I would have played the game with friends. I do believe myself it is an anti-piracy thing but the whole word anti-piracy was a bit of a wrong assertion. For now, I will enjoy Stellaris for what it is.As Mansen mentioned, the days of piracy (with Steam games) are gone and I agree with it. Most games are strong in one of these dimensions but not the others. I gues I am looking for that perfect blend of creating one's own story, building one's own unique empire, and engaging in strategic battles where there is no winning formula to use every time. Winning is left completely to RNG or someone making a mistake and diverging from the well-traveled path. It is more like two people playing solo against each other and mirroring each other's moves. But, when a successful strategy boils down to the same optimized moves, the same optimized paths through the tech trees, the same optimized sequence of buildings, it starts to feel like I am just doing busy work rather than building something. I suppose this is a danger with all computerized games because they are all algorithms at their simplest. Each player already knows what the other player is doing once they start. One has to develop formulas and follow "the best" strategy to have a chance. "If he goes that way, I have to go this way." and "Just keep pumping out the right units to oppose his units." Etc. There is no time to consider your moves and there is little variety in your choice of responses if you are playing competitively. I would really like to find a competitive strategy game but not when it just boils down to speed and clicks. I am sure I will find enjoyment in it regardless. I am happy to give Stellaris a try to see what it is like. Thanks, everyone, for your feedback and opinions. Ever wonder why the devs play on normal speed in their devclash livestreams? No, it's not because it's so hugely eventful. However thanks to instability we need to play on fast or normal. We usually play on Fast/Fastest because the game is horribly slow after 2.0, FTL travel time especially is painfully sluggish now. In something like Stellaris, Civ V, EU IV, being lethally competitive in a game of friends isn't the go-to option 100% of the time. If I play Homeworld, Supreme Commander, Age of Empires, yeah I'm going to be min/maxing and will try to be as effective as possible. We don't play coop, we play as individual entities with our own interests like we do in other strategy games, starcraft is not comparable at all.Īpproach to MP strategy games depends on the game itself. If you treat it like a competitive game, which players don't because it's an RNG mess, you're playing the wrong game. The AI is utterly braindead, I have friends who enjoy strategy games, and Stellaris is a reasonable game so of course we'll play it together if we're able to. Starcraft etc are way better than what multiplayer stellaris or civ becomes. Originally posted by Pat Fenis:I personally don't "get" why people try to go multiplayer with strategy games turning them into some kind of ♥♥♥♥♥♥ rts, with blazing timers and fastest speed when there are way better actual rts games. So teaming up against the AI could be a legitimate challenge. However, I think co-op MP is a big attraction for Stellaris gamers who arent. This has been similar to my experience playing MP. Of course there exist people who enjoy games of random chance and no skill, like those people I see at bars shoving their paycheque into a machine with spinning cherries and such you just push 1 button and win/lose. Nevermind all the randomness with anomalies and events too which will "ruin" competitive games for one player or another. Multi hour build up for 1 war with a decisive game winner. Whoever loses a planet or two in the first war is going to quit. Ok then, so playing competitive? The game has a couple hours build up to being able to wage wars. Playing cooperative with your friends against ai? Prepare for extreme boredom, as the ai is so bad it is incapable of offering any challenge to humans working together. Here is how stellaris multiplayer is going to go. Originally posted by Pat Fenis:Just trying to help.