![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/mrtats/23t7DGPNbMRKshE1Qynavra26NguF8cDPYqhtUf1YWe31FeRkidFTe6vrCH1BN6T9zF16.png)

<center><sub>Stellaris is a 4X Strategy game released by Paradox Interactive. Image taken from Steam Library.</sub></center>

I had pre-ordered Stellaris when it was first announced 5 years ago and played it from day 1 when it got released in May 2016. In classic Paradox fashion, the game was not that great when it first came out.  It was pretty basic, AI was meh, and you did not have a lot to do in mid-game to late-game. But it had a great foundation and love for all that is Sci-Fi. Today's Stellaris is very different from that 1.0 version. It has changed a lot. But I can say that it has not lost that great foundation and love for all that is Sci-Fi.

Events in the game have many Sci-Fi references from the most obvious to the most obscure ones and one of the random things you can encounter that was even in 1.0, is that you can find Sol and our civilization in different stages of its development. Sometimes it would be a nuclear wasteland, and sometimes humans would be on the cusp of joining the galactic community and maybe you can assist them to reach that goal. 

I've been playing Stellaris with @deathwing for the last week and we could not quite manage to reach an end game crisis yet. One of our follies in Stellaris, which lasted about 13 hours in one sitting, ended when two fallen empires decided to go to war with each other and we become the League of Non-Aligned Powers. At first, I had the ability to hold one of them on my own, but once @deathwing lost his fleet, and the fallen empire that was on his side of the galaxy come to turn my capital into a pile of rubble, I knew we were done for. A War in Heavens that we lost. Paradox games always have been like this, good story generators and Stellaris generates so many stories.

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/mrtats/23y8ekzJyHZBhpTvoSoJ3B88mahz88nYXs79BL5bHbxTV9gbg9n2WCBGynnN8KDBPZghz.png)
<center><sub>Did you know? The ability to build megastructures were not included in the release version, but the ringworlds were and you had to conquer them from Fallen Empires. Image taken from stellaris.paradoxwikis.com</sub></center>

As I said, Stellaris has changed since 1.0. Many mechanics got removed and many more have been introduced and I believe these changes made the game more engaging and fun. I remember when in mid-game there was literally nothing. You had to wait in a sort of boring limbo till the end-game crisis. Now, it is more engaging with new events. On our latest playthrough, we had to fight an attrition war with nanites and it was not even late-game when it started.

With a new DLC, which will add many new mechanics, on the way. It is a really great time to give Stellaris a try. I recommend playing with all the DLCs, and I hope you would enjoy Stellaris as much as I do.

That's it, folks. I leave you with two story trailers for the upcoming DLC. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfBJjAhaJXw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o86MFZPb_WI