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Stellaris Dev Diary #345 - Upcoming 3.12.3 Improvements

Hello everybody!

Last week we released 3.12.2 to the public, and since then we’ve been working on further post release support. Today we’ll be going into some of the things we’re planning for a 3.12.3 release. Currently we’re looking at next Thursday as the tentative release date, but we’ll keep you posted.

Selected Changes and Improvements from the Changelog​

Following the deluge of feedback from the release of The Machine Age, 3.12.3 will include the following changes:
  • Selecting the “physical” path for Synthetic Ascension will unlock the advanced machine traits from the Modularity path for Machines.
  • Selecting the “virtual” path for Synthetic Ascension will unlock the Virtual Economic Policy from the Virtuality path for Machines. (Though the policy has been rebalanced.)
  • The unique planetary features added from the Transformation situation are now kept when turning a planet into an ecumenopolis or restoring a shattered ringworld.
  • Synthetic authorities have been rebalanced.
  • The Commodities Consolidation situation will now show if you are on track to produce enough consumer goods or if you do not have enough storage space to the quota.
  • The Virtuality, Modularity and Nanotech tradition trees now have agendas.
  • Cybernetic Creed:
    • Embracing a Cybernetic Creed no longer forces a template onto your species.
    • Embracing a Cybernetic Creed now gives +10% Faction Approval when they become your sole Spiritualist faction (This does not apply if you unite the Creeds).
    • Embracing a Cybernetic Creed now awards a unique country modifier for that Creed.
    • Non-Spiritualist pops in a Cybernetic Creed empire now only have the Cybernetic Creed traits removed instead of all Cyborg traits.
  • Synthetic Fertility:
    • Your choice in the Virtual Salvation event now influences the Synthetic Society Shift in the Digital Refactoring event chain.
    • Finishing the situation now grants access to the Subsidized Identity Backups and Optimized Identity Creation edicts.
    • Completing the Synthetic Fertility event chain will now grant additional robot modification trait points and picks and award a unique free trait for your synthetically ascended population.
  • Refugees won't willingly resettle to the Synaptic Lathe anymore.
  • Dark Matter Engines have been reduced from +60% Resource Production to +40%
  • Virtuality Adoptions grants a -15% metallurgist and artisan production

Solar System Tooltips​

As a small QOL UX improvement, if you can construct Arc Furnaces or Habitats, the tooltips for solar systems will now include a summary of the system potential for both megastructures.

Arc Furnace Potential and Habitat Orbital Capacity Screenshot

Kill-a-Structure​

Long have the conquered Hyper Relays of your fallen enemies been the bane of your economy, however in 3.12.3, this will be changing with the addition of the ability to dismantle select kilostructures.

Kilostructures that will be allowed to be dismantled (for a moderate energy and time investment) will be limited to:
  • Gateways
  • Hyper Relays
  • Dyson Swarms
  • Arc Furnaces

As always, modders will have the ability to extend this to their megastructures (and make us weep in horror).

No Disassemble Number 5!

The pesky UNE will soon have their railway network dismantled!

Even better if you have a Scavenger civic, dismantling buildings, districts and kilostructures will give you a slight refund on any physical resources used to construct them.

1716294358494.png

Election Tweaks​

We’ve added the ability for Civics (and other sources of country modifiers) to easily modify the length and variance of election terms along with the government screen now showing the length of election terms in your empire. Two civics have made use of these changes

Worker Cooperative now has a -50% to Election Term Length making it have the same as a regular Democracy.

1716294374506.png

Meanwhile, Shadow Council now grants +5 to Election Term Variance, as the powers-that-be in the shadows ensure elections never occur on a regular basis.

1716294386415.png

What’s Next​

If all goes according to plan, next week’s dev diary will be the 3.12.3 release notes. I expect that we'll have one more release after that before we head off for the summer, so keep on submitting bug reports and suggestions, they’re very helpful for allocating post-release support resources.

See you next week!
 
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Is there any chance that in the Bug Report forum of a sticky ranking the bugs and which are being addressed. I really tire of seeing developer responses stating something is a Dupe because we never know what developers consider important enough to fix and what we should just plan to keep playing around or seeking a mod to fix.

At least throw us a bone with some of the more repeatedly commented on issues as to if they are going to be addressed.
I've been reporting less and less because it takes effort and feels like speaking into the void (even though in the end they might get fixed)
 
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There will be some adjustments to how the lathe works, though it'll still be extremely powerful at what it does, and the Fallen Empires will have more of an opinion regarding unworthy upstarts exploring technologies that they are unworthy of. The Materialist Fallen Empire will also remember that their historic job is literally to prevent people from researching dangerous technologies that could threaten the universe, and may have some words.

Unless you're their Scion, of course. Then your antics are cheeky and amusing.
You can't still be a Scion and take Cosmogenesis, can you? You would need independence first.
 
These changes will also impact empires that acquire such technologies through non-Cosmogenesis means. (But of course, as they'll have fewer of them, they won't stack quite so much.)

Cosmogenesis is still a Crisis path. There must be reasons to not always pursue it.
Has there been any discussion regarding obtaining the Fallen Empire building technologies without going the Cosmogenesis path? Or perhaps even a totally separate technology path that is available only to non-crisis empires?

It feels like if I don't take Cosmogenesis, my empire will hit a technological dead end.
 
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Has there been any discussion regarding obtaining the Fallen Empire building technologies without going the Cosmogenesis path? Or perhaps even a totally separate technology path that is available only to non-crisis empires?

It feels like if I don't take Cosmogenesis, my empire will hit a technological dead end.

thats neurotic
 
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I meant to quote Alfray directly but that was detected as spam.

Why not give synths the additional trait points/trait picks instead of taking the flagship feature of modularity?

To quote your dev diary.

The most advanced traits require the most advanced minds. By embracing Modularity, your empire will have access to traits other machines can only theorize at. The rarest of resources will fuel your enhanced shells.
Other machines seemingly do not include the organics who decided to become machines just a few years ago.

The point of the ascensions is to make them drastic and distinct, otherwise we are just waiting for cyborgs to realize they can have big erudite brains as well. ;)

If nothing else it will make it easier to balance in the future if modularity and synthetic is not linked this way (when we take remaining asymmetriers stemming from asimilation/adv gov types into account).

Another small thing, servitors have no cordinators so that pick in modularity does nothing. We had the same problem with harmony before, The easiest soloution is to let bio trophies inherit the functionality to some degree. They are after all the coordinator replacement. This might also make worldshaper an interesting alternative to machine world for mixed unity/resource worlds.
 
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I meant to quote directly but that was detected as spam.

Why not give synths the additional trait points/trait picks instead of taking the flagship feature of modularity?

To quote your dev diary.


Other machines seemingly do not include the organics who decided to become machines just a few years ago.

The point of the ascensions is to make them drastic and distinct, otherwise we are just waiting for cyborgs to realize they can have big erudite brains as well. ;)

I agree 100%.
 
I meant to quote Alfray directly but that was detected as spam.

Why not give synths the additional trait points/trait picks instead of taking the flagship feature of modularity?

To quote your dev diary.


Other machines seemingly do not include the organics who decided to become machines just a few years ago.

The point of the ascensions is to make them drastic and distinct, otherwise we are just waiting for cyborgs to realize they can have big erudite brains as well. ;)

If nothing else it will make it easier to balance in the future if modularity and synthetic is not linked this way (when we take remaining asymmetriers stemming from asimilation/adv gov types into account).

Another small thing, servitors have no cordinators so that pick in modularity does nothing. We had the same problem with harmony before, The easiest soloution is to let bio trophies inherit the functionality to some degree. They are after all the coordinator replacement. This might also make worldshaper an interesting alternative to machine world for mixed unity/resource worlds.
Imo, new machine ascensions are infinitely more fun and engaging then dull extra trait points and trait picks. New government types are ok, but also not nearly as interesting.
 
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I dont know how Synths gaining Modularity traits will leave modularity, even if Modularity get more traits points (With Mechanist and new Synth F. the difference is honestly not a lot, 1 Point and 2 Picks), Synthethic stills gets 20% base robot output (10% from tradition + 10% Artificial Admnistration Tech) and the new Synthetic authorities bonus which in many cases include additional output bonuses (Wich by themselves are nice, dont get me wrong) plus lets not forget the universal assimilation.

Sure Modularity and machines will still have better assembly speed but i dont know if it will be competitive.

It feels like Synthetics will be just overall better than modularity given how powerfull general output bonuses and the universal assimilation are.

EDIT:

There is also Upkeep, DME (the star of the show really), with 40% output and EFuel with 15% output, their drawback is the upkeep in DM and gases per pop respectively BUT the synth tradition tree has a built in -25% Robot upkeep if you add -20% Robot upkeep from F. Materialists, you get a wonderfull -45% Robot upkeep reduction then you add Harmony... among other things...


I think i now understand why modularity gave no bonus at all to Robot upkeep and gave Upkeep from Jobs.
 
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Any other changes to the Nanite machine ascension planned for either this patch or future ones, particularly to make it feel more like you populous has actually ascended they are no different then any other machines in any other non ascended empire. In roleplay as well as mechanically does not feel great, its like you did not even ascend at all, only have unlocked access research into the use of nanites. It does not fit the in game lore, which describes your machines becoming able to organize themselves into any form that they need.

As well as make Nanite worlds something you might pick over a machine world or ecumnopolis. I also feel it odd that we only have access to swarmers and not the larger vessels.
 
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Any other changes to the Nanite machine ascension planned for either this patch or future ones, particularly to make it feel more like you populous has actually ascended they are no different then any other machines in any other non ascended empire. In roleplay as well as mechanically does not feel great, its like you did not even ascend at all, only have unlocked access research into the use of nanites. It does not fit the in game lore, which describes your machines becoming able to organize themselves into any form that they need.

As well as make Nanite worlds something you might pick over a machine world or ecumnopolis. I also feel it odd that we only have access to swarmers and not the larger vessels.

I think being able to somehow merge the nanite ships into bigger ships (like the mothership, etc) would be great for nanite ascension.
 
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Here's another basic UI/UX suggestion I would absolutely love to see implemented:

When hovering over an entire Fleet (be that Naval or Army Transport fleet), displaying the total Upkeep for it as a fleet, in a single easy-to-see spot.

Currently you can only see the upkeep for an individual ship. It also shows the Upkeep before any modifiers are applied, which doesn't tell you what you're actually paying on a monthly basis.

This would be very useful.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to shill for an old suggestion of mine; specifically, including the total job availability and total unemployment on the Demographics tab of the Empire information board. Please!
 
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In 3.12.3 will Synthetically ascended pops work Mortal Initiate jobs? My imperial machine death cult suddenly stopped caring about sacrifices. Individualistic machines do, so I don't get why synthetically ascended bio-pops do not.
I have made a bug report in the case that this is unintentional.
 
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It feels like if I don't take Cosmogenesis, my empire will hit a technological dead end.
Well, in one my game I suddenly dropped 300 pops into the lathe and surprisingly I started to pump out repeatables at a rate of 1 per month so no wonder you feel that.
True I had to quickly rush the construction of my dyson sphere in the Cybrex Alpha system (there's just something about a Ringworld and a Dyson sphere in a single system that forces me to do it) but honestly, the 9k energy credits cost was rather bearable as I was basically the only megacorp in a galaxy full of trading empires!
*laughs in criminal syndicate*
tenor.gif


In a short time I reached fallen empire's tech weight, and after Cetana's appearance I surpassed them. I'd do it again if I just gathered 300 pops into it again, but I'm almost a pacifist as I have my branch offices everywhere... actually how do I turn fanatic pacifist? it'd help my empire size a ton!
 
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The Materialist Fallen Empire will also remember that their historic job is literally to prevent people from researching dangerous technologies that could threaten the universe, and may have some words.
"We do not help them, or let them in. We keep knowledge they must never have."

Brotherhood of Steel.png
 
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The Digital Refactoring event chain you should get after completing Synthetic ascension allows you to choose if you want your government to be focused on the physical or virtual, choosing to go virtual replaces the Synth trait on your pops and leaders with the Virtual trait.

I've completely started a new game(same Empire, though). Gone through the Digital Refactoring event, and there's nothing in the game that says my pops are Virtual, that I can see. I have reformed my government, but after that, there was no other options.
Screenshot from 2024-05-25 21-21-27.png


Screenshot from 2024-05-25 21-23-57.png
 
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I've completely started a new game(same Empire, though). Gone through the Digital Refactoring event, and there's nothing in the game that says my pops are Virtual, that I can see. I have reformed my government, but after that, there was no other options.
View attachment 1138808

View attachment 1138809
That third trait (after habitability and that they are machines) is Virtual. Your ruler has the Virtual leader trait.
 
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