Let's Play Stellaris: Part 7 - They Want Us To Do What?

"Our initial forays out into the galaxy yielded little signs of other intelligent life beyond remnants of the Yuuht, an advanced pre-cursor civilisation. Then we found two different races no more than a handful of jumps from Cartel territory. The Homolog Continuum, a race of caretaker machines thousands of years more advanced than us and the Unified Uriy Suns a race of xenophobic isolationists. Whilst our military expands we will see if we can't invest in our neighbours criminal elements for our own gain."

Stardate: 22-04-2222

So here we are again after the last part which saw things start to look up for this particular campaign of Stellaris. Whilst I don't see much intentional interaction with the Homolog Continuum the Unified Uriy Suns can definitely expect some branch offices and criminal enterprises popping up on their planets soon. However I need to address two issues, the first is the complete lack of influence due to aggressive expansion, the second is going to be building up our military to match or hopefully surpass the Uriy Suns.

The lack of influence I can already start to address by declaring the Unified Uriy Suns as a rival which should give us some extra influence, I'd say it'd make them hate us but they already do, sitting at -65 opinion. They are xenophobes so, they hate alien races plus the Cartel is a criminal syndicate, well so I may as well just lean into it. They give us a threat about losing business but the Cartel doesn't need their permission to conduct business, so we shake our fuzzy orange butts at them before closing the comm-link. Now they utterly detest us and have a superior fleet power rating, I'm sure it'll be fine.

That planet we were going to colonise is going to cost a fair bit of influence to get the outposts built but afterwards we start saving up to get some branch offices set-up in the Uriy Suns space. It's at this point I notice the capital hasn't got a governor so I recruit a new one, Vopisca Laenius who increases science output will do for now, Foxes love science afterall. So, that one building slot I have is taunting me with it's emptiness so let's put something in it shall we? At this stage of the campaign given my steady flow of resources there are a few options to consider.

Whilst it's not colonisable yet, as many planets haven't been we at least have plenty of terraforming targets later on.

First and most tempting is a research lab, getting some extra science rolling could give us the edge in the long run. Second is an alloy foundry, we are going to need a lot of alloys to build and maintain our military going forwards so it'd be a solid choice too. Last we have a stronghold, not only will it give our homeworld some more defence armies but it will give us extra naval capacity. It's a tough choice really, all three are solid options but I opt to go for the research lab it'll give us the most long-term benefit.

Basic combat roles finishes researching so I make sure to add it to the Cunning class corvettes design and then upgrade our existing 8 ships plus I add in our upgraded armour from last time. We also have two options for increasing research, one for orbital research stations, one increasing physics research from scientist jobs, we also have global energy management and auxiliary fire control as options. I think Zero-G labs is the best option for now though. Given most of our research is coming from orbital research stations I feel we'd get the most out of this for now.

Society research finishes next and again, not many good options, we are doing alright on food and I am not a massive fan of the gene clinics so I just choose the 20% extra society research option instead. Geothermal Fracking finishes gives us a nice boost as research finishes giving us +94 minerals a month now, without even thinking about it I grab powered exo-skeletons as the next option, bonus to minerals and army damage at once? Yes please. Given that minerals are used to make almost everything else, the more the better.

Come on scientists, give me some more interesting options than that please?

Physics research finishes again so I just grab field modulation to future proof the old energy credits. Things in the Cartel seem to be ticking over nicely, the science ships surveying many more systems, the constructors following behind laying claim to what they find. Only for my prediction for the Homolog Continuum to prove false. They claim that our chances of survival will increase if we colonise Scheat II, so I go looking for this world, was it something one of my science ships found recently? No. No it was not, it was the tomb world we found years ago leaving me scratching my head. On the one hand I don't want to ignore a fallen empire sitting not far from my doorstep but on the other hand colonising that world is virtually impossible with my current tech isn't really appealing.

For reference a tomb world is a dead world and most races will generally have a habitability of zero, basically doubling pop upkeep and amenity usage. At this stage I don't think I could afford to support such a colony so I ensure the Homolog Continuum is told to get stuffed. Politely of course. I have no idea what the consequences will be but it can't be worse than colonising a world which could tank my economy. If they had asked me to colonise almost anything else I might've agreed but I think those caretaker robots are a few centuries short on maintenance, I just hope they don't do anything hostile as at this early stage even my main starbase would prove little defence against their vastly superior tech and numbers.

Whilst I sit there wondering what those crazy robots are thinking I get a distress call from one of my science ships evading some hostiles. I get a brief look at some kind of crystalline things before the ship flees the system and gets an updated survey route only to run into even more hostiles in the next system. That's two more reasons I need to start working on my fleet it seems.

Seems I always think a part is going to be boring and then a bunch of crazy stuff happens near the end. Not that I am complaining I just hope we get to parts where it's all crazy and exciting stuff but hang in there, we'll get there, Stellaris is meant to be a slow burn kind of game afterall. We now have a lot of objectives and goals forming, beyond wondering why there are no planets to colonise and why there are no other empires nearby.

First will be to claim the systems to colonise our first planet, that'll take time due to how low our influence still is and likely will be for some time. Second due to the multitude of threats around us now expanding the military is now essential rather than a luxury. I should also look into taking improving existing military technology. Third is to begin establishing branch offices in the Uriy Suns territory to not only destabilize them and make them a softer target for later but also to get us the resources we need without having to use building slots on our own planets.

Vast fleets of crystalline ships or creatures scare off my science ships and have the Cartel military eagerly begging for more ships (again.)

As always thank you very much for reading I greatly appreciate you taking the time. Feedback, improvements, support all helps me keep wanting to do this and improve it and make it fun and interesting to read. Watch this space for the next part soon!

If you missed the last part, read it here!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 6 - First Contact

"Whilst our modest navy hangs in orbit over Vulpinus, eagerly awaiting their chance at glory it is in fact the Cartel's scientists whom are always in the news. Evidence of ancient and advanced civilisations, new technologies and new planets even if it is something of a sticking point they have yet to find anything habitable. One day, our military will be at the forefront staking our peoples claim on the galaxy and laying low any who stand in our way."

Stardate: 04-08-2219

So, here we are again another part in this slow burn epic campaign of Stellaris I had a bit of a think pondering how to proceed to try and get us to the fun stuff a little faster. Sadly Stellaris is not a game one simply rushes and besides, I think it will pay off in the long run so here we go again.

First off, I feel I need to set some immediate goals to pursue the first of which is obviously going to be to try and find at least two decent habitable planets. Whilst the very nature of a Megacorp means they are not punished for having a small empire I am not entirely sure the idea of a 'one planet challenge' is within my ability just yet.

The second goal I feel should be to build up our alloy production and hence our military production. Most immediately to deal with those mining drones nearby and in the future to go do some hostile takeovers of alien empires. Also it fits the whole theme of the Fox Cartel, fanatic militarist materialists, they blow up your stuff and take whats left. With those goals set, let us begin!

I am almost tempted to get a third science ship out there surveying for us or maybe send one off purely to explore for a planet but for now I'll be patient. In more interesting happenings it's time for us to choose whom will be our next glorious Oligarch, out of the four candidates we obviously have our current ruler who gives us better farming and cheaper ships. However there is one thing I notice about all four.. None of them are younger than 50, yikes, for now though I opt to stick with our current ruler so I throw my influence behind the venerable Mania Pasidienus. Or I would have if I had enough influence, looks like it goes down to the dice roll. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fine!

FaustusVolcatius is elected as new Oligarch which actually is quite fortuitous, he gets an extra 25 years lifespan and more unity as his traits and his agenda, 'scientific leap' gives us a +10% bonus to research speed, I hope it's a good omen!

Then it happened, we met out first alien civilisation and it's not quite what I expected by far. The Homolog Continuum, an ancient fallen empire of caretaker robots and they are right next door. Something tells me I better be careful not to annoy them lest they delete us with lasers. They may have given us open borders with them but yeah, the military is feeling a bit less eager now. In better news the Agathodaemon has discovered some exotic gases we can make use of later.

Our first contact, a fallen empire of caretaker robots right next door.

Now for a genuinely tricky choice, our next tradition selection and as we completely finished the Discovery branch its time to choose a new one to pursue. Expansion still feels too optimistic a choice even if the admin capacity increase is always so good, everything else isn't so useful to me given I have no planets to colonise. Supremacy feels thematically apt but as my only neighbour is a fallen empire going to war with them is a one way ticket to oblivion so I opt for the next best thing. Prosperity. A good economy is always a big plus so that is what I go for much to the grumbles from the military.

I change my second science ships route away from it's previous one which is now Homolog Continuum territory, we need planets foxes, even if theirs are nice we are a about 500 or more years of research away from winning a war with them. Only for that route to make sure we meet yet another alien race, it's all happening now!

The Unified Uriy Suns, fanatic pacifist xenophobes, I'm sure they'll love us. Ahem. My military are already rubbing their paws together in delight. Now I can start making use of my criminal syndicates special traits, establishing illegal holdings on other empires worlds. Now unlike other Megacorps who need permission as a crime syndicate I can build my special structures wherever I want. There are some benign options but most of the others increase crime on the hosting planet, the higher the crime rate, the more they give me. It does mean that crackdowns from law enforcement can close my branch offices and stop me from rebuilding them for a time and the target empire usually doesn't like it but the Fox Cartel would likely tell you to kiss their fuzzy orange backsides if you don't like it.

In all that excitement I almost miss the fact we have a potentially habitable planet now within reach as well. The Bonos system is home to an arctic world which for our alpine dwelling foxes sits at about 50% habitability. However it is size 22 so I am going to start building outposts toward it to claim it for the Cartel.

This arctic world in a binary star system (yeah I know) looks to be the Fox Cartel's first colony target.

As we end this part on a high note there are a few issues we are going to need to fix sooner rather than later. Firstly, we are critically short on influence, the aggressive building of outposts with two constructor ships means I don't have the influence to establish branch offices within other empires yet. Second, we are going to need a much bigger and better military which means we need more alloys not only to build the ships but maintain them as well.

I admit fox fans I was getting a little worried this would be yet another part where precisely nothing interesting happened. It seems not to be the case, thankfully so it's looking up for the fledgling Cartel and their dreams of galactic domination.

Thank you very much for reading and if you post any feedback, retweet it, like it, it's always so humbling and hugely appreciated! Watch this space for the next part!

The Unified Uriy Suns have no idea just how unlucky they are to have us as neighbours.

If you missed the last part, you can find it here!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 5 - Science For Victory!

"Two planets so far had been found that might one day support the Cartel but both lay aside the range of suitable habitation, some of our scientists theorise we may one day be able to 'terraform' them but for now they are useless. The Cartel needs a symbol to show our people that our dreams of a galaxy spanning syndicate are not folly for now though, we survey, catalogue, mine, stockpile and research until we can make that dream a reality."

Stardate: 19-03-2216

Off we go again seeking galactic goodies such as planets and aliens or at least that is the hope! To start us off yet another potentially habitable planet falls into view of my science ships but I don't hold much hope, it's a tomb world. Vulpinus at least reaches the next population milestone giving me another building slot to play with but I'll worry about that later.

In order to keep the expansion of the soon to be mighty Fox Cartel moving apace I decide to build a second constructor ship to make sure no-one else claims the good systems before I get there. The science ship that was studying the precursor anomaly finds a Yuht Cruiser, so I set them studying that, what goodies will it hold I wonder?

Seems I was correct, the tomb world has zero habitability not that I am surprised but I don't think I've ever had a start where I only had one planet for this long and I've played Stellaris since it's release. Something interesting does happen next however, as the science ship Agathodaemon enters the Tatanga system to begin it's survey a huge ruined structure appears on sensors, a ruined installation of some kind, oh my.

The science ship Agathodaemon stumbles across a huge ruined mega-structure in the Tatanga system. What could it be?

The science ships seem to be getting all the glory at the moment much to the gnashing of teeth and flailing of fox-tails it causes from the military. Our second science ship finds another strategic resource deposit, Zro. The Cartel can't make use of it yet but it's safely in an area they can all their own so, more shiny stuff for later. For the more immediate future there are pops that need work on the home-world so let's figure out what to build for them.

We need a lot it has to be said, from alloys to more research to better naval capacity but for now I decide to future proof things a little and get an agriculture district built, hungry foxes are especially cranky. We even get another tech, Automated Exploration Protocols finishes research so let's see what our physicists have on offer for us this time.

More powerful blue lasers, tempting if only so we are potentially able to take out those mining drones in that nearby star system. More energy credits from technician jobs, again tempting as are specialised combat computers, which would again help our military out. Just as fusion power would help our ships out too. The long term side of me thinks going for energy credits is a safe bet but I figure I better start improving my ships, so let's get the combat computers researched for now.

The science division once more maintains it's glory streak with another technology, ceramo-metal armour so let's see what the engineers have on offer for us before the social division finishes their research. Better engineering research, better mass drivers, improved corvette hulls and increased minerals. I already know I am going for the minerals as you need minerals for consumer goods and alloys, the latter will be important later. As you need them to build ships so just as the social division finishes their patent pending 'Friskier Fox' tech to increase pop growth speed.

Our options among the social research are less exciting than lasers and railguns however. A new building, the gene clinic plus starbase hydroponics and yet another building for planets, more hydroponics. Plus the returning discount to leader recruitment, so I opt to go for that one for now maybe next time our sociologists will come up with some more exciting options.

The Fox Cartel continues it's expansion into the galaxy unimpeded with not a rival in sight to date.

For now though I'll bring this part to a close, we will get to the good stuff soon I promise but until then I'll just try and put more parts up in a week. I hope you enjoy reading about the Fox Cartel and their bid to become a galactic crime syndicate, all the feedback and support is always greatly appreciated. Watch this space for more in the next part!

If you missed the last part, you can read it here!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 4 - My Kingdom For A Planet

"After the wars which had seen the Cartel emerge as the dominant civilization there was definitely a lot more room for the now growing population and more than enough food to go around. However a new planet was not about merely space or food for the Cartel, it was to be a symbol, a rallying cry to stretch forth their hand and take what they believed to be rightfully theirs. Even if that was the galaxy."

Stardate: 13-07-2212

Here we are again, guiding the fledgling Cartel on their quest for galactic domination and shiny things. There are a few more fairly decent resource rich systems nearby that our construction ship will lay claim to and exploit whilst the science ships consider their never-ending quest to find us another planet. I am finding it a little strange that not only have we not found a single worthwhile planet yet but we haven't seen any other empires. Which is good as that means there is no-one trying to nuke us from orbit but bad because it means we have no-one to deprive of their shiny loot.

More fairly mundane anomalies are scanned, researched and nothing shiny is falling out leaving our science ship crews in dismay but something finally turns their way, hopefully. Also a tip for those of you wanting to send your science ship to do a research project without interrupting the route you plan, CTRL+Shift+Click sets the order you give to the front of the queue. Another planet which initially showed as possibly habitable turns out to be a desert world, we do not have the technology for that just yet, the search continues. I was initially hoping to get at least two or three half decent planets by now to give us a solid base to work from but this is starting to feel like a 'One Planet Challenge' at this stage.

A literal dust-ball that taunted the Cartel with being nearly habitable.

Some unemployment pops up on the home-world again so let's see what we really need a new building or a new district more. Looking at our resources there is one we might need more of soon and that is Consumer Goods, so I use our building slot for now to build Civilian industries but I also queue up a city district so we don't run out of space for Foxes. Districts do take a long time to build so it is worth planning ahead. Also as we have plenty of resources I start clearing those tile blockers and then we get a nice new shiny technology! AI controlled colony ships, perhaps a little optimistic at this stage but let's hope we get some use out of it later, now, what do we want to research next in the physics department?

Whilst all four options are good, more physics research, better orbital research stations, better shields, I opt to go for Automated Exploration Protocols whilst exploration is still a thing. That and whilst more research is good, 10-20% of not a lot is.. Well, not a lot. A short time later all of our science department heads level up simultaneously just as we get, yet another tech! Ground Defense Planning, that'll please the military, let's see what our next choices are.

Better farming, more society research, faster population growth or increased leader pool with reduced cost for recruiting them, hmm. I am going to throw caution to the wind here and go for Genome Mapping for the population growth, lets hope the next research roll is a bit more exciting. Just as I say that one of our science ships finds evidence of precursor activity, let's hope it doesn't explode.

A new tradition to choose but that is a simple choice, I finish the discovery tree with 'Faith in Science' which makes it so science pops have less upkeep. Also for finishing the discovery traditions we get a further 10% increase in our research speed and a nice shiny ascension perk, what shall we choose?

The ascension perks we can choose right now don't seem massively exciting if I am entirely honest, of the six we have available the only two that seem good to me right now are Mastery of Nature and Technological Ascendancy. Now mastery of nature is very interesting for a tall empire like I predict the Fox Cartel will be as it gives each planet a one time improvement to increase it's maximum districts by 2. Technological Ascendancy on the other hand gives us another 10% bonus to our research speed, a bit more bland but definitely very helpful.

However as I don't see myself getting more than a handful of planets anytime soon it means I will likely only get about 10 more districts, the Fox Cartel is definitely heading for tall not wide. So I choose technological ascendancy, I am sure the military will be happy at getting new ways to explode things. I knew this wasn't going to be as initially dramatic and eventful as Rimworld but it's definitely proving to be a very slow burn right now, it'll pick up once the early game is done though (I hope.)

To end this part of the play through we finally get a choice with those mining drones, we can opt to get a bonus to destroying them or increase our mineral station output. The Fox Cartel are nothing if not a fan of getting more stuff so they opt to take the bonus mineral output. I'll likely still destroy them anyway but the bonus to damaging them would only be helpful once, maybe twice.

I am genuinely getting a bit concerned this isn't an exciting enough Stellaris campaign so far but hang in there, I promise there will be space battles and galactic conquest! Just as soon as we find anyone, I may go a bit longer in the next part though to help nudge us toward the fun stuff a little more quickly. My last few Stellaris games before I decided to write one up were all kinds of crazy, early wars, hostile neighbours, long-time rivalries, staunch allies etc! I have a feeling the wait is just a sign we are in for an epic campaign so hang in there with me!

Thanks to everyone who reads and enjoys, leaves feedback it all means the world to me!

The final score for the episode, plenty of room to expand in terms of systems but not a single worthwhile planet. And no neighbours to exploit.. I mean, 'befriend'

If you missed the last part, click here to go read it!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 3 - Slow Start

"To say the Cartel military got practically giddy at the prospect of armed conflict would be understating it by no small margin. The report from the science ship was garbled as they were too busy evading hostile fire to even bother examining the hostiles but that didn't stop an impassioned plea from the military leadership for more funds. A new ship was designed and several assembled, crews trained as the Fox Cartel military prepares for it's first military encounter."

Stardate: 13-06-2207

So we begin this episode preparing a fleet to take on those unruly blighters who scared off one of my science ships. I didn't get a good look at what they were which means I will adopt the policy of overwhelming force and smush them good and proper. I set my science ships on a different path to keep them surveying rather than cowering. The construction ship has enough to do claiming systems with outposts and building mining and research bases meaning for now things will just tick over, so let's have a look at the system these hostiles are in.

It appears to be about 1k fleet power which is not something I can easily reach with current available tech and I don't really want to throw away my ships this early on as alloys are slow to acquire. Much as the Cartel military is chomping at the bit to get to the conquering and space battles they'll just have to wait til we have better equipment. For now though I pause society research in favour of investigating these new neighbours designated 'alpha aliens'.

Another tradition can now be selected so I just continue down the discovery traditions selecting the science division tradition. Now this one is super helpful, an extra two levels to the max level for scientists but more importantly an extra research alternative meaning we'll have four options instead of three each time we choose what to research next.

Some good news however, whilst surveying a black hole system dubbed Eternal Horizon, we stumble across a source of dark matter (a strategic resource) as well as a level five anomaly, why do I feel nervous about that? We also finish investigating our uppity neighbours who scared off the science ship and find them to be ancient mining drones, so I approve the special project to study them, even if my generals whine they don't get to blow something up.

One of the Cartel's science ships scanning Eternal Horizon, a nearby black hole.

After spending a good year and a bit scanning the black hole my scientists determine it's just a bit 'wobbly' but on the plus side it means it gives more physics research, nine in total now, I'll take it! And then two factions form within the cartel simultaneously, the Committee of High Technology who basically want us to research the galaxy to death and the Battle Brethren who want us to explode the galaxy to death. So far they are both fairly content so for now I'll leave them be.

I continue to lament the lack of any suitable habitable planets though just as another tradition choice pops up, again, the discovery trees next option is chosen. Polytechnic Education, more leader experience and a higher level cap for leaders, always a plus. Kind of glad I didn't pick expansion as my first as right now there are no planets save that one the Cartel turned it's nose up at.

For now though it's been another quiet part to this Stellaris let's play but just hang in there, the space battles, galactic rivalries and other fun will come, just stick with me people! Thanks for reading though and as always I welcome all feedback either on here or twitter, don't be afraid to let me know what you think or throw ideas and suggestions out.

Keep an eye out for the next part soon!

The Cartel as it stands right now, one planet and six star systems.

If you missed the previous part, click here to go and read it!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 2 - Dealing With Unruly Neighbours

"New planets had been surveyed, resource deposits marked, orbital research stations built but as yet no other sentient species. The Cartel did however stumble across evidence of a long dead space faring race who called themselves the Yuht, they hoped there would be more living beings to exploit in the future but for now they plan, they build and prepare for first contact."

Stardate: 24-03-2203

So here we are again in the early game, the exploration and discovery phase of Stellaris, sadly no more habitable planets for us so far but so long as we get a couple close by we should be alright. There are at least some resources nearby to exploit with mining and research stations so for now the Fox Cartel will build their economy up. Our governor, the venerable Faustus Volcatius leveled up but gained the stubborn trait giving him a -25% penalty on experience gain, well, not great but it could have been worse.

The Jor Mon Dir system currently being surveyed is proving to be a veritable treasure trove of resources so far and it's not even been fully surveyed yet but the minerals a lone mean it's going to be the next system I claim. Minerals make the galaxy go round, at least according to one Cartel philosopher. An anomaly is also detected just as the capital finishes a generator district taking care of the minor unemployment issue for now, after some pondering what to do with the building slot I opt for a corporate culture site, I know we have a unity penalty but as I see it traditions are still a massive help.

The Cartel's scientists decide that due to a complete lack of habitable worlds found in close proximity that we should undertake a massive survey effort to find more, I can only agree with them on that. However being a megacorp tends to mean you go tall rather than wide, besides, I can set-up 'employment opportunities' on other empires planets soon enough, ahem.

The Jor Mon Dir system gets claimed by the Cartel and all those tasty resources get a nice shiny mining station and we get another tradition to choose! I opt to go for the 'To Boldly Go' tradtion for increased surveying speed, super helpful this early on. An anomaly we examine turns out to be the wreck of a cruiser being crushed in a gas giant, sadly we can't add it to the 'mighty' Cartel navy but it does give us a nice pile of engineering research points. With not much happening I opt to let the game run at full speed for a while so we can get to the good stuff a bit quicker!

Expansion is slow and only a single unsuitable planet has been found not to mention unruly neighbours.

Right, something happening at long last the administrative AI research finished meaning a nice shiny boost to research speed so now, what next for physics research? For now I go for AI Colony Ships, on the off chance we actually find a world we can settle, even if the only one the Cartel has found so far is the wrong type having only 15% habitability for us, ick! Another tradition, this time I take databank uplinks so our orbital research stations give us that little bit of extra science.

Things take a slightly ugly turn when the FCMV Agathodaemon enters a system only to flee in terror from some alien scum.. I mean, potential customers. Sadly a fleet power of about 1000 means my frankly pathetic navy stands no chance. However, engineering research finishes so time for the next project, extra mining station output is tempting but with hostile aliens next door I opt to make my military happy and research ceramo-metal materials for better armour as well as design my first ship.

The first military ship of the Fox Cartel, the Cunning class corvette.

A missile boat is tempting simply for the range they have, a picket ship this early on likely won't be as useful as later so I opt for the interceptor for the 3 small weapon slots. So I throw in a pair of small mass drivers and a red laser as it's weapon loadout, a reactor booster, two armour and a shield. I don't have much to work with yet so it'll have to do. I name it the Cunning class corvette, long may she serve the interests of the Fox Cartel. I also retrofit the existing 3 ships to the new design and increase the fleet to more than double, having 8 Cunning class corvettes set to roll off the production line. Also for good measure I recruit an admiral, Mettia Carvilius whose starting trait sees her having an extra 25 years lifespan.

To end this part as society research finishes I don't have many good options to choose from, Hydroponic farming, offworld trading companies for starbases or the option I chose, ground defence planning, more naval capacity from soldier jobs and better damage for defence armies. These foxes are all about that military so it fits.

I am thinking that we won't be seeing much exciting happen for at least the next few parts, the early game of Stellaris can be somewhat slow and I am almost wondering if I should have set the galaxy to a smaller size. However, I feel that later on this is going to be a lot of fun as disgruntled neighbours try to put us out of business whilst the (eventually) mighty Cartel navy plies the starlanes.

Until then however thank you very much for reading, keep your eye out for more Stellaris on the blog soon!

If you missed the last part, click here to go to it!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 1 - It Begins

"In a word the Fox Cartel could be described as ruthless. If you had something they wanted they would take it from you one way or another. Kings, armies, governments all fell to the cartel as the cartel at least was more organised, united in it's purpose and a lot more powerful than anyone else and they were not bound by rules or morality. So now they reach for the stars and you better hope you don't have something they want."

Stardate: 01-01-2200

This has been a long time coming but here it finally is, the Stellaris written let's play! So first things first before I even unpause the game, selecting my research goals to start us off. For physics research I select the Administrative AI, that +5% extra research speed will pay off in the long run the sooner I get it so it's an easy choice. Society research proves a trickier choice, do I go for faster population growth or more unity production? I opt for the unity with the Planetary Unification tech, maybe it'll offset that unity penalty I gave them during creation.

Engineering proves to be a bit of a meh selection of three choices, more engineering research, carrier operations and zero-g refineries. So I settle on zero-g refineries simply because I know I'll be building a lot of mining stations at the start. There are a few untapped resources in my home system, some energy, minerals and physics research so I set the constructor to start building those whilst the science ship I send off to scout the surrounding area.

The Beta Aquilae system is the first one just to our galactic north that I send the science ship to survey and they stumble across some precursor remnants in the form of the Yuht plus something strange in orbit of the star, so I set them to investigate. Realising there is a lot of galaxy for one science ship to cover I order a second one constructed, so a new Hephaestio class science ship soon rolls off the ship-yard assembly line captained by Marcus Nautius. Hopefully that should ensure we get a good picture of our surroundings sooner rather than later.

Precursor remnants from a race known as the Yuht were found on this lump of rock in the Beta Aquilae system.

It's at this stage we get to choose our first tradition, exciting! Expansion is tempting but of limited use to a Megacorp as we simply can't make ourselves too big too fast or the admin costs would grind us to a halt. So I opt for the discovery tradition, maybe it'll help speed along the early exploration stage of things for our curious Foxes.

The Ribblor system is now fully surveyed though it's a fairly disappointing patch of space, 2 energy credits and 6 minerals hardly being the treasure trove of wealth the Fox Cartel wants but I'll claim it anyway. The expansion begins! Kind of.

The science ship examining the strange container orbiting the star in Beta Aquilae I opt to not study it further as my scientists are too low level and I have more important things to do like finding planets to settle.

The population of our homeworld Vulpinus is growing and now they need jobs so I slap down an energy generator district for now. I tend to keep my homeworld balanced to at the start when it comes to districts

Whilst I know not much has happened so far, that is just the nature of early-game Stellaris but hopefully things will start picking up in later parts. Will we find ourselves at odds with aggressive neighbours? Will we find a race of peaceful space bunnies and nick all their carrots? Watch this space for more!

One new system claimed for the glory of the Fox Cartel, it won't be the last.

I am still figuring out a good length for these so any feedback is greatly appreciated, I won't be doing this like Rimworld though. Stellaris can oft have many game years of not much happening so restricting myself to one or two years at a time may not work. Do let me know what you think!

If you missed the previous part, find it here!