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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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Will the starbase buildings on rings and Starbases be counted for the system? For instance if I build a Fleet Academy on my Starbase or my ring but build a shipyard on both will both structures get its affects or just the one with the Academy? I understand some buildings not sharing effects but if this is meant to be a sort of expansion of the Starbase it would make sense for some of those buildings being shared across the system. Similarly with the building which affects the range of the weapons on the Starbase (will it also help the planetary defenses?
They mentioned that some buildings would be only one per system (since they are system wide effects). I think most of these buildings will be per starbase, but I could see the target uplink computer (+50% range) or defense grid super computer (+8 defense platforms) being system wide effects.
 
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They mentioned that some buildings would be only one per system (since they are system wide effects). I think most of these buildings will be per starbase, but I could see the target uplink computer (+50% range) or defense grid super computer (+8 defense platforms) being system wide effects.
Communications Jammer, Disruption Field Generator, and Command Center will definitely be system-unique with system-wide effects, and the flavor text for Target Uplink Computer describes it as "an advanced targeting computer that collects and analyzes data from all friendly sensor sources in-system", which would also point to its effect being system-wide.
 
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Communications Jammer, Disruption Field Generator, and Command Center will definitely be system-unique with system-wide effects, and the flavor text for
Target Uplink Computer describes it as "an advanced targeting computer that collects and analyzes data from all friendly sensor sources in-system", which would also point to its effect being system-wide.
Yeah, I skipped over all the obviously system wide effect ones. I wouldn't put too much faith in flavor text being accurate to gameplay systems, considering the media conglomorate civic references the megacorps rise to fortune... even though the civic can be swapped into mid game. Annd just because the data is collected system wide, doesn't necessarily mean it's distributed back out to the entire system.
 
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Some issues:
1. M-Slot weapons as the default and only gun option for Starbases and Orbital Rings doesn't feel good when they're too short range to contribute to combat.
2. Modules adding HP and Armour but no Shields makes Neutron Launchers even stronger relative to all other weapons due to their damage bonuses.
3. Getting 60+ platforms per planet means 60+ clicks per planet. Without a defence manager this will be a painful number of clicks each game.
#2 I'm hoping the planetary shield will be extended to add +x% shields to the orbital ring [an orbiting d-platforms?]. Or have a tier 2 shield building that does that.

Right now it's looking like the planetary shield emitter is pretty outdated and could stand to be buffed.

We could get some other 'orbit buffing buildings' too. 'Munitions factories' increasing orbital fire power, 'sensor grids' boosting tracking or accuracy of platforms and the ring around the current planet, and so on.
 
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#2 I'm hoping the planetary shield will be extended to add +x% shields to the orbital ring [an orbiting d-platforms?]. Or have a tier 2 shield building that does that.

Right now it's looking like the planetary shield emitter is pretty outdated and could stand to be buffed.

We could get some other 'orbit buffing buildings' too. 'Munitions factories' increasing orbital fire power, 'sensor grids' boosting tracking or accuracy of platforms and the ring around the current planet, and so on.

That would be a very nice change to Planetary Shields. It does feel extremely odd that a tiny ship can mount proportionally far larger shields than starbases or entire planets and giving players the option to build a massive planetary shield that currently doesn't actually add any shield strength at all is just mean.

I'm not sure what the numbers should be for balancing, but considering it's using up one of the valuable planet building slots and giving no economic benefits (as well as requiring a tier 2 capital building and nearly 2 years construction time) it wouldn't be too powerful even with a rather large bonus.

As for the other suggestions (Munitions Factories, Sensor Grids etc.) I think I'd prefer trying to buff existing, less-fun or less-used buildings first before adding new ones. e.g. Munitions storage as a buff/upgrade or civic swap for Resource Silos, Sensor Grid tracking effects as a buff/upgrade to Sentinel Posts and also as a buff to the existing "Listening Post" starbase module since sensor range alone is often useless thanks to the recent additions of nebula systems which block vision.
 
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#2 I'm hoping the planetary shield will be extended to add +x% shields to the orbital ring [an orbiting d-platforms?]. Or have a tier 2 shield building that does that.

Right now it's looking like the planetary shield emitter is pretty outdated and could stand to be buffed.

We could get some other 'orbit buffing buildings' too. 'Munitions factories' increasing orbital fire power, 'sensor grids' boosting tracking or accuracy of platforms and the ring around the current planet, and so on.
Ground support infrastructure to support a bastion defense ring sounds wonderful. Have Fortresses give +1 defense platform. Maybe some special buildings that are purely for increasing the power of a planetary ring.
 
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Ground support infrastructure to support a bastion defense ring sounds wonderful. Have Fortresses give +1 defense platform. Maybe some special buildings that are purely for increasing the power of a planetary ring.

That would be a very nice change to Planetary Shields. It does feel extremely odd that a tiny ship can mount proportionally far larger shields than starbases or entire planets and giving players the option to build a massive planetary shield that currently doesn't actually add any shield strength at all is just mean.

I'm not sure what the numbers should be for balancing, but considering it's using up one of the valuable planet building slots and giving no economic benefits (as well as requiring a tier 2 capital building and nearly 2 years construction time) it wouldn't be too powerful even with a rather large bonus.

As for the other suggestions (Munitions Factories, Sensor Grids etc.) I think I'd prefer trying to buff existing, less-fun or less-used buildings first before adding new ones. e.g. Munitions storage as a buff/upgrade or civic swap for Resource Silos, Sensor Grid tracking effects as a buff/upgrade to Sentinel Posts and also as a buff to the existing "Listening Post" starbase module since sensor range alone is often useless thanks to the recent additions of nebula systems which block vision.

I envision the Planetary Shield as something like the SLD-26 planetary shield generator .... :cool: would be great, if it worked for starbases, but at least for orbital rings and their DP....

 
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Possibly. Feedback is appreciated.

All numbers and previews are still subject to change.

Personally think specialist vassals should be limited to one of each type.

Gameplay wise this limits spam releasing small vassals to stack empire wide bonuses, and the specialist advisor bonus is capped to one of each type already anyway so this is cohesive.

Specialised organisations are usually achieved by concentrating specialist resources in one place anyway, like the Adeptus Mechanicus in 40k (which is a scholarium as I see it). Nobody has two DARPAs, splitting resources and competition between the two would probably end up being counterproductive.

Nerfing the AP or Feudal Society civic to prevent this is and requiring both in tandem to avoid divided patronage is pretty restrictive for empires that can't take both (gestalts, megacorps, egalitarians) and want to play a vassal focused build.
 
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I think we should be able to make more of the same specialised vassal if we like, but possibly limit the adviser to one per specialised vassal type, so a max of 3 advisers?
 
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I think we should be able to make more of the same specialised vassal if we like, but possibly limit the adviser to one per specialised vassal type, so a max of 3 advisers?
if we must have shared desteny et al drop dividad pationage altogether (please don't) the benifits could be made less stackable. in leu of +3% research for scolaria, they could work like 2-way protectorites. -40% tech cost for overlord for any tech known to any scholarium, or for scholaria for tech known to the overlord.
 
Personally think specialist vassals should be limited to one of each type.

Gameplay wise this limits spam releasing small vassals to stack empire wide bonuses, and the specialist advisor bonus is capped to one of each type already anyway so this is cohesive.

Specialised organisations are usually achieved by concentrating specialist resources in one place anyway, like the Adeptus Mechanicus in 40k (which is a scholarium as I see it). Nobody has two DARPAs, splitting resources and competition between the two would probably end up being counterproductive.

Nerfing the AP or Feudal Society civic to prevent this is and requiring both in tandem to avoid divided patronage is pretty restrictive for empires that can't take both (gestalts, megacorps, egalitarians) and want to play a vassal focused build.


i don't realy like the idea of limiting the specilization numbers , at least , not for the resource producers and the bulkwark .
you may want to keep vassals as bearing nation , or keep your vassals as resource producers to receive the extra resources of those places to keep your industry without paying for that sprawl .
as you may be RP as a empire of thinker and wanting to keep a number of vassals as scholars .

i think its better to work on bonuses in a way that don't give you something as rare as research speed ( an ascension , a tradition finished exploration , give 10% research speed. that building alone would give 12% with 3 science ships around it. ) if it was a fixed amount of research , it could have been perfectly balanced ( like the machine special holding )



about the AP or feudal.... i think the AP should give the full bonus they propose. because thats an AP . that will specialize your empire for the whole game , and you can't change that . ever.

feudal society should be reduced as a game-start civic , and that could be changed or embraced at any time of the game , it would simply be too significant.
 
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I think completely eliminating the loyalty drain with having too many vassals should be a definite if you have both the perk and the civic.

If your going to go down this playstyle route that requires both a civic and a perk you should be rewarded by being able to go as far as you like down that playstyle, let players have as many vassals as they like if that's what they want. If your going to specialise your empire to that degree I don't see a point in still applying a penalty.
If that is so, it would be nice to have some sort of egalitarian civic or other non-authoritarian civic which also allows to negate the penalty as a non-authoritarian empire (outside of franchising for megacorps), in order to allow non-imperial and non-megacorp empires to also be able to focus on vassals.
 
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What happens if you quantum jump into a system and you miss into a system controlled by an empire with closed borders? Does your fleet just go instantly MIA?
 
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it sounds like they won't be as strong as proper starbases for defense, which doesn't bode well for them militarily, as Bastian starbases are too week already.
First off Starbases are not to weak because they only have difficulties keeping up with the power of large fleets late game. Pretty much the entire early to mid game if you end up next to a genocidal empire you have to commit to starbases to give you the firepower you need to actually face them since you will never compete with them on fleet size. Only late game do they start to become obsolete.

Second, as the Devs have said multiple times, this system does not replace and cannot substitute starbases. The star base must still exist in the system and then you will also be able to build one of these around every inhabited planet. This means that they are a much more powerful system than before because you're not just counting one defense system, you're counting this system plus any other inhabited planet in the same system, plus the Starbase, plus whatever planetary defenses you decide to put on the surface if you're going full Cadia. The screenshot the devs posted showed a system filled with defenses which outnumbered an excess of 500k fleet power, which is enough to hold against a crisis fleet, so why you wouldn't utilize them is beyond me. The amount of penalties that are coming to fleet power in this next patch (due to war enclaves and vassal requirements) are going to make it impossible to exist on the pure only build military fleets and don't touch starbases mindset that some people are convinced are the meta even though the devs have been stripping that away for a long time now.
 
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It may just be better to keep the current system in place, where shared destiny eliminates the penalty for having too many vassals. As implementing this many civics would probably clutter the empire creation menu.
 
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With "Overlord" DLC coming it seems like it would now be a good idea to allow players to start in already established galaxy (meaning everyone already met each other, galactic community has formed and all stars are taken except those that have some hostile creatures in it). It would open possiblies for Imperium/Custodian origins, fitting the theme of Overlord.
 
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I wonder if the player will be able to name that political construct one can rule over as Overlord, whether it be the traditional Holy Roman Empire or an egalitarian version of that like the USA or something else. Sort of like being able to name a Hegemony federation. Would be a nice little flavor.
Also are those holdings open to the Emperor of the Galactic Imperium as well? Maybe even to the Custodian as well if certain special resolutions are implemented?
 
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With "Overlord" DLC coming it seems like it would now be a good idea to allow players to start in already established galaxy (meaning everyone already met each other, galactic community has formed and all stars are taken except those that have some hostile creatures in it). It would open possiblies for Imperium/Custodian origins, fitting the theme of Overlord.
While Im a bit skeptical of starting new games with no control of how the empire establishes itself, this would solve the solution of the cursed Hegemon and Federation origins which while in theory make you powerful but in actuality just make you end up in a competitive start where you're better off just absorbing the other two (which makes them op but obviously not for the reasons they should). Starting with an actual established empire and having your vassals also be small but established Empires would make it work much better even if it causes the whole game to start with already established empires to compensate for your own advantaged start. They could maybe add a setting called advanced start which automatically catapultes your game to a randomly generated late early game where you have an moderate presence in your local sector and general knowledge of your neighbors. All these origins can be set to only work for advanced start games so they can actually be balanced to work as designed.
 
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