The leader cap ruined the game for me

[Maximus10113X]

I really want to get back into this game and it used to be my favourite and most played game on steam. But ever since they added the leader cap it just ruined the experience. Imagine controlling half the galaxy yet you are only allowed a handful of admirals, scientists and other types of leaders. I know there are workshop mods that increase the cap, but I want to be able to play the vanilla game and earn achievements. Can you PLEASE add a leader-cap adjustment or an option to switch off leader cap when starting a new game.

[MrRober95]

You can go above the cap :/

[Maximus10113X]

Originally posted by MrRober95:

You can go above the cap :/

There are penalties for that

[MrRober95]

Originally posted by Maximus10113X:

Originally posted by MrRober95:

You can go above the cap :/

There are penalties for that

Yes, as there are penalties for going above the fleet limit yet everyone does it. So?

[Maximus10113X]

Originally posted by MrRober95:

Originally posted by Maximus10113X:

There are penalties for that

Yes, as there are penalties for going above the fleet limit yet everyone does it. So?

The fleet limit is different. It can be increased quickly and easily.

[MrRober95]

Originally posted by Maximus10113X:

Originally posted by MrRober95:

Yes, as there are penalties for going above the fleet limit yet everyone does it. So?

The fleet limit is different. It can be increased quickly and easily.

There are ways to increase the leader cap in vanilla too, but if this little nuisance of having to pay a little more for an extra leader ruins your game I don't even know what to tell you.

[Kufesska]

do you want to have many admirals or strong admirals?
if many - exceed leader cap, and ignore penalty
if strong - now admirals are much stronger than before, in council too, even though they are capped

[Maximus10113X]

Originally posted by Kufesska:

do you want to have many admirals or strong admirals?
if many - exceed leader cap, and ignore penalty
if strong - now admirals are much stronger than before, in council too, even though they are capped

I had no idea admirals were buffed

[Ryika]

Originally posted by Maximus10113X:

I had no idea admirals were buffed

All leaders are significantly more impactful than they were before. The leader cap is there to balance the increased power levels.

Now you essentially put some highly skilled specialists in specific jobs, leave the rest empty (which you can roleplay as being filled by unremarkable leaders if that helps make it feel better), as opposed to before when you had to maintain low impact leaders everywhere.

[Kufesska]

Originally posted by Maximus10113X:

Originally posted by Kufesska:

do you want to have many admirals or strong admirals?
if many - exceed leader cap, and ignore penalty
if strong - now admirals are much stronger than before, in council too, even though they are capped

I had no idea admirals were buffed

they used to have 1-3 traits, comparable with perks that they got now on levels 1-3
but calss bonus on lvl 4, veteran, and, especially, destiny traits on level 5-10 make them notably stronger
i like admirals on artilelry fleets now - those buffs for attack range, for tracking and accuracy...

[Kufesska]

leaders before Galactic Paragons, if you are interested:
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/index.php?title=Leader&oldid=73961

and leaders now:
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Leader
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Commander_traits

[Maximus10113X]

Originally posted by Kufesska:

leaders before Galactic Paragons, if you are interested:
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/index.php?title=Leader&oldid=73961

and leaders now:
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Leader
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Commander_traits

Thanks

[RCMidas]

Yeah, beforehand it was a case of "I can put a few Commanders in charge of my fleets, and each fleet will get maybe +10% Sublight Speed and +5% Fire Rate and +5% Damage in terms of actual valuable bonuses"...

And now it's a case of "I can assign this Commander to my council and get +15% Sublight Speed for my entire empire as well as +30% Military Ship Build Speed; and because my Civics allow for another Commander councillor, I can assign this guy for +30% to Accuracy, Tracking, and Ship Weapon Range. AND I can still use them in fleets."

Leaders can get exceedingly powerful if you level them up enough. With the right Traditions and Civics, you can even skip some of the early pain (there's one obscene combination that allows you to recruit Commanders at Lv9 for instance!).

[Maximus10113X]

I guess after reading these comments I’m just dumb and didn’t realise that leaders got buffed lol

[Garatgh Deloi]

Originally posted by Maximus10113X:

Imagine controlling half the galaxy yet you are only allowed a handful of admirals, scientists and other types of leaders.

If it helps, i tend to think of it as a handful of exceptional commanders, scientists and officials, akin to geniuses/heroes or similar. Basically the men/women/other that will be the key figures in any future history books.

The rest of your fleets/armies/etc still have someone commanding them, you also have a ton of people working your labs (What is a Science Director & Researcher if not scientists?) and all manner of Bureaucrats/Politician (aka officials) in your empire, they are just (relative to the leaders) unremarkable and not brought to your attention.

Anyway, if you want a empire with a lot of leaders i recommend familiarizing yourself with the many ways to increase the soft caps: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Leader#Leader_capacity
Should also be mentioned that just going over the cap a tad isn't that big a deal (but if its like 8 over or something you stop earning experience without other modifiers that counteract it).

[bri]

There was always a leader cap it was just generally ignored because the penalties for exceeding it were trivial and leaders just weren't all that impactful that you needed to have many. Those things all changed significantly with the Galactic Paragons changes and thus the complaints about the leader cap.