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Dev Diary #8 - The Situation Log and Special Projects

Fellow sentients!

Do not be alarmed. I have been summoned to your pitiful quaint planet to tell you a little bit about Special Projects and the Situation Log.

As you play the game and venture out into the galaxy, you will eventually come upon Special Projects. These projects are sometimes spawned by the Anomalies that were discussed in last week’s Dev Diary, but they can also be triggered by other events. They typically represent a specific action that can be performed by the player, and in that respect they function a bit like the decisions you might find in some of our other games.

Most projects are centered around a location (often a planet, but it could also be an object in space), and many require the presence of a Science Ship and a skilled Scientist before they can be started. Others may require the presence of a warship, or a troop transport, or something else entirely. It depends on the project.

stellaris_dev_diary_08_02_20151109_event.jpg


While the cost of some projects is only a time investment, others will require research efforts within a particular field, such as physics, to complete. Technology research progress is diverted to the project at the expense of your current technology research in that field, temporarily halting all progress. In other words, you may want to hold off on that physics project for a while if you are just about to finish researching a new shield system!

A few examples of Special Projects could be boarding and investigating a derelict space hulk, performing an archeological dig on the homeworld of a dead civilization… or perhaps fishing something out of the atmosphere of a gas giant. Projects can also appear on your colony worlds, and they may be time sensitive.

So what do you get for completing a Special Project? Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, that depends on the project. You might get an advanced alien warship, or a new technology, or any number of other bonuses and advantages. Sometimes the reward might simply be staving off an imminent disaster on one of your colonies.

To help players keep track these projects, we have added something called the Situation Log to the game. This screen works like a quest log in many ways, and you will find all currently available Special Projects here. You can also follow your progress in certain event chains, with various Points of Interest listed that can be visually tracked on the map. A Point of Interest could be a strange signal emanating from a distant star system, which will remain in your log until you send someone to investigate.

stellaris_dev_diary_08_01_20151109_situation_log.jpg


That’s it for now. Next week, renowned interstellar gangster Daniel “grekulf” Moregård will take time out of his busy schedule to tell you more about how planets work in Stellaris - including planet modifiers, surface tiles, buildings and resource collection!
 
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How will special projects work? Will it be only available to the first one to find about them? Or will it be first come, first serve, ie only the first one to finish the "event line" that will end up with the bonus/disaster? Or available to all regardless of completion by other empires?...
 
Regarding "special projects". Please don't simplify it down to a "good"/"evil" choice like in the example in the OP. Realistic options too please. If (as in the example) a subterranean civilisation is digging, to me both "communicating" and "pre-emptively nuking" are extreme options neither of which feels sane. How about more choice like:
1. Prepare military facilities, but don't attack first
2. Launch a counter expedition to conquer the caverns
3. Create an exclusion some around the dig area.
...
1) and 3) are basically common sense. I would be very, very disappointed in any spacefaring civilization if they didn't make these basic, cautionary steps regardless of whether they want to talk or fight. 2) is basically the pre-emprive strike dressed up a little nicer.

I personally don't see it as a good/evil choice (though the blue/orange bars do seem to indicate this), but as a xenphobic/xenophiliac choice. Hopefully there will be a lot like this along the ethical spectrum, with empires leaning towards any particular ethos maybe discouraged (or for fanatics, barred) from making a particular choice.
 
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1) and 3) are basically common sense. I would be very, very disappointed in any spacefaring civilization if they didn't make these basic, cautionary steps regardless of whether they want to talk or fight.
Well, I was instantly thinking GoW plot, so just "precaution" may not be enough.

2) is basically the pre-emprive strike dressed up a little nicer.
There is a difference between "annihilate" and "conquer"
 
I personally don't see it as a good/evil choice (though the blue/orange bars do seem to indicate this), but as a xenphobic/xenophiliac choice. Hopefully there will be a lot like this along the ethical spectrum, with empires leaning towards any particular ethos maybe discouraged (or for fanatics, barred) from making a particular choice.

I took the green bar has you meeting the conditions of the decision (i.e. you click on the thingy to go on with it) and the orange one as you were not meeting all conditions (e.g. you need a warship in orbit or some troup on the ground). Maybe I was thinking too much in classic PDX fashion. Though I would be surprised if they implemented a Manichean system.
 
It seems rather odd that a special project stops ALL other research. After all, what about the researchers laboring in Secure Containment Zone XJ-97 on the far edge of your empire? They're provided supplies and materials for their project for the obligated 10 year period, and management oversight is both highly restricted and minimal (have implosion detonators been triggered? Yes/No.)

This is an extreme example, but if special projects are focused on a location why not simply divert tech point gain from surrounding areas in order to represent the allocation of science resources to the problem? This would let you scale the matter as well, so while prepping for a subterranean threat might be a matter for a single world/system, addressing the subspace harmonic "TOK-TOK" emanating from a rift formed between three aligning pulsars might take much more.

--Khanwulf

PS. Please ensure that if projects are time-sensitive an estimate of time remaining is displayed to aid in decision-making.
 
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There is a difference between "annihilate" and "conquer"

This is another thing I don't get in this thread. Why does everyone assume that a pre-emptive strike automatically means nuking? I just interpret it as "attack them before they attack us".

I took the green bar has you meeting the conditions of the decision (i.e. you click on the thingy to go on with it) and the orange one as you were not meeting all conditions (e.g. you need a warship in orbit or some troup on the ground).

You could be onto something. It didn't occur to me.
 
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Regarding "special projects". Please don't simplify it down to a "good"/"evil" choice like in the example in the OP. Realistic options too please. If (as in the example) a subterranean civilisation is digging, to me both "communicating" and "pre-emptively nuking" are extreme options neither of which feels sane. How about more choice like:
1. Prepare military facilities, but don't attack first
2. Launch a counter expedition to conquer the caverns
3. Create an exclusion some around the dig area.
...
As far as I can tell, there are actually three options: establish communications, preemptively attack, and leave the mole people alone (which will culminate in them arriving in 1 year). However, none of those is all-consuming. You can presumably bring in troops and put them on the region tile in question, at the very least, and it may be possible to do more with the tile in that time.
 
This is another thing I don't get in this thread. Why does everyone assume that a pre-emptive strike automatically means nuking?

Why? It is simple really, because you have to "nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
 
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View attachment 142340

So, right here, you see those yellow patches on the night side? That, my friends, is the light of settlements visible on the night side of a colonized world. It's right there on the game map people.

That is attention to detail.

That is paradox going that extra mile. That is paradox saying "no, it's not enough to just remake Moo2/Civ in space". That is paradox, fundamentally, giving a shit.

The amount of cities on the planet also scales with the development level. So on a colony there is just a little bit of light. When its fully populated, the entire surface glows.
 
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The amount of cities on the planet also scales with the development level. So on a colony there is just a little bit of light. When its fully populated, the entire surface glows.

This is awesome and adds so much immersion!
 
The amount of cities on the planet also scales with the development level. So on a colony there is just a little bit of light. When its fully populated, the entire surface glows.

I figured it would work that way. It looks real nice.
 
Because that is the modern usage of the phrase. "Pre-emptive strike", "retaliatory strike" are both terms which are strongly associated nuclear weapons usage.
Hardly exclusively, though. Indeed, giving that there have been any number of wars described/justified as "preemptive" during the past decades, none of which went nuclear (unless you count the Japanese "preemptive strike" at Pearl Harbor, which has definitely been described that way), the argument could be made the other way.

This isn't the place to discuss the politics of any of those wars, or whether they were actually preemptive or justified (after all, the example screenshot is about launching an unprovoked attack on a race that may or may not be hostile). Simply to note that the term is far from implying nukes.

I'd also note that "communicating" doesn't necessarily mean "make buddy-buddy"; it could (and frankly, probably does) mean just attempting to translate their language and sending them a message inquiring about their intentions. Indeed, it wouldn't surprise me if one possible outcome of that tree was them demanding your surrender, and you having to decide whether to continue trying for peaceful negotiations or prepare for war (more difficult now that you've lost the element of surprise).
 
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I feel like your opinions to deal with the Space Morlocks should depend on the armies you have on the planet. "Launch a pre-emptive strike" ... with what? If you have no armies on the planet
 
I feel like your opinions to deal with the Space Morlocks should depend on the armies you have on the planet. "Launch a pre-emptive strike" ... with what? If you have no armies on the planet
If you look carefully, you'll see that you have 365 days to take action. Probably if you want to chose preemptive strike you can (must) transport troops to the planet.
 
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If you look carefully, you'll see that you have 365 days to take action. Probably if you want to chose preemptive strike you can (must) transport troops to the planet.

The diplomatic option probably requires sending a character as well.
 
I'd also note that "communicating" doesn't necessarily mean "make buddy-buddy"; it could (and frankly, probably does) mean just attempting to translate their language and sending them a message inquiring about their intentions. Indeed, it wouldn't surprise me if one possible outcome of that tree was them demanding your surrender, and you having to decide whether to continue trying for peaceful negotiations or prepare for war (more difficult now that you've lost the element of surprise).
Or surrendering, then conquering their thoughts via saturday morning cartoons until they are also just another pop on the xenophiliac planet.

On the more serious note, QFT. This is the other side of my argument and also spot-on.