Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Distant Worlds is a vast, pausable real-time, 4X space strategy game which models a "living galaxy" with incredible options for replayability and customizability. Experience the full depth and detail of large turn-based strategy games, but with the simplicity and ease of real-time, and on the scale of a massively-multiplayer online game. Now greatly enhanced with the new Universe release, which includes all four previous releases as well as the new Universe expansion!

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BKL
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Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by BKL »

I purchased Stellaris but find that it's very hard to automate processes. It seems a little tedious. I played other versions of Distant Worlds (not Universe). How is Universe compared to the other Distant Worlds and how does this compare to Stellaris. I really enjoy 4x games and I'm looking for something with depth, good AI competition, and that you can automate aspects as your empire grows. Thank you!

Also - any advantage of purchasing this here vs. Steam?
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zakblood
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by zakblood »

buy from here you get a steam key and site key / version none steam then and steam, but from steam you don't get site version as well, so it's a choice, one or the other, or you can have your cake and eat it and have both if you buy from here that is[;)]
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Hattori Hanzo
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Hattori Hanzo »

ORIGINAL: zakblood
buy from here you get a steam key and site key / version none steam then and steam, but from steam you don't get site version as well, so it's a choice, one or the other, or you can have your cake and eat it and have both if you buy from here that is[;)]

mhhhhh.. I'm not sure of having understood what you exactly mean with your reply.. ?????

can you please better explain it to me.. ??? [&:]
Twigster
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Twigster »

To your question about Stellaris Vs. Distant Worlds:Universe...

I have not played Stellaris, and know very little about it. That said, I have heard nothingabout it that really made it seem compelling enough to try.
Bingeling
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Bingeling »

ORIGINAL: Hattori Hanzo
ORIGINAL: zakblood
buy from here you get a steam key and site key / version none steam then and steam, but from steam you don't get site version as well, so it's a choice, one or the other, or you can have your cake and eat it and have both if you buy from here that is[;)]

mhhhhh.. I'm not sure of having understood what you exactly mean with your reply.. ?????

can you please better explain it to me.. ??? [&:]
Buy from here, and you get an offline installer and serial number, as well as a steam key.

Buy from steam, and you get only the steam version. So no offline version (although the steam version could possibly be run outside steam).

Prices may differ between the two sites, if the price is the same I would buy it here.
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Ranbir
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Ranbir »

Stellaris, to my disappointment doesn't have smooth zoom from system to galaxy, you have to press 'galaxy map'. Makes jumping around places very weird.

DW has more stuff and much more interesting ideas with private sector. Paradox are putting a lot of focus in multiplayer rather than single player simulation. They also have the advantage of dlc given their whole schtick is that now.

It might be worth getting both, but that's just me. I'm eagerly waiting for DW2. All the DW stuff with a much friendlier UI.
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Cauldyth
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Cauldyth »

DW, without question, for me. Maybe in a year or so, after a few DLC, Stellaris will have been sorted out.

Stellaris had the promise of being a Paradox grand strategy game partly inspired by Distant Worlds (they've admitted as much). That should've been a recipe for greatness, taking the best of both of those, but unfortunately the current game resembles neither Distant Worlds nor a Paradox grand strategy game.
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Retreat1970
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Retreat1970 »

DW2 hasn't been officially announced, just hinted at. I don't see DW2 on my PC for quite awhile yet, which is too bad since I'm bored with DW. That being said I'd like to play another 4x game. Stellaris looks ok, as long as I play it for what it is and don't compare it to something else.
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redboot
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by redboot »

Stellaris is darn good, but it doesn't hold a candle to DWU IMO. Particularly if you're interested in late game automation as you've indicated, I do agree with Cauldyth that my opinion could change after 21 or 2 of the inevitable Paradox DLCs, but I kind of doubt it. I enjoy Stellaris, but I keep coming back to DWU.
Lucian
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Lucian »

At the moment Stellaris is an empty, bug-ridden, bare-bones shell of a game with almost all content stripped out in preparation for the inevitable deluge of Paradox DLC to turn it into a real game and in the process milk players for all they're worth and then some.

Although Stellaris has some interesting ideas and - arguably - great potential, DW currently leaves it for dead in almost every way imaginable, gameplay, polish, content, fun, replayability...... you name it. That may change (or not) as Stellaris DLC is gradually released over the upcoming years, but currently its no contest.
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by solops »

ORIGINAL: Lucian

At the moment Stellaris is an empty, bug-ridden, bare-bones shell of a game with almost all content stripped out in preparation for the inevitable deluge of Paradox DLC to turn it into a real game and in the process milk players for all they're worth and then some.

Although Stellaris has some interesting ideas and - arguably - great potential, DW currently leaves it for dead in almost every way imaginable, gameplay, polish, content, fun, replayability...... you name it. That may change (or not) as Stellaris DLC is gradually released over the upcoming years, but currently its no contest.

+1. Lucian has it right. I have both games. DW wins, no contest. Stellaris has a long way to go and may never get there. The designers seem a little hard-headed.
If you want a clean, military oriented game, I prefer Polaris Sector.
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SirHoraceHarkness
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by SirHoraceHarkness »

Star ruler 2 is pretty good but a lot of the core mechanics are not intuitive even though they play well once you wrap your head around how they work. I'd search up some tutorial vids and see if it's interesting enough to catch it on a good sale.
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Dipluz
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Dipluz »

I have been sinking my teeth into Stellaris for quite a while now, and I consider myself a somewhat Distant Worlds bitter veteran (played since original release).
Stellaris is only good for a breezer to play something with a "new" ui, new colors and a new game. as mentioned in earlier posts. its so stripped its ridiculous that they dared even releasing something so hallow as a game. And then was it yesterday one of the leaders in Paradox had a lash out on the community for them complaining about a costly 8$ dlc for some plant-based race that has 0 gameplay value (saying it will be the last cosmetic dlc if it doesn't sell). In my years buying Paradox games this is the lowest Paradox has ever sunk. Well I hope Distant Worlds guys releases some news for us soon. Im eager for a Distant Worlds sequel with a 64-bit engine & Paralell Computing, MAYBE just maybe a Multiplayer bit to it as well would be cool, though id happily pay for that in a separate dlc.
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Retreat1970
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Retreat1970 »

Im eager for a Distant Worlds sequel with a 64-bit engine & Paralell Computing, MAYBE just maybe a Multiplayer bit to it as well would be cool

Well I don't know about all that, but it's probably Elliot programming and one or two art guys. Oh, and multiplayer is taboo (j/k).
AKicebear
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by AKicebear »

Distant Worlds is a much better game, but its depth and UI can be scary at first.
Stellaris has a great looking UI, but the more you play it the shallower it feels, and the more shortcomings its shiny UI show. Many actions require far to many clicks/windows, whereas DW had great macro controls in a few quick windows. Colonization as one very frustrating example for Stellaris.

Stellaris will probably overtake DW at some point, but that is years from now. I wish I'd waited for it on a 50% sale, as I'm only got a few games out of Stellaris before deciding to shelf it until more mechanics are included.
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CaptBeefheart
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by CaptBeefheart »

Paradox games are best bought after about two or three years, as you can get the game with a big DLC bundle for a reasonable price during a Steam sale.

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Japhet
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Japhet »

Yeah, Stellaris is not a very good game. The art and graphics are nice (they remind me of Endless Space) and some of the writing is good, but in terms of gameplay it's seriously lacking. Colony management is a chore with large empires, sector ai is bad and takes control away from the player (even less stuff to do), you cannot control your ships actions in battle and wars are simply no fun. Worst of all, species creation is utterly meaningless, every empire plays the same way. For a game where customization was supposed to be the main key feature, this is unacceptable. At this point, it comes off as a worse version of Galactic Civilization.
And then was it yesterday one of the leaders in Paradox had a lash out on the community for them complaining about a costly 8$ dlc for some plant-based race that has 0 gameplay value (saying it will be the last cosmetic dlc if it doesn't sell). In my years buying Paradox games this is the lowest Paradox has ever sunk.

Yeah, paradox didn't handled the critisism very well. Their first answer was stating that 19(!) bucks were a reasonable prize for a cosmetic dlc and then went on with the "this is the last one, if you don't buy it!"-comment. I mean, sure, if it doesn't sell well, it is simply not economic to produce more, but the passive-agressive way they phrased it was was simply not professional.

But do you want to know the best part? The dlcs - all of them, including the pre-order ones and the plantoids - are already in the game! You only have to delete three lines of code and they show up. Paradox is basically selling "on-disc"-dlcs now and for some reason a lot of fans let that slide and still defend them. [&:]
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tortugapower
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by tortugapower »

ORIGINAL: Japhet
Yeah, paradox didn't handled the critisism very well. There first answer was stating that 19(!) bucks were a reasonable prize for a cosmetic dlc and then went on with the "this is the last one, if you don't buy it!"-comment.

I missed this, could anyone entertain me with a link?


In the end, I think Stellaris will end up being a great thing for Distant Worlds. People get hungry about 4X, and it's quite possible they either return to or stumble upon DW if Stellaris doesn't satisfy their appetite.
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Nobody987
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by Nobody987 »

Wrote a massive post just to find that I cannot post links before 10th post...

go to forum and search for thread '7.99 for plantoids??!!'. Post 12 and 97 from Johan.
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tortugapower
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RE: Distant Worlds or Stellaris

Post by tortugapower »

Haha, I hate that! Had that same situation on Matrix myself. Thanks, I'll do just as you said (and come back and edit in the link, too).

Edit:
Here is the link https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/in ... ds.961185/

I have loved and played Paradox games for so long (I think since HoI2), but I remember when they announced moving to a more DLC-oriented content release plan (maybe that was EU3 or HoI3?). Now when you look at Paradox games, most people who don't want to buy the initial game prefer to wait until the "Complete" package comes out with everything.
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