by Eladrin

Saddle up, everyone! It’s time to go a-ranchin’!

The Vivarium of the Grand Archive will be accepting genetic material donations as of October 29th.

Today we’re looking at the capture and domestication of spaceborne fauna, Domestication traditions, and the Beastmaster civics. Let’s get to it, this is a long one!
The Vivarium is essentially a space fauna breeding and observation tank. You can access it under Discoveries as soon as your Vivarium capacity is above zero or the Gravity Snares technology has been researched.

The Hatchery module is the space fauna equivalent of Shipyards, and can only be built on a station that has no normal Shipyards. It’s unlocked by the Artificial Breeding technology.

You can also increase your capacity by building Vivarium Tanks. These increase the growth rate of your docked fauna and are unlocked by the Gravity Snares technology. Building a Grand Archive will give you the biggest boost to Vivarium capacity.



This particular Vivarium isn’t terribly interesting yet though. We need to find some friends!


I also won’t be able to fit much in this Vivarium. I should build a Grand Archive and some supplemental Tanks.

The Gravity Snares technology lets your science ships attempt to capture wild Space Fauna.


Oh yeah, culling and dissecting also happens at the Vivarium.​

You can launch a Gravity Snare from an adjacent system to attempt to capture wild space fauna that are peacefully… Actually, to be honest, those are Crystalline Entities and there’s nothing peaceful about them. While I bet they’d make a good addition to our fleet, I said we should find some friends so let’s go get some Tiyanki instead.

You need to know the basics about the creature before being able to tune the Gravity Snares appropriately, so you’ll have to finish the first contact process before you can capture them. There’s a cost and a cooldown to capture attempts, and as you unlock various technologies, the capture chance and the number that you can capture at once will increase. Other technologies like Cloaking and Jump Drives will also improve your Gravity Snares - the first increases their capture rate, the second lets them instantly send your new friend to your vivarium instead of taking a little while to transfer them.


We’ve added Capture Space Fauna to Science Ship Automation Settings too.​

The Gravity Snare will fly to the adjacent system and attempt to capture their target. It will generally attempt to capture random breeding age adults if there are any in the target group.





Success! We done caught ourselves a common Tiyanki cow! Since she’s cruiser sized, she takes up 4 of our Vivarium capacity, and is very, very lonely.

Space fauna inside the Vivarium grow at an accelerated rate. Life is easy when you’re being fed by advanced alien ranchers, and the only worry you have is that “Cull” button.


By the way, “Auto-Culling” is the most “Stellaris” button ever created.​

We could use a few more. Space fauna have growth stages and breeding requirements that vary by species. For example, Tiyanki require a mating partner, Crystals and Amoebas reproduce asexually, and Voidworms… They’re special. I’ll talk more about them next week.

Ti’yan’ek needs another Tiyanki to breed. We could fly around trying to find them, or we can bring them to us with a Voidlure. Voidlures are a Starbase building (unlocked by completing the Domestication traditions) that attract a specific species of space fauna, and must be built in their favored habitat. (Space Amoebas like Nebulas, Crystalline Entities like Pulsars, and so on.)



Every month there’s a chance that any captive fauna that can breed will automatically do so, which will put them on a cooldown before they can reproduce again. This will be visible under “Reproductive Status”.


My collection of Crystals​

Culling fauna will provide resources (which varies depending on the species) as well as their genetic material. Having a creature’s genetic material allows you to grow clones of them at your Hatchery. Exceptional creatures (marked by their rarity) have increased combat stats and culling rewards. Cloned fauna will always use the highest rarity available, and you can upgrade existing fleets if you acquire


Sorry buddy, I need you for parts.​

Generally you’ll clone fauna at the smallest size and they’ll grow up over time, but technologies exist that will let you force-grow them to start at a larger growth stage.


Ship tooltips will let you know how long it is until they’ll reach their next growth stage.​

Since larger space fauna take up more Naval Capacity, there are times that you may want to prevent their growth - you can prevent them from exceeding the command limit of a fleet by changing their Growth Stance. You can also block them from exceeding your overall Naval Capacity in policies.



The Controlled Mutations technology lets you make some changes to the fauna you have captured when you’re creating clones. This lets you use a variant of the Ship Designer to “redesign” them and make use of special mutation component slots.

Space fauna Mutations are tied to other technologies, but won’t clutter the tooltips unless you have Controlled Mutations.


I’m pretty sure that Space Amoeba needs LASER EYES.​

Mutations can be broadly classified as Offensive, Defensive, or Special, but you can freely use those slots however you want to customize your Fauna. (Barring restrictions on the components themselves, like how you can still only have one Cloaking mutation.) You can alter their behavior (in a way similar to combat computers) by installing neurochips.

The different space fauna have different resource costs and upkeeps, and those upkeep costs are reduced if they’re in their preferred habitat.

You can (and probably should) also create designs for what your Fauna will grow into if you allow them to. You can change the current growth stage by clicking on the “Pick Creature Size” button.



The Domestication Traditions can be taken once you have the Artificial Breeding technology. It’s focused, as one might expect, on improving your space fauna.




The Metabolic Regulation policy allows you to increase fauna growth rate and upkeep, or freeze their growth but reduce upkeep.​

As with the Galactic Curator civics, if you want to go all-in on space beasties, you can take one of the Beastmaster civics. These civics dramatically increase the upkeep of artificial ships, but give you everything you’ll need to fully embrace the rancher life.



Beastmasters replace their Hatcheries and Shipyards with dual-use Beastports. These can clone space fauna like a Hatchery but also have rudimentary shipbuilding capabilities and are able to build civilian vessels, so you won’t need to keep a shipyard around just for your colony, construction, and science ships.

While this space fauna breeding system scratches a lot of the “bio-ship” itch, we don’t consider them exactly the same systems. These are more like vicious mutated pets than meat-ships you fly around in. Expect that one day in the future we’ll explore that idea.
Next week we’ll be examining the new lifeforms in the galaxy and the two new origins.

See you then!

by Eladrin

Hello, everyone!

The Grand Archive opens its doors on October 29th.

Today we take a look at the Grand Archive structure itself, specimen collection and display mechanics, and then examine the new Archivism tradition tree.
The Grand Archive is the cultural center for your empire, a place to house and display the story of your people through the greatest specimens of interest that you have collected over the years.

This one-stage structure can be built over any colony with 25 or more pops, and will not block other improvements such as Orbital Rings. We expect that most empires will want to build them over their capital world, to keep their treasures close.

The Galactic Archivism technology required for building a Grand Archive can appear as a tier 2 society tech, and as such building a Grand Archive does not require high tier technologies such as Mega-Engineering.

Shortly after you have discovered your first Specimen worthy of display, you have the chance to invest in the concept of a Grand Archive - if you pass on this opportunity, it can show up later as normal in your Society research options.


A collection that embraces the whole galaxy allows you to consider the whole galaxy. That is what an institution such as the Grand Archive is for.

Grand Archives can be built by any empire, including genocidal empires like Fanatic Purifiers, even if they have a more proactive stand on turning their neighbors into “historical interests” earlier than one would otherwise expect.


A closer look at the Grand Archive. The color scheme matches your empire flag and chosen shipset.

An Archive with nothing to display within it is simply a building. (And an expensive one at that.) Luckily, fascinating moments worth remembering occur all the time in Stellaris, so the Grand Archive Story Pack has added 151 unique Specimens to events, archaeology sites, and other content from across the base game and the new content added in the Story Pack. The team has gone through all of the other Stellaris content as well, giving us a final total of over 240 Specimens to collect, study, and appreciate. (Ancient Relics, Distant Stars, and Astral Planes, as our most exploration-focused releases, benefited the most from this pass.) The Specimen Collection system requires the Grand Archive Story Pack.

A symbol is shown when you have acquired a Specimen of interest - occasionally these are tied to a specific choice in an event, while other times they may be linked to your Origin or actions that you have taken.

Newly acquired Specimens appear in a toast to give you a quick look at what you’ve found.


Give me an archive, and I will fill it.


Sometimes Specimens will instead find you.​

The Discoveries tab now allows you to explore your collection and choose which Specimens to have on display. Displaying Specimens has an initial cost (which increases with the number of Specimens of that category that you have on display) as well as ongoing upkeep (which is affected by Empire Size). Each Specimen has its own effects while on display - some produce a small amount of resources, while others might grant anything from Energy from Jobs to Cloned Fauna Growth Speed.

Each Specimen also has expanded lore, and keeps track of where and when you acquired it in the first place.





A toggle in the top right of the Specimen window lets you set whether or not you want to automatically put any new Specimens you acquire directly on display. You can also set up how you want to handle your overflow if not everything can be on display at once. You can have up to nine Specimens on display in each category - Aesthetic Wonders, Galactic History, and Xeno Geology.


Earlier I recommended building your Grand Archive close to the protected heart of your Empire. It’d be a terrible shame if something were to happen to it, after all.


The Grand Archive is great for seeing how excellent we were at stealing things​

The vile Yarrowreacheran Consensus stole three of my precious Specimens! Thankfully the rest of them are still safe, waiting for me to rebuild the Grand Archive and put them back on display.


Hey, that was mine! I even wrote my name on it!​

On the bright side, after spending some time working on our relations, they’re happy to trade it back to me.



You can also dig through your pile of Minor Artifacts to see if there’s anything worthwhile in there that got missed when you first acquired them.



Artifact Analysis can be performed up to five times, and has an increasing cost every time you use it.
​
Once you’ve researched Galactic Archivism, the Archivism traditions become available. Empty shelves do not make for a wondrous attraction, but focusing on Archivism can help fill them up nicely.


Frontier Archaeology is my favorite.

Exhibition Specialization lets you focus your Archive’s output to one of the three Specimen categories, reducing the other two, and the Agenda associated with Archivism increases the chance of finding Archaeology Sites and increases Specimen Output.


Genocidal empires, having less use for Diplomatic Weight than many other Empires, replace Expert Negotiation with Galactic Reaping.


Let’s make (you) history.

If you’re really interested in having the best Grand Archive possible, there are the Galactic Curator civics. These civilizations all begin with Galactic Archivism as a guaranteed research option, one common Specimen of each category, and get a discount when dealing with the Curator Order. They also gain a 25% discount when actually building a Grand Archive, and have an increased chance to discover anomalies, but also tend to overwork their bureaucrats, reducing their effectiveness by a small amount. Nothing delights them more than a new find, though - Specimen discoveries and completion of Archaeology Sites grant them a Unity bonus.



The Curator Order is dedicated to the protection of knowledge, and you can impress them with your collection should you share similar interests.



If your collection is substantial enough to attract their attention, you could ask them for various things - whether it be specialized museum plans, or help setting up cultural enrichment programs. Naturally, they’ll want to be compensated for their help.





Impress them enough, and they’ll even be willing to allow you to give them a generous donation in exchange for the honor of selecting a relic to care for from their collection.



There are fifteen relics being added to the Curators in the Grand Archive Story Pack, five associated with each of the three Specimen categories.

The game setup screen has gotten a bit cumbersome over the years, with a huge number of options. We’re revisiting this screen in 3.14 “Circinus” to make things a little bit more understandable.

Pictures speak louder than words, so:


No more asking “which shape was Starburst again?”



Next week we’ll be going over the care and feeding of Tiyanki, the proper use of Gravity Snares and a Vivarium, and take a look at the Domestication traditions and Beastmasters civics.

See you then!

Pre-purchase Stellaris: Grand Archive alone or with a discount as part of Stellaris: Season 08!​

by PDX-Loke

Dear Stellaris Fans,

We've created another small patch for you, aiming to address a couple of noteworthy issues coming out of last week.

3.13.2 is available for download now.

Bugfix

• Fixed the issue where Gestalt Empire industrial districts only provided 1 Fabricator job instead of 2.
  
• Fixed the issue where the tooltip of a Cosmic Storm incorrectly stated 0 days remaining.
  
• Triggered species modifiers will now show in trait tooltips even when there are no regular modifiers.
  
• Fixed crash in species creation when trait for planet class does not exist.
  
• Fixed crash in espionage tooltip on multiplayer resync.

The team is now focusing their effort towards the next major patch.

More on that later!

I’m pleased to announce that the third Episode of Stellaris: Season 08, the Grand Archive Story Pack, will be released alongside the Stellaris 3.14 ‘Circinus’ update on Tuesday, October 29th, 2024. This release completes the Stellaris: Season 08 Expansion Pass.




The galaxy is vast and filled with artifacts!

Grand Archive adds 151 specimens to the base game, but we have revisited all of the content ever created for Stellaris to add more. The overall total is over 240 unique specimens!

Collect them all and display the prize pieces in your own Grand Archive.


“This is no mere rock collection.”


Contained within your Grand Archive, the Vivarium is a controlled environment where wild space fauna can be cared for and studied. Space fauna in captivity will grow faster and breed more easily than in the wild. These creatures can then be dissected for research, resources, or their genetic material.

With the development of the Controlled Mutations technology, Space Fauna can be customized to form a fleet which will grow and become stronger over time.


“These non-lethal projectiles can safely capture and transport Space Fauna to our Vivarium, where they can continue to reproduce new specimens of their kind.”

Two new forms of Space Fauna are coming in the Grand Archive Story Pack.

Cutholoids are ambush predators that lurk within asteroid belts, waiting for prey.

“Culling and dissecting these creatures will allow the harvesting of their Genetic Material for cloning purposes as well as other resources.”

Voidworms are a more active parasitic threat with a full life cycle that can grow into a mid-game Crisis if their populations are left to breed.


"If this variant species were allowed to spread unchecked, it could upset the balance of the galactic ecosystem entirely."


The Grand Archive Story Pack comes with two Civics, two Origins, and two new Tradition trees, each focusing on either different aspects of coexistence with Alien Fauna or the hunt for the hidden mysteries and treasures of the universe.


The Corporate, Hive Mind, or Machine Intelligence versions of these Civics require access to their Authorities - MegaCorp, Utopia, and either Synthetic Dawn or The Machine Age, respectively.

• Space Fauna capture, breeding, and modification systems
  
• 151 Specimens to collect and display across events from Grand Archive and the base game
  
  • Over 240 Specimens total including those distributed across other Stellaris content
• 15 new Relics
  
• Two new Tradition trees
  
  • Archivism
    
  • Domestication
• Two new Origins
  • Primal Calling
    
  • Treasure Hunters
• Two new Civics
  
  • Beastmasters
    
  • Galactic Curators
• Two new forms of spaceborne life
  
  • Cutholoids
    
  • Voidworms
• A new possible mid-game crisis - the Voidworm Plague
  
• Three new music tracks
  
• Events, Anomalies, Archaeology Sites, Technologies, Galactic community resolutions, and more!

Note: The Grand Archive Story Pack also unlocks access to the Curator Order Enclave, which is also unlocked by Leviathans or Distant Stars.

• Sept 26​ - Announcing Grand Archive​
  
• Oct 3 - Building a Grand Archive and Displaying Your Collection​
  
• Oct 10​ - The Care and Feeding of Tiyanki​
  
• Oct 17​ - New Life in the Galaxy​
  
• Oct 24​ - 3.14 “Circinus” Preliminary Release Notes​

The Grand Archive Story Pack can be purchased as part of the Stellaris: Season 08 Expansion Pass, or as a standalone purchase for $14.99 (regional pricing may vary).

It is also included as part of the Stellaris Expansion Subscription


Pre-purchase Stellaris: Grand Archive alone or with a discount as part of Stellaris: Season 08!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863080/Stellaris_Grand_Archive/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863190/Stellaris_Season_08__Expansion_Pass/

Dear Stellaris Fans,

The team has produced a bugfix and balance patch following our 3.13 + Cosmic Storms release September 10th.

3.13.1 is now available for download. Please find the patch notes below, identical to what was posted earlier by Eladrin.



Balance

• Added free pop to first blocker for planetscapers
  
• Decreased Storm Creation costs and buffed Astrometeorology job
  
• Stormriders and Subterranean get less devastation from storms
  
• Scientist governors now also reduce devastation from storms
  
• The Nexus Storm of 2211 will no longer happen. (Nexus Storms have been removed from the Early Game storm pool.)

Bugfix

• A Fallen Empire cannot ask for a scientist that is exploring an Astral Rift
  
• Added traits to hired marauder leaders
  
• Added victory score to the two new precursor relics
  
• All starting council positions are also filled without Galactic Paragons
  
• Fixed a spelling error in the event Stormbound Sighted
  
• Fixed empire designs with different randomized names sometimes preventing each other from spawning in galaxy generation.
  
• Fixed machine name lists using ruler names for all non-envoy leaders.
  
• Fixed randomly generated rulers not using regnal names when they should.
  
• Fixed the concept tooltip for Storm Riders in the Storm Chasers origin tooltip
  
• Fixed the handling of scientist heirs in the Stormfall event Cosmic Shapes
  
• Fixes to Unique planets from Cosmic Storms:
  
  • Unique planets from Cosmic Storms can no longer spawn in the starting cluster of an empire
    
  • Reduced the size of the unique planets from Cosmic Storms
• Fixing Rick the Cube tooltip in the additional content being misleading
  
• Payload Padding technology now properly apply its effects
  
• Removed Double Jobs for Gestalts on Ecumenopolis
  
• Solar storm orbital resource modifiers now applying correctly
  
• The Crimson Crawlers: Cooked Consumption planet modifier now has a yellow border
  
• The Storm Touched trait is made available for individual machines
  
• The Strip Mine Planet decision is only allowed once per planet
  
• adAkkaria chain actually ends now when its over
  
• Added a job weight to Storm Dancers so that pops actually want to work the job
  
• Allow proper switching between corporate and non corporate planetscapers civic
  
• Fixed descriptions for the special projects Stabilize the Collision and Harmonize the Collision
  
• Fixed the secrets of the new precursors
  
• Fixing resetlement cost modifiers not being capped by minimum economic modifier mult define
  
• Made militarist empires with imperialist factions less likely to become vassals
  
• Made the Irradiated Wasteland planet modifier produce +10% physics research
  
• Planetscapers on Ocean Paradise will now get their blockers as promised
  
• Removed the mention of sector automation from the planet designation tooltip
  
• Saturated Filters can now be removed by the one who conquered the planet
  
• Tempest Invocator storm placement will now be canceled if you lose the selected Scientist.
  
• The Tempest Invocator's range is now centered on the selected Scientist's location.
  
• Voidforged may not access Geo-Engineering Inc anymore
  
• Fix to Initiate Storm replacing Sustain Storm if you have the Galactic Weather Control Ascension Perk
  
• Several Tempest Invocator fixes

Stability

• Changed cosmic storm spawn cooldown scale to prevent CTD
  
• Fixed CTD in fleet manager when reinforcing fleets with ships without fleet size
  
• Fixed CTD when in-game music player has no permission to write to playlist file

Modding

• Added regnal_second_names_female and regnal_second_names_male to namelists.
  
• Added use_regnal_name to effects that create leaders.
  
• Fixed randomly generated empires in static galaxies having missing data if the player empire is randomly generated.
  
• Removed ruler_names from namelists and added regnal_full_names. When generating regnal names, non-regnal full names will no longer be used if a regnal name is available, but if no regnal name is available, normal names will be used.

There is always a next patch in the works, so please keep the bug reports and feedback coming.

Until then!

by Eladrin

Hi everyone!

Today’s dev diary is going to be a relatively short one. The 3.13.1 ‘Vela’ patch is planned for next Tuesday, September 24th, and we have a set of preliminary release notes for you to look over.

The biggest change is probably the removal of Nexus storms from the early game pool.

The Vela cycle will be a very short one, since the 3.14 ‘Circinus’ update and Grand Archive is already bearing down on us.

On to the release notes!


Balance

• Added free pop to first blocker for planetscapers
  
• Decreased Storm Creation costs and buffed Astrometeorology job
  
• Stormriders and Subterranean get less devastation from storms
  
• Scientist governors now also reduce devastation from storms
  
• The Nexus Storm of 2211 will no longer happen. (Nexus Storms have been removed from the Early Game storm pool.)

Bugfix

• A Fallen Empire cannot ask for a scientist that is exploring an Astral Rift
  
• Added traits to hired marauder leaders
  
• Added victory score to the two new precursor relics
  
• All starting council positions are also filled without Galactic Paragons
  
• Fixed a spelling error in the event Stormbound Sighted
  
• Fixed empire designs with different randomized names sometimes preventing each other from spawning in galaxy generation.
  
• Fixed machine name lists using ruler names for all non-envoy leaders.
  
• Fixed randomly generated rulers not using regnal names when they should.
  
• Fixed the concept tooltip for Storm Riders in the Storm Chasers origin tooltip
  
• Fixed the handling of scientist heirs in the Stormfall event Cosmic Shapes
  
• Fixes to Unique planets from Cosmic Storms:
  
  • Unique planets from Cosmic Storms can no longer spawn in the starting cluster of an empire
    
  • Reduced the size of the unique planets from Cosmic Storms
• Fixing Rick the Cube tooltip in the additional content being misleading
  
• Payload Padding technology now properly apply its effects
  
• Removed Double Jobs for Gestalts on Ecumenopolis
  
• Solar storm orbital resource modifiers now applying correctly
  
• The Crimson Crawlers: Cooked Consumption planet modifier now has a yellow border
  
• The Storm Touched trait is made available for individual machines
  
• The Strip Mine Planet decision is only allowed once per planet
  
• adAkkaria chain actually ends now when its over
  
• Added a job weight to Storm Dancers so that pops actually want to work the job
  
• Allow proper switching between corporate and non corporate planetscapers civic
  
• Fixed descriptions for the special projects Stabilize the Collision and Harmonize the Collision
  
• Fixed the secrets of the new precursors
  
• Fixing resetlement cost modifiers not being capped by minimum economic modifier mult define
  
• Made militarist empires with imperialist factions less likely to become vassals
  
• Made the Irradiated Wasteland planet modifier produce +10% physics research
  
• Planetscapers on Ocean Paradise will now get their blockers as promised
  
• Removed the mention of sector automation from the planet designation tooltip
  
• Saturated Filters can now be removed by the one who conquered the planet
  
• Tempest Invocator storm placement will now be canceled if you lose the selected Scientist.
  
• The Tempest Invocator's range is now centered on the selected Scientist's location.
  
• Voidforged may not access Geo-Engineering Inc anymore

Stability

• Changed cosmic storm spawn cooldown scale to prevent CTD
  
• Fixed CTD in fleet manager when reinforcing fleets with ships without fleet size
  
• Fixed CTD when in-game music player has no permission to write to playlist file

Modding

• Added regnal_second_names_female and regnal_second_names_male to namelists.
  
• Added use_regnal_name to effects that create leaders.
  
• Fixed randomly generated empires in static galaxies having missing data if the player empire is randomly generated.
  
• Removed ruler_names from namelists and added regnal_full_names. When generating regnal names, non-regnal full names will no longer be used if a regnal name is available, but if no regnal name is available, normal names will be used.

Next week’s dev diary will be at 18:00 instead of 13:00, and will have more new stuff than this one. :D

See you then!

Hi everyone,

Gruntsatwork here, putting on my writing hat for today only, while Eladrin is on sick leave. While Dev Diaries are the domain of the Game Directors, we wanted to keep in close contact shortly after a release.

The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion released 2 days ago and we have been collecting your feedback on our forums and every other form of social media we could find.

We will continue to do so over the next few days, working on fixes and improvements to Cosmic Storms, for example:
Individualist Machines will get access to the Storm Touched trait so that they can use the Storm Devotion civic.
Planetscapers will get a deposit on game start to clear for +1 Pop.

There are also a few balance considerations we are making that we figured would be nice to mention.
We teased them before as being incredibly destructive and as it turns out, they are! What we didn’t intend was for them to appear as often and as early as they do. Their chance to appear is significantly smaller than most other storms.

Unfortunately, with the number of players we have, even a small chance means a sizable number of you are getting messed up and with no chance of defending yourself to boot.

We are planning to adjust Nexus Storms in the following way:

• No Nexus Storms in the early game (Mid-game and forward only).
  
• We will increase their speed of traversal, exact number pending, to make sure they remain destructive but that you can take action once they have passed. They will still bring you close to 100% devastation on any given planet but they won’t then sit on the planet and keep it at 100% forever.

While we are quite happy with the effect of all the other storms, we are seeing your reports about some storms staying in the same space for most of their duration or in fact, long over their duration, stuck at 0 for years on end. Simply put, a storm shouldn’t stay in the same place for years. They are supposed to move on unless a player intervenes.

We are investigating this issue and hope to have a solution for you as soon as possible.
Some of you have called out the loss of impact storms experience once everyone has the storm protection techs in place. The original purpose of keeping those protections strong was relatively simple - to ensure that by the time you reach the end-game, you can continue with your strategies and plans.

It is one thing to lose a 15 minute campaign, it is another to lose a 30 hour campaign because your build just got invalidated.

We are looking into adjusting at the very least the ship protections, as we think there is some potential for smart plays if those protections weren’t quite as potent as they currently are.
Next week, Eladrin will be back, fingers crossed, to regale you with new information that mere Game Designers are not privy to.

See you then!

The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion is now available as the second installment of Stellaris: Season 08!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863060/Stellaris_Cosmic_Storms/

In Cosmic Storms, the skies teem with eight new storm types filled with peril and promise. From Electric Storms harnessing the power of lightning to the formidable Nexus Storm, a galactic tempest of unparalleled magnitude, these natural phenomena challenge you to make skillful choices to steer your empire safely and profitably through the chaos.

Experience the majesty and menace of these cosmic forces through beautifully rendered art and immersive audio. Navigate the tempest, harness its power, and shape your empire’s destiny. The storms are coming. Are you prepared?

The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion contains:

• 8 New Space Storms
  
• Storm Chasers Origin
  
• 3 New Civics
  
  • Planetscapers
    
  • Astrometeorology​
    
  • Storm Devotion​
• Galactic Weather Control Ascension Perk
  
• Weather Forecasting Map Mode
  
• Two new Precursor narratives, with two new Relics​
  
• Events, Anomalies, and Archaeology Sites​
  
• Storm-related technologies, Edicts, and Galactic community resolutions

Storms will begin to spawn randomly a few years after the game starts. Spawning storms has a cooldown, and there is a limit to how many storms can spawn in a galaxy in the early, mid, and late game. These limits can be configured during galaxy setup. Storms spawned by players, events, and other mechanics will spawn regardless of galaxy settings.

When storms spawn, they will choose a target destination and dissipate after the time it would take to reach the destination has passed.


Storm Chasers empires have always sought out the extremes. Born in a world ravaged by relentless storms, they are daredevils and thrill seekers who push themselves to the limit and beyond.

They start with access to the Storm Manipulation Technology and within a unique system with the correct conditions to unleash a space storm. Storm Chasers also get bonuses when a storm is active in their space and increased chances for storms to spawn and for cosmic storm technologies. Additionally, their leaders get the unique Storm Rider trait, whose effects increase when the leader is in an active space storm.




This society carefully crafted a perfect balance on their homeworld and is ready to tend even the most inhospitable environments. They gain maluses to resources, pop growth, and pop upkeep for each natural blocker on their worlds, but they gain significant bonuses to those things once the blockers on the planet are cleared.

Planetscapers also gain access to the Cultivated Worldscaping planetary decision, which increases a planet’s maximum districts, gives +75% resource districts, and adds cosmic storm protection, but decreases the habitability.


Astrometeorologists focus on the science behind the cosmic storms. Starting with an Astrometeorology Observatory on their homeworld, this planet-unique structure slightly emphasizes physics research. It receives significant bonuses to its job output if there’s a storm or other environmental effect active in the system, with additional science bonuses added from the Prime Forecaster council position.




Using a unique combination of ritual and technology, empires with the Storm Devotion civic start with the ability to build the Storm Summoning Center, whose Storm Dancers increase the system's attractiveness to space storms while also producing unity and amenities.

Their pops also gain the Storm Touched trait, which increases job output and decreases amenities usage while a space storm is active in the system.


The Galactic Weather Control Ascension Perk requires the Advanced Storm Manipulation technology and one other ascension perk to be chosen. This ascension perk gives your science ships the ability to - with an investment in resources - spawn a storm in the system it’s in.




The adAkkaria Convention of Benevolence and The Inetian Traders are two new precursors coming in Cosmic Storms. Both are steeped in Storm Lore, with several archaeology sites and special projects to progress through as you uncover their secrets, giving you the opportunity to dig deeper into what sorts of empires would meddle with storms so devastating they are notable on the cosmic scale.

Get Cosmic Storms today, or as part of Stellaris: Season 08!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863060/Stellaris_Cosmic_Storms/




Alongside the customary bug fixes and improvements, the Custodian team has improved a few of the older features in the game. The Custodian team is a team of developers who are focused on improving older content in the game, as well as adding quality-of-life features and other improvements.


As part of our Custodian Update for the 3.13 “Vela” patch, we’ve made some changes to how planetary deposits for rare resources are handled.

The deposits that previously gave access to Crystal Mines, Gas Extraction Wells, and Mote Harvesting Traps buildings now instead increase the number of mining districts available on the planet and, after researching the technology to extract the relevant resource, add a small amount of resource production to miners on that planet.

Additionally, we’ve buffed the Betharian Power Plant to increase the energy produced by Technician Jobs.


Much like how Resort Worlds were updated earlier this year, we have taken the time to revisit both Penal Colonies and Thrall Worlds.

Penal Colonies now reduce crime across your empire while giving access to unique Prison Industrial Districts. These allow you to employ worker strata pops to produce alloys and consumer goods.

Thrall Worlds, on the other hand, have taken inspiration from the countless examples across science fiction of elite battle thrall armies and give access to the Battle Thrall District. Armies trained on a Thrall World will start with additional XP, and Battle Thrall jobs will increase the damage your armies do.

The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion and the free 3.13 “Vela” update are available now!

by Eladrin

Hello everyone!

The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion is nearly here, so today we’ve got preliminary release notes and some of the Custodian changes.

Cosmic Storms is going to be released next Tuesday, on September 10th.
As part of the Custodian changes in 3.13 ‘Vela’, we’ve made some changes to how some planetary deposits for rare resources are handled.

The deposits that previously gave access to Crystal Mines, Gas Extraction Wells and Mote Harvesting Traps buildings, now instead increase the number of mining districts available on the planet and, after researching the technology to extract the relevant resource, add a small amount of resource production to miners on that planet.



Additionally, we’ve buffed the Betharian Power Plant to increase the energy produced by Technician Jobs.



Much like how Resort Worlds were updated earlier this year, we have taken the time to revisit both Penal Colonies and Thrall worlds.

Penal Colonies now both reduce crime across your empire while giving access to unique Prison Industrial Districts. These allow you to employ worker strata pops to produce alloys and consumer goods.



Thrall Worlds on the other hand have taken inspiration from the countless examples across science fiction of elite battle thrall armies and give access to the Battle Thrall District. Armies trained on a Thrall World will start with additional XP and Battle Thrall jobs will increase the damage your armies do.



And now, on to the release notes.

• Eight dynamic new storm types:
  
  • Electric, Particle, Gravity, Magnetic, Radiant, Stardust, Shroud, and Nexus storms
• New Origin: Storm Chasers
  
• Three new Civics
  
  • Astrometeorology
    
  • Planetscapers
    
  • Storm Devotion
• New Ascension Perk: Galactic Weather Control
  
• Weather Forecast Map Mode
  
• Two new Precursors
  
  • The adAkkaria Convention of Benevolence
    
  • The Inetian Traders
• New Technologies and Buildings
  
• New Planetary Deposits, Modifiers and Anomalies following Storm Aftermaths
  
• New GalCom Resolutions and Edicts
  
• New Events and Anomalies

Improvements

• Update to Thrall Worlds, adding two new slave-focused districts, Battle Thrall Jobs, and improvements to tooltips and theme
  
• Update to Prison Worlds - adding two new penal-focused districts, five new jobs, and improvements to tooltips and theme
  
• Xenophobe ethics now swaps to providing pop assembly when appropriate
  
• The location of empire-scope special projects will move to the new capital if the empire’s capital changes
  
• Gestalt Empires are now allowed to decide on their land appropriation policy, and are no longer forced to populate every planet
  
• Corvee System now gives -15% resettlement cost for Individualist Machines
  
• Standardized volume of all advisor VO lines
  
• War allies will be able to use wormholes, hyper relays, and gateways in each other's territory even if their borders are closed
  
• Removed the galaxy-wide Space Storm introduced in 2.7 “Wells”

UI

• Updated the megastructure selection UI
  
  • Improved tooltips in the megastructure selection UI
    
  • When selecting a location for Arc Furnace stage 1, the tooltip shows the number of deposit sites in the system
    
  • When selecting a location for a Habitat Central Complex, the tooltip shows orbital capacities in the system
    
  • Fixed tooltip not showing when selecting a location to build a megastructure
• Map icons in galaxy and system view no longer truncate the resource amount when between 0 and 1
  
• The tooltip that mentions if a civic is locked is now red instead of orange
  
• Enabled mouse scrolling in the research completed window
  
• Extended the minimum width of the "Veteran Level Reached!" window in case too few options are available to choose from
  
• Fixed some overlapping UI in the Empire Creation screens
  
• Fixed position of "Cross-platform play" checkbox on MS Store
  
• Updated the Map Modes UI
  
  • The Players map mode is no longer available when observing in singleplayer
    
  • The Players and Trade Routes map mode buttons are now disabled instead of hidden when they're unavailable
    
  • Fixed Players mapmode not graying out AI empires in some cases
    
  • The Unions map mode is now a regular map mode instead of a toggle

Bugfix

• Fixed the placeholder icon for the diplomatic message to request to join the galactic imperium
  
• Made AI capable of building planetary shields
  
• The Chthonian Planet, Extensive Moon System and Carbon World modifiers will now only add their mineral deposits to the planet the first time they are surveyed instead of every time they are surveyed
  
• Corrected tooltip and loyalty effects for the Ministry of Acquisition
  
• Individualistic Machine empires should no longer get an event intended for Organics
  
• Fixed the Nanite Intercessor being present in ship previews in the empire creator
  
• Fixed cyberpunk advisor lines for council agenda ready and council agenda available notifications
  
• Fixed fleets' cloaking strength sometimes not updating when ships' cloaking strength changes due to modifiers
  
• Fixed juggernauts not showing the fleet bombardment button
  
• Election auto pausing and unpausing now functions like other event pop ups
  
• Removed the double modifiers for Defense platforms from Ancient Shield Overcharger
  
• Removed serviles from the can_think trigger due to unintended knock on effects
  
• If an arc furnace is built around a potential Contingency Hub, when the planet becomes their hub, the arc furnace is correctly destroyed
  
• Fixed uncovered deposits not being removed when an arc furnace is destroyed
  
• Colossus special project will reward the original country that started the project instead of the current planet owner
  
• Leaders who are researching an anomaly or project or on cooldown can be assigned to the council
  
• Roccan Resistance and Free Peoples of the Fall genders changed from indeterminate to default
  
• The species of planetary defense armies will get updated after species modification
  
• AI empires will select ethics required by their origin
  
• All starbase types now explode when destroyed instead of blinking out of existence
  
• Fixed numerous instances, such as when establishing an embassy, where the game would load the countries home planet instead of their capital
  
• Game should no longer crash when an empire you had a trade deal with is destroyed during a war
  
• Various Out Of Sync fixes
  
• War allies will be able to use each wormholes in each other's territory even if their borders are closed

Modding

• Implemented "on_storm_encountered" on_action when a country is affected for the first time by a new storm
  
• Added on_storm_entered_system on-action
  
• Added on_storm_left_system on-action, for when a cosmic storm has left a solar system
  
• Added support for generate_random_name = yes to the spawn_planet effect
  
• Refactored Arcology industrial districts into Inline Scripts
  
• Replaced all "has_authority" checks with scripted triggers making it easier to add new authorities
  
• Added the awakening_not_allowed country flag that blocks fallen empires from awakening
  
• Added the keep_deposit_on_terraform deposit flag to make sure deposits don't go missing when you terraform
  
• Added "visible" trigger to map modes
  
• Added "tutorial" member to map modes
  
• Added is_infertile trigger
  
• Added support for displaying comma and period as hotkeys in button tooltips
  
• Added planet_crime_floor_add modifier that sets a minimum level of crime on a planet
  
• Added fail trigger for special projects + documentation
  
• Added 'mod_name_affix' to create_species effect
  
• Added num_asteroid_belts trigger to check the number of asteroids in a system
  
• Added game rules for founder_species_uses_growth_speed, founder_species_uses_organic_assembly and founder_species_uses_assembly
  
• Added game rule to force visibility on fleets for a specific system

With the release planned for next Tuesday, our next expected dev diary will be on September 19th.

See you then!

Pre-purchase Stellaris: Cosmic Storms alone or with a discount as part of Stellaris: Season 08!​

by Eladrin

Hi everyone,

Today, we’ll review the Origin and Civics of the Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion and provide some information about the new Precursors (without spoiling everything!)

Cosmic Storms is going to be released on September 10th.

Passing it over to @PDX_Ferry and @Gruntsatwork to take over from here.

Don’t make unnecessary journeys, don’t take risks on treacherous roads, and don’t swim in the sea! This is PDX_Ferry, braving the winds to deliver you a report on the new "Storm Chasers" Origin. For those who thrive on danger and yearn for the thrill of the unknown, this Origin was designed with you in mind.

Start your game as a civilization that has always sought out the extremes. Born on a world ravaged by relentless storms, the Storm Chasers are daredevils and thrill seekers who push themselves to the limits and beyond. They’ve grown strong and daring, turning their chaotic environment into a crucible of innovation and tenacity. But when every storm has been weathered, and every mountain has been climbed, where does an enterprising thrill-seeker turn next? The answer, of course, is the stars.



The screenshot above was taken from the new pre-scripted empire Yatunan Radicals, which starts with the Origin and a couple of storm-related Civics. While not driven to outmatch others in acts of bravery, hive minds, and machine intelligences may also want to test themselves with this Origin.

From the very beginning, your empire will be propelled into the thick of the DLC’s content, facing down cosmic phenomena that would make even the most seasoned explorers hesitate. Yet, with great risk comes the potential for great reward.





This Origin is designed to quickly get you into the think of the DLC's action. At game start, your Empire is thrown into the Stormfall situation:



With early access to storm manipulation technology and by starting in a system with unique conditions to kickstart a storm, the Storm Chasers have the first opportunity to unleash a storm. From there, the Origin's storyline includes a gauntlet of Challenges, and the chance to summon "the Big One." What's left of your civilization in the aftermath rests entirely in your hands (or tentacles!)

So be warned – this is not a path for the faint-hearted. The thrills your people have chased for centuries pale in comparison to the cosmic tempests that await you in the void. Will you harness these forces and lead your empire to greatness, or will you burn out in a blaze of glory? The choice, as always, is yours.
Do You Know What Happens to a Blorg When It’s Hit by Lightning?​
Hello there xeno-freshmen, could we interest you in Astrometeorology 101?

As the first of the three new civics coming in Cosmic Storms, Astrometeorology focuses on the science behind the storms. It grants you a new building, the Astrometeorology Observatory, which in turn gives you Astrometeorologist jobs.





You can build one of those fine institutes per planet and their jobs are similar enough to normal researchers with a slight focus on physics. However, their true potential shows itself only when the Observatory can behold a storm from up close.

In addition, the council position further boosts the job output by up to 20%.

What, you prefer something more societal? Maybe have a look at our second new civic then.



The spiritualistic mirror to Astrometeorology, Storm Devotion gives you access to the Storm Summoning Theater, with its Storm Dancer jobs.



In addition, those devoted to Storms also bear this mark as a new species trait called “Storm Touched”, which further boost all pops while inside of a storm. As if that weren’t enough, the Council Position for Storm Devotion reduces the upkeep of all Storm Buildings.



Storms this, Storms that, is there anything for people who’d rather not see the word Storm plastered over all of their buildings?

Absolutely, let’s talk about Planetscapers.

Planetscapers are the complete opposite of Environmentalists. They want every planetary blocker gone, natural accidents have no place in their carefully planned garden utopias.



You yearn to make all these rugged, overgrown planets into something beautiful and pristine. For some, Mastery of Nature is enough, but your need requires something more drastic, something more impressive.



As you expand, every world with natural blockers that you colonize will allow you to quickly unlock more ways to remove those eyesores.
You get a Precursor and you get a precursor, everyone gets a precursor!

We have two new Precursors for you all to experience.

The adAkkaria Convention of Benevolence and The Inetian Traders, both steeped in Storm Lore, with several archaeology sites and special projects to progress through as you uncover their secrets, diggin’ deeper into what sorts of empires would meddle with storms so devastating they are notable on the cosmic scale.

So without giving out too many spoilers, from their names at least you know they were benevolent people and peaceful traders with little chance for tragedy.





Next week we’ll have the preliminary release notes for the 3.13 ‘Vela’ update and Cosmic Storms! It’s almost here!

See you then!

Pre-purchase Stellaris: Cosmic Storms alone or with a discount as part of Stellaris: Season 08!​