Summary
Veteran players ofStellariswho have poured thousands of hours into the game may itch for something different in some of their later playthroughs due to either routine wins or abandoned saves thanks to some limitations, such as the game becoming unbearably heavy to load or a simple interest lost in the save. To reignite their passion for the game, some interesting challenges are on the table.
These challenges range from inconveniences that necessitate a specific style of play, such as building tall, or even requiring them to play efficiently in order to prepare for the early apocalyptic scenario that the game might have.
7Paradise Lost
Limited Habitable World To Expand
Habitable Worldsare the spine of every successful stellar empire as they try to expand their territory and increase their resource acquisition by having colonies spread throughout the star system. This set of options will challenge players to try to improvise around a harsh galaxy that offers little to no habitable worlds.
With 0.25x Habitable Worlds, and no guaranteed worlds near their territory, an empire can be stuck with only one planet as they explore the galaxy. Although this limitation can be circumvented via Habitats and theMegastructure Ring World, there is no guarantee that an empire can last long enough to build those galactic-sized buildings.
6With Stick And Stones
Explore The Vast Galaxy With Limited Technology Advances
Although the starting player’s empire will be guaranteed to already have researched a faster-than-light travel option (with an exception should they choose a tricky origin that will disable such an option), this game’s start modifier will prevent them from advancing both their technology and theuseful Tradition treefurther within the first five years as they will struggle with the increased Technology and Tradition costs.
There are some ways to gain an advantage in this galaxy, such as prioritizing surveys and explorations as they could have a chance to instantly acquire a random technology, but it will also require the player to sacrifice an important aspect of their empire, such as either the economy or their military power.
5The Answer To The Fermi Paradox
A Few Little Fish In The Galactic Pond
The Fermi Paradox begs the question: Why are there no other visible space-faring civilizations if the galaxy is as vast as it appears? With this game’s modifier, it will answer that there are indeed someother space-faring empires, but only a select few, making the galaxy look vast and lonely.
Moreover, the disabled Pre-FTL Civilizations and Pre-Sapient Species will make the galaxy extremely barren as well. Although it can look easy at first glance, interaction with other empires is crucial inStellaris, and a lack of neighbors can severely hinder an empire’s progress throughout the galaxy.
Bring A Disadvantaged Species To Glory
Having a strong species with acombination of the best available traitsis one of the most important things to look for when starting an empire inStellaris. Players who like to challenge themselves can try these sets of traits to test their knowledge of the game and help the species to, at the very least, survival in the harsh galaxy.
These sets of traits are quite a hindrance for the player as they will not be able to advance their empire as quickly as they want to. Nonadaptive and Slow Breeders almost guarantee the species to be limited in its choices of settling on other planets, while the positive traits are almost good for nothing, except for Venerable, which might save some unity in the long run for the player.
3Behind On Kardashev Scale
Race Against Others That Started First
Although entering a Space Age should be a momentous achievement for a space-faring empire, imagine when they find out that they are well behind in all aspects when compared to their neighbors. This set of options brings a new challenge as the player tries to expand their small borders while other systems might already be occupied by their neighbors.
In turn, this will narrow down the player’s choices of systems, potentially missing out on certain anomalies andarchaeological sites with numerous benefits. Moreover, there will also be a chance for them to have a hostile empire as a neighbor, making the start trickier than ever.
2The Dark Forest
It Is Indeed Wiser To Stay Hidden
If the galaxy is not harsh and unforgiving enough, then the addition of hostile empires all around the empire’s borders should do the trick. By having customized empires with exclusively Fanatic Purifier, Determined Exterminators, and Devouring Swarm civics spawn in the galaxy, the player is guaranteed to be surrounded byhostile, genociding AI empireson all sides.
However, tactical and veteran players can also use this to their advantage by simply turtling and building massive defensive borders around their capital system. They can try to wait until the hostile empires declare war against each other, and strike when all of their hostile fleets are already weakened by decades of war.
1A Century Of Strife
Try To Beat The Odds As Doomsday Approaches Swiftly
If a Crisis is not already hard enough to manage at around the 2300-2400 year mark, try having the crisis happening a century sooner, with the option of havingall theCriseshappening subsequently after each one has been eradicated. This option will bring the maximum possible challenge, as the player will be forced to both work together with other empires and have anextremely optimized early gameto survive the upcoming onslaught around a century after the game starts.
Moreover, they will also potentially be overwhelmed first by the threat of the mid-game Crisis starting at around 2225, making it trickier for the player to prepare for the eventual endgame Crisis.
