/games/ - Games

is stellaris really fucking laggy at the 2300s? i am doing 1000 star space loji playthrough and the game is unbearable of slow even with the new pop rework update

I usually get bored or forget about my last save early-to-midgame, i'm kind of burned out on the available roleplay options and i don't want to mess with mods on my pirated gog version. My first empire on ensign was wide and science focus and i had enough similar builds after that to know most of the descriptions already. I'm also at a point where i'm questioning if the drone operator/resource allocator gameplay loop feels fun at all, i often fall into the trap of exhausting myself with micro and frequent pausing. Is it simply the type ofgame where you play 70% on the side, should i just wait a year until the next few DLCs have dropped?

>>43583
stellaris is one of the poorest implementations of the 4x concept, try different games

>>43583
I guess i should also go into detail on some of the game mechanics i'm burned out on:

I played the game on-and-off since "Dick" and influence as a currency has been clunky ever since, mostly that it's a scarce currency necessary for multiple unrelated actions. The new uses of unity are similarly perplexing, as they can significantly delay important early game traditions like "colony starts with 2 pops".

Not ramping up trade as a non-gestalt empire makes you lose out on a lot of economic growth. Otherwise macro usually involves around increasing pops, unless you heavily invest into a single progression system, which often requires knowledge of the meta (which modifiers to invest into, ascension paths, origins, etc.).

Conceptually federations and vassalage are among the most interesting systems, but they're major pains to manage and usually only work to make managing an otherwise already dominating empire easier. First time i played the hegemony origin one of my allies overtook me in power, second time they rivaled a prospective member which tanked the federation xp. Things like this just make me play as determined exterminator, but then that game is half turtling, half preying on weaker neighbours, which isn't really interesting in the long run.

Also espionage is all but useless, unless you're behind on research and somehow have the energy to spare, want to wreck an already weak empire or place a spy just to get some intel.
>>43585
Freeciv (aka civ2/civ3) might be good, but i never managed to wrap my head around the combat enough to lead a successful invasion. I also played a civ6 game with a friend and was far from impressed. Most of it felt like something i would describe as a "bonus horoscope".

>>43587
I was going to tell you to check out dominions 6 but if you couldn't figure out civ3… that's crazy

>>43596
No, i could figure out the basics and almost finished one game where i messed up the generation and every other player was fighting stuck on a small island at the other side of the map. The attack rating and my below average macro, habit of largepoxing and overall averseness to risk taking just interact in a way where when i try to take an enemy position, the current of siege and balanced units i throw at it usually completely fizzles out while rapidly depleting my gold stockpiles.
Flood detected; Post discarded.

>>43587
>influence as a currency has been clunky ever since
I didnt play before influence (or more exactly, I did like 2 games a decade ago when everything was so different it was another game), but yeah, always felt the influence was an annoying to get mana, gatekeeping too much diplomacy and expansion without even making much sense
merging unity and influence might be good actually (like convert influence from unity)

commerce is also lackluster I feel. Special resources arent that needed or scarce, trade is some magic that happens mostly inside your empire, there is no "trade hubs" whether in or between empires, and theres not that much emphasis for it even when playing fucking megacorps

and even the combat feel kinda bad, sensors have too much range, cant hide in ambush without specific stealth tech, designs are easy to optimize and too limited, lack of supply lines and magic reinforcement/retreat, no training and limited veterancy system, ground combat is even more simplistic… A system like hoi doctrine might be good.
And gateway are too powerful and easy to mass build, and the fact you cant sabotage them just suck.

And their war/peace system is frankly annoying af. They should have taken a page from eu4 on that front.
Definitely a lot of wasted opportunity in the espionage and internal politics too.

So yeah, game is still fun especially when you dont know most events yet, but there is much that could be better.

>>43614
>And their war/peace system is frankly annoying af.
I don't have any problems with the war exhaustion mechanic and long peace durations, yet all of it meshes terribly with the war goals/claim system. The occupations being limited by claims means you can potentially fight a moderately successful war, while not taking anything of importance and wasting your alloys, icentivizing to instead turtle until you can wipe out the other empire in a single war.
>even the combat feel kinda bad
Combat isn't really a draw for me, so i like that corvette spam is still kind of viable.
>not that much emphasis for it even when playing fucking megacorps
Commerce is kind of useless except to utilize low-habitability planets, but i think megacorps have one of the best gameplay loops with a strong emphasis on getting commercial pacts and maximizing the resource output of branch offices.
>the fact you cant sabotage them just suck
The espionage system really needs a overhaul, doesn't it?

>merging unity and influence might be good actually
Making the tradition tree currency useful for other things results in a double bind. Either players don't have enough and will consider not recruiting a new leader or not activating a useful edict, or they will generate enough that it doesn't matter. I liked the old system more, as trading off energy and empire sprawl respectively is more meaningful and easier to justify than delaying the next tradition. They fit thematically closer as well.

>gatekeeping too much diplomacy and expansion without even making much sense
I feel the gatekeeping itself makes sense and building up fleet power to increase influence growth is appropriately expensive, only there should be one or two more options. Using the same currency for starbase expansion, military expansion, diplomacy and megastructures is terrible though. At least one of them needs to go, maybe splitting them into interior and foreign policy could work, tied to empire sprawl and the envoy systems respectively, something that current unity tries to do, badly.

>>43614
Imagine you went to the UN but the bouncer said you're out of influence