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Stellaris Dev Diary #144 - Megastructures, Habitats and Minor Artifacts

Hello everyone!

First of all, I’d like to follow up on last week’s dev diary by sharing some more things we’re trying out with Megastructures (and habitats!).

After all of that, we also have something new to talk about!

Let’s start from the beginning – which of course leads us to the Mega-Engineering technology itself.

As always, numbers may not be final and temporary things may be sighted.

Mega-Engineering
Mega-Engineering is still a rare technology, but will now be more likely to appear as you build more Habitats and Citadels. This means it is way more likely to appear if you are performing actions in the game that would lead you towards the route of building larger and more powerful structures.

Master Builders
The Master Builders ascension perk no longer unlocks mega-engineering or adds size to habitats, but instead increases the number of megastructures you can simultaneously build by +1. What about increased habitat size you ask? Well, keep on reading!

upload_2019-4-18_11-41-43.png

Habitats & Voidborne
Habitats are no longer locked behind the Voidborne ascension perk but is rather a technology that branches off from the Star Fortress technology. Habitats now have a default of 80% habitability. We’re also experimenting with that some of the habitat’s districts will depend on which planet they are built over. In case you build one above a planet with mining deposits, this could happen:

upload_2019-4-18_12-11-1.png

upload_2019-4-18_11-42-33.png

Voidborne ascension perk now increases habitat size by +2 and increases Habitat habitability by 20%. This should mean it becomes more of a choice for specialization, rather than feeling it is a non-choice.

As a final note on habitats, it might be worthwhile to reiterate my thoughts that I eventually want to add different levels/sizes to habitats. It is however not something for the immediate future, but a little further down the road.

Ring Worlds
We didn’t quite like how Ring Worlds ended up feeling like a vast farm, so we’re making some changes. Instead of being a size 50 with regular districts, we’re changing it to a size 5 with a unique type of districts – segments. A Ring World, as you know, has 4 planets. Each planet can now build 5 segments, which are very powerful districts with many jobs and a lot of housing.

upload_2019-4-18_11-48-37.png

Minor Artifacts
upload_2019-4-18_11-46-59.png

Some of you might recognize the icon for what was supposed to become arcane technology, that partially got into 2.2. It was something that I was personally working on, but that didn’t work out as I had imagined it, and that I didn’t get enough time to finish with other things taking priority.

In the next upcoming DLC, you will be able to come across Minor Artifacts. “Minor Artifacts” is a broad term that includes any smaller and nameless artifact left behind by ancient civilizations. They are never gained passively every month, but will rather have to be found.

What are they used for, I imagine you asking? Well, the basic functionality is that they can be consumed in so-called artifact actions. There are a bunch of different actions that can be performed by consuming Minor Artifacts, with varying effects for each.

Some of these actions will be locked behind a technology, which some may also recognize.

upload_2019-4-18_11-45-27.png

Arcane Deciphering allows you to consume Minor Artifacts for a random technology-related bonus.

upload_2019-4-18_11-45-47.png

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That’s it for this week! Happy Easter everyone! Next week we’ll be back again :)

P.S. Attaching an Easter present

upload_2019-4-18_11-49-27.png upload_2019-4-18_11-49-45.png
 
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Congratulations to the team behind Stellaris for all these changes!

Not only do they prove to be necessary, but their implementation is also brilliant.

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On habitats I would like to make a couple of suggestions.

The idea that the composition of the habitat districts depends on the stellar body they are orbiting seems fantastic to me. Would it be possible for habitats to also acquire the modifiers of the celestial body that is orbiting?

It would even be interesting if the construction of habitats in specific celestial bodies had unique features after blockers (and that it might be necessary to investigate the technology required to remove that blocker).

The different habitat levels (possibly a new technology option after researching each new starbase level) seem to me not only a good idea, but also full of possibilities and ways to progress in the game in a different way (especially if you are unlucky enough to have another civilization block your expansion or nearby planets available).

For example, you could allow a new civic where your home world was a habitat (or a ring world partially destroyed) with the technology to create level 1 habitats available from the very beginning but with the handicap that only habitats or ring worlds could inhabit.
 
When will you give a more "organic" feeling for swarm empires?
I'd like a run with an tyr like empire but research doesn't make sense, it will do with evolution.
Even the navy need an organic kind of ships.
Pleeeeeeaze :)

Of course this could play into Hive Worlds. Making them their own thing similar to ecumenopoleis, with special districts making alloys out of food (representing biomass), or districts producing spawning drone jobs, allowing the hive to grow even faster.

Likewise, machine worlds could have their own districts. Like one similar to a habitat's research district, full of calculators, allowing a machine world to become a kind of small jupiter brain, entirely turned over to computation.
 
This dev team needs to stop trying to fix what isn't broken... RIP the beautiful design of the relations between the megastructure Ascension Perks and Mega-Engineering. Now Voidborne and Master Builders are both boring and worthless number bonuses like so much else in the game when they were previously part of a complex decision tree and unlocked new gameplay features.
 
Would it be possible for habitats to also acquire the modifiers of the celestial body that is orbiting?
He replied earlier today that that's something they're experimenting with, but 'aren't entirely happy' with.
 
Population does not figure here. Build capacity for megastructures does.

The best way I would figure is that it should connect to "economic size", but unless the devs plan on adding a GDP metric accounting for resources and tech and pops (which I suspect they will not) then I think pops are the best approximation of that. But larger economies will tend to be more developed and the biggest economies should be able to build more at once. The US and China, after all, can both do more at once than can the UK or Israel, which in turn can do more than Peru (not to pick on any Peruvians here, I mean no disrespect).

Edit: although there's no way around the fact that you do need people or robots working to actually assemble the thing. Money without laborers is sort of useless. I'd forgotten that was one of the reasons I liked using pops, because then you can have a "MS Construction Job" to put pops into.
 
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I saw this suggestion somewhere but unable to find it again, so I'm gonna have to type it myself:

Regarding Ringworlds: We see Consumer goods district, do Machine or Hivemind Empires get an Alloy district instead? Do they get any other bonuses for pop growth or ressource output similar to Ecumenopolis?

Not having access to Ecumenopolis is a huge deal, now with Matter Decompressor being buffed to even higher mineral output, non gestalt empires will be able to spam more and more Ecumenopolis. Ecumenopolis are way stronger than anything Gestalt empires can build: 50% bonus to pop growth and 10% more ressource output than hive/gaia/machine worlds. This discrepancy will only increase the more Ecumenopolis get constructed.

Machine empires are pretty good now but non devouring swarm Hiveminds clearly lack behind as they just a mediocre empire with no really huge bonuses other than being easier to manage.
 
Hello everyone!

First of all, I’d like to follow up on last week’s dev diary by sharing some more things we’re trying out with Megastructures (and habitats!).

After all of that, we also have something new to talk about!

Let’s start from the beginning – which of course leads us to the Mega-Engineering technology itself.

As always, numbers may not be final and temporary things may be sighted.

Mega-Engineering
Mega-Engineering is still a rare technology, but will now be more likely to appear as you build more Habitats and Citadels. This means it is way more likely to appear if you are performing actions in the game that would lead you towards the route of building larger and more powerful structures.

Master Builders
The Master Builders ascension perk no longer unlocks mega-engineering or adds size to habitats, but instead increases the number of megastructures you can simultaneously build by +1. What about increased habitat size you ask? Well, keep on reading!


Habitats & Voidborne
Habitats are no longer locked behind the Voidborne ascension perk but is rather a technology that branches off from the Star Fortress technology. Habitats now have a default of 80% habitability. We’re also experimenting with that some of the habitat’s districts will depend on which planet they are built over. In case you build one above a planet with mining deposits, this could happen:



Voidborne ascension perk now increases habitat size by +2 and increases Habitat habitability by 20%. This should mean it becomes more of a choice for specialization, rather than feeling it is a non-choice.

As a final note on habitats, it might be worthwhile to reiterate my thoughts that I eventually want to add different levels/sizes to habitats. It is however not something for the immediate future, but a little further down the road.

Ring Worlds
We didn’t quite like how Ring Worlds ended up feeling like a vast farm, so we’re making some changes. Instead of being a size 50 with regular districts, we’re changing it to a size 5 with a unique type of districts – segments. A Ring World, as you know, has 4 planets. Each planet can now build 5 segments, which are very powerful districts with many jobs and a lot of housing.


Minor Artifacts
View attachment 472364
Some of you might recognize the icon for what was supposed to become arcane technology, that partially got into 2.2. It was something that I was personally working on, but that didn’t work out as I had imagined it, and that I didn’t get enough time to finish with other things taking priority.

In the next upcoming DLC, you will be able to come across Minor Artifacts. “Minor Artifacts” is a broad term that includes any smaller and nameless artifact left behind by ancient civilizations. They are never gained passively every month, but will rather have to be found.

What are they used for, I imagine you asking? Well, the basic functionality is that they can be consumed in so-called artifact actions. There are a bunch of different actions that can be performed by consuming Minor Artifacts, with varying effects for each.

Some of these actions will be locked behind a technology, which some may also recognize.


Arcane Deciphering allows you to consume Minor Artifacts for a random technology-related bonus.


------------

That’s it for this week! Happy Easter everyone! Next week we’ll be back again :)

P.S. Attaching an Easter present

View attachment 472371 View attachment 472375

I can't wait!

The changes to Ringworlds and Habitats are brilliant! I think this would even make a spaceborn build possible (Pops only living in habitats).

Great changes! Happy Easter and thanks for the Easter presents!
 
Amazing changes!

Since megastructures are being reworked already, I'd like to propose a small change: please allow players to build ringworlds/Dyson spheres in systems with habitable (but not inhabited) planets and/or habitats. Just add a warning that all the habitable objects will be consumed for the ringworld/Dyson sphere construction.

It can be a bit annoying to find a good place to build a Ringworld in, but not be able to due to that size 12 5% habitability sattelite I don't care about. And unlocking Titans and world cracking that planet just to be able to build a megastructure in the system seems excessive.
 
And now I have enough information to speculate on the next DLC.

A story pack, called Precursors. This will focus on adding events and a few features (like the arcane tech), expanding on the various precursor event chains you pursue shortly after starting the game. There's some other content that could easily be added that shouldn't mean features that cause additional tech-debt right now - such as leviathans and mega-structures. Perhaps a low impact re-work of a feature, such as civics, to introduce origins, which fits nicely with the theme of the story pack.

All that gives the artists and writers plenty to do. The event scripting is the only real techincal demand. Maaaybe a little tech-debt risk from the civic rework.

Place your bets, place your bets...
 
Can you change megastructures to be unlimited but make them interact with admin points? Either by adding a large number (say 10 or 20), or maybe multiplying your admin costs by 5% or 10% for every structure? Would definitely make them more useful to smaller empires, while still available to larger ones.
 
Ringworlds get science distri- segments? Interesting. A particle accelerator the size of a ringworld would be cool fluff, even if that might not make sense in real life.

Balance-wise, this means ringworlds are great at science (and food), while ecumenopolises are great for alloys.
 
while ecumenopolises are great for alloys.
City worlds are great at everything. Cheaper to make, faster to make, and an earlier ascension perk too. No matter how you slice it, city worlds are game-breakingly OP and need to either be reigned in, or everything else needs to be made even more OP.
 
Sounds fantastic!

I’ve long seen Habitats and the Voidborne Ascension Perk as a mentality issue. It’s not about being able to build them. It’s about being able to convince most of your POPulation that it’s actually better to live in Habitats and other artificial constructs than in planets. Very much like in the Culture setting, where most cultures have an irrational nostalgic desire to live on planets, and only the more advanced and progressive ones, such as the Culture, are genuinely okay with non-planets.
 
I can imagine that ring world districts are highly advanced and automated to play identical roles with lower adimin caps compared to normal districts.

Though ring world districts are now far more powerful, changing 50 to 5 is still surprising. Maybe 10 is more suitable? (With the same strength for each district)
 
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So how does making farms larger makes Ring Worlds less of a "vast farm", again? Were you to, say, double amount of building slots (to match ridiculous amount of pops) - that would make Ring Worlds feel more unique.

Note that the other two non-city districts you can build have nonstandard icons (atm industrial arcology and research stations from ecus and habitats, respectively, though I suspect they are placeholders)
 
Habitats are no longer locked behind the Voidborne ascension perk but is rather a technology that branches off from the Star Fortress technology. Habitats now have a default of 80% habitability. We’re also experimenting with that some of the habitat’s districts will depend on which planet they are built over.

Would be interesting to see a list of proposed districts and the criteria used to determine what is or is not available. This change will make Habitat placement more interesting. Under the current model, I typically start in my capital system and then move out to other star systems with existing starbases. These specialized districts could encourage players to build in systems with no existing colonies just to benefit from certain deposits on uninhabitable planets.

I still believe the cost to build a Habitat should be reduced slightly to encourage players to build more of them.
 

Should megastructures have a monthly energy/alloy upkeep on top of the base cost?

The upfront cost could be lowered (as an example, 6k alloys for smaller megastructures, and 8k alloys for the larger ones), alongside a monthly alloy/energy cost for the duration of the construction (example: like 30 alloys/energy a month for the smaller megastructures, and 50 for the larger ones).

How this would interact with Master builders, the living metal edict, and the Architectural renaissance edicts (especially all 3), I don't know. Maybe the build speed is decreased at the expense of increasing the monthly cost by 25% or 50% for every one you have activated? Or something of the sort. EDIT The master builders could instead give a flat decrease of build time with little/no penalty to monthly cost. However the two edicts could be reworked so you can only have one on at a time, but with different bonuses, giving situational advantages depending on what you're trying to do. I dont know which would work better.


At the base time for a Dyson sphere, the upfront cost would be 8k per section, plus another ~5.9k (assuming a base of 50 alloys) over the 3600 days (~118 months), making a total cost of ~13.9k alloys for one section.

With just master builders, assuming a 50% increased cost associated with it (75 alloys), that's 6k alloys over the ~2400 days or ~80 month build time. For a total of ~14k alloys (if it were a 25% increase (62.5), it would be ~5k alloys, or ~13k total)

And there should be an option to go through with the normal time/cost if you can't afford it at the moment, even if you're in the middle of building it. Just something I was pondering a little bit ago.

And I'm not suggesting my cost suggestion is final. It should be tweaked for balance.
 
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Though ring world districts are now far more powerful, changing 50 to 5 is still surprising. Maybe 10 is more suitable? (With the same strength)

I think it would be better to further boost Ring World districts rather than allow more to be built. A fully built out Ring World system with all 4 sides and max districts would give +200 on the Admin Cap. Under this new model, players get the same benefits of the old model with only +20 towards the Admin Cap. This makes a Ring World more usable by a megacorporation who are greatly penalized when exceeding their Admin Cap.