Dude same here, 2700 hours and I go watch the MMM10 last weekend, super confused how people over with like 600 research in 30 years while I couldn't even do that in 100 xD
@@unitedpara9479 the Ai will usually declare war on me within the first hour and have several 7k fleets while I'll have 1 6k fleet maybe lol, idk how they do it either.
just got back into the game a few weeks ago after not playing for three years and have been waiting for someone to make a 2024 guide, thank u so much!!
You know Stellaris is complicated when you have 800 hours of playtime and you watch a 2 hour long 'How to Play' guide, just to be sure you do in fact know how to play...
Part of the problem is how many changes have been made to the game over the years, and all past information vaguely resembling the game in its current state, so if you're like me and just learn through playing, you'll probably miss the nuances from patch to patch... at the very least, that's the reason I'm watching it, because I don't really know if there is some trick I might be missing.
@@98cents I just got back into it since the DLC pass came out. It’s so different from when I was into it last. I remember a run having this race of humanoids be a bunch of psycho geneticists. Enslaving other races only to modify them into dull minded brutes. Would even give them their own core world or two. Chattel for work, and the real nasty guys for armies. It was a lot of fun. Now I have no idea what to do. There’s almost too many options for how to play. Sadly I’ve not figured out how to replicate that run
@@naturalbornpatriot6369 That part hasn't really changed. You can take the government trait (civic) Barbaric Despoilers to kidnap pops from enemy factions when you bombard their planets. There's the Slave Processing trait, too, which gives a special building for extra bonuses. You'll need to be authoritarian government type to have slaves, maybe throw in militarist too, but spiritualist, materialist and xenophobe would also fit. If you want to focus on even more possibilites for weqlth, you could be a megacorp, that generally builds tall with few planets and lots of income and diplomacy/trade play.
I got the game over the holidays, and there have been so many points where I've been like, "Where are my energy credits going?" "What is trade value?" "What's the point of federations?" This is exactly what I needed.
Imstead of watching guides i just set the dificulty to cadet as training wheels and played for months and months probebly half a year and finnaly got the hang of it.
I used to be really good at this game, knew everything and i mean EVERYTHING about it. I even managed to keep up to date for years through all the whacky updates. Then I had a baby, and couldn't play anything or even remain up to date. I tried to get back into the game a few times with the little time I had, but omg, leaders then came and changed the game even more. Dont get me wrong im not complaining, i love the PDX model. I just had IRL stuff lol and the game does feel way way better now, so much more polished. But boy oh boy, do I need a new master series tutorial lol great timing, thank you Montu.
23:00 That tickbox in the lower right corner has been un-ticked by Montu. It is ticked by default, when you buy the game, and this causes the game to always display a lot of not-very-useful information, cluttering the screen. For instance it’ll show all the green number resources in solar systems that you are already exploiting, it’ll show Anomalies, and it’ll show those orange project boxes that Science Ships, Construction Ships or Army Transport Ships can interact with. When the box is un-ticked then only context-relevant information is shown, for instance if you have selected a Science Ship then Anomalies will be visible, and those projects that are for Science Ships. You can hold down the Left Alt key to temporarily show everything, or re-tick the box if you want that, but I really think it’s better for both new and experienced players to play with the box un-ticked, because the more cluttered UI does nothing good.
46:06 I never use Planetary Automation, with one exception: When I play as a Gestalt, either a Machine Empire or a Hive Mind, I un-tick all the boxes except for Amenities, and then I enable Automation. Otherwise I’d have to check all of my planets about every 1.5-2 years and manually open or close Maintenance Drone Job Slots to make sure each planets has positive Amenities but not too many. It’s one of few areas of the game where Automation actually works well, causing you to miss out on nothing, relative to if you were exerting manual control. (EDIT: Now as of November 2024, I also enable Deviancy Automation when playing as a Hive Mind. And I's probably enable it as a Gestalt Machine Empire too (not individualist Machine - that's a new addition to the game, and I have never played it, so have no feel for what they are like).) A few other areas of the game where automation is generally good to use, is Auto-Upgrade of the warship designs you create, replacing modules with higher-tier ones as you research them (but do not use Auto-Design itself), or running one of your Construction Ships on auto, so it flies around building Mining Stations and Research Stations, while you control your other Construction Ships, building Outposts and Observation Posts, as well as urgent Mining/Research Stations that you don’t want delayed until the auto gets around to it (mainly Strategic Resources, Minor Relics and Astral Threads). In the past, my experiments with having 2 Construction Ships on auto (while still having 3-4 on manual) have always led to them pointlessly both flying to the same system andt trying to build the same things, so that it’s both wasteful, and also spamming me with “couldn’t build X“ notifications, but the recent v3.11 update seems to have improved this a lot… And then there are Science Ships on Auto-Survey. I agree that one should Explore/Survey manually at first, but eventually it does make sense to switch most or even all Survey to Auto, keeping maybe 2 Science Ships at home, idle or doing Archeology, so that they’re ready if something urgent needs doing. (MORE EDIT: As of November 2024, one more automation thing I endorse. Ever since the 3.0 update (2021 or something?) I've done the "Peter Feint", where I don't research the Anomalies I find until i've built a 2nd and often even a 3rd Lab. Then once I'm happy with my Research output, I set most or all of my Science Ships to research all those Anoms, because the Research point rewards scale with my Research production, so the Peter Feint give some 2 or 3 times as much, albeit with a delay. Although the Researchers will also have levelled up just from Surveying, so they'll do the Anoms faster. The new thing is, I set one or more of my Science Ships to Automation but ONLY to research Anoms. As long as the last one has been researched, the Science Ships will give me an error message on by one, and I can then switch them back to normal Automation.)
47:26 You can also use Opinion map mode to see the Opinion between two third party polities. This is useful if you want to make a Federation with both, since they don’t only need to like you but each other as well. With enough Intel (50), you’ll be able to see *why* they like or dislike each other.
53:33 True. However, the synergy between a defence-oriented Starbase and a fleet parked on top if it is surprisingly strong. In the subReddit the usual explanation is that the Starbase acts as the tank, while the fleet fills the DPS role. I’ve seen some downright thermyphylaic slaughters in my own playthroughs, in the early or mid game, where something like a 5000 (maybe even 6000-6500) enemy fleet has crushed itself against a 1500 Starbase and a 1500 fleet, with minimal or zero losses for me. For this reason, if I have a chokepoint system through which a genocidal or Rival can attack me, I’ll often place a Shipyard Starbase in the system immediately behind the chokepoint, so that I can build and upgrade a fleet there, and then send it forward to assist the citadel Starbase when needed.
1:54:25 The red suitcase can also indicate that an unEmployed Pop is of a type that can’t auto-resettle without a Transit Hub. I think this applies to Slaves, Robots, maybe Droids, maybe Bio-Trophies. IIRC Slaves can also become able to auto-resettle if you have a Slave Processing Facility instead of a Transit Hub.
1:58:07 All in all a pretty good video (and despite 3800+ hours of play since v1.0, I actually learned a few minor things). I think the main omissions are the Ctrl+Shift keypress to add an action in front of the others in the ship’s order queue (your only serious omission, apart from you not showing what the actual +1.50 maxed logistics Pop Growth bonus looks like), a little talk about expanded Council positions (from Civics or Enclave dudes) or choosing to leave a standard position empty (like Secretary of State or Defence) and the consequences of that, and a little talk about the tier-1 Strategic Resources (many new players do not initially grok the distinction between mined and refined SRs) and about Planet Features (and Blockers blocking such Features). And finally a little talk about Opinion modifiers and how they become visible at Intel 50 (and also 90 seconds spent on how Intel is based on the highest of Infiltration, Trust and Base Intel). I’ll definitely be recommending this video to new players in the subReddit. It’s very useful to be able to point to just one single video that covers almost all the basics: The long-ass 2 hour video from Montu Plays in March 2024.
Not gonna lie, I've been playing for so long that in late game I build only battleships and then send endless waves of them against the endgame crises, put it on slowest, and sit back and watch the carnage. Such a cinematic game.
Hey I hope it helps! Jump into my discord community server, or the Stellaris official discord, there are loads of helpful people there that will be keen to answer any Stellaris questions you have
yeah same here. 2 years pause, and now finding out, that there is so much new dlc´s and so many things are different.. So i have to start all over again with a beginner guide lol
you can also give a ship a priority order by holding shift and ctrl when clicking, this will execute that order immediately and then return to the qued orders. Very helpful if you have qued up a bunch of systems for surveying and stumble across a special project after researching an anomaly
Nah. It’s not a binary thing. Rather, relevance and usefulness will deterioate step by step with each 0.1 update. I still sometimes point people to Many A True Nerd’s 2.2+2.3 unedited long-play videos, because despite being from freakin 2019 they still do a pretty good job of giving people a general idea of what playing Stellaris is like.
If it helps, the same channel has a "beginner's guide under 16 minutes". That's the one I watched before starting the game and explained most of what I needed to know, especially without DLC. I'm just watching this after I spent seven hours straight playing
It's definitely daunting for sure I've got 30 hrs so far and have barely been able to keep my empire afloat in my 2 playthroughs with these guides my 3rds going muuuch better its not as hard as it seems it's just alot of mechanics to juggle all at once
This is the third or fourth time I've had to re-learn how to play this game. I booted it up for the first time in a year, and it's like I've never touched it before in my life, despite the 100's of hours on record.
Man what a fucking legend! Watched the whole thing. I’m newer to the game and this helped put the basics into perspective. Thanks for taking the time in making this video!
I finally got into Stellaris around xmas after it was sitting in my library for 3 years. And I still feel so dumb about so many things. So thank you my lord and savior!
Ah, perfect timing! I just bought the game and starter pack dlc + Leviathans (because Bubbles) before leaving for Spring Break. The steam sale would have ended the day I got back.
.... And at 48 minutes, we can actually press START :D Oh boy, it's been so much fun learning this game, still learning each day! Thank you guys who keep making content like this, without you it would have been impossible!
A good tip is if you want to be careful about game time passing while reading, looking around, or making decisions it's a good idea to slow or pause the time in the top right. That way you're not losing out on the exploration/starbase race or falling behind on relative development. The downside is the game will take longer to play through - but as you get better and faster at the game you won't need to do it much at all unless you want to minmax on Grand Admiral difficulty.
This is the key that is really challenging me. Exactly. I've been playing essentially all the time on pause, but then it never gets anywhere. Slowest I think is the answer to this.
Thank you for this guide! I've been watching your videos for quite sometime and that encouraged me to try Stellaris. I'm in love with this game! I'm somewhere in the mid-end of my first campaign and the start was very rough because I had no guides that were up to date. Thak you very much!
Montu, as a returning player that just jumped into 3.11 head first. I thought I might've missed a few things. I haven't even really started the video but I guarantee you I'll watch it because I'm sure I've missed a few things. So thank you.
My God this game has changed over the years. It used to be a fun 4x outgrow everyone and win game. Now it takes a PhD and 40 hours a week to understand the basics of how each thing changes the other. I can't get my brother to play anymore because he considers this game a job like Hearts of Iron 4.
The first guide that I actually feel covers things in a good order and makes sense doing it without jumping back and forth all over the place. Thanks man
Such a good video. Feels like I’m actually watching a program. Not just somebody talking. You get the full experience. Don’t even get me started on how in depth this goes. THANKYOU
This is brilliant. May I suggest a future video focusing on steps taken to calm a planet and deal with the general sh*tstorm that awaits a successful war? Aka, loads of planets, loads of unhappy pops (that you don't wanna purge) economical difficulties etc.
I'm looking to snag this game on steam, and I didn’t realize they offered a subscription service for the DLC, which I'm grateful for as that is significantly easier than paying over 250 dollars for all the DLC
It's cheaper short-term, but if you plan to keep and play the game for a long time, the subscription is going to add up. Doing it for just a month to try out is not a bad idea though! I'm slowly accumulating the DLC that interests me over time, grabbing them when they're on sale. I have most of the core ones at this point, the ones that provide the most content. I bought the base game on sale, and I treat the DLC the same way. I never buy them full price.
I'm so glad people are continuing to make new guides for this game. I play it in bursts and every time I come back, it feels like I have to relearn it all over again. lol
You're literally a godsend my dude. Your guides are saving me 10s of hrs of trail and error, i seriously cant thank you enough for making these for us 😭 definitely earned my sub 🎉
I bought this game and a handful of DLC during the last sale. Your guides have kept me going as I keep hitting milestones and then stagnating. Rewatching this, a lot more makes sense now! Thanks for helping us enjoy the game to its fullest.
Nice of you putting these guides up, very useful stuff for returning people also. Even with ~600 hours back in the day, it don't count much with all the changes and updates that have transformed the game massively over the years. I'm fairly certain naval capacity wasn't a factor with influence for example. Also, 20 minutes about planetary management and not a word about sectors. Not your fault, just goes on to show how ridiculously complex this game can be. Peak paradox
You know I actually barely mention sectors, just in the leader part (when explaining how governors work) They don't really do anything outside of leader effects these days
This is just what i needed, I bought the game and all the DLC just before I had to go in for surgery expecting I’ll be able to play it after but I can’t even sit on my but for a few months so till then I’m gonna learn everything I can about it, I’m really excited to play! Thank for the tutorial!
After starting about 5 playthroughs and playing with the economy and scale of the game I chose to believe that 1 pop is 1 billion of creatures. I am basing it on the amount they produce as well as the overall scale of the things that they make. This is also why even with extremely high % of upkeep reduction in the late game, making the upkeep very low, it still makes sense that they are actually not just bending the laws of physics, they are really just more efficient.
Hey curious what happened to the playlist w ship designs. Ik its post 3.6 but i could have swore you had not only more vids but 1 of the vids showing a battleship class vs all the others (neutron launchers vs carrier vs cruiser etc)
ok lets be honest here, I'm a 4x veteran since moo and so forth, but stellaris is a differente beast. I bought it years ago and never gone into it properly, with only a bunch of hours played. Your video is simply amazing, but the more I learn about this game and more it feels to be too complex to be fun. If I have to remember every single aspect it's going to be a job in it's own right. Maybe it's wiser to stick with Endless Space :D. Great job here, anyway, thanks for your time producing such high quality content
I’ve had this game for years, and only now am I learning the intricacies of the game mechanics thanks to this video; no more will I depend on console commands to cheese a win.
I just found out some tech options repeat infinitely!! I heard you mention “repeatables” in your ship building videos, so I assumed it was like a nano-self-assembly strike craft or something. Now I know I wasted so much tech trying to “”finish”” each branch of the tech tree when it actually never ends...
I just had my first battle. A solo ship equal in power to my 20 corvettes just parked in a system near me. After fiddling through so many menus i added more corvettes 😂 to my fleet. Its confusing and am new. I beat that solo ship in a glorious battle. 😊
I know this is going to be super impopular but I miss the old administrative capacity mechanic, I really liked the idea of bureaucratic planets, mazes of kafkian offices from where the empire is run, it felt very much like a 40k fantasy world.
I'm installing the game today. My friend has a few hours and we'll be playing together... I've watched so many of your videos and now I'll watch this one and hope I don't somehow get wiped out almost right away xD
Time to become a machine empire that looks like the typical "take over the universe" thing but actually just monopolizes materials and makes a bunch of money.
I don't know how the internet does this. I picked up Stellaris again 3 days ago without knowing they updated again, just out of the blue. And now there's the foremost guide on the new update published yesterday. Let's do this.
![Chris Langan - The Interview THEY Didn't Want You To See - CTMU [Full Version; Timestamps]](/img/n.gif)
Me: over 1200 hrs in stellaris.
Montu: puts out beginners guide every year.
Me: ah just what I needed. 😅
Dude same here, 2700 hours and I go watch the MMM10 last weekend, super confused how people over with like 600 research in 30 years while I couldn't even do that in 100 xD
I mean, the game does have a tendency to change core mechanics regularly
@@unitedpara9479 the Ai will usually declare war on me within the first hour and have several 7k fleets while I'll have 1 6k fleet maybe lol, idk how they do it either.
Well, I just suck at the game, but... I'm still having fun with it :D
1121 hours, same.
"You need to click on new game to start a new game" GEEZE, dude, slow down! I'm here for a BEGINNERS guide, not your crazy pro-gamer tips.
The future is now old man!
@@MontuPlays...said the old man. 😂
Yes, I have a headache now....
@@berlindude75 hey hes forever young in our hearts
dang i got 120 hours in settings before i found out about new game
just got back into the game a few weeks ago after not playing for three years and have been waiting for someone to make a 2024 guide, thank u so much!!
Welcome aboard!
same lol
Same, so much has changed and become overcomplicated that I was like "ok. I need somebody to explain this crap to me"
You know Stellaris is complicated when you have 800 hours of playtime and you watch a 2 hour long 'How to Play' guide, just to be sure you do in fact know how to play...
Tell me about it! Nothing worse than going out there and playing only to realize you've been doing it wrong/ineffectively for a long time!
Part of the problem is how many changes have been made to the game over the years, and all past information vaguely resembling the game in its current state, so if you're like me and just learn through playing, you'll probably miss the nuances from patch to patch... at the very least, that's the reason I'm watching it, because I don't really know if there is some trick I might be missing.
@@98cents
I just got back into it since the DLC pass came out.
It’s so different from when I was into it last. I remember a run having this race of humanoids be a bunch of psycho geneticists. Enslaving other races only to modify them into dull minded brutes. Would even give them their own core world or two. Chattel for work, and the real nasty guys for armies. It was a lot of fun.
Now I have no idea what to do. There’s almost too many options for how to play. Sadly I’ve not figured out how to replicate that run
@@naturalbornpatriot6369 That part hasn't really changed. You can take the government trait (civic) Barbaric Despoilers to kidnap pops from enemy factions when you bombard their planets. There's the Slave Processing trait, too, which gives a special building for extra bonuses. You'll need to be authoritarian government type to have slaves, maybe throw in militarist too, but spiritualist, materialist and xenophobe would also fit. If you want to focus on even more possibilites for weqlth, you could be a megacorp, that generally builds tall with few planets and lots of income and diplomacy/trade play.
.. and still learn plenty of stuff!
(1,800 hours for me)
I got the game over the holidays, and there have been so many points where I've been like, "Where are my energy credits going?" "What is trade value?" "What's the point of federations?" This is exactly what I needed.
Imstead of watching guides i just set the dificulty to cadet as training wheels and played for months and months probebly half a year and finnaly got the hang of it.
@@oliveguitarlil bro thinks he’s a machine learning algorithm
@@warrioremperor6320 lil bro calls school "training data"
I started playing again 2 days ago and have really been trying to find a whole bunch of guides and now this came out, that's crazy
I hope it helps! It's been a labour of love
Dude same lol i started last night and i was like wait WTH am i doing again lmao
I love you Montu! Thank you for caring about the people that take Stellaris breaks, come back and get manhandled by all the changes.
I used to be really good at this game, knew everything and i mean EVERYTHING about it. I even managed to keep up to date for years through all the whacky updates.
Then I had a baby, and couldn't play anything or even remain up to date. I tried to get back into the game a few times with the little time I had, but omg, leaders then came and changed the game even more.
Dont get me wrong im not complaining, i love the PDX model. I just had IRL stuff lol and the game does feel way way better now, so much more polished.
But boy oh boy, do I need a new master series tutorial lol great timing, thank you Montu.
I remember when you had to shuttle resources between planets with actual transport ships. lol
Montu ate my son
Only an aweonao would let his son be eaten by Montu
Womp Womp
@@ElMarcohspaninglish
I.. what?
@@MontuPlaysYou know what you did.
*sets rights to Slavery (livestock)*
23:00 That tickbox in the lower right corner has been un-ticked by Montu. It is ticked by default, when you buy the game, and this causes the game to always display a lot of not-very-useful information, cluttering the screen.
For instance it’ll show all the green number resources in solar systems that you are already exploiting, it’ll show Anomalies, and it’ll show those orange project boxes that Science Ships, Construction Ships or Army Transport Ships can interact with. When the box is un-ticked then only context-relevant information is shown, for instance if you have selected a Science Ship then Anomalies will be visible, and those projects that are for Science Ships. You can hold down the Left Alt key to temporarily show everything, or re-tick the box if you want that, but I really think it’s better for both new and experienced players to play with the box un-ticked, because the more cluttered UI does nothing good.
46:06 I never use Planetary Automation, with one exception:
When I play as a Gestalt, either a Machine Empire or a Hive Mind, I un-tick all the boxes except for Amenities, and then I enable Automation. Otherwise I’d have to check all of my planets about every 1.5-2 years and manually open or close Maintenance Drone Job Slots to make sure each planets has positive Amenities but not too many. It’s one of few areas of the game where Automation actually works well, causing you to miss out on nothing, relative to if you were exerting manual control.
(EDIT: Now as of November 2024, I also enable Deviancy Automation when playing as a Hive Mind. And I's probably enable it as a Gestalt Machine Empire too (not individualist Machine - that's a new addition to the game, and I have never played it, so have no feel for what they are like).)
A few other areas of the game where automation is generally good to use, is Auto-Upgrade of the warship designs you create, replacing modules with higher-tier ones as you research them (but do not use Auto-Design itself), or running one of your Construction Ships on auto, so it flies around building Mining Stations and Research Stations, while you control your other Construction Ships, building Outposts and Observation Posts, as well as urgent Mining/Research Stations that you don’t want delayed until the auto gets around to it (mainly Strategic Resources, Minor Relics and Astral Threads). In the past, my experiments with having 2 Construction Ships on auto (while still having 3-4 on manual) have always led to them pointlessly both flying to the same system andt trying to build the same things, so that it’s both wasteful, and also spamming me with “couldn’t build X“ notifications, but the recent v3.11 update seems to have improved this a lot… And then there are Science Ships on Auto-Survey. I agree that one should Explore/Survey manually at first, but eventually it does make sense to switch most or even all Survey to Auto, keeping maybe 2 Science Ships at home, idle or doing Archeology, so that they’re ready if something urgent needs doing.
(MORE EDIT: As of November 2024, one more automation thing I endorse. Ever since the 3.0 update (2021 or something?) I've done the "Peter Feint", where I don't research the Anomalies I find until i've built a 2nd and often even a 3rd Lab. Then once I'm happy with my Research output, I set most or all of my Science Ships to research all those Anoms, because the Research point rewards scale with my Research production, so the Peter Feint give some 2 or 3 times as much, albeit with a delay. Although the Researchers will also have levelled up just from Surveying, so they'll do the Anoms faster. The new thing is, I set one or more of my Science Ships to Automation but ONLY to research Anoms. As long as the last one has been researched, the Science Ships will give me an error message on by one, and I can then switch them back to normal Automation.)
47:26 You can also use Opinion map mode to see the Opinion between two third party polities. This is useful if you want to make a Federation with both, since they don’t only need to like you but each other as well. With enough Intel (50), you’ll be able to see *why* they like or dislike each other.
53:33 True. However, the synergy between a defence-oriented Starbase and a fleet parked on top if it is surprisingly strong. In the subReddit the usual explanation is that the Starbase acts as the tank, while the fleet fills the DPS role. I’ve seen some downright thermyphylaic slaughters in my own playthroughs, in the early or mid game, where something like a 5000 (maybe even 6000-6500) enemy fleet has crushed itself against a 1500 Starbase and a 1500 fleet, with minimal or zero losses for me. For this reason, if I have a chokepoint system through which a genocidal or Rival can attack me, I’ll often place a Shipyard Starbase in the system immediately behind the chokepoint, so that I can build and upgrade a fleet there, and then send it forward to assist the citadel Starbase when needed.
1:54:25 The red suitcase can also indicate that an unEmployed Pop is of a type that can’t auto-resettle without a Transit Hub. I think this applies to Slaves, Robots, maybe Droids, maybe Bio-Trophies. IIRC Slaves can also become able to auto-resettle if you have a Slave Processing Facility instead of a Transit Hub.
1:58:07 All in all a pretty good video (and despite 3800+ hours of play since v1.0, I actually learned a few minor things). I think the main omissions are the Ctrl+Shift keypress to add an action in front of the others in the ship’s order queue (your only serious omission, apart from you not showing what the actual +1.50 maxed logistics Pop Growth bonus looks like), a little talk about expanded Council positions (from Civics or Enclave dudes) or choosing to leave a standard position empty (like Secretary of State or Defence) and the consequences of that, and a little talk about the tier-1 Strategic Resources (many new players do not initially grok the distinction between mined and refined SRs) and about Planet Features (and Blockers blocking such Features). And finally a little talk about Opinion modifiers and how they become visible at Intel 50 (and also 90 seconds spent on how Intel is based on the highest of Infiltration, Trust and Base Intel).
I’ll definitely be recommending this video to new players in the subReddit. It’s very useful to be able to point to just one single video that covers almost all the basics: The long-ass 2 hour video from Montu Plays in March 2024.
Not gonna lie, I've been playing for so long that in late game I build only battleships and then send endless waves of them against the endgame crises, put it on slowest, and sit back and watch the carnage.
Such a cinematic game.
oh my fucking good
Try the F9 or Ctrl+Z keypress to disable the UI, for a more cinematic battle experience.
@@peterknutsen3070Wait really? Thanks! I didn't know that was a thing.
mass effect moment
Bro doesn't know what Titans or Juggernauts are
Just what I needed. The constant changes have been daunting, it’s great to have a guide even as an intermediate player!
I think another important thing to keep in mind about minerals: they're great to have to mass produce marines, zealots, and zerglings!
got given stellaris by a friend, had no clue what im getting into and i am pretty new to games like this. really good video for my needs!
Hey I hope it helps! Jump into my discord community server, or the Stellaris official discord, there are loads of helpful people there that will be keen to answer any Stellaris questions you have
I took a pause from playing stellaris for a year and a bit more, and the game now is completely different, lol
yeah same here. 2 years pause, and now finding out, that there is so much new dlc´s and so many things are different..
So i have to start all over again with a beginner guide lol
Montu you mad man! I’ve been getting into stellaris these past few months and you make it so much more enjoyable thank you
you can also give a ship a priority order by holding shift and ctrl when clicking, this will execute that order immediately and then return to the qued orders. Very helpful if you have qued up a bunch of systems for surveying and stumble across a special project after researching an anomaly
Stellaris players can micromanage 7 different fronts on a galactic scale but can’t get a girlfriend
Stellaris provides benefit to our lives, having a girlfriend is a curse, hmm hard choice lmao
No because of feminist they can't even talk to women.
@@7475webb thanks for your insight
There is either Stellaris or, girlfriend, no time for both.
@@fockewulf190d9 micromanaging(worked for me)
Thanks!
Great video as always!
(Can't wait to see this video being redundant once 3.12 / Machine Age drops.)
Nah. It’s not a binary thing. Rather, relevance and usefulness will deterioate step by step with each 0.1 update. I still sometimes point people to Many A True Nerd’s 2.2+2.3 unedited long-play videos, because despite being from freakin 2019 they still do a pretty good job of giving people a general idea of what playing Stellaris is like.
Brave of you to do this after the Machine Age was announced.
It’s crazy to “begin” this game. I need to watch a 2hr video… that’s wild and I don’t know if I can as much as I want to try to get into this title.
If it helps, the same channel has a "beginner's guide under 16 minutes". That's the one I watched before starting the game and explained most of what I needed to know, especially without DLC. I'm just watching this after I spent seven hours straight playing
It's definitely daunting for sure I've got 30 hrs so far and have barely been able to keep my empire afloat in my 2 playthroughs with these guides my 3rds going muuuch better its not as hard as it seems it's just alot of mechanics to juggle all at once
This is the third or fourth time I've had to re-learn how to play this game. I booted it up for the first time in a year, and it's like I've never touched it before in my life, despite the 100's of hours on record.
>Stellaris beginners' guide
>Is 2 hours long
>Least complex 4X game
While i wouldnt say least complex 4x game, there are some much more complicated games
Just watched this as getting ready for my new campaign.
Was missing on you explaning on trade routes and regions. 😢
Man what a fucking legend! Watched the whole thing. I’m newer to the game and this helped put the basics into perspective. Thanks for taking the time in making this video!
I finally got into Stellaris around xmas after it was sitting in my library for 3 years. And I still feel so dumb about so many things.
So thank you my lord and savior!
Im gonna forget all of this by the time I play Stellaris
I stopped playing for two years and I need a re-up on basically everything that's changed. Thank you for this.
Ah, perfect timing! I just bought the game and starter pack dlc + Leviathans (because Bubbles) before leaving for Spring Break. The steam sale would have ended the day I got back.
.... And at 48 minutes, we can actually press START :D
Oh boy, it's been so much fun learning this game, still learning each day!
Thank you guys who keep making content like this, without you it would have been impossible!
Every time there’s an update I feel like I have to start from scratch re-learning this whole game…
Ahh, the Ultimate beginner’s guide! Maybe this one will stay relevant for more than one DLC cycle ….
Love ya buddy!
A good tip is if you want to be careful about game time passing while reading, looking around, or making decisions it's a good idea to slow or pause the time in the top right. That way you're not losing out on the exploration/starbase race or falling behind on relative development. The downside is the game will take longer to play through - but as you get better and faster at the game you won't need to do it much at all unless you want to minmax on Grand Admiral difficulty.
This is the key that is really challenging me. Exactly. I've been playing essentially all the time on pause, but then it never gets anywhere. Slowest I think is the answer to this.
So difficult to find a comprehensive, up-to-date guide but, by Jove, you've done it! Top drawer!
Thank you for this guide! I've been watching your videos for quite sometime and that encouraged me to try Stellaris. I'm in love with this game! I'm somewhere in the mid-end of my first campaign and the start was very rough because I had no guides that were up to date. Thak you very much!
1:52:06 "It becomes available in the mid game" Me was like this is just the beginning??? @@
Montu, as a returning player that just jumped into 3.11 head first. I thought I might've missed a few things. I haven't even really started the video but I guarantee you I'll watch it because I'm sure I've missed a few things. So thank you.
My God this game has changed over the years. It used to be a fun 4x outgrow everyone and win game. Now it takes a PhD and 40 hours a week to understand the basics of how each thing changes the other. I can't get my brother to play anymore because he considers this game a job like Hearts of Iron 4.
Nice. I'm going to check out Hearts of Iron.
The first guide that I actually feel covers things in a good order and makes sense doing it without jumping back and forth all over the place. Thanks man
Niiiice I needed that, returning player here. Game changed so much im glad
Welcome back!
as a new player I am both scared and intimidated this is a 2 hour tutorial lmaooo
You can do it ! I believe in you !
@@fellowasp6768 thanks friend🙂
@@dbz9393 you're welcome friendo :3
I'm just getting into it now, dare I say I was overwhelmed as hell...great vid!
Such a good video. Feels like I’m actually watching a program. Not just somebody talking. You get the full experience. Don’t even get me started on how in depth this goes. THANKYOU
This is brilliant.
May I suggest a future video focusing on steps taken to calm a planet and deal with the general sh*tstorm that awaits a successful war?
Aka, loads of planets, loads of unhappy pops (that you don't wanna purge) economical difficulties etc.
Depends, are you using slavery?
me not playing in a couple years thinks about playing again but doesn't even know where to begin , well i know now!! thank you Montu !!!!!!
I just picked this game up. You're my first stop for information.
Thank you Montu, for putting in more soul into Stellaris than Paradox deserves!
Not much beats an up to date Montu beginner video, brilliant work 😊
I WAS LITERALLY THINKING OF REDOWNLOADING WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF A GUIDE VIDEO AND YOU DROP THIS 20 HOURS AGO. THANK YOU
As someone who is always learning things in Stellaris, your guides are extremely helpful! Thank you so much!😄
Thanks so much for your support!
I'm looking to snag this game on steam, and I didn’t realize they offered a subscription service for the DLC, which I'm grateful for as that is significantly easier than paying over 250 dollars for all the DLC
It’s very easy to pirate Stellaris.
It's cheaper short-term, but if you plan to keep and play the game for a long time, the subscription is going to add up. Doing it for just a month to try out is not a bad idea though! I'm slowly accumulating the DLC that interests me over time, grabbing them when they're on sale. I have most of the core ones at this point, the ones that provide the most content. I bought the base game on sale, and I treat the DLC the same way. I never buy them full price.
@Draeckon to even match the price of the DLC you'd have to pay for the subscription for almost 2 years I believe, which is more than fine with me
Awesome Montu! Thanks alot for making this
Commenting before watching it all, Thank you. I'm a returning player and its been about 3-4 years since I've really played
I'm so glad people are continuing to make new guides for this game. I play it in bursts and every time I come back, it feels like I have to relearn it all over again. lol
You're literally a godsend my dude. Your guides are saving me 10s of hrs of trail and error, i seriously cant thank you enough for making these for us 😭 definitely earned my sub 🎉
Would love an advanced guide. How and why you optimise everything you can optimise.
I finally finished the video watching it within a few days while cooking. Thanks a lot, it was amazing !
I havent played in like 3 years, so having this guide is great for me since id like to start playing again in 2024. Thanks a Bunch for the Guide!!!
I bought this game and a handful of DLC during the last sale. Your guides have kept me going as I keep hitting milestones and then stagnating. Rewatching this, a lot more makes sense now! Thanks for helping us enjoy the game to its fullest.
Thanks for the video, I just got all the DLC and was lost about what to do, now I actually understand the game :D
If there was an up to date physical hardcover 200 pages strategy guide for Stellaris, I'd buy it XD
Best e-Learning I have done this year. Just pls don't tell my bosses at work :D
Paradox should be paying you for this holy cow this is incredibly good. Perfect, you could say. Thank you so much.
dude, thanx for this - just came back to Stellaris after xy years and im lost .... finally fully competent guide, thank U 4 ur effort :)
Finally a beginners guide with all DLC! Thank you!
Thanks montu, been trying to get friends to play and it’s overwhelming for new players so a complete guide really helps
Great guide, I have been playing CK for a while now, but this game is on a different level.
Man,Galactic Civilizations was my favorite space game but this is on another level.
Nice of you putting these guides up, very useful stuff for returning people also. Even with ~600 hours back in the day, it don't count much with all the changes and updates that have transformed the game massively over the years. I'm fairly certain naval capacity wasn't a factor with influence for example. Also, 20 minutes about planetary management and not a word about sectors. Not your fault, just goes on to show how ridiculously complex this game can be. Peak paradox
You know I actually barely mention sectors, just in the leader part (when explaining how governors work)
They don't really do anything outside of leader effects these days
@@MontuPlays Weren't there yet, thanks
A fantastic beginner guide as always.
This is just what i needed, I bought the game and all the DLC just before I had to go in for surgery expecting I’ll be able to play it after but I can’t even sit on my but for a few months so till then I’m gonna learn everything I can about it, I’m really excited to play! Thank for the tutorial!
I just started yesterday and this video showed me at least 150 new buttons i can press
Last time i played in 3.2.2... this gonna help a lot. Thank you
I'm getting to Stellaris just now, and this guide helped me a lot. Thank you so much!
“Where you kinda go around and gas them all, Don’t worry though! This game has a low age rating” 1:11:16
After starting about 5 playthroughs and playing with the economy and scale of the game I chose to believe that 1 pop is 1 billion of creatures. I am basing it on the amount they produce as well as the overall scale of the things that they make. This is also why even with extremely high % of upkeep reduction in the late game, making the upkeep very low, it still makes sense that they are actually not just bending the laws of physics, they are really just more efficient.
Hey curious what happened to the playlist w ship designs. Ik its post 3.6 but i could have swore you had not only more vids but 1 of the vids showing a battleship class vs all the others (neutron launchers vs carrier vs cruiser etc)
ok lets be honest here, I'm a 4x veteran since moo and so forth, but stellaris is a differente beast. I bought it years ago and never gone into it properly, with only a bunch of hours played. Your video is simply amazing, but the more I learn about this game and more it feels to be too complex to be fun. If I have to remember every single aspect it's going to be a job in it's own right. Maybe it's wiser to stick with Endless Space :D.
Great job here, anyway, thanks for your time producing such high quality content
Regardless of how much I play I will always watch your “how to plays” for pointers.
I’ve had this game for years, and only now am I learning the intricacies of the game mechanics thanks to this video; no more will I depend on console commands to cheese a win.
I realized i needed this when i got into my first major war with auto design still turned on, Please save me sir stellaris man.
how did this not come up on my feed today !
This is one of the best guides I've ever seen. So helpful. Thank you. Edit: I joined the patreon.
This might possibly be the greatest video ever.
1:08 i caught you slip that in there i can imagine in very easily lol
I just found out some tech options repeat infinitely!!
I heard you mention “repeatables” in your ship building videos, so I assumed it was like a nano-self-assembly strike craft or something.
Now I know I wasted so much tech trying to “”finish”” each branch of the tech tree when it actually never ends...
I just had my first battle. A solo ship equal in power to my 20 corvettes just parked in a system near me. After fiddling through so many menus i added more corvettes 😂 to my fleet. Its confusing and am new. I beat that solo ship in a glorious battle. 😊
i love that i managed to brute force my way into this game, in every way possible
I know this is going to be super impopular but I miss the old administrative capacity mechanic, I really liked the idea of bureaucratic planets, mazes of kafkian offices from where the empire is run, it felt very much like a 40k fantasy world.
Montu brought down fire on my subjects and cracked my homeworld.
I'm a few hours into a ravenous hivemind of tree people. This video helped me optimize the consumption of my neighbors so thanks.
Crazy this game was under my radar till now its amazing
12:27, i would say that traditions are like talent trees.
I'm installing the game today. My friend has a few hours and we'll be playing together... I've watched so many of your videos and now I'll watch this one and hope I don't somehow get wiped out almost right away xD
Great video!
Damn, this is some good tutorial
Stellatis: YOU ARE NOT PREPARED
Me (an avid strategy game and HoI4 player): I RARELY AM
Time to become a machine empire that looks like the typical "take over the universe" thing but actually just monopolizes materials and makes a bunch of money.
I don't know how the internet does this. I picked up Stellaris again 3 days ago without knowing they updated again, just out of the blue. And now there's the foremost guide on the new update published yesterday. Let's do this.
😢😢😢😮😮😮😅😢😮😢😅😮😮😅😢😢😅😮