Stellaris: Galactic Paragons

The original leader system required far too much micromanagement to be fun. The leaders were heavily subjected to RNG, and didn't have much from a story perspective. I am grateful for the free update released to address these issues. The free update + this DLC are worth ~$10 together. The DLC alone, I'd say is worth $5. Galactic Paragons flushes thing out. You'll be better able to mold your government and playstyle with the veteran classes and new council positions. Super leaders will occasionally show up, depending on your Ethics (2 per ethic). The new civics are mostly based around making your leaders better. Plus: -Crusaders: Liberation Wars only. All war leaders get unity when defeating enemy units. -Dystopian: Rulers and police get all the political power. No amenities use and negligible upkeep for everyone else, and they're all mad criminals. -Corporate Barbaric Despoilers. Except for that last one, none of them felt as exciting as they sound. And that last one should've been part of Apocalypse / Megacorp. The new traditions tree are never really felt worth picking. One is "make your council better", and the other is "make your leaders better". Lastly, after a few playthoughs, the new origin has a decently story feel to it, but is very streamlined and often more trouble than it's worth. You MUST start as a dictator, your leader inspires them to colonize the stars, but then they start to rebel, and either you sign an magna-carta, or deal with a full-scale commie civil war. Then, if your leader survives, they're hooked up to tubes for all eternity. I'm most grateful for the free changes, but this DLC is worth playing with if you've already bought it. But I'd sooner recommend any other DLC first, and then grab this on sale.

I was busy playing other games, and I just downloaded the patches, and bought this without any consideration whatsoever. I finally gave this a new try just a moment ago today, and thanks, I just hate it. Before, you could have leaders, for your navies, armies, as scientists, and governors, and now you no longer can. So, I basically do not have the leader slots to explore space, I cannot field fleets with commanders, and having generals is now just a waste of slots. Moreover, you have a council but you cannot fill its slots without first unlocking them. Paradox eventually always kills and breaks the 4x games it makes. And this time, the bell tolls for Stellaris. They have literally robbed me of the joy of playing the early game exploration in Stellaris... Actually going out there and exploring the galaxy, reaching those bottlenecks without unncessary wars, or securing passage towards something interesting. Moreover, at the start of the game you start out with leaders you have no use whatsoever for. And as it was with every other patch, your old saves are ruined. So do yourself a service, and play 3.7 at most, because 3.8 is just failure.