Stellaris developer diaries detail anomalies, aliens and more

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by Ben Barrett PCGamesN Tal Onzy Says future game seems far off into the future

Paradox Development Studio are making a space game and I couldn't be happier. Stellaris is the developer's take on the future-space age, taking their proficiency for incredibly detailed systems as seen in the likes of Crusader Kings 2 and applying it to the colonisation of the galaxy. If you plucked a game idea fully formed from my head, it would look something like that. What I've just discovered is that weekly development diaries have been coming out from Paradox, giving details on everything from the initial vision for the game to the art direction and various alien races.


There's a full archive on the official forums, but here's some highlights from the posts which go out every Monday.

The very first diary, titled The Vision, includes a description of the game's mission statement - "The galaxy is ancient and full of wonders." This inspired the way the game become similar to a more traditional 4X, with all players starting very small. The focus from there will be on exploration, letting the game introduce concepts more slowly than the legendarily difficult to grasp Crusader Kings does. Of course, after that you'll meet other races and get into massively complex political, social and literal wars with them. Hooray!

Galaxy generation and FTL travel were covered in two seperate diaries, but are intrinsically linked. Three main methods of travel will be available, governed by your choices. Some are more useful than others in different galaxy types and parts of those galaxies. Pregenitor race-built hyperlanes are good in packed star systems, but can't cross large empty spaces. Warp Drives give freedom, but are very slow and could be ambushed at the other side. Something present in all the diaries is a focus on moddability - all this can be changed by the inevitably large groups of amateur devs who will create their own universes.

Finally, races and how they're lead were also a pair of diaries. Each faction will have a certain Ethos, governed by three points they can invest in a number of different social tracks. Two points towards militaristic and you're a Klingon-like set of warriors. One in Xenophobia and your people are more likely to accept poor treatment of conquered enemies. Meanwhile leaders are not as characterfied as in Crusader Kings 2, but serve roles in ground assaults, ship battles, research and governance.

Hopefully we'll get to see more of Stellaris moving soon. In the mean time, here's the hauntingly beautiful announce trailer.

 

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Stellaris will have 32 player matches fought across 1,000 star systems Tom Marks PCGamer

Paradox Interactive stopped by last week to give us a brief look at Stellaris, and while the galactic grand strategy game looked cool as a whole, I came away most excited by its multiplayer. And not even the multiplayer gameplay itself, exactly, but the possibilities of what its scope allows. Stellaris’ largest map size generates a four-armed spiral galaxy with 1000 inhabitable stars spread across it—each with a solar system and planets of its own—which leaves enough room for a whopping 32 players or AI factions to fight for supremacy. That’s going to make for some amazing stories.

Game Director Henrik Fåhraeus told me that although Stellaris’ early game plays out similarly to other 4X games, its mid and late games are more like Crusader Kings 2 , with a focus on politics and land grabs. Simply purging the galaxy of other species isn’t always the best option, and welcoming other races into your empire can benefit both of you. You can even form a Galactic Federation with other species, giving control of all political decisions to a rotating leader and sharing a victory if you can achieve it. That’s an interesting feature in single-player, but bring that system into a large-scale multiplayer setting and it sounds phenomenal.

Like Paradox’s previous games, Stellaris isn’t turn-based—instead ticking away ‘days’ at a game speed only the host can adjust—which makes the multiplayer more appealing to me. How quickly you make decisions and (to a certain extent) your ability to micro become real factors of success. Fåhraeus said they worked hard to reduce the amount of things you need to closely micro-manage—you have no direct control over units in combat, for example—so it won't end up feeling like StarCraft, but it will reward skilled players for thinking faster than their opponents.

And, of course, you don’t have to play against 31 people—a small galaxy with a 1v1 match could be just as interesting—but it’s the potential for giant wars that excites me. I’m glad Paradox made multiplayer a priority, because I want to hear the crazy stories that will inevitably emerge about rival Federations locked in 100+ hour games. And if Crusader Kings 2 is any indication of things to come, I can’t wait to see what the modders do to this one.

Stellaris doesn't currently have a release date, but it's coming next year.

[Update: Reworded a phrase in the third paragraph which made it sound like Paradox's previous games were turn-based. They aren't.]