Stellaris: Ten Beginner Mistakes (& How To Avoid Them) - Stellaris Tutorial / Stellaris Tips

Trying to get into Stellaris, Paradox’ grand strategy space 4x game? Here are ten beginner mistakes and how you can avoid them. This video is part of my ongoing Stellaris tips & tutorial series, trying to help beginners and advanced player alike.
This series is best watched from its own dedicated playlist:
bit.ly/HorathsStellarisTutorials
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Stellaris (get it here: bit.ly/StellarisOnSteam )and its newest DLC Utopia (get it here: bit.ly/StellarisUtopiaSteam ) are developed by Paradox Development Studios and published by Paradox Interactive AB. Copyright © 2017 Paradox Interactive AB. www.paradoxplaza.com
DISCLAIMER: This is a press copy provided free of charge by the publisher.

[@dutchtheguy849]

I would say some of these ''mistakes'' are more opinions. I myself do like to just build a unity building for it doubles that of the average empire, this can be counted as being useless, but I just grab the one from the science building which only gives me 4 science spread out. The unity is way more worth than the 4 science points. Another science ship also isn't needed in my experience, yes you can start to scan faster but you can only exploit your surroundings as much as you got minerals and energy. This makes it so that I would rather have +2 minerals than extra things discovered. What I may lack in exploring I can make up by getting what I do have explored faster than the ones who choose for an extra science ship. Ofcourse, Planetary survey corps is absolutely fantastic for science, in the other update it would pretty much double your output if you had 3-4 ships, now it provides only a 33% of that bonus, it's absolutely worth it to just go discovery first, with the 10% boost to science at the end of that it's great, 20% if you also take technological ascendancy. However it can go against roleplaying your race, and so shouldn't always be picked if you find your species would do something else first. In a max efficiency playthrough however you're absolutely right I totally agree, never research them immediatly. You may get influence but it will ofcourse cost science. A lot of early game science. I see nothing wrong there, that is the right place as it would make your way out of the spiral secured, and secure a great system which would give you 2 planets for 1 administration cost, housing 32 pops total it's great. However, that singular tundra world would't pose a threat if settled, it's too far away and I better hope you would make that 20 tile planet your first colony due to it's location and size. Being in a deficit while going to war is no problem at all, I have had times where my deficit was -700 or more, this is no problem because you can just use your mineral income to increase your energy income over long periods of time. In that same game I also had a mineral income of roughly 1500, this could be used to : A trade at the trader enclave making my -700 instead a +50 due to the 2-1 ratio. B trade 30 year monthly income to an ally or somebody who likes you at the other side of the galaxy, this can give you insane amounts of stabilising energy. Oh. I absolutely despise getting an immediate Adm. in the early game. This is due to multiple reasons, yes they don't cost a lot of influence, yes they can be pretty major. However not in ht e early game, they may gain some xp but the Bonuses are still a bit too small for me, it's the same with planetary governors on small 9-15 tile planets, the bonus on such a planet is too minor to impact the game too much. Admirals are only needed in my opinion once you start to go to war, or well wars. You can easily gain 3 levels within 1 or 2 wars, or just gain the supremacy +2 levels and then start to conquer the galaxy. The admirals will also become older and without the T2 age trait they will most likely die not so long after your first couple of wars due to the length you have had them. It's better to suddenly burst gain levels than to slowly increase them. Yes, generals are useless. Building up such a 14 size fleet in 8 years is dealy inefficent lng-term. I would ratehr build more mining stations and let my only spaceport be the detterant factor as the ai really won't attack until at least 30 years or more in on normal or hard. On Insane ofcourse you should do this much faster, but not quite this fast. The only situation I could see this needed is if you're playign a FP or DS, and you literally rush your nabourghs first colony to gain an insane 4 planet start as them (Which you'll need due to the amount of defensive pacts will be around you in the mid-game) Ctrl + Shift is really handy indeed.

[@HorathDrak]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply, I am sure other viewers will profit very much from it! Well, I tried to make these as universally applicable as possible, but it is opinion in the end of course. True, the unity building at the start is a must, I forgot that one ;-) I agree with you on almost all points, except for the fleet buildup. It may be that I only ever play on insane difficulty, but building up the fleet when you have time and minerals is something I am forcing myself to do these days, since I have paid a couple of times in the past where I was too greedy and invested all the minerals while letting the fleet stagnate.

[@dutchtheguy849]

Well then, I'll sure be using that advice then. Even veterans can learn from you then, esspecially those that are too greedy!

[@Robinson_Crusoe]

The unity building start is very, very strong. Getting the private colony ship twice as fast? Do i even have to emphasize how powerful this is. Honestly i don't think there is a better way to start the game. Saving 700 minerals for the second and third colony and getting them out way faster while building my economy with minerals? Pretty much a baseline start for me. And getting that twice as fast with the monument is incerdibly powerful. Compare that to a second science ship.

[@Comando96]

It can be worthwhile to have a general, but only 1, and even then they MUST have the Invader trait. Additionally its only really worthwhile with long lived species. Good ground armies are only necessary for time purposes. You are effectively besieging a world and a good army is used to to reduce the time that your fleet is needed to be locked in that system. The invader trait gives +20% Moral Damage, and +20% Army Damage. Its still only worth it for the purposes of late game multi-tasking in large wars. I agree early on, they are a complete waste, but that's different from them being useless forever.

[@briankearney5994]

Another bonus for newbies is that just spamming a bunch of armies as you approach the midgame, typically clones or slaves, with (maybe) an invader general can let you blitz right through the enemy planets ignoring fortifications allowing you to keep an AI busy, especially if you need time to build up. The cost, especially for slave armies, is rather minimal compared to the immense cost of your fleet. Invading enemy planets has no limit to the number of armies used. If you spam these armies *do *NOT buy the upgrades* (at least at first) as they cost *more* than the slave army itself. The invader general is probably a better idea if you feel you need the multiplier. Also, as a bonus, this ensures you always have plenty of surplus troops to occupy planets. Good points in the video, influence and minerals are the key to early game expansion and security for sure.

[@Vincent-cs1cp]

I don't know why but the fact that all of this is being told by a guy with a German accent is really suiting

[@HorathDrak]

lol, glad to hear it!

[@kingaragornii9940]

Natural engineer😂😂

[@philmybutup4759]

Biggest mistake in stellaris is invading Russia in the winter

[@StryzerCorporation]

@@philmybutup4759 bruh that’s fucking rude not only is it rude it’s being a fucking cunt to peoples culture and as I’m German I’m offended

[@IronSquid501]

My biggest mistake today was thinking I could play Ironman mode without the game rigging against me *I spawned right next to a xenophobe fallen empire and was wiped within the first 5 years*

[@HorathDrak]

Yeah, that can happen ;-) But it isn't always that way. Just put it down as a story that happened at some point somewhere amd start a new game...

[@dhasenan]

I don't know why, but when I play on ironman, I always get into terrible situations. When I play without ironman, I dominate, even without save scumming.

[@ltwarrior18]

GG, you can loop that, by surrendering every 10 years, fallen empires aren't scary at all. And when you reach a break even point with your fleet you will destroy them. And problem solved ;)

[@tauempire1793]

@@ltwarrior18 still gonna take time

[@tauempire1793]

Lol

[@feonor26]

Imagine being conquered by an army of peacocks? The shame alone would trigger mass suicide...

[@lonewolf5238]

I dunno...those fracking birds are vicious.

[@patinho5589]

K H I’m sure the peacocks think the same about us!

[@xXGalacticSniper50Xx]

K H lord shen from kung fu panda 2

[@ahizzy5566]

Space marine peacocks

[@ComradeHellas]

true true

[@EinsiJo]

You mention picking admirals with the fleet logician perk over others. I used to do this too, as reducing upkeep is the best trait, but Fleet Logician is also the only trait Admirals can gain while doing nothing (All other traits only proc under specific circumstances. Victory in battle, emergency FTL, repairs etc.). This means that Admirals wihtout Fleet Logician will often end up with it anyway since they'll spend most of their time in orbit of your starbases.

[@HorathDrak]

Nice, I learned a new thing! Hugely appreciated!

[@tomwallen7271]

I generally prioritize survivability traits on my admirals (weapon range, ship hull points) as they almost always gain logistics after a few years.

[@austinm5630]

One more tip: when recruiting Admirals, they are actually assigned to specific ships, so if that specific ship gets destroyed, you lose your Admiral. By default, the Admiral will automatically station on whichever ship is the "best" but the way the game determines "best" is based on ship class and/or mineral value. If you have, for example, a ship with massive missile banks but weak hull, and another ship with heavy hull, armor, and weak weapons, it's entirely possible the game may see the missile boat as the "best" ship and place your admiral there. So, when assigning an Admiral to your fleet, you can actually click a specific ship in the fleet window and assign the Admiral to that particular ship. Since the Admiral's bonuses ALL apply to the ENTIRE fleet regardless of which ship they're on, it's wise to select whatever ship has the most defenses, even if it may be weak offensively and not technically the "best" ship as far as the game is concerned. You can also specifically design a ship as a "Command Ship" for this very purpose. This allows you to build a ship with extreme defenses but minimal armaments to keep maintenance cost low while still keeping your Admiral well protected. Personally, I recommend a ship with only Flak or Point Defense for this, as these weapons are cheap but increase the survivability of the ship even further. (Especially Flak since it CAN be used offensively.)

[@HorathDrak]

Good idea, if a little micromanagement heavy. Could be useful for other viewers, thanks for taking the time!

[@Psyralbakor]

Some great tips! I've also found that diplomacy goes smoother when you have fleets closer to the cap... when you've got an inferior fleet their attitude tends to slide to the Dismissive and Patronizing ends, where they want to vassal/protectorate you "for your own safety" and thery seem to insinute that not agreeing may lead to troubles down the road. Things often become more Cordial/Friendly once fleet sizes equal or surpass those neighbours.

[@HorathDrak]

Indeed, depending on you fleet strenght they'll see you as prey or as a potential ally ;-)

[@TheNeomaster15]

Great video. I have a tip as well that is most effective. Don't colonize worlds already in your border, spread out. The more you spread out the more resources you gain and when you are finally boxed in you will have plenty of planets to expand to within your borders, the 1-2 planets that are within your borders at the start are essentially traps.

[@HorathDrak]

Yes, we are in agreement there. Especially if you take into account how easy and cheap terraforming is now. Keep those planets for later, terraform them and have fun. Though since the introduction of the mega structures this strat is not quite as crucial as it used to be...

[@tomwallen7271]

whoa.... Ctrl+Shift inserts a new order at the top of a series? So... I don't have to redo the 15 system queue I built up for my science ship to research that giant skeleton they found? I can just ctrl+shift click and he'll research that and move on with his queue? WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THIS!? MY LIFE HAS BEEN A LIE.

[@HorathDrak]

You are welcome ;-)

[@AlversianPeoplesNew]

That is absolutely amazing... :D

[@benlex5672]

When you realized that not every thing really apply anymore in 2019......

[@therealnedry4278]

Unless your on console

[@HorathDrak]

Yup, all my older tutorials got a second wind from the console version ;-)

[@ahizzy5566]

@@HorathDrak yeah I'm on PS4, this definitely helped me get into the groove of the game. Stellaris updates really do change the game.

[@alan6685]

It looks so different now

[@MeidoInHebun]

The biggest beginner mistake is not picking a cute species to play.

[@HorathDrak]

Or a species with lots and lots of tentacles. I might be biased though XD

[@alphamon701]

Hah

[@assgoblin3981]

Phos!!!

[@seby826]

cute fanatic Purifiers species are the best

[@alan6685]

There's a serious lack of furries to choose from.

[@unclefreckles4498]

KZbin recommended this and I watched it out of pure nostalgia. Was the first tutorial I watched. Boy, stellaris sure has come a long way since... I kinda miss the old days. It wasn't as refined as it is today but I cannot shake the feeling it was in its own way, much simpler and better. Today it feels like a micro-managing hell.

[@HorathDrak]

Yeah, I can definitely understand you there!

[@unclefreckles4498]

@@miraak8523 Well, since two years ago I got used to the -new- Stellaris, but it still a lot of micromanaging depending on your Empire. Don't get me wrong, it takes learning but it ain't impossible. It was undeniably easier before. Planets used to be square based, with each square having a pop you can more, making adjacent bonuses. Far simpler than today. Better ? I don't know, it's... Very different.

[@kibitokay]

good tips if only i didnt had to learn them by geting rekt in game haha

[@HorathDrak]

+kibitokay lol, it is never too late ;-)

[@crisis8v88]

Future empires will profit from studying the remnants and wreckage of your "precursor" race. :D

[@Twiggy163]

kibitokay but thats the best way!

[@DGP406]

losing is part of the game, the best lessons are learned from mistakes

[@oslovan2284]

that bonus hotkey tip was nice! Super helpful!

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to be of service ;-)

[@andrewlewis88]

It's actually just shift, right-click.

[@samcook1327]

Andrew Lewis shift + right click would add the order to the end of the unit's order queue. Shift + ctrl + right click will add the order in front of any of the unit's pre-existing orders, which is handy if you often queue your ships with orders and something pops up that you want done first.

[@yuuneeq9494]

"that's gonna be... alot of months" 10

[@HorathDrak]

lol

[@Fightikus]

there's literally "Finishes in 5 months" notification (4:18)

[@namidragon13]

Nice tips, especially the hotkey but I disagree on some points. Most of it are special cases but still. 1. Early Buildings? 1.1 Wait with planetary building until a new pop is grown. Building a Monument is almost always a good idea. Also building needs time so start before the pop is completely grown. Last but not least food is completely broken without 1.7.2 beta hotfix so you can remove the pops from farms asap. 1.2 Ignore tile blocker when you have free tiles The natural resources on the blocked tiles may be high enough to justify the effort. especially the +2 energy for just 40/40 is a Goto tile when you want to expand fast or have no possible energy mining stations. 1.3 Concentrate on orbital mining stations in the beginning If you started with a monument and go for (the OP) Prosperity right away it's actually better to wait with the mining stations until you have your first tradition. The only exception may be when you have 4+ possible mining stations in your home system because then build time becomes a factor. 2. Starting Corvettes? 2.2 Put your fleets on evasion From experience I can say "Don't bother". The ship will evade by itself because it jumps right to the next system and if it comes to a fight it will never survive until you can emergency jump out. Also the evasive stance can really mess up pathfinding especially when you use hyperlanes. 2.3 Explore any system Subjective, but I would leave Black Holes, etc. because they can't have colonizable planets. 3. Science Ship(s)? This may be personal but I strongly disagree. Your first science ship will almost always survey things in you start empire faster then one construction ship can construct mining stations over the found resources. After that there is enough time to survey possible colonization targets found by your fleets. I would never build a second science ship before my first colony. Depending on my neighbors, who may trade star maps, I sometimes never build a second one. "Planetary Survey Corps" were nerfed but if you want to utilize them you should survey as little as possible before you actually got them and never ever trade for star maps. 5. Frontier Outposts? I agree to the point but most of the time you should just colonize these planets right away. Also if you have the chance you may prefer building them in systems that your enemy can colonize not yours. Last but not least use your outposts to aggressively push back the enemy border over valuable systems, best case colonizable systems. 6. Ready for War? I think negative energy while at war is normal. ^^ 7. Energy? Research? Minerals? Concentrate on Energy, Energy, Energy. The one and only bottleneck at the start is energy for having as much parallel colonizations as possible. You also want to stockpile energy for the point you explained just before this one and to get the enclave contracts as fast as possible, because their cost scales between 1.000 and 5.000 and you want that unity bonus asap. The only exception is multiplayer because colonization there is suicide, just build fleet and 4-5 armies and invade the first colony you see. 8. Admiral(s) At the start Fleet Logistician is nearly worthless, you should just get the youngest admiral so he will be still alive to fight his first battle some day. 9. Fleet Cap? In multiplayer yes, but in singleplayer NOOOOOO. The only reason to build fleets in single player is aggression. If you just don't want to get attacked build spaceports. Their fleet power to cost ratio is infinitely better especially because the don't have upkeep with the solar module. As a pacifistic empire when you come to the point where an AI may be able to destroy a spaceport you can start thinking about a serious fleet. And even when you are an aggressive player you may want to wait with the serious ship building until you have a corvette shipyard. Before that just build enough corvettes to kill your pirates.

[@HorathDrak]

Thanks for creating such a detailed comment! Seems to me that you are coming from a mainly mulitplayer focused perspective, what with all the colonization rush and all. I do disagree on the energy focus, but mainly because I only play on maps with 0.25x habitable worlds. Makes every world feel more meaningful. I guess the priorities shift if you have a huge amount of colonizable worlds around yourself, although I am not a fan of too much early colonization - pushes up your tech and unity costs way too much. I am sure viewers will profit from the perspective you provided though, thanks again!

[@nobletenshi7659]

About your science ship point. I am against it. Why you might ask ? Well its easy. Anomalies! Even quests that gain research (the star quests/survey and Anomalies, gaining 60-150 research is a big deal at the beginning of the game) and finding predecessor event lines. I find the the traits you want to look for are the 10% anomaly chance (seriously can just reload if you fail, but I dont tend to start projects over 40%, since sometimes they are timed events needing a high level scientist) the 5% research and 10% genius traits. Most likely you could put a Genius into research being 10% an all. but if you can spare to swap him to surveying when he can be replaced, they level faster and if you get lucky, they can gain a field research trait, giving them 15% or 20 % into that field. Pretty useful. I'd say get a 2nd one from the get go, and then a little later get 3rd (as events pop up). Getting that juicy physic research is godsend when trying to get that Colony Tech before your first colonization. Well unless the tech RNG is a bitch and doesnt give it to you.

[@namidragon13]

I get the point, but I personally would never risk to loose a scientist to a critical fail even with 10% chance, especially in early game. Most of the time, when I grow to a size where I can expand in two different directions I build 2 science ships at once and use the already leveled scientist to research the stockpiled anomalies in an order where he won't face any risks. But this behavior developed while playing a lot with my sedentary Hive Mind which may be the influence hungriest race ever build. Extreme colonization and one really costly resettle per conquered planet (except for other Hive Minds).

[@FINKnATOR]

The last hotkey tip was worth the price of admission. I can't say how many times I've had to reassign the same orders to get something done first.

[@HorathDrak]

Yeah, I was overjoyed when one of my subs told me about that hotkey. Makes life so much easier ;-)

[@tiaanmunnik]

I've been playing it for a while now and have realized these myself, but thanks for that last tip! Queuing something to be the current order while maintaining the list of orders after it will save so much time spent on re-adding orders :)

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to help!

[@Comicsluvr]

This is a good video IMHO. Basic, clear ideas without any smoke and mirrors. I had not known about the hotkey shortcut at the end so that alone was worth it.

[@HorathDrak]

Thanks, glad to hear that you found the video useful!

[@Comicsluvr]

Very. I already knew a lot of it after hundreds of hours of play time, but a video that delivered what was on the tin instead of 15 minutes of good ideas interspersed by 15 minutes of the creator cracking bad jokes and otherwise raving about themselves is never a good idea IMHO.

[@HorathDrak]

Do you have a specific video in mind? And have you had a look at my whole tutorial playlist? bit.ly/HorathsStellarisTutorials

[@OasisZer0]

The last one, omg, changed my life. I hated when I would queue up a long list of orders and then needed a science ship to research something.

[@HorathDrak]

lol, I said the same when a viewer told me about it. Just trying to spread the love ;-)

[@purrfekt]

Thanks for the tips ; ) Subbed! I like your vids because you jump straight into the topic without time wasting intros & bad music a lot of vids have. Sharp and sweet is the way to go! That also makes it very watchable and I keep coming back to rewatch to pick up points I missed earlier.

[@HorathDrak]

+Jacqu J Welcome to the channel!

[@Katalonianrock]

Cheers man. I wish all tutorial videos were like yours - short, descriptive and straight to the point.

[@HorathDrak]

Thank you very much! Doing my best to keep it short and concise! Can't do anything about the videos on other channels, but I can make more tutorials myself ;-)

[@slapslapslapclapclapclap7048]

a tip to others, go on 1.25 or 1.5 speed, over time you get used to the speed and can process information faster and also have more time to watch more awesome videos like this one. I recommend starting out with 1.25 and then 1.5 later, but that is just me. Have a wonderful day day!

[@HorathDrak]

lol, more of a life hack than a Stellaris tip, but still useful!

[@Mastervitro]

Yes but you may want to reduce the resolution as well, as increased speed means more videos, but also more bandwidth, and if you are doing other stuff or can't afford to go pass a bandwidth limit like with Comcast, than it might be better to stick with regular. Never go below 1.0 though unless your looking at a frame that goes by fast.

[@arthas640]

i wish i could do that, i always play at normal speed and pause frequently which makes the game go by at a much slower pace. I'm always paranoid about not leaving anyone idle on strategy games, a habit i picked up in Warcraft and Age of Empires with my peasants :P

[@Matthew-li7we]

That bonus tip at the end. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! I have googled that before and all I have found was the shift + right click. I already knew shift + right to add a order, but the Ctrl + shift + right is a god send to finally know.

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help!

[@BoringKBM]

I started playing Stellaris after watching 15min of a Let's Play and I'm surprised by how much of these tips I had already incorporated into my playing without even knowing it! With that being said, I didn't know about the hot key, the idle admiral experience gain or the mining stations; great video!

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear it! If you run into problems during your playthroughs and have questions, just leave a comment and I'll try my best to help. All the best!

[@ertyae]

Very good tutorials, thanks! Relatively short and straight to the point. Game doesn't explain everything, so very useful.

[@normal6969]

Oh my Loki! Exploration with split beginning fleet never occurred to me, surprisingly. Thanks! Watching thru...

[@MsFlyingCake]

That control+shift tip is super helpful, thanks!

[@smitty4483]

3:00 Wow I did not realize that, thanks Horath :)

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help!

[@ragnarrahl]

I used to do the split the starting corvettes to explore thing, but lately I've taken to not doing it to make it easier to get an anti-pirate fleet up and running in time.

[@HorathDrak]

Legit strategy, though I tend not to miss those three corvettes too much. Scouting expansion opportunities is worth it in most cases.

[@wanderingwatcher3981]

Very nice video. All points are excellent, and very helpful. I´ve struggled to figure a lot of them out myself. That said, I wanted to add a few things about the points in the video. For the sake of clarity I´ve repeated the advice given in the video, so everyone is on the same page about what tip I am refering/adding to. Good video, keep it up! 1. Early buildings. Correct, don´t build too early. However, if you are lack good mineral asteroids in the start, it´s a good strategy to clear a slot with minerals on your homeworld and move one of your existing pops there. This allows you to trade energy for minerals early, which is normally good since you start with a surplus of energy and can afford to go in the negativ for a while. Getting mineral production to around 15-17 as fast as possible is a good goal at the start of the game. 2. Scout with single corvettes, ahead of science ships. Yes, a very good strategy. 3. Build another science ship right away. Yes, almost always a good idea. However, if you are using wormhole-drive you may run out of systems to explore before reaching level 5 with your scientists. This will leave some anomalies/quests locked away during the early game. Either stick to one science ship early, or have one of your science ships stop exporing and leave most of the exploration to one of your science ships to make sure you get a level 5 scientist before the exporation phase of your local region is over. 4. Delay special projects. Yes, techs are more important in the beginning. It used to be possible to research the "discover aliens"-quests at the same time to save research, rip. If you wait long enough, the A.I might do the quest for you. Saving you some research. 5. Know where to place outposts. Very well outlined, steal planets early with outposts. The A.I stupid, and won´t know the difference between you taking empty "mining space" and actually colonies. You might as well go all the way if you plan on making an A.I your enemy. It is also better to place outpost in habitable systems for another reason: When you have coloniesed the system you can remove the output. Which will give you have back the lost 1 influence per turn, to mabye build another outpost. It´s basically a long term commitment to build an outpost in a system without a planet and should therefore normally not be done. However, if you happen to find a system just out of reach with 8-10+ minerals early, then by all means, build an outpost there to jump-start your economy. Note: With a hyperdrive empire, you also have to take lane-access into account. And with a wormhole empire, you might want to consider outposts on systems that allow you to explore/colonies a large number of new starsystems; mid-way points between clusters. 6. Be mindful of energy costs of fleets, not only while docked. Good tip. 7. Minerals are king early. Before 50 minerals/turn nothing else matters. After that it is a good idea to get to around 20 science/turn of each type. Science is very powerful in this game (obviously), and can be more worthwhile than production gains. 8. Recruit admirals early. Yes, but be careful. Sometimes you really need that extra influence to be able to colonise a key system. This is often the case with a warpdrive empire, which has a steep scaling with distant from controlled planets. Be sure you don´t spend influence you need to colonise. 9. Never build generals. All too true. Paradox, pls fix! 10. Keep close to your fleet cap. Yes, good advice. Spaceports also increases fleetcapacity slighty, which is a good reason to build them on every planet when your ecenomy is strong enough to handle the expense. The solar panel research also gives free energy with every spaceport, so building them actually help with fleet upkeep. Also, never build defense platforms! They are too weak and you get them too late in the game. You´ll be able to get 2k starbases by the time you and everyone else has 20k fleets. 11. Control/shift is your friend! Indeed.

[@HorathDrak]

I agree with all of your points, thanks for taking the time to type up such a detailed answer! Will surely help other viewers that are browsing the comments!

[@radoslawmazurekwaw]

CTRL+SHIFT thing is really, really great tip. Thanks for that.

[@rey6024]

Have like 300 hrs in this game and YOU teach me strategies id never thought of, Earned a sub bro great Points in this!

[@HorathDrak]

Welcome to the channel, glad to have you!

[@johnnada2482]

One mistake he made in his intro, you do in fact want to build a building right from the start for tradition output and place one of the pops on it immediately. Otherwise what he says is correct. It's better to use a construction ship for exploration.

[@HorathDrak]

True dat!

[@robertzoccoli8238]

Watched this purely out of curiosity. Did not know about that bonus tip. Thanks!

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear it!

[@tomburgess8485]

135 hours in Stellaris Only now finding out about ctrl+shift Fml

[@HorathDrak]

Happy I could help ya ;-)

[@Ashidaru]

Really good tips for beginners, as for the bonus at the end, I always hoped there was a command for this, thank you kindly sir.

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help! Thanks for leaving a friendly comment!

[@PiranhaMoe]

Awesome video, I didn't know about that hotkey, soooo good, thank you! Definitely subbed!

[@HorathDrak]

Welcome to the channel! Glad I could ya ;-)

[@XethmondeusWave]

I don't mind my energy starting to drop as long as I have enough of it stored and I know I can increase my energy production before I run out of energy.

[@HorathDrak]

There are ways around it crippling your of course, but I've had a nasty surprise once or twice...

[@bergschoorsteen]

wow thanks for the bonus tip, the rest was pretty basic but didnt know the shortkey for that thanks

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear it helped you! Well, it kind of has to be basic to help beginners, no? ;-)

[@elroyscout]

Yeah, I always knock off tile blockers for energy and minerals, because it’s a cheep way to get more of them in the early game while you’re scrambling for both

[@Xenoit1]

that last bonus one was the most importand thing ever, thank you sooo much

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help!

[@crisis8v88]

Great tips! The kingdom of Noobia will surely go on to rule the stars. I didn't know before that chaining Frontier Outposts increased their border push, so that'll be a useful tool for me at some point. Frontier Outposts are also good for grabbing nebulas early on, as they sometimes spawn 20+ minerals and other goodies in four or five systems.

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear you found this useful!

[@TheTrueBagman]

I really like just rushing colonies, I've got a Hive mind with the Extremely Adaptive trait and they can literally colonize every system(Except for Tomb worlds) from the very beginning, it is handy not being limited to just your starting category. I take as many large systems as I can.

[@HorathDrak]

Yes, that is a very nice build, hive mind + extremly adaptive!

[@thearcheduck8746]

The first one is a situational tip, but good nonetheless. 10:00 I discovered that the hard way and had to restart, and within 30 years I made 33 minerals per month although I only had 5 energy per month due to location, so I had to dedicate my planets to produce my power.

[@HorathDrak]

I had the need for a mineral focus hammered into my brain by multiple playthroughs. More minerals just let you do more!

[@n3m4ra]

Your videos are great, very concise and informative! I started playing just a few days ago. I'm glad I found this channel.

[@HorathDrak]

Thank you very much! Welcome to the channel, glad to have you!

[@Zlorfikable]

Thx for the ctrl + shift tip. Didnt know that. Highly practical

[@ash072]

Thank you for your insight! Appreciate the help!

[@TheBaertierchen]

11:38 Big mistake here: Recruiting an Admiral is fine and should be done ASAP as you said. But never ever do you want to recruit an Admiral with the Unyielding trait. He might get good boni but a fleet with an Unyielding Admiral can not use the "Emergency FTL" should a battle swing in favor of your opponent potentially destroying your whole fleet in the process. The same goes once your Admiral gains that trait via a level up. Dismiss him right away as he got useless at that point.

[@HorathDrak]

Yeah, unyielding is a mixed bag indeed! This was just for demonstration purposes ;-)

[@TheBaertierchen]

I guessed so ;-). But knowing people, especially beginners i felt it was necessary to point at that error. Many tend to copy thinking: "He did that so it must be good."

[@equilibrium9829]

If you play the game of fleets, you win or you die.

[@Kingtot]

Errr... pretty sure they removed that malice of the trait ages ago..

[@TheBaertierchen]

Not to my knowledge, unfortunately :(

[@TCBYEAHCUZ]

Thank you so much. Yep, totally made some of these mistakes.

[@HorathDrak]

Me too ;-)

[@daniellxnder]

That bonus tip alone is worth a like! Of course the rest of the tips are also useful 👍💯

[@christopherwilliams8383]

Just started playing. I’m going to start a new game immediately! Thank you for the great advice, you make a lot of good points. Ty

[@HorathDrak]

You're very welcome! Enjoy Stellaris ;-)

[@LPxPlayer]

great video man, you earned yourself a new subscriber. definitely helpful for new players and beginners :)

[@HorathDrak]

Welcome to the channel, glad to have you!

[@cainejones8045]

You should re-make this guide for the new updates.

[@HorathDrak]

I am working on various tutorial videos right now, 1.8 change a bunch of stuff. Not sure many of these tips are affected though, they are pretty basic and therefore mostly untouched by the patch...

[@iami3rian394]

You should re-make this guide for the new updates. It's almost completely outdated.

[@HorathDrak]

I will!

[@marvinkloos567]

@@HorathDrak Don't bother us, all of us console guys are just coming in now and we're on 1.7 ^^

[@HorathDrak]

Yeah, turns out some of my older tutorials are getting a second wind due to the console release ;-)

[@Shimanoclan]

the bonus made my day :) ty

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear it!

[@Bjarkenb]

Regarding the early fleet cap I tend to get a little greedy and wait till I have researched (and built) the corvette assembly yard, saving my minerals for expanding/constructing, since the spaceport is virtually indomitable before that point anyways.

[@HorathDrak]

Sounds legit. Could go wrong depending on your neighbours, if they are very aggressive and have you rivaled. But most of the time this will save a bunch of minerals!

[@nat20dm]

Holy crap. Had no idea about CTRL+SHIFT!! Been playing since release! Thanks for that!

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help!

[@joachimschoder]

Thanks for the tips. I find the CTRL + SHIFT tip especially helpful. But I would like to add something important to the fleet capacity tip: If everybody around you has a favorable view of what you are doing (AI only of course) you don't need a strong defense fleet. But you should check their moods and intentions on a regular basis. If they are reaching the level hostile and they have a superior fleet you are pretty much fucked since they will declare war on you if they are hostile AND you have a inferior fleet.

[@HorathDrak]

Indeed, that is why I would not risk it and just keep the fleet up to max. Learned that lesson the hard way...

[@AlexSDU]

The last one is the only thing I didn't know about. Thanks.

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help!

[@StryzerCorporation]

Love this I’m subscribed you got straight to the point I love that

[@Commandelicious]

Researching right away isn't the best thing to do, I usually wait for the first two unity thingies that give a higher chance to find something (anomaly discovery chance). It's ok to wait in my opinion, one usually doesn't have the ressources to span stuff anyway and the cheaper science stations are neat, same goes with the thing that gives cheaper mining bases.

[@HorathDrak]

You mean surveying right away? Yeah, it is a viable strat to wait until you have the survey tradition that gives you research points. But that is some advanced stuff, the thing about advice for beginners is to start simple. Then people can experiment after they have mastered the basics.

[@KetilK]

Nice video, I recently bought the game, but not really gotten started yet, so I hope this will help.

[@HorathDrak]

+Ketil Hope so too! Check the rest of my Stellaris tutorials (playlist in the video description) for more! All the best!

[@korke_]

Excellent video! There is one thing that I disagree though, regarding Generals. Sure, they are useless in the early game, but in the mid and end game, they can be decisive when you are fighting a war against a opponent with a stronger fleet than you have. You can't directly engage it's fleet because it is certain defeat, so, to keep the war going and force them to the defensive I usually make a big army with a good general, so I use the fleet to take down the space station, and immediately retreat, using the big army with the general to invade the planet without wasting time for bombardment. I occupy the planet, win some warscore for a while with little-to-no losses. It is really useful until I have enough time spent in war to successfully make a white flag peace.

[@HorathDrak]

Glad you found the video useful! You can still brute force invasions without generals, you just need quality troops like robot armies or xeno-morphs in big stacks. Saves a lot of time!

[@voiceofreason467]

About buildings, I put them up once the pop starts getting to a point where I can officially build the building and when its done, the pop is almost done.

[@HorathDrak]

Yes, that's how it's done!

[@Maxonater5]

thanks this was really helpful. I did a lot of these mistakes

[@Delibrium]

thank you for this video. it's very clear and precise info.

[@NaqrSeranvis]

An advice: When aiming for wide empire (thus waging mostly cede planet wars), make your battleground in a territory that is not going to be ceded. You definitely want spaceports and mining stations intact when you win the war and the territory shifts to your control. But, if you're not sure you can steamroll your enemy, send a small detachment of your fleet inside their far territory, one that is not a subject of demands and set it to aggressive stance. Destroying their mining stations will significantly reduce their capacity for rebuilding fleets, and destroying their research stations will slow their research, meaning even if you're a bit weaker than they are, losing a ship will hurt them more than you, since ai never attacks your civilian stations and whatever you lose you can quickly rebuild. Other thing is, AI empires will never build ships if it would cause negative energy income. This means that destroying energy mining stations will reduce their practical fleet capacity as well. Moreover, destroying enough mining or research stations will grant you a few warscore points in itself. Now the other thing is aftermath of a war - with their mining/research stations broken, the remaining territory will struggle with low income, having to put that low income into stations rather than military fleets. And so, 10 years later, when truce will expire, they will be significantly weaker than otherwise - generally, if you manage to destroy every mining station in the non-ceded territory, if it's an early game, the enemy empire will be reverted back to start game potential once you win that war. Meaning you'll generally be able to demand the rest of their territory on the next war. Even a strong empire can be effectively crippled if you target their economy.

[@Wolfechu]

Oh my god, that last bonus tip. I knew about shift-clicking.

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help! ;-)

[@amiserable]

Very useful tips for new Stellaris players - thanks much!

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help!

[@kevinmurray2551]

I think an exception to the "No Generals" rule is the Avatar from the psionic path. These one-unit armies have a TON of health, well above average damage, and the highest morale damage available. They are also unbuildable, so very limited in number. Between their health and morale damage they are individually worth multiple armies, and the high base value for damage and the -extreme- level of healthy is just begging for xeno cavalry and a good general. Get a couple of these guys on one planet with generals and xeno cav, and maybe some defense armies in addition to the militia as meat shields, and even with your fortifications at 0 they will still chew through many, many assault armies. The Avatar vs standard assault armies is like how you would expect a battleship vs corvettes to be if there were no evasion mechanic.

[@HorathDrak]

Nice, I did not know that! Thanks for taking the time to write that down, I am sure it'll help some viewers!

[@JoeJ33]

I just got this game and your tips video helped me out big time.

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help! Have you checked the rest of the tutorial playlist yet? Here's a link, just in case: bit.ly/HorathsStellarisTutorials

[@anamarvelo]

I've never had the issue of my fleet suddenly bankrupting me when it comes out of mothballs. Mainly because I didn't know that was a feature and I've always been stationing several medium-sized fleets right on the border of rival Empires so Wars declare they can rapidly Blitzkrieg some of their smaller worlds before combining together and taking on their core systems

[@HorathDrak]

Well, it can save a significant amount of resources to have your fleet in orbit, especially if you build a crew quarters module on that space port (reduces upkeep of orbiting fleets by 20%). Having them on the edge of a system's gravity well can make them good fast response fleets though, I approve of your strategy!

[@nobletenshi7659]

Nice tips. As for building buildings to expand on. The only one you should build is the Unity building. Just keeping your pops sitting on tiles will give you those resources without paying any energy upkeep. This is good for getting started when you have limited resources and energy to spend, which you covered. Well you should wait til the first pop is created so he can used the unity building. So you have 1 pop time. Outposts can be situational, but not wasting them or putting them in bad placement is good. You made that clear. But you should expand a bit more on outposts. Theres a few roles they can be used for.. yes containing planets from Ai is one. Getting a strategic resource is another... But you could also be using them to expand your borders. Cover as much "resourceful" star systems as you can or linking up 2 planets for more resource star systems. But thats when you have an understanding how borders work. Another interesting thing to note, which I take into considering. Is Outposts can double up as a resource mine. If the Star has a resource, it will collect it like a normal mine. So ideally putting an outpost on a resource star is like a double function letting you forgo that mine and its upkeep (you still pay outpost upkeep tho). You still pay the outpost upkeep but get the resource too. Expansion tree is also very useful for dropping a few outposts to make larger borders. It makes a difference, rather than having 2 outposts , you can have 4 for the same upkeep cost. Anyway, felt those 2 could of been expanded on. and I always start by building a 2nd science ship from the get go too. Then try get a 3rd a little later which your getting missions to research stars and stuff (those missions give you research).

[@HorathDrak]

Agreed, the unity building needs to be built asap. Some good tips there, thanks for taking the time to write them down!

[@ngiltner]

your Stellaris videos are the best there are. always helpful with great tips

[@HorathDrak]

Thanks, glad to hear it!

[@difenderu]

Good tips! I wish that tutorial was around when I started to play Stellaris. :D

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear you found them useful!

[@Maxie962]

Here is an even better tip: You can colonize outside your own borders; DO THAT and DON'T put frontier outposts(FO's) in colonizable systems if you can help it. FO's and Colony ships have negligible difference in cost in minerals, time and same cost in Influence. Reserve FO's for systems you cant directly colonize. Second: The optimal number of armies for invading is 30 per stack, assuming you bombard the enemy fortifications and they DON'T have the Resilient trait or universally use robots for defence, in those cases; double the number for Resilient and add about 5-10 in case of all-robot defence force, unless you're using robots for invading. Oh yeah: BRING A GENERAL, preferably with the Invader trait. Finally for invading planets: Make sure you drop your armies BEFORE the fortifications hit 0, the exact number on which you should drop depends on fleet power of the bombarding fleet. Also, fortification damage is CAPPED at 100, in that case: drop at 1000.

[@HorathDrak]

Well, starting colonization too early increases your tech and unity cost, so outposts have a role to fill. And they are cheaper in terms of minerals. 350 compared to 200 is quite the difference, especially with early game income. Nothing is stopping you from bringing a general, even if I think they are useless ;-) I tend to just brute force invasions later on without waiting for the fleet to finish bombardment. Pretty viable if you have enough stacks to throw in. Makes wars go by very fast!

[@Helman114]

IMO if you have synth leaders and full synth rights, you can get a general that has the invader perk for an extra 50% dmg + if he gets glory seeker after levelups you can destroy a 25 gaia planet fully build with planetary shielding without bombing it with like 5 clones. So IMO that is worth.

[@DISTurbedwaffle918]

New to the game, and noticed that I've been naturally tending towards these same ideas through trial and error

[@HorathDrak]

Nice! Though the video is kinda outdated in some parts due to 2.0 changing almost ALL THE THINGS ;-)

[@Christianbacherhjort]

Hey Horath Drak, great video, your guides is one of the things that made me get into Stellaris in the first place :) By now i've clocked a good 500 hours into it so i'd definately recommend the game and your videos to anyone who likes grand scale strategy games. As for the guide, I think some of the advice (like going science ship first) would go nicely with a few tips for new players on which traditions to go for. Personally i wait with the second science ship till nearly 5 years into the game because i always take "to boldly go" as a science tradition first and i dont want to miss out on any nodes close to my main area. What are your thoughts on this?

[@HorathDrak]

I used the same tactic in my current LP - go for the discovery stuff before even surveying a thing apart from the home system, then rake in those sweet sweet tech points and anomalies... A traditions guide? Could be a thing, I'll add it to my list. Thanks!

[@zaphodlucs]

holy smoky you got alot of views with this one! started playing Stellaris yesterday. saved me alot of trouble with the early game. the imediate scientist ship is really a difference maker. went with a scientific focus and the extra borders helped me win a domination game without ever going to war, i simply loved the flexibility of the game, very diferent from paradox stantards

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear it, Lucas! this video did very well indeed ;-) If you have more Stellaris questions just shoot me a comment, I'll do my best to help. Or watch the rest of my tutorial series, I have a lot of Stellaris videos: bit.ly/HorathsStellarisTutorials

[@samwise210]

3:43 There's a minimum of 3 of each research gained for each Survey with Planetary Survey Corps.

[@HorathDrak]

Nice, I did not know that!

[@Ninjamaster255]

that bonus hotkey tip alone got you a like tha will help me alot

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear it!

[@jorgesanchezcuellar8201]

Very useful tips. Thank you

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help!

[@ossiedunstan4419]

Thank you mate very enlightening

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear that!

[@lucasalvarani317]

very good guide! Thanks.

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear that!

[@lezuen3693]

awesome video, thanks mate :)

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help!

[@Karagianis]

For standard buildings, (I think the basic versions you construct on new colonies build faster) I find if you start a building just as the pop reaches the last division on it's growth bar ( 7/8ths grown) then the building should finish construction at pretty much the exact time the pop finishes growing. All things being standard that is, obviously if your empire has fast or slow growth modefiers that probably won't work.

[@HorathDrak]

Yeah, that is a good rule of thumb! Thanks for sharing, much appreciated!

[@sarcasmo57]

Great tips my man.

[@HorathDrak]

Thanks, glad to hear that you found the video useful!

[@szczurpb]

Really nice tips. Some already doing, some doing in similar way. Was not thinking about the projects tip, quite good point. About creeping, what do u think about Habitats? They are pretty... Usefull to replace outposts. But gonna see howit gonan be with Cheeryh. Oh and good tip on the end - 5 friends, 250h+ and noone knew this... :D

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help! Yes, Habitats are useful for creeping, but take waaaay more resources. To justify that the systems you are creeping towards need to be really, really tasty ;-)

[@wolfieinu]

I'm not sure how exactly to reconcile these tips. Keep your energy income minimal and focus on mineral stations, but also have an economy able to support a wartime fleet, but also build up to max fleet cap ASAP? Don't these things pull in opposite directions i.t.o. energy income? Or are these tips intended for different stages of the early game?

[@HorathDrak]

Push your mineral income to +50 as soon as you can, then build up your fleet & energy generation. Fleet building is much easier if you can queue a corvette every month. But if you have a very aggressive neighbour (fanatical purifiers for example) then go for fleet strength asap, you'll need it...

[@TreeFolkDruid]

how I start my runs are: Start a 2nd sience ship build Temple asap (either when pop is like 90% ready to spawn or emediatly depending on what stations I have found) I focus Influence research, +5% research if I can and maybe engineering research building)

[@HorathDrak]

Sounds good to me!

[@Mr.Turano]

I didn't know about the ctrl, i always restarted my queue, thanks.

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help!

[@mr.gameandwatchsonlyfan1463]

When I played my first time I accidentally clicked become vasile and I had to start a war of independence with three nations which were superior and I won

[@HorathDrak]

Congrats!

[@makavelismith]

Bloody good video, thanks.

[@jefftaylor8321]

thanks for the info very helpful

[@HorathDrak]

Happy to help!

[@Deadganon]

The Control + Shift method to gain priority is gonna help me sooo much from requeuing stuff up. 277 hours into playing the game and i didnt know about that hotkey way. :) I guess even if you arent a beginner, you learn something everyday :)

[@HorathDrak]

Yeah, I was super happy when a viewer told me about that short-cut. Game on!

[@michaellowe2305]

This is the kind of knowledge I like to hear

[@energyboy96]

Thank you ... that was actually helpful ^^

[@HorathDrak]

Always the tone of surprise... Just kidding! XD Happy to help!

[@TranceAcademyOfficial]

This was a great video!

[@HorathDrak]

Thanks, glad to hear that you found it useful!

[@finntraynor3904]

Damn this is a throwback

[@KrautGoesWild]

Relly good tips! I got this game from the beginning and still make mistakes.

[@HorathDrak]

Glad to hear you found them useful! I am making mistakes as well, don't worry. It is human to err... XD