Rolling Thunder Forums

So, I've decided to run an... unorthodox Stellaris game, and document it.

How unorthodox? Well, primarily it'll have no FTL drives. While that's not entirely true since the game engine breaks if you try to make that the case, the mod makes travel between stars take a significant amount of time. There are also a number of other mods that have various impacts.

There's a handful that increase name variety with wars, systems, and empires, along with adding emblems and colors. This should make the Galaxy a more lively place.

There's a handful that allow for broader terraforming - Including planets you're living on and turning non-colonizable planets into colonizable ones. Additionally, I added one that lets me colonize asteroids. These will allow me to exploit the resources in a smaller area of space. Crucial, since getting anywhere will take significant amounts of time. And as far as I am aware, the AI will use these too.

I've also added a few mods to increase events and technologies and subject interaction, along with a mod that adds advanced and larger ship types. It's really fun - Doesn't particularly change much from what I've seen playing it, but having a fleet with a Heavy Dreadnaught at the front is pretty awesome. There's a secondary ship type mod that adds a few other ship types as well. We'll see how well they mesh together. The Tender from Voidcraft looks like it'll be pretty crucial in long-ranging STL fleets.

To help with the fact that basic Stellaris defenses are super basic and easily rolled over, I've added a trio of mods. One makes default stations better, one adds a fourth tier of stations that are powerful and durable as hell, and the third makes it so you can have in-system defense fleets that are "Stuck" in their system. As you can't go chasing down a fleet with your own fleet, the defensive fleets and stations will be a lot more prominent than they would be in standard Stellaris.

There's also a few I added to have more fun with the relatively boring leaders. One makes it so that leaders spawn with 2 traits, and Rulers with 3. Another adds a bunch of negative ruler and leader traits that'll show up, making things a little more interesting. And the third resets the leader pool at the end of each year instead of at the end of every ten. If I'm having more negative traits, I'm going to need that.

A full list of mods (along with better descriptions) can be found here: http://pastebin.com/dpQvsYfx

I'll be posting game updates and screenshots as I play. Next post will be the game settings I choose.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present: The Yeldon Council.



Hailing from Dromacca in the Katol system, the Yeldon have the Communal, Adaptive, and Rapid Breeders advantageous traits, and the Deviants and Weak negative traits. They are Militarist and Fanatic Materialist, and their Despotic Empire is led by High Lord Darmull. They use the Humanoid Name List 1, Reptilian Cities, and Mammalian ships. Their weapon of choice is the laser.

Their galaxy is a Medium Elliptical Galaxy (600 stars), with 14 AI empires. No Advanced AI starts are given, although there are a possible two FAllen Empires. Habitable Worlds are set to 75%, and the AI is Aggressive and Hard. FTL is set to Warp-Only (As recommended by the No FTL mod), with entirely random placement. Advanced Neighbors is OFF, although this shouldn't have any effect since there aren't any Advanced empires. Endgame Crises are ON, but Ironman Mode is Off. I'm using enough mods here that if I run into an issue I want to be able to go back and reload.

I discovered that Realistic Ships was causing problems with the No FTL mod, so I disabled it.




Our Glorious Ruler, High Lord Darmull, has Charismatic (-20% Edict Cost, +25% Edict Duration), Space Miner (-25% Constructor and Mining Station Build Cost), and Industrialist (+10% Minerals).



Our incumbent Governor Kashnak has Urban Upbringing (-10% Food) and Terrible Architect (+20% Building Cost and Construction Time).
The Head of Physics Research, Yndan, has Resilient (+25 Year Lifespan) and Maniacal (+5% Research Speed).
The Head of Society Research, Jaffab, has Spark of Genius (+10% Research Speed) and Expertise: New Worlds (+10% Research Speed on New Worlds)
The Head of Engineering Research, Elemano, has Stupid (-5% Research Speed) and Expertise: Industry (+10% Research Speed on Industry)
In command of YCS Damghalla the Heroic is Ketrill, who has Adaptable (+15% Leader Experience Gain) and Archaeologist (+50% Anomaly Research Speed, -25% Anomaly Fail Risk).

High Lord Darmull is displeased by Kashnak, and replaces him with Linntyl, who has Adaptable and Intellectual (+10% to Engineering, Physics, and Society output).
While not satisfied with Elemano, Darmull decides that a second science ship and leader is a more productive use of resources. A second science ship is ordered, and Darmull hires Yndan, who has Expertise in both Industry and Rocketry. Assigning Yndan as the new Engineering lead, Darmul places Elemano in command of the new Science cruiser, where he will have less opportunity to cause problems.



Darmull orders Field Modulation, a New Worlds Protocol, and Powered Exoskeletons to be researched. As there is no need for external use of force at this time, the Home Fleet is modified to a local patrol fleet. A design is ordered for a Light Platform to aid other platforms in interstellar travel, and the Booster I is commissioned. Other ship designs are updated as needed, and all ships are ordered to upgrade at their convenience.

The YCS Damghalla the Heroic is ordered to survey the Katol system.

And then the game actually starts.

Within a few days, High Lord Darmull names Lord Thaloth his successor. Lord Thaloth has Investor (+10% Energy Credits), Fortifier (-20% Defense station build cost and upkeep) and Expansionist (-15% Frontier Outpost Build Cost).



When YCS Hishma the Brooding is completed, Elemano is placed in command as promised, and the ship is directed towards the nearby Tiusdire system, where it appears that there are two habitable planets. Such a system would be incredibly useful for the future of the species. A Booster-I station is built on the outskirts of the system to aid in the ship's travel.

The First Fifteen Years.

Just as a note: I'll be skimming over a bunch of things. No need to tell every little bit of detail. The early stuff will get in more detail, but later in the game it'll be more trimmed down because more is happening.


Early on, Damghalla the Heroic (From now on, DtH) finds a precursor artifact in the Kotol system. Sentient AI, with a wish to exterminate all organic life? Well, obviously they failed, but it should be interesting! After finishing the survey of Kotol, DtH is sent to Erdire and finds one habitable world before the warp cooldown allows the vessel to survey the system.


Hishma the Brooding (HtB) arrives in Tsudire, and finds the two habitable worlds. The survey of Tiusdire II finds a pre-sentient species. I'm sure we can co-exist until a point at which we can uplift them into the grand Council. The planet itself has two beneficial modifiers - Strong Magnetic Field (+5% Physics/Energy Credits) and an Asteroid Belt (+10% Minerals). With the large size of the planet and the great resources it contains, it should be a good idea for a first true colony.


But before that, though, we should colonize the asteroid in our home system. It will be a good starting point to expand our resources, and a second spaceport will add greatly to our ability to produce ships and expand the Council. The second colony ship is slated for Tiusdire II, with the provisional name of "Darmug's Frontier"

Meanwhile, we get two directives from our research divisions - A Habitable World Survey mission, to document and study alien life, and a Study the Stars mission, to gather information on stars from a much closer range. Both will take significant amounts of time and energy to complete, but as we are still reaching out to the stars both seem like a good idea.



Shortly after Darmug's Frontier lands, we see the birth of Space Piracy. These Crimson Commandos have a base far from our home system, but we will find and root them out in time. It is proposed that pirate prisoners be made to work in the mines of VIR-811, but penal labor is much like slave labor - And the Council has prohibited slavery decades ago.

Research continues, with Engineering researching finishing Powered Exoskeletons, then Nanocomposite Materials to armor our ships. By 2215, the Engineering team is researching Nanomechanics, which should allow us to build facilities to help aid in our Engineering studies.
The Society team finishes their New Worlds protocol, then determines how to conquer the mountain ranges found on both VIR-811 and the planets in the Tiusdire system. They also make a breakthrough in orbital hydroponic farms, which will aid out asteroid colonies greatly.
In the Physics department, Field Modulation finishes, allowing us to harness even more power from our power plants. They move on to Quantum Theory, allowing them a facility with a function like those the Engineers are working on. Once they finalize their theories, they begin working on a helpful administrative AI, to streamline research projects.

Just before the new year of 2215, a pirate fleet is detected entering the Erdire system, from a previously unknown star. The Booster station in that system, aimed at speeding the colonization of the system, will be the only defenses between Erdire and Dromacca. If they do defeat the station, however, the Home Fleet is standing by to take care of any threats that enter.



The current overview of the Yeldon Council, as of 2215.01.12. The Council consists of 2 planets, 1 asteroid, and 17 sentient pops

I've played a bunch more and wrote a ton of notes.... only to find out the AI doesn't use the basic "FTL" drives with the STL mod, until a certain point. Which is significantly further along than pretty much any empire should be before they start expanding.

So, until that's fixed, I'm not going to be playing this game. When it IS fixed, I'm going to be restarting it because ~75 year advantage in expansion is pretty significant.

Pretty cool attempt! Shame about the mod.

I played quite a bit of Stellaris on 1.0 when it came out, and then a little more on 1.2. Even wrote a slavery guide on reddit about 1 week after it came out to show how OP it was.

I've loosely followed the game since 1.2 and my opinion now is the mostly as it was then: this game really needs 1-2 years of Paradox expansions, gameplay redesigns, and patches to truly come into its own.

I actually delved into modding it and Made my own STL mod with a bit of personal improvements to it.

Einstein Was Right, the original STL mod, had removed Hyperlane and Wormhole travel. I figured out how to modify them to be "Slower" than light as well. Then went and fiddled with a few AI things to make them do things like care about distance more, and make fleets less expensive (when in port) because you need a lot more of them.

And then I went and made all the description strings STL-friendly. Renamed all the drives and also made any reference to FTL travel a reference to "Interstellar" travel.

Still testing it out, and there's more tweaks I'm considering.

As far as Stellaris itself? Oh, it is SO much better than when it launched. And the Banks update will solve pretty much all of my big issues (Factions are super boring)