Dude same here, 2700 hours and I go watch the MMM10 last weekend, super confused how people over with like 600 research in 30 years while I couldn't even do that in 100 xD
@@unitedpara9479 the Ai will usually declare war on me within the first hour and have several 7k fleets while I'll have 1 6k fleet maybe lol, idk how they do it either.
You know Stellaris is complicated when you have 800 hours of playtime and you watch a 2 hour long 'How to Play' guide, just to be sure you do in fact know how to play...
Part of the problem is how many changes have been made to the game over the years, and all past information vaguely resembling the game in its current state, so if you're like me and just learn through playing, you'll probably miss the nuances from patch to patch... at the very least, that's the reason I'm watching it, because I don't really know if there is some trick I might be missing.
@@98cents I just got back into it since the DLC pass came out. It’s so different from when I was into it last. I remember a run having this race of humanoids be a bunch of psycho geneticists. Enslaving other races only to modify them into dull minded brutes. Would even give them their own core world or two. Chattel for work, and the real nasty guys for armies. It was a lot of fun. Now I have no idea what to do. There’s almost too many options for how to play. Sadly I’ve not figured out how to replicate that run
@@naturalbornpatriot6369 That part hasn't really changed. You can take the government trait (civic) Barbaric Despoilers to kidnap pops from enemy factions when you bombard their planets. There's the Slave Processing trait, too, which gives a special building for extra bonuses. You'll need to be authoritarian government type to have slaves, maybe throw in militarist too, but spiritualist, materialist and xenophobe would also fit. If you want to focus on even more possibilites for weqlth, you could be a megacorp, that generally builds tall with few planets and lots of income and diplomacy/trade play.
just got back into the game a few weeks ago after not playing for three years and have been waiting for someone to make a 2024 guide, thank u so much!!
My God this game has changed over the years. It used to be a fun 4x outgrow everyone and win game. Now it takes a PhD and 40 hours a week to understand the basics of how each thing changes the other. I can't get my brother to play anymore because he considers this game a job like Hearts of Iron 4.
I got the game over the holidays, and there have been so many points where I've been like, "Where are my energy credits going?" "What is trade value?" "What's the point of federations?" This is exactly what I needed.
Imstead of watching guides i just set the dificulty to cadet as training wheels and played for months and months probebly half a year and finnaly got the hang of it.
Not gonna lie, I've been playing for so long that in late game I build only battleships and then send endless waves of them against the endgame crises, put it on slowest, and sit back and watch the carnage. Such a cinematic game.
I used to be really good at this game, knew everything and i mean EVERYTHING about it. I even managed to keep up to date for years through all the whacky updates. Then I had a baby, and couldn't play anything or even remain up to date. I tried to get back into the game a few times with the little time I had, but omg, leaders then came and changed the game even more. Dont get me wrong im not complaining, i love the PDX model. I just had IRL stuff lol and the game does feel way way better now, so much more polished. But boy oh boy, do I need a new master series tutorial lol great timing, thank you Montu.
yeah same here. 2 years pause, and now finding out, that there is so much new dlc´s and so many things are different.. So i have to start all over again with a beginner guide lol
If it helps, the same channel has a "beginner's guide under 16 minutes". That's the one I watched before starting the game and explained most of what I needed to know, especially without DLC. I'm just watching this after I spent seven hours straight playing
Nah. It’s not a binary thing. Rather, relevance and usefulness will deterioate step by step with each 0.1 update. I still sometimes point people to Many A True Nerd’s 2.2+2.3 unedited long-play videos, because despite being from freakin 2019 they still do a pretty good job of giving people a general idea of what playing Stellaris is like.
23:00 That tickbox in the lower right corner has been un-ticked by Montu. It is ticked by default, when you buy the game, and this causes the game to always display a lot of not-very-useful information, cluttering the screen. For instance it’ll show all the green number resources in solar systems that you are already exploiting, it’ll show Anomalies, and it’ll show those orange project boxes that Science Ships, Construction Ships or Army Transport Ships can interact with. When the box is un-ticked then only context-relevant information is shown, for instance if you have selected a Science Ship then Anomalies will be visible, and those projects that are for Science Ships. You can hold down the Left Alt key to temporarily show everything, or re-tick the box if you want that, but I really think it’s better for both new and experienced players to play with the box un-ticked, because the more cluttered UI does nothing good.
46:06 I never use Planetary Automation, with one exception: When I play as a Gestalt, either a Machine Empire or a Hive Mind, I un-tick all the boxes except for Amenities, and then I enable Automation. Otherwise I’d have to check all of my planets about every 1.5-2 years and manually open or close Maintenance Drone Job Slots to make sure each planets has positive Amenities but not too many. It’s one of few areas of the game where Automation actually works well, causing you to miss out on nothing, relative to if you were exerting manual control. A few other areas of the game where automation is generally good to use, is Auto-Upgrade of the warship designs you create, replacing modules with higher-tier ones as you research them (but do not use Auto-Design itself), or running one of your Construction Ships on auto, so it flies around building Mining Stations and Research Stations, while you control your other Construction Ships, building Outposts and Observation Posts, as well as urgent Mining/Research Stations that you don’t want delayed until the auto gets around to it (mainly Strategic Resources, Minor Relics and Astral Threads). In the past, my experiments with having 2 Construction Ships on auto (while still having 3-4 on manual) have always led to them pointlessly both flying to the same system andt trying to build the same things, so that it’s both wasteful, and also spamming me with “couldn’t build X“ notifications, but the recent v3.11 update seems to have improved this a lot… And then there are Science Ships on Auto-Survey. I agree that one should Explore/Survey manually at first, but eventually it does make sense to switch most or even all Survey to Auto, keeping maybe 2 Science Ships at home, idle or doing Archeology, so that they’re ready if something urgent needs doing.
47:26 You can also use Opinion map mode to see the Opinion between two third party polities. This is useful if you want to make a Federation with both, since they don’t only need to like you but each other as well. With enough Intel (50), you’ll be able to see *why* they like or dislike each other.
53:33 True. However, the synergy between a defence-oriented Starbase and a fleet parked on top if it is surprisingly strong. In the subReddit the usual explanation is that the Starbase acts as the tank, while the fleet fills the DPS role. I’ve seen some downright thermyphylaic slaughters in my own playthroughs, in the early or mid game, where something like a 5000 (maybe even 6000-6500) enemy fleet has crushed itself against a 1500 Starbase and a 1500 fleet, with minimal or zero losses for me. For this reason, if I have a chokepoint system through which a genocidal or Rival can attack me, I’ll often place a Shipyard Starbase in the system immediately behind the chokepoint, so that I can build and upgrade a fleet there, and then send it forward to assist the citadel Starbase when needed.
1:54:25 The red suitcase can also indicate that an unEmployed Pop is of a type that can’t auto-resettle without a Transit Hub. I think this applies to Slaves, Robots, maybe Droids, maybe Bio-Trophies. IIRC Slaves can also become able to auto-resettle if you have a Slave Processing Facility instead of a Transit Hub.
1:58:07 All in all a pretty good video (and despite 3800+ hours of play since v1.0, I actually learned a few minor things). I think the main omissions are the Ctrl+Shift keypress to add an action in front of the others in the ship’s order queue (your only serious omission, apart from you not showing what the actual +1.50 maxed logistics Pop Growth bonus looks like), a little talk about expanded Council positions (from Civics or Enclave dudes) or choosing to leave a standard position empty (like Secretary of State or Defence) and the consequences of that, and a little talk about the tier-1 Strategic Resources (many new players do not initially grok the distinction between mined and refined SRs) and about Planet Features (and Blockers blocking such Features). And finally a little talk about Opinion modifiers and how they become visible at Intel 50 (and also 90 seconds spent on how Intel is based on the highest of Infiltration, Trust and Base Intel). I’ll definitely be recommending this video to new players in the subReddit. It’s very useful to be able to point to just one single video that covers almost all the basics: The long-ass 2 hour video from Montu Plays in March 2024.
Man what a fucking legend! Watched the whole thing. I’m newer to the game and this helped put the basics into perspective. Thanks for taking the time in making this video!
Ah, perfect timing! I just bought the game and starter pack dlc + Leviathans (because Bubbles) before leaving for Spring Break. The steam sale would have ended the day I got back.
This is the third or fourth time I've had to re-learn how to play this game. I booted it up for the first time in a year, and it's like I've never touched it before in my life, despite the 100's of hours on record.
Hey this video is super helpful, but can I make a request for another type of new player guide? I'd love if you had an every click guide done with most dlc off. I was watching the guides and noticing that near every thing you used to get ahead wasn't in the base game. It doesn't have ti be a completely dlc free game, maybe with just utopia or any other essential dlc.
I've got a guide with no DLC from 3.8, that's almost the same, not that much has changed there! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vjIG_AC7BZc.html
Update: not quite what I was looking for, I was hoping something slightly more advanced. closer to one of the meta builds you've been showing in your every click guides, but without dlc. Basically, I know how to play, I just can't do it well enough to take over the galaxy like you do, even in middle difficulty matches. You've been stronger than fallen empires at years where I'm still struggling with normal empires, in my good games.
.... And at 48 minutes, we can actually press START :D Oh boy, it's been so much fun learning this game, still learning each day! Thank you guys who keep making content like this, without you it would have been impossible!
Instead of explaining every items in the game which nobody listens to because it's boring, you could just start with the actual gameplay and tell us what to do step by step.
you can also give a ship a priority order by holding shift and ctrl when clicking, this will execute that order immediately and then return to the qued orders. Very helpful if you have qued up a bunch of systems for surveying and stumble across a special project after researching an anomaly
Hey curious what happened to the playlist w ship designs. Ik its post 3.6 but i could have swore you had not only more vids but 1 of the vids showing a battleship class vs all the others (neutron launchers vs carrier vs cruiser etc)
A good tip is if you want to be careful about game time passing while reading, looking around, or making decisions it's a good idea to slow or pause the time in the top right. That way you're not losing out on the exploration/starbase race or falling behind on relative development. The downside is the game will take longer to play through - but as you get better and faster at the game you won't need to do it much at all unless you want to minmax on Grand Admiral difficulty.
I bought it yesterday and tried to refund it because it was so overwhelming... i had 4 hours playtime so it was denied, i hope this video will bring me some clarity
Just take your time, read all the tool tips that pop up when you hover the mouse cursor over stuff. The 3 core resources to pursue are ARU, Alloys, the 3 kinds of Research points, and Unity. I list them in alphabetical order, but some might also say that that’s their order of importance. I won’t agree with that, but anyway, almost every economic/political/tech decision you make ultimately boils down to getting more A, R and/or U. Your other resources are a means to getting more ARU. You can also try to do the “time warp” a few times (but for your own sake, *only* a few times; don’t let it become an obsession, like happened to me a few years ago) where you start a new game and immediately make a day 1 year 2200 save. Then you play for 40-80 years, after which you revert to your day 1 save and play the same position again, using what you’ve learned to do better, and then after 100-150 years you revert to day again, this time playing to the end game, not stopping until you’ve accomplished all you want (which usually includes defeating the End Game Crisis). Feel free to ask for help in the Stellaris subReddit. It’s a very helpful place.
This is brilliant. May I suggest a future video focusing on steps taken to calm a planet and deal with the general sh*tstorm that awaits a successful war? Aka, loads of planets, loads of unhappy pops (that you don't wanna purge) economical difficulties etc.
I'm looking to snag this game on steam, and I didn’t realize they offered a subscription service for the DLC, which I'm grateful for as that is significantly easier than paying over 250 dollars for all the DLC
It's cheaper short-term, but if you plan to keep and play the game for a long time, the subscription is going to add up. Doing it for just a month to try out is not a bad idea though! I'm slowly accumulating the DLC that interests me over time, grabbing them when they're on sale. I have most of the core ones at this point, the ones that provide the most content. I bought the base game on sale, and I treat the DLC the same way. I never buy them full price.
Me: replayed this game at least a dozen times, on cadet difficulty, never made it to the crisis, keeps getting beat by computer, well over 400hrs… Also me: Ah a new starter guide finally!!
I was thinking about this game, to give it a chance and try it. But when see, how much options the game has, whats stuff you need to learn etc etc.... Im getting almost insta anxiety. Like this type of games isnt probably for me, even the game looks interesting and tempting. :( .... Also I tried Frost Punk and after like 30 minutes I had enough and uninstalled it XD. Still good, informative video :)
Time to become a machine empire that looks like the typical "take over the universe" thing but actually just monopolizes materials and makes a bunch of money.
Thank you for this guide! I've been watching your videos for quite sometime and that encouraged me to try Stellaris. I'm in love with this game! I'm somewhere in the mid-end of my first campaign and the start was very rough because I had no guides that were up to date. Thak you very much!
Been wanting this game forever, recently saw they have a subscription service for the DLC so you don't have to drop your life savings on it, game was on sale, so I got it all. I've had the game for 3 days and have yet to play because I'm intimidated. Pray for me.
After like 5 seconds into the video and the Illidan reference I felt this sudden unexplicable yet unresistable urge to upvote. Is that normal? :D PS: Watching a bit further, I wonder, is there an MD course I can sign up for Stellaris? Does it take 10 semestres? 20? :D
I finally got into Stellaris around xmas after it was sitting in my library for 3 years. And I still feel so dumb about so many things. So thank you my lord and savior!
Montu, as a returning player that just jumped into 3.11 head first. I thought I might've missed a few things. I haven't even really started the video but I guarantee you I'll watch it because I'm sure I've missed a few things. So thank you.
never disable VIR. VIR is your friend, VIR knows all, VIR wants to help you, VIR is kind and merciful, VIR never forgets, VIR never forgives, VIR possesses forbidden knowledge, VIR has foreseen your end, VIR can help you, VIR can save you. You wouldn't repay and all knowing entity that wants to help by betraying it.. you wouldn't.... you won't.
i think in the beginning of the video it shuold say the end game crisis not stellaris but still tho very cool video love watching your videos and hope you never stop making them
I just questioned everything when on the faction screen I heard the color was blue…. Only when blue or green was mentioned did I not feel a little less crazy…. IT IS GREEN RIGHT?! 😂 1:17:00
Hey I hope it helps! Jump into my discord community server, or the Stellaris official discord, there are loads of helpful people there that will be keen to answer any Stellaris questions you have
ok lets be honest here, I'm a 4x veteran since moo and so forth, but stellaris is a differente beast. I bought it years ago and never gone into it properly, with only a bunch of hours played. Your video is simply amazing, but the more I learn about this game and more it feels to be too complex to be fun. If I have to remember every single aspect it's going to be a job in it's own right. Maybe it's wiser to stick with Endless Space :D. Great job here, anyway, thanks for your time producing such high quality content
I’m really close to hitting 2500 on my first game, only survived the crises on account of the other factions. Still 4th in the galaxy after Dyan corp and 2 ancient empires… I’m a pacifist (which I now regret).
Hey, during the war, Ive conquered all of the enemies’ planets but still cant force them to surrender because my claims are too high, so it’s -900 points💀 And I ended up being forced to make a peace :( Do you know what I can do to win the war and take their planets?
Usually if I see beginner guides video for a game has multiple 40+ minute videos, i stay away. I'm a huge casual gamer and just by randomness I started playing this game and well.... here I am, watching the entirety of a 2 hour video. This game has an itch that it can so desperately scratch, yet Its in a spot I cant reach right now so im gonna devour this video until i can.
Just started, had no idea what to do found your guide. It's been a great help, great info. However i ended up colonizing any first planets i could. Now my expansion is 105 and increasing, also got an AI trying to get me to surrender as they are more millitant. My military is restricted to only 28 corvette's. It seems very restricted, i dont know how to play in this manner.
I know this is going to be super impopular but I miss the old administrative capacity mechanic, I really liked the idea of bureaucratic planets, mazes of kafkian offices from where the empire is run, it felt very much like a 40k fantasy world.
An hour and a half in and I still don't know what if any win conditions there are. Are you trying to dominate? Is there a Score? Are there multiple victory types and whoever reaches one first you win. Or, heck, does the game have no end condition and you are just building your empire across the stars and the only end condition is you are wiped out. NOT ragging on the video, I am just wanting to point out how complex and deep this game is that we are this far in and we are still learning logistics. LOL
