[Dev Team] Astral Planes and Stellaris 3.10.0 "Pyxis" Preliminary Release Notes

[Tannhäuser Cake]

• Aristocratic Elite no longer has +20% Governor XP gain, but instead gives a 20% chance for leaders to have a bonus positive and a bonus negative trait.

I like this change, not just for what is immediately visible in this snippet. Since the 20% chance also changes the background of the leader to being a Noble, this will make Nobles quite over-represented in the leader pool - which is very appropriate for the civic, especially when considering the description ("This society has an entrenched nobility that occupies the upper echelons of society").

• Improvements to Mastery of Nature, planet modifier now gives +50% resource districts

Whoa.

Is this instead of the +2 Max Districts, or in addition to them?
(The sooner might make more sense; it always felt weird that Mastery of Nature added +2 Max Districts for Ecumenopoleis, which lack any remaining nature and supposedly already cover 100% of the planet's surface.)

Has the Influence cost been changed?

• Leader Enhancement policies now increase the starting level of leaders instead of increasing Leader XP gain.
• Leader starting age has once again been increased

Nice.
Any chance of having the Meritocracy civic ban the leader enhancement policies, and be mutually exclusive with Aristocratic Elite?

• Removed Leader Pool size modifiers from ethics
• Democratic Authority now grants +1 Leader Pool Size in addition to existing effects
• Dictatorial Authority now grants +25% Ruler XP and -1 Leader Pool Size in addition to existing effects
• Imperial Authority now grants -1 Leader Pool Size in addition to existing effects
• Corporate Authority and Corporate Dominion Civic now grant +1 External Leader Pool Size in addition to existing effects
• Mercantile Diplomatic Stance now grants +1 External Leader Pool Size in addition to existing effects
• Isolationist Diplomatic Stance now grants -2 External Leader Pool Size in addition to existing effects
• Belligerent Diplomatic Stance now grants -1 External Leader Pool Size in addition to existing effects
• Cooperative Diplomatic Stance now grants +1 External Leader Pool Size in addition to existing effects
• Pompous Purists Civic now grants -1 External Leader Pool Size in addition to existing effects

Very, very, very, very nice. Huge thanks for making this change!

• Nerve Stapled now gives -100% leader XP gain, if you somehow generate leaders from species with this trait.

Could leaders gain the Nerve Stapled trait at some point after being hired?
Perhaps as a way to remove negative traits..?

• Philospher King now only provides +5 Effective Ruler Level

Nice.
Any chance of having Philosopher King allow Dictatorial and Imperial to use otherwise blocked civics?

• Pops now have ethics attraction towards the ethics of the local planetary governor

Nice. One more small step towards "not internal politics"...

Clarification: is this just for planetary governors, or also for sector governors?

Any chance that brewing revolts could be changed to block/discourage the removal of a governor that shares a locally strong ethic?
And any chance that a successful revolt could claim this leader as their own, perhaps as their new ruler?

• Rebalanced a number of species traits that affected leader XP gain.

Any chance of a more detailed elaboration on this?

• Species traits that give bonuses or maluses to leader xp gain are now multiples of 10% not 25%.

Unless this later point does the elaborating?

• Reworked the Research Institute, Planetary Supercomputer and Military Academy buildings

Any chance of a more detailed elaboration on this?

• Technocracy now gives Expertise traits additional effects for scientists when governing planets/sectors.

On the topic of expertise traits, any chance of moving the "Administrative Efficiency" repeatable to the Statecraft field?

• Updated five existing planet modifiers: Weak Magnetic Field, Strong Magnetic Field, Asteroid Belt, Natural Beauty, Bleak Planet

Do Filtered Atmospheric Hallucinogen effects defy the description still?
Any chance of Atmospheric Hallucinogen giving a bonus to Unity, instead of Physics? It kind of feels more appropriately sci-fi-tropey that it should be associated with Culture Workers, Entertainers and Priests, rather than with Physics research...

Any chance of letting Mastery of Nature, or World Shaper, add a beneficial planet modifier to worlds lacking one?

• Warform was not hanging around with the Romans.

Are you really sure about this?

UI/UX

Any chance in the future of adding an edict funds indicator in the top bar?
(Which, when clicked, takes us directly to the edicts and policies tab?)

Any chance of Faction Unity generated by a pop being listed in its Pop Details box?

Any chance of Dyson Spheres turning their star systems dark?

Any chance of Tidal Locked worlds not rotating in the system view?

Any hance of Planetary Shield Generators giving worlds visible planetary shields?

Any chance of adding orbited planets to the colony backgrounds that currently do not display them?

Any chance of clothes becoming optional?

 

[WoodenP]

• Armies can now have an army_modifier

Oh my god so good! There are SO many cool things I can do with this, thank you!

 

[OblivionGaming]

"Traits chosen when levelling up will now be biased towards the leader's current position, whether or not you have Galactic Paragons. (i.e., A Scientist that is governing a planet will be more likely to receive leader traits related to planet governance.)"

This seems like it will be a good thing in many situations, but I wonder how the priority will be split for an admiral who is both leading a fleet and on the council. Maybe it'd be best to remove them from one of the positions before a level up?

 

[Harvey_James]

ship artifact costs are still way too high for the current naval capacity... unless there ae plans too reduce it substantially ofc??

 

[Alfray Stryke]

Answering a few more questions

@Alfray Stryke , i now that some adjustments where neccessary. But especially Philosopher King was always a niche pick and now it feels at least to me not meaningfull enough. It would be cool if the -1 negative trait would stay in addition. And even with that it's not really a powerhouse but somewhat unique among the civics. Is there a chance that you maybe bring it back?

As always, we'll keep an eye on balance and feedback post-release.

Is this instead of the +2 Max Districts, or in addition to them?

In addition.

Has the Influence cost been changed?

Not sure!

Any chance of having the Meritocracy civic ban the leader enhancement policies, and be mutually exclusive with Aristocratic Elite?

Good suggestion, will keep it in mind.

Any chance of having Philosopher King allow Dictatorial and Imperial to use otherwise blocked civics?

idem

Clarification: is this just for planetary governors, or also for sector governors?

Effect is halved towards sector governor's ethics if a local governor is not present.

This also makes pops less likely be attracted to the opposite ethic of the governor.

Any chance of a more detailed elaboration on this?

On the topic of expertise traits, any chance of moving the "Administrative Efficiency" repeatable to the Statecraft field?

That tech should be deleted.

 

[Ajacoba]

Any chance of having the Meritocracy civic ban the leader enhancement policies, and be mutually exclusive with Aristocratic Elite?

wouldn't a meritocracy encourage leader enhancement since enhanced leaders are obviously more suited?

ship artifact costs are still way too high for the current naval capacity... unless there ae plans too reduce it substantially ofc??

isn't that intended? you aren't supposed to make every single ship completely equipped with archeotechs
I usually just give it to special ships, like juggernaut, titans or specific ship classes, like making only my cloaked ships or only the carriers a bit stronger

 

[ValinShadow]

Good morning/afternoon Devs!

"The Minister of Defense, Research, and State council positions are no longer locked for players with Galactic Paragons, and can be replaced with other council positions when you reorganize your council, though at a cost."

The above states you can replace those previously unchangeable positions when you reorganize the council which is the name of the agenda.

Can you confirm if the above positions can also be replaced when you reform your government?

Thanks!

 

[A2ch0n]

Any chance of having Philosopher King allow Dictatorial and Imperial to use otherwise blocked civics?

idem

That one would of course be huge!

 

[Ajacoba]

Are these buildings also becoming empire unique, like the Embassy Complex?

it literally says empire limit, so that should be an obvious yes?

 

[Tannhäuser Cake]

it literally says empire limit, so that should be an obvious yes?

Thank you for pointing that out. I kept looking over the pictures for any information about it, but somehow managed to miss that tiny line at the top. Such is the dangers of stress and cognitive bias (I was "expecting" the information to be closer to the bottom, consist of a longer line of descriptive text, and perhaps also be coloured red, for some reason I can't quite identify now in retrospect).

wouldn't a meritocracy encourage leader enhancement since enhanced leaders are obviously more suited?

The descriptions of the policies make it clear that they are about the creation of an entitled, genetic aristocracy - rather than free and fair competition for all of the population. The polar opposite of what Meritocracy stands for.
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Policies#Leader_Enhancement

Selected Lineages:
Careful reproductive planning should be incentivized, lest we waste valuable genetic legacies.

Capacity Boosters:
We leave nothing to chance, no matter the cost. Through exacting curation of DNA banks do we build the leaders of tomorrow.

Natural Selection:
Let nature take its course - it is in the crucible of experience that genius is forged.

The policy should perhaps be renamed "Enhanced Leaders" to have a less misleading name. The current name does make it sound like it is about enhancing leaders, rather than acquiring enhanced leaders.

(The sci-fi movie Gattaca is about such a genetic stratification of society, seen from the perspective of someone who did not make the genetic cut but is desperate to prove himself despite societal and legal obstacles.)

 

[Peter Ebbesen]

* Fixed leaders with a preset design using the wrong portrait when their species changes without its portrait changing.

Hurra. Finally I no longer need to savegame-edit my ruler after psionically ascending.

 

[Calvax]

The policy should perhaps be renamed "Enhanced Leaders" to have a less misleading name. The current name does make it sound like it is about enhancing leaders, rather than acquiring enhanced leaders.

(The sci-fi movie Gattaca is about such a genetic stratification of society, seen from the perspective of someone who did not make the genetic cut but is desperate to prove himself despite societal and legal obstacles.)

I've always felt "capacity boosters" was bizarrely named. It implies that DNA is getting curated so that leaders can be genetically engineered to be better. But it's explicitly anti egalitarian, as though it isn't about enhancement of people but about more extreme selective breeding.

 

[Maethendias]

can we PLEASE stop introducing fixxed one off features that dont interact with emergent gameplay, and acutally make the game MORE static, which already is a problem?

we now have 3 expansions that are all essentially "anomalies" with a diffrent name and some slapped on extra fluff

we have: anomalies, we have operations, we have digsites, and now we have astral events....

ALL OF WHICH are nice for the first time... or the second, or even the third.... after your fourth playthrough they become meaningless noise and a choice between +x ressource, or +x ressource income, or +x modifier

come on dude... the ungodly modifier creep is already one of the biggest problems in the game, especially stability wise... maybe its time to go back to the roots and what made stellaris acutally appealing to play?

all of these written storylines can be as amazing as possible (which honestly, they really arent that creative).... but stellaris isnt a witcher.... its a sandbox grand strategy.... story content should exist as a foundation, not as the main focus of the narrative.... because at that point you arent playing a sandbox anymore

 

[Peter Ebbesen]

The descriptions of the policies make it clear that they are about the creation of an entitled, genetic aristocracy - rather than free and fair competition for all of the population. The polar opposite of what Meritocracy stands for.
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Policies#Leader_Enhancement

This does not follow. Quite. Meritocracy != Egalitarianism.

That some part of the population is more gifted by birth due to applied eugenics rather than due to natural selection is not incompatible with meritocracy. Meritocracy isn't "nobody gets to have a head start on learning or ability based on their genes" or "everybody is equal" but "everybody is evaluated on merit".

While one can easily imagine a sci-fi setting where the people of a meritocratic society reject leader enhancement policies for one reason or another, it is just as easy to imagine one where the people embrace them as part of the competition to give their children an advantage over other people's children.

EDIT: So the real question seems to be whether an empire is egalitarian or not, not whether it is meritocratic. And that is already handled by making Capacity Boosters unavailable for egalitarians.

 

[Millbot]

-Improvements to Mastery of Nature, planet modifier now gives +50% resource districts

Curious on how this would be calculated. Would I be correct to assume that game will check the existing number of potential resource districts (mining, farming and generator) and increase those totals by 50%? So if a world has zero potential for farming districts, like some tomb worlds I've seen, it'll stay at zero. Or is there some hidden modifier that might not be obvious that the modifier would check before recalculating things? Will this also factor in other modifier that are added later, such as Numa's Breath, the bonus generator districts that machine and synthetic empires get from building an energy grid or using the prospecting decision from the adaptability tradition? I do know there are a few other modifiers to total resource districts, so would like to know if it's all, none or only specific ones.

Any chance that the 50% resource districts bonus could be limited to only those with the Mastery of Nature AP? Given that a major downside to the AP, has been that the best and most permanent part of it, is something that any empire can benefit from, if they are able to yoink someone's world with the Mastery of Nature mjodifier. Not to mention, would be funny to see how many people mindless queue up to snowball, end p having their snowball stall out because they annexed a ton of worlds with the modifier, while not having the AP and are force to balance out resource production to offset the resource deficit they incurred. Granted, I'll understand if technical issues made such an approach a non-starter.

Not entirely sure if this gives the AP a decent niche or not. Having done some tall playthroughs, I can see how this might have a niche, since a tall empire, no gestalt empire, that also doesn't synthetically ascend, might roll some pretty crappy worlds and a 50% increase in their total resource districts could fix solve some resource pain points; especially, if it dynamically updates to account for other modifiers that increase resource districts.

 

[Edorath]

So what do Research Institutes, Auto-Curating Vaults and Military Academies do now? Do they have extra effects if you have a matching governor?

 

[Tannhäuser Cake]

That one would of course be huge!

Indeed. Enlightened monarchies could really feel like actual enlightened monarchies (as defined by pop history stereotype tropes).

• Enlightened Monarchy with Parliamentary System = constitutional monarchy / Great Space Britain
• Enlightened Monarchy with Meritocracy = imperial examination / Space Imperial China,
  or Space Napoleonic France (replaced aristocratic recruitment with a meritocratic system)
• Enlightened Monarchy with Citizen Service = Space Prussia?
• Enlightened Monarchy with Exalted Priesthood = Space Egypt?
• Enlightened Monarchy with Citizen Service and Parliamentary System = Space Sweden? ("One man, one rifle, one vote")
• Elective Monarchy with Aristocratic Elite = noble republic / Poland CAN into space

 

[Peter Ebbesen]

So what do Research Institutes, Auto-Curating Vaults and Military Academies do now? Do they have extra effects if you have a matching governor?

Already answered. Check developer responses.

 

[PhillipLynx]

I don't see Microsoft Store achievement fixes for First Contact or Paragons on here. Disappointing there've been broken achievements for 8 months now.

 

[Millbot]

I will say the change to auto-curating vaults, military academies and research institutes is great. Actually makes them worthwhile, while also accounting for changes in how the leaser resource traits work. Plus, it ensures that a capital world will look very different from other worlds.

Also I suspect that it probably somewhat slows down snowballs because while a capital world is going to be a blow for anyone that loses theirs, it also means that the conqueror is actually going to have to do more with conquered capitals to turn them around into an aside. Any jobs that were a result of leader resource traits are going to be gone, as will any empire unique buildings on them, since those are seem to require capitals.