by Eladrin

Stellaris is having a free weekend! Tell your friends!

Play Stellaris for free this weekend!

We’ve asked the Dev team for some tips to help new players out during their first steps out into the wondrous unknown.

• Don’t forget to unpause the game, but don’t be afraid to pause it again if you need time to think. – Eladrin
• The different options in empire creation aren’t created equally, some empires will be more powerful than others, but regardless you’ll get more enjoyment out of the game by playing what you find fun (or what you find the idea of to be fun) without looking up the “perfect build”. – Alfray Stryke
• Buildings don’t produce Resources, Jobs produce Resources! Just because you’ve built a shiny new Research Lab doesn’t mean there’s anyone working there. Click the Population tab to learn more! – OK_Television_391
• Stellaris has mid-game and end-game crises that you might not be able to defeat on your first try. Each defeat makes your eventual triumph more satisfying. – Eladrin
• Read the tooltips. – PDX_Ferry
• Not every Species eats food, some eat energy and others minerals. – Paradoxical_Nikname
• Got a neighbor that closed the borders and rivaled you? It is a matter of time before they will declare war on you. Choose a choke point, build a star base, upgrade it with defense buildings. It might be just enough to defend the border, but for extra measure you can also build some defense platforms on the station or station your fleet there. This will enable you to mostly ignore that aggressive neighbor and focus on expanding/exploring the other direction.
• Losing a war isn’t losing the game, enjoy your moments of vengeful plotting as much as your triumphs. – Beals
• Just because you’ve got slightly more fleet power than an enemy, it doesn’t mean you’re definitely going to win.
• If the notifications are too spammy (or not spammy enough), you can configure them in the settings. – pthooie
• A few Origins are more challenging than others. Doomsday, Broken Shackles, and Payback start you off with some major challenges to overcome, and may be better to save until you have a few games under your belt. – Eladrin
• Don’t worry too much about what people say is best. Making an empire with a cool backstory will keep you entertained a lot longer than one with perfect numbers! – Iggy
• Make sure you expand you fleet early on, or you might be prey to the first neighbour you find. – Paradoxical_Nikname
• Your pops will love the Holo-Theater building.- PDX_Ferry
• As expected in a sci-fi game, Research is king, however this means Unity is queen – don’t neglect the development of your empire’s Traditions in pursuit of new Technologies. – Alfray Stryke
• If you spawn next to a Criminal syndicate, keep an eye on your planets, or you might get overwhelmed by crime. – Paradoxical_Nikname
  • Correction: If you spawn next to a criminal syndicate, blow it up – Beals
• Pops > Everything. Want to increase your power in the galaxy? Colonize, boost Pop Growth Speed, encourage Immigration… But whatever method you choose, remember ABP: “Always Be Poppin!” – OK_Television_391
• For single player, it’s good to queue up your science ship exploration and pick your first three technologies to research before you un-pause.
• Set up a monthly trade in the Market to get missing resources.- PDX_Ferry
• Be brave and break things, choose a clearly wrong choice, make mistakes, crack open that ancient tomb, the galaxy is yours and full of wonders! – Beals
• But most of all, have fun, and thanks for playing Stellaris! – Eladrin

Do you have any tips for the new explorers? Share them!

Stellaris is partnering with Makeship to produce a limited edition Stellaris Starfish plushie!

They may have destroyed Europa VII, but we can still be friends, right?

Click to go to the campaign!

Summer vacations are here, so this will be the last dev diary until mid-August, when we will return with information about Cosmic Storms and the Stellaris 3.13 “Vela” update.

Have a great summer, and thank you for playing Stellaris!