Stellaris: New Horizons total conversion

Discussion in 'Trek Gaming' started by Robert Maxwell, Feb 17, 2017.

  1. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    In case you haven't heard, grand strategy 4X game Stellaris now has a Star Trek total conversion, called New Horizons. You can read more about it here. But the gist is that it fills the game with dozens of Star Trek races, comes with quite faithful galaxy maps, over 200 ships from the various series and movies (plus some original designs, I believe), a brand-new Trekish technology tree, scripted events that take cues from actual Trek episodes and movies, Trek sound effects and music, and more.

    The mod isn't complete, but what's present is quite engaging. I'll give a sales pitch by way of describing a couple playthroughs I've had.

    Playthrough 1

    I chose United Earth, started in the year 2150. Met the Vulcans right away. Before long, they made me a protectorate (vassal in Stellaris terms). I did not realize this meant I couldn't colonize more planets. Oops. We had a migration treaty which meant our people could move to each other's planets, which was cool, but it still meant I had very little control. In any case, things picked up when the Xindi probe arrived, and I actually got to play out the entire Xindi story arc. I had to scramble a fleet at the last minute to destroy their final superweapon.

    Unfortunately, I didn't last much longer as the Vulcans decided to fully assimilate United Earth into their territory, which eliminated me as a player. Dang it. :( I think what I'm actually supposed to do is either refuse to be vassalized, war with them to gain independence (probably a bad option), or find a way to build trust so that they'll let us become independent. Live and learn, I suppose!

    Playthrough 2

    I'm not done with this one yet, but so far it's been a lot more fun. I chose the Tellarites, who are a "peaceful bureaucracy," which enables me to directly control 10 planets. (Default is 5, which can be modified up or down depending on your species and government traits.) I soon met the Cardassians, who always want to vassalize me (no thanks, filthy Cardies!), the Denobulans, and the Trill. The latter two are tiny and only control single star systems, and we quickly came to be on good terms. I then met the Ferengi, and the United Federation of Planets. Other large powers in the area are the Tamarians and the Breen (out past Ferengi space). Left with only one narrow corridor in which to expand, I bumped into the Sheliak, who thought they'd go about scouting a bunch of my systems. Nope, y'all can GTFO.

    The Federation has been busy warring with the Romulans. The UFP absolutely loves me, though. I have quite a mineral glut which I've been trading to supplement my meager energy credit production. Trying to build up a fleet because I have a few star systems occupied by raider fleets that I'd like to colonize at some point. Cardassians got mad that I settled a planet near their border, but within my territory. It's my space. I'll do what I want, and they can't stop me.

    I'm into the 23rd century right now. The UFP is a huge power with a lot of allies. It's interesting how well the game models how the UFP seems to work in the shows: nascent spacefaring cultures become protectorates (vassals), and are eventually integrated into the UFP "family" as a whole. Unfortunately, the sheer power disparity between us means they'd only offer to make me a protectorate, too, which would strip a lot of power from me. No thanks!

    As an alternative, I've built up a coalition (soon to be a federation!) of my own with the Denobulans and the Trill. For years and years, the Trill absolutely refused to let the Ferengi in, but they must have patched up their relations because they finally relented. The Ferengi make for powerful allies, believe it or not, and now the Beneficial Compact is a force to be reckoned with, second only to the UFP puppy dogs.

    The Sheliak, Tamarians, and Cardassians all hate me, and since they represent the vast majority of my border regions (the rest being Federation and Ferengi, basically) it's probably not going to be that long until we're at war. I hate war--it's so expensive and requires so much micromanagement. But I'll make those bastards sorry if they mess with me, I tell you what.

    To be clear, I don't think most of how this game developed was specifically scripted. Rather, it's each civilization acting in accordance with their prescribed personalities and government styles. Cardassians are fascist militarists and act every bit of it. Tamarians more or less keep to themselves. The Sheliak despise outsiders altogether. The Ferengi are always willing dealmakers, and the Federation are a bunch of (very powerful) pushovers.

    I might post more updates later from the Tellarite playthrough, but I encourage anyone who has Stellaris and who hasn't tried this mod yet to give it a shot. Still quite a few placeholder texts and graphics, especially in the tech tree, but they don't affect the fun factor much. I'm having a blast with this so far and I thought some of you who hadn't heard about it might be interested.

    UPDATE

    A lot has happened since my previous update. I'll try to summarize:

    1. The Federation got into a nasty war with the Klingons, which caused their territory to contract considerably. This gave me a chance to move in and snag some planets. I also made a protectorate out of Coridan, which has worked out well for me.
    2. After the Klingon/UFP war ended, the Klingons joined my coalition. I'm not sure why--we don't share any borders. I think the Ferengi wanted it, really. They didn't stay long, though. I was around long enough to help resolve a civil war--bombed and blockaded the homeworld of the House of Dorel, then invaded it, which ended the war.
    3. After a while, the Trill got their angry on and demanded to go to war with Cardassia. The Cardies put up a good fight, but they fell before the combined might of the Tellarites, Ferengi, Denobulans, and Trill. (OK, let's be real: the latter two control a single solar system each and are mostly there to fill out the coalition roster.) There was a surprise outcome, though: the Cardassian Union almost immediately made itself a vassal of the Ferengi. In fact, this became a growing theme: the Ferengi made vassals or protectorates out of a lot of minor powers, and even a couple big ones (like the Cardassians).
    4. Meanwhile, the UFP has been gathering allies, too. They've even made a protectorate out of the Romulans. They still keep having wars with the Klingons every so often, though.
    5. I had to help put down a rebellion on one of the Cardassian worlds, which wasn't too hard. It's easy to break up civil wars where one faction controls a single planet. :p
    6. Since I also border the Sheliak (sort of), and they suck ass, I made war on them to "liberate" their people. (Seems the Sheliak engage in slavery and all sorts of other unpleasantness which we Tellarites find morally abhorrent.) It was successful and the Sheliak are pretty much a broken empire now.
    7. THE BORG. A science ship out exploring the Delta Quadrant encountered them, along with the Krenim, Brunali, Talaxians, Kazon Sects, and several other races you'd recognize from Voyager. Your diplomatic options with the Borg are: declare war, declare rivalry, or insult. They are at war with seemingly everyone in the DQ, which is as it should be. I'm trying to work up some friendly relationships so we can build a Borg-busting alliance before they become too powerful. I fear the Dominion is out there in the Gamma Quadrant and I just haven't met them yet.
    The only two empires which are superior to me right now are the Krenim (they are kind of a big deal, I guess) and... I forget what the other one is. Nobody I am terribly worried about. I am easily the strongest power in the Alpha Quadrant, though, especially with the coalition at my back. (It would be nothing without the Ferengi, admittedly.)

    Oh, I also had to take down a Doomsday Machine. That was a real pain in the ass. Fortunately my allies came to help out.
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2017
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  2. Romulan_spy

    Romulan_spy Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I got a chance to play Stellaris with this mod for a little bit and was very impressed with what I saw. It is great to have a detailed space empire building game like Stellaris set in the Star Trek universe.
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2017
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  3. webb3201

    webb3201 Commander Red Shirt

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    Downloading now! Thanks for the heads up
     
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  4. Smitty

    Smitty Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    ran into this thread, thought it was interesting. Unfortunately the mod has been removed it seems.
     
  5. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Looks like it was taken down from ModDB, but it's still available on the Steam Workshop.
     
  6. Smitty

    Smitty Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Thanks Robert, I found it on Steam. It looks really cool!
     
  7. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Starting from scratch, which version of Stellaris to buy? The mod only on Steam is free?
     
  8. Smitty

    Smitty Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    You have to own the game first of course. I believe there are the choices which differ in the content you get such as wallpapers, book, etc. the game is the same for all three. I bought the cheapest. Then when you subscribe to the mod it will install.
     
  9. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Will get the cheapest version with a disk. I will check back if I have problems with the mod installation.
     
  10. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    The cheapest version will be fine. The Star Trek mod doesn't require any expansion content or DLC, as far as I know.
     
  11. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    How large is the Trrk mod, in Gbs?
     
  12. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    About 1.5GB.

    You can find such information yourself on the Steam Workshop page. Look at the infobox to the right of the slideshow.
     
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  13. Titus Andronicus

    Titus Andronicus Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I've really enjoyed this mod--can't wait to see what they do next with it!
     
  14. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I use Steam but only when necessary, as I prefer physical discs.
     
  15. TheSublimeGoose

    TheSublimeGoose Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I was looking for something *just* like this. Thank you so much for posting!!
     
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  16. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I just got my Stellaris copy. Should I install it then download the Trek mod, or start it up before the mod?
     
  17. TheSublimeGoose

    TheSublimeGoose Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    You need to install Stellaris before you download and install the mod. Was that your question?
     
  18. Tribble puncher

    Tribble puncher Captain Captain

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    I've been eyeballing that game (Stellaris), The mod that's being discussed is also by the same folks who brought us the "Star Trek Armada 3" mod for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. Reminds me an awful lot of "The Millennium Project" Mod released for Armada 1 back in 2000. I can say just from playing the Sins Mod that these guys really know their stuff and the amount of detail they put into these mods is staggering.
     
  19. Tuskin38

    Tuskin38 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The mod being discussed in this thread is New Horizons. The mod being made by the Armada 3 team is called Infinities.

    Infinities has decided to go for a 'when it is ready' approach for releases, so nothing out yet except screenshots and info. They going to be releasing in waves, starting with the Ent Era.

    New Horizons is just releasing whenever they have something.
     
  20. Tribble puncher

    Tribble puncher Captain Captain

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    Oh, I didn't know there were multiple trek mods for the game. My mistake.