The space we need. Stellaris review. Review of Stellaris ⇡ Someday this empire will fall to you, son

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. The people are trying to expand the range of their scientific research, and at times even conflict with other similar peoples. 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 they show a shiny new spaceport, 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 new game begins not with rapid expansion, but with a thorough 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 at that. 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 inflow, 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 traditional alliances, as is usually the case in games of this kind, which end in a war on a global scale, from which you can only get out of another war. The Alliance is truly represented here for what it is. The Alliance is something like a bloc like “NATO”, whose members resolve any important issues strictly as 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, it will not be possible to prove yourself in a war, because all calculations and any maneuvers are taken strictly upon yourself. 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.

At the start, every crystal is important, then every grain of energy, and after that the ephemeral and so hard-to-get influence comes to the fore - here this is also a resource, and the most important one. But as soon as this bright world gets stronger and stands on its feet, it collapses under its own weight. And this is without trade caravans and espionage - there are none at all.

Difficulties of transition

It is no secret that in many space strategies the outcome of the entire game seriously depends on a single—first—confrontation with the enemy. If your fleet of one and a half frigates and a snotty admiral was destroyed, screw it up and start over. It’s too early to talk about winning, but they lose at this stage. Due to the enormous size of the universe, the boundary of success often runs even closer: the interests of empires intersect, as a rule, late, and the development curve itself is important from the first days (which gives rise to an unhealthy thirst for a restart for the sake of a little more resources.)

This is due to the peculiar control system: the player-ruler can directly control only five to seven planets (depending on the form of government), and the rest must be allocated to peripheral “sectors”, for which only a few options are available. You can also turn planets into vassals - this is an even greater degree of autonomy, quite suitable for states defeated in a rapid war. The idea is clear - to save the player from unnecessary micromanagement. However, the AI ​​manages its fiefdom poorly, and victory is mainly forged on the central, first colonized planets. Their potential will determine in what state you will meet your first neighbors: hit or miss.

The second point, due to which a strong start decides everything, is strict restrictions on the size of the fleet at the beginning of the game. Ships take up relatively few energy resources—a more or less capable state can freely afford “the sky in destroyers.” Therefore, apparently, they decided to establish a balance by tightening the nuts. In the first clashes, your limit is 12-15 frigates. But this is the opponent’s limit! Therefore, if a player has at least one more planet, he is the king in his part of the universe. After all, there are already 20 frigates. It is impossible to influence the outcome of the battle in any way, and therefore the confrontation is exclusively arithmetic. By the way, the leaders of the nation - admirals, rulers, scientists - develop without giving the player any choice regarding their skills.

As a result, after getting to know your competitors, the main task is to quarrel with at least one of them. Because it’s one thing to do 20 to 15, and quite another thing to do 20 to 30. Would you say that sometimes this can be an impossible task for diplomats? Alas, even rivals who are intractable due to ethical differences are surprisingly passive. Observing the emergence of the “big bad” in your face, the neighboring alliances will not lift a finger, with the sad gaze of their compound eyes tracking the disappearance of another smaller republic... The only consolation is that to win it is enough to capture 40% of the colonized planets. Or subjugate/destroy everyone - this is usually a longer and more tedious approach.

Well, we understand the basic mechanisms, and now we are ready for a serious battle. We increase the difficulty level, start again... And we see that the only available settings for the universe concern the number of stars. The abundance of resources, the percentage of planets suitable for habitation, the number of hyperspace channels - all this is decided for the player. And space is still roamed by space leviathans, indifferent to our ships, regardless of the chosen race. And 100% of the quests of the first stage are repeated in the first hour of the game. And the only racial characteristic that seriously influences the course of events is its way of moving between the stars. Replayability is rapidly approaching zero.

Lifelong company

The interface, which from the first seconds persistently demonstrates shortcut keys for each action, leads to the fact that the game should be revealed in multiplayer. here it opens up like a withered flower in caring hands! Very slow and yet amazing.

A confrontation of universal proportions can take place with the participation of up to 32 emperors! And here most of the disadvantages fade into the background - when a person plays instead of AI, diplomacy and alliances (as well as backstabs) take on a completely different power. A “monotonous” universe, boring in a single-player game, gives approximately equal chances at the start. Wars become much less linear, and cooperation becomes multidimensional and more fair (the computer has absolutely no understanding of the value of resources: for example, a pair of crystals can persuade it to conclude a multi-year scientific agreement). What is happening is fascinating: look, for example, at parsing collisions during a competition involving 22 players - briefly, about 40 minutes.

Please note, however, that multiplayer requires a colossal expenditure of one additional real resource. The scale of what is happening and the low speed of the game mean that a promising game lasts several days! Moreover, on the first day you may not encounter any human competitors in a military confrontation, and in the later stages, emperors should be prepared for negotiations that can last all night. Yes, the game continues under the guidance of the AI, if you suddenly fall asleep from exhaustion and turn off the computer with your nose. But those who thirst for victory must put a lot of time on its altar! And by the end of the third day he may end up fourth and end up with a “wooden medal”...

Stellaris is another hardcore strategy from Paradox (this time about the conquest of space, the capture of civilizations, etc.) and unexpectedly the most commercially successful of them. In the circles of fans of the genre, they had been waiting for it for a long time and had certain hopes, but no one expected that it would turn out to be so loud and popular. Still, nowadays such projects are very niche things.

After the creation and start of the campaign, a generally classic 4X strategy begins, in which there is no specific plot, and the goal is to develop in all directions, enslave, explore and fight. Here, however, many players may stop and close Stellaris in fear. In the gaming community, there is such a thing as a “game from programmers”: this is when the art design is not very good, nothing really can be said about comfort and clarity (in the sense that this does not exist), but there is a terrible amount of all sorts of buttons, panels, functions, conditions, checkmarks, crosses and alerts. Stellaris is the perfect embodiment of this stereotype, and it will take you many hours to understand the chaos of buttons and conditions that the game presents.

There are three resources. Firstly, this is the energy necessary for everything in general. Secondly, these are minerals that play the role of money. Fans have already joked that in this universe, everything from people to intelligent jellyfish get paid in the form of pieces of rock. And thirdly, there is influence that goes into special edicts and character recruitment.

Verdict

If you're a Civilization fan, then I'm sure you'll love Stellaris. Yes, what can I say! Anyone who looks at least a little in the direction of strategies will experience soul-warming feelings while exploring billions of square kilometers of outer space.

Do you think you're a good planner? Do you know how to keep a unit under control, in addition to several dozen others? Or maybe you are well versed in ion engines and know how to conduct a diplomatic dialogue with an extraterrestrial race? In any case, a lot of pleasant and not so pleasant surprises await you here. Many moments and nuances that need to be constantly monitored will force you to switch off from the real world for several hours and be transported to a gigantic and deep wasteland, the silence of which is depressingly oppressive. Having played Stellaris, I can say that this is Dark Souls in the world of strategies. The game mercilessly punishes you for mistakes and miscalculations in control strategy. Made the wrong decision? Get it! Got it right? Well done. But anyway, get it!

Sit down more comfortably, I will tell you a little more.

Gameplay

In an endless galaxy between unreached stars and unexplored planets in different systems, you will be entrusted with leading an empire. The main goal of the campaign, of course, is to conquer new territories (systems). You can talk to the adjacent race of purple beetles about a truce and establish relations with them. No? Okay, you can split them up with your huge fleet of warships. If, of course, you did everything correctly and you have a flotilla, and not 2.5 insignificant cruisers.

Beginning of the game

You can start by choosing one of the proposed 8 empires with your own race. If you want to remain a mammal, fine. Have you decided to try to control reptilians?

or moluscoids?

no problem. But don't rush. Don't judge by appearance. Each of the proposed races in Stellaris has its own history, its own pros and cons, characteristics, skills and attributes. I do not like? Create your own, no problem! You can call your empire whatever you want, choose a flag for it under which you will conquer the galaxy. Choose a portrait, racial characteristics, what the fleet will be and the initial types of weapons. Even the most harmful gamer will find something to choose from here.

When starting in a single player game, don't forget to decide on the difficulty and size of the galaxy. This is what the system looks like:

And so, galaxy. I marked our system on it.

And this is the smallest galaxy that can be made. Can you imagine? You can study the planets before Chinese Easter.

After the start, as always, you will have a few “resources” available around which the survival of the empire is built. Among them:

• Minerals. They are spent on the construction of stations and ships. But they can be stored in a certain quantity. Want to store more? Explore technology. Are you earning little? Explore planets in systems and if you find a suitable one, build a station on it.
• Energy loans. Everything that has been built requires energy. The situation is identical to minerals.
• Influence. Affects buildings on distant “frontiers”, decrees or for hiring new scientists or army generals. You can earn money by declaring war on other empires, issuing decrees, or studying technology.

By the way, an unpleasant moment. Living beings die. You have a seasoned fleet admiral under your command and he’s 70? Great, if he doesn’t go to the gates of Valhalla, then he will soon simply die of old age. In order for him to live a little longer, he needs to pump up his longevity.

Technology is what the development of the empire rests on. Need to develop:

• Physics. They could increase energy storage capacity or open up solar panel modules.
• Society. They will just help increase influence or open up new types of ships.
• Technologies. They will help increase the capacity of minerals or build a defensive platform.

Of course, this is only a small fraction of what is available for study. Before you start studying, decide what you really need at the moment, but do not forget about foresight.

The universe in the game is procedurally generated, i.e. No matter how many times you run the game, you will get different universes. Each time it will be unique.

Everything that I described, all the nuances in control, learning and opportunities, can be represented by a blue piece on the diagram.

Stellaris has dozens of nuances for every thing. You have to be everywhere at the same time, and all kinds of reminders will not let you forget about it. Fortunately, the flow of time is regulated, or even can be stopped altogether in order to exhale and look around. Assess the situation and make the right decision. To understand what’s going on, to get involved and master the game, you need to spend dozens of hours in it before going online. Otherwise, you will waste several hours of your life and everything that you have acquired through what seems like backbreaking labor will be instantly destroyed, and the wreckage will be studied and mastered.

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 could not resist and brought its proprietary real time to Stellaris, 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. Only general questions depend on your will: how much 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 be obviously rejected if the distance between empires is large: 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 in danger of 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 ship design 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 in war properly: 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 stacks”: 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.