New Buyer: What's essential?

[FakeyNamey]

Been getting back into grand strategy games lately, and Stellaris has been on my wishlist waiting for a sale. Now that a big sale is here, as usual with games like this I'm confused by all the Sale options and what's actually essential.

What I'm interested in is the main Expansions for the game, the big, important content updates. I'm not interested in small story packs or DLCs that just add little extras like a new race or some ships or something. So, can someone just tell me what exactly I need to buy? What's essential?

[FakeyNamey]

Oh, and does anyone know if the free-to-play version is up to date with the latest expansions, or it's just the vanilla original?

[ThunderOrigin]

I'd imagine just the base game, though having said that, you should get a rough idea if you are going to like it or not just from that.
If you do like the basic format, I'd recommend at least getting Utopia to go with the base game, its by far the best value expansion and greatly enhances many core features.

[Elitewrecker PT]

It should be the vanilla version, what would be the point in showing the launch version considering how different it is.

[FakeyNamey]

Uhh, huh? I'm sorry I'm not understanding these comments. I don't want the vanilla game. It's 4 years after release. I want the game that has been updated and improved by all the content packs and expansions that have come out.

If someone were getting into any other grand strategy game I know of, years after release, I wouldn't recommend the vanilla version in a million years. Would you tell someone to get vanilla Civ 5? That would be horrible advice. I want the complete game.

[Dream State]

Absolute Core : Utopia, Synthetics Dawn
They are really important, the game is not the same without.
Massive Expansion : Apocalypse, Leviathan, Megacorp, Federation
They add really huge improvement and gameplay features.
Story Pack : Ancient Relics, Distant Stars
Great for RP and story, but add minor aspect to the game.
Special Cases :
Lithoids : They are a new species with interesting mecanics, but you can really play without.
Plantoids / Humanoids : Only skins
-----------------------------------------------------------
Order in my Opinion :
1- Utopia
2- Synth Dawn
3- Apocalypse
4- Megacorp
5- Federation
6- Leviathan
7- Ancient Relics
8- Distant Stars
9- Lithoids

[FakeyNamey]

@Dream State - Thank you very much that's exactly what I was looking for.

[Heimdall313]

Originally posted by Dream State:

Absolute Core : Utopia, Synthetics Dawn
They are really important, the game is not the same without.
Massive Expansion : Apocalypse, Leviathan, Megacorp, Federation
They add really huge improvement and gameplay features.
Story Pack : Ancient Relics, Distant Stars
Great for RP and story, but add minor aspect to the game.
Special Cases :
Lithoids : They are a new species with interesting mecanics, but you can really play without.
Plantoids / Humanoids : Only skins
-----------------------------------------------------------
Order in my Opinion :
1- Utopia
2- Synth Dawn
3- Apocalypse
4- Megacorp
5- Federation
6- Leviathan
7- Ancient Relics
8- Distant Stars
9- Lithoids

Agreeing with all of this. The top 3 should be snatched up on sale.

[Emperor]

The game is free to play for a week meaning you get the full game as if you had bought it. The 4 years of patches are of course included in the vanilla game.

As for DLC you have 4 main content expansions - Utopia, Apocalypse, Megacorp and Federations. Utopia being the best of the bunch, with federations probably being the second best. However i would advise you read each of the four to see what interest you the most.

[Elitewrecker PT]

Originally posted by FakeyNamey:

Uhh, huh? I'm sorry I'm not understanding these comments. I don't want the vanilla game. It's 4 years after release. I want the game that has been updated and improved by all the content packs and expansions that have come out.

If someone were getting into any other grand strategy game I know of, years after release, I wouldn't recommend the vanilla version in a million years. Would you tell someone to get vanilla Civ 5? That would be horrible advice. I want the complete game.

I was answering the part about the free-to-play. It's not the "vanilla original" (AKA launch 1.0) but I doubt it's with ALL DLCs unlocked either.

[FakeyNamey]

Originally posted by Emperor:

The game is free to play for a week meaning you get the full game as if you had bought it. The 4 years of patches are of course included in the vanilla game.

As for DLC you have 4 main content expansions - Utopia, Apocalypse, Megacorp and Federations. Utopia being the best of the bunch, with federations probably being the second best. However i would advise you read each of the four to see what interest you the most.

If you get all of them are they all integrated together, working at the same time?

[Emperor]

Originally posted by FakeyNamey:

Originally posted by Emperor:

The game is free to play for a week meaning you get the full game as if you had bought it. The 4 years of patches are of course included in the vanilla game.

As for DLC you have 4 main content expansions - Utopia, Apocalypse, Megacorp and Federations. Utopia being the best of the bunch, with federations probably being the second best. However i would advise you read each of the four to see what interest you the most.

If you get all of them are they all integrated together, working at the same time?

Yes you can. All the DLC's will work together if you own them.

[Astasia]

I mostly agree with the list above, I would say drop Federations down to the bottom though and wait for a sale. It's classified as a "big expansion" but it actually has very little content and I would say is not at all worth the $20 price tag.

[TRELLTRON]

Originally posted by FakeyNamey:

Uhh, huh? I'm sorry I'm not understanding these comments. I don't want the vanilla game. It's 4 years after release. I want the game that has been updated and improved by all the content packs and expansions that have come out.

If someone were getting into any other grand strategy game I know of, years after release, I wouldn't recommend the vanilla version in a million years. Would you tell someone to get vanilla Civ 5? That would be horrible advice. I want the complete game.

Seems like you don't understand the Paradox model. It's not like Civ where you need the expansions or you don't get anything new.

Every DLC/expansion comes alongside a free patch that improves the base game. Generally the base game contains all the mechanical improvements and the payed content just includes new empire types (machine, hive, megacorp, lithoid), new things to build (mega-structures, titans, planet-crackers), new ways to develop your empire (the ascension paths are a big reason Utopia is top of most people's lists), and new story-based content (new anomalies, leviathons, archeology sites). Also some cosmetics that can be ignored unless you really like the skins.

Most of these significantly improve the game, but if you've never played before you can generally get a good sense of the current state of the game just by playing the base game.

[Donut Steel]

The Paradox model consists of inserting major design flaws and anti-fun mechanics, to which the player is then sold a separate DLC to resolve. It's why empire and planetery management is borked and unfixable; you either need to roll good dice with your starting position or have the accompanying Megacorp DLC to access insane boosts to resource collection that solve any late-game problems caused by unnecessary and barely-explained overhauls of the game mechanics.

[Mastah Jedi]

Id argue Apocalypse is also essential, because it really expands warfare in very interesting ways, but Utopia is the most essential one.

My rating of top 3 dls to get, would be 1) Utopia (must have, expands on most game mechanics, fundamentally improves the game) 2) Federations (expands diplomatic game in a large way) 3) Apocalypse (expands warfare mechanics). Good luck