Proposal for Space Nomads – Expanding on Dev Diary #364

[Shootingstar]

In the previous Dev Diary (#364 - Sights Unseen), Eladrin mentioned the following:

"Playable Nomads – Finding different ways of playing the game can be popular. Landless adventuring in Crusader Kings III, for example, makes me wonder what we could do with nomadic fleets in Stellaris. The key questions there end up being ‘why are they nomadic,’ and ‘how do they interact with more standard empires.’ Origins could also be opportunities to ‘table flip’ the normal economic or political models of Stellaris."

It’s great to see the Stellaris team already considering the concept of Space Nomads. Based on the ideas discussed in the Dev Diary, I’d like to offer a few suggestions.

1. Why Are They Nomadic?​

A civilization that doesn’t settle on planets is easy to imagine—they could originate from generation ships or have abandoned their homeworld for various reasons. While the why can be left to the player's headcanon, the more pressing question is: "Why don’t they settle?"

They could settle on exoplanets (Doomsday origin) or build habitats in resource-rich systems (Void Dwellers origin), but there needs to be a clear gameplay motivation for staying nomadic.

First Idea – Traditional Resource Scarcity Nomadism
Similar to Earth’s historical nomads, their civilization might be unable to exploit planetary or orbital resources efficiently in the long term. For example, a mechanic could be implemented where space stations gradually lose efficiency (up to -75% output) if the fleet remains in one system for too long.

Second Idea – Spiritual/Ideological Nomadism
Their civilization might revere nomadism as a spiritual, ideological or cultural tenet. Staying too long in one system could cause penalties (e.g., reduced happiness, stability, or resource output).

2. How Do They Interact with Standard Empires?​

Many existing Space Nomad mods struggle with implementing mobile, pop-sustaining structures, often relying on pseudo-pop systems. The first step would be developing a "Yurt system" (like in Crusader Kings III), whether as a single massive Ark Ship or a migratory fleet.

Key features of CK3’s nomadism:

• Their Economy is based on herds (rather than land holdings), allowing them to abandon territory without major consequences.
• Yurts require land to settle, but nomads can freely move to unoccupied land. If they want to settle in claimed territory, they must submit as subjects or invade.

Applying this to Stellaris:

• The Ark Ship must dock in a star system to function (conceptually, it draws energy from the star). While mobile, it suffers economic penalties or halted growth but can escape threats or use Emergency FTL.
• Nomads should have a "low-output but efficient" economy—lower production but also lower upkeep.
• When docked, the Ark Ship produces resources and harvests orbital deposits but cannot colonize planets. If system output declines (due to the proposed mechanic), the fleet must move on.
• Moving the Ark Ship requires a 1-month decision before departure.
• Nomads should require a special Ascension Perk to settle on planets permanently.

Interactions with Standard Empires:
If a nomad fleet occupies a system with planets after a war, possible resolutions could include:

• Forcing them into tributary/vassal status.
• Allowing them to "abduct" the population and leave.
• Creating a "pre-FTL" vassal that pays tribute.

A docked Ark Ship could be captured normally as a special habitat ("Deactivated Ark").
A destroyed fleeing Ark Ship could also become a "Deactivated Ark".
These Deactivated Arks can only be reactivated by a nomad empire.

---

This proposal keeps nomads distinct from settled empires while ensuring engaging gameplay. Would love to hear your thoughts!

 

[one bacteria]

That sounds great! I've been looking forward to this feature for a long time. I really hope that people can move between planets and fleets, and that fleets can carry armies, and that armies can board ships or space stations to seize control.I have played many nomadic mods. I still hope there can be an official version. For effects like efficiency decay, it would be best if the modders could freely modify them. Try not to have something like the generation of cosmic storms be locked in the underlying code and thus difficult to use.

 

[Nexus Entity]

Nomad integration and gameplay

Why, how, where and to which end.

Why

• Lost war
• Lost sovereignty
• Pure fleeing
• No possible way to settle
• Potential settle options from xenophile states are to weak
  • Leads to cultural and biological loss of control
  • Dangerous circumstances or xenophobe philosophy.

How
Ability to travel
Problem is, like on planets, to produce and stay by this flexible.
Other problems are, that sizes of ships are limited, as such are there ships of

• mulity purpose
• specialization

Interaction with ships through transport of crew between them.

They will have multiple location of high resource richness, where ships that perform mining of different concentration of resources like moles, gases and crystals, try requires an constant exchange with the empires they live in, or try not to relay on only one host empire. They could sell intel of empires to establish an foothold on one empire as the other, as their host empire is in need of this information. Requires to limit the ability to even send envoys to an empire with bad relationships.

Trade and pay for travel infrastructure of empires.
Obtaining system from empires.
Pirate split option, getting nomad or pirate empire.

how to do war
how to maintain a war fleet

Resources
To get recourse, we have the problem that empires claim resources, as such one would hurt their laws and one would need unclaimed systems. But space is big and if you don't look closely you will miss something. Normally it would be impossible to track, control or claim this much systems, but we are in a limited space with hyperlines which don't allow to get to a system of low interest, which means we need to allow player to let them dig in this claimed systems.
Problem:
Empires build on all deposits mining stations which makes it theoretically impossible to get on one, in this case we need to allow nomad players to generate their own as long they find a planet or asteroid field, which could be important to focus on outer system asteroid field, like the Oort Cloud.

There needs to be a system to prevent this process of digging by an empire but this has to be limited.
E.g.
Xenophobe have more option for prevention

• Lower efficiency
• Cultural/research stealing
• Unhappiness
• closing borders

Xenophiles have an option for interaction and exchange

• Higher efficiency
• Cultural/research exchange
• Happiness
• Forced for opening borders

Empire surveillance technology, like trading roots to overlook the actions of this nomads. only limited amount possible.
Mining operations will reduce efficiency in a system of an empire where actions of nomads are performed.

Galactic community:
Nomad representation.
Ensures existence right and forces xenophobe empires to open borders, allows with laws the right to claim space debris and minding operations.
Galactic community infrastructure projects to build gates and quantum catapults.

Technology
Ship sizes and specialization:

• First ship is a adaptable colony ship
• Food generation ships
• Living space ships
• Fabrication ships
• Research ships
• Juggernaut size ships
• etc.

Quantum Catapults
etc.

Where
Until end game, Mobile in space and habitation.

• Neutron stars
  • Quantum Catapults
    • For flexibility, if the size of migration exceeds a specific threshold
• Asteroid belts
  • outer
  • inner
• Uninhabitable planets
  • short you can integrate habitation ones, but this will run out over time
  • long, stick to uninhabitable ones

End game mega-structures
In this mega-structures they can traverse from nomadic state to settlement.

• Neutron star mega-structures to initiate quantum travel
  • Quantum Catapults
    • For flexibility, if the size of migration exceeds a specific threshold
• Black hole mega-structure to initiate wormhole travel.

I don't see a way to build something that allows nomad style without exceeding, the size of mega-structure, like a big wormhole travel able thing of mega-structure - traveling star, black hole or neutron star.

Goal
To establish a place to live and getting competitive or staying competitive with other empires.