Siding With The Darkness - Fear Of The Dark | Stellaris Full Playthrough & Gameplay 

He's joining the war on darkness. On the side of darkness.

I really thought that the quest to find and obliterate the guys who shot your planet would culminate in you _getting_ that planet destroying gun. Maybe there's some other path you have to take, like showing mercy to the planet and they share their technology, but I just feel like you really deserve the ability to claim the weapon of your nightmares and wield it against the galaxy.

I was just thinking literally an hour ago when is Lathrix going to post another high quality Stellaris full playthrough. Nice! Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued in the future!

43:50 I don't know if you realise this later in the video or not, but the fanatic purifiers civic you get from this origin is different to regular fanatic purifiers, not in any major ways, but there are a few small things like the observation posts and armageddon bombardment that are different

The day when Lathland uploads new Playthrough , it's good day

All hail the algorithm, all hail the stellaris gods.

Fear of the dark is such a weirdly designed origin. Don't get me wrong, I love the flavor of the origin and the IRL Dark Forest theory it's based on. But think about it: this entire point of this origin is that it focuses on the concept of your civilization having a 1|2 ratio split between people who are scared of space and people who aren't. The part of the civilization that you play as is supposed to be the part *isn't* scared of space and *disagrees* with the astrophobic nuts. You'd think you'd be rewarded for sticking to your guns, but in terms of gameplay, disagreeing with and impeding the separatists' xenophobic actions will do nothing but hamper your relationship with them. Meanwhile, all of the best rewards the origin offers come from making decisions that *align* with what the separatists want, getting additional tech and improving your relationship with them at the cost of making everyone else in the galaxy your enemy. That's cool and all, but if you agree so much with the separatists, then why did they separate in the first place? I just think it's a strange design choice to have the game reward the player for making choices that run contrary to the entire founding principle of the origin.

Love the long playthroughs you are seriously one of the best stellaris creators and frankly players

My duuuuuude!! Haven't watched the video yet, but you absolutely just made my day.. I love these full playthroughs, and have been rewatching about a dozen or of your newer full playthroughs, along with a few of the Gigastructual Engineering ones too. I really hope you'll do more Gigastructures stuff in future... but until then, I'm very grateful for the time and energy you put into these videos, and look forward to watching *this* video shortly. 😁😁😁

Huge props for not letting your speech impediment stop you from doing what you love. I find your way of talking to be very calming to listen to. Keep up the good work.

All hail the Lord Lathrix and to another Glorious full playthrough!

Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne! Comments for the Algorithm! And Milk for the Khorn Flakes!

I'm not sure if you realized this later in your playthrough (commenting halfway through), but the reason you don't have Armageddon bombardment is likely because you have to enable it in your Policies, since you got FP midway through the game and by default, you'd have Indiscriminate set.

The big problem with the Dark Forest scenario is that the others you find should already know you're there while you're still evolving so you can't shoot before they know you're a potential threat. And almost certainly can't do it without them retaliating.

So the Parliamentary civic probably plays well into oligarchic and I can see ways to absolutely stack faction unity till its super high, but yeah starting with less pops will kinda hurt you there.

Fantastic run, as always! Thank you for pouring so much time into these videos, and doing the mountain of editing required for it, too!! I _VERY MUCH_ enjoy these full playthroughs!

My mood always lights up when I see one of your Stellaris playthroughs, thank you

Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued in the future! Mostly because it's just so clear how much fun YOU are having with it!

I'm actually surprised FEs can't take stuff from genocidal empires, considering they actually CAN if you use the Become the Crisis Total War CB. Guess who found out the hard way and had to rebuild his Aetherophasic Engine after the FE he was obliterating sneaked a fleet to his home system and swiped his capital?

Woooo engagement I love commenting in order to signal to the algorithm that this video should be pushed!! That aside though this origin is so cool thematically, I'm glad you got a chance to play through it :D

I hope your speech therapy goes well dude, I know how saddening it can be to return to something you thought you'd moved past like that. But it just means there's even farther up you can go in the world, to the stars friend! Keep up the great videos man!!

Love these long plays. Been binging your vids.

Great to see you back, Lathland! Life can indeed be challenging at times, but remember, your community is always here for you. Now, onto the gameplay. The Fear of The Dark origin really sets an intriguing stage for the game. Your decision to grapple with the paranoia versus potential cooperation added a fascinating layer of complexity to the narrative. It's interesting to see you exploring the darker paths, and I can't wait to see just how "bad" it gets. Stellaris provides such a rich tapestry for storytelling and your commentary always brings it to life. Looking forward to the next episode!

Keep the videos coming, thanks for making my day when I really needed it

Love the long play origins, really gives me insight on how to play them in ways I wouldn't think of. Keep up the great videos!

Thank you for mentioning Block Stammer. I have that as well, and get stuck quite often. I am fortunately not as bad off as you seem to be, but it is still noticeable when I get really excited about something or if I have to speak quickly and not have time to plan my words.

Oh la la a new stellaris video! Appreciate you Lath! Just what I needed

the storm caster seems like it would pair well with a more defensive playstyle regardless of how introverted the empire is. pair it with a couple fortress worlds and uber bastions from the unyielding traditions and the ammount of fleet you need is suddenly much lower. it might also be quite useful against end game crises who like to just wonder in my territory without attacking stuff *also hi, this is my contractual per video interaction

I am always looking forward to your next Stellaris full playthrough. Thank you for still making them even though they are not the best for the youtube algorithm.

Lath I just want to say Thank You for being willing to exit your comfort zone to do these videos. I love your lyrical erudite voice and you've provided me - literally - countless hours of entertainment. You are priceless.

Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued in the future.

Great job as always, surprised to see you playing a theocratic republic but right on love your Stellaris videos I rewatch them when I can.

Love your content, wish you would leave a bit more in/do multiple episodes, so you could explain decisions/options, but you’re definitely one of my favorite stellaris content creators:-)

awh yiss, another full playthrough! i think ive pretty much watched them all now :D

These full Stellaris playthroughs are my favorites of your videos. Please sir can I have some more?

Hey Lath, I just wanted to remind you your videos are loved. Been with you since 2017, here's to the next 6 years!

on speech impediment: its amazing that a job like youtube allows you to edit it out and make it unnoticable, as someone where english isnt my first language ive never noticed the flat accent. hopefully you arent beating yourself up about it, the stammers you have left in so far have been somewhat funny :3 sometimes my brain reads something wrong, and when you then read it outloud in a third wrong way it makes me laugh cus now my brain is extra confussled. hope you have a good day and i hope i too get to eat welshcakes :D

Thank you for uploading stellaris full playthroughs, i always enjoy watching them while playing games, i hope you do go back and look at some of the new stuff in gigastructures like the redone birch world origin or expand into showing playthroughs of other mods such as ACOT

Thanks lathrix for great study noise. you were the angel on my shoulder this evening keeping me going through finals studies. Thank you my top tophatted friend

All hail the Darkness! All hail the Algorithm!!

I love the monotone voice, it gives a more calming feel while watching and not so anxious when something is not going your way haha

Your style of oratory is perfect for a Stellaris playthrough. You are in role-play mode except when explaining complex elements of the game. Keep up the great work.

It is great to hear that you are working on yourself with the therapy. In any case, love your style of vids, love the vids in general, and keep up the good work!

This has brought great joy, always amazing to see another full playthrough

Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued in the future!

"I'm not one to complain. Generally pretty positive." As he purges the galaxy of the unclean. Just found your channel waiting for a chronically late friend. Good fun.

Thank you for your wonderful videos. I like the game and you are showing me a lot of things I never would have darked do. I appreciate your hard work.

Would love to see another full playthrough with this origin, with trying to min-max like you said. I think it would be super interesting to see how far you can take it.

Me, on Lath's shoulder: "More Stellaris, heheheh. MORE." Lath: I'm sorry, which shoulder did you say you are on? Me: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS **flaps wings with great anticipation**

one of the coolest full playthrus youve put out!

ugh lathrix i fucking love these longform rp playthroughs!!!! Please never stop making them

I see someone is a fan of the “Three body problem” good hard sci-fi book :) The whole concept of “the dark forest” in first contact. Whoever gets seen first gets killed

RU-vid has been a bit boring recently. Thanks you for the fresh content, Lathrix! Also, quick question. Do you ever plan on returning to The Wandering Village? Or Kindgoms and Castles, for that matter?

Thanks for your hard work Lathrix! Can't wait to see you take on the new leader content!

I've waited from the first second of the video for you to say "please like the video" just to maniacally laugh and say "oh, but I already did"

Ty for coming back. We have missed you. Love you always

Oh fantastic! I'm so glad to have another of these to watch.

1:20:43 The madlad actually hit us with it. Oh my lord.

14 mineral systems are rookie numbers. Once found a 42 mineral system (84 after the tech buffs).

I am super excited to see not only this video, but what he's gonna do with the new leaders system. It's rife with RP potential.

Also, leave it to Lath to be jumpscared by a cat. .... He is the lizard emperor and cats terrify our reptilian brethren.

I really do enjoy these longer playthroughs.

Think I called it in the comments of Lathrix's last video, but I think we all knew which route Lathrix was going to pick ahead of time.

Always great to see a new playthrough!

Apparently if you make a Fanatic Purifier species with this origin you can have the Fanatic Purifier civic twice once you get it from the event doubling all the associated boni.

Walks through the Darkened Forest, embracing the need to engage every algorithm we see along the midnight path is the kind of content I want to see more of.. oh, and Lathrix

Love these! Looking forward to your playthroughs of Paragons!

24:00 I don't think that displacing aliens makes sense for this empire. Either destroying them outright or keeping them in your empire to prevent them from attacking you in the future would make more sense. Letting them go just creates a whole bunch of people who hate you and can potentially join your enemies.

This is an awesome video! Great work, Lathland!

You know that time when your fear of the dark subject just spontaneously turns into fanatic purifiers? That was fun.

I've never really bought into the dark forest theory. There are some reasons why you should isolate, but we have scientific proof that cooperation is beneficial and usually the most effective option.

I'm still waiting the Full Playthrough for the All Crisis type, But I'm still happy with any stellaris content

Bring on the talking about stuttering and struggling to speak. As someone with a minor lisp and a stress induced stutter, I do greatly enjoy how you push through it to create such great content for us. If you do talk about the difficulties in full, mind talking about what tricks you use to help get through? I hate how effective swearing is at getting my tongue untangled, but it works.

Always happy to see more Stellaris, and now I can't get Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden out of my head

I'm finally watching a Full Playthrough in it's first 24hs! Normally watch them much later and feel bad for not getting that early interaction in when it matters.

I tried stellaris. Gave it a really good shot. Cannot like playing it. I do love watching you play it.

As future Lathrix commands, my mandatory comment to say Stellaris is a series I wish to see continued. Thank you for the time you put in!

44:44 did i just see a planet called Majordomo's Despair? That HAS to be a Warcraft / Hearthstone reference :D

Always love your videos ,you give every empire so much personality

Hey Lathland! Will you be checking out Age of Wonders 4? Would love to see the builds you could put together in that game!

Hey lath, thank you for your videos, they give me the joy of a child listening to their cool uncle telling them stories. Especially when you have been so busy for the past years

welcome back, love those stellaris playthroughs.

BTW, you could've renamed your home planet to Restored Unity after becoming a fanatic purifier. That would've been cool. Edit: Oh, you've changed the empire name instead. That was also cool.

1:17:51 - This is because the hostility parameter change is only updated on the next in-game day after war is declared.

i’ve had that happen with the scourge too, the construction ships kept retreating and disappearing for a few years and i had to snipe them

god bless you, lathland

Honestly Parliamentary Systems works best when you only have it in the early game when factions are most important, I usually dump it for meritocracy or beacon of liberty after a few decades.

Stellaris is a series i would love to see continued in the future - as well as terra tech

Sorry you're having to deal with the speech therapy.

1:21:49 Do you get dumber when I cut off your arm? Drones are limbs, synapse drones are the nervous system. Everything is directed by a couple of core nodes in the central hive. But if you where to kill that the entire thing would die instantly.

I love stellaris so much, every day i check for an upload just incase :)) Though it would be refreshing to see some more ftd :))

Lath going for the 'join the dark side, we have cookies' approach

Is it possible to do a build where you become the crisis early to get the menacing corvettes, but then pivot to being nice? Maybe with the origin where you were exploited by the megacorp, where you are brutal to the megacorp but then be nice to everyone else?

A word of advice for the Scourge, plasma weapons are your best friend. If you want to skip their armor, you really do need to go all in on it, since none of the armor-skipping weapons get bonus damage and their damage numbers are very unreliable. Instead, what I use is full Plasma Battleships with Tachyon Lances and T3 Plasma Throwers (used to use Neutron Launchers, but Battleships can't use them anymore) and a contingent of Destroyers armed with PD and an L slot Plasma Thrower. You lose some Destroyers (that's fine, they're expendable), but they keep your Battleships safe. Having Hull Regen in the A slot also helps (unless you have a Juggernaut escorting them), since you'll be chasing down their fleets and have little time to spend healing. Titans are also good against the Scourge, since their Perdition Beam hits armor instead of shields during the Alpha Strike and it guarantees you'll engage the Swarm at max range. If you really need to, you can mix your Battleships with Carriers for Strike Craft for extra defense, but the issue with Strike Craft is their slow engagement time and the fact that they prioritize enemy Strike Craft first, meaning your PD slots are hurting your damage output while they're dogfighting. It's better to just straight up eliminate the larger ships with Alpha Strike, as this will wipe out their Strike Craft in the process. Edit: Also, recommend switching off "No Retreat" for "Hit and Run". The war against the Crisis is a slow burn and losing ships that could otherwise escape means less time reinforcing, since those ships will return after the engagement and can passively heal with Hull Regen or Juggernauts.

Sad I missed this coming out by basically a whole day. I had been checking essentially every day too lol

Hi, I wrote the same comment under your previous video but figured you might not see it. Hi, first I want to say that i realy like the style of videos you do and that you explain the empire at the start. Secondly, since I might start playing Stellaris again, I want to ask if you could explain a bit more about the settings of the worldmap at the beginning. paradoy changed quite a bit since I was playing back in 2016. The first half kinda explains itself but the bottom ones like popgrowthrate etc. I kinda do not know if to change or not. What is your opinion on all the settings.

I hereby, in sound body and mind, interacted with this motion picture content (henceforth video) to the full possible extend in written (henceforth comment) and emotional (henceforth like) form not exceeding 200 (two hundred) letters and 1 (one) click. All hail the algorithm, all hail Lathrix!

great video as always cant wait for another great one.

At this point I don't even think about it. I see a Lathrix video, I click, I watch. That simple.

I love your videos, thank you for your content.