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Stellaris Dev Diary #250 - Elevating Civilization

Greetings!

Last week’s dev diary went through the new Enclaves in Overlord, the Bulwark, some more Holdings, and the Imperial Fiefdom Origin. This week we’re going to look at two constructions, the Scholarium, Specialist Holdings and a summary of the origin revealed by Nivarias earlier this week.

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

Orbital Rings​


Orbital Rings are a Tier 3 Voidcraft Engineering technology requiring Starholds, Galactic Administration, and Ceramo-Metal Infrastructure. Like Habitats, they do not require Mega-Engineering.

They are treated as a variant of Starbases, and while system control is still primarily determined by the actual Starbase of the system, the planets they surround cannot be invaded until the Orbital Ring has been disabled.

Orbital Ring

Orbital Ring

Initially your Orbital Ring will have two module slots and no building slots. As you gain additional Starbase technologies (Star Fortress and Citadel) and improve the planet’s capital building you can upgrade the Orbital Ring through two additional tiers, adding one module and building slot at each tier.

Starbase screen for Orbital Ring

Most of the Orbital Ring modules are similar to Starbase modules. Defensive modules trade piracy protection for extra hull and armor, and the Habitation Module is a Ring specific module that adds a district slot to the planet below.

Habitation Module
Orbital Shipyard
Orbital Anchorage
Planetary Defense Guns
Planetary Defense Batteries
Planetary Defense Hangars

Systems with multiple habitable planets can become an exceptionally thorny obstacle if you build multiple defensive orbital rings supporting a bastion starbase at the center.

Having a large conveniently placed ring around your planet provides an opportunity to enhance the planet with some interesting buildings. These stack with similar planetside buildings.

Low Gravity Mega-Refiners
Stratospheric Ionization Elements
Climate Optimization Stations
The Giga-Mall

Synaptic Relays
Orbital Maintenance Drops

Orbital Filing System
Orbital Logistics Systems

Alloy Processing Facilities

Many standard starbase buildings can also be placed on an Orbital Ring - though some are now limited to one per system.

Orbital Rings fill the same “orbital slot” as habitats, so you’ll have to decide which of the two you want over your worlds, and they can only be built around colonized habitable planets.

Quantum Catapult​


There comes a time in every overlord’s reign when a faraway crisis suddenly requires your attention. Things are going on halfway across the galaxy, a rival in the way has closed borders to you, and the Galactic Community is debating something about Tiyanki. Again.

A true galactic overlord has to be able to project their power at will, and doesn’t let these little things stop them from enacting their plans.

Quantum Catapult Tech

Built around Neutron Stars or Pulsars, Quantum Catapults can hurl fleets across incredible distances of space, but these megastructures have accuracy issues over long distances.

Quantum Catapult


Quantum Catapult Fleet Order

The maximum range of a Quantum Catapult is significantly longer than jump drive range but there’s a risk the fleet may not land exactly where they intended. The further the launch, the wider the scatter radius.

Higher tiers of the Quantum Catapult are both more accurate and have longer maximum range, with a well-placed fully-constructed Catapult able to threaten virtually anywhere, even in a huge galaxy.

After selecting a desired target system, a short windup later your fleet will arrive somewhere in a nearby system, without any lingering jump debuffs... But there is a chance, especially on spiral maps, that this “nearby” system is quite a few jumps away from your intended destination when traveling the hyperlanes.

Using the Quantum Catapult
There’s no clear route to this system, but the Catapult doesn’t care.

Quantum Catapults also have a passive effect that reduces MIA time for your missing fleets, which comes in useful when moving reinforcements to the front line, using experimental subspace on your science ships, or if your launched fleet lands in a system with Closed Borders.

The Scholarium​


The Scholarium is the last of the Specialists coming in Overlord. Dedicated to the advancement of science, the Scholarium relies on their overlord to defend them from enemies.

The State of Saathuma are our Scholarium minions, bringing us the secrets of the universe in exchange for our benevolent protection.

Scholarium

As with the other specialist empires, the penalties and benefits both grow as they tier up.

Scholarium Specialization Tier 1
Scholarium Specialization Tier 2
Scholarium Specialization Tier 3

Where the Prospectorium could discover valuable deposits in their space, the Scholarium instead finds opportunities to learn.

Scholarium Sensors

Scholarium Discovery I
Scholarium Discovery II
Scholarium Discovery III

The advisor perk, as you likely expected, improves your overlord’s scientific research.
Scholarium Advisory

And like the others, they have a Hyper Relay Network effect at Tier 1.
Part of Scholarium Tutelage

Next week? Yeah, why not, let's show it next week.

At Tier 2, the Scholarium also gains a set of special traits for their leaders, and the ability to trade their Scientists to their overlord.

Scholarium Traits
Scholarium Scientists

Finally, at Tier 3 the Scholarium gains an advanced variant of the Science Ship, the Arctrellis. Like the Prospectorium’s Bulwark's Battlewright, it provides an aura in combat, but this time the scientists aboard the ship can cripple opposing ships piloted by AI - whether they be machine intelligences, sapient combat computers, or the Contingency.

Scholarium Arctrellis

It should be noted that as a Scholarium, the military penalties make it difficult to free yourself from under your overlord’s control. You may need some powerful friends to help you out.

Specialist Holdings​


Each of the Specialist empires has a unique holding that their overlord can build on their worlds.

Prospectoria can host the Offworld Foundry, which converts subject minerals into alloys for the overlord.

Offworld Foundry Holding

Bulwarks can have the Vigil Command, which grants additional Defense Platforms to their overlord. As the Bulwark increases in tier, these values increase.

Vigil Command Holding

Scholarium worlds can build the Ministry of Science. Surrounding their planet with additional Science Ships increases the effect of the building.

Ministry of Science Holding

One extra holding we’ll show this week is for the Tree of Life origin. It lets you share your blessings with your subjects, improving both the habitability and food production of your subject’s world, though a fair bit will be consumed by the sapling itself.

Tree of Life Sapling Holding
Overlord Arborist Job

Galactic Community​


It seemed natural that with such a large focus on subjugation, the Galactic Community would want to regulate things in different ways. Two more minor resolution lines are coming, in the new Suzerains and Sovereignty category.

Suzerains and Sovereignty Category

The Intergalactic Directives line of resolutions protects the rights of subjects and encourages the preservation and release of weaker societies.

Regulated Growth
Ensured Sovereignty
A Voice for All

You can’t take the sky from me.

Bureaucratic Surveillance, on the other hand, focuses more on the rights of the overlords, requiring a short leash on their subjects and encouraging the use of holdings. Resolutions in this line can only be proposed by empires that are overlords of another empire.

Administrative Insight
Borderless Authority
Personal Oversight

Borderless Authority and Personal Oversight force extra holdings into subject contracts, but since the total limit remains 4 the highest Holding Limit terms become redundant.

Teachers of the Shroud​


Teachers of the Shroud

With the Teachers of the Shroud origin, your civilization was identified as a civilization of interest long ago by the Shroudwalkers, and they carefully guided you as their visions instructed. Your species begins with the Latent Psionics trait and in contact with the Shroudwalker coven.

Your civilization is treated as if it already has the Mind over Matter Ascension Perk, meaning Transcendence is not far away. (And you cannot pursue Synthetic or Biological Ascension.)

Next Week​


Next week we’ll take a ride on the Hyper Relay Network, finally see those three Specialist perks, look at some other balance changes and additions coming in Cepheus and Overlord, and reveal another Origin.

Video versions of these dev diaries are available at the Stellaris Official YouTube Channel. Subscribe so you don’t miss them, and wishlist Overlord if you haven’t already!
 
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1. There is no guarantee the game has any ruined gates to restore at all; some games have them disabled.
2. You or your ally need to own the system in order to build/restore gates.
1. Clearly I am referencing games that have gates enabled.
2. And? Owning systems is difficult in Stellaris? The galaxy is comoletely owned before the mid-game even.
Also, you don’t need an ally to restore a gate in order to use it. Just a non-hostile
 
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The % modifier to the overlord seem to be a lv 1 perk so no need to lvl them up.

If you want to avoid that and take shared destiny it is still a lot better than technological ascendancy, which just gives you a pittyful 10% research speed.
The advisory bonuses the overlord only gets once, no matter how many specialist vassals they have. It’s the same for the bulwark and the prospectorium.
 
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1. Clearly I am referencing games that have gates enabled.
2. And? Owning systems is difficult in Stellaris? The galaxy is comoletely owned before the mid-game even.
Also, you don’t need an ally to restore a gate in order to use it. Just a non-hostile
A non-hostile, with borders open to you, with the technology to reactivate gateways and spending the resources to do so.

All sorts of variables that the Quantum Catapult bypasses, with border access as the only requirement.
 
This is your main challenge to overcome.

Each subject beyond the first appends -1 monthly loyalty to all subjects. Having a lot of subjects becomes messy fast.
If you're thinking "Ah, those pesky scientists couldn't possibly rebel against me." Well, that's what we made Allegiance Wars for.

That said, Feudal Society, Franchising, and Shared Destiny all ignore this penalty, so do with that what you will. ;)

Unless I'm mistaking something and you're limited to only 1 Scholarium, I think this is going to throw the player perception of the overall Overlord vassal system out of whack, honestly.


The rest of this is if Scholariums are spammable, but IF so THEN this is really broken. This is going to be a huge incentive for hyper-wide conquest snowballs that release micro-scholariuums, instead of balancing networks of different types of vassals strong enough to be a threat.

Multi-vassal mechanics (civics, AP) already looking to be top-tier as-is, but being able to spam Scholarium is basically trading a as little as a single system for an even better return than Technological Ascendancy, an AP that's 'only' worth a 10% buff. Being able to release single-planet system to get a 9-12 % tech boost and +1 influence from just 2 overlord buildings is worth far more than you'd ever get out of that system as a science tributary, quite possibly even owning it, and more than worth a basic resource subsidy that can be passed on to a tributary you couldn't incorporate anyway.

This will empower military builds since the best way to spam scholaria will be to conquer and release non-contiguous colonies from within empires that you don't take at once. Seize the homeworld and a non-contiguous colony, release the minor 1 pop, and you've not only conquered the pops for your work force, but also gotten a 10% buff in your science output and +1 influence potential from 2 overlord buildins even if the colony never develops a single science lab. Then- a decade later- you make new cheaper claims on the remant from your captured homeworld with the bonus influence, release a few more micro-states after playing with sectors, and you could be looking at a 30%+ empire science output as well as 3+ influence a month for more claims. As you can claim and conquer more empires, you release more micro-vassals, each of whom can give you 10% research output and +1 influence for more claims for more micro states.


As described, there's no reason for the player to want anything but as many tiny, scientificially incapable Scholaria once your basic resource needs are covered by Prospectoriums. There's no bonus for a single big Scholarium over dividing the same teritory into micro-states, and you're rather strip the pops for yourself for a token Scholarium that produces 0 science than one that could ever pose a threat.

(A similar case exists for the Prospectorium as the resource analogs- more Prospectoriums each getting resource spawn choices over X provinces is better than 1 Prospectorium getting only 1 chance of a resource spawn over X territories. That once could be balanced if the resource spawn was a '1 chance per sector' design.)


Maybe if the building gave the scholarium a % bonus that gave the Overlord some extra flat science as the tributary kickback. This would incentivize a larger Scholarium who can produce more scaling science for more tribute, while giving the Overlord an incentive for a strong Scholarium. But giving the Overlord a stackable % boost for the most important military-conquest resource, alongside another building that enables conquest claims, is just begging for an even wider conquest build.

It's especially odd since I believe it's the only % boost from an overlord building shown, and is so much better than all the other science buildings shown. Why would a machine overlord want a +10 science building at 2 loyalty when they could be functionally getting +18 science for 1 loyalty if they had a mere 300 science output... some of which would be coming from the Scholarium?



Strongly recommend a rethink of the balance of that building.
 
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Artificer and Angler will definitely be affected by the boosts to consumer goods and food output respectively, unsure about Pearl Diver.

Pearl Diver gets all the boosts that go to Artisans.

Strictly speaking, they're get twice as much boost, since the Pearl Diver/Artisan swap is effectively changing fewer worker pops for more specialist pops. (The starting ratio being about 1 artisan + 2.5 worker pops vs 2 PD + .5 upkeep pops). The bonus will be applied to more CG workers, for greater effect at greater resource cost, but if you're building buildings like this you can have the tributaries feeding you. (That can also mean just going back to Artisans, etc. etc, but here we go into empire builds.)
 
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This seems like Voidborne is missing out. Orbital Rings buff planets but what about habitat locked Empires?
IMO, just have the 2nd and 3rd tiers of habitat upgrades also include slots for a specific list of starbase modules and buildings. Currently, the only real benefit that we get out of habitat upgrades is two more districts. Unless, I missed something we don't get building slots or access to higher tier buildings. So it would be making habitats a better deal if at 2nd tier they could become like a starbase and the 3rd tier allowed us to add a few more things, even if it was just one or two slots for modules and starbase buildings.
 
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Quantum Cat
Oh, I get it! It's Schroedinger's CATapult!
Imagine teleporting your entire fleet + colossus to the enemy capital and eradicating it in an instant - that is seriously powerful stuff we're talking about.
Fear will keep the systems in line. Fear of this catapul-WAIT NO NOT THE ENIGMATIC FORTRESS!!!

Honestly, if the catapult is as inaccurate as it seems to be, statistically it would be far more likely to deposit fleets in the vast empty space between systems outside of any charted hyperplane network than it would be to actually land in any system at all.
 
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Honestly, if the catapult is as inaccurate as it seems to be, statistically it would be far more likely to deposit fleets in the vast empty space between systems outside of any charted hyperplane network than it would be to actually land in any system at all.
I think this could be represented by a high chance to leave fleets MIA, which won't be a big problem since we're finally getting a reduction to the time spent looking for a path back to a known system.
 
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Teachers of the Shroud origin starts begin with Latent Psionics and no Ascension Perks taken. They begin with Psionic Theory as a permanent research option, and can roll the Telepathy technology as a research option after researching Psionic Theory. They can go straight to Transcendence as their third Ascension Perk, but need to take two other perks as normal. (Mind over Matter is not available to them, nor are the Biological or Synthetic ascension paths.)


When they're backed up by dozens of defense platforms around each orbital ring and the central starbase.


No, they don't.
Hi, I've got a question about this.
If an empire with the Teachers of the Shroud origin can't take the Mind over Matter Ascension Perk, which provides Psi Corps building, did they get the Psi Corps building by another way ?
 
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Unless I'm mistaking something and you're limited to only 1 Scholarium, I think this is going to throw the player perception of the overall Overlord vassal system out of whack, honestly.

The rest of this is if Scholariums are spammable, but IF so THEN this is really broken. This is going to be a huge incentive for hyper-wide conquest snowballs that release micro-scholariuums, instead of balancing networks of different types of vassals strong enough to be a threat.

As described, there's no reason for the player to want anything but as many tiny, scientificially incapable Scholaria once your basic resource needs are covered by Prospectoriums. There's no bonus for a single big Scholarium over dividing the same teritory into micro-states, and you're rather strip the pops for yourself for a token Scholarium that produces 0 science than one that could ever pose a threat.
On paper, it does seem like it is pretty strong. However, you're ignoring the fact that not only are these vassals extremely unloyal, you have to negotiate contracts with them.
They may have basically nothing but a token system, but they'll rebel anyways if they're that disloyal, making all those bonuses moot and nonexistent.
With one big Scholarium, you just need to keep one happy for not only research bonus, but also the percentage of research you get from their production.

Edit: They may not even allow holdings if they're that disloyal, though Im unsure how holding limit negotiation works or if you're entitled to a bare minimum of 1. There might be an easy way to offset the disloyalty other than the shared burdens-esqe civics that im missing.
 
On paper, it does seem like it is pretty strong. However, you're ignoring the fact that not only are these vassals extremely unloyal, you have to negotiate contracts with them.
They may have basically nothing but a token system, but they'll rebel anyways if they're that disloyal, making all those bonuses moot and nonexistent.
With one big Scholarium, you just need to keep one happy for not only research bonus, but also the percentage of research you get from their production.

Edit: They may not even allow holdings if they're that disloyal, though Im unsure how holding limit negotiation works or if you're entitled to a bare minimum of 1. There might be an easy way to offset the disloyalty other than the shared burdens-esqe civics that im missing.
Just take the ascension perk or civic that waives the loyalty penalty. It seems to be a civic/ascennsion slot that reads "+unlimited research bonus"
 
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The orbital ring is awesome and will greatly benefit my preferred playstyle of semi-tall turtling... Now it's time to create the ultimate 30+ district forge world!
 
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On paper, it does seem like it is pretty strong. However, you're ignoring the fact that not only are these vassals extremely unloyal, you have to negotiate contracts with them.
They may have basically nothing but a token system, but they'll rebel anyways if they're that disloyal, making all those bonuses moot and nonexistent.
With one big Scholarium, you just need to keep one happy for not only research bonus, but also the percentage of research you get from their production.

Edit: They may not even allow holdings if they're that disloyal, though Im unsure how holding limit negotiation works or if you're entitled to a bare minimum of 1.

Why would they be disloyal?

That's the rub with limiting mechanic that's already going to be meta to negate. Shared Destiny is going to destroy Technological Ascendancy so hard it's not even funny, because it lets you have as many Scholarum's as you can release and each one of those is better than Technological Ascendancy's research bonus.

Mitigating the multi-vassal penalty is already going to be a huge meta-consideration, but you can further buy loyalty via subsidies and trading for the loyalty feature. What does it matter if you offer a system a 70% strategic resource subsidy, if they're never going to have the economic base to demand more than a trifle? Who cares if you provide huge basic resource subsidies for a habitat around a black hole and nothing else? That's what you have your other vassals, in other situations, for. And this is without considering caught-and-released vassals, who have the same ethics as you (and likely none of the pops, because you'd just strip the pops).


With one big Scholarium, I only need to keep one happy for the % of research. But if I split the Scholarium in two via the same contracts, I have the same happyiness in the subjects get more potential research because the same pops and infrastructure paying tribute are now getting double the research speed bonus. And if I conquer the Scholarium, steal all the pops, and then release a much of micro-Scholarium, I can get even more research, and have less to fear from any sort of rebellion because, again, I control the pops.

The Overlord Building cap was already incentivizing many micro-vassals with mitigating the multi-vassal penalty being meta, but the Scholarum will be meta-defining as is. The %s of tribute are meaningless- I can get more %s if I own the pops myself. The % of research speed is broken.
 
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So in other words they get a bonus Ascension Perk...sounds a little OP.
I think this could be addressed by making Ascension Theory technology not give them the extra ascension perk slot – so they have one slot advantage in early game, and an easier pathway to psionic ascension, but by the end of the game, they can only adopt 7 ascension perks.
 
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Honestly, if the catapult is as inaccurate as it seems to be, statistically it would be far more likely to deposit fleets in the vast empty space between systems outside of any charted hyperplane network than it would be to actually land in any system at all.
This is completely wrong. The quantum flux nano waves can only turbo-encabulate within the equilibrium sphere around sufficiently massive objects. (AKA it only lands you on the outside of systems.l)

Maybe if you had a scholarium vassal you would know these things :cool:
 
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