No. Claiming that Stellaris is cross-platform is misleading since Stellaris Multiplayer on consoles is locked to their own ecosystem (XBOX only with XBOX, PS only with PS). Stellaris is only cross-platform on open systems like PC or Mac, where third-party stores like Steam or GOG are available.
So, that was the management summary. When discussing if Stellaris can run Multiplayer games across multiple platforms, we must clarify what ” platform ” means.
Stellaris instead has cross-store multiplayer options. These allow Stellaris Multiplayer across PC, Mac, and Linux.
On the one hand, when we talk about consoles as platforms, no, Stellaris Multiplayer cannot be played across the great divide between, say, PC and XBOX or between XBOX and PS. In the true sense of the word, Stellaris is not really cross-platform.
Fact: Stellaris is not cross-platform between XBOX and PC
So Stellaris is not cross-platform even between XBOX and PC. This is a little strange to me since at least a PC and an XBOX are both based on Windows.
So I assume the issue with cross-connection to consoles is that these cannot run Steam or GOG, with the manufacturers controlling what software can be run. And blocking anything that could rival their stores on these consoles.
In 2021 Paradox kind of acknowledged that their self-developed Multiplayer infrastructure (“PDXMP”) was not an optimal solution, and even cross-store was only possible by using a “Beta” launcher version in the Stellaris launcher. But finally, in August 2021, the Multiplayer infrastructure was moved to a proven, third-party provider called “Nakama.”
With this decision, Paradox enabled stable cross-store Multiplayer for all Steam or GOG users.
Fact: Using one of the launchers, you can play as a PC user on Steam with your friends on a Mac.
Starting a Cross-Store Multiplayer in Steam
To play cross-store Multiplayer, use the drop-down menu next to “PLAY” in the Paradox Stellaris Launcher.
Cross-Platform (stores) Launcher in Steam
Alternatively, you can start a cross-store session also under “game settings” in the launcher.
Or, if for some reason all these methods do not work, you can try by taking it one step further and – before you start the Stellaris Launcher in Steam, right-click on Stellaris in your library list -> General -> enter “-nakama” in the launch options.
Fact: Stellaris is not cross-platform between XBOX and PS4
I had the opportunity to interview the developer akeean of one of my favorite mods HexGrid Overlay.
HexGrid really helps you enjoy Stellaris in co-op mode, a game mode not natural to Stellaris.
In this interview, I learned a lot about the – to me – secret world of the modding community.
I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did, learning about the motives behind investing hundreds of hours into a mod, the rewards, and the delicacies of modding itself.
“Q” is my question and “A” is his answer.
Q: Please tell us a little about yourself and your background? You are a Stellaris modder, are you a coder in your real life? Is knowledge of coding necessary?
A: I’m a web developer, so I can code. I’ve been modding games way before even starting to do programming. For most games, you don’t need programming knowledge, but it really depends on what it is you want to create.
But you have to be ok with reading a lot of the editable files to understand what file is responsible for what.
Q: Why do you mod for Stellaris? What is your relationship to this game? Do you also do mods for other games?
A: I started modding for Stellaris 6 years ago because at release there were some things of the game that annoyed me & were very easy to change.
Mod support is something that I look for in games. There is always a thing or two that I’d like to change about a game when I play it.
Most of the time I just enjoy tinkering & don’t really expect to create anything worthwhile. You know, like those people that take apart their mostly functioning toaster & then kind of put it back together (or not and it ends up on a pile of ‘projects’).
Q: What mods did you develop and why? Do you develop these mods based on your personal needs and what you feel the vanilla game is missing? How much time do you spend on developing and updating a mod?
A: I have created a bunch of mostly small utility mods. Only a few of them are shared with the public. Sometimes it’s just to fix something that annoyed me about the game, other times to add some small thing that makes the game more enjoyable to me or a friend.
On release (and for quite some time) the game had a big imbalance centered around the cheapest type of ship, the corvette. Basically, its base cost was way too cheap relative to its components, so by far the most effective way to play was to just put 3 of the lowest tier lasers on it and nothing else, never upgrade it even if you had the technologies.
Then you’d just build hundreds of it and drown your enemies in corvettes (which got very laggy). I felt that advanced technologies should be vastly more effective and made my own tweaked version of the ship classes and components.
This was one mod I never publicly published since it can be a hassle to keep updating a mod over time, especially as this was a part of the game that would see frequent changes by paradox. There were also a lot of more ambitious mods to tackle ship balance, so I preferred to keep this one to myself & the group I played coop sessions with.
One public mod that I created is the HexGrid Overlay. This one projects a honeycomb over the galaxy map with a 4 digit identifier for each tile.
Stellaris Mod Galaxy OverlayGrid
This allows cooperating players to easier talk about regions of the map without referring to clock orientations (that system in the middle of 9 o’clock’, which could be 10-50 systems to look at) or very coarse compass directions.
Instead, I made each tile small enough that it covers about 10 systems, so it’s much easier to narrow down the scope of attention. (“My starting location is on grid 0110, at the border to 0101”, for example).
We used this a lot when starting a new game to communicate each other’s positions, as players do not start with a shared vision, as Stellaris does not have ‘teams’. This made it easy to decide if we wanted to go ahead with a game or restart it to reroll the map & starting locations, but it also helps a lot in war coordination.
I was inspired by it from the ‘war room’ in Babylon 5, which was a giant wall with a regular square grid projected. I chose a hex pattern instead since Stellaris species can also be insect hive minds, robot squids, etc who might not choose squares.
This mod took me an afternoon to think up and maybe two to get in the game & working. I was more about thinking about how to label the hex tiles & making the image than wrangling any mod-related technical hurdles. There were other mods that had solved the map projection part I could use as a reference
The most labor-intensive mod I did was during the Stellaris 2020 ModJam, which is an Origin that included a small Story and special game start condition. This was way more technical to me as it touched a lot of parts of the game I had no experience editing and wasn’t quite as straightforward.
I think this mod took about 150 hours of my free time in which I developed the idea, made a basic version I tested & fleshed out more as I went.
Q: I understand that Stellaris is by design extremely modding friendly? So Paradox Interactive wants the user base to change the game? Why would any publisher want this, does this not make developing updates and DLC harder for them?
A: Stellaris is quite modding friendly, you don’t need any special software to change how the game works. Many games have their internals wrapped up in pack files that the community first needs to figure out how to open, extract & then wrap back together in a way the game can read it.
Stellaris, in contrast, has most of its game-related workings as loose text files you can open with Notepad basically. (Although an actual programming text editor with Syntax highlighting is an immense help).
I think Paradox mod support is a win-win situation. The openness of the game makes it easier for them to change the game with each DLC & patch. The way Stellaris is moddable, you can theoretically sit a creative CS student or intern in front of it & they can get you 30% of the input of a DLC, without using the expensive dev time of a senior engine developer who has a decade of experience of the highly complicated (risky to edit) C++ code of the game.
Paradox’ Modding Strategy
I think this openness allows Paradox to support a lot of titles with a small core team that focuses on underlying issues & set the frameworks of new moddable titles to build on.
They can also look at popular mods as a kind of market research to see what features to add and the game becomes a lot ‘stickier’ without them having to invest a lot of developer hours.
Mods also encourage the purchase of DLCs. Maybe you don’t care about Apocalypse DLC, but hey there is a Star Wars mod that you love, but in order to get the planet-killing functionality of the Death Star you need that DLC (one of the mod guidelines is that your mods can not ‘unlock’ things that are locked behind a DLC).
Making a game mod-friendly does take extra consideration and work (Paradox has one dev that puts considerable effort into adding modding wishlist items with each patch), but I think if it doesn’t endanger your business model, it will lead to a better product.
A developer with a ‘modding culture’ also has big advantages with recruitment & onboarding, as with Paradox’s example, they already have great public & up to date documentation for the game code side of things and they can (and have!) even recruit modders.
Some of those know the game pretty well. Even if your new hire has zero experience, you can make them start with the easy stuff that is covered by the mod wiki, so they get their bearings and don’t cost you 20h of a senior dev time with baby questions.
Having mod culture also nets Paradox better bug reports & easier agile development as they can’t just muddle through with certain things as modders will often be the first to stumble over certain programming-related skeletons in the closet.
A lot of modern AAA games do not bother with allowing people to mod in order to increase monetization. Ubisoft for example is an example of this.
With Assassins Creed Odyssey they reduced player progression speed once the reviews & Metacritic scores were in [with update 1.14]. This was so they could go on and sell players time-limited ‘XP boosters’ or resource packs while they made the game grinder with each patch.
They had the code of the game made unmoddable & took countermeasures to prevent memory hacking & tweak those progression rates without tweaking game files.
Q: How does modding work? I mean, is there a programming language like PHP? Or is this game specific? Are there handbooks on how to mod? Self-taught?
A: It really depends on the title.
Often there is a similarity between games running in the same engine. For example Epics Unreal Engine is very different to mod than Paradox Clausewitz.
You often also have to distinguish between game code and engine code. Game code does stuff like tell the game how much damage a hit with a crowbar does versus a rifle or what item a closet with random loot mat contain, while engine code handles the far more complicated calculation of hit detection or graphical rendering mostly because those need to perform orders of magnitudes faster than most functions of game code.
Engine programming is often done in C++ and is usually not accessible to modders, while many games use LUA or a similar script language for their game code.
Script languages are far more human-readable and easy to learn than lower-level programming languages. Often that’s also where you’d start when learning to program.
For modding Stellaris, the best place to start is the Stellaris wiki modding article. It has documentation about most aspects (the wiki is also an asset if you are new to the game in general and want to know how things work in detail).
I’d also recommend you get Visual Studio Code and install the CWTools plugin, which is made for Paradox games and helps you to spot syntax errors in the Paradox scripting language and offers auto-completion.
For 2d textures, PaintNet can output the file formats that Stellaris needs.
3d assets can be created in blender and exported through a community-provided tool.
Q. is there a modding community with your own forums? Or is this more like a lonely hobby? I read that, for example, the Star Wars mod needs a complete team? Can people like you make money modding? What is the reward, emotional or financial?
A: You can make mods on your own, but you need to set the scope of what you want to create accordingly. The biggest newbie mistake is to try to make something too big or too ambitious in relation to what can be modded in a game or the necessary skill required.
I mostly mod for myself. I just get more out of a game this way. If I feel something I made is remarkable enough that others could enjoy it or it would help others over a pain point, I might share it. For me the reward is emotional.
The Star Wars and Star Trek mods have quite big teams of a dozen or maybe more contributors. Those mods are very interdisciplinarity, as they add music, 3d and 2d art, solid writing, and complex events on to off the sheer scale of the project.
It’s hundreds of files in either of those projects and I think they required some special program to generate the static galaxy map that is canon in those franchises instead of a vanilla spiral galaxy with randomly placed empire homeworlds.
There is a Discord Server called the Stellaris Modding Den, where modders can exchange Ideas or help each other out. Many big projects have their own channels in there for bug reports.
Making Money with Stellaris mods
Making money with mods is a bit of a touchy subject. Neither the Star Wars nor Star Trek mods could ask for money for their mods and if they did either Paradox would shut them down or Disney/Paramount would eventually do it were they to end up on their radar. Trademark and copyright laws are to blame.
If you make a fully original creation that you own (i.e. not using the universe that some other company owns, like Star Wars) and have a Patreon or similar I think there should be no problem with people supporting you there.
Whatever game you mod for, you should check if the company owning the game has a modding policy and what it allows you to do. Some don’t let you link Patreon in the workshop, for example.
Don’t expect to make much money from this, at least with Stellaris. Even high-profile creators with 100k subs don’t make more than $100 a month on their Patreon.
Other games are better for monetization.
Paradox has recently worked together to even have modders create the content for a set of official, paid DLCs in Surviving Mars. Those were cheaper than regular DLCs for the game and were each made by prolific modders of the game. I suppose the modders were paid for the DLCs. No idea if it was a % split or flat amount.
Stellaris Updates & DLCs and Mods
Q: I understand that each mod needs also to be kept updated to keep up with the frequent Stellaris updates?
A: With Stellaris getting changed quite a bit with each patch, this means that a mod changing something that has been changed by a patch might no longer work.
Also, Paradox keeps changing and improving their modding API and scripting language, this means even mods that don’t touch things a patch overhauls might stop working.
Paradox usually (rarely) changes their API and language to improve performance or give modders more control over the game.
Some mods can be more resistant to those changes if they affect things in the game that don’t get changed a lot. For example, mods that change the color of the center of the galaxy in 2018 will probably still work, even if the game warns you for them to be outdated.
To start a new game on the day of a new DLC and keeping outdated mods enabled is a recipe for disaster. It can take some time for modders to test all of their mods with the new version and update them to not cause problems.
Going to a mod page the day a new DLC or patch releases and commenting “update pls” is why some modders with a lot of mods deactivate comments on their mods.
Most of us that spend hundreds of hours modifying the game follow the development of the game closely. Usually, we know there is a new patch. It’s just that when you have dozens of mods, testing and updating take time that we might not have at the moment.
If there is a new patch that breaks your mods (or has too many bugs on its own), you can always roll back your version of Stellaris through Steam. (In your library, right-click a game — Properties… — Betas — Select the previous version from the betas dropdown, having “none” selected means you will get the latest official version.)
Steam Workshop
Q: What is the Steam Workshop?
A: Publishers can choose to enable the Steam Workshop for a game.
If they do, this means they have integrated a mod uploader so modders can list their mods on the Steam Workshop page for a game.
Anyone that owns the game through Steam can easily download mods from there by subscribing there. Steam will then keep the mod updated for you. Usually, this means the game in question has a mod selector in its launcher or main menu.
If a game has no Steam Workshop integration, or if you don’t have the Steam version of a game (i.e. You have the GoG or Gamepass version), you are not completely out of luck.
There are websites where modders can list their mods outside of Steam. Usually, this is more effort for the modders and anyone wanting to use those mods.
Steam Alternative Nexusmods & Paradox Mods
One of those sites is Nexusmods, I think they even have a tool that can keep your mods updated. Paradox built their own Workshop called Paradox Mods, which also updates any subscribed mods.
They still have a bit of work to do, as their platform does not yet have collections as Steam does.
Generally, the Steam Workshop is the place to be if you enjoy mods. For this reason alone I usually own my games on Steam.
Q: Can u tell us more about your mods? What was your motivation? Where can our readers find these?
A: I’ve already mentioned HexGrid and my Modjam mod “Shielded Origin” further up. There are a few other small fix-mods that may or may not be outdated.
Usually, when I play and something bugs me enough I tab out and see how it works and change it to my liking. Most of the time I don’t publish my creations or at least not publicly.
I don’t want to bother writing descriptions or deal with people running into bugs (that may just as well come from them combining it with whatever other 50 mods).
For example, when playing with a friend, he was playing the Calamitous Birth Origin with his Lithoids.
They can build special colony ship asteroids that they crash on planets. This is cheaper and faster but creates a blocker on every planet colonized with it.
What my friend didn’t realize was that the blocker on new colonies was different from the one on his original homeworld. So he ended up suffering from low habitability and unrest in dozens of colonies.
Not wanting to lose a session we were already a few hours in, I just made a quick fixmod that changed the blocker on new colonies to be more like the one on his homeworld and not cost like 10% habitability.
Normally I would not have set it to be visible to the public, but I was inspired and slapped a random image on it, so a few people ended up using it.
Q: Do you have any idea how many mods are there for Stellaris?
A: There are about 24,000 mods for Stellaris in the Steam Workshop. But a lot of them are probably no longer compatible with the current game version…
Favorite Mods
Q: In a recent poll many Stellaris players answered that they keep their mods a secret. That surprised me… any idea why that is? Why would that be a secret? What mods do you like and use personally … if that is not a secret?
A: I’m not sure. Maybe they don’t want to admit to running anime-girls, fursona, or vaguely ww2 axis empire mods? There are some weird mods in the Workshop.
My modlist changes with every version, due to the game changing.
One mod that keeps getting updated and that I enjoy is Amazing Space Battles. This makes combat look a lot better and more dramatic, without really changing the game balance. I also use the related mods for it linked on the mods page.
Another one of my favorites is Downscaled Ships. This makes spaceships look smaller in relation to the solar system and planets.
In vanilla, a corvette is about the size of a moon and big fleets have some ugly clipping going on as they can’t fit into the same space the game wants them to be. Really ruins the optics of the game.
Homeworld solved this problem in 1999 by dynamically changing the scale of the ship depending on the zoom level. But this doesn’t seem important enough to Paradox and can’t really be modded in.
So the closest “fix” we can get is to just scale down all of the ships that the models are just smaller. I think with this mod, a Titan is about the size of a vanilla corvette. You can still zoom in more and get the same details visible, just with a bit more space between the ships zooming around.
If you use any modded shipsets, you’ll need a compatibility mod (that usually needs to be below those mods in load order), otherwise, the ships from the custom shipset mod will look gigantic compared to the downscaled ones.
Tips for Starting Using Mods
If you are new to modding Stellaris, you should find a list of mods that are known to work together, rather than subscribing to random mods. If mods conflict, it can lead to crashes, broken savegames, severe performance degradation, or “unexpected synergies”, rendering the game incredibly easy, or impossibly difficult.
A good modlist can lead to amazing and spectacular sessions, so it’s well worth trying out mods.
Can You Play Stellaris Multiplayer with Mods?
Q: Do mods work with Multiplayer in Stellaris, like the host’s DLC are expanded to all co-players?
A: Yes, you can run mods in multiplayer. No, it doesn’t work like the Host DLC authority. Clients must have the same checksum as the host.
All players need to run the same non-ironman save mods in exactly the same load order.
Unfortunately, there is no way to share lists of active mods from the game’s launcher.
Many people are waiting for that feature to eventually arrive with paradox mods. You can have collections in Steam to make subscribing to them easy and get them downloaded and available in the game launcher, but you still need to activate them and potentially drag them into the right order.
If you want to use different mods in a multiplayer session than in a concurrent single player session, be smart and create a playlist for either of those in the launcher.
This way you can easily swap the active list before you start the game. Also, make sure to actually swap to the right playlist before starting the game.
Ironman & Ironman Compatible Mods
You can run any ironman-compatible mods individually without them affecting a multiplayer session. There are only very few mods that are ironman save (usually UI mods and graphical tweaks).
Mods & Checksum
What is “the checksum”? The game displays a string of letters and numbers near the version number (or as a tooltip of the version, I don’t quite remember right now) in the main menu.
Any mod that changes the game balance or adds new things, will cause a change in the checksum. There are some mods that don’t modify the checksum, those are usually called “ironman compatible” since the game only lets you collect achievements with the vanilla checksum. Same checksum = same game version with same active mods in the same order and same version of mods.
Stellaris, since its inception, has been expanded with attractive add-ons or so-called DLCs (Downloadable Content). These are not to be confused with the regular free updates the game receives periodically. That said, a release of a new DLC and a new update mostly go hand in hand.
Also, do not confuse DLCs with the free but user-generated mods (modding – user-generated add-ons to change the game, i.e., convert the game into a Star Wars game – more on that in another post).
To find out about the ultimate, best Stellaris DLC, we polled the community of Stellaris fans with the question: “If you only could own one Stellaris DLC – which would that be …and why?”
62% of the participants expressed that Utopia is the single best Stellaris DLC, followed by Synthetic Dawn with 9.2%, Ancient Relics with 7.4%, Apocalypse with 6.1%, Federations comes in fifth at 4.3%, and lastly Nemesis with just 1.8%.
The best Stellaris DLC still is Utopia by a fair margin
What Stellaris DLC is worth it?
Today you can choose from more than a dozen Stellaris DLCs. Still, our participants named Utopia the most “worthy” DLC.
But Utopia does not rank as the most worthy Stellaris DLC in our poll only: Steam does so, also a close second to the Species Pack Aquatics.
I have like half of them [the DLCs], but Utopia and Ancient Relics are by far my favorites.”
From what I read and hear, the Aquatics Species Pack made it to the top of Steam’s list primarily because of its amazing graphics. Not because it improves the gameplay so much. That is also not the aim of a Species Pack DLC.
Aquatics Species Pack comes with beautiful graphics
The “Game” DLCs are what move the needle concerning game-changing changes.
So with Aquatics being much younger and not having much influence on the gameplay itself, Utopia is likewise voted as the best “game” DLC on Steam…albeit its age.
Best Stellaris DLC Table
Finally, combining our poll with the Steam results, we reach the following table:
DLC
Release Date
Steam Rating
our Poll: one and only DLC
Overlord DLC
May 2022
–
Nemesis DLC
April 2021
41% positive
1.8%
Aquatics Species Pack
November 2021
89% positive
Necroids Species Pack
October 2020
54% positive
Federations
March 2020
72% positive
4.2%
Lithoids Species Pack
October 2019
55% positive
Ancient Relics Story Pack
June 2019
77% positive
7.2%
Megacorp
December 2018
58% positive
Distant Stars Story Pack
May 2018
65% positive
Apocalypse
February 2018
64 % positive
6%
Humanoid Species Pack
December 2017
49% positive
Synthetic Dawn Story Pack
September 2017
71% positive
9%
Utopia
April 2017
80% positive
62%
Leviathans Story Pack
October 2016
73% positive
Plantoids Species Pack
August 2016
61% positive
What is the best Stellaris DLC–PCPH poll & Steam ratings combined
Verdict: The one DLC to own is Utopia.
So what makes Utopia so popular after all these years?
What is it about Utopia that Stellaris fans still call it their “cannot-live-without” DLC after all these years?
What does the Utopia DLC add to Stellaris?
One of our poll participants, “Riley” said the following about Utopia’s importance and the necessity for Stellaris:
Utopia was the first expansion and was kind of made with a different kind of philosophy than the others which has resulted in it being more or less mandatory to properly play the game.
Riley – poll participant
Utopia was the first “game-changer” DLC and can be seen as a mandatory (technically, you are very fine with the vanilla game) extension for any hardcore Stellaris aficionado.
Utopia adds Ascension Perks
For example, Utopia adds new, exciting Ascension Perks to the game.
The vanilla game already featured the concept of Traditions, representing the cultural traits and strengths of an empire. Ascension Perks add to this by letting you determine the ultimate development goal of your species, the endgame of its evolution.
During the early game, the “traditions” can be headed and developed by the player to gain a technological, military, or economic advantage over the other empires. A new Perk slot opens when a new tradition is “developed” by finishing all five development steps (each costing Unity).
after developing a tradition, a new Ascension Perk slot opens
Utopia brings new intriguing Ascension Perks to the game. You can now destine your pops to morph into uber-beings:
By choosing one of Utopia’s new Ascension Perks, you decide about your species’ ultimate socio-economic and cultural aim and future: Does your species stay biological and extend gene manipulation?
Will you develop your species to Psionic power and become metaphysical? Ultimately reaching a state of being able to contact the transcendent uber-beings, The Shroud? The envy of many Burning Man attendants is yours!
Or is your empire determined that the flesh is weak and sets its ambition on leaving its physical form behind and transforming itself into artificial life – cyborgs and ultimately robots?
Utopia adds Megastructures
Utopia adds societal development perks, but it also comes with the gorgeous technology of Megastructures.
Did you always publicly talk of building a Dyson Sphere? Eat this, you petty critics! I told you!
Stellaris Utopia brings Dyson Sphere
Next to expanding on the options to enslave or extinguish other civilizations, some new traditions pushing the limits of our morality and playing Caesar subjugating pre-FTL societies (who needs a First Directive?), Utopia adds the ultimate Norman Bates way to play the game:
If you are tired of all these petty, boring, and hindering ethics, why not play as Hive Mind: All that is not you is food… to hell with morality!
What Stellaris DLC should I buy first?
We heard something like the following from the poll participants. Remember, the question was, “If you only could own one DLC, which would that be and why”:
Utopia and federations are the major game-changer.
Victor
Utopia! Distant Stars is a close second.
Chris
Not sure if it changed, but in utopia you have the 3 ascensions, so I would start there. I loved the leviathans dlc because it brought a lot of life to the galaxy, and the war in heaven.
Stellaris, since its inception, has been updated quite often, and significant changes in game dynamics with update 2.0 leave many players long for older versions’ features.
Some claim Stellaris 1.9.1 Boulle was the peak version because its unrestricted FTL travel offered better opportunities for warfare with enemy empires than the newer versions. But 3.4 Cepheus is much more stable and introduces a novel, better way of FTL travel via Hyper Relays.
I got hooked by the game when the “Dick” update reigned, named after the influential Sci-Fi writer Philip K. Dick (i.e., Blade Runner). So to test and see which Stellaris version offers the best game experience, I dug out the famous Stellaris 1.9 and just tried it.
Was version 1.9 Stellaris’ peak?
A watershed moment for Stellaris was the update from 1.9.1 Boulle to 2.0.5 Cherryh when Stellaris space travel received a substantial overhaul. Unfortunately, many say this was a significant step in the wrong direction, claiming that with version 1.9, Stellaris has reached its prime and that the new game dynamics made the game drastically less enjoyable.
Stellaris <= 1.9.1 did not limit FTL movement in space – you could jump anywhere.
Until 1.9, FTL travel was unrestrained. The player could send his ships anywhere without restrictions – over the complete galaxy if necessary (but still jumping from system to system, as is the case in the modern game).
The game already had hyperlanes as an option in settings, but these weren’t mandatory.
Also, there were two other options for interstellar travel: Wormholes and Warp-Drives.
Stellaris 1.9 vs. 2.0
Stellaris 2.0.5 made hyperlanes the only FTL option. Hyperlanes define the connection between two systems, like a road determines the way between two houses. And you, the player, can only see these hyperlanes and hyperlane-crossings three systems ahead, as long as you have not traveled them.
Stellaris 1.9 generates Star Trek feeling
Many early players of Stellaris longingly look back to the days when space travel was unrestricted. Today you can not just send your science ship into deep space and see what they find:
pre-version 2, you could sail to any system you wanted to – as long as you did not encounter an enemy fleet on the way
And I must say, even though I joined to play the game much later than 1.9, I get the idea. So I partly understand those stuck on 1.9.
Frankly, playing the game in the 1.9.1 version feels different from the modern versions. I felt like a character in Star Trek “going boldly where no one has gone before.”
I freely ordered my science ships to cross the galaxy and explore deep space. It felt strangely exciting, different from the modern game’s more regulated approach.
On their voyage from system to system, I held my breath about what they might encounter so far away from home.
Honestly, to “boldly go where no one has gone before” was more exciting than the modern system of hyperlanes. At least in the beginning. It also has downsides. We will come to that later.
There are also other differences in gameplay between 1.9 and 2.0+. Much in 1.9 looked less evolved and less complicated. It honestly felt like visiting one of the game’s early ancestors.
The game had much fewer options and was missing any fleet management capabilities. Alloys weren’t invented yet, so I had difficulty finding the spaceports and shipyards. They were not listed in the Outlier. 1.9 also allowed for the modification of civilian ships in the Ship Designer.
Construction ships could build Outposts in any surveyed system, and the graphics of star systems seemed much nicer done, though I might be wrong here.
nice graphics of Barnard’s Star version 1.9
How warfare changed from Stellaris 1.9 to 2.0
The introduction of hyperlane-only FTL travel resulted in much higher predictability. It focuses military strategies on chokepoints: An attack on an enemy can only be performed via very few hyperlanes into his system. If the opponent defends these few central chokepoints skillfully, any invasion might be doomed before you can claim any planets.
In contrast, before Stellaris 2.0, space travel had no limitations, you could attack any empire from everywhere, and it was impossible to build strategic defenses.
So, with the introduction of hyperlanes FTL, it became highly predictable how the enemy must attack. Unfortunately, it seems this decision by Paradox created unhappiness among the players, changed warfare, and demands for implementation of the old FTL and Warp systems.
Why Paradox changed Stellaris’ FTL travel
The question remains, why Paradox Interactive chose to change the game so drastically. The developers of Stellaris answer this in their Dev Diary blog, Ep. #92:
Better performance through caching and unified code (Wormhole FTL in particular is a massive resource hog in the late game)
Warfare with a distinct sense of ‘theatres,’ advancing/retreating fronts and border skirmishes
So the multitude of FTL travel options (FTL, Warp, and Wormholes) created so many possibilities of attack and countermeasures that, on the one hand, for the average player, it becomes impossible to handle. On the other hand, all these options over time overburdened the gaming hardware, slowing down the game.
Paradox decided to simplify the game and give players the option to fortify their empires, having the opportunity to amass huge fleets at these choke points to either defend them or conquer them.
The alternative: Disperse your fleet over your whole empire – the enemy could appear out of nowhere anytime and conquer your Starbases and planets.
So I agree that the decision by Paradox to channel FTL travel by fixed hyperlanes creates a more balanced game with the option to experience massive fleet battles … just my thing!
Stellaris 3.4 Cepheus: Hyper Rays Technology
With the 3.4 Cepheus update, the dispute is settled once and for all. Introducing a new Hyper Relays technology that your construction ships can use to build “highways” to the stars.
Stellaris Hyper Relays technology
This technology speeds up travel massively, and you will not want to go back.
Stellaris 1.9 Download
But in case you want to test for yourself if you like 1.9 better than the actual versions, here is how to do it:
in your Steam library, right-click on Stellaris
choose “Properties”
choose “Betas”
enter “oldstellaris” (without the “”) into the field under “Enter beta access code” and click on “Check Code”
now you will be able to choose versions pre-2.0 in the drop-down menu above
Steam will load that version, and you will see in your libraries list “Stellaris [1.9.1]
Click on PLAY
I am looking forward to your verdict … is 1.9 really better? Does 3.4 Cepheus blow older versions out of the water… share below in the comments or on our Facebook page.
Stellaris is an excellent game for single-player aficionados. Though it does not come with a campaign mode, the plain vanilla game and the Story Pack DLCs make it a phenomenal game to play as a single-player.
Consider Stellaris not so much a game. Instead, see it as a story, a novel. A novel that you play. A story that you develop.
Space mystery lovers created Stellaris with me in mind. At the core of Stellaris is the vastness of space and the curiosity about what lies behind our borders.
This article will find out how we can make Stellaris even more attractive to the lone gamer. Frankly, playing on my own is how I prefer to play my games. And though I dig the single-player campaigns in all my games so far, I never missed this mode in Stellaris.
As we see later, there are options to improve the experience for single-players, especially if you are a depressing researcher like me.
Does Stellaris have a Single-Player campaign?
Stellaris does not contain a single-player campaign mode like many other video games. Therefore, you won’t find a particular campaign story to play as a single player. Instead, each round begins with your Star System, one science, and one construction vessel. The player develops the empire from here.
Stellaris is a complete campaign and story in itself – if you are the only biological player or share the galaxy with your friends.
Is playing Stellaris as Single-Player fun?
I played hundreds of hours of Stellaris in Single-Player mode, so I know for sure: Single-Player is honestly my favorite game mode. A game of Stellaris takes so much time to play that I like to save and pause the game anytime I feel too tired to continue. But, of course, that’s harder with a group of friends, who will have to leave at different times, rendering the game obsolete.
When playing on my own, I decide when I call it a day. Sure, it is nice to play with your friends over the internet, even if you live far apart and you should do that. But, I prefer to play quietly by myself after a tough day in the office.
Single-Player for the lost Scientist in you
Also, a game with friends is more about chatting with them while playing against them. Only if you play on your own do you have the time to dig into the deeply hidden stories of the gameplay and can focus on being the researcher. And honestly, that is what the game deserves because it is full of details. It is impossible to follow all the story threads playing out even as a single player.
For me, the thrill of the game is mostly the exploration, uncovering the secrets of an ancient universe. But I would say this depends on what you enjoy. As a kid, I always wanted to become a scientist. I missed that boat.
Now, I love a good war with my neighbors more than anything else (in Stellaris, I mean). Call me belligerent. And it is a lot of fun to send your fleets against your fungi-playing friend.
“The galaxy is ancient and full of wonders”
Daniel Moregârd – Stellaris Game Designer
All good. But then the confrontation with your friends is the only focus of the game.
I more love the feeling of mystery that Stellaris entails. The excellent soundtrack also adds to the sense of adventure and mystery.
And you can even enhance this immersion with add-ons.
Stellaris DLC made for Single-Player
Since it seems I am rather alone playing Stellaris, why not build Stellaris into something I like. Something for the never-became scientist, the researcher, the Indiana Jones in me – mystery and adventure.
And for people like me, the single-player with affection for warfare, the programmers from time to time deliver special Story Packs as part of the release of DLCs (DownLoadable Content).
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These story packs sweeten the in itself fabulous gameplay of Stellaris with even more stories and things to do and discover. They add suspense, a sense of adventure, space archeology, and mysteries.
Stellaris best Story Packs for Single-Player
One of these Story Packs I could not resist is Ancient Relics.
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Ancient Relics adds the discovery of ancient races and artifacts and introduces archeology development “trees” to the game and mysterious precursor races and relics.
Something the nerd in me digs.
The other single-player Story Pack I have in mind is Distant Stars.
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What are the best settings for Single Player?
Naturally, that depends significantly on what you are looking for in this adventure.
Stellaris Single Player Settings for War Mood
If you want a lot of warfare, when setting up the game, you should set the AI Aggressiveness on “High,” and you will have a lot of war on your hands throughout the game.
Stellaris Single Player optimal settings
Also, if you set “Advanced Neighbors” to “on”, you probably have an exciting time right from the beginning.
If you also set the Difficulty to “Admiral,” the AI empires will be a tough nut to crack. And if you finally set “Scaling Difficulty” to “ON”, the advantage the AIs have against you will only grow.
Stellaris Single Player Settings for Exploration Mood
But if you instead pamper your repressed inner researcher or want to act out on your zeal for all things Economy, well, do the opposite. Reduce the number of Empires, create a large universe, prohibit Advanced Neighbors, and insist on low AI Aggressiveness. Finally, move the “Victory Year” to “never” and postpone the End-Game start to 2600 AD, and you can surrender to your kink ad infinitum.
Stellaris Best Single Player Settings for Beginners
I remember my first games of Stellaris like yesterday. I was overwhelmed. And no setting can change that – there are just too many moving parts to the game.
But when you start your first game, you probably should choose the following settings:
choose a small galaxy, so you get fast feedback
prohibit Advanced Neighbors, so you have more time to learn the first thing
choose low AI Aggressiveness
play on Ensign or lower
Get the hang of Stellaris, learn the ropes – it won’t be long until you start asking for more – then you will turn up the heat – Enjoy!
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When you first play Stellaris, you will feel completely overwhelmed, I mean, I absolutely remember my utter confusion when I tried to make sense of all the pieces and parts that make up a Stellaris game. There are all these options, menus, and alerts.
To bring order into chaos, and hope to the overwhelmed beginner, let us here look into all things “ships” in Stellaris. Let’s start with the civilian fleet.
Since this is a beginner’s guide, we will deal with the military ships up to the Cruiser.
But before we start I need to mention that I play mostly – us. Humans from the United Nations of Earth. So the images you will see below are from the “ship set” of the Earth “origin (as the different species are also called).
There are many different ship sets (ship designs), and each origin has its design (the Aquatic DLC brings some beautiful new ship sets to the game). While the basic ship hierarchy (“Corvette – Destroyer – Cruiser – Battleship – Titan – Colossus) is the same for every species, the ship set’s designs will be different.
So no matter if you choose to play a psychopathic zealot origin, the tips below still apply to your species.
Stellaris Civilian Ship types
You can distinguish between civilian and military ships. While you have no or nearly no influence on the “performance” and design of the civilian ships, Stellaris gives you a lot of influence on the military ship’s design and performance.
Tip: When holding SHIFT while giving orders to your civilian ships, you can enter a list of orders, this helps a lot at the beginning of the game. Later. when your Technology department advances (left side under “Technology”) you can develop a technology that allows you to set your science ships on auto-exploration. Again that’s a huge relief.
The civilian ships are:
1. Science Ships
Before you need anything else, you will employ your science ship(s). When beginning, immediately send out your existing Science ship to explore your surroundings. Each star system first needs to be surveyed by your Science ship, before you can send in your Construction ship to build a Starbase and a mining or research station.
Tip: When you have enough resources available, immediately build more Science vessels, so you can explore faster.
Earth Science Ship UNS Copernicus
Also, your Science ships will stumble upon many artifacts left by other species and empires. The more you order your Science ships’ captains to research these “anomalies”, the faster your empire gains knowledge and sometimes even technology.
But researching these anomalies, as Stellaris calls them, takes its toll on time. You will find that many of your Science ships are bound for Stellaris years fulfilling the tasked research job, but that part of the galaxy is not explored any further in the meantime.
So relying on more Science ships lets you explore faster. I believe that you need to move your borders out fast because all your opponents are also exploring their surroundings and expanding their empires.
list with your civilian ships on the right side
The faster you survey the stars the faster your Construction ships can build Starbases for you, expanding your empire’s borders.
To boldly go where no one has gone before does not come without risks. When you send your fearless researchers into unexplored space, they will often encounter hostile new species.
Luckily the Science ships have a very high Evasion score, so they mostly can escape to an adjacent star system – IF you keep the “Fleet Stance” setting to “evasive.
changing the “Fleet Stance” set to “passive” makes your scientists sacrifice themselves for your… what? honor?
I am not sure why you would order an unarmed vessel to attack any hostile close enough, but hey, who am I to judge.
It’s your empire.
Remember that Science ships can be destroyed or rendered useless.
I have never made my scientists die in the field of honor for me, at least not by ordering them to take point.
Set to “evasive” my Science ships luckily mostly got away… as they are designed to.
Hint: After some time your technology department will develop “Automatic Surveying”, allowing you to simply order your Science ships to survey every unsurveyed system automatically, freeing you up to tend to other more pressing matters.
2. Construction Ships
Stellaris Construction ship
After you sent in the Science ships, you need to follow up with your Construction ships.
Construction ships built the Starbases, expanding your empire and also the resource mining stations, as well as research stations.
Whenever you build a new Starbase your borders expand and include this newly added star system.
Construction ships are pretty low maintenance, you do not need to recruit a new captain now and then.
Tip: When starting the game, you find one Science and one Construction ship in your fleet, ready to take orders. You should immediately send out these ships to explore the space around your system and build Starbases and mining and Research stations.
3. Colony ships
Colony ships are nothing you have to deal with. They are built and sent automatically whenever you decide to start a colony on one of the new habitable planets in your expanding empire.
Transport ships are build by your AI when you choose to establish a colony – and have enough resources
All you need to have when deciding to build and send a Colonization ship is enough resources (amounts depending on the species you are letting colonize the planet).
4. Starbase
my Starbase in Barnard’s Star – no military upgrades so far – still it also projects military power
Without added weapons, defenses, and shipyards we could count the Starbase on this list of civilian ships. Though, this is not totally correct, as you see on the image above that even an unarmed space station yields military power, here 191 points.
A starbase – as military ships – has armor, hull, and shields and can be upgraded with weapons to become a stronghold. They cost monthly upkeep in energy units.
Starbases mark a star system as yours and allow you to build mining and research stations. I am still on the fence if I build a starbase in every system of my empire or only in the important ones (with resources or expanding my borders).
So talking about Starbases we already touch on the area of the military.
Stellaris Military Ship types
For this article, we look at the ship sets from the plain vanilla game, not any DLC. We will touch on that elsewhere.
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After you earned your first stripes, you will start to look deeper under the hood of Stellaris. Don’t overlook the Ship Designer, since it allows you to improve your ships or create ship variations that are a better fit for the tactics of your enemy.
1. Ship type: Transport
You do not have to deal with building Transport ships, these come with building Armies and ordering them to another planet. That is also the only use you have for this type of ship. You will need these armies to conquer planets.
After recruiting an army, you find them on the right side close to the bottom of the Outliner (the right side menu) and can order them to go anywhere as you would with any other ship.
Stellaris Army Transport Ships
2. Ship type: Corvette
The Corvette is your first and – in a way – your last ship. Sounds confusing? Well, it is literally your first military ship in Stellaris.
But why should it also be your last, aren’t there any upgrades?
Yes, there are, but over time you can upgrade the Corvette ship type so much, that its speed and evasive power will stay the backbone of your fleets, despite all the fancy cruisers and battleships you develop.
Stellaris Ship experience Level
Stellaris Ship Experience
As you can see on the left, my Corvette, the UNS Kazakov, is built upon the Ladybird class (see video above), exerts a military power of 53, has seen a lot of battle (“experienced”), granting it 10% more damage inflicted on the enemy, has taken some beating (“Hull Points 354/400”), with Armor down to 1/65. The Shields have already regenerated (“100/100”).
The UNS Kazakov costs me 2.76 units of energy and 0.62 units of alloys per month.
She has FTL (Faster than Light) capabilities (can jump from system to system).
The way the Ladybird class Corvette is auto-generated by my empire’s AI (I did not touch the design), the ship modifiers (the way the design is done) grant the ship:
Ship Fire Rate of +13%
+100 Hull Points
+15% Weapon Damage to the enemy
+10% Sublight Speed (within a system)
As discussed in the video above, the Corvette “blueprint” comes in three variations, each with a different strategic goal in mind.
different specifications of the Corvette blueprint
The orange [S] in the weapons and utility slots stands for “small” – a Corvette can only carry small versions of these components.
In the Stellaris Ship designer, you can use the given Corvette template to build a
Each version of a Corvette has its uses and experimenting with fleet compositions can prove to be very beneficial.
Ladybird Corvette stats
The Corvette type is very versatile and its ability to evade and hand out damage to a slower enemy will prove to be very useful to you in the future, not only at the beginning of the game.
The Ladybird class Corvette as designed by my Empire’s AI needs 60 days to be built, monthly 1.27 energy and 0.28 alloy units, and costs 143 alloys to build.
The way it is set up it has +8 excessive power (and by that handing out more damage and faster evasive maneuvers, the ship leaves the dock with 300 hull points (see above, the UNS Kazakov shows 400 – this may be due to experience, the Admiral’s experience or traits or the fleet it is part of) – 65 Armor and 170 shields. The Evasion percentage is 63.3%, speed 160, and Damage (delivered) per day 7.39.
Its “Special Values” are a Sensor Range of 2 (how far it can “see” what happens in other Star systems – in this case, 2 Star systems away) and a Piracy suppression of 10.
Stellaris Ship Components Corvette
The AI has equipped this Corvette class with the following components:
2 Red Lasers
1 Coilgun Gen II
Auxiliary Fire Control
2 Small Shields Gen III
1 Ceramo-Metal armor Gen II
Cold Fusion reactor Gen III
Hyper Driver Gen II
Chemical Thrusters Gen I
Gravitic Sensors Gen II – sense the presence of a Starship sectors away
Combat Computer (Swarm)
These ship components are kept under constant development, if you instruct your Research/Technology team to do so,
3. Ship type: Destroyer
After some time, you will be granted a new class of military ships, the Destroyer.
I am not so sure about the Destroyer class. So far I cannot really say if I have better effects with a Destroyer than with a Corvette. But there is still time, perhaps the Destroyer convinces me of its usefulness in the future.
Compared to the Corvette a Destroyer at least is much better equipped. While the Corvette can be developed into three different specifications (Picket Ship, Missile Boat, or Interceptor), each with its amount of weapons and utilities the ship would carry, the Destroyer offers 2 sections (bow and stern), which can be specialized, and many more gun and utility ports.
The Destroyer in the Ship Designer
The Destroyer’s bow can be developed into a:
Gunship Bow – 2 small and one Medium weapon Slot and 6 small Utility slots
Picket Ship Bow – 1 Point-Defense slot, 2 Small weapon slots and 6 Utility slots
Artillery Bow – 1 large weapon slot and 6 small Utility slots
Interceptor Ship Stern – 2 small Weapon slots and one Auxiliary Utility slot and a
Gunship Stern – 1 medium Weapon slot and 1 Auxiliary Utility slot
Stellaris Ship type: Destroyer – Stern Section
While it takes 60 days to build a Corvette, the Destroyer takes 120 days and has higher upkeep and building costs. On the bright side, it comes with a Hull strength of 800.
One of the most important disadvantages of the Destroyer is its lower Evasion percentage, so more of the enemy’s shots will find their target – our Destroyer, compared to the Corvette.
4. The Cruiser
my Cruiser class ship UNS Regulus – it has already seen battle (“experienced”)
With the Cruiser, you have a really big stick in your arsenal. From the dock, it ships with 2300 Hull Points and 180 speed.
In the Ship Designer you can customize its three-compartment:
the three sections of the Cruiser ship type
a. Broadside Bow
For the bow you can choose:
Artillery Bow – 1 Large Weapon slot, 4 Medium Utility slots
Artillery Core – 1 Medium Weapon, 1 Large Weapon, 4 Medium Utility slots
Broadside Core – 3 Medium Weapons, 4 Medium Utilities
Cruiser type ship core options
Missile Core – 2 Small Weapons, 2 Guided Weapons slots, 4 Medium Utility slots
The Hangar Core
A new component to the Cruiser is the Hangar Core. This Section turns your Cruiser basically into an Aircraft Carrier. You should really try adding a few of these to your fleet. Something my Empire’s AI never did for me…
The Cruiser is a powerful Ship class with many advantages and specifications, you should use it as soon as it becomes available for you. Especially developing it into an Aircraft Carrier with a fleet as a battlegroup is something you should experiment with.
What is Stellaris Ship Experience
When you lead your ships into battle, their Captains, Admiral, and the crew – if they survive – gain experience. With this experience also the Ship Rank rises, giving the ship several advantages.
Coming out of the Spacedock ships in Stellaris have zero (0) experience. The more and longer they partake in battles, the more they gain experience: – +1 Experience per day in battle – +0.1 Experience per day spent in suppression of Piracy
What is Ship Rank
The more Experience units a ship collects over time, the higher its rank:
Rank
Experience Points
Damage
Hull Points
Evasion
Regular
0-99
0
0
0
Experienced
100-999
+10%
0
0
Veteran
1.000-9.999
+20%
+5%
+5%
Elite
10.000
+40%
+10%
+10%
How Ship Rank gives your ships an advantage
So the more you lead your fleets into battle, the more experience they gain, and the better they perform in battle.
By “Co-op” I mean a game mode mostly seen in FPS (first-person shooter) games, where each human player is represented on the screen by an avatar. In co-op games, the setup is done so that two or more players can play the game as a team and win together. Stellaris, though does not come with a co-op mode.
Since I like to play in co-op mode with friends, I researched. Here are my results:
Stellaris does not have a special mode for co-op, but there are ways to set up the game to play with your friends as a team. This is done by creating your own Multiplayer-server in the main menu and letting Stellaris know you want to spawn close to each other. This way, you can work as a federation and conquer the galaxy together.
In this post, we will go into how to exactly set up Stellaris so that you can play a co-op game with your friends.
So, we learned that we can set up Stellaris to let us play as a team in co-op. How is this done?
Can two or more people play one Empire in Stellaris?
It is not possible for two or more people to play one Empire in Stellaris. Each player can only play one empire, not more, and not half-an-empire.
So we need another way to play Stellaris in Co-op.
Easiest method for Co-op in Stellaris – tested method
The way to achieve this is to start a new Multiplayer game in Stellaris:
Stellaris Start your own Multiplayer Server
2. Give your new server a name and a password you share only with your friends, so only they can join you. Share these with your friends:
Stellaris Start your own Multiplayer Server
3. To play in co-op, you should make sure to pick compatible empires/ethics!
How to Spawn next to friends in Stellaris?
4. Finally, in-game settings, to ensure that you and your co-players are not spawning all over the galaxy, you scroll down and choose “Clustered Players”.
Stellaris Co-op with Clustered Players
Now all of you will spawn within 3 to 10-star systems from each other. This way, finding each other takes only a few in-game years, not generations.
Also, using the in-game chat, you can easily communicate where exactly you spawned, so sending a science ship to lift the fog of war speeds up the process even more.
You should consider subscribing to the HexGrid Overlay. He created this nice mod – inspired by the classic Babylon 5 – making communicating map coordinates with your teammates much easier.
The Galaxy with HexGrid mod overlay
With this mod, you can give your friends an exact “address” of where you spawned on the map.
During my research, my attention was brought to an alternative method.
2. The Saved Single Player Game method
A very lovely Canadian sent me another- very smart – method to create a coop game.
You start a single-player game and choose an empire
Once the game started and you look at your home system, open the Console (on most keyboards the key between the TAB and Esc keys, showing ^°).
You see a blinking cursor: Type in “observe” (without the “”)
Now you see the galaxy from a bird’s view perspective, without any fog of war
Looking at the map, you and your friends choose an empire on that map
Save the game (give it a memorable name, it could be hard to find)
Give the server a name (or go with the default) and set a password – send the server name and password to your friends
In the game lobby, each Co-op player chooses his chosen empire
The disadvantage of this method is that you already have seen the full map, which might reduce the feeling of adventure a little.
Can Stellaris Co-op games be won by more than one empire?
Now, one caveat about co-op games: In the long run, there can only be one winning the game. So even if you play in co-op. So if you keep playing by the Stellaris default rules, to find a winner at the end you will have to fight each other.
How many players in Co-op and Multiplayer games?
Up to 32 players can join a Stellaris Multiplayer/Co-op-game.
Since I love the game and I am looking for even more joy playing, I began looking into the Multiplayer to see if it is even better … and I was not disappointed!
Is the Stellaris Multiplayer good?
Stepping into Multiplayer lifted the fun to a new level. Once you start playing with fellow humans, the game becomes even more immersive. Chatting with your friends or even friendly strangers located someplace on planet Earth adds a completely new element to the game.
So, let’s get some questions about the Stellaris Multiplayer out of the way.
Is Stellaris Single- and Multiplayer?
Some wonder if Stellaris is suitable for either single- or multiplayer.
Stellaris is both! Playing Stellaris in either single or multiplayer is simply your choice. It is very easy to either start a single-player or enter a multiplayer game anytime. Stellaris makes no distinction between these two game modes.
Does Stellaris have Multiplayer?
As mentioned above, Stellaris comes with both game modes – single and Multiplayer, and both are included in the vanilla game. All you need for playing Multiplayer – next to the game itself – is a good internet connection.
Can you play Stellaris Multiplayer on PC?
Stellaris Multiplayer even used to be PC only. So the answer to the question is yes,, you can play Stellaris Multiplayer on PC.
How does the Stellaris Multiplayer work?
Each player plays one empire and decides how to treat the other players/empires. You can wage war on them or build a federation together. Ultimately, though, in order to win the game, most players will be rivals sooner or later.
How many Players can join a Multiplayer Game?
Up to 32 players can play in one Multiplayer game.
How do you start a Multiplayer game in Stellaris?
Starting a Multiplayer game in Stellaris is easy.
To start a multiplayer game, first, you choose Multiplayer in the main menu.
Stellaris-Start-Multiplayer
In the appearing Game Browser, you will see a long list of available multiplayer games.
Stellaris List of Multiplayer Games
This list of available games can be sorted by:
Open slots
private or not
password required or not
Stellaris version
Mods
a. Start a Stellaris Multiplayer game by Joining a Server
Obviously, if you are not invited by a friend to join, you will need to find a game that does not require a password. And even then, the admin might reject you. If this happens, as long as you do not have a reputation in the Stellaris community, no need to take this personally. Perhaps the host is waiting for someone or they do not want too many players.
To find such a game, check the “No Password Required” box. You can also try to sort by server tags, sometimes it helps with finding i.e. a “Fast Game” (still might take days). You can sort the list by clicking on the header.
On the right side, you see the game status, Running or Starting. You might want to join a game that is not several hours old, so try to find a “Starting” game.
When you found a game you would like to join and the admin accepts your request, you find yourself in the game lobby. Choose your species and enjoy the game!
b. (hot) “Direct Join” a Stellaris Game
If someone sent you a server name and password, you can use the “Direct Join” button to enter the server. Just enter the server name and password.
Do all players have to own the same DLCs for Stellaris Multiplayer?
If you are joining a server, It does not matter what DLCs you own, because the game host offers his DLCs for the whole server. So if the host for example owns the Utopia DLC, all players joining his server will enjoy the Utopia features during the game.
How long does a Stellaris Multiplayer game last?
Depending on the settings by the server host, a game can take a few hours in a small galaxy, up to a few days in a big galaxy.
The Stellaris vanilla game (no DLC) is absolutely enough to play great Multiplayer games with other players. But adding DLCs to the mix could even enhance the game experience, and make it even more interesting. Still, the Stellaris in its vanilla version is absolutely enough.
And: As long as the server’s host owns the DLC, it is shared with all players on that server. So joining a multiplayer game can be a nice way to test the employed DLCs, if they make it on your wish list for Christmas.
Can you play Stellaris Multiplayer with Mods?
To be honest, this is also still a bit confusing to me. I read that you have to be subscribed to the same mods as the server admin. Also in the Multiplayer Game Browser, there is an extra column for the employed mods.
But in my research, I found no evidence for mods playing any role in joining and playing a Multiplayer game. Chatting with experienced Stellaris gamers on Multiplayer chats also did not produce any hints that mods are something to look at concerning Stellaris Multiplayer.
So, you can join and play any Stellaris Multiplayer game with mods.
I personally did encounter no issues with the respective mods I was subscribed to at the time of joining a Multiplayer server.
I have come to the conclusion that in the earlier Stellaris version the mod situation did play a role, hence the vacant column in the Game browser. But since at least the Stellaris Dick update (3.0) in 2021 mods are not a factor in multiplayer games anymore.
Can you cheat in Stellaris Multiplayer?
I let you on a secret: I do cheat a lot in my single-player games of Stellaris. I quickly grow tired of lacking resources and so open the console, type in the respective cheat commands, and voilà, my inventory is again full to the brim, again. Really speeds up fleet building. Nice… But that is just me cheating on my PC.
In Multiplayer, there is no option to cheat. You cannot open the necessary console, even. No mod is available to enable opening the console or cheating during a multiplayer game.
There seems to be a trick to reload a saved game and start it in Multiplayer. I do not know how this would work, and I read it’s a lot of hassle, but that’s the info I found. But, still would not help with cheating, because I also read that this method leads to server de-sync, meaning the game crashes.
So no, I did not find a way. And that’s good because cheating in multiplayer would ruin the game.
But that does not mean that some players have not found a way to cheat. Stellaris is so malleable, maybe someone found a hole.
When playing with experienced players, I learned from them that they suspected at least one player in the obviously close Stellaris Multiplayer community of cheating. The player with the Gamertag U* was immediately removed by the admin as soon as he tried to log on. All the admin said was “He is a cheater”.
So at least the Stellaris community suspects at least one Multiplayer to have found a way to cheat.
Is there a Stellaris Multiplayer Community?
Stellaris has an active and growing community of Multiplayer enthusiasts, and a very friendly one at that, too.
If you are interested in joining the Stellaris community and finding friends to play Stellaris, joining a multiplayer game is a very good way. Depending on what game the admin intends to play (for me, it is “chill” vs. “competitive”), you have some time in the game lobby to chat with the other players and befriend them on steam and Discord.
I personally am more interested in multiplayer games played for fun and to chill and chat with nice people. Sure, also to hand them their you-know-what, but in style and with fun.
I am happy to find that Stellaris attracts a great crowd of people, very fitting to this my website’s motto “for the classy gamer”.
Is there a Stellaris Local Multiplayer?
Does Stellaris offer a shared screen mode?
Stellaris does not offer a shared-screen mode. Each human player needs his/her own PC (or console).
Can you LAN Stellaris?
You cannot play Stellaris in a local network or by directly connecting two PCs with a LAN cable. All co-op and Multiplayer needs to be done via the Stellaris Multiplayer servers.
Stellaris is not cross platform. There is a console edition and a PC edition with each one having their own multiplayer servers and not being compatible.
Can two people play the same nation in Stellaris?
Two people can indeed play the same nation in Stellaris multiplayer, providing a unique way to play the game as you can both focus on different aspects of the game.
Do you need DLC for multiplayer?
To play multiplayer in Stellaris, you do not need any DLCs. However, if you wish to use the mechanics found in the DLC’s for Stellaris, then only the hosting player needs to have them.
How long is a multiplayer game of Stellaris?
A game of Stellaris can last as long as you want it to. There is no definitive answer as the length depends on what speed you play on, when your end game year is and if you get bored. Just like in single player when playing in multiplayer you can create a save of your game to continue another time.
Theoretically, the concept of time is pretty simple in Stellaris. The developers have created a consistent time structure throughout the game, no matter if you wage a battle close to a far away star or work on your research.
But when we look deeper, we realize that time indeed is relative, but not for the reasons Einstein claimed. But first, let’s look how the Stellaris coders envisioned the concept of time to work:
How long is a day in Stellaris?
One day in Stellaris last one real-time second, theoretically. This is how the game is designed. You have the option to speed the game up 2x or 3x, in that case one real-time second would be 2 or 3 days in Stellaris.
This means a Stellaris month on normal speed takes 30 real-time seconds.
A year in Stellaris has 360 Stellaris days, or 12 Stellaris months. Since one game day last one real-time second, a year in Stellaris last 360 real-time seconds. If you speed up the game 2x, you will have to wait 180 seconds for a game year to pass, and only 120 seconds or two minutes if you speed up the game to 3x.
But, as with anything in real life, it’s not always that simple. Though we are not sealing with Einstein’s theory of relativity (well, in a way we are), the claims above are not always true.
Stellaris & Relative Time – The Problem of Lagging
Or better, the bigger the mass the slower time passes.
Huh? What are you talking about? Is this something about the technology and research tree in Stellaris?
Nope. It has to do with the weight Stellaris has on your CPU.
Since the game’s inception, Stellaris is plagued by complaints that the game slows down with each passing year.
With each year, you and your opponents expand their empires. The galaxy gets fuller and fuller, more and more fleets amass waiting for battle around some Starbase or circling a distant sun.
Your population is growing, your economy is growing, so are your rivals’.
All this means that with each passing year in Stellaris, your CPU has more and more workload, slowing it down to the point that time begins to pass noticeably slower. Some players even report that the game became unplayable.
So the “mass” of all the pops, fleets, economies reach such a level that they drag down the CPU’s performance, resulting in Stellaris days and years passing slower. Especially if you play with an already huge “mass” of a big galaxy.
So if you are on a slower machine, you might have to stick to playing in smaller galaxies and reduce the amount of rival empires.
Stellaris time in Multiplayer
In Multiplayer, the “synchronicity of time” becomes essential for a working gameplay.
The concept of one second = one Stellaris day and one Stellaris year = 360 seconds also applies to Multiplayer.
For Multiplayer to work, each PC has to be synchronized to all the other players. And if one player’s CPU is becoming slow, all other PCs have to slow down, too.
How does time pass during battles in Stellaris?
One area of criticism about the concept of time in Stellaris revolves around space battles. Some complain that since the one second = one day concept is upheld also during a space battle, these often in game take weeks or even months, which many says is not realistic.
And yes, while it is fun to watch your fleet decimate the enemy or battle with a Starbase, I am watching for say one minute hoping my fleet prevails… while in game the battle went on for 60 days … quite a battle.
This often even gives me time to send in reinforcements from the other side of my empire.
So some say that space battles should only take say one or max. two Stellaris days, not two months.
But would this really be more realistic?
Firstly, I understand why the developers did not change the time concept for the space battles. Changing how time flows for a specific event or area would have drastic consequences for the whole game. I mean, if a battle would be over in say two days there is no way i could send in any support troops.
Some say especially this would be more realistic, and I also see their point.
But in all the battles I have had so far, even though the animation shows a swirl of torpedoes and laser fire and ships circling each other or a Starbase.
But pretty quickly after a battle is won, all space stations (not the planets) also fall into my hands. I mean, the battle animation is just that, a battle animation for me to enjoy.
In reality, ships would take positions, try to hide behind planets or try to avoid direct conflict. This all would take time, and so I can imagine a “real” battle for a star system to take weeks, with the fleets trying to get an advantage over the enemy, before the real fight begins.
Parts of fleets would fight in different places than the main fleet, a fleeing fleet would still have to be chased down and take a stand. All this would take a lot of time.
As I said, after I won a battle, all space stations also fall into my – the victor’s – hands. In reality they would have to be boarded and probably conquered. This would also take some time.
So, we cannot know for sure because for now it’s all happening in our sci-fi literature and in our heads… but I would imagine that a real space-battle for a system could take a few weeks from my fleet entering the system until each space station has been conquered.
To come back to the animation, it only shows 2 fleets fighting each other. But that’s just what it is, an animation for our enjoyment. If we think about what really would take place in a life-or-death battle for a star system, two months seem more realistic to me than just a few hours of ships shooting at each other.
So I think the concept of time in Stellaris is absolutely great.
When I finally decided to jump into the Stellaris adventure, I did so without adding any additional content. I even had no idea what all these bundles and DLCs (DownLoadable Content – or add-on) and options meant and do, so I decided to just go for the vanilla game – out of pure information overload and also for budget reasons.
Since I had no idea what I wanted, I decided against all the DLCs and at the moment just love the game the way it is.
Out-of-the-box, Stellaris comes as a complete, stand-alone, full-featured 4X, grand-strategy game. It misses nothing in its plain vanilla status and gives any player interested in this genre hours upon hours of immersive gameplay. The DLCs are a great addition to the game, but neither necessary to enjoy the game nor recommended for the beginner.
Stellaris without any additional content
From my personal experience, I can say that the game feels complete without any DLC, and I see no need for any additional content for a beginner like me. To the contrary, while I absolutely suggest you enhance the game later with mods, packs and DLCs once you can really value the improvement in the game from knowing where it is coming from, I suggest you first get to know and play the game in its vanilla status.
At the moment, I still have my hands full understanding all the different aspects and dependencies within the game in its pure form. And I wouldn’t even recognize the improved gameplay, I wouldn’t see what this or that DLC did to the game.
And I haven’t looked back: Stellaris in its vanilla version delivers hours upon hours of intriguing gameplay while the game like a good game of chess only gets more and more interesting over time, when the fog of war begins to clear, and you start to rub elbows with your rivals for galaxy domination.
Should you play Stellaris without a DLC first?
So I would say, absolutely yes, start Stellaris without bothering about the DLCs etc. Save the fun of new options and graphics for a later moment. I believe this approach will also make Stellaris a better invest if you ramp up the content whenever you feel that you have seen enough of the game. Buying the packs and DLCs one by one ensures more time you enjoy Stellaris.
Note that I am not saying that buying the DLCs is not worth it, to the contrary. But the vanilla game comes with everything you – especially as a beginner -could wish for, and you will need at least 70+ hours to be even able to learn how to get around and build your empire.
I do say that only after these 70+ hours, you will begin to even understand what these DLCs could do for you. And only if you have played Stellaris without any DLCs, especially the late Endgame scenarios, will you be able to then appreciate how much the DLCs improve Stellaris even further.
Is vanilla Stellaris worth playing?
So I believe that you absolutely should start without any add-ons and DLCs in the beginning and learn Stellaris in its vanilla version, because this way you can really focus on the game. And while many of the Stellaris DLCs are great game enhancements, they are not mandatory for experiencing great gameplay.
Do Stellaris DLCs go on sale?
Now, there is one caveat to my argumentation above: Stellaris and its DLCs often go on sale on Steam and elsewhere.
If you already feel or know that you will enjoy Stellaris, buying a bundle on a super deal would absolutely make sense. I myself refrained from buying a bundle because I was not sure if I wanted to invest much more into the game before having tested it.
But in the future, this approach will make buying a bundle uninteresting for me, since I already own Stellaris. So would then wait until the DLC I want goes on sale.
Now that I have – partly – learned Stellaris and enjoy it a lot, I know I want to dig deeper later and invest into some DLCs. But for now vanilla Stellaris does absolutely satisfy me and I will stick to the plain game and keep experimenting until I feel the need for adding something new to Stellaris.
Can you play Stellaris Multiplayer without DLC?
If you are into multiplayer, you will like this: Playing Stellaris on multiplayer and with one or more DLCs requires only one of your friends to own the DLCs. This friend would then open the server, and you could enjoy the DLCs in the multiplayer game without owning them.
This is also a good way to test if you would spend money on these particular DLCs.
The same goes for open multiplayer games on the Paradox servers hosted by someone on the planet: Whoever hosts the game adds his or her DLCs to the whole multiplayer-galaxy, so you can test playing different DLCs by joining the servers offering these DLCs.
So my suggestion is not to abstain from the DLCs at all. My suggestion is to start with the vanilla game, learn and enjoy it for many hundreds of hours until you feel that it is time for something new. Then adding one or more DLCs (I still would argue for adding them one by one, so each time you have a new experience with Stellaris)
But if you know you will enjoy the game and get a great deal… well, by any means, grab it. Still, I would start with the plain game, though.
How many Stellaris DLC are there?
At the time of this writing, you can choose from six existing DLCs, with the newest addition being Nemesis.
But some are more worth than others, so you should make up your mind what DLCs you really need and want and which you skip or only buy on absolute garage-sale pricing.
Also there is no order to them, you can mix them anyway you want.
![Does Stellaris Have A Co-op Mode? [how-to instructions]](https://pcplayerhub.com/wp-content/uploads/pcph-img-3325.png)
![All about Stellaris Time [it’s relative]](https://pcplayerhub.com/wp-content/uploads/pcph-img-3304.png)
