Overview
Stellaris 2.0 Cheryn update saw a major change in the game which may cause a confusion in both new and old player, this guide is meant to ease the difficulty that both old and new player experience with the new update
Playstyle
Disclaimer: These move has been tested from the perspective of United nations of earth faction(DEMOCRACY + XENOPHILE) and Military republic government/MATERIALIST oligarchy, a Fanatical Purifier might not be able to use these moves
Opening move
1. Decide what type of empire you want to be, wide or tall?
with the new update it is possible to play both
-cons and pro of playing tall: + Faster research, hence better technology than your neighbour
+ Faster ascension perk since you wont be claiming a lot of system(i’d recommend 5 system is the max)
+ Small fleet, but your quality offset that of your neigbour(Think Prussia in space)
-Very bad when you’re encircled with a hungry neighbour who are hostile( slavers/fanatical purifier)
-Dispersed industry, as there is only a limited amount of space, you can’t specialize your starbase as it need to be flexible(to act as both Fort and Shipyard)
-cons of playing wide: + Seizing the strategic resources makes your empire stronger as there are certain bonuses that you get from these resources
+Specialization in terms of your industry, a much more concentrated approach resulting in a greater production of ships(which is really important in this game as naval supremacy=you rule the space)
-Slower research and unity point; there is penalty to the system that you have a starbase on(eventhough its only an outpost) + a penalty on colonized planet(each habitat and each area of the ringworld now counted as 1 planet and caused a penalty in tech and unity
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2. You make your decision yet? good
Tall: A. Focus on building your system first, dont get too scared when the AI begin to aggressively claimed system around you
B. Determined the Choke point where you can held the enemy and claim the system there;
once you have gathered enough credit start by building starbase on a choke point where you intend to stop the enemy
C. Spam science ship to explore your surrounding ASAP; its important to get a sense of your surrounding so you can alter your plan quickly just in case your suppossed claimed area was already occupied by other empire at the start of the game
D. Rush your research for megastructure and weapons, in particular you want to build sentry array(Godlike vision throughout the galaxy + science nexus(even more faster research)
E. DONT COLONIZE ANY PLANET AT ALL
F. Once secured(you’re leading in terms of technology against your neighbour, by this point you should already discover a lot of your neighbour hence you can start comparing your strength against them in the diplomacy tab) start building voidborne and ringworld for a specialization of energy,minerals,unity and science point; this can be achieve by using ringworld but ringworld takes a very long time to build so i suggest you can start with Voidborne first.
G. Dont forget to disperse the function of your starbase; they should be able to act as FORTS, SHIPYARD and TRADING BASE for your empire
H. Diplomacy is important for a tall empire, unless everybody is hostile towards you(Slavers/purifiers)
I. BUILD YOUR NAVY
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Wide
A. Spam science ship to explore your surrounding ASAP; its important to get a sense of your surrounding so you can alter your plan quickly just in case your suppossed claimed area was already occupied by other empire at the start of the game
B. Determined the Choke point where you can held the enemy and claim the system there;
once you have gathered enough credit start by building starbase on a choke point where you intend to stop the enemy as well as the more valuable location(contains lots of minerals/energy).
C. Dispersed your research, since you’ll be claiming a lot of system and colonize planet choose a research that requires the less time to be search(yes i did this when playing wide)
D. Claim as many system as you can, lock all the chokepoint + all the strategic resources before the AI can do anything about it
E. Vassalise other nation that SHARES the same ethics as your starting empire(diverse ethics within the empire caused emergence of different faction, if one faction is unhappy with the situation you’ll received less influence in this game)
F. BUILD YOUR NAVY
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Ship configuration
I found a nice guide on paradox forum in regards to fleet setup and build [link]
here’s however how you want to build your early corvette:
Missile boat, with 1 mass driver + missile weapon and 3 armor->modify it when necessary(e.g fighting an enemy that use lots of shield/armor) AVOID SPACEBORNE ALIENS THAT USE A LOT OF HULL AT THE START OF THE GAME AS YOU DONT HAVE ANY WEAPON TO DAMAGE IT DURING THE EARLY STAGE OF THE GAME
Closing
This is just pretty much how i play this game with its new update, if there are any question/criticism, feel free to drop a comment below/message me personally