The Stellaris series may be over, and if you missed it you can still catch up on our video page. Mystic Beast and I have been playing Stellaris for a long time, 740 hours according to my steam library. We had a great time and personally this is one of those rare series where Mystic beast and I did not work together, well at least not until the unbidden spawned in my territory. I wanted to take some time to talk about the series, as not only were we opposing each other, we also had new mechanics that needed investigated.
Although this is an older picture from 2020, the changes to the game don’t affect this image specifically. The Bavi are known to be Egalitarian, Militarist, and Materialist. When I created the bavi they were my first attempt at a militaristic race so I tried to embody that with their traits, I also still wanted them to be friendly, thus why they are not fanatic militarist, and are quite charismatic. Now Paradox introduced Origins some time after this image, so its not represented, but for this playthrough we are using On the Shoulders of Giants. This event chain was key into how I roleplayed the Bavi in the Late Game.
During the Early game we were a curious nation, seeking to learn what we could of our unknown benefactors, while also keeping our forces up for defense. Between Researching our benefactors, improving our technology, and keeping our defense force comparable, we accumulated a lot of diplomatic power. Although it wasn’t clear right away, we eventually learned that our benefactors suffered a fate involving mind-wiping technology. This gave the Bavi purpose in making sure the galaxy would not learn or abuse this technology, we had very little research agreements and were willing to go to war if someone or something threaten the galaxy.
Shortly after making this commitment, the Centicell (Mystic Beast) got a seat on the council we were immediately notified by our diplomates that They could go to war for merely existing.. this encouraged us to call an emergency measure, and we immediately started utilizing our diplomatic weight to secure a spot as the Galactic Custodian. This was enough to cause Genith a bit of concern, however it wasn’t until we removed term limits that it really became a problem for him. Check out that clip moment on twitch. This was merely possible due to Mystic Beast focusing on war, which only reassures us that we are doing the right thing.
Although I didn’t see a need to utilize the custodian specific abilities in terms of resolutions, I was eager to map out the south and utilized the open border requirement of the community members. We then set back and planned for our next goal, choosing to join a federation or become the Galactic Emperor. Which required more Diplomatic Manipulation, another twitch clip moment for you.
After becoming the Emperor it was clear I was unifying the north, having the Regime as a vassal and the Breddick on my imperial council with Genith I was a force to be reckoned with. It didn’t take long for Mystic Beast to play his final card though, and as he upgraded his Crisis level he left the Imperium, and the enter galaxy was at war with him. We of course immediately put forth a requisition to form an Armada to help fend off this foe.
After a long 24 year long war, I was confident that the Centicell were no longer a threat. This battle lasted from 2390 – 2414. Although the Centicell do not remember the horror they became, the Bavi holding true to their words, managed to keep the galaxy safe from this threat. After taking matters internal, and passing Pax Galactica preventing wars between Imperium members, a new set of threats became known. The unbidden in a galactic power surge appeared in the Imperial Core of all places. Seeing the strategic positioning of the Centicell I put in a request for us to join forces, and it only cost us Aruze, which was Geniths to begin with so it was small price to pay.
We manage to join forces successfully and through some strategic planning on waiting for the larger force to leave and scour the galaxy, we enter the system nearly at the same time. Even after reinforcements arrived while we were in the system, we took quick action to wipe them out. We then continue to take out some of their smaller forces and reclaim systems lost in the left over battles to come.
Overall I liked the addition of the features granted to us by the Nemesis DLC, which include the Imperium and the player crisis, and although Mystic and I did our best to Roleplay, we managed to find our hook and reasoning for the sides we took. When dealing the AI nations in the Community I wish it didn’t require me to call in all of my favors, and would have hoped that more people would have liked to have me as a custodian since it was clear that Mystic Beast could declare war as a crisis. Though I can’t speak on the Crisis Mechanics, it seemed like Mystic has a good handle on them and was able to keep our battles interesting. The only mechanic that I have not shown a picture of was the intel system. I still have mixed feelings about it, but I do like the direction it went. I did enjoy trying to infiltrate empires, though I wish Code breaking techs were more prevalent compared to the encryption techs because even when I know I out-teched Mystic Beast I still couldn’t get past his encryption for a good amount of time. I am sure the system will go through a few balance passes before I am happy with it, but its not game breaking at the moment, as I still tried to utilize it during our playthrough. If you haven’t been following in our discord, my patreon, or my latest software inc series, you should know its coming to an end soon and Mystic and I have already started talking about what we will be playing. Feel free to pop in and join our discussions.