Astral Planes DLC worth it?

[Murray EDS]

It's been a year+ since release, and it currently holds the dubious distinction with an overall review of "Overwhelmingly negative". But is it still worth getting?

And how bad is the Dimensional Fleet problem thing still? Comments I read here and there seems to make this to be a dealbreaker.

Another other problems to be aware of in this DLC?

[EJR]

If it's on sale and it genuinely seems interesting to you, then give it a try.

Personally, I never liked the concept and theme of it so I never bought it, even when it was on sale. The last time it was I actually did ask all over on Discord in servers where i know Stellaris players are, and the best answer supporting it was simply, "It's cool." But what turned me off immediately from it is that a friend of mine did play the game with Astral Planes, didn't like it, disabled it, and saw little changes to features and gameplay in subsequent playthroughs. So the conclusion I got is that it is a lukewarm DLC that is charged too much.

If you are still interested then I suggest getting it on sale, just know that you aren't exactly missing much if you don't.

[Bloodartist]

I think its fine, theres a lot of new events, many of which are doctor who-level crazy.

I also don't think the dimensional fleet is an issue, but I dont play multiplayer. I think the dim.fleet is worth about one of your big fleets (when considering scaling), so in the endgame its not terribly important?

Its possible to lock wormholes with another astral technology, so enemy can't invade through them. This is in my opinion a big plus.

[Sam]

I recently bought a few DLCs for Stellaris from a third party retailer (much cheaper, in case you're unaware!), albeit, not Astral Planes. But the thing I found was that pretty much all of the DLCs had negative, or mostly negative reviews.

A common theme I found was people complaining about the price of the respective DLC - and I get that, but the reviews, in my mind, unfairly conveyed a negative impression of the DLCs content.

As I say, I can't speak for what Astral Planes is like, but of the DLCs I bought, I've enjoyed them all quite a lot for the extra flavour and layers they've added. So, I'd say just give it a go if you're curious!

[Rage000]

In my opinion, Yes its worth getting, but when its on sale. Most of these negative reviews are complaints from people who do not like the prices of the various DLC.

[Geoff]

Originally posted by Murray EDS:

Another other problems to be aware of in this DLC?

It most frequently seems to come up in this forum because someone's scientist goes missing in the middle of a dig, leaving the thing frozen and inaccessible. I can't say how often that happens, but it definitely sounds like it's pretty buggy, even by this game's rather lax QA standards.

[Bloodartist]

Originally posted by Sam:

A common theme I found was people complaining about the price of the respective DLC - and I get that, but the reviews, in my mind, unfairly conveyed a negative impression of the DLCs content.

This is true, much of the recent poor reviews of Stellaris DLC is related to their increased prices. That doesn't mean the DLC are bad per se. Ps I do recommend getting any stellaris DLC when its on sale, except cosmic storms which seems to be only disruptive to gameplay.

[RCMidas]

Originally posted by Bloodartist:

Ps I do recommend getting any stellaris DLC when its on sale, except cosmic storms which seems to be only disruptive to gameplay.

I mean, you say that now, but wait until a couple of magnetic storms sweep over your primary manufacturing ecumenopolis and add 3 more District Slots to it or +30% Metallurgist Output. Or perhaps a radiant storm on a major generator world for +100% Energy From Jobs.

Or when you need to get a fleet somewhere FAST and an electric storm rolls up for +100% Sublight Speed. Or perhaps using the cover of a particle storm to negate an enemy's ability to regenerate, or a stardust storm to cut through that Fallen Empire blocking your way.

[jodnus]

Mechanically, it has an 'archeology but for the midgame' vibe.

Astral actions are powerful, so in some ways it is another dimension (har har) that adds back some of the power creep that was scaled down with the tech rework.

[abyssalfury]

As someone also giving the game another go, it's a bit of 'it depends' case.

The Rifts are fine to good. They aren't anything revolutionary, but it's more content and gives Scientists more to do. Rewards feel meaningful.

Astral Threads I think are a bit poorly balanced as a resource. Basically, I've found:

There's a bunch of limited use actions, so early on you pretty much just unlock those when you can.

Then after that, there's some repeatable actions. They are mostly just 'Press button and spend resource to get buff'. However, the resource flow is enough that it doesn't really feel like there's any any choices, because unless you want to use all of the abilities you get enough Astral Threads to just press the button every time it's off cooldown.

However, there's also some nice Edicts you can unlock that use Threads. Except they require a significant amount of resources, so you can't really maintain them without massively committing to producing Threads. So they kind of just act the same as the actions, where you potentially just spend resources for a buff, except it lasts until you turn it off rather than being on a cooldown.

So, by itself, it's fine. But the price is ridiculous. If you've got the sub, obviously not an issue. Otherwise, I'd want it on a deep discount (at least 50%, and honestly 75% would be better) before even considering it.

[BSNB]

Easy pass. Just get the must have DLCs like Utopia and ignore the rest. Don't fall into the DLC milking machine.

[Speed Malus]

A Solid yes from me.

[Totally Innocent Chatbot]

It's nice if you want some extra story/narrative content (think archaeology sites but a bit more interactive), but certainly not a must-have.

Regarding the "Dimensional Fleets" - I've not messed with them myself, seeing as they appear to be temporary. But in my last campaign, an AI I attacked fairly late into the game seemed to have most of their fleet comprised of them, and it was amazing how much their ships absolutely melted. I was just using standard tachyon lance + artillery battleships, with a few carriers and line cruiser escorts mixed in, so no real hard counters, and the term "mass casualties" doesn't even begin to describe how solidly they were thrashed. Not sure if it was the fleets themselves or something else in play, but most of their fleets seemed more or less unable to retreat from battle, so on defeat the entire fleet typically died.