[Note: I know this may be a topic for the game forum page, but posting it here since I wasn't sure it would be visible enough to get enough feedback during this sale. So bear with me if I'm breaking some forum rule]

The Galaxy Edition is currently on a huge bundle sale of $4.99 and I was thinking now would be a good time to buy the game.

But based on the last person to review the game and the review seems to be flagged as the "Most helpful" on the store page, I wanted to hear peoples opinions on the base game vs base + DLCs.

Does the base game stand well on it's own to enjoy the game fully as if the DLCs never existed?

Or are some or all DLCs required for the game to be truly enjoyed?

Not a 4x game but I'll use Grim Dawn as an example of a game that was fun all on it's own w/o even buying the DLCs. Though I'm glad I did buy the DLCs as in this case they were worth it.

I wanted to get as much feedback as possible before the sale is over. It's rare for the price to be discounted to 90% on this particular game.
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It's a starting point. It'll be fun for a few rounds before you'll eventually want the expansions. Just like it was at release. There's no need to go out and buy the entire range of expansion packs in one hit. It gives you a chance to learn the game without being overwhelmed. Then once you're wanting more you can pick the packs that interest you or wait for a sale to choose for you.

I own all the Paradox strategy games except CK3. I always buy the initial game and then SLOWLY expand it as packs go on sale. There is no doubt all of them are made richer by expansion packs. Stellaris and Imperator especially so.

Besides $5 for a game is a steal...

Thanks for the reply.

At $5.00 it is pretty cheap. Only reason I have to dig in a bit more these days is due to the huge backlog of games. That amount can be a lot if I never play the game lol.

I can probably at least gift it to myself for now. You're probably right, it's likely the DLC will drop even further in price by the time I get to try this.
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It's $12.50 for me.

Regional pricing?

Are you looking at it from the Paradox Essential Bundle page? You need to either own or check 5 games to get that $4.99 USD price.

Example if you own 3 games, then you need to select 2 more games to make the discount active and go to the checkout page with those 2 games.
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Good to hear. Had wishlisted it for a long time, guess it's time to buy.
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and there are plenty of mods if you get tired of the base game too
my fav is Star trek new horizons

I'll have to check it out, after trying the base game of course. Thanks for the info.
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You can probably get a couple dozen hours from the base game before having seen everything it has to give, Stellaris expansions are great to add more diversity but they are not required.

Which of the expansions/dlc is worth it?.

it's a paradox game. you buy it and then you buy enough dlcs to buy yourself a car so you can play it somewhat decently

Funny thing is, with warhammer 2 every new released DLC is bought immediately, also with Gladius 40k. Stellaris seems to be more in line with a game such as battlestar galactica to me. Still i own about 13 DLC for stellaris atm, only missing the last 3 majors, federation, banking and the necron one.have to be honest and admit that i have to much of those grand strat titles going on.... i would recommend passing on a game such as stellaris if you have your strat fix in another game, otherwise.. yea go all out, get that package which contains all previously released dlc, the game is pretty much worth it

The following is of course only my personal opinion ;)

I think all story packs are worth their (discounted) price, as they add variety all through the game. My favourites being Synthetic Dawn for the ability to play (and encounter) machine empires, and Leviathans for giving you mid-game "boss fights".

The full blown expansion packs are pricier, so I would advise only getting them one at a time, and try all of its mechanics before buying the next one. Here I would go with Utopia for the ability to build megastructures.

Maybe overlooked, but a great piece of content: the game soundtrack. Almost 60 tracks of really nice space-themed ambient music, that are actually enjoyable even outside the game.

By the way, for everyone but die-hard Paradox fans, never buy a DLC without a -50% discount. These come really often as long as you are OK with skipping the latest released content.

I've heard good things about the Utopia DLC, with people recommending that one the most. I may check it out later on. It'll be a while before I play the base game, too much backlog.

Thanks for the info.
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