• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Stellaris Dev Diary #264 - Damn the Consequences

‘Sup, trash bangers?

Today we’ll be taking a look at some of the features coming in the Toxoids Species Pack. As we’re on an accelerated dev diary schedule, there’s no time to lose! Let’s jump straight into this and turn it over to @Gruntsatwork .

Overtuned​


One of our two new Origins for Toxoids, Overtuned is the grim but exalting reminder that a brief life burns the brightest. Through invasive surgery and by modifying biochemical pathways you can impart your pops with 13 new overtuned traits. Each of these traits is a mirror to an already existing, far more survivable trait.

An Overtuned Empire being made


As you can see, the overtuned traits can even be picked with their “natural” opposing traits, or stacked with their mirrors for all your double-dipping needs. There are next to no restrictions on mixing them with other traits, so feel free to create whatever biological monstrosities you can imagine.

In practice, the overtuned traits are all about as strong or slightly weaker than their mirror traits, usually cheaper in trait point cost and reduce your leader lifespan depending on their point cost.

In addition to their normal effects, the origin will also grant you access to a new edict called “Damn the Consequences”.

This edict doubles the positive effect of all overtuned traits, but also doubles the upkeep of those pops. Its unity cost is a percentage of your own unity income, so you will always be able to damn the consequences. Furthermore, the edict has a lock-in period of 5 years, which means you will not be able to cancel the edict until it has been active for those 5 years.

New Traits​


With Toxoids, we are adding 4 new traits to the game, available to all portraits and 3 of these traits will be available at gamestart.

Incubators
Incubators

Incubator pops will enjoy only a modest bonus on their capital worlds given their starting number of pops but fresh colonies will quickly reveal its full power.

Inorganic Breath
Inorganic Breath

A small but flavorful addition to our trait roster, to better support your exotic needs.

Noxious
Noxious

Noxious pops will decrease the happiness of all non-noxious pops on the same planet, while in turn receiving a happiness bonus for every non-noxious and therefore unhappy pop. Talk about toxic neighbors.

Exotic Metabolism however, is an advanced Trait and will thus require fully finished Genetic Ascension, as it requires a robust economy to support their exotic upkeep.
Exotic Metabolism

Its benefits are strong, its upkeep severe and it requires a deep investment into biological enhancements, we hope to see some interesting builds with this.

Civics​


Toxoids will also bring 3 new civics with it, to give you more of that slimy but satisfying feeling.

Mutagenic Spas
Mutagenic Spas and Gestalt variants

Our first civic that does not start you out with its special building, Mutagenic Spas, and all of its alternate versions, give you the option of boosting your pop growth on highly industrialized worlds, as your pops enjoy the fruits of your pollution.

Relentless Industrialists
Relentless Industrialists

Relentless Industrialists will have to deal with an ongoing situation about the environmental effects of their increased efficiency in alloy and consumer goods production. Of course, should you be cold-hearted and profit-oriented enough, it becomes a self-solving problem, if you can afford to work in such a hostile environment.

Scavengers
Scavengers

Arriving hand in hand with one of our changes for the free patch, namely the ability to choose what you wish to gain from debris, alloys or research, the new Scavenger civic will allow an empire to gain both benefits as well as salvage some actual ships from the debris.

Megacorps have access to all three civics.

Detox Ascension Perk​

Detox Ascension Perk

Detox Ascension Perk

Even the toughest species can’t quite survive in a world that is entirely poisonous.

50% poisonous however is another beast altogether.

With the Detox ascension perk, empires will be able to turn those giant balls of death into giant balls of not-quite-death.

Given how perilous toxic worlds are, this act of terraforming will be a bit more involved than normal, since even after the initial phase makes them colonizable, there will be remnants of their toxic pasts interfering with their prosperity.

1662388911682.png


Next Dev Diary​

This Thursday we’ll have a dev diary from the Artists, including some interesting things about the character’s outfits and what we’ve done differently there.

See you then! Don't forget you can Pre-Order Toxoids Now!
 
  • 99Like
  • 46Love
  • 14
  • 2
  • 1
Reactions:
Will Mutagenic Spas only work with normal industrial districts or also with their upgraded versions on Ecumenopolis?
Mutagenic Spas will work with Ecumenopolis districts, ringworld districts and habitat districts, with greater scaling for habitats.
 
  • 28
  • 1Like
  • 1
Reactions:
What if my guys like venomous insects :mad: but yes, very excited for another way to make "new" planets and guilt-free terraforming.

Very glad to see megacorps getting some love; A post-apocalyptic relentless industrialist megacorp will make a great villain empire. Seconding that holdings would be very thematic. A relentless industrialist criminal megacorp... *shudders*

I don't know how possible it is but it would be great if scavengers could scavenge other empires' battles. Watching two neighbours duke it out and sneaking in to take a quick first peek at the results would be great (obviously without interfering with the other empires' ability to scavenge their own debris).
I just wanna know where the hell those venomous insects are coming from.
 
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Relentless Industrialists
1662387882711.png
View attachment 873726
Relentless Industrialists will have to deal with an ongoing situation about the environmental effects of their increased efficiency in alloy and consumer goods production. Of course, should you be cold-hearted and profit-oriented enough, it becomes a self-solving problem, if you can afford to work in such a hostile environment.

To stay in the same theme thoroughly, why the Tombs Worlds would not gradually become Toxic Planets?
When the planet becomes Toxic, the pops would be evacuated to another world.
 
  • 13Like
  • 3
  • 1
Reactions:
I'm hoping it's insects introduced through terraforming that have bioaccumulated environmental toxins. If it's native toxic insects then hey you jerks they were there first.
Ah yes, the native insects of 'checks notes' Venus.
 
  • 9Haha
Reactions:
I might've missed it, but are toxoids still effected by toxic worlds the same as others? or will it be different?
You can't start or colonize toxic worlds with toxoids...

They work as all others species, on normal worlds. The ONLY thing you can do with toxic worlds is detoxify them with an ascension perk to make them normal worlds with some malus blockers and it will take a while.
 
  • 3
Reactions:
Relentless industrialist radiotrophic feels great!
Yes, it might be the only way to reliably use the Tomb World Habitability offered by the Post-Apocalyptic origin. Still, it's a shame there's no way to terraform a planet into a Tomb World beside the Apocalypse bombardment, and now this. I hope the Custodians have something planned about this.
 
I really hope the Scavengers Civic will be made available to Gestalts, both HM and MI are in flavour especially the latter.
I already see value in a Machine Empire Role Playing as an autonomous Scavanger Bot that decided to settle a planet to extend its own reach.
 
  • 1
Reactions:
Relentless industrialists civic looks great for tomb world origin, lithoids and synth/bio ascension empires.
Missed opportunity to introduce toxic Colossus, though.
 
Incubators is just the existing s-curve pop growth but more so? Doesn't really fit the flavor text. I was hoping for something more horrifying. Is it going to make high-housing / low-jobs Breeder Worlds even more efficient?

Inorganic Breath (slaves / prepat) + Exotic Metabolism (masters / necroids) seems a bit too obvious. Is there something else to it?

Crafted Smile is going to be nice on Domestic Servants. No downside there, aside from the atrocities of slavery of course.

Relentless Industrialists - now we know why Rackets have that habitability preference.

 
  • 4Haha
  • 3
Reactions:
Machines will be able to be Relentless Industrialists, right? I just missed the part where you mentioned that, riiiiight? ;-)
 
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Machines will be able to be Relentless Industrialists, right? I just missed the part where you mentioned that, riiiiight? ;-)

Synth Ascension liked this post.
 
  • 4Haha
Reactions:
You might want to take a look at spliced adaptability, thats definitely one trait that’s overpowered.

+20% habitability (a 4 point effect) for only 1 point and 10 years of leader lifespan, it’s effectively 3 times the value of taking fleeting and extremely adaptive individually and is only one trait pick. It’s another aquatic.
Had the exact same thought, and big bonus, unlike Extremely Adaptive you can remove it once you don't need it without going full bio-ascension meaning you can go Psionic or Cybernetic (when that becomes a full path) instead, unless this origin locks you into bio.
 
I watch Montu's video on this DD, and he said that "Detox" will only let you terraform toxic worlds with the terraforming candidate modifier (based on what he saw at PDXCON); which leads me to ask if this is true?

This then leads me to ask if so: are there changes coming to how terraforming candidates are generated?

Which then leads me to ask: if there isn't any changes ... why is this an ascension perk and not just a rare technology?
 
Last edited:
  • 2
  • 1Like
Reactions:
It seems the Detox AP was made for the Toxic God origin, right ? (Supposing the Toxic God colossus turns planets in toxic worlds).

Because I doubt its worth it for any other empire.

Toxic worlds are not abundant, so you will waste a slot to terraform some planets here and there and still deal with a more difficult process and some bad blockers.
 
  • 2
  • 1
Reactions: