Hey all!

Today’s topic will further explore the subjects of fleet movement, FTL-travel and the general wonders one might happen upon when ripping holes through subspace. As the writing of this is a bit sudden the dev diary came out late today, our apologies!
The galaxy is a pretty huge place and to get anywhere in a timely manner you’ll want to travel faster than the speed of light, or use FTL-travel for short. Stellaris will have three methods of FTL that players can use; Warp, Hyperlanes and Wormholes. They all have distinct advantages and disadvantages when it comes to the strategic movement of ships and fleets causing expansion paths, diplomacy and wars to be quite different depending on the method used.

Warp
Warp requires each ship in the fleet to be equipped with a Warp Drive. These are quite costly to build and cause a major drain on each ship’s available power, but allows unconstrained travel to any system within range. When travelling to a system outside the range of a single warp-jump, the fleet has to make a sequence of jumps through a number of systems. Any jump puts a considerable strain on a ship’s Warp Drive, causing the fleet to not be able to jump again for a short while after arrival. While this can be reduced by more advanced technology, it does remain a weak point throughout the game for any species using this method.
Fleets using Warp Drives to travel will need to do so at the edge of a system to lessen the gravitational pull of the local star. This in combination with the fact that warp-jumps have the slowest FTL-speed of the three methods means that the arrival point of an incoming warp-fleet can be identified, and possibly ambushed. The cost of freedom is potentially high!

Wormhole
Some species have decided to sidestep this whole business of blasting through the void at ludicrous speed. They prefer to open up a temporary wormhole that a fleet may use to instantly travel to a distant system. These wormholes can only be generated by a Wormhole Station, a type of space station that can only be constructed on the outer edge of a system. Any fleet wanting to travel will have to use the Wormhole Station as a connecting point, passing through it whenever they leave the system. The station may only generate a single wormhole at a time, forcing all ships and fleets to wait while one is being prepared. The larger the fleet, the longer it takes for the Wormhole Station to be ready. The wormhole generated does allow two-way travel, but will collapse almost instantly after sending a fleet through.
Constructing and maintaining an efficient network of Wormhole Stations is vital to any species using wormholes, as it will allow sending huge fleets from one part of the galaxy to another in very short time. It also allows striking deep inside enemy territory with little warning. This great strength can also be a great weakness, as fleets are left with no means of further offense or retreat should the network be disabled through covert attacks by enemy strike-fleets.

Hyperdrive
The galaxy in Stellaris has a hidden network of hyperlanes connecting the systems, only visible for those who know where to look. Ships that are equipped with a Hyperdrive can access these lanes and use them to traverse the galaxy at incredible speed. They are however bound by the preexisting network, and has to path through each system connecting their current location and target. Galactic voids lacking systems are in effect huge movement-blockers for any species using hyperlanes, having few systems allowing possible crossings. An enemy could potentially fortify these vital systems should they become aware of their existence, creating strategic choke-points. As the hyperlanes exist in subspace, fleets may access them from anywhere within a system and does not have to travel from the gravitational edge as Warp Drives and Wormhole Stations do. As such, catching a fleet using hyperlanes can be tricky. Correctly identifying the paths to intercept and interrupt their somewhat long charge-up is probably your best bet.

All methods of FTL-travel can be improved by researching more advanced technologies. While their exact effects differ some they all improve the speed, range, efficiency or cooldown of FTL-travel. However, being able to casually bend time and space with increased power does not necessarily mean using it with more responsibility. As additional species bend the laws of physics to send larger and larger fleets through the galaxy, there is always the risk of something, or someone, noticing...

Next week we’ll talk more about the different species in the galaxy. Look forward to it!

 

[FelixG]

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that has been revealed so far looks really great and is honestly pushing Stellaris to top spot of most anticipated game.

Except for this, if it means no carries in the base game??? So much Sci-fi fiction and emersion have fighters and bombers in the carrier format that I think it will feel like it is missing.

Carriers could be battleship size/classed.

If there are "freight trains" in this game, I wonder how many wormhole stations you'd have to build.... Hyperlanes sounds like it's good for local trade.

Well cargo ships wont be nearly as dense mass wise as a warship would be, so they would likely not need as big of wormholes as a whole fleet, so the station could blip on and off to pull one trade ship through at a time relatively quickly, or as others mentioned suspend civilian traffic when a military fleet is on an urgent mission (Could be interesting to see a priority/non priority system put into place, where if you are just shuffling ships around your back area you could have them queue like civilian ships, but you can jump them to the front of the line in times of war or emergency.

 

[Atlantians]

You're not bringing the points together that would be bending space, that's warptravel, they go from being separate to being together but you're not bridging the distance. It defies human experience on how the universe works, and that's what makes it awesome.

You're not bridging them that would mean bending space, or that location A would go to location B faster than the speed of light which is impossible.

Certainly but there's nothing to indicate that such energy would in any way be related to the distance.

I'm just explaning the definition of the theoretical phenomenon of a wormhole, considering how people here seems to get it mixed up with warptravel. If you're bending spacetime then it's warptravel (warp is short for timewarp).

Well, Stargates have travel times, and power requirements that change based on distance.

 

[TheDungen]

Well, Stargates have travel times, and power requirements that change based on distance.

Not really, except when they need to use that as a macguffin for having the atlantis expedition be stranded in the pegasus galaxy. True they have travel times which is probably one of the greatest flaws of the series. But they inherited that from the Rolan Emmerich movie that quite frankly sucked.

 

[Atlantians]

Not really, except when they need to use that as a macguffin for having the atlantis expedition be stranded in the pegasus galaxy. True they have travel times which is probably one of the greatest flaws of the series. But they inherited that from the Rolan Emmerich movie that quite frankly sucked.

You are not a Physicist. And you clearly have no taste in movies.

 

[aitaituo]

Not really, except when they need to use that as a macguffin for having the atlantis expedition be stranded in the pegasus galaxy. True they have travel times which is probably one of the greatest flaws of the series. But they inherited that from the Rolan Emmerich movie that quite frankly sucked.

Actually, in one of the early seasons they establish that extra power is needed for intergalactic travel when O'Neil gets brainjacked by an ancient archive and builds a generator to gate to the Asgard homeworld and it comes up again a couple other times before Atlantis. But I wouldn't remember that if I hadn't recently started rewatching the series.

 

[TheDungen]

Depends how they do it, if a ship has to fly through (i.e. nose goes in one end, come out the other until the entire ship is through) then there will be a very brief transit time. Ofc, it's possible that nearby ships trying to transit will simply 'blink' from one end to the other. But, if the former, a ship on the other side could potentially be part in, part out, when the wormhole closes. It's an edge case though.

Not nessecerily consider the wormholes in wheel of time (I know it's a fantasy but that line is often blurry and it's written by nuclear physicist Robert Jordan), litteraly a hole in the air from one place to the other. You're no more inside them than you are inside a door (provided it's a door without a frame). The edges are so thin that they can cut through anything.

Actually, in one of the early seasons they establish that extra power is needed for intergalactic travel when O'Neil gets brainjacked by an ancient archive and builds a generator to gate to the Asgard homeworld and it comes up again a couple other times before Atlantis. But I wouldn't remember that if I hadn't recently started rewatching the series.

It's still a macguffin to make them not able to reach the asgard whenever they want to.

You are not a Physicist. And you clearly have no taste in movies.

Actually I am, engineering phycists. Granted we do more quantum physics than astrophysics but I have a wrking understandign of these concepts.
And did you like independence day too? How about 2012? Day after tomorrow? Godzilla? Face it Emmerich is a hack. Placing stargate back in his hands is the worst decision ever.

 

[Finnway]

Does it really matter whether the "wormhole," as it is implemented in Stellaris, works like a "wormhole" or a "warpdrive" ? In the end, isn't the end result the same? An object moves between two points a vast distance apart nearly instantaneously? Or are we so PO'd about this that we're going to petition PDS for a name change?

 

[FelixG]

Not really, except when they need to use that as a macguffin for having the atlantis expedition be stranded in the pegasus galaxy. True they have travel times which is probably one of the greatest flaws of the series. But they inherited that from the Rolan Emmerich movie that quite frankly sucked.

Its not a mcguffin, it was established early on in the series when they didn't know what the extra locks are for, then they started expanding on it by adding further and further distances, starting with the Azguard, then Atlantis, and then Destiny. A McGuffin is something that is never used again, when they clearly use it a large number of times across two live action series and the cartoon series.

 

[Tilarium]

For any dev who cares to answer, will factions with wormhole FTL start with their space-station already constructed, or will they have to build it first? 'Seems like it might slow down the early game if they do.

It's a downside for picking it. They all have strengths and weaknesses, that will just be one of wormhole travels downsides. I still think there will be STL (Slower Then Light) travel in the game though, so use that until your first wormhole station is built, or build up in your home system?

 

[Sinister2202]

Warp seem most flexible, but quite costly in terms of sacrifice for that very flexibility. I think I've made my decision... WORMHOLE STATIONS IT IS. I've always wanted to set up Sol Customs department around the system.

 

[Meraun]

Warp seem most flexible, but quite costly in terms of sacrifice for that very flexibility. I think I've made my decision... WORMHOLE STATIONS IT IS. I've always wanted to set up Sol Customs department around the system.

well imagine your main fleet jumps to an system, the wormhole gets destroyed.. now it stucks in an enemy system (or even an empty one) without the mean to travel? Worst case
the enemy is to strong you wont be able build an wormhole in Reach of the fleet?

nightmares..

 

[josh95459]

Will the different FTL systems affect peacetime/internal mechanics?
For example a wormhole based would probably be more centralised as the systems would be dependent on the government for interstellar transport while a warp based society would be more independent, and a hyperlane society might be imbalanced as fringe systems would be more disconnected from the empire then systems at the "core" of the network.

Wormholes = Max tariffs, the spice flows when I say it does

 

[Knotz]

I'm taking warps, that was the one that could summon elder horrors from beyond right? Or do they all contribute to that now? Cuz I really like the idea of being the species that contributes to the extinction of all things.

 

[bz249]

Warp
Warp requires each ship in the fleet to be equipped with a Warp Drive. These are quite costly to build and cause a major drain on each ship’s available power, but allows unconstrained travel to any system within range. When travelling to a system outside the range of a single warp-jump, the fleet has to make a sequence of jumps through a number of systems. potentially high!

Is this a sign that warp equipped ships will have inferior (combat) capabilities as compared to wormhole or hyperlane ships? How major drain on the available power will be represented in game?

 

[FelixG]

Devs: You mentioned that you had a longer time to see Warp ships coming and could ambush them, how far out generally will you see an enemy fleet coming? Will you see ships gathering around your emergence point in the enemy/neutral system or will it be a total surprise?

 

[Jormungandur]

Follow-up questions: Can you make more than one wormhole station in a system? Effectively making a wormhole hub to be able to get multiple fleets to multiple systems quickly? Also, if you make a wormhole in two "neighbouring" systems, can those wormholes link to each others' system at the same time, each operating independently for further efficiency? Costly ventures, both of my hypotheticals surely are, but they could be strategically critical.

A system can have several Wormhole Stations, creating a hub. Wormhole Stations in neighboring systems can independently send fleets to each others systems.

So, are hyperlanes there at the beginning of the game (created by ancient beings perhaps?) and impossible to change? Can you create new ones but not destroy any? Or can you destroy and create them?

Also, is all movement FTL or is it possible to send a slower-than-light ship for colonization or even exploration purpose, before your technology allows you to have good FTL?

The origin of the hyperlane-network is unknown, and can't be manipulated at will (for now at least...). Ships can be built without an FTL-drive to act as a local defense-force, but with no means of FLT-travel they can't leave the system. There is no sub-FTL travel between systems.

 

[jazzroen]

You do choose a single type of FTL at game-start and stick with it for the majority of the game. Ships can not mix or use several FTL-types at the same time. That said, what ancient fleets may lie buried and forgotten amongst the stars, sleeping and ready to be found?

so if I read this correctly, which I hope I do, it's possible to find and obtain ancient ships/fleets with a different FTL method then the one you chose at the beginning?
would be pretty cool to obtain a strong, ancient fleet with a different FTL drive. It could be used very strategically

 

[CassCD]

A system can have several Wormhole Stations, creating a hub. Wormhole Stations in neighboring systems can independently send fleets to each others systems.

My wormhole web will weave its way across the stellar waves. My economy will be weary, but we will make it work!

Fantastic design, thanks a bunch guys!

 

[MrNibbles]

I used to be a favor warp travel before, but wormholes are just to fun to pass up on.

 

[MrNibbles]

Is this a sign that warp equipped ships will have inferior (combat) capabilities as compared to wormhole or hyperlane ships? How major drain on the available power will be represented in game?

Not at all. But you'd have to think a bit more about how you configure your ships (until you research better reactors that is).