![[As voted on] Stellaris role playing for beginners (and many veterans)](https://preview.redd.it/gusuapa6ob2h1.png?auto=webp&s=a97297514ace7a8da9cfd2143072a38cbc96cdf2)
Stellaris has no shortage of minmaxers, but every Stellaris player can and should incorporate a bit of RP into their experience. Afterall, we're not robots...
Edit: I checked several of my current game saves when I got home and I don't receive as many amenities from civilians as I thought. They are still great though for the following reasons:
This was a tough one. Apologies for the quality, I had to do this entire thing with memory and Google image searches because I'm at work (lol).
The purpose of this diagram is to inspire the initial spark of understanding/curiosity for beginners, it's not supposed to go too in depth.
Feel free to ask questions!
Hello!
I'm the xeno who recently made 2 beginner guides that were mostly accepted. I'm ready to make another, but I'm not sure exactly what the community needs.
Do me a favor, if you have let's say over 200 hours logged on Stellaris, please refrain from voting on top thread comments. If you have 200 hours or less, leave a comment stating which aspect of Stellaris has you the most confused! Whatever the top comment is at 8PM EST 17May2026 is, I'll work on a new beginner guide and post it 18 or 19May2026 EST!
What constitutes as an "aspect"? literally anything. As in depth or as vague as you want. Whatever the ask is, I'll do my best to provide basic, beginner friendly insights on it.
Cheers!
Edit 1: I've been playing for a year and TIL these used to exist. I SWEAR I didn't know that, but now the post looks stupid 😑.
Edit 2: I can now see why these ethics were changed lol. I still stand by my idea though. Someone labeled Auth vs Egal as societal "power" structure which I love. That didn't cover what I would call "lifestyle" though, so that's what my version is. Individualist vs collectivist is societal "lifestyle".
Edit 3: people understandably take issue with the "cocky" nature of the individualist text. I reanalyzed and I stand by it, also. I was born and raised in one of the most individualist nations on Earth and probably ~50% of people here have that exact same attitude. And you know what, why shouldn't they? They work very hard for the things they have and their daily decisions have relatively large impacts on the world. They own it.
Didn't feel like fetching the proper bonus icons, so use your imagination.
Some contrary points that I am forecasting:
- "Aren't these too close to Auth vs Egal?"
Here's some historical examples as potential proof (not a historian so feel free to correct me):
- Individualist Auth: N*zi Germany
- Collective Auth: Early India?, + USSR
- Individualist Egal: Early US
- Collective Egal: Actually not sure about this one, possibly some African countries? Or Haiti maybe?, +Indonesia
Thoughts?
DISCLAIMER: The purpose of this diagram is inspire the initial spark of understanding, not in-depth analysis. I hope it's not too overwhelming, I tried to be as simple as possible.
Feel free to ask questions!
Why specialize? Well as you expand, you can utilize specialization bonuses such as buildings that reduce upkeep for certain jobs on the planet. If you fill 1 whole planet with said job, that one building's bonuses are now maximized.
Feel free to ask questions!
Edit: The goal of this diagram/flowchart is to give an extremely simple visual, just to achieve that first spark of understanding. Any more elements and it would've just been scary to newbies.
I grandstand on Reddit too much, but f*ck it, it’s fun and I’m good at it. So here’s some more!
“Born too late to explore the world, born too soon to explore space.” A common quote that really resonates to those of us living in the 21st century. Personally, I used to follow this motto up with “but at least I can play video games”. After several decades however, my tastes (and the industry) have changed.
I don’t follow trends or care about hype anymore, I play what’s fun to me and what’s been fun to me for a while now is grand strategy. I really dove deep on this genre with Civ6 for several years, but the game eventually (effectively) ceased development and I got bored.
Enter Stellaris.
Even though I miss the human experience and “pseudo-history” feeling that Civ6 gave me, Stellaris raised the bar. Because of several factors such as fleet management, scientific fiction/non-fiction, in-depth politics/economics, and sheer epicness, Stellaris effectively killed my interest in every other video game. When I play Stellaris, it feels like my whole brain is engaged which amplifies the escapism, as well as several other aspects. Now I follow the "born too soon..." quote with "... at least I can play Stellaris”.
Yes, the game is a bit of a mess (at the time of this typing, I have the top post on r/stellaris with a complaint post lol) but that’s only because we’re all here, we’re all engaged, and we’re all obsessed. There’s seemingly a million little numbers, effects, bonuses/penalties, etc. that are flying around. Because of the sheer size of this game, respectively it’s kind of a miracle that this game is even remotely coherent.
I’m happy to be alive in this moment for several reasons, a big one is Stellaris. I often lament living in Western civilization, but again, the existence of things like Stellaris really undermine some of those more radical opinions.
I guess this is a love letter to Paradox, and specifically to the Stellaris team. I’m grateful for your work which I consider to be nothing less than “enlightening”. From whomever the CEO is all the way down to the custodians of the studios, I’m so grateful.
Now if we could just find a way to incorporate viable multiplayer *cough cough* then we could maybe get even more lucky to experience the next level *wink wink* (check my profile for more on that).