I am bad at RTS. I cannot micro. Previously Sins of a Solar Empire was my happy go to RTS, as the scale rewards large-scale thinking. Stellaris is so huge and different, that it almost seems like a turn based game. The scope is that huge that a rush, failed attack, or utter defeat that it is not the end of the game for you makes for some of the most amazing emergent gameplay (especially with friends) in all of gaming. I remember one game I was playing multi-player and I had become a vassal essentially to a warmongering state and my friends and the rest of the galactic community fought against the tyrannical government was awesome. The rebellion I waged as they fought wars with the greater portion of the galaxy is an epic that I think cannot be rivaled by any other art medium. That's the big thing Stellaris does, I think, it provides a huge, engaging, amazing backdrop to tell amazing stories; either alone or with friends.

Steam says that I've played 400+ hours of this game, but I'm not sure I really enjoyed most of them. A lot of it was "something moves a little on screen while I listen to a podcast", and then each game takes a stupendously long time. I think it's unfortunate that the game doesn't have too much to shake things up without completely smashing the player's experience. Mostly things either get smashed flat by the player or will themselves smash the player flat. I haven't experienced anything where there was a sort of back-and-forth, so that I lost a little bit but I could recover if I changed my tactics or something.

Paradox exploded in popularity with the arrival of Stellaris back in 2017, a combination of 4K strategy with RTS elements and galaxy-wide stories to both discover and create. The game boasts a complex sci-fi world where you can spread across the galaxy, conquer worlds with military might, or create diplomatic peace.

Since then the game has become complicated by Federations, MegaCorps, doomsday weapons, megastructures, many new species, and a vast number of changes to the base gameplay. Some of these are unobtrusive additions while others change the gameplay entirely with additions like the Federations being highly controversial due to how it obstructs gameplay.

For me personally, playing Stellaris has become more of a chore as time goes on. The biggest DLC additions seems to bloat the game for anyone but the most hardcore players, and if I do manage to settle on a species and start playing then it always begins quite cosy but within an hour it transforms into a game about managing armies, governing sectors, and a flurry of micromanagement as pops, edicts, and resources demand your attention.

Maybe I'm in it for the wrong reasons, but all the early game stuff that fascinates me gets so overwhelmed by all the mid and late game nonsense that I just don't want to deal with and can't seem to avoid. I wish I could enjoy it more though because it has such great atmosphere to begin with.

I love the concept of starting with a species who has just discovered a form of ftl travel and seeing them through eons of their civilization. Unfortunately for me, I just can't get in to the minutiae of the mechanics no matter how often I try.

I think this game does what its trying to do very well, and if you love micro managing a civilization, and then slowly delegating parts of your civilization off to middle managers as you decide how you will proceed through the challenges of space.. well you'll love this.