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Stellaris Dev Diary #102: Edicts, Campaigns and Unity Ambitions

Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris development diary. Today, we continue talking about the Apocalypse expansion and 2.0 'Cherryh' update, on the topic of Edicts, Campaigns and Unity Ambitions.

Edict Changes (Cherryh Feature)
There will be a number of changes coming to Empire and Planetary Edicts in 2.0 'Cherryh', with the aim of both making Edicts more attractive to use, and increasing the number of useful things players have to spend their pooled Influence and Energy resources on. Firstly, we have moved most of the edicts out of the Planetary Edict category, keeping only a handful of Edicts that are either about dealing with a specific short-term problem (such as Unrest-reducing edicts) or executing a long-term or permanent effect (such as Consecrated Worlds or the new Land Clearance edict given by Mastery of Nature). Instead, a number of these edicts have become Empire Edicts.
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Empire Edicts have also been changed to work in the same way as Planetary Edicts, with an upfront cost and a duration rather than a monthly cost. The reason for this is that we wanted to ensure players always have a use for their pooled influence - an empire that is not using that influence on expanding through Starbases or Claims will be able to boost their empire in a variety of ways, including powerful resource-boosting edicts such as Production Targets and Capacity Overload. We decided to move away from the monthly cost because players tend to shy away from monthly costs that bring them into a negative balance, even if they are consistantly hitting their stockpile cap, and so ended up using Empire Edicts far less than they could actually afford to.

To make managing and renewing Edicts less of a hassle, we have added a message when an Edict (Empire or Planetary) expires.
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Campaigns (Cherryh Feature)
Campaigns are a new type of edict added in the Cherryh update. Campaigns are edicts that are unlocked by the Planetary Unification technology and cost energy instead of Influence. They typically have fairly situational effects, and are meant to be an additional use for stored energy.
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Unity Ambitions (Apocalypse Feature)
Unity Ambitions is another new type of edict added in the Apocalypse expansion. These are extremely powerful edicts that last 10 years and cost Unity to activate. You will get access to Unity Ambitions after researching the Ascension Theory society technology, and activating a Unity Ambition has a dynamic cost that is calculated in the exact same way as the cost for unlocking a new tradition (though activating an ambition will not raise the cost of future ambitions/traditions). Unity Ambitions are meant to give a use for Unity after the player has unlocked all the traditions they want to unlock, and to ensure the resource is never completely without use.
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That's all for today! Next week we'll continue talking about Cherryh and the Apocalypse expansion, on the topic of Civics and Ascension Perks.
 
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Surely by the time we're spending unity on edicts instead of ascension perks the +1 research alternative is going to be pretty useless... we will already have unlocked the +1 tech and be researching the repeatables, so who needs +1 at that stage? Seems a bit redundant. Though obviously the 20% speed boost is nice... just saying you could probably cut the +1 part.
I don't know about that, when I was trying to research the Mega-Engineering tech for the first time, after having all the pre-reqs including having one in my borders, I had 6 Research Alternatives... and it still took me 8 techs before I drew it. If I'm looking for a specific low chance tech, I'll take all the card draws I can get.
 
I don't know about that, when I was trying to research the Mega-Engineering tech for the first time, after having all the pre-reqs including having one in my borders, I had 6 Research Alternatives... and it still took me 8 techs before I drew it. If I'm looking for a specific low chance tech, I'll take all the card draws I can get.
It actually has an extremely high chance of coming up. Your problem was that it wasn't possible yet because you hadn't researched enough tier 3 techs yet. Mega-engineering is a tier 4 tech, along with the repeatable techs. Did any of those come up in the mean time? The odds of neither them nor mega engineering showing up are essentially zero over 8 techs.
 
I generally like the direction 2.0 is going, but about this one I'm a bit disappointed: more number modifiers instead of gameplay options.

I'd argue a few of the new civics are new gameplay styles at least. The Barbaric Despoilers and Gaia start at least offer more than just a standard +10% of xyz like most.

Being able to kill planets and the new spaceport/border system also offer new things to do in regards to options each playthrough.
 
I'd argue a few of the new civics are new gameplay styles at least. The Barbaric Despoilers and Gaia start at least offer more than just a standard +10% of xyz like most.

Being able to kill planets and the new spaceport/border system also offer new things to do in regards to options each playthrough.

Nah, I meant the specific changes announced in 102.
 
Firstly, we have moved most of the edicts out of the Planetary Edict category
Instead, a number of these edicts have become Empire Edicts.
Good ! ...

To make managing and renewing Edicts less of a hassle, we have added a message when an Edict (Empire or Planetary) expires.
Nevertheless, it's time for proper message-settings ! ...

Unity Ambitions
Unity becomes obsolete as soon as you've finished all of the few and so called traditions, so that it's not a very reasonable decision to make "unity ambitions" a DLC-feature ! ...

Unity Ambitions
Campaigns
Altough edicts were "reserved" for influence, basically, you've added unity-/ and EC-edicts since you need more use for unity and EC(s) ! ...
This becomes more and more a confusing mess ! ...

Use unity for all the "inward" stuff and influence for all the "outward" stuff ! ...
Unity for all the edicts and traditions + influence to claim star-systems and for "operations" in other empires ! ...
These "operations" could be the base for an espionage-system since you could be lazy since you could take all the edicts, rename them and implement the opposite effect to the target-empire ...
Example: Take the "information quarantine"-edict with its effect (+25% governing ethics attraction), rename it into "Information leak"-operation and implement the opposite effect (-25% governing ethics attraction) to the target-empire.
 
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This does seem kinda cool, but I can't help but feel that the Unity ambitions just seem like edicts that use unity instead of influence. Maybe instead of planetary edicts to reduce unrest, how about using unity to I dunno, inspire unity? (i.e. reduce unrest) Just seems kind of convoluted right now.
 
I see a lot of interesting additions, including in fleet management,. but is there any attention to modernizing the game to address the multi-step manual hassles and same-name restriction of designing and comparing successor upgrades? As well as adding flexibility in designing and naming variants and ordering new ship construction with a queue that does not requier full materials availability for the ship at the order date. The cumbersome original design of this is a real drag on enjoying the naval side of the game.

Are there steps forward ton this I have missed?
 
Empire-wide Capacity Overload? Nice! I'm sort of a turtler so I usually end up with a bunch of powerplant worlds which I keep permanently on Capacity Overload. This will save me some time. Campaigns look good; I'm wholeheartedly in favor of anything that enriches the administrative or political dimensions of the game.
 
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Empire-wide Capacity Overload? Nice! I'm sort of a turtler so I usually end up with a bunch of powerplant worlds which I keep permanently on Capacity Overload. This will save me some time. Campaigns look good; I'm wholeheartedly in favor of anything that enriches the administrative or political dimensions of the game.

It is even better for wide empires at least at current cost in the stream it is much better after 3 planets
 
Uh, guys? I think it's a good idea, specially since we will get campaigns.

I'm sort of a turtler so I usually end up with a bunch of powerplant worlds which I keep permanently on Capacity Overload. This will save me some time. Campaigns look good; I'm wholeheartedly in favor of anything that enriches the administrative or political dimensions of the game.
And like you, I'm a turtler too. I prefer to go slow on things.
 
... Also, to everyone saying that there is never a reason to fill out every tradition tree, may I direct your attention to Ascension Perks? Especially now that both Titans and Colossi are locked behind Ascension Perks, there is even more reason to fill out every tradition tree. I don't think I will go for Colossi every playthrough, but Titans, at least for now, feel like a must. Hopefully this won't restrict optimal builds even more, but I guess we'll have to wait and see how the new fleet mechanics play out.
I have to agree, given some of the prerequisites some of the more powerful Ascension Perks have you tend to need quite a few. Aside from adding more Tradition Trees, and possibly having some of them be mutually exclusive (ie picking one locks out another), I have another idea...

Perhaps a "Voluntary Rejection" system for Traditions?

For example, on the Traditions screen each tree has a check box that when toggled it gets set to "Rejected" (it'll probably need a confirmation to go through with or something). Then you build up your Unity points as normal and purchase the Rejected tradition as normal. This is when things change. Instead of opening up the various components of the tradition for purchase, it starts to bank Unity points to purchase the Rejection (say half the total cost that all the componants would have cost at your current level, or whatever's balanced) and once complete it permanently Locks Out that tradition (preventing it from ever being taken) and awards you the Ascension Perk you would've received from completing the tree. That way Empires can "get rid of" Traditions they'd never use, but still get the Ascension Perk. You could even receive a small bonus that's thematically opposite of whatever was locked out, like ditching Expansion gives you a bonus for having a fewer worlds.

What do you think @Wiz?
 
Whilst I like the move from planetary to empire edicts, I much preferred the monthly toggle and cost. I don't think I'll find myself using edicts much now, probably only when I accidentally cap out my influence pool, which is the only time I used planetary edicts before.
 
I have to agree, given some of the prerequisites some of the more powerful Ascension Perks have you tend to need quite a few. Aside from adding more Tradition Trees, and possibly having some of them be mutually exclusive (ie picking one locks out another), I have another idea...

Perhaps a "Voluntary Rejection" system for Traditions?

For example, on the Traditions screen each tree has a check box that when toggled it gets set to "Rejected" (it'll probably need a confirmation to go through with or something). Then you build up your Unity points as normal and purchase the Rejected tradition as normal. This is when things change. Instead of opening up the various components of the tradition for purchase, it starts to bank Unity points to purchase the Rejection (say half the total cost that all the componants would have cost at your current level, or whatever's balanced) and once complete it permanently Locks Out that tradition (preventing it from ever being taken) and awards you the Ascension Perk you would've received from completing the tree. That way Empires can "get rid of" Traditions they'd never use, but still get the Ascension Perk. You could even receive a small bonus that's thematically opposite of whatever was locked out, like ditching Expansion gives you a bonus for having a fewer worlds.

What do you think @Wiz?

Why not have some traditions preclude others? It would limit the number of ascension perks you get to choose, which is probably a good thing too. By the late game empires would look even more distinct. Some would have planetkillers, but others may have gone full psionic, or full genetic engineering, or megastructures, etc. An empire that went into exploration and science and invested in planet killers would be very different from one which invested in traditions of conquest and ascended to genetic perfection which would be different from a sphere building society, etc.

And when Paradox works on diplomacy, that would get even more relevant. It would be neat to see empires use diplomacy to complement each others' strengths and weaknesses. I'm not sure if it's technically possible, but I could see a federation or alliance fighting a massive war where sphere builders supply the energy that powers the fleet of a warrior empire, etc.