Stellaris Dev Diary #284 - Broken Shackles

[CGInglis]

is there a way to compensate for low hab species on the homeworld? what are the jobs and buidings on your starting planet?

Jobs and buildings on the starting planet are special!

 

[CGInglis]

Interesting. The origin bypassing the game settings heavily implies the origin will be unavailable to AI.

How will the origin interact with civics that normally start you with a special building? I see that they have no free building slots to put them in.

Other notes:

• I count 29 starting pops, with no more than 3 from most species, 8 from what appears to be the primary species, and 9 from one other species. Interesting that your species starts as a minority in your own empire.
• I'm guessing that the other high density species will be shared with the Payback empire.
• In addition to all the tech and infrastructure deficits, most of your pops start with 20% habitability on your starting planet. Oof. You're not kidding about challenging here.
• I wonder if you start with the rescued from slavery pop happiness modifier at least?
• I also see that you don't get the 3 starting Corvettes. Not too big a deal by itself, but there's a good chance that means you also don't start with a science ship. Maybe not even an upgraded starbase.
• Specifically mentioning that "the demands of various factions will need to be appeased" implies you'll start with a randomized assortment of pop ethics in addition to the randomized species.

Good notes. There's lots to juggle!

 

[CGInglis]

In the name of the toxic god, by the grace of his imperial majesty, every last samurai in the empire will be sent to put an end to this abomination.

My empire of space foxes will not tolerate such a Megacorporation.

フリーダム!!

 

[CGInglis]

Playing as Escaped Slaves who have to start from Scratch again? Basically playing a Pre-FTL Empire? God, my heart. I always loved the Concept of playing a Pre-FTL Empire, and now that you aldo can establish communications with other Pre-FTL Empires, its like a Wish came True.

Much love to the Devs!

<3

 

[CGInglis]

is "your ladder to the sky" just a marker for minamar or does it do stuff for them? like does their AI get different parameters from it? DO they behave slightly different?

MSI is a vibe.

 

[CGInglis]

He Who Fight monsters ... Often becomes no better than the monsters

an Empire with Broken Shackles becoming a Slaver empire themselves has potential for delicious story-telling

 

[CGInglis]

Love everything about it! The portrait, the mechanics, the possibilities. Looks great!

<3

 

[Alfray Stryke]

Do you ever intend to make the MSI playable?

Not currently, but I expect a mod will do that within 5 minutes of release.

What effects does the Ladder to stars origin have for the MSI nation?

They start with a relic world plus a few other things.

Is the Origin challenging only at the start or will you gain benefits you normally wouldn't in the long run to compensate for the low-tech start?

I'd consider the wide array of randomly generated species you get to be the primary benefit of the origin.

is "your ladder to the sky" just a marker for minamar or does it do stuff for them? like does their AI get different parameters from it? DO they behave slightly different?

MSI also has a unique AI personality.

How will the origin interact with civics that normally start you with a special building?

You won't get those buildings.

. Will the homeworlds be under MSI control, or will they spawn as individual (subjugated?) empires?

The majority of your species' homeworlds are pre-ftl civilizations.

How will the number of starting species scale with galaxy size? From the screenshot it looks like this origin will have nine species, ten with the MSI. For smaller Galaxies this would be way too many, if they were to get an empire each.

Do the MSI and potential other empires count towards the number of empires set at galaxy creation?

They don't count towards galaxy generation settings, but the origin only force spawns two other empires (MSI and a Payback empire).

Can random AI empires spawn with this origin?

They're currently blocked.

 

[Eladrin]

The Broken Shackles origin gives you a few pops of the species you create, adds your homeworld as a pre-FTL civilization, and then fills your planet up with other pre-FTL pops from across the galaxy.

How crazy your initial species list is depends largely on the galaxy settings - if you crank up the number of Pre-FTL worlds, then yeah, you may be running out of colors pretty early.

This one earned the title "Challenging" though - you start with a technological and infrastructural disadvantage, with an advanced empire out there that you hate, and it's quite possible that your other friends may be fish out of water, wholly unsuitable for life on, say, a desert planet. There are a number of advantages though, if you can pull everything together - with a diversity of species, you'll likely be able to colonize nearly anything you find, and the melting pot of your capital might benefit from the differing points of view.

 

[Eladrin]

nice!
is the number of pops you start with a set number?
does that mean that if you start with less primitives (or no primitives at all) you'll start with more pops of each species?
what happens if several players in a multiplayer game start with Broken Shackles? do the main species count towards the number of primitive species in the galaxy (for example, if Broken Shackles would normally spawn four primitives and two players would pick Broken Shackles, would the game generate two random primitives and two playable empire primitive homeworlds?)

The total number of pops you start with is static, their composition varies based on what's out there. If multiple people start with Broken Shackles, they count as valid targets for this game start population. It searches for any non-gestalt Pre-FTL civilizations that do not have "special planet requirements".

 

[Alfray Stryke]

ooooh, so that means you could do a coop multiplayer game where you break off the MSI!
sounds really fun.
last but not least and i apologise for the barrage of questions, if a third multiplayer empire were to start as a Payback empire, would they get picked up as the forcefully spawned one for all Broken Shackles players? if so then this DLC has huge potential for multiplayer RP games.

Yes, if there's a player Payback empire in the galaxy, it shouldn't spawn an AI Payback empire. Also the species from a Payback empire is eligible to be selected for the starting pops for Broken Shackles.

 

[Eladrin]

Now THERE'S a tease!

You all know me well enough at this point to notice the precision of my phrasing.

Is there any way we can make sure certain species are part of the Broken Shackles? E.g., if I want human slaves?

You'll have to play the humans if you want to ensure that humans will absolutely be part of Broken Shackles. Now, since humans can show up as a pre-FTL society, they might show up anyway, but if the UNE and COM or one of the other variants of humans show up, they won't unless you're forcing it by making humans your primary species.

I like the non black-white morality you are going with for the megacorp empire.

They're pretty dark, to be honest, but mainly from your perspective. With Broken Shackles, they're annoyed that a shipment got lost and it hit the balance sheet negatively, but they don't hold it against you too much. (@CGInglis ' greeting text when you first meet MSI captures their arrogance perfectly.) As for Payback... well... they're a little more upset.

• Something like this origin has been requested for a long time, but what was the thought process behind going for a specific storyline with a set empire (with a set name) instead of leveraging the randomisation system?
• Even though there is a set story, this diary is mainly mechanics focused, I can't really tell how extensive the story/event content is. Would you compare it to something like On the Shoulders of Giants, Knights of the Toxic God or Remnants?
• There's no opportunity now for a less scripted version of this origin in the future, I suppose?

The more variables that are introduced, the less coherent the narrative will be.

Emergent narratives should still occur - in the game I just got out of, I'm on the opposite side of the galaxy and didn't meet MSI until the GalCom formed. Right now I'm jockeying to form the council so I can strike them down with a political hammer.

We're mostly showing the mechanical side so you'll be able to enjoy the events yourself. I'd probably place it closest to OtSoG of those three, though a lot of it is self driven - if you don't seek out your homeworlds, or they get eaten by a devouring swarm, then things will turn out a little differently. You'll also sometimes get the choice of whether you have a truly free society, or if you're actually just a bunch of hypocrites no better than MSI. And sometimes those choices may backfire.

 

[Eladrin]

will Broken Shackles be compatible with the Corporate empire type?

Free* at last!

Yes.

 

[Alfray Stryke]

Free* at last!

Yes.

* Terms and conditions apply

 

[Eladrin]

So - MSI doesnt want any payment for the lost ship and slaves? No recompensation for the megacorp required?

For your civilization, Minamar Specialized Industries showing up is the most important moment in their lives - an encounter that changed everything.

For them, it was Tuesday.

(They like to pretend they're over it, but they're not. They do actually hold a grudge.)