Stellaris

[Martok]

Sigh, right I give up - as a purchaser if 1.0 what is my vanilla game running at now and what do I need to make it awesome

Haha.  Not to sound cheeky, but I honestly recommend grabbing all of them at some point (though as usual, I also recommend waiting for a sale).   The 5 major expansions (Utopia, Apocalypse, MegaCorp, Federations, & Nemesis) and 4 story packs (Leviathans, Synthetic Dawn, Distant Stars, & Ancient Relics) all enhance the base game to a greater or lesser degree, via new features and/or content. 

The 4 species packs are admittedly more a case of YMMV, however.  (Humanoids are my personal favorite -- even though it doesn't currently include changes to gameplay -- largely for the additional advisor voices, which I found greatly improved my sense of immersion.)  Barring one of them having an especially strong appeal to you, they can easily be skipped.  It'll be interesting, though, to see how the species packs stack up against each other after the 3.1 "Lem" update this fall, as Lithoids & Necroids are getting spruced up, and Humanoids & Plantoids are (finally!) getting their own gameplay features added in. 



All that being said, this is my current "tier list" for Stellaris DLC.  It's slightly revised from what I posted a month or two ago.  (Note:  I do not own Necroids.)   

S.)  Utopia
A.)  Distant Stars, Apocalypse, Leviathans
B.)  Federations, Ancient Relics, Synthetic Dawn
C.)  MegaCorp, Humanoids
D.)  Nemesis, Lithoids
F.)  Plantoids


At the very least, I would grab Utopia and the DLC I've listed on A-tier.  I highly recommend picking up the ones on B-tier as well, although I realize that'd be a lot of DLC to purchase all at once.   

[Undercovergeek]

Turns out I’m not as vanilla as I thought - I have utopia, synthetic dawn, and leviathans

It’s £42 to get upto S A and B

Just need to weigh that up against any other games and we’re good to go

[Bison]

As a Stellaris newb, I can assure you I cannot tell what the DLC I have adds to the game or what I am missing. Well I guess there was the galactic corporation trying to set up some sort of trading post or some such in my system. Pretty sure that happened because of the Megacorps DLC.

[Martok]

You would be correct, sir! 


On a related note:  If one of the star nations in your game should ever happen to be a Criminal Syndicate, kill it with extreme prejudice.  Burn the galaxy to the ground, if that's what it takes.   

[ojsdad]

Or, play a gesalt empire and not have trade to worry about.   

[Martok]

I am thinking I need to play as a machine empire in my next game.  I haven't played as robots in forever, and not at all since 3.0/Nemesis dropped. 

[bbmike]

Martokanoids? Mechanartoks?

[Martok]

Martokanoids?

Brilliant, yet slightly demented.  I think we have a winner.   

[Undercovergeek]

Brilliant 🤩

[Anguille]

As a Stellaris newb, I can assure you I cannot tell what the DLC I have adds to the game or what I am missing.

Yep, it's not very obvious. I mostly notice the new sounds (voices) and music.

[Martok]

I will say that while I'm not overly impressed with the amount of content Nemesis adds to the game, the additional soundtrack pieces are fantastic.  It's the first DLC since Distant Stars where I've actually enjoyed the new music.  (I can't stand the tracks added by MegaCorps and Federations, even if they are thematically appropriate.) 

[Martok]

Now that summer vacations are starting to wrap up, the dev diaries are back.  This one looks at the changes to Plantoids gameplay in the upcoming Lem update. 


https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/developer-diary/stellaris-dev-diary-218-plantoids-gameplay.1484906/



TL;DR:  The devs are adding 3 race-specific traits (you have to be Plantoid or Fungoid) -- Phototropic, Radiotropic, and Budding.  They're also adding 2 new civics -- 1 of which (Catalytic Processing) will be available to all empires, while the other (Idyllic Bloom) is a race-specific "origin" civic. 

I'll admit I'm a little disappointed that Plantoids aren't getting a unique/inherent racial ability like the Lithoids do, but this is still a definite improvement over before...which was nothing. 

[Bison]

So if they are attached to a tree for life benefits how are they a space faring species? Hmm...I would rather have a space mouse species spreading pestilence and droppings across the galaxy.

[Martok]

Oh dear.  Another one lost to the Vermintide... 

[Martok]

Dev Diary #219 takes a look at the rework coming to Traditions.  Of all the content & changes coming in the Lem update, this is probably the "meatiest", and the one I'm personally looking forward to the most . 


https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/developer-diary/stellaris-dev-diary-219-selectable-traditions.1485675/



The highlights: 

1.)  Players will be able to select which Tradition Trees they want to adopt; they're no longer locked into the usual seven like they are currently. 

2.)  Towards that end, certain Tradition Trees that used to be "swaps" for other trees (such as Adaptability for Diplomacy) are now their own Tradition Trees. 

3.)  Also towards that end, a new Tradition Tree (Mercantile) is being added to the base game, while two more Tradition Trees (Unyielding and Subterfuge) are being added to the Nemesis DLC. 

4.)  Some of the Tradition Trees have been tweaked/revamped a bit.