• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris development diary. Today's dev diary will be about some more changes coming in the 1.8 'Čapek' update, with a particular focus on Hive Minds and Traditions.

Hive Minds
Hive Minds was a feature in Utopia that we were not unhappy with, but felt we could have done more on. While it works fine from a gameplay perspective, offering a different mode of play for those who do not wish to concern themselves with internal politicking and just want to get on with building their glorious empire among the stars (and eating those that stand in their way), Hive Minds ended up somewhat lacking in the flavor department, and suffered narratively from gameplay text that does not fit a Hive-Minded society, such as early exploration events.

For 1.8, we've decided to make a major push to improve Hive Minds, both narratively and gameplay-wise. Many events have been changed, disabled or rewritten to fit Hive Minds and their unique societies. We've also tried to address a number of non-event related narrative breaks, such as replacing the 'Sprawling Slums' starting planet tile blocker with a unique tile blocker only found on Hive Mind homeworlds. A new system for relocalising technologies based on government authority types was also created, and a number of technologies will now have different, more suitable names for Hive Minds (such as renaming Administrative AI to Synaptic Enhancers). Some new, unique interactions were also added to the game to emphasise the inherent psionic nature of Hive Minds.

We've also changed the way Hive Minds interact with non-Hive Mind pops. While we still do not want non-Hive Minded Pops to be regular citizens of Hive Minds (for numerous reasons, the main one being keeping Hive Minds distinct from regular empires in how they are played), we have added the option to keep them around as Livestock instead of simply being processed or displaced. AI-controlled Hive Mind empires now also vary in how they treat Pops of other species, with some preferring displacement and others making use of livestock or processing. Livestock/Processing have been buffed from 3/6 food per Pop to 6/8 respectively, and a number of fixes have been made to ensure that Pops that are kept as livestock do not incur building maintenance or similar issues.
2017_07_06_2.png

2017_07_06_3.png


Devouring Swarms
In addition to the changes to regular Hive Minds, we've also devoted some more attention to the Devouring Swarm civic that was added in 1.6. Devouring Swarms have had their bonuses increased to be more on par with their Fanatical Purifier non-Hive Mind variant, and a new government type and AI personality was created for Devouring Swarms that you encounter while exploring the galaxy. They also have a few new flavor texts and unique interactions.
2017_07_06_5.png

2017_07_06_4.png


Assimilation
Finally, we've improved the process of assimilating non-Hive Minded Pops into the Hive. Instead of having to genetically modify the project (and complete said project before the Pops are eaten or forced out), Hive Minds now have access to a new type of citizenship species right, that is unlocked once they unlock the Evolutionary Mastery ascension perk. This citizenship type, called 'Assimilation', will convert non-Hive-Minded Pops into a Hive-Minded variant of that species, allowing them to be integrated seamlessly into your Hive Mind empire. The process is gradual, with a certain number of Pops converted at regular intervals rather than all being modified at the same time. Non-Hive Minded Pops will of course be quite upset by this, selfishly holding on to their individuality rather than simply surrendering to the glory of the collective. This new method of assimilation was also made available to Synthetic empires, and can be used to convert Pops to cyborgs (if partway through Synthetic Ascension) or upload them into robot bodies (if fully Synthetically Ascended). It can also be used to by non-Hive Mind empires that have unlocked Evolutionary Mastery to de-assimilate Hive-Minded Pops.
2017_07_06_6.png


Tradition Swapping
Another issue both gameplay and narrative-wise that affects Hive Minds, but is not unique to them, is that certain traditions simply do not fit certain kinds of empires. When creating the tradition trees, we tried to keep them as broad as possible, but ultimately you're never going to be able to design seven full trees that fit perfectly into every possible society and playstyle. It's for this reason that we have created a new system that we call 'Tradition Swapping'. Tradition Swapping allows any Tradition Category (such as Diplomacy) or individual Tradition (such as Trans-Stellar Corporations) to be set up with a number of potential 'swaps'. These swaps have conditions and weights for each individual empire, and can be anything from a simple name and description swap to a full replacement of name, description, icon and effects. A number of such tradition swaps have been created for empires with specific playstyle, such as Hive Minds and Fanatical Purifiers. For example, Hive Minds have replaced 'Trans-Stellar Corporations' (Private Colony Ships make very little sense in a Hive Mind...) with Warrior Forms, a tradition that reduces army upkeep. They also have the entire Diplomacy tree replaced with Adaptability, a new tree focused on growth, habitability and genetics.

Though Tradition swaps may appear to be completely different from what they are replacing, they still occupy the same 'slot'. This means that the system is able to easily handle any change in the empire that would affect the tradition trees - if a Fanatic Purifier has the Purity tree (replacing the Domination tree) filled out and stop being Fanatical Purifiers, they will not lose their unlocked traditions and ascension perks, instead they are simply swapped for whatever variant of the same slots are valid for the empire - in this case reverting the Purity tree back to being Domination. While this may seem slightly strange, we felt it is nonetheless the preferrable way of handing such switches, as all sorts of issues would arise from simply yanking a number of unlocked traditions from empires that could no longer fulfill the conditions for them. By keeping the system as robust and dynamic as possible, it allows us to make far more adjustments to individual traditions for different playstyles than would be otherwise possible. The Tradition Swapping system is, of course, fully accessible to modders.
2017_07_06_1.png


That's all for today! Next week we'll be talking about voices. Or hearing voices? At any rate, voices will be involved for sure, so stay tuned!
 
Last edited:
Well, cattle does not really work the fields. You'd need two pops for that - a cattle one and a farmer one, hovever some cattle-specific building might be interesting.
Cattle also does not cull and process itself. Obviously on any cattle tile, we must assume that there are members of some other species processing the cattle.
 
index.php


Huum speaking about flavor have you consider adding a devoring swarm background? I mean in this picture it's only the militaristic one. Nothing planned to create a real new freaking biological background?
 
index.php


Huum speaking about flavor have you consider adding a devoring swarm background? I mean in this picture it's only the militaristic one. Nothing planned to create a real new freaking biological background?
A useable biological shipset would be nice too.
 
Cattle also does not cull and process itself. Obviously on any cattle tile, we must assume that there are members of some other species processing the cattle.
I disagree. If those are sentient creatures, then some of them are employed to process others in exchange for living slightly longer and better lives.
 
I disagree. If those are sentient creatures, then some of them are employed to process others in exchange for living slightly longer and better lives.
I would argue that that's an entirely RP point. The small distinctions between different ways of processing sentients don't add up to enough to actually produce different amounts of food, and the means by which the processing is done is all up to the imagination of the player.
 
It would be nice to see more adjacency bonii, and I think Hive mind livestock would be a logical place for one to be introduced. Processing plants that can't be worked by livestock, but increase livestock yields would make sense thematically, and would introduce a little more pop management opportunities to Hive Minds.
 
The process is gradual, with a certain number of Pops converted at regular intervals rather than all being modified at the same time

@Wiz

Can you please change other purge type to work like this too? Apart from immersion (100 billion xenos disappear instantly), gameplay-wise this is a nightmare because in a full planet everyone is purged at the same time not giving a chance for one of your Pop to migrate (or build a robot), so you lose control of the planet. (maybe change that you don't lose control of the planet if there is no Pops?)
 
@Wiz

Can you please change other purge type to work like this too? Apart from immersion (100 billion xenos disappear instantly), gameplay-wise this is a nightmare because in a full planet everyone is purged at the same time not giving a chance for one of your Pop to migrate (or build a robot), so you lose control of the planet. (maybe change that you don't lose control of the planet if there is no Pops?)

There is an event which randomly removes individual pops which are in process of being purged or dislocated. So check the planet before the purge finishes and you will very likely find an empty spot for resettlement or a robot.
 
I for the life of me don't understand why can't you just allow player to pick a tradition for slots, possibly conditionally and had to come up with "swapping".
what do you mean?
 
what do you mean?
Instead of setting 7 trees, start with 7 empty squares. Player can expend their tradition points, or whatever this called to pick a new tree (As they currently do with unlocking).

Trees can have conditions under which they can be unlocked and possibly conditions under which they can stop working, depending on how they work. It might be a good idea to add an option to scrap a defunct tree and free a slot.

This would allow easier modding as well as more meaningful choices in empire customization Including picks between mutually exclusive trees.
 
Focus on diplomacy, federations and so on really does not fit too well with the playstyle and general theme of Hive Minds. Diplomacy is still possible unless you're a Devouring Swarm, but they're not too good at it - their mindset is simply too alien to individualistic societies. You're going to have to try harder than most to make friends.
Is it truly so hard for hivemind to understand other societies? They have autonomous drones, after all. Conceptually the hivemind will probably feel the same we would feel if we met a person whose liver and intestines argue all the time and a new brain is elected every 10 years.
 
I must say this is the most glorious DD ever. Not only we get more features, but also the long needed and awaited flavor with the hope for even more flavor in the future, instead of everything being the same even in name. Also, flexible features.