Stellaris Dev Diary #347 - Stellaris 3.12.5 "Andromeda" Preliminary Release Notes

[Panzerslothen]

Sometimes I wonder about some of the balance changes. I wouldn't disagree about them in general but in my opinion they are not the glaring elephant in the room.

For example, a rather small nerf to Harmony/Synchronicity (5% less) seems more important then making changes to the Aptitude tradition tree. This tree has a really nice opener but the rest is garbage. While there are better, worse and situational tradition trees, i won't ever consider choosing Aptitude in any playthrough.

Same goes for some civics like Heroic Past / Precision Cogs / etc. It doesn't even do something besides it effect which has zero impact. A completely dead civic.
Some ascension perks are in a rough state too, like Detox.

Those are more easy to adjust then some interface improvements (for example when assigning a governor to a planet you go through the unordered list of all your leaders).

Edit2: Or a recent example: Computation Core Focus policy for MegaCorp synthetically ascended Bio. It simply does nothing. The colonies you are working those jobs will have 0-5 clerks at maximum (for example Forge Ecu). And even then it is way more beneficial for each pop to work on another of those specified jobs then as a clerk buffing them.

Edit: Please don't get me wrong. I like the devs dedication and work and see nothing wrong in what is listed in the patch notes. However in my humble opinion it would be nice to sometimes have a broader view about some other issues besides those in the latest DLC.

Agreed with this. Also, why did Harmony need to take a hit from the nerf bat? It was finally starting to get good! I'd like to see general but slight buffs to most* Traditions, not nerfs.

*Some are fine as they are (I'm looking at you, Supremacy). Others need some serious attention (Aptitude, man, WTF happened to you?!), others could stand a spruce up (Justice for mah boii Expansion...). They massively improved Adaptability. The others can get some love too!


Anyway, on another point. Devs: you added tooltips to the Galaxy Screen for Arc Furnaces and Habitats. How about doing the same for Dyson Swarms? Top bloke Garvins on the Steam Workshop has made this mod to so do, but unfortunately it alters the checksum Please could something like this be adapted into the base game?

 

[Mcgan]

better question, when is can_think used without exception for serviles?

From a search for can_think:

• Factions
• The cleanup drones from the orbital trash event
• Refugees (mindless pops can't flee)

Edit: not Mortal Initiate or Knights, though I thought that initially.

And of course, happiness. For a trait that gives +10% happiness, this is the most ridiculous one.

Spoiler

species_has_happiness = {
    NOR = {
        AND = {
            has_trait = trait_machine_unit
            from = { has_authority = auth_machine_intelligence }
        }
        has_trait = trait_hive_mind
        can_think = no
        AND = {
            has_trait = trait_mechanical
            OR = {
                NOT = { exists = from }
                from = { has_authority = auth_machine_intelligence }
                from = { NOT = { has_technology = tech_synthetic_workers } }
                from = { has_policy_flag = ai_outlawed }
            }
        }
        AND = {
            has_trait = trait_cybernetic
            exists = from
            from = {
                OR = {
                    AND = {
                        has_authority = auth_machine_intelligence
                        has_civic = civic_machine_assimilator # Assimilator empire
                    }
                    AND = {
                        has_authority = auth_democratic
                        has_country_flag = cyber_collectivist
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

So sure, it's not often. It's just often enough to be problem.
And remember, it was a problem when they did a similar change to allows_purge a few versions ago. The change was to remove just one entry. It fixed around 5 bugs, but created a new one: all empires with the "Displacement Only" policy were no longer able to do any displacement. There was only one exception, but it caused a pretty big problem. So how many exceptions there are really does not matter (as long as there is at least one).

 

[Rayzen10]

Problem: nanite worlds need some specializations so that autobuild can work.

Thanks !

 

[Calvax]

Problem: nanite worlds need some specializations so that autobuild can work.

Thanks !

Given it’s intended to be played wide this is a must for those who aren’t a fan of managing tonnes of worlds!

 

[CocoCincinnati]

• Reworked how Fallen Empires view empires trying to match their technological level. Unless you're a Scion, any FE level tech you acquire will accrue a stacking opinion penalty with them, that is doubled for the materialist Fallen Empire.

I thought this was a good idea on first reading this but the implementation seems to be very punishing and much earlier than I expected. Playing fanatic materialist and going cosmogenesis and I start getting threats to "prostrate myself or else" almost immediately after getting level 2 of cosmogenesis. It is impossible to stand up to them at this point in the game, so I accept the humiliation with some very hefty penalties to unity, happiness and especially research for 10 years and once that time is up it's not long before you get the same threat and again have to accept. What this boils down to is a very large nerf to the cosmogenesis path which is in effect more often than not from level 2 onward.

 

[TimelessWander]

Wide empires get nerfed again.

 

[Adaman5280]

Wide empires get nerfed again.

the war on wide is a total war it seems, there will be no peace.

 

[Groupoid]

Please fix the Can_think bug with Serviles pop before patch 3.13.