here's a very good top tip: don't care about food and consumer goods as much. The only thing they're really ever spent for is colony ships and the occaisonal decision. You only really need enough to meet the upkeep, and you can sell any extra! Energy credits are similar as they're basically just an upkeep resource, but they can be spent on way more stuff so having them is nice Minerals, alloys, and science, and now a bit of unity are the only ones that really matter, and minerals only matter as they're used to build the buildings that make alloys and science!(or feed lithoids) Also don't be afraid to try lithoid hiveminds or machine empires. Their economies are way simpler, as they don't use food or consumer goods for anything, they don't really care about habitability too much, and their pops can't be unhappy!

I havent played mutiplayer yet, i like going at my own pace

Just saying I've been playing games with my buddy for years, and I still manage to pick up little tricks in these videos

@@comet.x Consumer goods are required for science and unity buildings in non-hive empires, so telling a newbie not to worry about them could cause issues. I'd recommend telling someone new to the game to always try and break even with consumer goods, and expand your production before you're ready to expand your science or unity. As for food-- yeah, basically you don't need to worry about that. Just break even, then make a surplus whenever you're planning to expand and you're golden.

@@cortster12 yeah should have clarified. What I meant by don't worry about them is you don't need a huge profit of them I did say 'you only really need enough to meet the upkeep'

pretty much me, and I've never actually won or finished a game lol

@@TheLordofFuryThe game either lags too hard or I know I can steamroll everyone so there isn't really a point. I think I won twice in my entire playthrough. Once I tried to become the crisis and the other time it was by accident as the crisis wiped the only other remaining empire before I killed it

Same

@@Brother_Rony try 25x crisis really early, and turning down victory year. Then you can properly finish a game and never be in a 'well now I wait' part :)

@@TheLordofFury ive won many times as crisis, only dealt with the crisis twice, always unbidden unfortunately.

Maybe, not on my viewer rates though

@@A_Spec Hate to see it.

Regardless, it's appreciated 💯.

His videos brought me back and kept me around! About to fire up Stellaris right now :3

As someone who plays off and on. I always come back and watch these videos when I start back up. This game is dense! So I greatly appreciate this resource! Thanks @ASpec

Based

Baste

FJB

Seriously, shipping corps should be nationalized and their CEOs put to a firing squad. Their greed pumping container and transit costs to the sky due to rebounding demand is grinding global seabound trade to a halt.

The bar for our leaders is so low, your average strategy gamer could probably do a better job than the career bureaucrats we've been getting

You're welcome

Just make sure your income stays in positive and not to go on upgrade spree as upgrading a lot quickly can also tank your economy.

Its also important to keep districts and buildings occupied by jobs, because even empty they increase the cost of your techs and traditions(Empire sprawl or whats it now). Ik that wasnt the topic of the video, but its also crucial to know.

I just got this game and was running into same issues! Was tanking my economy so fast and got into material death spirals since I play a species that are slow to reproduce.

Yup, worst part is when a miner goes to make more alloys or consumer goods. You loose on monthly mineral production and you increase mineral spending at the same time.

Same here I was so confused, I was doing so good with my economy always thinking this was going to be the game where I actually managed to win and then the economy absolutely crashed for no reason and I couldn't figure out why

I'm making my way towards Grand Admiral (currently at Admiral). Did you try CG Trading strategy? It utilizes AI difficulty bonuses for your own benefit for good early snowball. I wouldn't call it meta as not many people seem to know about it. There is reddit guide for it which outlines all the ins and outs.

playing solo againt the universe is hard, even harder on Grand Admiral with Advanced AI but if you make friends with them, ohoho... Trades with them, especially so with Megacorp, trivializes resources

You're welcome

You're welcome

Dev4: you know the hoi4 railways? Let's add them too!

I guess they could go inter-galactic, or multi/trans-dimensional next...? :D

Maxed out the end year? 🤕 Try the opposite approach, game is tailored toward getting there faster.

If the games are too long for you maybe you should try scaling down: Make galaxies smaller, less AI empires (including fallen), marauders, etc Less tradition/tech cost Fewer habitable planets Shorten the mid-game, end-game and end date years My preferred settings for a chill game in terms of tech/tradition and dates are: x0.75 2275 mid game start 2375 end game start (could be shorter but I like allowing myself to get ready before anything crazy starts to happen as I usually play with increased crisis strength) 2475 end date

@@Vox_Popul1 do you have to play really fast to meet those goals? I go with a more chill experience and meet the end date with like 3 colonized planets lol. Do you expand really fast in the beginning?

Here's how optimization in general works, you pick a specific object or skill to "optimize" for a specific purpose, ie I optimize my binoculars would mean I increased the zoom, so to "optimize a planet" would be to... Anyone?... It would be to focus that planet on one specific thing, energy planet, mineral planet, forge planet stuff like that focus on districts and only build buildings for minor things like extra repair jobs or housing and/or security

It's pretty simply, look at which resource has the most districts and that's what the planet specializes in. If planet has really low resource district count then it's Factory World, R&D, or Unity Planet based on current needs of the empire.

Hmmmmm, a lot of trouble optimizing your planets... Hazarding a guess here, I'd say the root of your problem is two things you can fix on your end: 1. Trying too hard 2. Expecting perfection Why do I assume these are your problems? To start with, the process of specializing a planet - in isolation - is very straightforward. You only build districts and buildings that fulfill the given specialization, chase relevant boosts and bonuses, with the bare minimum of supportive systems like Amenities. So a size 16 generator world would have maybe 2 city districts, a holotheatre, energy grid, and ALL the rest filled with generator districts. There is a snag here you are probably finding: you have limits and stuff is random. Only some size 16 planets have the features to allow 14 generator districts. Random modifiers may end up on worlds less ideal for energy credits. You might even find that none of the planets around you are good for energy credits! You can't expect perfection here. When you reach the end of generator districts, think of other things the planet can do, or just stop there. You don't have to completely build out every planet. Another thing you may be wondering is ideal ratios, but I'm not going into that. Randomness will again make that hard for you. Specialization should be a needs-based process as you expand and refine your space. Unless you find an world ideal for a specialization, you shouldn't bother trying until you have more than ~4 planets. You don't even have to do it to have a successful game, and later on you can afford to demolish everything on a planet and start from scratch.

Hasn't changed much

Yes, though that's fairly straightforward

Interesting angle, will need enough stations to deal with it

Wow I didn't think about that because I actually did that with two Star bases. And with the new dlc the Empire Swrall isn't as bad a thing as before.

Welcome, enjoy your stay

Yes and no, Commercial Centers create Clerk jobs, which are objectively bad.

Sure

Because there are more cost effective ways of getting amenities

Commercial zones are good with mercantile traditions. Without it they a bit weak.

You're welcome

@@A_Spec Do you recommend building outposts for every star system? Would leaving gaps help reduce the "empire" (I think) score?

Specialization is generally a good idea