Hello everyone!
The Grand Archive Story Pack and the Stellaris 3.14.1 ‘Circinus’ update released on Tuesday. Go forth and collect things and capture space creatures!
Good boy.
A 3.14.15 hotfix is being prepared for today, which includes fixes for two crashes that have occurred a handful of times, and a bug that let you power your economy exclusively through chain-firing Gravity Snares:
The vast majority of the other crashes are related to incompatible UI mods, so please remember to disable your mods that haven’t updated to the latest version before playing. Several players have reported their mods not fully uninstalling, so you may need to manually clear your mods folder if you continue having issues.
Please keep reporting issues you encounter in our Bug Reports forum.
We’ll be looking at the internal vision statement of Stellaris and compare it to how the game has developed over the years, and I’d like to begin a conversation about how we’ll continue to evolve over the next few years.
The Custodian team has been up to something, and I want you to help guide them.
The Grand Archive Story Pack and the Stellaris 3.14.1 ‘Circinus’ update released on Tuesday. Go forth and collect things and capture space creatures!
The Release Thus Far
The update appears to be a very stable and clean release so far, with few critical issues reported.A 3.14.15 hotfix is being prepared for today, which includes fixes for two crashes that have occurred a handful of times, and a bug that let you power your economy exclusively through chain-firing Gravity Snares:
Bugfixes
- Gravity Snare costs can no longer go negative.
- Fixed a case where lured space fauna were uncapturable.
Stability
- Fixing potential crash when trying to create a ship from a scripted design that contains unusable components for the creator
- Fixed potential crash when using FromFromFrom scope in "on_planets_zero_pops" on action
- Fix a crash where an AI could capture fauna even if they shouldn't be able to.
The vast majority of the other crashes are related to incompatible UI mods, so please remember to disable your mods that haven’t updated to the latest version before playing. Several players have reported their mods not fully uninstalling, so you may need to manually clear your mods folder if you continue having issues.
Please keep reporting issues you encounter in our Bug Reports forum.
The Plan
If everything goes according to plan, I expect that our next patch, 3.14.159, will be released on Tuesday, November 12th. This will let us include some fixes to issues that are reported this weekend and early next week.Dev Q&A Transcript
We held a developer Q&A last week, and have exported a transcript for you here:| Question by tsunderesaph *What do you think about making defence platforms "power down" like Starbases instead of being utterly destroyed? Players don't like spending resources on platforms that cannot disengage from battle, since they will just die instead of having a chance to retreat and come back after the battle.* Answer: We've experimented with that in the past, actually, but ended up with a situtation where building a massive defensive structure could actually hurt you if you lost it, because you would never be able to take it back from the aggressor. We'll likely experiment some more with it in the future. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ggzola *What will the ratio between expansion content and custodian content look like for the new year? Thanks!* Answer: The Custodians have been up to some big things, we'll be talking about that soonish. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by engie4212 *How does the animator of clay view synthetic ascended organics?* Answer: Probably as curiosities. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by scp80680 *So the kilostructures in Machine Age were a really cool way to utilize uninhabitable objects in your own systems. Are any plans to do more like that, either in the form of limited terraforming (beyond terraforming candidates) or more kilostructures?* Answer: I like the Kilostructures in general, so we'll probably have more of them at some point in the future. I do think that we could use a better system for limiting how many structures you can have in general, but that's something for another day. We don't have any planned specifically for terraforming right now. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by yaiseka *Blorg have unique AI personalities called Fanatical Befrienders, are there plans to implement these as civics?* Answer: Probably not. Like the Metalheads, we like having them as AI personalities that are essentially little easter eggs. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by darkknight0120 *I really like the design of the caravaneers ships. Would it be possible to add the ship appearance caravaneers as playable?* Answer: It's unlikely since the caravaneer shipset doesn't cover all of the ship types. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by itschugg *Any chance you'll add the ability to dismantle Habitats?* Answer: Very likely at some point. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by gorehuchi *will following releases follow the “Season” format you established this year?* Answer: Maybe! Probably! Season 08 was received well, so it's likely we'll continue with them. It lets you know what's coming, which is great. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ratronald *What features from other Paradox games do you think are most likely to influence what you add to Stellaris?* Answer: We learn from all of them, as they each have their own strengths. Of course, we can't just adopt HoI's combat systems directly, it wouldn't make sense in Stellaris... But I can still learn from some of their experiences, and I can steal bits and pieces from anywhere. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by evil_laplas *Will you add a function for growing leviathans, like for example Voidspanw. And will there be any continuation for Voidspawn, I would really like to know - how huge is the Mother of Voidspawn, or how huge it can be.* Answer: Only the Voidworms will go through their lifecycle in the wild and since Leviathans are not clonable, the mystery of Voidspawn adulthood remains a mystery ! Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by tabat_dectocoder *Any plans on astronomical objects expansion?* Answer: It would be cool to have more events and things related to strange worlds or extreme frontiers. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by tr33_m4n *What is the Paradox and why is it Interactive?* Answer: An enigma wrapped in a puzzle shrouded in mystery. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by tabat_dectocoder *Are aliens.... exist.......?* Answer: An enigma wrapped in a puzzle shrouded in mystery. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by galactic.crab *organic ship models when? Id like to play has a ravenous hive and have living ships to go with them!* Answer: It'll probably happen one day. As I mentioned in one of the dev diaries, we do not consider the Space Fauna from the Grand Archive Story Pack to be "Meat Ships". Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by starly_light *are the future dlcs also planned like season 08 so we can get season 09 next? if yes take all my money* Answer: While I can't state it with absolute certainty at this time, based on the response to Season 08, it's likely that we'll have a Season 09. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ailystap *In the Psionic outcome, Cetena hands over her titan and runs off to find the truth. Any consideration of convincing her to stay and be a Paragon? she can have tea parties with my immortal chosen ones and Grey.* Answer: A delightful group for a tea party. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by contingency100xcube *who would win in a boxing fight, the contingency core or Cetana?* Answer: With all those extra limbs? You're kidding right? My money is on the Queen. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by eonofaeon *Are there any plans to revamp the tech tree, either in layout or design or both? My Saturday group and I are all in agreement that tech has become *very bloated* and the RNG nature has, with time and ever increasing technology numbers (especially in Green/Society), become a very irksome part of the game. We love Stellaris dearly, but the tech tree is ***painfully*** in need of a revamp!* Answer: I'd like to investigate ways to reduce the RNG nature of acquiring key technologies. We've been having discussions internally on ways to do that. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ratronald *What would you imagine a genocidal megacorp civic to be?* Answer: Killing your customers tends to be bad for business. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by tr33_m4n *Can I ask a question?* Answer: I hear you have about 3 minutes left to do so. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by contingency100xcube *any chance Cetana is getting a small look at to make her less…….invincible-ish to anyone that doesn’t wish to go nanites or cosmogenesis torp spam on higher crisis strength? I really wanna prove my superiority as the best crisis.* Answer: The Synthetic Queen is indeed a formidable adversary... My best advice is not to overlook all the projects. Completing these can provide some impressive bonuses against Cetana. Other than that, ambush her convoys, and equip your frigates with torpedoes! Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by regunes *Do we have a custodian update planned for cosmic storms? Maybe a something we missed under all that stardust?* Answer: The 3.13 Vela update was the Custodian update alongside Cosmic Storms. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by yaiseka *Currently Psionic relies on the Shroud for most of its power, are there plans to add new forms of Psionic root that don't rely on the Shroud?* Answer: Psionics and the Shroud are generally always going to be linked to at least some degree. You don't have to make a pact with a patron, but the powers are related. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ailystap *any plans of future Astral Rifts where you can change the fate of other precursors beside the Baol and Zroni? I wonder how the Vultumn would react to the truth a Cosmogenesis empire could provide them. Or how the Irassians would react to learning how their slave species helped doom them by spreading the virus. Or the genocidal Cybrex learning of their pacifist outcome. Or the First League of their collapse. Or what would happen if you decide to give the Yuht real FTL.* Answer: These were some our favorite Rifts to make, too. The short answer is of course, yes, if we ever make more Rifts - we would certainly spend some time on these. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by tr33_m4n *We have 25x Crisis. What do you think about AI Grand Admiral 25x?* Answer: I think it's too easy to beat. x25 Crisis was supposed to be an unbeatable joke setting, but our players are really good at the game. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by powdrr *How high on your priority list is fixing various desync bugs for multiplayer?* Answer: We take Out of Syncs (OOSes) very seriously. We have a weekly, dev MP session in which we try to log as many of these as we can (and of course we're monitoring reports from the community.) That said, there's no single cause or easy fix for these, and solving them can be pretty labor intensive. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by mirco2974 *Have the devs considered the possibility of Galactic Community Resolutions which declare the Voidworms or Cutholoids as protected/endangered species. Basically the equivalent of a nation who doesn't have to deal with grasshoppers/locusts petitioning the UN to declare these species projected while a nation who is plagued by them mandating their eradication.* Answer: The problem is that it just isn't a reasonable thing to ask others to not defend themselves against a galactic parasite that chestbursts your people to make their babies. It's like declaring mosquitos or botflies a protected species - they are openly hostile to other life and need to be dealt with sometimes. Same with Cutholoids - would be a shame to have to say goodbye to your scientist just because some galactic bureaucrat thinks space hermit crabs are cute. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by powdrr *Will there be a custodian update in the near future to balance the recent machine age features and/or to deal with other balancing priorities?* Answer: While we are always doing balancing work, we do not have plans to significantly alter the power level of The Machine Age. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by pokes8881 *how often do y'all do QnA?* Answer: We do these several times a year, either here on Discord or on /r/Stellaris on Reddit. Answered by: MrFreake |
| Question by tr33_m4n *Why dont you just remove all ground combat and let all competition be done by army transports playing cards in space?* Answer: We'd end up overcomplicating the card game, and Alfray would try to get too many Balatro systems into it. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by captaincape *What's your favorite shipset?* Answer: I absolutely love the Machine ship set. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by ratronald *What's the ideal "small scope" DLC in your eyes? What's different about working on them? (besides just "less time and resources")* Answer: "Small" releases in my eyes are things like Species Packs, or packs like Cosmic Storms that cover an unexplored niche of the game. I'm fine with them not having to be considered "essential" like the major DLCs. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by gm225 *If there is a rework for the Genetic and Psionic Ascension Paths, would you also implement a 'branch' system as seen with the Cybernetic (Individualist, Collectivist) and Synthetic (Physical, Virtual) Paths?* Answer: I think that each Ascension Path should be its own thing - there should absolutely be choices being made in all of them, but I don't necessarily want to restrict the content team to make them match the same way. They should feel similar but different. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by jealous_grass *stellaris dating sim when* Answer: "Break glass in case of emergency." Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by rafs__ *How high are Energy Species Pack on the todo list?* Answer: You ever seen Star Trek 5? You don't have to - it's not a great movie. But there is this classic scene where Kirk asks this godlike energy being who's trying to get onto the Enterprise "Why does God need a starship?" I still don't have a satisfactory answer for that. Maybe one day we'll find it. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by mirco2974 *Are there any plans/desires among the devs to adjust the rate at which economies and/or fleetpower scale currently in the game?* Answer: It's possible. As I've mentioned elsewhere, economic balance is tricky to do without upsetting the community since it directly affects your power. That said, if it's negatively affecting the game pacing we're open to changing things. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by mirco2974 *Have the devs at some point considered the option of releasing space fauna grown in the Hatcheries/Vivarium as neutrals back into the wild? It might be interesting to release these genetic Arts and Crafts projects back into the wild and see what happens (and also fitting for certain civics/origins).* Answer: It was considered, but keep in mind the only species this would really work with are Tiyanki. The others are not very happy once outside of the pacification gases in the Vivarium. They can be released if your Grand Archive is destroyed, and they're generally upset to have lost their home. Also, consider the performance effects of some 'benevolent' empire creating and releasing 10,000 Tiyanki into the galaxy. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by evirus3178 *Of all the internal ideas for potential additions to Stellaris, what are you one of your least favorite popular ideas, and most favorite unpopular ideas and why?* Answer: There's still some ambient love in the building for space magic and I will never get tired of crushing this dream. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by teslacraft3.0 *could we devolve the prikkiki ti instead of trapping them in the shield like a blank slate option? ps. who would win in a fight Eladrin or three prikkiki ti in a trench coat?* Answer: 1. That's just kicking the can down the road a bit. The angry murder lizards will be back. 2. They're like 6" tall, I got this. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ratronald *Why can't fanatic purifiers by materialist, authoritarian, or egalitarian?* Answer: Fanatic Xenophobe is pretty essential to them, leaving them with only one remaining ethic choice. Militarist and Spiritualist matched the most sci-fi fantasies the best. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by legobug56383 *will ancient mining drones be counted as space fauna for machine empires, since they are both machine?* Answer: Mining Drones won't be capturable by Machines for the same reason Voidclouds and some other space faring creatures are not clonable. We decided to focus the fauna system on creatures with some form of genetic makeup so mining drones didn't make the cut. Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by yaiseka *Why did you add the elements of Cosmo Genesis to Machine Age? Cosmo Genesis is very powerful, and there are few Machine Age-like elements to begin with. Cosmo Genesis alone has enough volume to make a separate DLC, so frankly, I feel it was a waste to include it in Machine Age.* Answer: We create because we care. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by tr33_m4n *What does the "When ground combat rework?"-counter currently say? Would it be a good drinking game?* Answer: Not enough aquavit in Sweden... Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by paocrimsonblade2 *why in the new patch the Subjects that are released from a country now copy the ascension perks of that country?* Answer: Some released subjects would immediately combust if they didn't have your APs. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ratronald *Is there any aspect of Stellaris that the dev team feels unsatisfied with, but the community feels is perfectly fine?* Answer: Ground Combat Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by ailystap *Any consideration of just making Ubume a Paragon so it can go around and talk with all sorts of people instead of being stuck in it's system?* Answer: Making Ubume's Baby into a paragon is a pretty compelling idea... Now I just have to convince our Art Director to spare me the scope! Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by alexiacew *Are there any regrets for the half-unique government type limbo that megacorp seems to have landed itself in, where it needs a unique version of every single civic. Does that create challenges? Or is it mostly tied to megacorp being from a dlc.* Answer: It certainly creates a little extra work for the team, especially when we're brainstorming new Civics. But ultimately we all get a kick out of coming up wtih really smarmy, corporate-speak to sell the fantasy. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by rdv *will there be new Leviathan based traits for enhancing your species derived from the vivarium's residents? It's not like you won't have enough genetic information after a while.* Answer: The production of the vivarium won't generate new pop Traits no. However the constant cloning of space fauna will eventually give you new unique opportunities regarding their mutations ! Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by daginger. *With certain species packs having access to unique traits, such as plantoids budding, could expanding this idea to other species types be a possibility in the future, such as an avain roosting trait, for example?* Answer: It's possible. We've talked internally about phenotype traits and their potential impact. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by formula_c8h10n4o2 *There are various cute and adorable species portraits ~~typically genocidal very genocidal~~ so... ***when do we get our adorable machine portrait?*** The time for the adorable determined exterminators should be upon us!* Answer: SPIDER BOT IS CUTE. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by tabat_dectocoder *What was your inspirations during the creation of Cosmic Storms?* Answer: We got swept away by the idea of showering the galaxy map with a tempest of incredible VFX. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by hotcoffee_ *Favourite portrait?* Answer: I like the Toxoid one that floats around in a tank. Seems like a chill lifestyle. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by afghanistan *Which space fauna will we get as a plushy next?* Answer: I was pushing for wearable brain slugs, personally. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by myphicbowser *I see you said that once a cloned creature reaches its maximum age, age stops being a factor. How moddable is this? Would we be able to add new life stages, a natural death at a certain point of age?* Answer: Adding new life stages should be pretty moddable but natural death would be trickier to do ! Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by ailystap *Would there ever be a option to 'share' a system with a Hive Mind? or for non-biological/cybernetic empires to not immediately genocide a integrated hive? A hive can still live as part of a society, although not exactly a part.* Answer: I'd like the option for a xenophile to let a bunch of disconnected drones just putter around doing their thing on a planet, like a refuge. They might not really do much useful for you, but you shouldn't be forced to purge them. Likewise, I wouldn't mind if an Empath hive could keep a petting zoo of individuals. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by teslacraft3.0 *what is your favorite event? Bubbles, the shanty or Ubume (ghost ship)?* Answer: OH DAMN! You like Ubume?? That was literally my onboarding task. I had NO idea what I was doing... Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by gorehuchi *are specimens outright discarded if your archive and overflow are both full?* Answer: They are automatically sold at their normal value. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by frax_ *will devouring swarms have some tweaks from the space fauna?* Answer: Devouring swarms will be able to capture fauna like the others. We didn't feel the need to change this behavior as devouring hiveminds can still cultivate cattle for the purpose of getting more food; and in the case of Wild Swarms, the genetic material gathered can be used to create more tools of expansion. Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by rafs__ *Any plans for Species Template application and view tab system rework? Is that the big project of Custodians?* Answer: The species tab and the modification process is definitely high on the Custodian target list. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by alexiacew *Are there any origins or playstyles that the team feel are less/more loved than expected by the playerbase?* Answer: We have a lot of telemetry data available to us, and I'm still surprised by how popular Teachers of the Shroud is. That was my first assignment as a newly hired dev, and I can only look back on that time as a blur. If I had the chance, I'd love to go back to that one and really make it something special. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by sanyay *Will all future portraits have evolutions? Will we have evolutions for other ascensions? Will old portraits be updated to have evolutions?* Answer: While some portraits in the future may have reactive elements, I don't think all of them will. We're very unlikely to update old portraits. They also might not react to the same triggers. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ratronald *What factors go into choosing the focus of DLCs do players seem unaware of?* Answer: I think one of the factors that people might overlook is the scope of the thing, and how much time / effort it will take to get it right. The team is incredibly ambitious, but time stops for no Dev. Sometimes a brilliant idea has to die because it's simply too big. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by gm225 *What are your personal opinions on putting Psionic Robots into the game, aka allowing Machines (Individualistic and Gestalt) to access and use the Shroud?* Answer: Most machines don't have a proper presence in the Shroud, so something like that would probably require the intervention of someone like the Animator of Clay. Could be interesting though. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by paocrimsonblade2 *are specimens or new relics going to add -% empire size bonus and is there some bonus for genetics like the 5% non robot output bonus on the crystallinus diffuser that was shown on the forum by eladrin?* Answer: Generally we're not going to have too many empire size reductions - there are probably still too many that are too high in the game as-is. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by pokes8881 *what do you wish was easier to code so y'all could play around with more?* Answer: Generally, the UI is the system that I find "most difficult thing to work with that I wish was easier". Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by pokes8881 *do y'all ever add something and think/feel "oh, that's messed up"? Does this discourage or encourage y'all in anyways?* Answer: We tend to do what we call a "homicidal text pass", where we go through all the new events we made and decide where genocidal empires would behave differently in that situation. Usually it involves eating or killing innocent things. If we feel bad about it, it usually means we're doing it right. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by mirco2974 *Do you have any plans/desires to adjust the economic modifiers/upkeep/bonuses in a similar way to the technology rebalance in the future?* Answer: Economic balance is a tricky matter, but it's very likely that we'll consider some adjustments here and there to the most problematic outliers. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ailystap *What is your background lore on how Spiritualists see the rare Psionic robots that show up? Is it incomprehensible to most of them or would they see the psionic machine as an avatar of a psionic entity, such as the Animator of Clay?* Answer: That's an awesome question. I'm imagining the appearance of a Psionic Robot on a world controlled by a Cyber Creed empire... Would they see it as the ultimate expression of themselves, or as an abomination, a rejection of the holy fusion? That's the type of question that could produce a pretty intriguing Event Chain... Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by contingency100xcube *contingency best crisis right? We all know it is. Also me love the shattered ring patch note* Answer: Cetana loves you even if you're wrong. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by pokes8881 *was the adjustment from 1.9 to 2.0 the hardest y'all had to handle? Or was there an update more challenging?* Answer: While 2.0 had the system control and FTL changes, I think that 2.1 to 2.2 alongside MegaCorp was probably the most difficult one, since it had the major economic changes going from tiles to jobs. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by caramel146 *What are the funniest bugs you’ve encountered during development?* Answer: As I started as a baby dev during First Contact, I've always been partial to the PreFTLs constantly nuking themselves. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by alexiacew *With its issues to lag, unusual resource modifiers, and lack of good feedback as to where it comes from. Are there any plans to give trade a rework/merchanic update?* Answer: Trade is in my sights for a revamp at some point due to its performance implications for questionable gain. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ailystap *What eats voidworms? What has been keeping their population under control before the most recent spread of empires gained FTL?* Answer: Voidworms are Apex predators in the sense that nothing is preying on them, but their proliferation is tied to the availability of sapient life in the galaxy. With the overwhelming power of the Fallen Empires, Voidworms have only ever preyed on primitive societies where the population is less numerous and harder to find. In fact with the simultaneous rise of FTL-capable empires, it has never been easier for Voidworms to proliferate ! Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by tr33_m4n *Love, marry, purge with Jeff, Rick and the unnamed Mushrooms?* Answer: Jeff is bae. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by tsunderesaph *How about making a setting at the start of the game during galaxy generation to change the odds of random stuff like leviathans, anomalies, etc, spawning? So if a player wanted to have all leviathans, they could just set the slider to max during galaxy generation.* Answer: We'd love to hear what kinds of things people want for the settings screen. The new settings screen that's coming in 3.14.1, splitting the advanced settings out from the basic ones, makes it easier to have more options without making the screen too terrifying for new players. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by rafs__ *How were Specimens integrated into Astral Planes narrative paths? Is it always tied to the usual largest reward path or a consolation prize path?* Answer: It's a mix. It's usually tied to the point where it narratively makes the most sense. I think in general most are rewarded at the 'good' ending of the chain. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by zaukonig. *are you having a nice day today?* Answer: I get to hang out on discord and make snarky comments all afternoon while drinking excessive amounts of coffee! It's great! Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by shadowarbird *Are there any plans to allow Machine empires to take Primal Calling in the future?* Answer: Nope. Doesn't really match the 'story' behind this Origin. The idea is your species evolved closely with other creatures around them and learned to live together in one way or another. Robots wouldn't really be doing that sort of thing. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by elegerd *Favorite form of genocide currently in the game?* Answer: Devolution! Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by yaiseka *Are there plans to add Authoritarian, Egalitarian, Militarist, Pacifist and Hive Mind Fallen empires?* Answer: It's possible. Though I consider Dacha the Pacifist Fallen Empire. (And may get them tweaked a little at some point in order to feel more like that.) Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ggzola *Hello, Grand Archive is looking pretty juicy, however considering the biology themes with the vivarium and space fauna, I can't help but think this was a missed chance to take a pass on genetic ascension. When will government authority types be coming to other ascensions other than cybernetic and synthetic? Thanks!* Answer: Biological Ascension is a larger topic than I feel would be in scope to fit into a Story Pack. The Grand Archive Story Pack is not intended to be the biological equivalent of The Machine Age - some bits may rhyme a little, but we'll be visiting the other Ascensions in the future. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by tr33_m4n *When will you answer this question?* Answer: Now! Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by ailystap *any plans on new shroud events? I feel like ive been going throuigh the same ones over and over after all this time* Answer: Would love to see more when reaching into the Shroud... this sounds like a good idea. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by tr33_m4n *Some space kraken x nautilus abomination can board ships, but my cybernetic supersoldiers cant?* Answer: Well I wouldn't exactly call engulfing a ship whole "boarding" ! However, a certain treasure focused Origin might give you the tools to do so... Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by smeagol_1 *What are your plans after the grand archive and for 2025?* Answer: The expansion team is currently working on all of the Season 09 content, while the Custodians are working on [REDACTED]. We'll be talking about all of it with the start of the new year. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by gm225 *Are there any ideas for Species Packs that weren't chosen as the theme for a DLC for whatever reason?* Answer: There are a LOT of ideas that wind up on the cutting room floor. Way back when I was a baby content designer I sketched out an idea for a media/art focused pack that at the time just didn't have enough juice to justify the development time. That said, we'll sometimes return to an older idea with a fresh perspective, months or years down the line. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by sushi.dragon *How do you decide if something should be an origin or a civic?* Answer: In general, size and impact. Origins tend to usually be larger and more impactful than civics. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by elegerd *Are there any interactions between the diffrent teams at paradox (Stellaris Hoi4 Vic3 etc) that impact the development of Stellaris (or the other titles) ? As in some kind of feature being so liked in one of the titles that it makes its way (in one form or another) into one of the other games, or some idea that doesent fit its respective game being pitched to one of the other teams* Answer: We interact a lot with the other teams, and learn from each others' successes and failures. Season 08 is a direct result of the success of CK3's Chapters, for instance. The success of their landless gameplay is also super interesting, and while I don't think we would emulate that directly, it shows that "different ways to play the game" are highly valued. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by navar *How would you mechanically represent a sapient species that is as small as a mouse or as big as a building?* Answer: Off the top of my head, pop upkeep vs production might be a good starting point. Little wee pops are cheap to maintain, but produce little, whereas the big bois are the inverse. There might be something else to explore along environmental/conservation lines. Would a planet of giants eventually use up their resources? So maybe those empires wind up "consuming" their own planetary Districts? Could be a cool 'doom clock' kind of scenario. Get small or get gone. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by formula_c8h10n4o2 *Is destroying a grand archive the only way to steal specimens or are there alternative methods to do that? Such as criminal heritage? Say a megacorp wishes to make profit by stealing and re-selling stolen specimens, would they have to destroy a grand archive to steal them or could they steal them through other methods?* Answer: You also have the option to trade Specimens with other empires, but regarding stealing, destroying an Archive is the only way to do so. Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by fmksr2023 *will the cloned fauna die from old age and/or natural causes?* Answer: Nope, they won't die from old age. We considered it, but it introduces a lot of tracking complexity for the player. There isn't a great way of keeping you updated of all your dying fleets without spamming you with hundreds of notifications. Also, it kind of feels bad. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by pokes8881 *what are some things y'all did early on that you would have done differently today?* Answer: Ah, sins of the past come to haunt us! For personal tasks, I'd probably have had some of the things we did in First Contact have more impact overall - the insight techs are cool, but there could be more. If we still had shared system ownership, that would have been tremendously useful for that release, but it was removed due to the sheer number of bugs it caused. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by formula_c8h10n4o2 *Are there any benefits to keeping and storing space fauna within a vivarium beyond cloning and culling? Say you want to take the caretaker network to the extreme, capturing space fauna purely for the purpose of containing, preserving and archiving them, would they get any benefit from this or would it end up being purely for rp? X3* Answer: A lot of this is contained in the Primal Calling Origin. Depending on the stance you choose to take with your captured fauna, there are various bonuses you can get per occupied Vivarium capacity. For example, gaining research speed or opinion with other empires per animal. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by gorehuchi *will trading systems with other empires ever be reimplemented?* Answer: The AI isn't particularly great at evaluating the actual worth of systems, and we feel that most systems we could come up with will have edge cases that are too prone to abuse. We originally removed it because of those abuses. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by tr33_m4n *Who in the office would win the "I'm only interested in 1 really specific aspect of the game" coffee mug?* Answer: There's a certain young content designer I know who carries a mighty bright torch for all things Hive Mind. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by formula_c8h10n4o2 *What happens if extremely mutated space fauna get released into the wild? Say an empire cloned and heavily mutated a bunch of voidworms but oh no, the void worm crisis happened and ended that empire, releasing all their clones from the grand archive into the wild. Would they keep their mutations? And would they be able to create more mutated versions of their space fauna or would all their offspring revert to the regular, non mutated versions?* Answer: The mutating of space fauna is a warfare related operation, carefully managed and tested by professionals. And to maintain a secure handling of wild animals, the Vivarium is a mutation-free zone, so such a scenario wouldn't happen. Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by rafs__ *Is there a "Voidworm Spore Bomb" Colossus weapon or similar to turn all pops into voidworms at once?* Answer: Not a bomb, but there is a special mutation you can apply to them that will spawn extra nymphs whenever you use them to bombard. Special mutations become available to research after cloning a certain amount of each species. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by cheesemongle *Have you / the team considered fleshing out what "Hives" actually are in Stellaris? Currently, the only 'hive mind' i would describe more as an Overmind or Super-Organism rather than an actual Collective Consciousness. One real-world example would be Eusocial species, like Bees or Ants. One Queen and many many worker drones and such, which could be represented by an entire Stratum in Stellaris. Another example could be a less-fleshy, more specific to a collective, kind of "Consensus Consciousness" that is more connected by its drone population itself, rather than controlled by a higher entity. IDK, there are many ways to interpret Hiveminds and Stellaris only has the one. Maybe if there were more types, Psionic Hiveminds would be easier to conceptualise.* Answer: I'd love to dig deep into what makes a Hive Mind, but it's a taller order than it seems at first glance, as it would require reworkin a TON of existing content. The team still shudders when they think of all the content debt they had to shovel to get Individualistic Machines right. That said, we never say never around here. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by bonesaw6969 *will we eventually get more tradition and ascension perk slots because of the seemingly ever increasing amount of both* Answer: We generally hold the opinion that difficult choices are good for replayability and for gameplay in general. If there are so many really good Traditions and Ascension Perks that it's tough to choose which ones you want, that's generally a good thing. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by paocrimsonblade2 *you wrote on the diary that The AI now has a set limit on the maximum number of habitats it should have, determined by galaxy size and difficulty setting. This limit is doubled for the Void Dweller and Void-Forged origins. What's the limit and why you added it? Is it big enough for huge maps? Is it for each empire?* Answer: It ranges from a base of 2 on Tiny galaxies to 10 on Huge ones. Then difficulty modifies it from x0.5 on Civilian to x2.0 on Grand Admiral. Void Dwellers double the final result. We added it because players frequently requested it. It's per empire. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by sjihttam *which specimen did you personally find the most fun to write/read or whatever* Answer: I'm partial to the Extra-dimensional Ceramic Pot, which comes from the event that references Russell's Teapot. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by ailystap *Would there be a future where we can have large voidborne intelligent creatures as pops? i.e. a empire of sapient space amoeba!* Answer: Imagining the mechanical implications of that fantasy is wild: "Every one of these high quality Consumer Goods were manufactured in the void by our friendly team of giant amoebas." Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by hotcoffee_ *If you could magically add something to the game, what would it be?* Answer: Better performance! Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by sharkigoobmornin *can we get a ship that is mix of Juggernaut and colossus combination? I want to crack stars and defend while i do the job* Answer: Cetana might be able to help you with that dream to an extent. Her flagship doesn't have shipyards, but it does have a World Cracker, 27 guns and 8 hangars. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by barry8378 *Will ship age matter like bubbles does? Since he gets an event when he reaches 100 years old but doubt it would work for all organics attack pets* Answer: Age does matter in the sense that your cloned fauna will grow as time goes on, but once they reach their most mature state, age stops being a factor. Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by navar *How are specimen handled before you get a Grand Archive, specifically is there a limit to how many you can hold without a GA?* Answer: If you don't have a Grand Archive, they'll just sit happily in your Collection tab. You can still sell them, if you want to. There is a limit of having 9 per each category, with a collective overflow of 4. Reaching that point will take quite some time though. There is some auto-selling functionality so you don't have to worry about it. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by myphicbowser *If you were planning an organic shipset, would it differ from the Prethoryn in a large way? Would the design come out more buglike or like living in a less agressive way, if that makes sense? Has this even been discussed by the team?* Answer: If we were to do something like that, I'd definitely want us to provide something new. The Prethoryn are cool looking, no doubt, but it's been done, and if I know our Art Department, they're all about pushing themselves and smashing boundaries and unbridled creativity and all that good stuff. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by gm225 *Is there any chance of the Animator of Clay becoming a new fully fledged Shroud Entity that players can make Covenants with?* Answer: Hmm, maybe. The Shroud works in mysterious ways... Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by voodoo_woodpecker *I remember reading on the forums, that it's currently impossible to modify Bubbles because it's an event ship. So, does the same constraints apply to reanimated guardians, like Shard and Tiyanki Matriarch?* Answer: Yes, the mutation systems are connected to the cloned fauna from your vivarium and do not apply to existing "event ships". You can only modify living creatures that you created yourself through the cloning process. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by ailystap *Can we have a observation event where a empire with Xenomorph technology has a incident where some of those xenomorphs accidently escape onto a primitive world, and you can intervene or let the plot of ALIEN/S play out for those poor primitives?* Answer: I would love to give the Xenomorph army some narrative love. Would be a great buff to MegaCorp: "You have to understand, it was all for the shareholders!!" Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by mr_henners *Will it be possible to experience multiple mid-game crisis events like the Great Khan and the new Voidworm plague, or will one cancel the others out?* Answer: Yes the Great Khan can trigger in a Voidworm-infested galaxy and both are hostile towards each other, so things can go south really fast ! Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by daginger. *if there is a season 9, how will you top rick the cube?* Answer: There are many platonic solids to consider. One person on the team is strongly pushing for Rollo the Sphere. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by voodoo_woodpecker *Hi! What was the most difficult dlc to code into the game? Is there a feature/asset that was surprisingly tedious to implement?* Answer: Do not attempt an End Game Crisis unless you have an extra 6 months lying around somewhere... Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by pokes8881 *do you think having seasons where you give details about the next few dlcs helps or limits creativity moving forward in creating dlcs that have more or less been decided insofar as creative direction.* Answer: We plan things on a long schedule, with multiple DLCs being worked on simultaneously. (As an example, right now I'm figuring out what we're going to do in the latter half of 2026.) While the Seasons do put some "shackles" on us in some ways, I think the advantages of letting you know all of the content that's coming for the year outweighs any drawbacks. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by eulersapprentice *Are you open to the idea of adding more game elements that do nothing and are just there for flavor, like pre-FTL buildings/jobs/civics? For example, what if the Contingency's AI Worlds were filled with powerful-looking buildings that emphasize their central role to the Contingency's plans?* Answer: I love flavor. Huge flavor guy over here. But in general, when it comes to the production plan, we want to prioritize features and content that will have mechanical/gameplay repercussions as well as being flavorful. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by ailystap *Will there be special 'shiny' space fauna to capture? Unique glowing gold amoebas to collect? Perhaps a obscenely red Tiyanki?* Answer: No shinies per se, but the better your Gravity Snare tech, the higher chance you will catch higher rarities. The rarity is determined after the capture happens, so there really isn't a way to look at them and judge which will be best to catch. Legendaries are the highest rarity, and probably shiniest. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by rvdleun *Is there an internal document outlining the events in Stellaris' timeline, or are most of the details created during development? For instance, the backstory about Zarqlan revealed in The Machine Age—was that planned in advance, or developed specifically for that DLC?* Answer: We have a 'lore bible' (and a dedicated 'lore keeper', who takes such things VERY seriously), but because Stellaris is and is meant to be a sandbox in which any number of fantasies can exist simultaneously, we tend to approach internal lore with a light touch. In Zarqlan's case, as we were outlining our intentions with the Synthetoc Queen Crisis, we realized pretty quickly there was a chance to deepen Zarqlan's story there. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by elegerd *Do you try to prioritise the singleplayer (with ai's) or multiplayer experience of the game? Have there ever been cases where you didnt nerf something as much as you would want to because you wanted to keep it viable in the other kind of experience without keeping it as powerful in the former?* Answer: We do not really balance with multiplayer in mind. We'll occasionally tweak things if it will dramatically help the multiplayer community quality of life though. Similarly, we don't consider Grand Admiral x25 All Crises the "default" mode for balancing considerations. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by rafs__ *Which Space Fauna can go in a vivarium? All of them?* Answer: Space Amoeba, Tiyanki, Crystalline Entities, Voidworms, and Cutholoids. All living happily together thanks to pacification gasses. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by formula_c8h10n4o2 *How big can a cutholoid get? Since the space fauna grow over time and the cuthoiloids can devour smaller vessels, I'm curious to know what's the largest thing they could consume? Also technically a separate question but still relating to cutholoids, can cloned cuthoiloids retain the ability to hide and pretend to be normal asteroids?* Answer: Cutholoids can become as big as a battleship ! As they eat anything smaller, they'll be able to engulf anything below cruiser size. You won't be able to hide your Cutholoids inside of asteroid belts, but if you mutate them to give them the ability to cloak....Well let's just say your enemies will get a slimy surprise ! Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by slayer4052 *Are we ever going to get a sensible story for Nemesis? As it is now, it feels like a lot of........... hand-wavium* Answer: Could you give a specific example of the hand-waviness? This is just the kind of thing I like to get right if possible. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by gm225 *Are there any plans to add new Ascension Paths?* Answer: It's funny, someone in the design team was talking about that yesterday. Right now we have no plans to do so, however. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by sharkigoobmornin *can we get a start origin as a fallen empire or part of fallen empire on L cluster? Or some kind of origin with Juggernaut at the start?* Answer: The narrative possibilities of starting the game as a Fallen Empire are delicious indeed... If I were going to do something like that, I couldn't resist going back to their past to revist why they fell in the first place, maybe through some Arc Sites... Maybe the stories these people tell themselvs about what happened to their once mighty civilization are simply lies passed down through the generations? Now you've got me thinking... Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by sloppydeck *are there options in galaxy generation for space fauna frequency now or plans for this at a later date?* Answer: Currently, you can scale the amount of Voidworms and Cutholoids that appear, or completely disable them. The other fauna operate as normal. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by apollon1779 *are there any plans to add more new special government types such as the ones we've seen in Machine Age for cyborgs ? for instance ones related to the other ascension paths or events, origins ?* Answer: It's highly likely that we will have more advanced or unique governments in the future. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by daginger. *what was the inspiration behind grand archives? How fun was it to go through all the events in the game to find specimens for it* Answer: The core idea really was the Specimen system. From the very beginning we knew we wanted to go through every event that exists in the game and find places to create memorable objects from them that sort of track the story of your game as it goes along. Everything else blossomed out from there. Making all of the Specimens was a huge amount of work, but definitely a lot of fun. There were some events I found that I didn't even know existed. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by artiastronomer *Are there any plans to overhaul espionage and deepen internal politics mechanics?* Answer: We have a Custodian pitch for an espionage rework. One day. As for internal politics - I think that it's a much larger system, and should influence external politics as well. It'd make for a good major release though. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by d.u.n.n.o *What's a feature/change you'd add to the game if nobody could stop you?* Answer: It's my job to kill darlings and crush the dreams of our intrepid Devs, which means I've got to be even harder on my own brilliant brain children. That said, I had a blast writing dialogue for Cetana and I'd be super pumped to do that sort of thing again. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by estorransynth *Will the Prethoryn's hunters ever be elaborated upon further? Frankly the idea of a threat so powerful its actually chasing a crisis faction across multiple galaxies is just too interesting to be a footnote.* Answer: Some horrors are best left to the imagination. Defining them would diminish them. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by mirco2974 *Do the Voidworms and/or Cutholoids go after Space Amoeba, Tiyanki or any other space fauna if given the opportunity? Is there some form of interaction between the various spaceborne creatures?* Answer: Cutholoids are ambush predators, so they'll snack on anything that gets too close, but you won't see that in game as Cutholoids can only be "found" by science ships. As for Voidworms, they mainly feed on asteroids but your pops will also be on their menu, although it's not for nutrition... Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by sanyay *Which of space fauna is the tastiest?* Answer: Well mechanically speaking, Tiyanki are the only species that give you food when culled in the Vivarium. It's probably because they taste the best. I'm certain that it's not Voidworms. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by navar *I’m surprised we didn’t get an advisor voice styled like steve irwin or david attenborough for the new space fauna and curation stuff! Were any pitched?* Answer: Crikey, why didn't we think of that? Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by oluapplayer *Any plans for more species packs in the future? The last one (Toxoids) is 2 years old now, and more xenos are always fun (hint nudge draconics/saurians pack when)* Answer: There's definitely a lot of love for a draconic/saurian pack, both in the Community and the internal team, but getting that fantasy right would be a challenge. Whenever we consider a new Species Pack or specific phenotype, we do our best to keep it grounded within the SF genre. Stellaris isn't exactly 'hard' SF, but we don't want to veer to far into space fantasy either. I'd personally have a hard time swallowing my disbelief at a spaceship piloted by dragons, but perhaps some brilliant Dev (or Community member?) will come up with a way to make it work?? Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by bigwhiteshogun *Any chance for an update in near future of organic hiveminds so they are more up to date with machine ones ?* Answer: It's likely that we'll want to revisit Hive Minds in the near future. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by tsunderesaph *Have you guys considered reducing the number of ships in the game, reworking the trade system, or anything like that to cut down on late game lag? E.G. If you are playing on grand admiral, multiple AIs with 1000+ fleet cap will cause incredible end game lag even if the ships are all idle and there is no combat going on. Large trade networks also tend to cause lots of end game lag. It's just a huge turn off playing this game when late game slows down to an incredible crawl and playing the game becomes more of a chore than fun.* Answer: Nothing is sacred on my quest for improved late game performance. Expect more discussion about this topic later this year. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by potat0vv0 *Will you be able to edit/create mining drones in the grand archive like the biological void fauna?* Answer: Mining Drones cannot be captured or cloned. Too many nuts and bolts. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by shiroinfinity *is psionic + genetic ascension overhaul planned, following the cybernetic + synthetic rework?* Answer: While I can't specifically talk about unannounced content, based on the reception of The Machine Age, I would think it's pretty likely. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by justjago *Can you finally settle the age old debate: How many xenos are represented by a single pop in Stellaris?* Answer: More than one for sure! Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by mirco2974 *Can Voidworms establish new nests if they find a suitable location, or is every nest destroyed an irrecoverable loss for them?* Answer: Nope. Once a Voidworm Nest is destroyed, it's gone for good. Each system contains 3 Nests, and the number of systems depends on galaxy size. They use their nesting systems to mature more rapidly and go out to bombard planets once a valid target is detected. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by barry8378 *Have you considered allowing the cloning of leviathan sized cratures? Like the tiyanki matriarch and the voidspawn* Answer: We did discuss how the new system would interact with Leviathans and ended up incorporating them into the Mutations system. You might not be able to clone them, but by extracting their genetic material, you will be able to mutate your fauna in unique ways ! Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by fmksr2023 *Living bio ships set and ground combat rework when?* Answer: You'll get one of those. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by thecreator1987 *The specimens (knowing theres 240+ in total) will each one be unique in some way that makes them unique from each other that isnt just the aspect?* Answer: In general, each Specimen category has a 'color pie' of modifiers that they share. Each Specimen will have a modifier from that design space, and scaled according to its rarity. The theme of the story behind it is matched as closely as possible to the modifier. Some modifiers are rarer than others, but I don't think many are 'unique'. Of course, each lore description is unique. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by z792 *Can we expect new achievements on the Windows version of the game? We still don't even have the Machine Age achievements yet. Is there a timeline for getting these added?* Answer: We're aware of issues related to achievements on the MS Store version and are working on solutions with our contacts over there. We don't have a timeframe for them. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by elysiven *When making new features in a free update or as part of dlc is stand alone content prioritised and how are possible tie-in features with previous dlcs handled / considered?* Answer: Standalone content is prioritized, as we don't want to create a situation where a player has to own 2 DLCs just to enjoy the content of the newest release. That said, the team loves finding ways to tie existing lore or Features together. The Synthetic Queen End Game Crisis was a great example of this, where we got to weave in my boy Zarqlan's backstory. Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by lithrandil2 *Will there be a modjam this year again, and can we get a hint of what it will be about? (Probably not the latter but its worth trying ^^)* Answer: We are not planning a Mod Jam this year, sorry. Answered by: MrFreake |
| Question by nulldragon *What was the funniest bug that occurred when you were working on the Grand Archive Story Pack? Possibly also most frustrating?* Answer: At one point, we noticed extreme performance improvements specifically with Grand Archive enabled. We thought we had done something great, but then learned it was because Voidworms were often devouring over half of the galaxy and eliminating most empires during the Crisis. They have since been... toned down. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by .anonymous77 *Whoever's in charge of the lore for the Vultaum precursors, what kind of breakthrough would have led to them thinking the method of shutting down the simulation was the opposite of what it actually is?* Answer: Alas, the Vultaum could only gather information from within the simulation, and made some incorrect leaps of logic. They clearly should have overpopulated the galaxy and built as many hangar fleets as possible. Maybe installed a bunch of incompatable mods. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by the5lacker *Will civics like Cordyceptic Drones be tweaked with the changes to Space Fauna?* Answer: Cordyceptics Drones have indeed been tweaked a bit, but so did every reanimator ! The Cordyceptics modifiers have been slightly tweaked to not make cloned fauna overpowered, but in exchange you also get the ability to reanimate your fallen CLONED fauna when they fall in battle ! Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by elegerd *How do you decide what the theme's of the dlc's/updates are going to be* Answer: Eladrin (Game Director) retreats to a mountain cave for up to a week, and when he comes down the idea for the next DLC comes with him... Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by sanyay *Would you consider reworking origins? Many of them look very nice together but currently we are limited to only having one. Especially now that we have lots of them, having origins with unique mechanics, origins with stories and those that change the starting planet in one category seems counterintuitive (and I would love to combine upcoming primal calling with fruitful partnership)* Answer: We do recognize that some Origins lean more towards the narrative, others are purely mechanical, and some focus on your homeworld or development while others are more focused on your civilization. At this time we don't plan on changing how Origins work in Stellaris though, or giving multiple slots. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by myphicbowser *Will we be able to repopulate galactic populations of Space Fauna if they become rare? And follow up, will we be able to do anything with the Prethoryn at all? Growing them is cool and all, but would we be able to release a genetically modified version of them, adding more diversity to the galaxy?* Answer: By completing the Domestication tree, you get access to Voidlures. These can be built on starbases and will periodically attract Space Fauna compatible with that system type. Mechanically, they don't actually 'attract' space fauna, they generate them every few years. So in this way, you'll always have access to space fauna you have had first contact with even if no "wild ones" are left in the galaxy. Prethoryn Scourge cannot be captured or cloned - and there is a narrative event explaining why this is the case. Releasing genetically modified versions of space fauna is not possible, but sounds fun. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by shadowarbird *What did you guys enjoy working on the most while developing Season: 08 and any of the DLCs in it?* Answer: Machine Age was definitely the highlight of S8 for me. The team worked incredibly hard to pack it with as much content as we possibly could. Providing the community with a new End Game crisis was a hugely ambitious goal, and even though she came in hot and right before the deadline, I'm really happy with how my girl Cetana turned out. All hail the... Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by .cairos *Some civics, origins and ethics are very flavourful but mechanically weak (e.g. Dimensional worship). Will underpowered options ever get a tune up?* Answer: Yes, we do tend to boost up less powerful options over time in Custodian releases. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by rafs__ *is there a limit on how many lures you can have on your empire? can you fill your empire with passive space fauna with enough starbases?* Answer: The only real limit for lures is to have the right environment in your systems, so you can really go wild ! Answered by: Rotulius |
| Question by .morallygray *Can you add a specific weapon range modifier to the list of possible modifiers. So that i could say, bonus kinetic range, but not explosive range?* Answer: That could be feasible. We'd probably want to base it off of weapon tags somehow if we did it, so it could selectively apply easily to various weapon types. Answered by: Eladrin (Game Director) |
| Question by v01d_k1tty *is the Grand Archive megastructure model the same for all ship packs. or will it be different for necroids/imperial/plantoids?* Answer: Yep, every ship pack has its own unique Grand Archive texturing. The "shield" FX around it will also change to the primary color of your empire flag. Answered by: Atmaz |
| Question by bonesaw6969 *will bubbles remain the cutest space fauna or will there be some competition* Answer: Som of these void worms are plenty cute... Answered by: CG Inglis |
| Question by dravejr. *Is there an actual known size/length of the Stellaris ship classes?* Answer: We don't have an agreed-upon internal system of measurement for the size of ships. I don't really consider them to scale within the in-game world. These things appear like the size of planets! Answered by: CG Inglis |
Next Week
Next week is going to be a little bit different.We’ll be looking at the internal vision statement of Stellaris and compare it to how the game has developed over the years, and I’d like to begin a conversation about how we’ll continue to evolve over the next few years.
The Custodian team has been up to something, and I want you to help guide them.
Purchase Stellaris: Grand Archive alone or with a discount as part of Stellaris: Season 08!
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