Stellaris: Paradox can into space

You can start as one of a few premade races or make one from scratch as far as I understand it.

Sounds good to me.

I have decided to copypasta the latest dev diary after reading it:

Zoft said:
Good news everyone!

Today we are going to share some details with you on how the galaxy is generated in Stellaris. When discussing this we will also touch on some of the different features of the galaxy and how we try to anticipate what modders will want to do with the galaxy generation in this game and making sure that they will be able to.

When you start a new game you can specify the size and shape of the galaxy as well as the number of (normal) AI empires. Sizes currently range from 200 - 1000 stars. The amount of AI empires only affects how many AI controlled empires that are generated from the start, a lot more will spring into existence during your game. Currently we have three different types of shapes for the galaxy; spiral, elliptical and ring. Spiral galaxies have the stars placed in arms that extend out in a spiral pattern (see “Pinwheel Galaxy”). A spiral galaxy provides an interesting geography, with voids between the arms that might be difficult to pass in a straight line. Elliptical galaxies have the stars placed in a ellipsoidal pattern (see Wikipedia), resulting in a more evenly distributed geography. Ring galaxies have the stars placed in a ring shape around the galaxy core (see “Hoag's Object”). If you play with a ring galaxy you know that other empires have to approach you either clockwise or counterclockwise within the ring, making it easier to cut other empires off from the rest of the galaxy than it is with any other shape. All of these options are of course moddable, both in regards to looks and available options.

Once you are satisfied with your options and decide to start the game, we begin the process of generating the galaxy. When we generate the stars we also decide what class each star should be. Most stars will be star classes with the different spectral types B,A,F,G,K,M. Some star systems can however be more special, like a black hole, pulsar or a neutron star. Every system with a certain star class has a given set of rules that controls how the star system is generated; you will, for example, have a hard time finding habitable planets close to a black hole. All of this is very moddable, you can add your own star classes and remove the existing ones if you want to.

We also generate some galactic features other than stars. One of these are nebulas. Nebulas are visible on the galaxy map and often contain a bunch of interesting star systems with special rare resources. In a nebula you can expect to encounter some special events and experience certain penalties and bonuses that may impact your decisions when it comes to colonization and fleet movement.

When we generate the contents of each star system we use different system initializers depending on what the system is being used for. If you, for example, were to start as a pre-scripted human you will be placed in our solar system, on Earth. Yes, all of this is moddable also. These initializers allow us to make sure that you, as a player, will always have something interesting to do within a system. They also provide us with ways to create a more balanced start, by being able to affect the content of your star system and systems that are neighboring to yours. It is worth knowing that these initializers have a certain random factor attached to them, so you should never expect the exact same setup between game sessions.

We generate a lot of interesting special content in the different systems, including the ones that no empire is controlling. This content ranges from debris to ships of unknown origin, that could be friendly or not so friendly... Speaking from personal experience when it comes to the “not so friendly” ships, I recommend all players to scout systems before going there with their science ships to survey a potential future colony. It is not fun having your science ship blown out of existence with your most skilled scientist aboard.

Next week we will talk about the different FTL types.
 
Hahahahaha! Stellaris Dev Diary #4 - Means of Travel New DD. Thunder. Stolen ;)

Hey all!

Today’s topic will further explore the subjects of fleet movement, FTL-travel and the general wonders one might happen upon when ripping holes through subspace. As the writing of this is a bit sudden the dev diary came out late today, our apologies!
The galaxy is a pretty huge place and to get anywhere in a timely manner you’ll want to travel faster than the speed of light, or use FTL-travel for short. Stellaris will have three methods of FTL that players can use; Warp, Hyperlanes and Wormholes. They all have distinct advantages and disadvantages when it comes to the strategic movement of ships and fleets causing expansion paths, diplomacy and wars to be quite different depending on the method used.

Warp
Warp requires each ship in the fleet to be equipped with a Warp Drive. These are quite costly to build and cause a major drain on each ship’s available power, but allows unconstrained travel to any system within range. When travelling to a system outside the range of a single warp-jump, the fleet has to make a sequence of jumps through a number of systems. Any jump puts a considerable strain on a ship’s Warp Drive, causing the fleet to not be able to jump again for a short while after arrival. While this can be reduced by more advanced technology, it does remain a weak point throughout the game for any species using this method.
Fleets using Warp Drives to travel will need to do so at the edge of a system to lessen the gravitational pull of the local star. This in combination with the fact that warp-jumps have the slowest FTL-speed of the three methods means that the arrival point of an incoming warp-fleet can be identified, and possibly ambushed. The cost of freedom is potentially high!


Wormhole
Some species have decided to sidestep this whole business of blasting through the void at ludicrous speed. They prefer to open up a temporary wormhole that a fleet may use to instantly travel to a distant system. These wormholes can only be generated by a Wormhole Station, a type of space station that can only be constructed on the outer edge of a system. Any fleet wanting to travel will have to use the Wormhole Station as a connecting point, passing through it whenever they leave the system. The station may only generate a single wormhole at a time, forcing all ships and fleets to wait while one is being prepared. The larger the fleet, the longer it takes for the Wormhole Station to be ready. The wormhole generated does allow two-way travel, but will collapse almost instantly after sending a fleet through.
Constructing and maintaining an efficient network of Wormhole Stations is vital to any species using wormholes, as it will allow sending huge fleets from one part of the galaxy to another in very short time. It also allows striking deep inside enemy territory with little warning. This great strength can also be a great weakness, as fleets are left with no means of further offense or retreat should the network be disabled through covert attacks by enemy strike-fleets.

Hyperdrive
The galaxy in Stellaris has a hidden network of hyperlanes connecting the systems, only visible for those who know where to look. Ships that are equipped with a Hyperdrive can access these lanes and use them to traverse the galaxy at incredible speed. They are however bound by the preexisting network, and has to path through each system connecting their current location and target. Galactic voids lacking systems are in effect huge movement-blockers for any species using hyperlanes, having few systems allowing possible crossings. An enemy could potentially fortify these vital systems should they become aware of their existence, creating strategic choke-points. As the hyperlanes exist in subspace, fleets may access them from anywhere within a system and does not have to travel from the gravitational edge as Warp Drives and Wormhole Stations do. As such, catching a fleet using hyperlanes can be tricky. Correctly identifying the paths to intercept and interrupt their somewhat long charge-up is probably your best bet.


All methods of FTL-travel can be improved by researching more advanced technologies. While their exact effects differ some they all improve the speed, range, efficiency or cooldown of FTL-travel. However, being able to casually bend time and space with increased power does not necessarily mean using it with more responsibility. As additional species bend the laws of physics to send larger and larger fleets through the galaxy, there is always the risk of something, or someone, noticing...

Next week we’ll talk more about the different species in the galaxy. Look forward to it!
 
Stellaris Dev Diary #5 - Empires and Species

Definitely turned up my hype levels a couple of notches. Ethics, governments and POPs sound pretty awesome and the alien design seems very good as well.

However one thing I did notice looking back over screenshots is that while I don't mind the scale and look of the solar systems as shown, I think it looks great, I sort of assumed that fleets would be tiny dots at that kind of scale and you would zoom far in or something to look at them and see battles. Looking over them now and I realize that ships seem as large as moons and fleets would be splayed over large parts of the solar system.
Spoiler :



That just looks quite weird to me, but I guess I could get used to it. To me it just doesn't seem to fit well with the theme and feel they seem to be going for with the exploration of the unknown and all, not very "the great unknown"-like if Mars is just a dozen or so ships-lenths away.
 
Probably came to the conclusion properly scaling both would require extreme scaleability and not be worth it.
 
I certainly hope there's the option of scaling the ships depending on player preference. Some players might prefer usability while I may prefer a semi-realistic scaling.
 
I was thinking more like having something like an icon or a single ship for selecting and managing fleets similar to how armies are represented in their other games when in a full solar system view.

But yeah, I don't think the Clausewitz engine was designed with the sort of scaling I would want in mind, though I really think it could be much improved if they made them just 1/4-1/2 the size they are currently. That sounds like something that could be doable in a mod or something.

With this game I find it really hard to really envision what the game will look like in action, like how will the real-time battles look like with the typical paradox time-ticks system. Really want to see the gameplay, screenshots aren't enough.
 
As someone on Reddit sort of said all these modifiers and stuff are turning me on. Being able to customize my race at the start sounds very interesting...

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