Paradox Games

And even if a fanatical purifier is somewhat successful, they often stop being fanatical purifiers shortly after because for some reason they're not blocked from promoting different ethics, rendering their Fanatical Purifier civic inactive.

Seems like an oversight to me.

Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.

I think the different contexts need to be taken into account for this comparison to work, the Nazis rose to power for a comparatively short period of time while FP rule over a unified world where their ideology is well within the Overton window.

For example the Nazis had to hide the Holocaust while I highly doubt a FP would need to do that. I think a better comparison would a be a global Nazi Regime that has had centuries to stew in its insanity and radicalize beyond belief.

So while they're probably not plausible I wouldn't go as far as to say that they're unrealistic, after-all when you get down to it the difference between Nazis and FP is simply a few degrees.

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn

They didn't really hide it. Everyone knew it was happening.

Hell the New York Times reported on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising as it was going on.

Oh really when?

Fair point, if anything this supports my point even more. The Nazis were willing to for all intents and purposes openly commit genocide in a society that they had ruled for a comparatively short period of time, a global government which has presumably solidified its rule and ideology could logically be even more extreme.

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn

What does reporting on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising have to do with knowing about the Holocaust?

edited 17th Apr '18 4:48:05 PM by Druplesnubb

@Balmung: IMX, Fanatical Purifiers either grow or die, for obvious reasons. Surviving FPs tend to blob pretty hard.

That said, Devouring Swarms are probably the superior form of FP and make more sense (to the extent that you care about the latter), if only because none of us expect their thought processes to be remotely human.

edited 17th Apr '18 4:54:58 PM by Ramidel

That we knew Jews were being rounded up and placed in walled off slums and systematically executed?

Oh really when?

Well, knew and kind of pretended wasn't happening because the Allies cared more about not having a war than about stopping genocide.

The one time I played FP, I only won because Paradox hadn't yet patched out the ability to make vassals and tributaries. Whenever pacifists declared war on me (because if you're FP, even fanatic pacifists will do that), I placated them by releasing the vassals immediately, and re-vassalizing them immediately since for some reason they didn't guarantee their independence.

Fortunately, by the time the patch came out, I was already big enough to survive without this AI abuse cycle.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

I will agree that Devouring Swarms and Determined Exterminators make more sense; they are really just a rampaging animal and malfunctioning weapons, respectively.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

Well yeah, everyone knew that Jews were forcdd into ghettos, but that's not the same as knowing about the Holocaust. Executing those who partake in violent uprisings isn't any different than any other dictatorship.

Are the ghetto's not part of the holocaust?

Even so, we knew where all the trains were going and we knew about the mass graves and we knew from escapees and refugees what was happening.

Oh really when?

Yea, the world remained willfully ignorant for the most part at the time, all the evidince was there, and any one could see it.... but no one wanted to admit it, because no one wanted to take in the refugees.... and if they admitted it they couldn't continue to tell themselfs they weren't killing people by turning the boats away, which was especialy a problem for the US.

Hell, even we knew it, and some of our detaches handed out passports to the Jewish population like they were candy to try and help them get away, and when there doing that while the whole situation with China was going on..... its pretty obvious something was wrong.

Ugh, here's a costly lesson. If you pay some Marauder fleets to raid a rival you're also invading, make sure you don't occupy the planet the Marauders plan to hit. If you get there first, the raiding fleet will turn hostile against everything in the system you're occupying, and be hostile to your empire as they withdraw back to Marauder territory. Just like the bad old days when Marauders pillaged their way across your domain when they were supposed to be attacking your hapless neighbor.

Current earworm: "A New Journey"

Oh, they patched that? Thank goodness, that was so annoying.

Oh my science. I'm finishing off an empire of cyborg-hating fundamentalist hyper-chickens, slowly, playing tag with woefully-outdated fleets while steadily invading worlds to take out their hyperspace inhibitors. Years of combat, translated to forty-five minutes realtime with the game speed turned up.

Right when my warscore hits 95% and I'm about to occupy the last few systems I claimed, my former buddy who turns out to be really sensitive on matters of chicken population reduction declares war on the very chickens he's complaining about me reducing. And apparently the jackass laid claim to one of the same systems I was going for, the chicken empire's last unoccupied planet.

The jackass sends in his transports and manages to occupy that planet before my fleet can get there. So even though the chickens' war exhaustion is at 100%, and even though literally every system in their empire is under their enemies' control, I can't win the war because of the negative -100 peace term acceptance modifier from "unoccupied planets" and "unoccupied systems." I mean, they are occupied, but not by me.

Yeah, I could've just declared another war against the jackass to make him peace out with the chickens so I could properly invade them, but that's just so untidy. Reloading a back-up to do things properly, and now I have an extra incentive to build towards a Colossus to deal with the jackass. Because I happen to know an empire that needs a good neutron shower.

Current earworm: "A New Journey"

Which reminds me how much the current beta build buffs Colossi, it reduces their total firing time to a third.

<laughs like a war criminal>

Well, after a relatively quick war that may or may not have involved disbanding the entire Ostasien army before it started, the Indochinese Union is free. And boy oh boy there are a lot of chains to break, up to and including breaking the patriarchy.

And after this, I wanna do Syndiestralia for reasons that are definitely unrelated to the fact that they have a cute Syndie or Radsoc HOS, and unlike that German meme lady, her portrait is actually from the time period instead of 25 years prior.

edited 21st Apr '18 9:48:41 AM by Balmung

Fucking dammit, another game killed by the mighty Crash To Desktop. Alas, at 0500, Feb 5, 1938, the Indochinese Union's heroic intervention in the Second American Civil War and the empire-shattering power of Vietnamese rice farmers single-handedly keeping the CNT-FAI afloat as the CNT haplessly threw its forces into encirclement after encirclement came to an end, as the universe suddenly ceased to exist.

Trailer for the next expansion is out:

Wiz and Blondie also did a "first look" video about it (and some of the new patch content):

The new hyperlane change looks good.

Meanwhile I started a new Ironman game with the United Nations of Earth to finally get this federation achievement.

I started at the very bottom of a four-arm galaxy, with all my neighbours being some kind of slaver or xenophobe empire, though I did have enough room to expand along my arm after building up my fleet and getting rid of some space creatures.

At some point I ended the non-aggression pact with my immediate neighbour above me and opened up a new area of expansion. I took the right half of their empire - which only consisted of resource systems - and one planet that connected both halves.

Ten years later I demanded that they become a protectorate and enforced this status after they declined, opening up a whole new area of diplomatic expansion. The Commonwealth of Man and a bunch of other smaller empires shared this region and because I was technologically superior, I was able to make protectorates out of the whole area, with only the assimilators nearby being too advanced to do that. I offered them vassalage when I took the Domination tree later on.

I also discovered the joys of liberation wars. As I mostly satisfied my territorial ambitions for now, I switched my war policy to Liberation and forced government changes in the isolationist empire above me - I took a few border systems off them earlier to create a new corridor - and the Human Authority, a Honorbound Warriors-type breakaway state of the CoM, situated in their former capital system. What's it with the AI and capital worlds always revolting at some point?

At some point I finally discovered psionics and turned my humans into psychics, while also genetically modifying them to get rid of their wastefulness and make them more charismatic - at this point I was able to form a federation with a spiritualist empire further up on the map, our only connection being the gateways we keep reactivating.

I also tried to change the government of a large empire to my right, but the acceptance score somehow bugged out and got stuck on -1, so I couldn't press my demands. Had to settle for a white peace. Directly after the war the former isolationists, the Human Confederation (former Human Authority) and the assimilators joined my sphere of influence, while I was creating a small outpost behind the rival empire - there was an uncolonised pocket with an inactive gateway, so I sent a construction ship over while the truce was still on to claim and fortify it.

Now I have a fortified bridgehead at their back that I can send another fleet through.

I also have an interesting choice coming up - because one of my governors (I think) became the Chosen One, there'll be an event to make them God-Emperor.

This will turn my egalitarian and xenophible republic into a spiritualist, authoritarian empire, which means I should probably rename the United Nations of Earth, if I go down this way.

I do hope that if I go down this route, it won't screw me over completely.

edited 23rd Apr '18 6:22:17 PM by DrunkenNordmann

Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.

Is there a writeup for people who can't watch videos at work or something?

Oh really when?

Hope this helps

Distant Stars is a new Story Pack for Stellaris, the sci-fi grand strategy game from Paradox Development Studio. In this new discovery-themed pack, players will uncover new anomalies and storylines, and encounter strange new beings in the uncharted depths of space. Featuring new surprises that may help or harm ambitious explorers, the new Distant Stars DLC will include:

• Behind Closed Doors: Discover hidden traces of an ancient gateway network unlocking a sealed path to a constellation outside our own galaxy. But is this door holding something out, or keeping something in?

• Sensors are Picking up… That Can’t be Right: Encounter dozens of new anomalies and events for your intrepid scientists to observe and analyze, and a galaxy of wonders for them to discover.

• Brave New Worlds: Plot unexplored unique solar systems, each with their own story to tell. Gain technology, resources, and valuable worlds to colonize.

• There’s Always a Bigger Fish: Come face to face with a number of unique gargantuan creatures that exist and thrive in the vacuum of space. But approach with caution, because whether gentle giants or something more sinister, these legendary behemoths have existed long before you and will do what it takes to survive long after.

edited 23rd Apr '18 6:40:09 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn

And one of the coming patch changes is that you don't start off with all the hyperlanes visible from the start - you only see the hyperlanes in a certain radius around your system and have to map out the rest over time.

edited 23rd Apr '18 6:45:27 PM by DrunkenNordmann

Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.

Honestly I'm surprised how much that excites me, it's not a big change but it should make exploration more interesting.

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn

Hopefully it means that the AI will expand slower too.