Stellaris review. A new look at space

Let's try to figure out what makes players spend days and nights in Stellaris.

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Developers from Paradox never tried to copy other games, but always followed their own path. For a long time, the company specialized in creating global historical strategies. Having come up with a unique game mechanic that allows you to abandon turn-based battles and limit yourself to pause mode, Paradoxes polished it in previous projects - it absorbed all the best ideas that have stood the test of time.

A game can last an incredibly long time. This is not the standard five hours, as in some turn-based strategies: during this time the player will just get on his feet in a particular branch of the galaxy and get acquainted with his closest neighbors, and some game sessions can last for weeks until the bitter end.

The game greets you with an amazing soundtrack that instantly puts you in the right mood: this is one of the few MMO projects in which you don’t want to turn off the sound in the first minute. Taking into account the above, it is encouraging that musical compositions can be found in OGG format directly in the folder with the installed game.

The choice of starting races may disappoint experienced people: there are not many of them, but the built-in editor allows you to come up with and add any race with unique features to the game. Sometimes, after creating unique civilizations, it is difficult to settle on one specific one, so the developers have made it possible to include the created race in any session by checking the appropriate box at the beginning of the game - you feel truly paternal pride when you meet your own children during your next attempt to conquer the universe.

The economy is quite simple and is built on the accumulation of two main resources: energy credits and minerals. There are also influence points, as well as special technology indicators, but the main thing is to focus on balancing the first two, and the rest will come with experience.

With science, everything is simple and complex at the same time: the game does not have the usual research tree that many are familiar with. When studying technology, the player is given a choice of three or four options in each of three branches: physics, sociology or engineering. Options are offered in random order, but taking into account the starting race taken, you have to choose the most relevant at the moment and hope that the next attempt will be more successful.

Space is huge, so fast movement between systems is the key to a quick victory. There are three types of FTL technologies available in the game, each of which has pros and cons. Once you select one at the beginning of the game, you cannot change it.

The warp engine, familiar to many from science fiction novels, allows you to move from system to system without significant restrictions. When approaching the edge of the system, the ship begins the acceleration process, after which it is completed it rushes to the neighboring one. Having arrived, it begins to slow down, and during the braking process it cannot perform any actions. An additional disadvantage is the rather low speed by superluminal standards.

Other nations choose hypertunnels. For a civilization using this type of engine, the entire galaxy map is shown as stars connected by lines. Ships will only be able to move through such tunnels and nothing else. The obvious advantages are the ability to go into hyperspace at any point in the system, and not just at its edge, as well as the absence of the need to accelerate and slow down, which will allow you to instantly join the battle when leaving it in the enemy system. Another advantage is the high speed of movement in interstellar space, which can become a decisive factor when moving from one edge of the galaxy to the other. The only disadvantage of this technology is reflected in the name: the tunnels connect star systems in a chaotic manner. Where a warp-driven ship flies straight, the fleet through the tunnels will be forced to make a long detour into several systems in order to fly along the chain to the desired target.

The last method is wormholes - to travel between stars it is necessary to build special stations, which create these anomalies. Each such structure maintains a spherical radius within which one can travel. The advantage of this technology is obvious: there are no restrictions on warp engines, which allows you to move anywhere. The disadvantages include the need to build a large number of stations to cover the desired area of ​​the galaxy, as well as the danger of each station being destroyed by enemy ships.

Very often in such games, during a battle, the one with the stronger fleet wins. Everything is wrong! There are four types of ships: corvettes, destroyers, cruisers and battleships. Many newcomers who launch the game for the first time try to immediately build as many expensive battleships as possible and send them to fight in other systems - the very first battle against a fleet of corvettes shatters the unfortunate warrior’s dreams forever. This is a game in which the weakest ships, with proper equipment, can win against a stronger fleet.

It is quite difficult to understand all the ship improvements. In the process of research, the player receives new modules and technologies that can be used in the fleet: engines are upgraded, weapons are changed, and the speed of military processors increases. Some technologies are quite dangerous: for example, a psionic jump engine is much more efficient than a regular one, but random psionic disturbances can open a hole to another universe, through which hostile fleets of an outlandish race can break through.

The main rule in the game is not to leave the rear open. It happens that a neutral and rather friendly neighbor at first glance, having learned that you have sent all your forces to a distant galaxy, will not miss the chance to chop off a piece of your possessions by capturing unprotected systems. Of course, computer players cannot match the cunning of real people, but on high difficulty they are quite capable of fraying the nerves of inexperienced beginners.

Any action of the user affects the attitude of other civilizations towards him. If you like to communicate with arthropods, then the seemingly peaceful “seals” will certainly attack such exotic lovers. IN

It is noteworthy that civilizations are not static, but live, develop and die. Depending on the form of government, residents may support the leaders or be categorically against the decisions they choose, which poses serious difficulties in governing such unruly peoples.

"Paradoxes" managed to create an amazing global strategy in the space environment so beloved by many. Since the first game, rarely has a game been able to boast such versatility, possibilities and humor that literally absorbs all your time and does not let you go into the real world.

Believe me, buying Stellaris will knock you out of life for several days in a row, so be well prepared before starting: stock up on food and drinks, and also close the door and do not let anyone near the computer.

They are widely recognized among fans of the genre. It was all the more interesting to watch the birth of the 4X space strategy Stellaris, which was supposed to combine the best features of games from Paradox and other games of the genre.

Interstellar

But slow doesn't mean boring. Stellaris at first, it constantly throws something interesting at the player - then you discover in the orbit of some planet an old destroyed battleship of an ancient race, which can be towed and disassembled for parts, then on one of the studied worlds there turns out to be a primitive race (which you can quietly watch for years) , then the core of some asteroid turns out to be a real neural network.

In the same random way, the game offers technologies for research in three directions, eliminating Stellaris from the main scourge of games of this genre - the same type and primitive start. True, when the game diligently for years prevents you from learning a technology that is extremely important for further expansion (for example, terraforming), you want to punch the local randomizer.

Academician Pupkin, at your service

All research, including the study of distant systems using scientific ships, takes place with the direct participation of scientists - Paradox they simply couldn’t help but introduce the institute of leaders from their other games into the game. Unfortunately, their presence does not have a special impact on the process, but their death, especially if it is a scientist, falls heavily on the player - after all, replacing scientific personnel costs the same ill-fated “Influence”, which is spent not only on the construction of outposts and hiring important persons, but also to issue decrees.

After capturing five or more planets in Stellaris A new phase of the game begins when parts of your empire have to be handed over to AI governors. The idea is definitely interesting, because they tried to free us from routine, but at the moment, it looks just like an idea - in fact, we will still have to manage large construction projects and choose the general line of behavior for our lands, while the governors themselves automate only a small part of the processes, and not particularly successfully. At the same time, independent sectors serve as a separate source of constant headaches, especially if representatives of other races live on the planets. Separatism, a movement for independence, armed uprisings - the ruler of a huge space country must understand what a disregard for domestic politics can lead to.

Soon the player's empire will be surrounded on all sides by hostile or not so hostile states of other races. Conditions for victory in Stellaris at the moment there are two - ownership of a certain number of inhabited planets or control (directly or through federations or vassals) of 40% of the galaxy. To be kind, of course, even pacifists won’t give you their planets - you’ll have to fight.

And war, unfortunately, is the weakest side of the game at the moment. You assemble a fatter fleet - and that’s it, watch how the enemy fleets crumble into cosmic dust. But it’s not always possible to pull off this trick, remembering the random order of issued technologies and the presence of so-called “Fading Empires” on the map, whose fleet and level of technology can be disproportionately higher than that of any race in the galaxy.

War and Peace

Another problem of the endgame of any game in Stellaris- extremely chaotic relationships with neighbors and very primitive diplomacy. Allies are stupid and passive, opponents are even more stupid and aggressive. And instead of leading your empire into a happy future, you spend your last hours fighting the stupidity of the AI ​​and chasing an iron fist from one system to another.

Of course, in addition to this Stellaris there are whole explosions of different features, mechanics, unpredictable turns and original solutions that can be studied over long hours of play - and this is what makes it wonderful. It’s bad that at the moment there are no two important components of any strategy of this kind - espionage and trade. We are waiting for additions, DLC and patches. The first, by the way, has already been released and made some changes to the balance and interface, the next one promises, among other things, to add new victory conditions and improve the AI ​​of controlled sectors.

***

Since Master of Orion II or at least Endless Space There hasn't been a 4X strategy game this smart, deep, beautiful, or diverse. Stellaris, despite numerous unpleasant little things, is currently the best representative of the genre and a must-have purchase for anyone who has a weakness for such games. Those who have doubts can wait for the release of patches and DLC, everyone else is welcome to the stores.

Despite the depth usual for turn-based strategies, neither Galactic Civilizations, nor Master of Orion did not give a truly plausible answer to the question “How should we live in a galactic hostel?” And so it was until the developers from Paradox took up this topic, threateningly waving literature on sociology and measuring instruments. They have already mercilessly sorted out the past of humanity, and the turn of the distant and mysterious future has come.

In short, Paradox mastered this task, and Stellaris- not quite and not always a 4X strategy, as they are trying to call it.

Paradoxical space

A person familiar with the classics of space strategies will feel out of place - instead of the “End Turn” button, a dial with the date and the “Pause” command flashes in the corner of the screen. Paradox couldn’t resist and brought its signature real time, which, presumably, did not harm the game at all.

This is not the end of the matter: Stellaris is much closer to Europa Universalis than, for example, to Endless Space and others like her. In essence, only the framework was taken from the usual mechanics of 4X: our people break out of the captivity of their “cradle”, colonize new worlds, expand scientific horizons and sometimes get into trouble with extraterrestrial races.

And Paradox reforged each of these points in its own way.

There are more than a hundred animated portraits to choose from, and you will see almost all of these faces in the game. Of course, avatars can be customized.

We start on our home planet. A brand new spaceport, a scientific vessel and a construction ship sparkle in its orbit; a tiny fleet is conducting exercises nearby - the start is the same for everyone.

What's next? Colonize all worlds in a row? Not so. Each colony module eats a hole in the budget until it becomes an autonomous colony. There are very few suitable planets; one suitable ball for one and a half to two dozen systems is not such a bad result. And the galaxy is huge, even if you choose medium size. The game begins not with expansion, but with a careful probing of the surrounding stars.

Exploring the galaxy in Stellaris means much more than in several 4X strategies at once. A quick glance at the system is not enough to quickly figure out all the nuances: the expedition ship must examine each planet. What will he find there? Probably resource deposits. Possibly an anomaly that should be investigated at risk to crew and ship. Or even some new civilization that has not yet entered space.

No change in the western branch

The opening continues for a very long time - you may not meet your first neighbors in the universe even an hour after the start of the game. All this time, our young empire occasionally establishes colonies and builds up planetary cells with buildings. The principle is similar to that in Civilization: we place each population unit on a separate cell with an improvement, and the key difference is that this unit is not just a drawn face, but a separate society with its own properties, albeit slightly different from the standard. Mechanic based social stratum mechanics Victoria 2, will manifest itself closer to the last stage of the game, when contradictions begin to arise within the expanded empire.

Help the sector with a pack of minerals or loans, and its development will accelerate.

Then the party changes tone. Several worlds have been mastered and your personal domain has already reached its growth limit. Of course, no one forbids further expansion, but the fines for “extra” planets are not very pleasant. The time is coming to divide the economy into sectors - autonomous regions controlled by AI. It only depends on your will general questions: how many resources to give to the federal center, where to focus efforts, whether to rebuild improvements depending on the situation.

This aspect was especially worrying, because silicon governors in any game are fraught with disastrous nonsense and incorrect development. In Stellaris, the sectors do not suffer from this disease - the influx of money and minerals will survive, only from time to time the governors have strange seizures, and for a couple of months the income collapses to humiliating negative values.

But when the empire noticeably spreads in breadth, rare drops in profits will no longer affect success. The problem is different: sector management is too basic. It is clear that their role is to relieve the player so that he does not die from manual fiddling with hundreds of inhabited worlds. But here Paradox went to the other extreme, and once you prioritize your governors, you will forget about them until the end of the game.

Of course, Paradox could not entrust the development of science to an ethereal menu - in Stellaris, very specific scientists are engaged in research.

THIS IS INTERESTING: about the governors it is not said for the sake of words. Stellaris makes full use of leaders, that is, specific individuals appointed to key positions. These are governors, admirals, generals and scientists - some of them will even be lucky enough to lead your empire! And so their role is similar to the role of specialists from Europa Universalis: characters with a couple of perks and a general level of skill; grow old and may die a not very natural death.

What remains? Technological progress that does not stand still. In Stellaris, you can't simply just go along the technology tree: when you complete research in one of the three disciplines (physics, sociology, engineering), you are offered a choice of several random developments. The mechanism for their selection is invisible, however, according to the developer diaries, it is based on the character of the nation. The randomness of the emergence of technologies helps combat another problem of big strategies - the predictability of development.

Not everyone starts at the same time as you. Faded empires arose much earlier (they are present on the map as a powerful, but rather passive fool), and many states are formed during the course of the game.

Jar of spiders

The galaxy is finally getting crowded. Interstellar boundaries have been determined, each other's languages ​​have been deciphered (without a special decipherment project, contacts between civilizations are impossible). Then you have to remember your national characteristics. Only militarists will be able to organize a military dictatorship, only xenophobes will allow themselves to enslave aliens. In addition, there are more familiar features - hard work, charm, restlessness - but their role is not so great.

THIS IS INTERESTING: in the future you will find on other planets many natives who are either close to the development of intelligence, or are already intelligent, but have not yet gone into space. If you help them develop, you will be able to impose your worldview. However, they will not always be happy about your intervention.

If you encourage free-thinking, be prepared for the fact that at one end of the empire there will be one mentality, and at the other - a completely different one.

Paradox approached the creation of political systems with the same meticulousness. There are fifteen basic types, and there are still some special ones - such as, for example, the regime of militant isolationists, characteristic of extinct empires.

In addition, from Hearts of Iron a legislative system was brought here - it determines the government's attitude to important issues like migration, orbital bombardment and the like. Of course, you can’t go against the mentality: a nation of collectivists will never be able to push through an individualist initiative.

And Paradox also pulled out edicts from its own bins - included amendments to laws that spend the resource of influence either constantly, drop by drop, or in a one-time tranche. Such decrees help direct the planet’s human resources in the right direction: increase the flow of finance, speed up the birth rate, or stimulate scientists. And the further it goes, the longer the list of possible edicts and the richer the political sphere.

It is convenient to appoint unwanted neighbors as rivals to increase influence - if in the future you do not rule out that war will break out.

The mentality also affects foreign policy. Spiritualists receive an obvious penalty in relations with materialists, and warriors shaking their nuclear fists will not find a common language with supporters of peace. However, the rest of the diplomacy is fairly standard - both by the standards of 4X and by the standards of Paradox games. The usual set of actions is a non-aggression pact, passage across borders, exchange of resources, vassalization...

But the brains of computer opponents are set as they should be! Relationships won't deteriorate just because. Mushroom-headed freaks from the other side of the galaxy will not go to war against you out of boredom. Some diplomatic acts are completely rejected by the opponent compelling reason, not because of bullshit. Thus, a non-aggression pact will obviously be rejected if the distance between empires is great: there is no threat of war - there is no point in the pact.

War and Peace

What worked great in Europa Universalis sometimes falters in science fiction. For example, before, to declare war, you had to have a valid reason for it, casebelli- be it dynastic claims, historical rights to territory, or at least a provocation arranged by spies. Here, all that is needed to start a war is a decent fleet and imperial ambitions. We press a button, choose our goals so that we can then demand their fulfillment, and we fight. Only members of the alliance are threatened with problems: they will have to allocate a certain share to their comrades in the alliance in the menu for declaring war, although this will not help if the comrades are convinced pacifists.

The design of the ships is simple and ordinary: we screw stronger barrels and stronger armor onto one of the standard hulls.

On the peaceful side of diplomacy, everything is much more interesting. Here are alliances, for example: these are not traditional alliances, which usually end in all-out war with the entire civilized world. An alliance is a bloc like NATO, whose members decide the most important issues collectively. To start a war or invite another empire into an alliance, you need the consent of other members.

A more advanced form of alliance is a federation: it is headed by a common president, who is replaced from time to time, and their entire foreign policy becomes common. They even have their own federal fleet. But it will be very appropriate if these forms of diplomatic interaction are improved and deepened so that multiplayer games do not boil down to war at the first opportunity.

At the same time, Stellaris will not allow you to prove yourself properly in war: the game takes care of all the calculations and maneuvers. The player’s task is to direct the fleet towards the enemy, then a visual automatic battle ensues. But this is not such a problem - of course, I would like to see large-scale combat, like in Hearts of Iron, but it didn’t work out.

What’s worse is that there are no infrastructural restrictions on the number of ships in the system, nor a limit for the admiral. This means that the road is open for the so-called “doom stack”: collected All the ships fisted and hit the enemy’s border. The computer likes to divide its forces into parts, which would be logical in other conditions.

During the battle, an abyss of all sorts of factors are calculated - but, unlike, for example, Hearts of Iron 3, here we will only get a brief report.

But! “But” again.

Suppose you already dominate half of the galaxy, your enemies don’t dare make a word, and the cast-iron sledgehammer of your fleet will smear any threat across hyperspace. That's it, are we going to sit and waste time?

Not at all. Closer to the end of the game, problems arise that could not be bothered before. Factions arise within the empire and begin to demand something, separatists want independence, and special, dangerous projects appear among the technologies available for study. What are you risking for +5% research speed? Perhaps an uprising of robots or a visit from some unknown reptiles. Although not radically, Stellaris still solves the long-standing problem of an apathetic endgame, when nothing happens and the end is still far away. Big empire - big problems.

The studio has always been famous in my eyes for working exclusively on its own games, and not developing others. And the guys from this studio mostly worked on strategies. The list of their games, although not large, is something to be proud of. Just remember Crusader Kings, or Europa Universalis, or even Hearts of Iron.

Therefore, it is not at all surprising that even at the time of the Gamescom event, another strategy from . But what was most interesting and surprising was the location of the game - space. After all, until recently, developers were only involved in historical games. However, the solution was not only original, but also a good approach, because nowadays strategies in the style of a fanatical future are very popular, although they are released every year literally in batches.

However, why are we sometimes not satisfied with modern turn-based strategies related to space? Well, for example, Master of Orion, or Galactic Civilizations. If we take such games, then we can safely say that they simply did not answer the most important question: “What is it really like to live in space?”

Paradox Interactive decided to answer this question by taking literature on some sociology and waving measuring instruments. Why these particular items? Yes, because they have already literally sorted out their previous historical games, so the moment has come when it is necessary to move much further - towards a mysterious and unknown future. And in fact, these people really succeeded.

A new look at space

Any player who has managed to play all the well-known space strategies and knows all the ensuing and incoming details of such games will definitely feel some strange discomfort. For example, there is no “End turn” or “End turn” button, typical for such games. Instead, a strange dial appeared in the corner, displaying the date and the equally strange “Pause” command. Amazing, right? They simply couldn’t stand it and decided to add their own unique real-time mode. And you know - this only benefited the game.

However, the matter did not end there. If we compare previous games, for example, take Europa Universalis and Endless Space, then the new project comes much closer to the first option than the second. To put it roughly, the frame was taken from the previous “4X” mechanics. So, the people are breaking out with all their might from the captivity of their cradle, so to speak. He begins active colonization of new worlds. People are trying to expand the range of their scientific research, and at times even conflicts with other similar nations. And the most important thing in all this is that the developers “reforged” everything in a way that suited their style.

You will begin your huge cosmic step as usual on your Home Planet. In the orbit of this planet, a shiny new spaceport is shown, and with it the first scientific and construction ships. And somewhere nearby another small fleet is conducting its exercises. Why another one? Every start is similar for everyone.

It would seem that since everything is ready, we can set off to implement the plan for the global colonization of the galaxy. Everything would be so, but the colonial module, which is required primarily for such a plan, mercilessly eats up a huge part of the budget. And this will last until the colony can become autonomous. In addition, as we all know very well, there are not enough planets suitable for life. One more or less suitable ball for a hundred or two other balls. Although on the other hand - quite a good result! And the galaxy will actually be huge even when you select medium in the “Size” window. Surprisingly, any time new game begins not with a rapid expansion, but with a careful examination of the surrounding stars.

In research, and especially the exploration of the galaxy, this is a much more important detail than the rest. Going through a couple of systems quickly means that you will never figure out all the nuances, and this is very bad. The expedition ship must explore absolutely every planet. However, it remains unclear why this is so important and why a quick glance is not enough? The main problem is useful resources, or an anomaly that needs to be studied, thereby putting my crew at risk. And yet these are only two reasons, only the smallest of all possible reasons. Maybe on one such planet there will be a new civilization that has not yet even managed to go into space.

Dawn of Civilization

By the way, in the first minutes or even hours, you may not be able to meet your neighbors. It's not that easy. Before meeting with other life and even after, your small empire is trying with all its might to found new colonies and is expanding in every possible way, building up various planetary cells with a variety of buildings. In fact, the principle of this development is very much reminiscent of what was in the well-known, beloved “Civilization”: each unit of the population must be placed on a cell where the improvement process is taking place. But the most important difference between “Civa” is that you are not just presenting a picture or some conventional object, but a real separate society, which has its own unique standard properties, albeit slightly different from others.

By the way, the mechanics of social spending are based on the one that was in Victoria 2, but it manifests itself only closer to the last stage of the game - precisely when contradictions of various kinds may begin to arise in the empire.

In the future, the game gradually begins to change. Sooner or later, several worlds will be developed, so a kind of colonization limit arises. Of course, no one can forbid you to continue in the same spirit to expand the borders of your empire, but some planets may begin to give peculiar penalties, and quite unpleasant ones. Sooner or later the time will come when you need to divide your empire into sectors. For example, for economic ones, where autonomous regions will be controlled by artificial intelligence. But this does not mean at all that you cannot influence the state of affairs in any way. The couple will have various kinds of questions that need to be resolved. Well, for example, how many resources should be allocated to the federal center each time? Or where to focus all your efforts? Or maybe rebuild improvements (which depends mainly on the situation)?

The issue of improvements is especially concerning because AI, as a rule, likes to make mistakes and thus builds cells incorrectly. So this “disease” (there is no other way to call it) has not migrated. As a rule, the flow of money along with the mineral remains intact, but sometimes governors still make strange decisions, because of which in some month the income can still fall to an unpleasant minus.

However, as is usually the case, when an empire reaches a large size, drops in profits cease to affect success. It seems to me that the problem here is completely different: the management of all these sectors turned out to be simple. Although the reason is quite clear, because the role of such a system is that it should relieve the player so that he, in turn, does not go crazy from such a strong “fussing” with planets when their number exceeds a hundred. But you can’t do it the way the developers did either: they force you to sort out all your governors’ priorities once in order to forget about these matters until the very end of the game and not worry about it at all.

Speaking of governors, I started the topic for a reason, and in general it’s time to talk about their role in. The game makes full use of the so-called “Leaders”. Leaders are specific individuals who are appointed to key positions. Leaders can be different: someone can be a governor, someone can become a scientist, and there can also be generals and even admirals. Some may even lead your empire. The closest example of the role of these individuals lies in the game Europa Universalis. There, too, there are similar individuals: they have several skills, a general level of skills, they grow old, die, and everything like that.

The gameplay is also based on technical progress. And like any progress, it does not stand still. In the game you simply won’t be able to go along the entire technology tree. The first thing you need to know is that research is clearly divided into three disciplines. These disciplines are expressed in physics, sociology and engineering. After completing the research, you are offered three completely random designs to choose from. The mechanism of this “random” is unknown and is explained only in one of the developer diaries: this “random” is based on the character of your nation. It is important to note that this peculiar “accident” overcame another “disease” of any such strategy - predictable development.

To each his own

Sooner or later, the galaxy becomes too crowded. Sooner or later interstellar boundaries will be determined. Sooner or later, even languages ​​will be completely deciphered for each other, although this cannot be done without special decoding, which is studied separately. In general, the moment comes when you remember your national characteristics. Militarists can organize a military dictatorship, and xenophobes can enslave aliens. In addition to all this, there are also more well-known features: charm, hard work, restlessness. However, the role of these characteristics is not as great as national characteristics.

By the way, a little later you will definitely be able to find all sorts of natives who are either intelligent or are still only striving to gain intelligence (just like in Spore). So they can be helped in their development. You can even impose your worldview on them, but you always need to know that not all of them will be happy with the intervention of a foreign civilization.

With a little work like this, Paradox Interactive studio approached the political system. There are fifteen basic types in total. In addition, there are special ones, they are slightly different. For example, special species are militant isolationists. The point is that these particular species are exclusive to fallen empires.

The legal system is reminiscent of the one in Hearts of Iron. Therefore, it will determine the government’s attitude to certain important issues. For example, on the issue of orbital bombardment, or migration - in general, everything in that spirit. And naturally, one cannot go against the mentality, so that some nation of collectivists cannot accept the initiative of individualists - a contradiction.

But that's not all! There are also edicts. Edicts are amendments to laws that consume a resource called “Influence.” And either constantly or drop by drop. These edicts are generally useful in that they can help direct human planetary resources in the direction that is necessary. Thus, it is possible to increase financial inflows, or stimulate scientists, or generally speed up the birth. And most importantly, the further, the longer the list of available edicts will be and the richer the sphere of politics will be.

Galactic intrigue

It would seem that the experience of past games is only beneficial, but this is not entirely true. What worked just fine in Europa Universalis began to fail in the science fiction style. For example, if previously a war required a real reason: some dynastic claims, rights to territory, or espionage. Now everything is simple, because you only need to have a good fleet and boundless ambitions. You press the button, press the targets, declare war and fight to your health. Problems threaten if there are other members of the alliance, because they will need to allocate a kind of share, although if the comrades are also convinced pacifists, then the matter is in the bag.

However, if you look at diplomacy from a more peaceful side, then it becomes much more interesting. For example, alliances in Stellaris are not the traditional alliances that usually happen in games this kind, which end in a war on a global scale, from which you can only get out of it with another war. The Alliance is truly represented here for what it is. Alliance is something like a bloc like “NATO”, whose members are any important issues decided strictly in a team.

However, there is a more advanced form of the Alliance - the Federation. The Federation will be headed by the President. From time to time the president of this structure will change, and all foreign policy will become common. In addition, the Federation will even have a federal fleet. However, it will definitely be out of place if the form of diplomatic influence is improved and deepened, because multiplayer games will come down to the fact that war will occur at the first opportunity.

On the other hand, you won’t be able to prove yourself properly in a war, because he takes all the calculations and any maneuvers strictly upon himself. So the task of any player is only to send a fleet to the enemy, after which an automatic battle begins. However, I would like to see a huge, large-scale battle, like in Hearts of Iron.

Stellaris- this is the new and latest game at the moment from the wizards and, in general, almost monopolists of the global strategy market - Paradox, which is interesting, at least because this is the studio’s first game in the space strategy genre, which is experiencing a renaissance, and I personally felt crazy I wonder how successfully they were able to step out of their comfort zone.

Stellaris review – first impression.

New creation of Paradoxes begins to bribe you and at the same time barely noticeably stretch its long bony paw towards your wallet literally from the first minutes of viewing screenshots, videos about the game and getting to know the description of its capabilities. In addition, I consider myself a fan of the space strategy genre and have spent many hours in classic game Galactic Civilizations 2 , so the question of whether to review Stellaris or not was not a question for me at all. Entering the game itself, I immediately thought that I would like it. Yes, this happens when even the menu already says that the quality will be such that you won’t be able to undermine it. I was also pleased with the truly diverse tool for creating your own civilization and all the necessary game settings were available: the number of enemies, their intelligence, aggressiveness, anomalies, global events, the shape of the galaxy and much more. However, all this was just a prelude - surprising me is a game Stellaris I wasn't going to stop yet.

Entering the game itself, what strikes you first of all is how The Stellaris interface is complex to look at. Indeed, in the first hour, I probably spent almost all the time in the game trying to understand what and how it works, and even after that I still for a long time, to my surprise, I found something in the game that I had not seen before, but that could well be useful to me. At the same time, Stellaris has a kind of tutorial - an advisor that provides basic knowledge, but this, of course, is not enough. However, I don’t consider a certain threshold of entry to be a problem or a disadvantage of the game - I have a completely positive attitude towards games that require effort from the player to master it - it’s more interesting that way. I won't go back to this in my Stellaris review, but be prepared that you'll have to sit around for a while before you figure out how to play it.

Gameplay

Stellaris is a global strategy game. This means that the player is asked to literally manage all the processes taking place in his empire - be it colonization, the construction of mining stations, or the conduct of military operations and diplomacy. You need to understand that the cost of a mistake in this case is quite high, which is why it can be quite difficult for some people to really start enjoying the game in a short time - especially for those who do not know how to lose. The gameplay of Stellaris can be divided into four not entirely equal parts :

How are wars won in Stellaris?

War in Stellaris is the main entertainment. At least, it seems to me, that’s how it’s intended, because if not, then it’s strange why the player is being pushed towards it by hook or by crook. In any case, the war should have been the most fun thing that happened to me in Stellaris, but it wasn't. She didn’t simply because it, too, was turned into a routine with ease and ease, which one can only envy, but about which it is difficult to remain silent. Now imagine that you declare war on a civilization that is noticeably weaker than you, but at the same time, either out of stupidity or due to lack of experience, you choose the goal of the war to capture only one planet. The enemy has, say, three of them. And so you triumphantly carry the enemy out of one gate, leaving absolutely nothing from his fleet except the wreckage that your scouts are already greedily studying and you are in a great mood, and your ambitions are growing - you are already looking at your neighbors, choosing who to eat next. But you rejoice early, because in Stellaris, no matter how unconditionally you win the war, no matter how many planets you occupy during it, you will only get what you initially chose for your goals.

It would seem that, on the one hand, this is logical, because if you declare the goal of war, achieve it, but ultimately go further, then the galactic community may react negatively. But in Stellaris there is no reaction. And what kind of reaction could there be if, for example, I play for an empire of despotic militarists whose relations with everyone are, at best, at -100? That is, should anyone be surprised that militarists wage war and do it dishonestly or what? Logic in this system is absent as a class. Also, the military point system is what makes this game just prevent you from fighting fairly, because it forces you to play practically in order to score points. The computer is not capable of waging war intelligently - it will do the same thing every time, fall for the same tricks and let you earn military points even if its fleet and economy are stronger than yours. And in the end you will win the war simply because Artificial intelligence in Stellaris is stupid, primitive and straightforward. And that’s why war is completely devoid of romance - there is no surprise in it. You know how your opponent will act in advance and he will not surprise you - he will act exactly like that. If you are suddenly attacked, and you do not yet have enough fleet to give battle, send a small detachment to one of the enemy planets and he will instantly begin to gather his forces there, launching an attack. And you can do this an infinite number of times, pulling the enemy back and forth, until you finally build up the fleet with the necessary power. In addition, the routine of war in Stellaris is that you have to fight with everyone, even the smallest civilization, several times, because it is often simply impossible to score more than 50-60 military points - at a certain point in the war there is no one left to defeat, destroy and capture too, but still not enough points. Therefore, the war has to be divided into several parts, the interval between which is 10 game years (about 40 human minutes at normal speed) due to a mandatory truce. Sounds fun, right?

Graphics and sound

Visually, Stellaris is the best global space strategy game on the market at the moment. I can’t even think of potential competitors, because most likely there are none. The interface is beautiful, but not very intuitive. However, you get used to it after some time. The environments are beautifully designed and the battles look really fun. It's especially worth noting that all of your fleet upgrades are visible in battle. Have you studied blue lasers? Then in battle you will see exactly blue lasers. There isn't a lot of variation in the appearance of spaceships, but after a while this ceases to be the main problem of the game. Why, you should already understand, having almost finished reading my review of Stellaris. I would especially like to note the excellent optimization - this is truly aerobatics. There are no complaints about the sound and music either. The music is mostly good. There's even a funny, partially copied composition that's reminiscent of the title theme from the film's soundtrack. Interstellar by Clint Munsell. But this is not so criminal, in my opinion.

Stellaris review summary – is it worth playing?

To sum up my review of Stellaris, I'm not entirely sure... Can I recommend this game or not? Don't get me wrong, but the game will keep you busy for about 20 hours - that's without a doubt. These 20 hours will be interesting to you - you will be interested simply because you will expect that now the game will show me something else, there must be some kind of depth here? And it exists, but this depth is very controversial - approximately knee-deep. You will be able to plunge into this game headlong only if you are a fan of routine, nerdy games. If you like to grind, grind everything and don’t regret wasting time on a game that stopped giving you something new many hours ago. If all this does not scare you, then this is a truly well-made global strategy, which, unfortunately, did not become great, did not become the one that people will remember and return to. At least I definitely won't. Despite all the apparent complexity, huge amount statistics, information, a considerable amount of resources available for production, many variables that always need to be kept in mind when starting a war or colonizing a particular planet - Stellaris is a much simpler game than it seems. Basically, this happened not because it was designed to be simple, but because the implementation let us down in some key areas. Diplomacy let us down, war let us down, completely devoid of the need to think tactically, trade let us down. But the saddest thought that came to me only after many hours spent in the game and, perhaps, which became a stumbling block for me is this complete absence romance in Stellaris. Stellaris is a dry, well-executed product that, like a robot, gives you content without leaving any room for thought - without allowing it. Your imagination rests while you play Stellaris - you yourself act like a robot according to the schemes that you understood yourself or googled - and this is strange and wrong.

Rating of the game Stellaris