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Stellaris Dev Diary #355 - It Belongs in a Vivarium: Announcing Grand Archive

Stellaris Grand Archive Logo

I’m pleased to announce that the third Episode of Stellaris: Season 08, the Grand Archive Story Pack, will be released alongside the Stellaris 3.14 ‘Circinus’ update on Tuesday, October 29th, 2024. This release completes the Stellaris: Season 08 Expansion Pass.


"The Grand Archive preserves and exhibits the most valuable artifacts we have collected throughout the galaxy..."​


The galaxy is vast and filled with artifacts!

Grand Archive adds 151 specimens to the base game, but we have revisited all of the content ever created for Stellaris to add more. The overall total is over 240 unique specimens!

Collect them all and display the prize pieces in your own Grand Archive.

Specimens on Diplay

“This is no mere rock collection.”

“…Reserved within is also a dedicated Vivarium for live Space Fauna containment and observation.”​


Contained within your Grand Archive, the Vivarium is a controlled environment where wild space fauna can be cared for and studied. Space fauna in captivity will grow faster and breed more easily than in the wild. These creatures can then be dissected for research, resources, or their genetic material.

With the development of the Controlled Mutations technology, Space Fauna can be customized to form a fleet which will grow and become stronger over time.

Space Fauna caught by a Gravity Snare

“These non-lethal projectiles can safely capture and transport Space Fauna to our Vivarium, where they can continue to reproduce new specimens of their kind.”

The void is full of life.​


Two new forms of Space Fauna are coming in the Grand Archive Story Pack.

Cutholoids are ambush predators that lurk within asteroid belts, waiting for prey.

Cutholoid attack!

“Culling and dissecting these creatures will allow the harvesting of their Genetic Material for cloning purposes as well as other resources.”


Voidworms are a more active parasitic threat with a full life cycle that can grow into a mid-game Crisis if their populations are left to breed.

Voidworms on the move

"If this variant species were allowed to spread unchecked, it could upset the balance of the galactic ecosystem entirely."

“With the mysteries of the galaxy at our doorstep, there is everything left to learn.”​


The Grand Archive Story Pack comes with two Civics, two Origins, and two new Tradition trees, each focusing on either different aspects of coexistence with Alien Fauna or the hunt for the hidden mysteries and treasures of the universe.

Civic, Origin, and Tradition icons



The Corporate, Hive Mind, or Machine Intelligence versions of these Civics require access to their Authorities - MegaCorp, Utopia, and either Synthetic Dawn or The Machine Age, respectively.

Here there be treasure


Stellaris: Grand Archive includes:​

  • Space Fauna capture, breeding, and modification systems​
  • 151 Specimens to collect and display across events from Grand Archive and the base game
    • Over 240 Specimens total including those distributed across other Stellaris content​
  • 15 new Relics​
  • Two new Tradition trees
    • Archivism​
    • Domestication​
  • Two new Origins
    • Primal Calling​
    • Treasure Hunters​
  • Two new Civics
    • Beastmasters​
    • Galactic Curators​
  • Two new forms of spaceborne life
    • Cutholoids​
    • Voidworms​
  • A new possible mid-game crisis - the Voidworm Plague​
  • Three new music tracks​
  • Events, Anomalies, Archaeology Sites, Technologies, Galactic community resolutions, and more!​

Note: The Grand Archive Story Pack also unlocks access to the Curator Order Enclave, which is also unlocked by Leviathans or Distant Stars.


Dev Diary Schedule
Sept 26​
Announcing Grand Archive​
Oct 3​
Building a Grand Archive and Displaying Your Collection​
Oct 10​
The Care and Feeding of Tiyanki​
Oct 17​
New Life in the Galaxy​
Oct 24​
3.14 “Circinus” Preliminary Release Notes​


The Grand Archive Story Pack can be purchased as part of the Stellaris: Season 08 Expansion Pass, or as a standalone purchase for $14.99 (regional pricing may vary).

It is also included as part of the Stellaris Expansion Subscription

Stellaris Grand Archive Key Art


Pre-purchase Stellaris: Grand Archive alone or with a discount as part of Stellaris: Season 08!​
 
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interesting how you can breed and/or clone space fauna but the rarities feel game-y, or at least their names do (rare, epic, etc).
also will we be able to reintroduce the species back to their home systems if they get scoured of life but we get a hold of them (the tiyanki from tiyana vek get a surprise visit from a crisi or a fanatic purifier, etc)?
 
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29th October?! HELL YES. I'd have been happy with 29th November; 29th October is absolutely SWEET (this isn't an invitation to move the date back, ha). Far sooner than I had anticipated - you really weren't kidding when you said the release tempo this year would be lightning fast!

>15 New Relics
>2 new Spaceborne critters
>3 new Music tracks
>1 new Mid-game crisis
>New Events, Anomalies, Archaeology Sites, Technologies, Galactic community resolutions, and more!

Yes, yes, love all of that!

Please can we get some detail of the Custodian elements of 3.14 - ideally before 24 October? The DLCs themselves are always great to hear about, and I love new content, but I like rebalances, bugfixes, and general improvements to the game as much if not more (seriously, I've not yet played 3.13+CS, but the feature I'm most looking forward to is the new Penal Colonies!).
I'm particularly interested in it because I know you've been looking forward to 'the Pi Patch' for years now and I have no doubt you've got all manner of fun surprises - not to mention puns (oh so many puns) - circling ahead (sorry) for announcement.
 
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I want to hear more about Fauna. Fauna, Fauna, Fauna! Relics is just toys, Fauna that we can change is what I've been thinking about since they talked about it. I was hoping for a Tyranids style thing from Warhammer 40K with all that implies though. Still, gimme more info in the Fauna. (a randomly spawned bioship that followed storm routes and ate planets wouldn't be all bad...
 
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This is cool and all but will you be addressing the broken state of Cosmic Storms?

They said elsewhere that more patches are coming before Grand Archive.
 
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Will we be able to ask other empires for specimens for the grand archives as part of diplomatic deals? And will there be additional details to the galactic community?
 
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Sooo... 4th civic slot when? Maybe also (albeit far less needed and I'm greedy) an 8th tradition slot? Asking for a friend.
 
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I'd love it if they finally add cheats to the console edition, I always liked to mess around with it on the pc version it added extra opportunity to the game and if not for cheats to spice the game up I would've been bored of the game a long time ago
 
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Damn, that was way faster than I expected to hear about the next DLC.

Still, the stuff looks great so far. Though I do wonder if Genetically Ascended empires will be able to make even better use of things related to the Vivavirum and if we'll be able to play around with Leviathan DNA.
 
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"151 specimens to the base game" "Collect them all" and that gravity snare looks familiar...

Nintendo lawsuit incoming!

But in all seriousness, this looks great. Can't wait
 
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