Distant Worlds or Stellaris

[Japhet]

Yep, that is what I decided to do too. Unfortunately (well, kinda), Paradox has stated that they will make dlcs and expansions as long as the fans demand them, which means waiting for a long time. [:(]

In the end, I think Stellaris will end up being a great thing for Distant Worlds. People get hungry about 4X, and it's quite possible they either return to or stumble upon DW if Stellaris doesn't satisfy their appetite

Honestly, I doubt that. Matrix games are even more niche that paradox games and a lot of people will be scared by the combination of gameplay complexity and prize, which is kinda ironic. [:D]

[rxnnxs]

I can give you the tip: buy both!
The Music from Stellaris is very good and combined with the distant worlds game it is awesome!
if you can afford it.

if not, get distant worlds and give stellaris two years to get better. the ui is not that good in my eyes..
and who knows what happens in the next months..
moo4 or DW2.. who knows...
this game (DW) ist really nice, but you have to like the 2D grafic.
if you can dive into a game with your mind, you do not need grafix but deepness.. at least i do.
have fun! but i can only really recommend taking the music

i recommend this order:

[Rosseau]

I have both. And yes, it's what rxnnxs says above. Get DW full package first.

[Kayoz]

I found Stellaris to be uninspired. Mediocre. Bland. If you're really, truly desperate for a 4X game then sure, buy it. Otherwise, there are plenty of better 4X games on the market.

To be clear, it isn't BAD. It doesn't suck. It's just... blah.

[Nobody987]

ORIGINAL: Kayoz

I found Stellaris to be uninspired. Mediocre. Bland. If you're really, truly desperate for a 4X game then sure, buy it. Otherwise, there are plenty of better 4X games on the market.

To be clear, it isn't BAD. It doesn't suck. It's just... blah.

Unfortunately, I feel the same way. I was hoping for Victoria 2 style of managing empires in space, especially part about POPs and economy. Instead we got something very different. I really don't like system where population is able to be switched from farmers to scientists in just one click, without any penalties and so forth. It is just immersion breaking. There are also other things, but this is the first that comes to my mind when I think about that game.

Lets hope that it will be improved in near future, after like 15 DLCs [;)]

[Nen]

I was looking forward to Stellaris but, it was so...underwhelming. I expected a lot more, but it really only made me want to play Distant Worlds instead.

[Japhet]

Yeah, I expected a lot more too, especially because I heard the claim that Paradox was inspired by Distant Worlds when they developed Stellaris, yet I see absolutely no similarities between the two.

[Nobody987]

In my opinion, its more inspired by MOO series. Almost no similarities with DW, except maybe one that game is set in space [;)]

[Japhet]

Yes, that was my impression as well. The only similarity between DW and Stellaris I can think of is the leader/character system and even there DW beats Stellaris. Well, except that in Stellaris you can actively recruit your leaders instead of just waiting for them to spawn, but that's it, really.

[DeadlyShoe]

the similarity between DW and Stellaris is that they are both grand-strategy takes on the 4x game, with an emphasis on exploration and empire macromanagement over tactical combat.

stellaris's upcoming DLC with the 'war in heaven' will make the Stellaris endgame very similar to the Shakturi endgame plot as well.

I would say DW is a better game, but has more frustration and fiddly bits than Stellaris.

[Hanekem]

The problem with Stellaris is conceptual

Look, there are no factories in game, all things get produced at a set pace, regardless of development, population or tech level. this goes from basic structures to starships (though there are starport modules that do, in fact, make shorter build times, they do not stack).
Planets are resource bases (either energy, mineral or research) and has a number of logic fails:
the star systems are empty, you might have some small resource bases off world, but they pale in comparison to planets (while it should be the opposite, the planets being industrial heartlands and the lifeless rock the strip mines)worse, some stars do not generate power to build an energy station... yet you can build a solar array module on a starport in that very star system and get a flat energy income

We could argue that lack of diplo options (for a pdx game) or that no logistics or range limitations are problems, those are true but side dressing.
The game at is core is crap, and nothing will fix that short of a serious overhaul.
But considering HOI4, PDX is going for mass market, dumbing down games to sell more.

A real shame, I used to respect this company a lot.

[Japhet]

The game at is core is crap, and nothing will fix that short of a serious overhaul.

Yep, that's pretty much it. What's really sad is the fact that paradox doesn't understand their own game or it's problems. Their new dlc (of course) and patch are great examples of that. They add a bunch of useless stuff ("New portraits! And they are cute! Lolz!!") or change some mechanics (sometimes for the worse *cough shipdesign), but neither addresses the problems in the right way.

For example, why would you think that the war-in-heaven-feature, something that should really be in the base game btw., would improve Stellaris when war and space battles are one of the games weak points: they are utterly boring!

Also, adding a bunch of story events, no matter how well written they are, will not improve the midgame, because once you have seen them a few times, you will click them away without reading any of the text. You will just pick the option that is the most beneficial to you and that's it.

The game needs more and deeper mechanics that give the player stuff to do without getting tedious.

[makasouleater69]

Never mind take it back. They updated stellaris and broke the game, making AI not attack any one.

[Edmesa]

Ive played both games and i prefer Distant Worlds over Stellaris. My biggest gripe with Stellaris is all the artificial limits they put in, which in my opinion limits the replay value because there arent many ways around those limits. Another grip is that for a grand strategy game it requires a lot of micromanagement, im not against micromanagement as i play DW with very little automation but i do wonder where the grand strategy comes in when i usually have one or two big fleets primary for war and a couple small fleets for scouting, pirate and space creature management. Im not saying Stellaris is crap, but it falls short of its full potential as grand strategy and 4x game.

[noego]

Like fluff and graphics? Go Stellaris.

Want a deeper game that feels more immersive if not for graphics? Go DW.

Neither convinces you? Wait a couple of years for a bunch more Stellaris DLC and DW2.

(Please not a couple of years on DW2 though? Pretty please with a cherty on top?)

[noego]

To be fair there is one thing that Stellaris does a billion times better than DW. The music.

DAT SOUNDTRACK, my fave ever in a game.

[Hattori Hanzo]

in my opinion the soundtrack in a "space-4x" is totally useless.. [8D]

my 2 cents.

[Cauldyth]

How can you hear music in space?!

[Overlord015]

I'm still on the fence about getting into Stellaris, mostly because of how combat and the economy (logistics) are handled. I just want a Distant Worlds-like handling of the economy and logistics (real time as well), Aurora-like combat (god that sensor and fog of war system, why don't others do this!?)and ship design (maybe simplified in some regards), Stellaris like immersion, and finally, ground combat that looks like this: https://scontent.fsig2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=597AC22B Oh! And the ability to have multiple factions colonize and inhabit single planets.

[Lucian]

ORIGINAL: noego

To be fair there is one thing that Stellaris does a billion times better than DW. The music.

DAT SOUNDTRACK, my fave ever in a game.

Very true, there's one relentlessly screechy violin track in DW that makes my want to rip my ears off.