Stellaris!

Game Plug: Stellaris by Crazy Minh on 2019-06-08 00:26:00 UTC Reply

I have been obsessively playing this game for two weeks now, and my god is it amazing.

I've never been much of a fan of strategy games, grand or otherwise, and most of my friends know this. I've turned down more than a few requests to purchase a Civilisation title in the past. So, to have a game such as Stellaris recommended to me by a friend was unusual, especially given the fact that I'd never heard of this particular title, even in passing.

Thus, I watched some gameplay on Youtube, and at the next Steam sale, bought a copy.

It is frakking amazing. The depth to which your civilisation can be built is amazing. Fleet battles are fully simulated with hits and misses happening as the physics engine permits. The sight of a massive battlefleet flying over a strange new world, each ship arranged into formation is incredible, even on my puny Mac.

Even if you aren't a fan of Grand Strategy (or strategy for that matter), I highly recommend you get a copy of Stellaris. It's a bit pricy when it's not on sale, but sales are pretty frequent on Steam, and Stellaris pops up in the selection of midweek discounts more often than you'd think.

Stellaris! by Tomash on 2019-06-09 07:30:00 UTC Reply

I recommend this game as well. That is, unless you're trying to avoid getting sucked into a "well, let me just finish [building this thing, conquering this planet, ...]" loop.

Compared to other Paradox games, I'd say Stellaris is a lot more forgiving. You've got a whole chunk of the early game to explore the galaxy and maybe get to know the neighbors (well, if you want to just start killing them and taking their stuff, you can, but you don't have to), giving you a lot of time to get familiar with the game and your empire to ease you in to things. (On the other hand, you've got games like EU4, where you basically need to get into a war with someone nearby reasonably soon, in my experience).

If you're looking to sink more money into this thing once you've gotten hooked, I'd recommend the Utopia DLC.
Actually just got it while it was on sale. by Grundleplith on 2019-06-08 14:50:00 UTC Reply

also GUNDAM MODS!
SIEG ZEON!
I've got this game by CodeCom on 2019-06-08 08:40:00 UTC Reply

I've sunk 800 odd hours into it.
Oh man, you don't know the half of it... by Thoth on 2019-06-08 01:41:00 UTC Reply

Stellaris is probably the least detailed, least complex game that Paradox Development Studios has ever released. Which... isn't saying much. Paradox are a bunch of utter lunatics who I deeply admire, despite having never really quite been take with their games. They always tended to just be a bit too fiddly.

Myself, I seem to prefer Civ's more abstracted, kinda board-gamey style. Love a good game of Civ IV. Then again, I also like Space...

I really need to go try SMAC.