep myself from buying it until after I finish my finals

[@ashtonpeterson4618]

Good luck on finals

[@Admiral-General_Aladeen]

Clerks might be viable now? Dear god!

[@Nemo2342]

Gestalts had to die so the Clerks could live

[@joeygk2990]

clerks have been viable since the ascension perk that gives every commercial building a merchant job

[@Admiral-General_Aladeen]

@@joeygk2990 thats not clerks thats merchants

[@PatrickNerdu744]

Now you can finally made Dolores Muwanga be worthy of she's reputation

[@kylestyle1471]

I wish there was some sort of space nomad playstyle. Id love to just have one or a few massive starships carrying my pop around like the quarians from mass effect or Eldar from 40k. Habs dont quite cut it!

[@ChaoticNeutralMatt]

Definitely a fun idea

[@sirix500111]

I think the issue you run into with this kind of idea is that you can't really claim space for exploitation AND play as true nomads. So either, you have to relegate yourself to only the space you have claimed, so you can use the mining/research stations, or you have to kind of resource hop from resource to resource as you need them with your fleet, meaning that you never have access to everything at any given time really. Then ontop of that, it makes going to war with you either entirely useless as you have nothing to offer people other then just your pops, or really frustrating as your pop fleets just run away from combat. The idea is super fun and interesting, don't get me wrong. I would love to live out some kind of Battlestar Galactica type fantasy of searching for a new home, but as far as Stellaris game mechanics are concerned, its just not all the feasible.

[@infinityc2859]

Check out the Darkspace mod it is extremely compatible with other mods too.

[@Best-SiLenZ]

I'm here early in the first time. I don't even plan to buy this dlc. I just wait for aquatic to discount

[@judgeman4548]

For the Emperor?

[@shaggystoner5235]

The Emperor protects!

[@javier6877]

For the emprah!*

[@doomrock6419]

Carry his will as your torch. And with it being light to the darkness

[@Ritisuzu]

Let faith be your shield, and let your armor be contempt.

[@Alexander_M0815]

what they could do for a DLC to overhaul gestalts is to combine tht with bio empire factions to create a theme of porperly distinguishing "we are one but they are many - the united and the fractured" so it would be the opposite of recent DLC with hive focus but regular empires would also receive a little something so it got a selling point for everyone rather doubtful though that we will reveice such overhauls as we hope for thinking about a recent debate of ground combat and siege ideas and wishes and what disappointment we were given instead but all these alone provide paradox with an excuse for 3 seperate DLCs to charge us for

[@ericlondon2663]

Once I downloaded Galactic Paragons on my PC the game no longer accepts the mouse interface. EDIT/UPDATE: Alt + Tab while in the Stellaris menu fixes this mouse glitch.

[@markwells3289]

I was having basic UI issues; like being unable to close a pop up by clicking on it. So broken, and so unnecessarily so.

[@edwing72]

The entire time I was watching the video, I was thinking this dlc seemed rather bloated, like holy shit there’s so much garbage that doesn’t even matter because you’re leader is going to die anyways🤣

[@Dieselboater582]

Sad to see Paradox shutting down the Arctic Studios - short-sighted move. 😢

[@EliteSpectre32]

The Gestalt nodes can gain veteran traits as soon as they get to level 4, gestalts also have the unique ability to purge all negative traits from their ruler/nodes at the cost of energy and you can take Destiny traits from finding paragons. Corrosive warship which use to give a level 3 admiral tied to a ship passed it's destiny trait to my Expansion node. That being said you're still very obviously receiving the shorter end of the stick and it isn't the only part for gestalts, machines in particular. They took the passive -20% empire sprawl from pops and slapped it in as their ruler councilor bonus with -3% per level instead of adding anything on top. Machine Overclocking is a civic that gives 10% xp gain and 1 leader cap which is on par or less than all xp traits. Static Research Analysis just gives 1 research alternatives, which is like one third of technocracy which now also gives empire wide researcher upkeep reduction. In general the machine fantasy of being some highly efficient and focused creation is lacking. The fact that machines are the worst at utilizing a planet strictly made by their own design sounds like a sin(this refers to habitats as machines have +50% empire sprawl from colonies)

[@ohNojames]

I feel like research speed is effected if you don’t buy the dlc. But I can’t tell, you’ll miss out on the councilor for it….unless that’s just because of my empire’s ethics.

[@cadis4257]

Genetic overturn took a serious hit with this emphasis on leaders.

[@1fan996]

When first hearing about this, I honestly felt disappointed that it was just going to be a glorified leader overhaul. But, as the details got released, I've found myself becoming more and more excited/ cautiously optimistic that it will end up being an upper tier DLC!

[@brianmatic539]

Will buy through your humble bundle! Great review

[@MadPutz]

They should expand this system for Machine Empires in the future. There are other game mechanics that imply there can be some variability, autonomy/learning, and self-upgrading by some machine individuals.

[@lolasdm6959]

Machine empires don't need it lmao.

[@TheToma305]

I've never said this but...THANK YOU MONTU!!!

[@Cerabelus]

More tradition trees? I already don't have enough slots for tradition trees, more tradition slots would be nice.

[@LAJ-47FC9]

Wishlist: mechanics to somewhat allow for a direct democracy. I can only really picture how it'd work for war at the moment, but some kinda popup saying "we're going to start a vote to engage in war, how do you want to convince the population to go along with it?", and then pick from a bunch of different arguments with varying effectiveness based on overall pop ethics.

[@Hunterreaper4444]

As a gestalt main I do hope we get a new dlc focused on them since we’ve been getting the short shaft in the dlc department for a while now

[@lisaruhm6681]

3:15 looks like we need a new video from Clerk3O

[@marionmorrison2854]

I'm not a fan of the leader cap. It seems kind of low. Maybe I was using too many scientists.

[@RandomGuy-qr5jw]

3:00 Seems like trade is back on the menu!

[@napoleonbonaparte7692]

Feudal society is nerfed into the ground for my intrests and playstyle. That upkeep for all leaders being reduced was a huge part of why i used it and now its only for governers

[@EloquentTroll]

This something I've been wanting and fearing at the same time.

[@blockrock44]

Thanks for the summary!

[@AoShinden]

this DLC is way larger than I imagined lol

[@commandercritic9036]

Sad that Gestalt don’t get all the goodies, but I still like what we’ve seen here, and Gestalt will get some love in the future that hopefully will fill in the gaps that were left for them in this dlc. I generally play Gestalt, but I do occasionally play regular empires, and I might take this opportunity to revive my Holy Britannia Empire with the dlc and go full military focus 😁

[@Kasaaz]

But does it fix Galactic Doorstep?

[@homoe7976]

Dystopian Megacorp, here I come. Finally!

[@deseryve]

Idk what to make out of this DLC. I can only speak from the view as a PVE player. I don't have this DLC and I have the new leader system in a very nerfed way. They have way less abilities, way less council slots and so on. But still the leader cap. And without the DLC it does feel like a nerf. I can't push my systems anymore or recruit admirals for every fleet without a huge drawback, cause they just stopp leveling the less they get exp. It kinda feels like they took something away from us, so you kinda need to buy the DLC to have the same or even a better experience than before 3.8. Or maybe I just play too dumb?

[@primykins106]

Emperor Shaddam Corrino, The God Emperor of 40k and Superman from Injustice. A nice rosey collection of entities there 😂

[@LordInsane100]

Leto II Atreides, not Shaddam (Shaddam was… simply not impressive enough, without that god-emperor glamour and of course his Imperium was one of pure inheritance and a long, long line of dynastic forebears). A non-god emperor example that comes to mind, though the options don't quite allow for the position of his psionics, would be the Mule of the Union of Worlds.

[@primykins106]

@@LordInsane100 thank you! I knew I was wrong as soon as I hit enter but was too lazy to fact check it 😂

[@couchpotato5592]

"You can also role play as OTHER GOD EMPEROR figures" Hello... Inquisition? Yes, its happening again

[@Raycheetah]

I think I'll want to watch some gameplay with this before I add it to my game. ='[.]'=

[@ThomasSedore]

a leader cap existing is absolute bull crap, but if you like it then you like it, I'm just mad

[@dominicbroglio1600]

Would love the next DLC be subterfuge focused. Would be cool if you can target assassinate certain leaders.

[@joshuaclift8544]

I play exclusively as a gestalt consciousness and exclusively in single player, so this is kind of a bummer for me. Having to split the nodes I would get feels restrictive on my playstyle. Hopefully the next dlc will have something for me.

[@ChaoticNeutralMatt]

I'm a gestalt player myself, but I'm curious what you mean by the nodes feeling restrictive.. edit: nevermind. It never clicked how.. irrelevant? The positions are regarding options at least as far as trying to do any specific thing

[@Matt-qt1oh]

Perfect time to pass on a dlc then! Save some money 💵. Or a good time to try something new?

[@aseanrocks]

I won't be surprised the next updates and dlcs will focus on society building, populations, and job reorganization.

[@monkian]

Hopefully they will finally do population reduction properly ; much of it is super easy half numbers double output , and allow those of us who play on larger galaxies not to lag out so much.

[@aseanrocks]

@@monkian just emulate victorua 3 style pops

[@monkian]

@@aseanrocks I'm down for that , would suit the scale better too.

[@rimmike]

With the new update you should make a co op tournament. I think it would be fun

[@wilhemfaust250]

I see we both thought of the God Emperor of Mankind for the "Under One Rule" Origin.

[@dankudrin]

Emperor Vitiate forever

[@modernrecipes]

Just setting up my "Space Alexander the Great" now

[@briwanderz]

i will definitely continue to say this "sorry gestalt" attitude is BS... the claim of "why would a hive mind or machine empire work with bio paragons??" is so easy to fix, just add a couple machine paragons, ALL empires can use AI, so machine paragons make sense (they could relate to the Cybrex, with them or against, or any other story) OR, they could just consume or assimilate (into the hive or into cyborgs) the paragons, even if it gives a lesser effect, it'd be something. BUT even as a person that really prefers gestalts, hive mind especially (who also CAN be very peaceful) i do plan to buy the DLC once humble bundle decides to actually show it.. the extra leader traits are at least something i can play with, and i will play a bio empire once in a great while. plus i do have a little teeny tiny bit of hope that they will give gestalts something, maybe a paragon or two, in a later patch, they did give devouring swarms xenophage origin after that DLC launched.

[@Aarlaeoss]

I find it a little odd that the "under one rule" origin cannot be imperial government type. Sure the text blurb sounds more like a strongman took power, but a strongman can make the jump to hereditary monarch and many have. And this one is of the "legendary" type.

[@lolasdm6959]

Theocratic is more fitting

[@erik-7255]

I play as robots exclusively so i love when me robots get nerfed coz ill beat my friends regardless

[@ShinForgotPassxXx]

I am a main Hive Mind Player, that is really regretable... will buy it when they bput them on par with the bios.

[@beaglejack2023]

Great review, and I just want to say its very rare and awesome for a notable streamer to support the workers at gaming studio as human beings, and to be in their corner. Hats off you to Montu for being a good person. Also, unrelated, the people are desperately waiting for you to do a 3.8 traits video. You last gave us one forever ago. We need you.

[@warioman6183]

With this dlc i hope i can make a "1984 big brother" empire

[@___.51]

I want the dev team to rework gestalts to be at or near parity with regulars, at least mechanically. Let players change the nodes, let the hive ruler unlock destiny traits. That’s pretty much it.

[@Teyloune]

This is pretty awesome!

[@Scourge77]

One of the "bugs" I ran into in my play through is that every time you click on your science ship's automation button, the automation settings menu ALWAYS pops out and makes you click the start button, or else it doesn't do anything, it's SUPER annoying. Someone please fix this feature. The last update's interface interaction for this feature was fine. Don't "fix" what wasn't broken.

[@gusgee1337]

@Paradox: Please give us Fallen Empires as Player and Ground Combat visuals. (Even MOO2 had animated Ground Combat that even had animated Mechs!)

[@Софија-крафт]

i need to make an entire race of Horatio

[@kyle.bowles]

First Contact definitely worth buying more than this. Except where changes to the game have reduced value of First Contact.

[@xeranths]

I feel like being a Gestalt/Machine main basically boil down to buy the Synthetic DLC, maybe 1 or 2 others, and you're good to go. Don't know if I can complain...

[@MisterRyth]

The universe quivers from the many sighs of dismay from the collective consciousness. It seems we are left in the dark again unfortunately. It seems we all must rely on the modders to show us gestalts love and care

[@innstikk]

2027: The almost last Stellaris DLC to be released. This is DLC number 49... Will there be a Stellaris II ?

[@Софија-крафт]

this is why endless space 2 is a lot better because there's just 2 dlc and similar content amount, love Stellaris but the DLCs are too much

[@icytux3484]

Why would you want Stellaris 2, they'll just cut all features and DLC and just make slightly improved Stellaris with no content, better off doing DLC and improving the game

[@Noctazar]

Alert. Leader unit offline.

[@therealspeedwagon1451]

Now this is a DLC I absolutely need. Sometimes I think of myself as a bit of a meta player but deep down in my heart of hearts I am a role player and will go out of my way to larp as space Romans and get them down to the fine details. Now with Autocratic society I could play as another empire I play as often, the Zelvan empire which is supposed to be based off of imperial Russia and i could be them and they are xenophile meaning that a lowly Xeno pop on the run the Zelvan empire seems like an oasis on the outside but once they step in they realize they’re in a hell so bad they’d rather be sold off to the space Romans as domestic slaves. Another empire I could play is the Galactic Revolutionary Front. Which from it’s name are obviously very communist and with their crusader spirit they wish to spread communism throughout the galaxy.

[@Zorro9129]

This is the first Montu video I've watched where he doesn't pronounce gestalt as "geshed out."

[@Direwolf1618]

I am so excited to play this, this is such an improvement on the base game.

[@frocco7125]

This is basically the "Great Man Theory" DLC.

[@DeimosLnk]

This dlc Adds new features which break gameplay. From the very first glance techs subdivisions are broken (why divide techs into computing / fields / particles / biology / statecraft / etc anymore?), leader gap makes it impossible to play as usual, because you can barely hire 2 scientists and governors are now assigned to planets instead of sectors. Leaders consume a lot of unity and it makes it impossible to take traditions at all if you have just 2 science ships. Admirals and generals are also included into this list. Imagine, you have an interstellar empire and you have: 1 emperor, 1 governor, 1 scientist, 1 admiral, 1 general and then you can either build a second fleet or colonize one more planet because you can have only 6 leaders. Total garbage. Barely playable. It is the first time I NOT recommend a dlc for Stellaris. Though every lately dlc was garbage, this one is total garbage.

[@fabiandonvil]

you have the 'option' to assign leaders to planets. it's not a requirement. it's only the governor on the sector capital who matters. that governor will apply it's bonus to all planets in the sector as before.

[@DeimosLnk]

@@fabiandonvil that's right, but the rest is total garbage. Actually, you can use some techs or civics or traditions to increase leader gap to 12. You always need a ruler, which means, that you can have maximum of 11 sectors with governors, scientists, fleets with admirals, armies with generals. Total garbage. And in the very beginning of the game it is just 6. The dlc is crap, game was better on the previous version.

[@DoctorOctupous]

wow a genuine critic on a paradox simp's video? color me surprise, i knew this dlc had to have some problems as per usuals, glad i restrained myself from buyng full price. Thank you for your sacrifce

[@oldomen3788]

I wonder if they will add a supercimputer or hivemind that upgrades the gestalts and gives them a story

[@dominikhartmann2]

So not all of this is true - in fact also a gestalt consciousnes can get a paragon - for example via the oracle event as a machine empire. Instead of just integrating like previously, you know actually get a paragon governor. In addition, you can increase your trust cap with the curator enclave to 50 an get a powerful 15% science bonus. Plus, you already start with 5 council slots unlocked from the beginning, which is a huge buff compared to the three ones you have as a biological empire.

[@perseusveil9376]

Like for that Leto II mention.

[@RiskyNights]

Omg this DLC looks terrible. It’s basically just, hey access these new stats.

[@iainballas]

I have to get every DLC at launch because I'm our groups multiplayer host.

[@yoashbarak373]

Vaults of knowledge on 5% would be so op. It's not counting current level 8s, it counts all you ever had. It's essentially a self feeding engine.

[@WillowTitov]

it sucks I'd need to fork over $15 just for maybe 2 new traits and a few new mechanics that don't really change much... I will definitely be skipping this, as someone who mains Gestalt.

[@Xartimus]

Respect for the Leto II namedrop

[@markthompson6139]

Despite all the hype for bio normie empires, progenitor hive has never been more busted. Instant 5 member “council” that levels crazy fast, super fast scaling, innate combat bonuses combined with ultrafast leveling admirals, not to even mention that they can do the void dweller ship cost reduction exploit, and the 0 empire size governor exploit better than almost anyone else. Good luck with your “legendary” paragons when i roll up with 200k fleet power at year 40 with nearly fully ascended planets and practically free fleets. Leaders are now OP, and the Leader centric gestalt origin is next tier…

[@merchant_of_kek5697]

Love me grug Love me lasgun Love me god-emprah

[@pickcomb332]

Leader level cap is a serious drag imo. This game is not balanced properly for this content or the content is not fitting well with the rest of the game. The Leader cap is a serious drag to gameplay.

[@gerb1419]

I don't understand how to play now, with only 7 leaders? previously, we could only have 7 scientists. And the same number of governors and admirals. And now 7 leaders (even 9) for all.