Stellaris Dev Diary #273 - A Peek into the Future

[Lorenerd11]

As noted, this should help Rogue Servitors who can't access Coordinator jobs

By the way, why do Rogue Servitors still get Coordinators on Habitats, and the Coordinator boosting Governors, modifiers, and minor artifact decision?

It feels like the Governor trait, and the Wenkwort Artem planet modifiers should affect bio-trophies instead (Why is there no unity benefit to putting my bio-trophies on the paradise planet! It makes no sense!), and the Artifact Relays decision removed for Rogue Servitors.

And the Coordinator on Habitats… I have no idea why it's even there in the first place, but if it must be there, it should be replaced with an Evaluator for all Machines, not even just Servitors.

 

[CometBliss]

Wait who is the artist! You forgot to give credit! Who drew these lovely icons?

 

[-Marauder-]

I don't understand the reasoning for giving Whispers in the Void a unity penalty. It's currently significantly underpowered, so why does it need a new penalty to go along with its buff?

Because Paradox for some reason thinks it's strong. The same applies to Eater of Worlds. Both are at best minor boons. Yet have huge drawbacks for how little they deliver. The real kicker is the random events that aren't really mentioned up front. They're pretty hefty and painful. So the running cost on top of it isn't justified, at all. Hell they actually nerfed Whisperer.

You'd arguably be better off without a covenant compared to how little Whisperer/Eater really offer. And Composer is pretty meh at best.

 

[klopkr]

Very excited for some more GC stuff.

 

[Ix:Risor]

I really like the look of the new GC resolutions and the new federation type. I am worried that the latter would make a state religion/philosophy rework less feasible in the future, though perhaps ecumenism is easier in space. Regardless, cool stuff!

 

[blahmaster6k]

so small question, is there any plan to add a little something to the "Common Ground" Origin that uniquely allows you to integrate/Merge with your two starting allies?
I have tried it a few times now and even though it's loads more fun with the new addition in the beta it just feels really clunky and annoying in the early to mid game when you need to race your allies for any type of planet.... or habitable rock.

I can offer a couple of tips here. Stay on expansion for diplomatic policy to make outposts cheaper and don't enter into any treaties with your allies. Spam naked corvettes to get power projection influence. Your two allies will sign migration/research treaties with each other and cripple their influence, so you can usually get the leg up on expansion in the early game. The expansion tradition also helps a lot here, though I usually prefer other options.

 

[Jamaican Castle]

I'd like us to give another pass on how the "holiness" of a Holy World is decided,

Spiritualist Fanatic Purifiers: "holiness" depends on how many holes it's got in it, right?

 

[blahmaster6k]

Spiritualist Fanatic Purifiers: "holiness" depends on how many holes it's got in it, right?

Your destruction is the will of the gods! And WE are their instrument!

 

[Mímisbrunnr]

Request for Clarification from anyone - dev, player, etc. Just want to make sure to know what system to expect before my next campaign.

"The Whisperers in the Void stability penalty has been reduced, but now imposes a small reduction in Unity production."

So, since I haven't Psionically ascended since before the beta 3.6 was updated after the original week , to make sure I'm not reading into this wrong - this implies that the covenant rework is already live in 3.6 beta then? (i.e. its different from the pre Dev-Diary 272 state.). Or do I misunderstand?

 

[Silesian Burd]

Woah, so the Politics Tree won't be available until you pass it as a Resolution in the Galactic Community?!

 

[Everstill]

I hope you guys consider a game setting for disabling Habitats, as the AI is spamming them and you have late game lag even if you reduce the habitable worlds.

 

[Nuclear Elvis]

Speaking of the future of Stellaris, and - this may be better placed in the "Suggestions" forum, but here goes:
- What about a "Nothing to Something" starting point in Stellaris that enables you to start BEFORE Space-Age tech is obtained, so you are basically one of those civilizations on a planet that has a more advanced alien species watching over you (or experimenting on you - randomized perhaps as to how brutal they are).

And then you essentially try to elevate yourself in spite of your slow start, but there could be something much like a "Prequel" of movies, where a good portion of game time is spent dealing with your non-Space Age situation.

Just an idea....

 

[Mímisbrunnr]

Also, what is the exact new Stability and Unity penalty for the Whisperer?

 

[HFY]

Spiritualist Fanatic Purifiers: "holiness" depends on how many holes it's got in it, right?

Xenocompatible Xenophile: "That's exactly correct."

 

[-Marauder-]

Also, what is the exact new Stability and Unity penalty for the Whisperer?

Whatever it is, it's likely going to be too high. I know a few people here get rabidly angry over pointing that out for some obscure reason despite seemingly having no counter point. But:

+10% Research speed. (Down from 15% prior).
+15% Infiltration Speed.
+2 Code Breaking
+15% Influence

Aren't really worth any number of Unity or Stability penalties. Especially since the Whisperer and all other patrons still retain their random events. For Whisperer that's

• can still give the substance abuser trait to a leader
• can still kill a leader
• can now kill 1 pop and cause -10 stability, +100% ethic shift chance and -200% gov. ethics attraction on a planet for 3600 days
• can now kill up to 8 pops and cause -20% unity production, +100% ethic shift chance and -200% gov. ethics attraction on a planet for 3600 days

Combine all of that, and the only genuinely useful bonus is a 10% research increase. The same you can get via technological ascendancy.

Eater of Worlds gives you what amounts to effectively 15% weapon damage, and 10% range. So basically three repeatables. In turn it massively increases your fleets cost. Anyone having a decent sized mid to early end game fleet should have a look at upkeep. We're talking 30-45k+ in energy credits alone here. That's absolutely bonkers compared to the rather minor benefit. Oh, and it also.

• can now eat a leader (if I read this correctly it's the highest level one)
• can still eat 1 pop and cause -20 happiness for 3600 days
• can still eat 3 pops and cause -40% happiness for 3600 days
• can no longer eat inhabited planets
• can now eat part of a planet (size > 12, only once per planet, no capital), creating a blocker (-2 districts, -5 stability, +6 phy/soc research)
• can now eat an uninhabitable planet, turning it into a shrouded world
  
  

  New Shroud Patron Random Events Overview

  Hello fellow psionics! With the covenant rework just revealed I decided to go through the shroud events file and compile what the new random adverse events are. There is a price to pay after all, and it's better to know that price before signing...

  forum.paradoxplaza.com
  
  
  It's good to see that Paradox takes the feedback into account and seems willing to adjust things. But currently the benefits and costs of most covenants stand in no relation to one another. The change to Instrument made it actually good and a decent pick with the additional zero to alloy/unity cost per pop. Really hoping the other three will get a similar treatment.

 

[Mímisbrunnr]

Whatever it is, it's likely going to be too high. I know a few people here get rabidly angry over pointing that out for some obscure reason despite seemingly having no counter point. But:

+10% Research speed. (Down from 15% prior).
+15% Infiltration Speed.
+2 Code Breaking
+15% Influence

Aren't really worth any number of Unity or Stability penalties. Especially since the Whisperer and all other patrons still retain their random events. For Whisperer that's

• can still give the substance abuser trait to a leader
• can still kill a leader
• can now kill 1 pop and cause -10 stability, +100% ethic shift chance and -200% gov. ethics attraction on a planet for 3600 days
• can now kill up to 8 pops and cause -20% unity production, +100% ethic shift chance and -200% gov. ethics attraction on a planet for 3600 days

Combine all of that, and the only genuinely useful bonus is a 10% research increase. The same you can get via technological ascendancy.

Eater of Worlds gives you what amounts to effectively 15% weapon damage, and 10% range. So basically three repeatables. In turn it massively increases your fleets cost. Anyone having a decent sized mid to early end game fleet should have a look at upkeep. We're talking 30-45k+ in energy credits alone here. That's absolutely bonkers compared to the rather minor benefit. Oh, and it also.

• can now eat a leader (if I read this correctly it's the highest level one)
• can still eat 1 pop and cause -20 happiness for 3600 days
• can still eat 3 pops and cause -40% happiness for 3600 days
• can no longer eat inhabited planets
• can now eat part of a planet (size > 12, only once per planet, no capital), creating a blocker (-2 districts, -5 stability, +6 phy/soc research)
• can now eat an uninhabitable planet, turning it into a shrouded world
  
  

  New Shroud Patron Random Events Overview

  Hello fellow psionics! With the covenant rework just revealed I decided to go through the shroud events file and compile what the new random adverse events are. There is a price to pay after all, and it's better to know that price before signing...

  forum.paradoxplaza.com
  
  
  It's good to see that Paradox takes the feedback into account and seems willing to adjust things. But currently the benefits and costs of most covenants stand in no relation to one another. The change to Instrument made it actually good and a decent pick with the additional zero to alloy/unity cost per pop. Really hoping the other three will get a similar treatment.

Well, yes, its a bad deal, but its that I just wanted to know for the sake of reference. The influence actually could be nice [for Habitats, Gateways, Ecus, etc.], but the drawbacks are too big.

 

[-Marauder-]

Well, yes, its a bad deal, but its that I just wanted to know for the sake of reference. The influence actually could be nice [for Habitats, Gateways, Ecus, etc.], but the drawbacks are too big.

15% is also way less than one would think. You need to get to roughly 7 influence to get a single bonus influence. Once you hit those numbers, you usually have way better ways to farm influence. Like carving up a neighbor into a dozen vassals all with a single holding to produce influence for example.

 

[Idle America]

Any fix for the asteroid event?

 

[Harkinian's Dinner]

Speaking of the future of Stellaris, and - this may be better placed in the "Suggestions" forum, but here goes:
- What about a "Nothing to Something" starting point in Stellaris that enables you to start BEFORE Space-Age tech is obtained, so you are basically one of those civilizations on a planet that has a more advanced alien species watching over you (or experimenting on you - randomized perhaps as to how brutal they are).

And then you essentially try to elevate yourself in spite of your slow start, but there could be something much like a "Prequel" of movies, where a good portion of game time is spent dealing with your non-Space Age situation.

Just an idea....

I've always wanted an option for a start like that. Keep in mind that in earlier versions of Stellaris you DID start with much less tech - Colony ships for example needed to be researched, same with level 1 ship components except for a single starting weapon, and the home system didn't start out fully surveyed either. If you look at the list of researched techs right after starting the game, you'll notice it's already very extensive from the beginning. It's pretty easy to mod the starting techs into techs you have to research though!

 

[Psykhes]

15% is also way less than one would think. You need to get to roughly 7 influence to get a single bonus influence. Once you hit those numbers, you usually have way better ways to farm influence. Like carving up a neighbor into a dozen vassals all with a single holding to produce influence for example.

Either I misunderstand you or you are missing something here.

All Stellaris resources (including influence) use decimals. You can have an influence income of 1.15. It shows as "1" in the info bar, but you get the real value when you do a mouseover. And it adds up that way - 1.15, 2.30, etc. So you get that 1.15 bonus always, you do not need to reach a 7 influcne/month income for it to have an effect.