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Biological Ascension and then Psionic Ascension. Been confirmed by the devs.
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It confirms 2025 but not necessarily next, unless I misread something.
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If I had to guess, the plan is probably something like...
Q1 (probably pushed back to April, based on how work-in-progress it looks right now) - 4.0 custodian update with major pop rework
Q2 (May/June) - major expansion with a bio ascension rework to start the next season pass
Q3 (August/September) - minor DLC to pad out the season pass, maybe a species pack
Q4 (October/November) - story pack including/focusing on a psionic buff/rework
We should know more when the season pass gets announced.
Q1 (probably pushed back to April, based on how work-in-progress it looks right now) - 4.0 custodian update with major pop rework
Q2 (May/June) - major expansion with a bio ascension rework to start the next season pass
Q3 (August/September) - minor DLC to pad out the season pass, maybe a species pack
Q4 (October/November) - story pack including/focusing on a psionic buff/rework
We should know more when the season pass gets announced.
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I would guess the bio rework, though I wouldn’t put all my chips on that bet. It would make sense as something that could be worked on without interfering too much with 4.0’s rework and it would benefit from the new pop mod system.
At the same time 4.0 is so big that perhaps they’d have a smaller DLC first, assuming any bio ascension DLC was comparable with machine age.
At the same time 4.0 is so big that perhaps they’d have a smaller DLC first, assuming any bio ascension DLC was comparable with machine age.
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I prefer the next season pack to be just 2 big expansions focusing in bio and psionic with a juicy custodian patch in the place of a minor DLC.
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It's been confirmed that 4.0 and the next big DLC will be releasing together in May, likely around the game's anniversary. It's also been confirmed that Bio and Psionic will both be getting major DLCs this year in the same vein as Machine Age.
I'm almost certain Bio will be first; Bio deals heavily with pop modification, which fits very closely with the pop changes in 4.0, and the devs have said they think Bio is in a much worse state content-wise than Psionic right now.
I'm almost certain Bio will be first; Bio deals heavily with pop modification, which fits very closely with the pop changes in 4.0, and the devs have said they think Bio is in a much worse state content-wise than Psionic right now.
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I am very surprised they are planning the pop rework AND a major DLC to be released at the same time. That sounds like a support nightmare.
I was expecting something like a species pack DLC with 4.0, something that is tried and stable to pair with the pop rework that is sure to cause months of support headache.
I was expecting something like a species pack DLC with 4.0, something that is tried and stable to pair with the pop rework that is sure to cause months of support headache.
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I was quite surprised that we are basically getting a species pack for free. At least the old kind that didn’t have much extra content behind the portraits.
Kind of crazy just how much is coming along with 4.0.
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* dust offs crystal ball *
I see a bio-ascension focused DLC to go along with the 4.0 Phoenix update and its pop rework. You get to pilot meatships, practice extreme genemodding and revive old precursors with your superior biotech!
Then lots of minor balance passes and debugging updates. For some, like yours truly, they are too minor changes, but devs will probably want for the new meta to arise and stabilize after the massive 4.0 rework, before taking too drastic actions.
After that, a psionic-focused DLC too! We will get psionic gestalts with that one! And many non-covenant psionic stuff that would make for amazing narratives to arise.
And for the next year, a warfare and politics focused DLC at some point, once the Custodians get into the whole "remaking combat" business.
I see a bio-ascension focused DLC to go along with the 4.0 Phoenix update and its pop rework. You get to pilot meatships, practice extreme genemodding and revive old precursors with your superior biotech!
Then lots of minor balance passes and debugging updates. For some, like yours truly, they are too minor changes, but devs will probably want for the new meta to arise and stabilize after the massive 4.0 rework, before taking too drastic actions.
After that, a psionic-focused DLC too! We will get psionic gestalts with that one! And many non-covenant psionic stuff that would make for amazing narratives to arise.
And for the next year, a warfare and politics focused DLC at some point, once the Custodians get into the whole "remaking combat" business.
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All, or nearly all, major updates came together with big expansions: Apocalypse came with space geography rework, Megacorp came with economy rework (replacement of tiles with Jobs), and 3.0 (Intel and Forst Contact changes) came wth Nemesis. The same goes for other PDS games.
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Wait where'd you get that crystal ball, the DLC's not out yet!
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Ideas for hives:
Psionic hive minds. Hive queens that are highly intelligent and semi-autonomous from the hive.
Tropey origins:Mindflayers/ psi creepy aliens that mind control/manipulate you. Kind of like psi necrophages. Zerg swarms that adapt genetically to their environment automatically. Xenomorphs that start with different specialised types of pop (same species, different physiology).
Modifications to how hive minds work. Add a type of hive mind that doesn't have leaders (only nodes, which act as the leaders of your civ).
Add functionality for progenitor hive minds that are genocidal to create vassals of the main hive (not currently working).
Machines:
psionic machines with biological brains, supernatural otherworldly hybrids.
Synthetics / replicants (bladerunner) than can be grown quickly in flesh vats (mechanic could work like necrophage temples where you get a certain number of pops every 5 years or so).
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Unrelated: species that doesn't have pops and is just a single mass. Like a giant slime mould. A giant amoeba or something like that. For machines a single chipset that extends across the whole cosmos. Could be a hive or individual origin, matter of choice, but would work differently because wouldn't use pops or the new workforce mechanic coming in the beta.
Gaseus / energy based species. Do not occupy planets or build starbases, but live exclusively on gas giants and around suns in the case of energy based lifeforms. Totally different set of buildings/economy. Unique civic/ethic options.
"absolutist" races who only have one ethic. Extra faction bonuses for completely embracing an ideology. They go a step further and embrace a single ethic above all others, which cannot be changed unless they are uterrly defeated. They start the game with a variety of unique factions who have competing visions of how to achieve the ideals of their chosen ethic. EAch faction gives particular bonuses and has particular drawbacks when embraced. This ideology is built into the identity and psyche of individuals and has become almost completely "hardwired", either through the usage of genetics or brainwashing and total propaganda. Unique story based bonuses and consequences for each ethic. Maybe some unique ethics too that only these types can have. Some unique options would give these factions the option of becoming a specialised hive mind or machine mind part the way through a run (I was thinking of absolutist egalitarians > democratic hives and absolutist materialists > singular machine consciousness).
Lastly, races that do not have an ethic. Although individuals, they prefer to think in terms of logic (not like materialists whose ideology serves to counter spiritual ideology). They simply do not understand ethics in the way other races do and *do not* understand the concept. Otherworldly and genuinely alien/idiosyncratic in their thinking and behaviour.
Psionic hive minds. Hive queens that are highly intelligent and semi-autonomous from the hive.
Tropey origins:Mindflayers/ psi creepy aliens that mind control/manipulate you. Kind of like psi necrophages. Zerg swarms that adapt genetically to their environment automatically. Xenomorphs that start with different specialised types of pop (same species, different physiology).
Modifications to how hive minds work. Add a type of hive mind that doesn't have leaders (only nodes, which act as the leaders of your civ).
Add functionality for progenitor hive minds that are genocidal to create vassals of the main hive (not currently working).
Machines:
psionic machines with biological brains, supernatural otherworldly hybrids.
Synthetics / replicants (bladerunner) than can be grown quickly in flesh vats (mechanic could work like necrophage temples where you get a certain number of pops every 5 years or so).
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Unrelated: species that doesn't have pops and is just a single mass. Like a giant slime mould. A giant amoeba or something like that. For machines a single chipset that extends across the whole cosmos. Could be a hive or individual origin, matter of choice, but would work differently because wouldn't use pops or the new workforce mechanic coming in the beta.
Gaseus / energy based species. Do not occupy planets or build starbases, but live exclusively on gas giants and around suns in the case of energy based lifeforms. Totally different set of buildings/economy. Unique civic/ethic options.
"absolutist" races who only have one ethic. Extra faction bonuses for completely embracing an ideology. They go a step further and embrace a single ethic above all others, which cannot be changed unless they are uterrly defeated. They start the game with a variety of unique factions who have competing visions of how to achieve the ideals of their chosen ethic. EAch faction gives particular bonuses and has particular drawbacks when embraced. This ideology is built into the identity and psyche of individuals and has become almost completely "hardwired", either through the usage of genetics or brainwashing and total propaganda. Unique story based bonuses and consequences for each ethic. Maybe some unique ethics too that only these types can have. Some unique options would give these factions the option of becoming a specialised hive mind or machine mind part the way through a run (I was thinking of absolutist egalitarians > democratic hives and absolutist materialists > singular machine consciousness).
Lastly, races that do not have an ethic. Although individuals, they prefer to think in terms of logic (not like materialists whose ideology serves to counter spiritual ideology). They simply do not understand ethics in the way other races do and *do not* understand the concept. Otherworldly and genuinely alien/idiosyncratic in their thinking and behaviour.
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If they're going biological then I REALLY hope they go all tomorrows with it and let me build buildings and ships out of pops. I'd also love weirder pop types like swarms of micro organisms being a reflection of nanites.
Lets get weird with it! I want an empire made 100% out of flesh and spuishy bits!
Lets get weird with it! I want an empire made 100% out of flesh and spuishy bits!
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Is there any chance ground wars on planets can get Streamlined and introduce better 3d or 2d graphics, similiar perhaps to Intelligent system's famous "advance wars" graphics?
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Overall it’s unlikely, for the next DLC specifically I’d say it’s extremely unlikely. Across multiple updates the devs have said they have no plans for ground combat reworks, and there’s no reason to think they’d change that to make it a focus for the next DLC.
The latest dev diary mentioned the ship designer updates being on the branch for the DLC which makes me think bioships as part of a genetic ascension DLC.
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My gut feeling is that the next DLC will be a fleshing out of internal politics. Perhaps they are overhauling the game for this.
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