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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!

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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:

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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.

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Minor Artifacts
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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.

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

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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

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As I'm thinking about it, this is pretty much awesome idea. Not only for ringworlds, but also for every planet and habitat.

UI would be cleaner, you could orient yourself quicker and there would be more total space availible for buildings. I guess I dont really need to see 10 same factories in row...
(if they even end up in row and not scattered around the building screen)
Yes, this could definitely work. I'd also like to see some "set in stone" order of buildings display, so that despite order, they were put on two different planets, if in the end these planets have same set of buildings, they would look same in the UI, so you see, what was built, and what is not present yet.
 
If though they increase the penalties of habitability which they stated is sth they consider then will habitats still be worth building without Voidborne? They are kinda weak already.
Well, the Astro mining bay they showed provided 3 jobs and 3 housing. Note, the habitat districts that provide jobs don't currently provide housing. So, perhaps they're already buffing the existing habitats districts?

If all the production districts provide 3 housing now, and the housing district provides jobs for regular empires (already did for gestalts) or at least more housing, that's also a substantial buff.
 
Of course given the size and population, of a ringworld, they could also get "mega buildings," representing even more production there
Yeah, why not, but I would also implement, that buildings increase the empire-sprawl since afaIk and for what-ever reason, it's not the case atm.

Edit:
If buildings also increase the empire-sprawl then "mega buildings" (for ring-worlds) become viable for an actual "tall" gameplay.
 
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Yeah, why not, but I would also implement, that buildings increase the empire-sprawl since afaIk and for what-ever reason, it's not the case atm.

Why should they?
Districts and buildings have way too much in common, but for what-ever reason, just districts increase the empire-sprawl, so if you ask such a question then I could ask in return, why districts increase the empire-sprawl ?

Edit:
By the way, I'm aware, that the empire-sprawl is also increased by colonies, star-systems and branch-offices, so please no misreads on purpose.
 
Districts and buildings have way too much in common, but for what-ever reason, just districts increase the empire-sprawl, so if you ask such a question then I could ask in return, why districts increase the empire-sprawl ?
Districts are for basic resource production and represent the development and use of large amounts of space on the planet- hence, they represent administrative regions. They produce sprawl because they're a useful measure of how large your empire is and how much basic resource production you have.

Buildings are for advanced resource production and represent smaller, more specialized facilities that can be located within already-developed land. They do not produce sprawl because they're only usable if you already have the territory and they're specialized segments of your economy that require basic resource production to fund in the first place.
 
I posted some ideas about the habitat changes you are talking about, and your Facebook rep suggested I repost them here.

So here is my idea for making habitats into a mid-game changer

Basically making Habitats into advanced Mining/Research installations.

So in early game you go around with your construction ship building little installations that, story indicates, are crewed like ships and proper stations.

Later you get habitat tech. So you go back to, say a station that produces 2 minerals and a crystal from the planet it orbits, and upgrade that into a habitat. That habitat replaces the flat bonusbo with DISTRICTS dedicated to those resources.

So in short, the mines/research stations get districts based on their previous yield, plus the basics, city, power, and hydroponics. One of those districts (power) would have higher level versions if the body it orbits produces power, the basic power is just... basic

Why habitat districts when planets only get buildings for things like crystal? Because there is no concern with someone living there. So it represents strip mining and other such high-yield-high-impact methods.

Sure, it could mean a single habitat based mine could supply all the gas your empire needs, but at the cost of making a habitat, building up its population, growing it, and protecting it. Plus it represents a single point of failure that should be much easier to invade or destroy than a planet.
 
Districts and buildings have way too much in common, but for what-ever reason, just districts increase the empire-sprawl, so if you ask such a question then I could ask in return, why districts increase the empire-sprawl ?

Districts are for basic resource production and represent the development and use of large amounts of space on the planet- hence, they represent administrative regions.
01. What ( "basic resources" ) will be produced, doesn't really matter to answer my question ...
02. Buildings also represent "development" and "used space", I would even say, that they're more important (in comparison to districts) since you don't only construct, but upgrade them as well, which ends in a situation, that an oridnary district provides just 2 POP-jobs, whereas the (upgraded) building provides up to 10 POP-jobs ...

Buildings are for advanced resource production and represent smaller, more specialized facilities that can be located within already-developed land.
01. Again, what ("advanced resources") will be produced, doesn't really matter to answer my question ...
02. What you've described is actually the situation I want, that there's a relation between building-(slots) and "already-developed land" (which I consider as city-districts), but that's not the situation the game tells you since there's just the "strange" relation between building-(slots) and POPs.
 
01. What ( "basic resources" ) will be produced, doesn't really matter to answer my question ...
02. Buildings also represent "development" and "used space", I would even say, that they're more important (in comparison to districts) since you don't only construct, but upgrade them as well, which ends in a situation, that an oridnary district provides just 2 POP-jobs, whereas the (upgraded) building provides up to 10 POP-jobs ...


01. Again, what ("advanced resources") will be produced, doesn't really matter to answer my question ...
02. What you've described is actually the situation I want, that there's a relation between building-(slots) and "already-developed land" (which I consider as city-districts), but that's not the situation the game tells you since there's just the "strange" relation between building-(slots) and POPs.
For somebody complaining about "Tall strategies not being viable", you don't seem to understand how raw vs. processed resources and districts vs. buildings factor into existing tall vs. wide strategies...
 
As for the fifty district, no, it's not limited and yes, it's probably too much. Hence me asking for a middle ground, 10-15 sounds like a sweet spot to me. It allows for modularity and it's more then what the habitats have.
With 5 district, the ring world would have about the same number of district as a regular habitat, just with a super boost. To give a idea of what I don't like about this, just imagine if the ring world's sections had only one district each. A super district with ton of housing and production, but just 1.
Two things:

1. Districts aren't desirable for being districts, but for the jobs/housing/other stuff they provide. In fact, in themselves, they are undesirable (not to a significant degree, but still). That's why all advanced world types (Gaia/Machine/Ecu/Habitat/Ringworld) offer you more output per district, either in the form of a flat production bonus or by offering more jobs/housing per district.

2. "Modularity" is a red herring. By the time you're building Ringworlds, your economy should work on such scale that any greater granularity is meaningless anyway. Not to mention, by this time, you'll probably have enough stuff to tend to that being able to leave a planet unattended for longer (because you just ordered a district that's gonna take decades to fill with pops) is quite welcome.
 
For somebody complaining about "Tall strategies not being viable", you don't seem to understand how raw vs. processed resources and districts vs. buildings factor into existing tall vs. wide strategies...
Yeah Yeah, but instead to use hollow phrases to spread the impression, that I'm too dumb to understand, you could try to formulate your concrete thoughts ...
For example, I relate a "tall" strategy to the empire-sprawl (and the administrative capacity), which is why I've picked up the "mega-building"-suggestion (for ring-worlds) for a "tall" strategy AS LONG AS buildings influence the empire-sprawl, which is currently NOT the case.
 
Ring Worlds feel worthless now. I'm not going to build a ring world to get more consumer goods, which will only cost me more CG in the end. Science feels pointless as by the time I get to ring worlds I'm normally on repeatable tech, or close to it, so it's kind of a waste. Food and housing are ok, but it feels like I'm only building those to deal with the upkeep of the pops. So what is the benefit of building a ring world over the other wanders?

In previous versions ring worlds were economic powerhouses, but now why bother.
 
Ring Worlds feel worthless now. I'm not going to build a ring world to get more consumer goods, which will only cost me more CG in the end. Science feels pointless as by the time I get to ring worlds I'm normally on repeatable tech, or close to it, so it's kind of a waste. Food and housing are ok, but it feels like I'm only building those to deal with the upkeep of the pops. So what is the benefit of building a ring world over the other wanders?

In previous versions ring worlds were economic powerhouses, but now why bother.
Well, the new version of ring world will:
1. Give 1/10 the empire sprawl for a given number of jobs compared to the current version.
2. Seem to give +25% to food (and presumably energy, and maybe even research???) production if the segment is specialized for that resource.

This makes them the most efficient source of food, and second most efficient source of energy (after Dyson sphere) in the game. And at least a gas-saving source of research, just like the mote/crystal saving ecumenopolis.

There are upper limits on how much of either of those you need, but 1 ringworld still pretty much means you can stop producing those resources elsewhere.

If you're a gestalt with hive/machine worlds, all planet side districts can now be minerals, to fuel all your alloy production, which can be all buildings since you don't need research labs.

If you're not a gestalt, you can still at least do mineral and city districts, and the city districts will effectively "produce" minerals by removing the need for industrial consumer good production.

They are still economic powerhouses. Just replacing a specific portion of your economy, like ecumenopolis's already do.
 
Well, the new version of ring world will:
1. Give 1/10 the empire sprawl for a given number of jobs compared to the current version.
2. Seem to give +25% to food (and presumably energy, and maybe even research???) production if the segment is specialized for that resource.

This makes them the most efficient source of food, and second most efficient source of energy (after Dyson sphere) in the game. And at least a gas-saving source of research, just like the mote/crystal saving ecumenopolis.

There are upper limits on how much of either of those you need, but 1 ringworld still pretty much means you can stop producing those resources elsewhere.

If you're a gestalt with hive/machine worlds, all planet side districts can now be minerals, to fuel all your alloy production, which can be all buildings since you don't need research labs.

If you're not a gestalt, you can still at least do mineral and city districts, and the city districts will effectively "produce" minerals by removing the need for industrial consumer good production.

They are still economic powerhouses. Just replacing a specific portion of your economy, like ecumenopolis's already do.
With only five districts per segment, you can either be a jack-of-all or specialize in one field. Nether of which are as good as other wanders, and adding in the upkeep from the pops and buildings you can end up at a loss for all the minerals you spent building the ring world. I simply don't see the point in them anymore.

They need to be rebalanced, but the way the Davs are going about it isn't going to make them useful, no more than they are now at least. I don't know how I would even to try to fix the problem with them, but they need something to make the player want to pick them over other wanders. They get huge populations, yet it feels like this resource isn't being properly utilized.
 
With only five districts per segment, you can either be a jack-of-all or specialize in one field. Nether of which are as good as other wanders, and adding in the upkeep from the pops and buildings you can end up at a loss for all the minerals you spent building the ring world. I simply don't see the point in them anymore.

They need to be rebalanced, but the way the Davs are going about it isn't going to make them useful, no more than they are now at least. I don't know how I would even to try to fix the problem with them, but they need something to make the player want to pick them over other wanders. They get huge populations, yet it feels like this resource isn't being properly utilized.
Let's do some quick math. Let's assume Researchers are still at their base of 3 of each science, no upgrades to them somehow. Let's also be generous and assume the Research Segment does NOT give +5% Researcher Output. Also, NO other production bonuses at all.

A full section of these researchers is 100, so +300 of each science. That matches a Science Nexus's raw output. Plop that planet Science Booster down, and you've also matched the Science Nexus's output plus the effect its +15% research speed has on that output. And that's one of the four ringworld segments. And assuming no other buildings.

So more powerful than the science megastructure, by the vast margin, counterbalanced by needing pops? I'd say that's perfectly balanced.
 
The voidborne perk should give +20% resource production in habitats and +2 districts. If we're going to keep ecumenpoli in their current state, might as well make an analog so that all empire types can generally benefit similarly.
 
With only five districts per segment, you can either be a jack-of-all or specialize in one field. Nether of which are as good as other wanders, and adding in the upkeep from the pops and buildings you can end up at a loss for all the minerals you spent building the ring world. I simply don't see the point in them anymore.
They produce minuscule amounts of sprawl for a MASSIVE amount of resource production and built-in bonuses to whatever you make on them, and you can use them for whatever planet-stuff you might have in mind. Seems pretty useful to me.
 
Please consider giving Ringworlds Alloy districts instead of Consumer Goods districts. Non-Gestalt Empires already have Ecumenopolis for Consumer goods and Alloys. But Hiveminds do not get the great Alloy output like Machines and they have no Ecumenopolis either. I think its not fair to have 1 District be useless to Gestalt Empires. Better to simply add Alloy districts so everyone can use Ringworlds to the same Degree.