Stellaris

Paradox has started releasing weekly dev diaries for their upcoming sci-fi strategy title, Stellaris. So far, two have been released:

Dev Diary 1: Vision
Dev Diary 2: Art

Here's the reveal trailer if anyone is interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxTT258PmNc

Dev Diary 3: Galaxy generation

Dev Diary 4: Means of travel
Dev Diary 5: Empires and species

Can't wait to hear more, really. Those screenshots do look good.

Some more dev diaries have been published in the meanwhile:

Dev Diary 6: Rulers and Leaders
Dev Diary 7: Science Ships, Surveys and Anomalies
Dev Diary 8: The Situation Log and Special Projects
Dev Diary 9: Planets & Resources
Dev Diary 10: The Spaceport and rare resources
Dev Diary 11: Research & Technology
Dev Diary 12: Policies and Edicts

And last but not least, some early gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRp7T5irXTQ

Stellaris releases May 9th.

It has been a long voyage, most of it cloaked in darkness. But planetfall is in sight – a new franchise will establish itself on Planet Paradox. Stellaris will be released on May 9, 2016.

Stellaris is the new science fiction strategy game from Paradox Development Studio, the creators of Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron. This will be the first strategy game from PDS that is rooted not in the past, but the future, as you guide a species of your design to power and glory in the depths of space. With randomly created opponents and procedurally generated star systems, no two games can even play out the same way.Our new trailer has never before seen game footage including starships massed for combat, the galaxy map and some of the most beautiful stars in the universe.

Trailer (and a rather sweet one at that)
Dev Diary archive
Source

Here's a 40 minute gameplay video from Quill18:

Pre-orders are open on the PDX website, and they released a new trailer to celebrate the occasion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Huuacl6oqI

This game looks stellar. I am tempted to pre-order.

Only $40, awesome!

Originally Posted by wiretripped
Pre-orders are open on the PDX website, and they released a new trailer to celebrate the occasion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Huuacl6oqI

This game looks stellar. I am tempted to pre-order.

One pre-order later so thanks for the info wiretripped.

I also found a new interview for the game today.

Link - http://gameranx.com/features/id/4833…nrik-fahraeus/
I can already imagine my death to all Xenos Imperialistic campaign.

I caved and pre-ordered too. I'm rather excited for this game.

SIX MORE DAYS UNTIL RELEASE! SO MUCH EXCITE!

Ahem, sorry, I am quite hyped about this game.
Here's two more promo vids from PDX:
Stellaris - Developers Aiming for the Stars - Pt. 1
Stellaris - Developers Aiming for the Stars - Pt. 2

Such mod-friendly. Very replayability. Wow.



Okay, looks like we'll have to get this one.

I've been playing it a lot since yesterday. Can't say if it's good or bad because of usual embargo, but let's just say I've played it about 15 hours in the 30 hours since I got it

Looking forward to this one though I have some reservations with something like the "stack of doom" problem known from other games like Civ4.

Watched all the Dev Diary videos by "Grand Strategy George", which are very informative and well done. Can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/user/MechanicalMooCow/videos

And currently at the 10th video of the Dev "Blorg" stream, which can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shoi…DOgU6B54nEP-os

Originally Posted by wolfing
I've been playing it a lot since yesterday. Can't say if it's good or bad because of usual embargo, but let's just say I've played it about 15 hours in the 30 hours since I got it

Wait, what? You are playing it already? HOW?

The embargo lifts tomorrow, you better have your impressions prepped for me by then.

Also: 5 MOAR DAYS. I grabbed Endless Space to tide me over until then.

Originally Posted by wiretripped
Wait, what? You are playing it already? HOW?

The embargo lifts tomorrow, you better have your impressions prepped for me by then.

Also: 5 MOAR DAYS. I grabbed Endless Space to tide me over until then.

Press copy for youtubers/streamers. The embargo for videos and streams lifts tomorrow at midnight (EST), but not for reviews until May 9th. I wonder how that works, I'm guessing you can still say if you like the game or not in your gameplay video, just not make it a 'review video'?
I plan to publish the first 2-3 episodes of the series tomorrow, though at midnight (6AM CEST) is a sucky time. Unfortunately they'll be in Spanish, but I'm sure there will be plenty to see in English.

Well, the floodgates are open, you can now see literally hundreds of videos in youtube, plus lots of streamers in twitch. I'm even thinking of doing a stream later today in Spanish just to go with the flow

It was hardly possible to even keep up with the official streams and the multiplayer event.

Originally Posted by wolfing
Can't say if it's good

As if it could be deemed bad…

Originally Posted by Aubrielle
Such mod-friendly. Very replayability. Wow.

Replayability? Not in the usual Paradox way.

Paradox put a lot of thoughts and work into curbing expansion.
Conquering the world gets dull pretty fast and by forcing the player into a limited territory, other gameplay features are open to developpment.
Like the dynamic evolution of the board that keep providing scenarios on the fly.

As a result, games like Victoria, CK or even EU have a lot of replayability.
Same starting conditions are met with everchanging board changes and a player might decide to go a different way because of a specific board configuration.

Stellaris is another story since it focuses on expansion and domination only. The board evolution is a non feature in this product.
While graphics are sharp, the art direction is uninspired, the map has nothing near the value of a usual paradox map. Nothing happens. Territories are just territories to expand in.
Staying in a little corner of the galaxy means nothing as nothing happens at the other end of the galaxy.
It is all about conquest. The board provides no material to drag the player into scenarios, it is always the same objective, and ultimately the same paths to victory (whereas the end game is bloated with events to get the player's empire to collapse)

Mods wont change that. Mods will only change the package, not the content.

This said, Stellaris will probably be appraised by players as they usually are driven by imperialistic powermonging. Forming the largest blob possible is their motivation.

Stellaris, that provides nothing else as a content, fits perfectly their tastes.