Stellaris Dev Diary #352 - Stellaris 3.13 'Vela' Improvements and Preliminary Release Notes

[DarkHelmet110985]

It may have been said already(8 pages at this point) but I think you may need to consider upping the amount of Strategic Resources produced by Miners from 0.20 to 0.33(if not higher). The reasoning for this is that 1 Strategic Gatherer currently produces 2 Resources from 1 job. Based on what has been shown, 1 Strategic Deposit yields 3 Mining Districts or 6 Miners if utilized. To generate the same amount of Strategic Resource output, those 6 Miners would have to produce 0.33 to yield the output of what a Strategic Gatherer does now. Is 3 Districts/6 jobs worth the value of a Building Slot that produced 1 job? Eh perhaps, if we have Subterranean Origin(which btw, does get a big boost here) but outside of that, I don't think it does considering Districts are a finite resource too. If we get a Planet that's rich in Generator Districts but happens to have Volatile Mote Deposits because its a Dry Climate World... kind of sucks don't you think? I do recommend you modify Mineral Purification Plants/Hubs to increase output of Strategic Resources(on top of base Mineral Output). I figure 0.15 and 0.30 respectively would do the trick as that would yield 0.50 with Hubs. 4 Miners = 1 Strategic Gatherer is a bit easier to swallow at that point.

Oh and one more thing, might want to take a look at Suggestions page: Strategic Suggestion TLDR: Author basically suggests that you reduce the burden on Miners by shifting some of the load to Technicians and Farmers. Namely, Technicians would produce Volatile Motes while Farmers would produce Exotic Gases. This is extended towards Refineries where Energy is processed into Volatile Motes and Food is converted into Exotic Gases. The latter is done already via Bio-Reactors so I'm in full support of this part since Food needs something besides Catalytic Processing to remain relevant. The main issue though, as I pointed out in the thread, is Relic Worlds. Bubbling Swamps exist on Relic Worlds but they lack Agriculture Districts to "mine" the Exotic Gas. Hydroponic Farms can do the job but then we run back into the issue of using Building Slots for Strategic Deposits(and at a far less efficient manner too).

Anyways, just figure I'd share my thoughts.

 

[Ajacoba]

If we get a Planet that's rich in Generator Districts but happens to have Volatile Mote Deposits because its a Dry Climate World... kind of sucks don't you think? I do recommend you modify Mineral Purification Plants/Hubs to increase output of Strategic Resources(on top of base Mineral Output). I figure 0.15 and 0.30 respectively would do the trick as that would yield 0.50 with Hubs. 4 Miners = 1 Strategic Gatherer is a bit easier to swallow at that point.

most planets can't be fully dedicated anyways
if there's multiple resources you like then just make it a rural world

could also be fun to make a refinery world for once, I never really got to use that fancy ancient refinery because I didn't need that many strategic resources in the first place and could just put some refineries on random worlds

 

[DarkHelmet110985]

I never used Refinery Designations either but it was mostly due to how broken the Ancient Refinery happens to be on its own. Just spam that thing everywhere with a few dedicated Refineries(usually Exotic Gas, maybe a few Motes for Forge Ecu's) but I never really had to dedicate an entire world to them due to Ancient Refinery yielding everything I'd ever need in one Build Slot. I usually put them on my worker worlds since I typically had the Build slots/room for them and shifted Research, Naval Capacity to Ecu's and Relic Worlds(Ring Worlds too if I was lucky).

Another thought I had regarding Strategic Deposits is to basically treat them like Cave Cleaner or other special type jobs in that you have 1 base job per deposit with a bonus of 1 job per 20 pops. Bigger the Colony, the more Strategic Gatherers that colony will have. Meaning a Colony with 60 Pops and 2 Bubbling Swamp Deposits would have 2 + 3 = 5 Gas Refiners. All of which would be independent of District/Buildings present. Colony Designation(Rural or Mining) would affect their output, as would Mineral Hub if reformed to increase Strategic Resource Output.

 

[Me_]

That is correct.



As noted by @Nyrael , the Custodian team does add to existing DLCs fairly frequently. Though I would not expect something that is the size of a new precursor to be likely to be added to older DLCs.

A looong time ago, when Zroni and Baol were added there was talk about the possibility of improving the base 5 precursors to use archeology sites. Is that an option in the future, or would that be unlikely to happen?

 

[Ajacoba]

A looong time ago, when Zroni and Baol were added there was talk about the possibility of improving the base 5 precursors to use archeology sites. Is that an option in the future, or would that be unlikely to happen?

Ngl, I prefer the anomaly system that gives you progress points

Lets you do silly stuff like asking the planetary super computer for a free one, or buying one from a random guy in your empire, or buying it from another empire or trading them for minor relics

Also means they can't be "stolen" by AI

 

[Tannhäuser Cake]

On the topic of Penal Colonies:
It would be neat if a successful removal of Criminal modifiers also deported the Criminal pops to the Penal Colony.

 

[HFY]

When I'm playing an oppressive Dictator, I want to deport all the Egalitarians to Planet Gulag.

I hope the improved Penal Colony will spark an improvement in oppression options.

 

[captainbeastfeast]

Hello everyone!

The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion is nearly here, so today we’ve got preliminary release notes and some of the Custodian changes.

Cosmic Storms is going to be released next Tuesday, on September 10th.

Changes to Planetary Resource Deposits​

As part of the Custodian changes in 3.13 ‘Vela’, we’ve made some changes to how some planetary deposits for rare resources are handled.

The deposits that previously gave access to Crystal Mines, Gas Extraction Wells and Mote Harvesting Traps buildings, now instead increase the number of mining districts available on the planet and, after researching the technology to extract the relevant resource, add a small amount of resource production to miners on that planet.

View attachment 1183105​

Additionally, we’ve buffed the Betharian Power Plant to increase the energy produced by Technician Jobs.

View attachment 1183107​

Penal Colonies & Thrall Worlds​

Much like how Resort Worlds were updated earlier this year, we have taken the time to revisit both Penal Colonies and Thrall worlds.

Penal Colonies now both reduce crime across your empire while giving access to unique Prison Industrial Districts. These allow you to employ worker strata pops to produce alloys and consumer goods.

View attachment 1183108​

Thrall Worlds on the other hand have taken inspiration from the countless examples across science fiction of elite battle thrall armies and give access to the Battle Thrall District. Armies trained on a Thrall World will start with additional XP and Battle Thrall jobs will increase the damage your armies do.

View attachment 1183109​

Preliminary Release Notes​

And now, on to the release notes.

Spoiler: Cosmic Storms and 3.13.0 ‘Vela’ Preliminary Release Notes

Cosmic Storms Expansion Features​

• Eight dynamic new storm types:
  • Electric, Particle, Gravity, Magnetic, Radiant, Stardust, Shroud, and Nexus storms
• New Origin: Storm Chasers
• Three new Civics
  • Astrometeorology
  • Planetscapers
  • Storm Devotion
• New Ascension Perk: Galactic Weather Control
• Weather Forecast Map Mode
• Two new Precursors
  • The adAkkaria Convention of Benevolence
  • The Inetian Traders
• New Technologies and Buildings
• New Planetary Deposits, Modifiers and Anomalies following Storm Aftermaths
• New GalCom Resolutions and Edicts
• New Events and Anomalies

3.13.0 Patch​

Improvements

• Update to Thrall Worlds, adding two new slave-focused districts, Battle Thrall Jobs, and improvements to tooltips and theme
• Update to Prison Worlds - adding two new penal-focused districts, five new jobs, and improvements to tooltips and theme
• Xenophobe ethics now swaps to providing pop assembly when appropriate
• The location of empire-scope special projects will move to the new capital if the empire’s capital changes
• Gestalt Empires are now allowed to decide on their land appropriation policy, and are no longer forced to populate every planet
• Corvee System now gives -15% resettlement cost for Individualist Machines
• Standardized volume of all advisor VO lines
• War allies will be able to use wormholes, hyper relays, and gateways in each other's territory even if their borders are closed
• Removed the galaxy-wide Space Storm introduced in 2.7 “Wells”

UI

• Updated the megastructure selection UI
  • Improved tooltips in the megastructure selection UI
  • When selecting a location for Arc Furnace stage 1, the tooltip shows the number of deposit sites in the system
  • When selecting a location for a Habitat Central Complex, the tooltip shows orbital capacities in the system
  • Fixed tooltip not showing when selecting a location to build a megastructure
• Map icons in galaxy and system view no longer truncate the resource amount when between 0 and 1
• The tooltip that mentions if a civic is locked is now red instead of orange
• Enabled mouse scrolling in the research completed window
• Extended the minimum width of the "Veteran Level Reached!" window in case too few options are available to choose from
• Fixed some overlapping UI in the Empire Creation screens
• Fixed position of "Cross-platform play" checkbox on MS Store
• Updated the Map Modes UI
  • The Players map mode is no longer available when observing in singleplayer
  • The Players and Trade Routes map mode buttons are now disabled instead of hidden when they're unavailable
  • Fixed Players mapmode not graying out AI empires in some cases
  • The Unions map mode is now a regular map mode instead of a toggle

Bugfix

• Fixed the placeholder icon for the diplomatic message to request to join the galactic imperium
• Made AI capable of building planetary shields
• The Chthonian Planet, Extensive Moon System and Carbon World modifiers will now only add their mineral deposits to the planet the first time they are surveyed instead of every time they are surveyed
• Corrected tooltip and loyalty effects for the Ministry of Acquisition
• Individualistic Machine empires should no longer get an event intended for Organics
• Fixed the Nanite Intercessor being present in ship previews in the empire creator
• Fixed cyberpunk advisor lines for council agenda ready and council agenda available notifications
• Fixed fleets' cloaking strength sometimes not updating when ships' cloaking strength changes due to modifiers
• Fixed juggernauts not showing the fleet bombardment button
• Election auto pausing and unpausing now functions like other event pop ups
• Removed the double modifiers for Defense platforms from Ancient Shield Overcharger
• Removed serviles from the can_think trigger due to unintended knock on effects
• If an arc furnace is built around a potential Contingency Hub, when the planet becomes their hub, the arc furnace is correctly destroyed
• Fixed uncovered deposits not being removed when an arc furnace is destroyed
• Colossus special project will reward the original country that started the project instead of the current planet owner
• Leaders who are researching an anomaly or project or on cooldown can be assigned to the council
• Roccan Resistance and Free Peoples of the Fall genders changed from indeterminate to default
• The species of planetary defense armies will get updated after species modification
• AI empires will select ethics required by their origin
• All starbase types now explode when destroyed instead of blinking out of existence
• Fixed numerous instances, such as when establishing an embassy, where the game would load the countries home planet instead of their capital
• Game should no longer crash when an empire you had a trade deal with is destroyed during a war
• Various Out Of Sync fixes
• War allies will be able to use each wormholes in each other's territory even if their borders are closed

Modding

• Implemented "on_storm_encountered" on_action when a country is affected for the first time by a new storm
• Added on_storm_entered_system on-action
• Added on_storm_left_system on-action, for when a cosmic storm has left a solar system
• Added support for generate_random_name = yes to the spawn_planet effect
• Refactored Arcology industrial districts into Inline Scripts
• Replaced all "has_authority" checks with scripted triggers making it easier to add new authorities
• Added the awakening_not_allowed country flag that blocks fallen empires from awakening
• Added the keep_deposit_on_terraform deposit flag to make sure deposits don't go missing when you terraform
• Added "visible" trigger to map modes
• Added "tutorial" member to map modes
• Added is_infertile trigger
• Added support for displaying comma and period as hotkeys in button tooltips
• Added planet_crime_floor_add modifier that sets a minimum level of crime on a planet
• Added fail trigger for special projects + documentation
• Added 'mod_name_affix' to create_species effect
• Added num_asteroid_belts trigger to check the number of asteroids in a system
• Added game rules for founder_species_uses_growth_speed, founder_species_uses_organic_assembly and founder_species_uses_assembly
• Added game rule to force visibility on fleets for a specific system

Next Week​

With the release planned for next Tuesday, our next expected dev diary will be on September 19th.

See you then!

Pre-purchase Stellaris: Cosmic Storms alone or with a discount as part of Stellaris: Season 08!​

• Gestalt Empires are now allowed to decide on their land appropriation policy, and are no longer forced to populate every planet

Presumably, this just means that you don't have to send pops to each planet that you conquer. Its a welcome change. However, hives would benefit from an appropriation option to abandon the planet on conquest and send the residents of the planet to either your capital or spread their numbers evenly across your empire. "abandon and resettle" or something like that. This would facilitate tall hive play, especially later on if you choose natural neural networks to get science from unemployed pops. I want my hive worlds to support about 500 pops each. Currently, to achieve this kind of play it is a bit awkward because you have to set the last pop on the planet to be purged in order to abandon it without paying a very pricy 300 influence (which isn't practical if you intend to do this more than a few times). You can also eat the planet as a Terravore, but not everyone wants to eat planets. I'd be very grateful if you could ask the custodian team to take a look at this for gestalts.

Thanks

*EDIT*

Unrelated point, but I Have noticed that the invasive species trait for plant species is a bit weak at 5% improvement to habitation and growth per negative perk. This is a shame, because the perk is a cool idea and I would like to use it more often! A change from 5% to 7.5% (or 8) would make this perk reasonable to take without being overpowered or too weak. It would make it worth shouldering the burden of all those pesky negative traits. please also consider taking another look at this.

Lastly, livestock slaves could be improved further in line with the changes to thrall worlds. I would propose a flat 20% boost to populate growth for thes pops, as well as a reduction in housing usage of 50% for them. Very nice for virtual empires that actively keep housing costs minimal. You can imagine them being kept in pens like cattle with minimal space usage and just being used for food and breeding (not making any real life comparisons cattle and sheep lol ). I rarely take this option at present unless I have to because it is for the most part inferior to indentured servants, battle thralls and chattel slaves. With the proposed changes to thrall worlds this would put slavery in a nice place. The cherry on top for these would be being able to use pre-sapient pops as livestock slaves as well (but only livestock slaves because sadly they aren't very bright and can't be forced to work or do very much other than get eaten and breed).

 

[Abdulijubjub]

Unrelated point, but I Have noticed that the invasive species trait for plant species is a bit weak at 5% improvement to habitation and growth per negative perk. This is a shame, because the perk is a cool idea and I would like to use it more often! A change from 5% to 7.5% (or 8) would make this perk reasonable to take without being overpowered or too weak. It would make it worth shouldering the burden of all those pesky negative traits. please also consider taking another look at this.

I believe Invasive Species is currently so powerful that a hive using it is one of the two FotM builds in multiplayer, though the meta may have shifted since.

It doesn't need to be buffed.

 

[captainbeastfeast]

I believe Invasive Species is currently so powerful that a hive using it is one of the two FotM builds in multiplayer, though the meta may have shifted since.

It doesn't need to be buffed.

It does.

 

[Tilarium]

A while ago, as an experiment, I made a little mod for myself. It adds an "auxiliary reactor" building (+2 technician jobs, limit 1 per planet) that can be upgraded into either an "auxiliary bio-reactor" (+energy from technicians, +food upkeep from technicians) or an "auxiliary thermal reactor" (same deal, but +mineral upkeep instead of +food upkeep). Basically, giving you an extra way to burn whichever of the two your economy has a bigger surplus of.

You're saying it's possible to have multiple upgrade paths for a single building? Why don't the devs or anyone use this if that is indeed the case? That is actually pretty huge and can add a lot of uniqueness to the game. Most obviously with science buildings, limit to 3 per world and after the second level or something you have specialize them.

 

[Dimka2010]

Dear Watchers.
I would like to ask you to do/add 2 things.

1) Add to the Espionage Ascension branch, so that it would be possible to see in which states there are Artifacts. I think this would motivate players and bots to declare war on each other for a chance to knock out an artifact from the Enemy Capital.

Also, somehow take away and exchange artifacts of their vassals.

And for those who do not have a pumped up ascension in the "espionage" branch - upon reaching the conditional 100% spy points through a spy diplomat - there would be a message that "in such and such an Empire there is an artifact." Not to know which one, but to have a "rumor" that it is there. That would be logical.
It would immediately make sense to scatter spies among all neighbors in the hope of finding something valuable from them, rather than sending ambassadors-spies to the Alliances and Federations "for life" and forgetting about their existence until the end of the game.

2) There are Forerunner stories with rewards - most often - a new system and a planet with cool bonuses. But why is there only 1 story and only for players? Give bots this opportunity too.
As I see it: the beginning of the game - all human players are given Forerunner stories, each from their chosen settings at the beginning of the game. And if there are still Forerunners left - give them to all AI bots that fit the criteria like humans. And during the game, bots will also move along these stories, dig up excavations, find anomalies, get "hint sales" conditionally once every ~20-50 years of the game. And having collected everything - in the same way find a new system, planet and bonuses/artifact. This is also logical.

Google translator.

 

[Zarnek]

Quite excited for the new DLC and the free update.
Can I also suggest that in the future you guys add a specific model for unique planets like Earth or Mars when terraforming them into Gaia Words? I know it is not really that much impactful gameplaywise, but the few people (like me) that love visuals would appreciated it very much. It would be also very cool if you updated the base model of continental Earth to reflect its unique planetary features like the Alberta Crater or the Green Sahara.

 

[Ajacoba]

Dear Watchers.
I would like to ask you to do/add 2 things.

1) Add to the Espionage Ascension branch, so that it would be possible to see in which states there are Artifacts. I think this would motivate players and bots to declare war on each other for a chance to knock out an artifact from the Enemy Capital.

Also, somehow take away and exchange artifacts of their vassals.

And for those who do not have a pumped up ascension in the "espionage" branch - upon reaching the conditional 100% spy points through a spy diplomat - there would be a message that "in such and such an Empire there is an artifact." Not to know which one, but to have a "rumor" that it is there. That would be logical.
It would immediately make sense to scatter spies among all neighbors in the hope of finding something valuable from them, rather than sending ambassadors-spies to the Alliances and Federations "for life" and forgetting about their existence until the end of the game.

2) There are Forerunner stories with rewards - most often - a new system and a planet with cool bonuses. But why is there only 1 story and only for players? Give bots this opportunity too.
As I see it: the beginning of the game - all human players are given Forerunner stories, each from their chosen settings at the beginning of the game. And if there are still Forerunners left - give them to all AI bots that fit the criteria like humans. And during the game, bots will also move along these stories, dig up excavations, find anomalies, get "hint sales" conditionally once every ~20-50 years of the game. And having collected everything - in the same way find a new system, planet and bonuses/artifact. This is also logical.

Google translator.

If you have enough intel you can check the victory scoreboard

Since you get victory points for owning a relic you just have to check if anyone gets more than 0 points from that category

 

[Sharizcobar]

Will Penal Colony Metalurgists/Artisans work with Ecumenopolis Arcologies?

 

[Tannhäuser Cake]

Applying planetary ascension math to the designation modifiers suggests that, when fully ascended (10) and boosted with ascension enhancers,

• Penal Colony grants +52.5% Worker Resource Output, and 1 Planetary Warden job (+3 Stability, +3 Amenities, Ruler stratum) per 4.8 pops.
  • The -25% Crime effect is applied via a planetary modifier, and is unaffected by planetary ascension.
• Thrall World grants +26.25% Worker Resource Output, +1,050 Army Starting Experience, -52.5% Army Build Time.
  • The +100% Pop Growth Speed effect is applied via a planetary modifier, and is unaffected by planetary ascension.
  • 1,000 experience points grants the Veteran rank (+20% Damage, +20% Morale, +10% Health).

Penal Colony implications

Penal Colonies populations can, depending on planetary ascension level, consist of up to 20% Ruler pops. The implications vary depending on living standards, but as a rule of thumb the Ruler pops cost a lot of Consumer Goods while producing a lot of Trade Value and Faction Unity (via their Political Power), and getting a substantial Happiness bonus.

The elimination of Political Power for Workers means that their Happiness does not affect Approval Rating and Stability, i.e. the colony's Stability will only be affected by Specialist and Ruler pops. Their living standards Happiness bonuses, together with the extra Ruler (Planetary Warden) jobs, mean that the Penal Colony will enjoy great Approval Rating and Stability even before factoring in other bonuses. The availability of Happiness and Stability bonuses makes it debatable whether there is any need for the Stability and Amenities bonuses from extra Planetary Wardens. While Planetary Wardens will produce some Faction Unity via their Ruler-level Political Power, other jobs can produce Unity at a lesser cost in terms of pops and Consumer Goods.

Penal Colonies also get a lot of Enforcer jobs (2 per Prison District), but it does not seem like there will be any particular need for them. The old +100% Crime modifier seems to be gone, and there does not seem to be anything actively reducing the Happiness of the prisoners. This means that the Penal Colony will have the same need of Enforcers as any other colony, which can be as few as none depending on living standards and other Happiness modifiers. At 0 Happiness, each pop only produces +2 Crime; since one Prison District adds 5 Housing and 2 Enforcers, they cannot (normally) add more than 10 Crime - while adding jobs that remove 50.

Finally, a defining feature of a prison is an inability to come and go as you please. There does not seem to be any such limitations in the screenshots, however.


Penal Colony suggestions

1. Prison Districts could add 1 Enforcer, rather than 2.

2. The old +100% Crime modifier could be kept, possibly increased.

3a. Workers get no reduction in Political Power (so their Happiness matters for Stability).
3b. Workers get a substantial penalty to Happiness.
3c. Workers get a substantial reduction to their Consumer Goods upkeep, perhaps also their food upkeep.
3d. Workers could also get a big reduction to Housing Usage; this would have implications for #1 and #2 above, and also for the maximum number of prisoners. This modifier could also be part of the colony designation, allowing an ascended Penal Colony to hold more prisoners.

4a. Unemployed pops automatically get Criminal jobs, similar to Toiler jobs on Thrall Worlds. This prevents automatic migration away from the Penal Colony.
4b. Alternatively, automatic resettlement away from a Penal Colony is disabled through other means.
(In case of a runaway prison population, there is always the planetary decision Expel Excess Population.)

5a. Penal Colony should not be a desirable target for automatic resettlement.
5b. Successful removal of a Criminal modifier from a normal colony could also deport the Criminal pops to the Penal Colony, as suggested earlier.
5c. Taking the above one step further, there could be a new policy that determines the outcome for Criminal pops that get caught. The normal options could include such things as "rehabilitate" (Unity cost), "exile" (Displacement), "execute" (Purge) or "sacrifice" (Death Cult option). The existence of a Penal Colony then adds the option of "[Penal Colony name]". Using the Penal Colony's name as the label of the policy option seems like a doable and nice touch for immersion, since Stellaris allows only one Penal Colony per empire and since sci-fi often portrays penal colonies as known and feared. Depending on ethic and civic limitations on criminal justice, the policy option list could read "Rehabilitate", "Exile", "Execute", "Rura Penthe". Or "Crematoria". Or "Australia".

6. Rather than adding Stability, Planetary Wardens could generate Trade Value; together with the unemployed Criminal suggestion above, and Criminals reducing Trade Value by 5, this would reflect a well-managed prison facility where the prisoners indeed are repaying their debts to society (especially so if the Planetary Wardens are Thrifty). In this case, Worker pops should perhaps not produce any Trade Value.

7. The ratio of Planetary Wardens could be moved from the designation to the planetary modifier, to avoid Planetary Ascension messing with it. Alternatively, it could be changed to 1 per 50 pops, possibly with +1 Planetary Warden job from the planetary modifier. If this is even considered a problem to begin with.

8. The empire-wide Crime reduction could perhaps depend on the location. Tomb World and Gaia World climates could have different implications for the empire-wide effect of a Penal Colony.

9. If a Penal Colony successfully revolts, the separatist empire should be a Criminal Syndicate (if MegaCorp is installed).

10. Penal Colony would fit well in the Domination tradition tree. It is really more of a societal choice than a scientific, technological discovery.

Edit:
11. Planetary Warden is not an appropriate job name if the penal colony is located on a moon, nor if penal colonies ever become available for habitats (which they should). "Colony Warden" or just "Warden" should be sufficient.

 

[Dimka2010]

If you have enough intel you can check the victory scoreboard

Since you get victory points for owning a relic you just have to check if anyone gets more than 0 points from that category

thank you! you opened my eyes!

PS^
watch out aliens! I'M COMING for your relic!!!!

 

[HFY]

Yeah, honestly this is the thing that's bugging me the most about this. We're going to be running into a lot of worlds with gas and motes deposits but potentially very little in max mining districts, with a very small base output, rendering those deposits essentially useless.

At that point, you might as well just have the deposits create the jobs themselves, be that directly, or through the x-per-pop model, which I still think is more interesting.

Having the deposits create jobs directly is very easy, so easy that even someone bad at modding was able to mod it in.

There's no tricky balance issue with respect to Catalytic or whatever else. It Just Works™.


You're right that a per-pop job might be more interesting, but my impression of the game post-Virtuality was that per-pop jobs were not going to be mainstream because if you get enough of them, then the free Virtuality pops break things. Not sure how to resolve that, but it's worth consideration.

 

[Kevkev100]

How will penal colonies work with Ecumenopolis or Ringworlds?

 

[Exasperation]

You're saying it's possible to have multiple upgrade paths for a single building? Why don't the devs or anyone use this if that is indeed the case? That is actually pretty huge and can add a lot of uniqueness to the game. Most obviously with science buildings, limit to 3 per world and after the second level or something you have specialize them.

It's a leftover functionality from the tile system era, but it still works. Regarding why it doesn't see more use (at least by modders, who like to do all sorts of crazy things), I don't know.