Stellaris Dev Diary #318 - Announcing Astral Planes

[verybad]

Ohh My...You make what "I" like to do fun. and worthwhile again. Escher and Hieronymus Bosch based Astral Planes for the real experience creatures...and don't get it late, or we'll melt your damn planets one and all.

 

[Agamidae]

Hope I'm wrong, but some of the event art of the Steam page (especially the two Tropical Habitat events) looks kind of like AI art.

hmm, these are the pictures in question:

That's 200% zoomed in, so ignore the noise.
First one does look weird. The palm leaves on the left look oddly polygonal.
The second one feels normal to me, although the random blues streaks feel out of place.

There's also this picture, with... a cable attached to a planet? And weird gem-like things on the surface.
Edit: okay, there is another screenshot where it's explained what's going on here.

Can't say it's obviously AI, but it doesn't look very clean.
You can see for yourself: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2534090/Stellaris_Astral_Planes/

 

[Panzerslothen]

Further thoughts: raves

• I, too, was expecting a Species Pack, not a Story Pack. So I was wrong about that. But, didn't I say Eladrin would bamboozle us? I was right about that!
• The theme of eldritch mystery expanding (possibly even stretching or breaking!) our conventional ideas of space-time, and the connection to the Shroud, excites my little Spiritualist heart.
• I do really really like the idea of further mid and late game exploration. That's a tantalizing prospect. Also, I'm sure the Modding community is going to do some really crafty things with the mechanics this DLC will bring in.

Further thoughts: graves

• That the Astral Planes/Astral Rifts appear to be 'Archeological Sites', which is a fairly static/linear/underwhelming exploration mechanic, that actually seems less exciting than I first thought. I get that having thirty little pocket dimensions akin to the L-Space (i.e. on the map, moves ships around type) isn't feisable. I also get that we have lots to see in terms of the future Dev Diaries on how this will work, and we have the note that the Rifts will be a little different to normal Archeological sites. I really hope that's the case, otherwise I fear there might not be as much exploration as we're thinking we'll get.

But, hey: benefit of the doubt, I have faith and I really look forward to hearing more.

I want to take this opportunity to again appeal for a fifth Shroud 'Covenant' option - something neutral, ideally. It never makes sense to me that my Spiritualist Empires are pious and committed to their old gods, and would just happily renounce that for the first mysterious bad boy Shroud Entity with long hair and a motorbike that comes along and steals our innocence, making us ditch our longstanding faith in the process. Where's the "we denounce you, filthy daemons! Away with you and your heresy!" option?

 

[currylambchop]

The multiple FTLs were kicked out of the game for very good reasons.

That's because they were available at the game start, which made balancing difficult. However, we already do have multiple FTL types, namely Hyperlanes and Jump Drive. If Warp were to return, I would love to see it be a late-game AP or technology, similar to Jump Drives.

 

[rylasasin]

I wonder if part of this is going to be Giga's EHOF/Cohesive Sector for vanilla stellaris?

 

[Gilbert95]

Just want to say, although it is short, another well done trailer.

 

[Bitzo]

A nearly infinite number of universes connect to our own.​

Ours is not the only one that is full of wonder…​

Anyone else read that tagline and immediately thought "Elowiny and TTFTCUTS are gonna have a field day when this one comes out"?

 

[ruzen]

I don't understand. Since Overlord (May'22) we haven't got any "major" expansion.
I guess they are going to feed the community with crumbs till Stellaris 2.
Wished Stellaris 2 happened after internal politics DLC, it would have just complete the game.

 

[Harvey_James]

i think we really need a war focused DLC.. wars need a rework and surely theres a bunch of things they could do too make them more interesting and we defo need a big pass on every weapon, mods, ships etc .. making event weapons unique and interesting addressing the now useless raft of weapons in the game.. adding things like bombers and hangars to titans maybe adding new ship types a fleet flagship design in particular would be great.. also why do missiles ignore shields??? makes no sense too me ... more weapon types/techs ..

 

[stigmund77]

Stellaris 2 incoming?

 

[Ajacoba]

Yet Materialists, Hive Minds and Machine Intelligences refuse to study the Shroud, even within a DLC about astral planes. If they were any coherent, they would refuse to study those rifts as well.
Of course it sounds absurd for an empire to not study an astral plane, yet we have had that exact situation for years with the Shroud.
All I am asking is for change, I don't care with all the disagrees, I want people to question, to think, and I know it can be an uneasy process. Astral Planes is so much more than a DLC with a bunch of events and rewards.

all of those are willing to interact with the shroud through the crisis engine and random stuff they find lying around like the zroni relic and zro itself or through the shroudwalkers

psionic abilities are simply unscientific and having group dreams in some fictional dimension that's ever changing and can not be actively accessed through regular means (keep in mind, the crisis engine is literally designed to bring the crisis empire into the shroud) isn't for everyone

also unlocking psionic abilities is fairly resource consuming in the first place, your materialists can do it when they want, but I assume you're implying they went for another ascension instead?

machine intelligences can't be psionic by default of not being alive in the regular definition of that word, just like they can't be fertile nor communal

and hive minds are inherently psionic so I guess they are simply inherently incompatible with the regular methods of psionic ascension, for example it would be hard to have a group seance with yourself
the conscious sea event also says that hive minds are incompatible with its method of communication
psionic ascension also refers to investigating the "magic" abilities from legend, but hiveminds have no legends nor do they have unused potential since they are literally using their psionics all the time (as stated in the hiveworld description, not to mention that hive minds get to talk with the Scourge, just like psykers can)


on another note, are those rifts even shroud related? sure, they kinda look like the unbidden rifts, but those aren't from the shroud either, also by default of being accessible though scientific means and being tangible objects within observable space rather than vague space magic and nonsensical dreams they're fair game to be accessed and investigated even by those who do not believe in the shroud or simply can not access it via psionics
it's basically just another wormhole, like the shroudwalkers' shroud tunnel

 

[Yonael]

Oh, they're just arch sites with a specific flavor. Can't say I was too intrigued by archeology sites past my first playthrough. I assume the same will be true here. Hopefully the civics will be good.

They're more like event chains that require an assigned scientist.

 

[ruzen]

Stellaris 2 incoming?

Yea not announced but any long time gamer with good sense of deduction can see it easly

 

[Echo Candor One]

Just throwing my two cents in about Materialists making sense. The shroud's existence doesn't make it more or less important that our reality, from materialist point of view. Heck, making yourself less interesting to the creatures in that realm might even be the safest choice.

 

[TimeMask]

Has Stellaris gotten new artist at some point? I feel like there is shift in artstyle but can't place finger why I feel like that

 

[Notme1]

Can I invade Age of Wonders Multiverse?
Or visit some civilization in Millennia?

 

[Yonael]

Can I invade Age of Wonders Multiverse?
Or visit some civilization in Millennia?

I hope it instead expands more on the other dimensions already seen or mentioned in the game.

 

[Notme1]

I hope it instead expands more on the other dimensions already seen or mentioned in the game.

So invade home dimension of The Unbidden, The Shroud, or whatever dudes go after detonating aetherophasic engine

 

[garger97]

Internal politics rework / DLC when?


Definitely looks cool though!

 

[ZomgK3tchup]

Civilization: Beyond Earth had a cool mechanic that could be used here.

One of the victory conditions was that you send soldiers through a portal to Earth, and when you sent enough, you’d conquer Earth and win the game.

It’d be interesting if there was a “send ships and resources into a rift” situation to represent conquering or fighting in an off-map area. Mechanically, anything sent into the rift would be gone forever and it’d be an interesting endgame resource and ship sink.