Paradox Games

Stellaris Dev Diary #55 - Unity and Traditions

So, Together for Victory came out today, and I chose India a my first one. Went fairly well; managed to replace most of the officials with native Indians, kicked the British out fairly easily (I think as soon as the civil war started they abandoned the colony because instead of British Raj vs Free India it was India vs Free India), then went fascist and went on a massive military buildup. I'm probably not gonna have a large naval presence (I'm building a fleet but it's very slow going), so idk what's gonna happen if the Allies win the war and then turn on the remaining fascists in the world.

Apparently Stellaris is getting a few alternatives to purging.

You do have to neuter your pops sometimes, the damn things breed like rabbits if you don't rein them in a bit.

Honestly, that's only a half-joke.

You can use pops for food? I really hope that comes with diplomatic penalities out the wazoo...

Alright, as a send-off to my Free India game, I joined the Axis and declared war against the Allies in order to ensure the British Empire would never again set its sights on India. My navy actually did surprisingly well, managing to win multiple victories against various allied navies (including one against a British fleet) despite only being around 30 ships.

Unfortunately, I learned another lesson: Unless you're part of the Allies, or Germany and the Soviet Union declare war on each other, being India is fairly boring xD The Soviets warred with Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, but left me alone, so I was just there building up and waiting for the war to end and see how it went and if Britain would try and take us over afterwards, but the war dragged into 1946 so I got bored xD

I'm thinking of doing a Communist South Africa next, and then a Fascist Australia.

Really looking forward to the Ethics overhaul they're doing in the next Stellaris patch - currently Spiritualist still kinda feels like a no-brainer to me (especially since they raised the distance malus for ethics loyalty) and I'd like to play a MegaCorp at some point.

Actually, fanatic individualist is also very popular due to being able to essentially ignore policy-related unrest and quell most other unhappiness with other methods.

And then there's the "reverse psychology empire" - pick ethics you don't actually want your POPs following and maximize ethics divergence to push them the other way with government ethics that allow policies that will not upset your POPs (eg. outlawing slavery won't upset any non-decadent POPs)

Enlightened Monarchy gives you more core systems though.

I normally neuter my slaves anyway, but processing captured pops gives my Hive Mind more options once the world approaches full.

It's the perfect end fate for useless, culture-shocked natives once I've built a Planetary Capital, too.

Are you playing with a mod? You can't neuter pops in the game right now - only purge.

I think he means that he has the law where slaves aren't allowed to procreate.

Ah, right.

Indeed. Slave procreation would let inferior beings breed, and the Xiptotac prefer that reproductive resources go toward fitter PO Ps.

Feh, enslaving xenos is a disgusting half measure. Either go full purge or full shiny happy harmonious hippie commune.

edited 16th Dec '16 11:16:36 PM by Balmung

I agree in the long run. However, civilizing primitives and letting them build a Planetary Administration (so you can resettle the Master Race in) is cheaper than a colony ship. Once you have a Planetary Capital (this building, sadly, needs you to get enough undercarriages in seats before you can build it), then the filthy xenos have outlived their usefulness.

As an addendum, uplifted tomb roaches are not xenos. They are space brothers.

Another addendum: In the upcoming build, keeping Repugnant xenos around as slaves is actually going to be a good idea for teaching Proper Values (such as xenophobia) to the citizenry. They must know their enemy!

edited 17th Dec '16 12:36:02 AM by Ramidel

Wait, what do you need a colony ship for? Just march an army in and conquer them.

Also, I'm pretty sure the planetary capital requirement for resettlement was scrapped in 1.1 or 1.2

That's what I mean. If there are primitives on a planet, it's cheaper to conquer than colonize, and it's quicker to use them to handle farming and make up the numbers for a Planetary Admin and Capital. (Didn't know the requirement had vanished in 1.3, but a Planetary Administration is still vital for other reasons.) Phasing them out can come once the planet's built up a little.

Though I have to wonder why pops can breed while being purged. That's gotta be a bug.

edited 17th Dec '16 6:18:07 PM by Ramidel

Anyway, topic change to Hearts of Iron - got two TFV games planned: Canada and Raj (disclaimer: I cut "agrarian society in half to a 35% penalty). Naturally, I have no intention of toeing the British line and will instead make my own war in both cases, and I will likely buff the bazeesus out of Germany to make a "final boss". I mean, the USA ought to be tough when I'm Canada, but there are many reasons they should be easier to fight (such as being on my side of the Atlantic), too.

Tried out a Communist South Africa today...Idk what it was, but when I actually tried to go up against a European country (in this case Portugal since they seemed the weakest) I couldn't make any headway. Idk why, but even when we had fairly modern tanks we couldn't beat them.

How about air support and doctrines? Pretty sure that Portugal starts with more tech slots than South Africa and minors get a pretty potent NF tree.

Also, as an enormous controller of tungsten, Portugal could probably crank out LOTS of medium tanks, artillery, and AT guns, which would let them make pretty good divisions.

Ah, right, that's a good point. Maybe I should ask for lend-lease of some stuff next time to fill out my army.

I don't know if it's because I turbobuffed Germany, but I just jad the shortest Spanish Civil War I've ever seen - ended inside of two months in a massive Nationalist victory.

Does anyone know if I can lose the Great Depression debuff without passing up the chance to beat some sense into the fucking Quebecois? I mean, if not, I might remove the seemingly arbitrary mutual exclusivity that prevents it, but if war with America will do the job, then I'll finish what we started in 1812.

Nothing will make Quebec see reason. Ever.

Also, Elder Kings got a new version released today.

Sweet. That reminds me of how I need to re-download that xD