Stellaris Dev Diary #174 - Federations is out, now what?

[GeorgieBest]

Yeah, it did partially fix it.

If the mod broke, it was made badly. Modding ethics shift chance is as simple as changing a single line, and if that doesn't work, they're doing a lot more they don't need to do.

And since it's as easy as changing a single line, why don't the devs just fix it? Because you can make all the changes you want, but if you don't test them over the whole game, what's the point of making the change?

And how many times has it actually been brought up where a dev actually actively refused to comment, and not just, idk, didn't see it?

How did it partially fix it? Pops seem to pick ethics almost randomly, as even after 100 years I still have factions at ~20% support when the game tells me they should be moving towards < 5%. Lots of people are having this issue.

If it's as easy as changing a single line, then why is it still broken after the change they have made?

I've submitted a bug report, a post on the suggestion sub-forum, and I've @'ed devs (@Obidobi) in the last three dev diaries/patch notes to see if they are able to clarify if things are working as intended or not. I've never had a response or acknowledgement.

I find it funny that you're quick to criticise modders for not having a robust enough mod, especially when they are voluntarily fixing an issue the devs haven't bothered to fix themselves for the past two years.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1778913964

According to the discussion in the mods steam page, the single line of code that paradox used to "fix" the issue cannot even be found anywhere in the game files.

 

[Teja83]

How did it partially fix it? Pops seem to pick ethics almost randomly, as even after 100 years I still have factions at ~20% support when the game tells me they should be moving towards < 5%. Lots of people are having this issue.

If it's as easy as changing a single line, then why is it still broken after the change they have made?

I've submitted a bug report, a post on the suggestion sub-forum, and I've @'ed devs (@Obidobi) in the last three dev diaries/patch notes to see if they are able to clarify if things are working as intended or not. I've never had a response or acknowledgement.

I find it funny that you're quick to criticise modders for not having a robust enough mod, especially when they are voluntarily fixing an issue the devs haven't bothered to fix themselves for the past two years.


According to the discussion in the mods steam page, the single line of code that paradox used to "fix" the issue cannot even be found anywhere in the game files.

The game really gives away a lot of potential with ethics/factions atm:


A more responsive ethics/factions system would allow many interactions with it: GC-laws, Events, trade influence, local uproar, the need to re-place your capital more central, ...

 

[Anchises]

I would love a bigger variety of resolutions for the Galactic Community. We need more options to turn the galaxy into a spiritualist mandatory slave-holding hell!

 

[GeorgieBest]

The game really gives away a lot of potential with ethics/factions atm:


A working ethics/factions system would allow many interactions with it: GC-laws, Events, local uproar, the need to re-place your capital more central,...

It's why I keep bringing it up...

At the moment the faction system is just an inconvenience which you cannot interact with properly, resulting in reduced happiness and less influence gain.

Then there is the fact that you cannot effectively move your empire towards a different ethic, as it's completely random which factions gain/lose support. Ironic considering they made having similar ethics as your federation members a part of the cohesion mechanic in the most recent DLC...

 

[Methone]

but I know the "cease drone production" just stops growth and doensn't redirect it

I don't know what is up with Hive migration. We were told that meatbags would be able to migrate in a Gestalt empire, the reasoning being "Are you blood cells conscious because they move around your body on their own?"

 

[Teja83]

@klc123

my guess on why problems with ethics/factions it is not addressed is:


a: it is not so easy to fix (as with a line of code)

or

b: is not seen as a priority or feature that has potential (which it has)

 

[GeorgieBest]

@klc123

my guess on why problems with ethics/factions it is not addressed is:


a: it is not so easy to fix (as with a line of code)

or

b: is not seen as a priority or feature that has potential (which it has)

It can't be that difficult if they thought adding a single line of code to 2.6 would fix it. The fact that no one can find this supposed line of code doesn't inspire my confidence in their competency though.

 

[Arthrodira]

Very interested in what looks like an environmental update!

 

[Buri]

Please fix the Species menu, just make it so that the subspecies are collapsed and we have to click on them to see the 50 varieties.

 

[AngrySnwMnky]

I would like use envoys to improve relations between third parties. For instance, if I have a Federation member who doesn't like another faction that I would like to invite into the Federation I would like to be able to send an envoy or envoys to improve the relations between them to the point where they would be accepted into the Federation. It would be useful as well if you could do this with two warring factions thereby bringing about a peace settlement.

 

[Iosue Yu]

For federations, could we change the map colouring to follow the current president of the Federation? It makes me want to only invite others to join instead of joining existing ones due to how my country loses its colours.

 

[Bundeswag]

Regarding the already mentioned problems with multiplayer. Is it possible that Stellaris will receive a similar lobby system as EU4 to make joining easier?

 

[Builder117]

Being able to have more than one Voidborn origin and more than one shattered ring origin in the galaxy would be nice... Made so many custom empires and was pretty dissapointed that I would only get to see them in action one at a time.

 

[Pyzayt]

Can we get some sort of option to make Scions always spawn in the shadow of their Overlord? I'd be a nice option to have.

 

[Red Earth]

That is an improvement that is already planned for the update

We will make it more clear how the votes went, and allow you to use favors

Yeah, without favors there's no way to get some laws changed. But their voting could use some more logic anyway.
My federation was dead set against 10% federation fleet contribution. However when 20% became available they were all for it. So 0% was acceptable, 20% was favorable, but 10% was a no from everyone.
And they've been in favor of any president term change. Longer or shorter.

Question: does the term change affect the current president, or just the next? I'd assume next since otherwise you could vote for a shorter term an possibly have the current pres booted right after. Anyway, the voting logic should be that they want to extend their own term.
If on rotation, the president should want shorter terms to more quickly get back to themselves, then the longest right before they're up. Also they should favor random right after their term to possibly get back the presidency earlier.
Also I would like to know where in the rotation we are so I'd know if changing laws would benefit me.
Generally, the AI should favor increased president powers right before they get in, and less if they're on their way out and don't expect to be back soon.

 

[Hamartiology101]

Besides the bug fixes, I would really like to see more resolution paths. Resolutions that are specifically relevant to Spiritualists such as banning AI / robots and unity boosts, and resolutions related to Authoritarians such as reducing worker / specialist political power. You could also have resolutions related to Leviathans. Making it illegal to kill the Tiyanki Matriarch and the Ether Drake since they are endagered species, or giving a small diplomatic weight to whoever kills a Leviathan to encourage hunting them down. Resolutions related to the Enclaves and Caravaneers would also be nice to see. For the galactic council, what about adding the option to have a pooled "galactic community" fleet if the council has been limited to one member? For the environmental protection resolutions, what about giving bonuses to terraforming if you're turning a planet into a Gaia world, as well as bonuses to unity production?

Not related to the Federations DLC, I would love to see more tradition trees. Since every empire is pretty much guaranteed to unlock all of the traditions in the game, the only question being when, I would like to see more added that make you pause and think about what tradition trees you might be willing to give up. Or at least have some more variation between what traditions are available to different empire types, such as replacing the "Domination" tradition tree with something more fitting if you're playing a democratic egalitarian empire.

Really am loving the new Federations DLC, in spite of the bugs, it's been really enjoyable. When the bugs get patched and the new resolutions it will be nearly perfect. Thanks PDX!

 

[Nahadoth]

Being able to have more than one Voidborn origin and more than one shattered ring origin in the galaxy would be nice... Made so many custom empires and was pretty dissapointed that I would only get to see them in action one at a time.

That's because they use unique systems. The same reason you can have only one empire starting in the Sol and Deneb systems.

 

[Brael]

We are very interested in hearing your feedback and ideas regarding Federations, and if there was anything you would have wished for us to add. We are especially interested in feedback related to Resolutions and Federation Laws.

I've found one big issue with Federations which comes from the level of them. In several of my games so far, playing co op with a friend of mine we find that mid game events like the Khans can wipe out enough civs (or force them to capitulate) that once they're dealt with forming a new Federation becomes difficult. It feels to me like there needs to be some sort of way to accelerate the experience gain of Federations as the game goes on, the hardcap of 10 XP/month simply causes the later levels to not be accessible unless the Federation is founded early and survives.

Two possible ideas off the top of my head:

First is that Federations have their XP gain scale to the number of civilizations that are present in it or perhaps that the number of civs providing envoys affects max XP gain in addition to the total number of envoys affecting the rate of change in XP gain.

The second idea, and something that I think seems more interesting (and references a sci fi plot from the series Andromeda), would be the ability to reform a Federation. So that if a Federation falls apart for whatever reason, like a galactic calamity that everyone is now recovering from, a civ could take it on themselves to reform that one with themselves as the leader and if successful have the Federation pick up from where it left off.

Edit: Not sure how this would fit in balance wise, but it seems to me like it would make sense for Telepaths to have much stronger diplomatic abilities than non telepaths. Not sure how that could be implemented as a diplomatic weight modifier though.

 

[laptor]

@grekulf
I would love to see / I really need:
a) automated pop resettle / migration
b) neutered pops keep on working
c) dynamic pop growth

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

A decent resolution tree that goes off the rails awfully quickly. Tiers 1-3 seem fine, but once you hit tier 4, things just become unnecessarily harsh. -15% worker happiness for a mere 10% boost to research output? I guess the pivot point is supposed to get gestalts? Most of the benefits of this law from tier 3, onward, because some ridiculous niche, that the only real advantage to passing them is the science diplomatic weight. The penultimate law isn't even that great. You pay 500 Zro and 1 Zro upkeep per tier 3 lab to get +1 extra dimensional portal researcher job. By the time you can pass this resolution, most empires are going to be well on their way for completing science---and bit of extra physics research isn't even going to do much by that point. The downside to this isn't even that bad---the Contingency still have the overwhelming chance to occur even if you pass this law

I think it benefits slavers and robot-users too - anyone that can ignore worker happiness can reap the benefits, really.