What happened to selecting FTL and weapon types start game?

[Lexite]

In the last version you could select weapons and FTL type, and i just got on to try out the new update, i went to select my race and i realised that it didnt tell me my FTL or weapon type. is this new or? is my game broken?

[MightyFox]

FTL types save for hyperlanes are gone. We now have natural wormholes, and buildable gateways for later FTL travel methods. There is also warp in the form of jumpdrives, but it's use is very limited. This was done to create more strategic gameplay, and to give systems inherent value over the previous method of just blobbing and taking everything under your blob.

Naturally, it has both proponents, and detractors, but most are in favor of the change.

All empires start with all weapons types now. And missles have thier own slots on stations and ships. (They've also been buffed quite a bit). Now you can customize to your hearts content, and take the weapon you need against any given situation. If you like specialization, you can choose to ignore the other weapon research options when they come avaiable, but I would reccomend against this, as certain combinations, such as guass guns and plasma cannons, can be quite deadly.

[Spirit]

i will miss the option to choose the weapons ... i want it back ...

[DeathRow]

Originally posted by Spirit:

i will miss the option to choose the weapons ... i want it back ...

u can choose weapons in the ship builder

[Tomdroid]

Originally posted by Spirit:

i will miss the option to choose the weapons ... i want it back ...

Now, missiles have their own slot, and you start with lasers and kinetics. This is better, because now you can mix and match easily.

[info]

Originally posted by Lexite:

In the last version you could select weapons and FTL type, and i just got on to try out the new update, i went to select my race and i realised that it didnt tell me my FTL or weapon type. is this new or? is my game broken?

"look, it's better now, because we took content out of the game!"

[MightyFox]

Originally posted by info:

"look, it's better now, because we took content out of the game!"

It is better, because they replaced old content with more meaningful content. You don't have to agree, but most like the change, and the old FTL isn't coming back.

[Zsrai]

Originally posted by Spirit:

i will miss the option to choose the weapons ... i want it back ...

You start with all 3, you can change your ship loadout the same as you could before and only use 1 weapon type if you wanted to.

[FistFullOBeer]

Originally posted by MightyFox:

Originally posted by info:

"look, it's better now, because we took content out of the game!"

It is better, because they replaced old content with more meaningful content. You don't have to agree, but most like the change, and the old FTL isn't coming back.

I'm curious to know where you get the data showing 'most like the change' considering that the most recent reviews are mixed. Is it just you and your fanboys who like the change or is there a poll somewhere?

Paradox bailed on the multiple FTL types because they could not write an AI that was good enough to use or them. They simplified to the choke point idea to help themselves for easier coding. Not due to some grand idea that this makes a better game. Choke points in space? Space? Preposterous.

[Robbie922004]

Paradox likes Hyperlanes better than the other options, so they removed everything except hyperlanes.

All empires get the same weapons now because they couldn't balance a basic rock-paper-scissors dynamic, and wanted empires to be even more homogeneous.

All empires have basically the same playstyle now between dumbing down FTL, weapons, and war.

[Briggs]

Originally posted by Robbie922004:

Paradox likes Hyperlanes better than the other options, so they removed everything except hyperlanes.

All empires get the same weapons now because they couldn't balance a basic rock-paper-scissors dynamic, and wanted empires to be even more homogeneous.

All empires have basically the same playstyle now between dumbing down FTL, weapons, and war.

In general I've noticed that the number of asymmetric strategy games has fallen considerably. It's not just PDX, it's the industry. It's like they all stopped trying. My first RTS was Command and Conquer: Red Alert (back in the '90s) and it had a pretty decent balance I felt. Or, if nothing else, it was a fun balance.

[Druski]

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-92-ftl-rework-and-galactic-terrain.1052958/

[Ficelle]

They removed warp and wormhole, not to annoy people, but because they lead to huge unbalances
Mobility was just too high compared to galaxy and empires size

You could jump right in the middle of the enemy empire, from pretty much anywhere

It promoted doomstacking as no matter where your doomstack was, it could reach any part of the galaxy fast
No point to split fleets

It rendered any sort of defense pointless and useless

A guy with hyperlane compared to a guy with warp / wormhole was either a useless ally or a useless enemy, their lack of mobility was crippling (especially hyperlane AI was utterly screwed...)

It rendered strong neutrals very unfair, some could just ignore them and jump over while hyperlane guys had to fight them or endure being locked for the whole early game

Probably more...

So, best solution all around was to give everyone hyperlanes
They could also probably have chosen to nerf warp / wormhole range super hard, like 1/4 of what it was...

[Hugh]

They screwed up by removing the other ftl opinions. They should have left them in game but just had them locked until higher tech levels.
With a little bit of rebalancing, that would work.

[ArcticISAF]

That's what jump drives do now.

[Sohei]

The old way was fine.