Stellaris Dev Diary #353 - Cosmic Storms Post-Release

[HFY]

If I might suggest -- putting very strong protections on my Core Sector only, might feel like it could help keep storms relevant to warfare (since I have a lot of non-core when conquering) while not wrecking my ability to plan.

 

[BrokenSky]

You call that a storm? That’s barely a stiff breeze!​

Some of you have called out the loss of impact storms experience once everyone has the storm protection techs in place. The original purpose of keeping those protections strong was relatively simple - to ensure that by the time you reach the end-game, you can continue with your strategies and plans.

It is one thing to lose a 15 minute campaign, it is another to lose a 30 hour campaign because your build just got invalidated.

We are looking into adjusting at the very least the ship protections, as we think there is some potential for smart plays if those protections weren’t quite as potent as they currently are.

Someone in a different thread suggested making ship protections at least partially tied to an Aux-slot so they're something of an opportunity cost.

Or if you prefer to throw storms at other empires and ride your fleet in on them, just an opportunity.

EDIT: The original suggestion

It is kinda weird that I got both of these ahead of anything else storm related to render -100 effect, and yeah...if this is a symmetric unlock every empire eventually gets, theres basically a window at the start to enjoy the storm effects to trap and ensnare other empires. Non empires will still take it in the shorts I guess? I also think an aux slot would be perfect to kind of keep it off balance heads up, and I would absolutely have a designated fleet that does raids with the tech installed.

 

[Gruntsatwork]

Yes, we saw the aux-slot suggestions and now the one about core sectors. We will be discussing both of those and some other pure number changes and try and find a solution that offers interesting gameplay.

 

[Metallichydra]

Will there be (or is there already) a way to keep a storm in place indifinitely. Would be fun to use storms as defenses.

 

[Foxosaur]

Will there be (or is there already) a way to keep a storm in place indifinitely. Would be fun to use storms as defenses.

Ohhh...what a awesome idea, post it in suggestions and I'll defo thumb up it

 

[Quuaddib]

May Eladrin get well soon! Also, I'm having a blast with the new DLC, great work!

 

[WARRIOR_PSIX]

It is very important to make planetary shields a second-level technology, not a third

 

[Harkinian's Dinner]

How about all the feedback on the problems with the strategic resource changes? Seems like something that should be getting a quick fix.

Namely, the fact that collecting them is tied to mining districts now, but frozen world types have far more mining districts than the other types, and each strategic resource deposit is tied to a world category - rare crystals in the case of frozen worlds.

Volatile motes and exotic gases need to be collected by technicians and farmers respectively to maintain balance, or as others have suggested, the collection jobs could be added automatically per desposit once you have the tech.

 

[Rafss]

I said that jokingly in a previous dev diary but it really stuck to me:

May I request a (system) Storm Caster Aura for Juggernauts if you have the Weather Control AP or the Zroni Tech, or both?

 

[joe876]

Just making a suggestion for storm effects, what if some increased planetary designation effects. Like each storm increases the designation of like 2 or 3 designations? Like one storm increases mining world and refinery designation. And what if some nebulas always had a storm that was stationary?

 

[Gruntsatwork]

It is very important to make planetary shields a second-level technology, not a third

Thats not unreasonable, we'll look into it.

How about all the feedback on the problems with the strategic resource changes? Seems like something that should be getting a quick fix.

Nailing that one down is not quite as easy as it seems, but we are looking into it as well and we will keep you all updated on the progress.

May I request a (system) Storm Caster Aura for Juggernauts if you have the Weather Control AP or the Zroni Tech, or both?

Thats....not impossible...and would be kinda sweet.

 

[kidwiz0101]

I've seen some criticism that there aren't many mechanics outside of the storms themselves that interact with the new mechanics.

I think it would be cool to be able to send construction ships to empires you have open borders with to help them recover in the aftermath of a storm (% aftermath modifier reduction) and you could get some approval and a rare chance for a favor in return. You could click on planets with the aftermath modifier (not your own) and something could be listed in the tooltip.

Another criticism was no interaction with the espionage system. There should be operations to attract and repel storms of a targets empire capital.

Thanks for collecting feedback!

 

[HFY]

Yes, we saw the aux-slot suggestions and now the one about core sectors. We will be discussing both of those and some other pure number changes and try and find a solution that offers interesting gameplay.

If you're fishing for ways to make storms retain impact but be manageable, here's another one:

Leaders compensate for storm damage.​

Planets with an Official (not just Sector governor), army / navy fleets with a Commander, etc. and all crewed Science ships should have an easier time than "empty-box" planets and fleets.

This puts a cap on how many you can cover, which means larger & more powerful empires need to be more choosy, and it's a possible source of player advantage since the AI is less clever about that sort of decision.

It also means that very small empires which would suffer more from a direct hit (since they can't just pull resources from unaffected regions) will be able to stand up to storms better.

 

[Krein81]

"stuck at 0 for years on end" Ohh.. I have one storm siting in my core system for 70years , good if this be fixed

 

[Gruntsatwork]

Leaders compensate for storm damage.

That has actually quite a bit of potential, not sure if we'd want to be just plain leaders or maybe something more specialized, like a trait or added to a trait thats currently too weak. We'll investigate it.

 

[Halfedead_Harry]

• We will increase their speed of traversal, exact number pending, to make sure they remain destructive but that you can take action once they have passed. They will still bring you close to 100% devastation on any given planet but they won’t then sit on the planet and keep it at 100% forever.

Any chance, that there will be anything to speed up devastation recovery? Like decision or maybe replace jobs from Storm Relief Center with new jobs, that either add devastation decay or decrease it's impact on planet?

 

[ScorpioneOrzion]

Why not allow the player to decide when Nexus storms can occur, rather than only limiting to say midgame/endgame?

 

[HFY]

That has actually quite a bit of potential, not sure if we'd want to be just plain leaders or maybe something more specialized, like a trait or added to a trait thats currently too weak. We'll investigate it.

Start simple, let it be just plain leaders, because that helps with earliest damage (which is the worst experience in the game for me right now).

The nice thing is that a player can move leaders around to respond to storms. If it's ANY leader, then you'll need to make a choice about putting off-build leaders as emergency Governors.

IMHO that's a lot more interesting than just re-rolling until I have exactly 3 anti-storm Governors.


EDIT - If we need a trait for a leader to be extra-relevant for storms, perhaps add Devastation repair +speed and building repair +speed to the trait which currently modifies blocker removal. That trait has no real use after the very early game, and Devastation is relevant for wars and events as well as storms.

 

[Gruntsatwork]

Early game the storm will in general cover most of your empire and your 1 governor will cover all your planets.
Also, if you consider the timing, most of your leaders will level up before the first storms start hitting the galaxy, so you would be perfectly set to pick a storm trait in anticipation. And why a trait? Because personally I like to pit players greed versus safety. You could just take a different trait and hope for the best. Or actually invest in storm repelling tech and buildings.