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Stellaris Dev Diary #249 - New Friends

Hi again!

Last week’s dev diary introduced the Specialist Empires with a detailed examination of the Prospectorium and showed off a few new holdings.

This week we’ll meet the three Enclaves coming in Overlord (examining one of them closely), take a deep dive into the Bulwark, and finish off with a few more Holdings and a summary of the origin Nivarias revealed earlier this week.

As with all previews, numbers, text, and so on are not quite final and are still subject to change.

The Industrious Salvagers​


The Salvagers are a friendly and pacifistic bunch of scrappers and mechanics. Focused on engineering, these tinkerers love nothing more than scrapping old ships, refurbishing them, and sending them on to find new homes.

Salvager Enclave

Though eager to help, they’ve been burned in the past and are thus cautious at first, offering only a few services - scrapping old fleets you no longer require, or offering you bargains on slightly used ships.

Early Salvagers Dialog

As you gain their trust, they’ll provide a wider array of options.

Late Salvagers Dialog

From providing their insights regarding Engineering Research to offering salvage services for debris fields following battles, the Salvagers do their best to please their valued clients.

The Mysterious Shroudwalkers


The Shroudwalkers are a monastic enclave that delve into the deepest mysteries of the Shroud, seeking to understand the unknowable. Their true natures and desires are difficult to divine.

Shroudwalker Enclave


Shroudwalker Dialog

I won’t spoil too much about this very story focused enclave, but their prophecies and visions make use of the Situations system described in Dev Diary #245.

They’re willing to instruct others in the ways of the Shroud…


Shoudwalker Teacher effects

…and just as they are willing to look into possibilities of your future, they’re quite willing to gaze into the Shroud, to provide insights about other empires.

Shroud Insights

The bravest can also seek knowledge about travel through the Shroud itself, asking them to create a wormhole-like bypass from one of your systems to their own.

Shroud Beacon

Everything will be fine.

One of the Origins, the Teachers of the Shroud, has a close link to this Enclave, but that too, is someone else’s tale to tell.

Shroudwalker Loading Screen Art

The Mercenary Mercenaries​


Unlike other enclaves, Mercenary Enclaves are not found randomly in the depths of space. Instead, they can be founded by regular empires that are not Fanatic Purifiers.

Convert to Mercenary Fleet

There’s a long list of requirements to release a fleet in this way - it must be at least size 50, have an admiral, be in a system under your control with no other enclave in the system, and have an appropriate place for them to build their station.

Founding a Mercenary Enclave


Mercenary Enclave

By default, Mercenary Enclave Capacity starts at zero. In addition to their normal effects, the Warrior Culture, Barbaric Despoilers, and Private Military Companies civics each add one potential Mercenary Enclave, while the Naval Contractors civic adds two.

Lord of War AP

The Lord of War Ascension Perk also allows one additional Mercenary Enclave, increases Diplomatic Weight from Fleet Power, and increases the rate at which you receive dividends from your Mercenary Enclaves.

The newly formed Mercenary Enclave has a few options for those interested in procuring security services. The empire that controls the primary starbase of the Mercenary Enclave’s system is considered their Patron, and has additional interactions with them. If business is going especially well, the Patron will even receive dividends from the Enclave.

Mercenary Dialog

Anyone that has communications with the Mercenary Enclave can rent their fleet for ten years if they can afford the cost. Prices may vary depending on what the Mercenaries think of you, and whether you are their Patron or not.

Hiring a Mercenary Fleet

As time goes on, the Mercenaries will research technologies, reinforce, and build up their fleet, but their Patron can reach out and provide a helping appendage.

Patron Options

If they have an excellent relationship with the Mercenaries, a Patron can even ask them to break an active contract - but they’ll have to provide some recompense to their current client and won’t be very happy about it. Reputations are everything in this business.

Breaking a Contract

Naturally, the Mercenary Enclaves have lobbied the Galactic Community to regulate their trade.

One of the new resolution categories in Overlord is Defense Privatization.

Defense Privatization Resolution Category

This line of resolutions focuses on encouraging the empires of the Galactic Community to leave the fighting to professionals. It allows empires to create more Mercenary Enclaves, increases the rate Mercenary Dividends are paid out, and places significant limits on non-Mercenary navies.

Security Contractors
High Consequence Protection
Neutral Defenders

Like most other major resolution categories, Federations adds two extra tiers…

Galactic Risk Management
Corporate Peacekeeping

…and as usual, the final tier is perhaps a bit extreme.

That’s not all the GalCom is up to, but we’ll go into more detail on their other resolutions another time.

The Bulwark​


Standing firm against the overlord’s enemies is the Bulwark, the second of the Specialists coming in Overlord.

The Tebbran Citizen Regime serves our glorious republic as a Bulwark.

The Bulwark

With strong benefits when it comes to defense, the Bulwark is a natural shield against the overlord’s enemies, but relies on overlord subsidies for basic resource acquisition.

Bulwark Tier 1
Bulwark Tier 2
Bulwark Tier 3

We’ve made some adjustments to Defense Platforms - while everyone will benefit from their faster build speed and increased range, fire rate, tracking, and hull points, Bulwarks receive additional bonuses when using them.

Having a Bulwark advisor improves starbase costs and upgrade times.

Bulwark Advisory

The Bulwark Watch perk is another Hyper Relay Network effect so we’ll hold off on revealing all of that just yet.

Bulwark Watch

Fighting in a Bulwark’s systems is extremely advantageous...

Bulwark Shield Magnifier

…and like the Prospectorium, they too gain access to some technologies - this time those most useful for defense.

Bulwark Insight I
Bulwark Insight II
Bulwark Insight III

Like the Prospectorium, at tier 2 the Bulwark also adds special traits to some of their leaders. Admirals, in their case.

Bulwark Traits

And they can trade them with their overlord as well.

Bulwark Admirals

At tier 3, the Bulwark can create an improved variant of the Construction Ship, which repairs other friendly ships in the system and are a bit sturdier than regular Construction vessels.

Bulwark Battlewright

And they also have managed to turn the Shield Magnifiers from Tier 1 against invaders. If they have completed the Unyielding tradition tree, this effect is increased.

Bulwark Disintegrator Field

Don’t worry - if you don’t have Apocalypse, the Unyielding traditions will also unlock with Overlord.

Holdings, Part Three​


This week’s holdings include the Emporium, which forces the subject to buy Consumer Goods from the overlord, providing Amenities in exchange for Energy Credits.

Emporium

More holdings also exist that tax subject production, such as the aptly named Ministry of Production and the Ministry of Energy.

Ministry of Production


Ministry of Energy

The Materials Ministry revealed two weeks ago has been renamed the Ministry of Extraction, and now has Volatile Motes upkeep.

Constructive overlords can help build up a world using the Orbital Assembly Complex and a small fleet of Construction Ships.

Orbital Assembly Complex (without a tooltip blocking half the name)

And Reanimators can bring out the dead to defend a subject’s world…

Dread Outpost

…while Megacorps with Permanent Employment can ensure that nobody is just lying around when they could be working.

Reemployment Center

Lastly for today, Megacorps with the Franchising civic can choose to exert direct control and micromanage subject planets where they also have a Branch Office, much to the dismay of the workers there.

Franchise Headquarters

The Ethics Attraction on this holding will change to match any fanatic ethic the overlord may have. (Non-fanatical overlords aren’t quite as thorough with the indoctrination during the team-building exercises.)

As a reminder, these previews are still subject to change and balancing. (Prices and upkeep on several of the holdings have changed since I took the screenshots.)

The Imperial Fiefdom​


Imperial Fiefdom

In the Imperial Fiefdom origin, your first steps into space were brutally short. Immediately subjugated alongside several others, you can begin the game as a Specialist Empire of your choice, with a few additional gifts from your overlord.

Will you ever break free?

If multiple players select this origin, they will all start as minions of the same Advanced AI Empire.

Next Week​

Next week we’ll examine some of the new constructions you’ll be able to build, research the Scholarium, look at Specialist holdings, revisit the Galactic Community, and reveal another Origin.

We’re doing video versions of these dev diaries on the Stellaris Official YouTube Channel. Subscribe so you don’t miss them, and wishlist Overlord if you haven’t already!
 
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We actually played around with this for a little bit and it was surprisingly painful at times, since retaking a bastion ended up being very difficult.
Were they regenerating for occupiers in your test?

If the platforms stay offline & at basically no health whilst the starbase is occupied, the original owner/defender only has to overwhelm the starbase itself.
Then once the original starbase owner reasserts control over the system [or the system fully changes hands after a war*], the d-platforms can re-enable & start to regenerate their HP after a month.

Its much too easy to win wars not just because you can do doomstacks (a topic for another thread) but also because there is no real recourse for defenders to get a second wind in a war.

Re-claiming and re-enabling platforms on recapture (whilst leaving them off for occupiers) would help them find some breathing room imo.

*Systems fully changing hands in a total war would just nuke the platforms. Otherwise aggressors would be unfairly getting hard to retake systems, I agree.

One idea that I saw, which seemed worthwhile, was to have platforms: Disabled; only repairable by the original owner; and an espionage mission can give you access to repairing captured platforms for any individual starbase.

That way there's still a cost associated with losing platforms, but you don't get that problem of having your defenses become as much of a liability as an asset. But the espionage mission adds some potential for a spy-based empire to get an advantage no one else has.

I thought it was a potentially good solution to the problem.
Maybe you were thinking of this test thread? It's what led to my suggestion further up (& dropping the constructor part).
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...tructors-repairing-defence-platforms.1483075/
 
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Mercenary Mercenaries also makes me think. When you transfer over the ships, do they keep all settings including their orbital bombardment setting? This way Pacifists can pay for a fleet from a militarist empire with Indiscriminate Bombardment (or even Pox Bombardment from empires with the Jaxonian Pox relic) to cripple their enemies as well as maintain plausible deniability?
 
Can we get some idea of what the "adjustments" to defense platforms look like? Right now they are completely non-viable, which makes the idea of an entire vassal mechanic based around building more of them somewhat suspect.

Perhaps if all the techs, traditions, and other effects that modify defense platform (and starbase, for that matter) hull points also equally applied to armor and shields they would be more than the speed bump they currently are?

Finally, we need a better management interface for defense platforms. I'd suggest adding a tab to the Fleet Manager screen, which would allow easy and centralized management of all empire starbases and their defense platform constellations.
 
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You know I was kinda mehing at the idea of this pack when it was announced, but now I'm seeing a lot of things that look fun and will change my play style :)

Can't wait to try a more aggressive megacorp making subjects and mercenary companies :)

Mercs sounded kinda schlocky, but by the sound of it are no ship of Phules.
 
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I think merc capacity is the number you can found, not the amount you can be the patron of.

Does this mean mercenaries can be permanently lost? If the enclave is destroyed (and I'm assuming it can be destroyed like other enclaves) you wouldn't be able to replace it because you've already maxed out your founding capacity.
 
Those new origins and types of Enclaves look so nice.

Will there be more than one type of portrait for the species in the new Enclaves? They seem so nice, but it could turn repetitive to see the same guys after some playthroughs.

Could there be more than one Enclave of the same type in the same galaxy?

Thanks a lot.
 
Amazing work! Small suggestion:

For the Defense Privatization line of resolutions, up to Corporate Peacekeeping
-80% Naval Capacity
Also Add a matching bonus:
-80% Naval Capacity use from Mercenary Fleets

[edited to add the original Question] "Do mercenary fleets use your own fleet capacity or do they not count towards it? Can merc enclaves research modded components? "
Only when they're hired.

Depends on the restrictions of the technology.
Without a Naval Capacity use reduction for Mercenary fleets you aren't going to be able to actually hire any fleets without going massively over capacity, but with a little change it retains the intent of shifting most of your naval spending into mercenary fleets.
 
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Constructive overlords can help build up a world using the Orbital Assembly Complex and a small fleet of Construction Ships.

Orbital Assembly Complex (without a tooltip blocking half the name)
Isn't that a bad design? Reminds me of science ships orbiting to boost planetary science production.
It's just frustrating and not fun to deal with this during wars.
This is all the more true when you have big empires, if in addition, you have to manage among the vassals...

As a bonus, I might see more of this:
- Planetary build speed +20%
- Ship build speed +10%, starbase same system
- Ship cost -5%, starbase same system
- -9 alloy for planet, + 9 for overlord
 
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Wow so many toys!

But the devil is in the details. We need to see this xpac in action along with the final numbers/balancing, because the changes are really big!
 
Do I dare hope that one of the Defense Platform changes is re-implementing bigger classes of them from before the 2.0? Would love just having a slab of hull with tons of guns protecting my citadels.
 
Isn't that a bad design? Reminds me of science ships orbiting to boost planetary science production.
It's just frustrating and not fun to deal with this during wars.
This is all the more true when you have big empires, if in addition, you have to manage among the vassals...

As a bonus, I might see more of this:
- Planetary build speed +20%
- Ship build speed +10%, starbase same system
- Ship cost -5%, starbase same system
- -9 alloy for planet, + 9 for overlord
Make it a vassal unique building, which can implement the effect on any colony imo. I just reread it being planet-bound... don't want to move that thing around as my vassal colonies upgrade. I don't mind the tiny alloy income if it means I can power develop vassal colonies for more taxes.
 
We actually played around with this for a little bit and it was surprisingly painful at times, since retaking a bastion ended up being very difficult. Though I'd like to revisit them at some point in the future and make them less painful to rebuild somehow.
This is already the case for Bastions, and it’s a problem. If I have a 10k fleet vs my opponents 8k fleet, building up a 5k bastion on the border means they can take the system freely and keep it (at least for players, AI will generally fly their fleet out and give up the advantage). Defense platforms just exacerbate the issue.

An occupied or recently conquered (to deal with total wars) starbase should have a significant penalty to combat ability. Somewhere between -20% and -50% fire rate, to throw some random numbers out. This represents the occupying force not having the requisite security codes or training in order to properly use the starbase at full capacity.

For defense platforms, could they at least rebuild if you keep the starbase?
 
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Do I dare hope that one of the Defense Platform changes is re-implementing bigger classes of them from before the 2.0? Would love just having a slab of hull with tons of guns protecting my citadels.
The reason they scraped larger platforms is that it made defenses too strong. And that was problematic for AI.
 
I see comments complaining about the unique Enclave portraits, and I want to provide the opposite point of view.

Special empires including Fallen Empires having the same portraits as regular races makes them less interesting. You won't even remember what they look like, because once you've played dozens of games all the regular portraits kind of blend together and stop being memorable.

The exclusive new portraits a sorely needed step in the right direction of making special empires actually feel special and interesting, just like the Crisis already does. Fallen Empires ought to get the same treatment in my opinion. Better still if there remains a chance of the special empires having a regular portrait instead of the special one, just for the occasional variety.

And all the special portraits could - and should - then be unlockable by the player via in-game means. Defeat a Fallen Empire to unlock their portrait, for example. This would allow the player to use the portraits while retaining what makes them feel special.
 
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The reason they scraped larger platforms is that it made defenses too strong. And that was problematic for AI.

Rather than being temporarily deactivated I think it would be good if they were "ruined." Then from the tab you click "repair all" to spend alloys to repair them, and they slowly get repaired one-by-one.

This seems like it would be balanced because it costs time and resources to repair a damaged starbase. That should give defenders enough time to try and retake the system. It would also massively cut down on the clicks.
 
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my question from last week still stands.

Except for restrain, RP and own fun, what reason is there to try to push a vassal peacefully to my ethics if I just can status quo peace an enemy in a war for a vassal with my ethics to begin with?
 
my question from last week still stands.

Except for restrain, RP and own fun, what reason is there to try to push a vassal peacefully to my ethics if I just can status quo peace an enemy in a war for a vassal with my ethics to begin with?

You could do that, but alongside war you can also play the diplomacy/intimidation game and convince empires to become vassals without firing a shot. There's also the chance that a vassal changes ethics over time, as the AI is far more likely to do that now. Hell you might change your ethics, like if you get the chosen one and choose the imperial cult reform, and then want to realign your vassals.
 
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I see comments complaining about the unique Enclave portraits, and I want to provide the opposite point of view.

Special empires including Fallen Empires having the same portraits as regular races makes them less interesting. You won't even remember what they look like, because once you've played dozens of games all the regular portraits kind of blend together and stop being memorable.

The exclusive new portraits a sorely needed step in the right direction of making special empires actually feel special and interesting, just like the Crisis already does. Fallen Empires ought to get the same treatment in my opinion. Better still if there remains a chance of the special empires having a regular portrait instead of the special one, just for the occasional variety.

And all the special portraits could - and should - then be unlockable by the player via in-game means. Defeat a Fallen Empire to unlock their portrait, for example. This would allow the player to use the portraits while retaining what makes them feel special.
A very good point, I must say.

Still, two or three portrait versions for the same type of Enclave or Crisis species would be nice (but effort consuming in terms of design, etc. Understandable).
 
....
We actually played around with this for a little bit and it was surprisingly painful at times, since retaking a bastion ended up being very difficult. Though I'd like to revisit them at some point in the future and make them less painful to rebuild somehow.
...
How about if the platforms only rebuild for the original owner of the station? Not for the conqueror. Unless the station changes hands in a peace treaty or after X years after peace (for those pesky total war empires).
 
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