The Grand Archive Story Pack is available now!



Get it today, or with a discount as part of Stellaris: Season 08!

The Grand Archive Story Pack includes:

• 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​
  
• New Megastructure - The Grand Archive
  
• Two Tradition trees - Archivism and Domestication​
  
• Two Origins - Primal Calling and Treasure Hunters​
  
• Two Civics - Beastmasters and Galactic Curators​
  
• Two forms of spaceborne life - Cutholoids and Voidworms​
  
• Mid-game crisis - the Voidworm Plague​
  
• Three new music tracks​
  
• Events, Anomalies, Archaeology Sites, Technologies, Galactic community resolutions, and more!​

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


The Grand Archive preserves and exhibits the most valuable artifacts we have collected throughout the galaxy. Reserved within is also a dedicated Vivarium for live Space Fauna containment and observation.



Constructing the Grand Archive allows for the exhibition of specimens you have found, as well as the containment, breeding and ultimately cloning of captured space fauna in the Vivarium.


Specimens are rare and valuable objects that you collect while exploring the galaxy. Each Specimen has a Display Effect, providing small modifiers to boost your production across a wide variety of metrics, with their effects scaling based on the rarity of the specimen in question.

Specimens also provide additional information about the discoveries you have made, adding new details and information about events in the galaxy.




Cutholoids

Cutholoids are massive organisms that inhabit asteroids in order to provide suitable protection for their otherwise soft bodies. This creature swallows its prey whole, using radioactive digestive fluid to slowly consume its prey.

Cutholoids are ambush predators that disguise themselves as asteroids. They will ambush and devour lone ships - these ships can be rescued by either capturing the Cutholoid or defeating it in battle. When cloned from Hatcheries by the player, these creatures can steal enemy ships by swallowing them whole.



Voidworms

Voidworms are parasitic organisms that must deposit spores on inhabited worlds with suitable biomass in order to reproduce. Mature individuals form mating trios, known as "Troikas", and will construct nests near black holes to shelter and raise their young.

Voidworms are aggressive parasites and will often bombard colonies in order to increase their numbers back in their nests. If their population is left unchecked, they will attempt to take over the galaxy in the new Voidworm Plague mid-game crisis.




The Voidworm population has reached a critical mass. The parasites no longer spare the planets they feed from. A breeding frenzy on the galactic scale is upon us.

This Mid-Game Crisis can be triggered if Voidworm populations reach a critical mass in the galaxy. Swarms of Voidworms will invade colonies and bombard them with abandon, adding to their numbers.




Primal Calling

Masters of animal handling and ranching, their relationship with fauna has grown according to their ethics. How will this bond evolve on a galactic scale?

This mechanically-driven origin introduces a new Wrangler job, which changes based on the player's ethics and choices. Primal Calling empires also start with the ability to build Voidlures, and is ideally suited to support a creature-focused playstyle.



Treasure Hunters

Armed only with a mysterious map, race across the stars to secure a legendary pirate treasure.

This narrative-focused origin follows the trail of a forgotten pirate legend in search of her hoard. The Black Needle stands in your way, a long-standing pirate organization that will do anything to secure this treasure. On your journey, you will face deadly threats, memorable characters and maybe even the Pirate Queen herself.




Galactic Curators

The meticulous collection and preservation of historical artifacts has always fascinated this civilization. But now, with the mysteries of the galaxy at their doorstep, there is everything left to learn.

Galactic Curators empires start with a set of three specimens and get a head start on building their Grand Archive thanks to insight into Galactic Archivism technology and a reduced cost and build time. Additionally, Galactic Curators gain bonus unity when completing an Archaeological Site or finding a Specimen.

As fellow Curators, they have increased starting opinion with the Curator Order and receive a discount on their services.

Beastmasters

Coming to full technological maturity in a system that serves as a feeding ground for Space Amoebas, this society has acquired a deep knowledge of their life cycle. They now work to nurture, raise, and ultimately clone these creatures for mutual benefit.

Start with the ability to capture Space Fauna and a fleet of Cloned Space Amoeba instead of Corvettes. Standard military ships use 3x naval capacity, so you must learn to harness the power of Cloned Space Fauna in order to succeed.

Find out more:
Watch the playlist on YouTube
Read the Developer Diaries

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

Hi everyone!

The Grand Archive Story Pack and the Stellaris 3.14.1 ‘Circinus’ update will be releasing next Tuesday, October 29th.

Today we have some Preliminary Release Notes for the 3.14.1 release!

• 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!

​

• Renamed Shattered Ring "Irreparable Damage" to "Reparable Damage" as once you have researched Mega Engineering. You can now restore it via decision.
  
• Setting AI Empires to 1 and enabling Randomize will now generate 0-1 empires instead of always generating 1.
  
• Special Project research order selector from system view now checks all possible projects for the location

​

• Made the Nexus storm chonkier
  
• Significantly reduced storm effect on fleet pathfinding
  
• Doubled Ranger science to 4
  
• Subjects that are released from a country now copy the ascension perks of that country

​

• Fixed strange boxes around technology icons
  
• AI should now utilize leader assigned science ships
  
• Corrected Technology Frames
  
• Archaeological site Green Skies now requires Cosmic Storms DLC - you should no longer get Storms without the DLC enabled.
  
• Fixed the Machine Worlds AP accidentally doubling the jobs and housing giving by Generator districts on Shattered Ringworlds
  
• Reuniting the Pod project now resets tiyankis hostility before and after the project
  
• Fix tiyankis potentially fleeing the system in Reuniting the Pod
  
• Cybernetic leader portraits immediately change when the trait is gained
  
• Fixed Regnal Names for the Fungoid 4 name list. All hail Emperor Globbelius!
  
• Democratic and oligarchic Storm Chaser empire names can be randomized
  
• Fixed some event leaders found in anomalies claiming that they were previously employed on your capital on their resumes
  
• The Operation Exposed event (operation.5037) text no longer uses your country's name instead of the operation's name.
  
• Added the correct icon to the job_researcher_upkeep_mult modifier
  
• The Nu-Baol once again spawn with the Hive Mind trait and with the Phototropic Trait if the proper conditions are met.
  
• Caravaneers cannot ask for a science ship that is exploring an Astral Rift
  
• Saved StormVisuals as a .txt file
  
• Synth ascended and Individualist Machine empire can now set the migration rights for mechanical and machine species
  
• Virtual pops in synth ascended empires are now allowed to auto-migrate
  
• The Event Eat or be Eaten will no longer select machine pops to be the most delicious in the galaxy.
  
• Renamed the Government View to Empire View so it is no longer easily confused with the Government UI introduced in Galactic Paragons.
  
• Fixed the Khan's starbases not showing a correct construction entity
  
• The Unity tooltip now says Unity can be used to ascend Planets.
  
• Guided Sapience and Natural Design are now mutually exclusive
  
• Hid an unlocalized flag inside of the "Rorganize Leviathan Parade" button
  
• Marauder Fleets now count as mercenaries for the purpose of being in breach of the Neutral Defenders Resolutions
  
• The Imitator will no longer generate with the Hoarder trait causing immediate consumer goods deficit for gestalt empires.
  
• Fixed a number of Cybernetic traditions not giving the correct effects if The Machine Age is not active
  
• Empire generation now will be able to generate random Machine Intelligence empires.
  
• The relic Crystal of Odryskia uses the correct trait name in the tooltip
  
• Added the Researchers Upkeep modifier icon
  
• Fixed empire designs with different randomized names sometimes preventing each other from spawning in galaxy generation.
  
• add_random_technology_option effect now correctly checks techs weight
  
• Fixed ships not entering the correct animation state after a combat if there was any incoming projectile animation
  
• Auto-mod swapped traits won't disappear when loading a save
  
• Made Genesis Guides and Natural Design mutually exclusive
  
• Fixed assorted typos in script
  
• Fixed assorted syntax error in script

• The AI now has a set limit on the maximum number of habitats it should have, determined by galaxy size and difficulty setting. This limit is doubled for the Void Dweller and Void-Forged origins.
  
• AI empires and Auto-Best feature now consider adding additional power sources to ship designs if there is no better component
  
• When in combat, ships stay with their targets a bit longer, reducing the amount of ships flip-flopping on targets and ending not attacking anything.

• Updated the way ship modifiers are checked for tooltip display using a static cache

• Polish for Game Setup UI
  
• Changed icon for Exploration Vessels.
  
• Fixed some ship types using the wrong icon in the fleet and combat UIs.
  
• Game settings for DLC-specific features are now hidden if you don't have the DLC.
  
• Reworked game setup UI.
  
• Fixed triggered icons tooltip hitbox in event options

• planet_damage for bombardment stances is now a scripted value
  
• Added on_ship_engulfed on_action
  
• Added on_specimen_acquired on_action
  
• Added is_last_acquired_specimen trigger
  
• Added give_specimen effect
  
• Allow to override technology name, description, icon and effects based on trigger conditions
  
• Added centerPosition member to buttonType.
  
• Smooth listbox's borderSize now affects the list's scrollable length.
  
• Fixed listboxes' borderSize using X value for both X and Y.
  
• Starbase building & module icons now use triggered description to allow it to be dynamic
  
• spawn_planet_effect orbit_distance_offset parameter can now read variables and values
  
• Concept tooltips can now be auto-generated for static modifiers using the modifier: prefix
  
• Starbase buildings can now use scripted_effect_cooldown and scripted_effect_cooldown_flag fields to display cooldowns for a scripted action
  
• export_modifier_to_variable can now be used with dynamic modifiers
  
• Added on_fauna_capture_ended on_action, fired whenever a capture attempt ends no matter the outcome
  
• Bombardment stances can now use scripted localization with a base scope of fleet
  
• create_ship effect now supports rarity argument
  
• Added is_last_acquired_specimen_rarity trigger
  
• Starbases now support timed modifiers
  
• Added ship_size_cost_resource_percent trigger
  
• Added create_smaller_size_creature_in_fleet effect
  
• Added component_lifesteal_add modifier
  
• Added has_dna trigger
  
• Section templates can now use compatible_with_all_ship_sizes instead of ship_size
  
• Added mutation_slot_add modifier
  
• create_nebula effect now generates nebula graphics in the galaxy view without needing to reload the current game
  
• remove_point_of_interest effect now localizes the point of interest's name key if possible
  
• Added age parameter to create_ship effect
  
• Added evaluate_scripted_value console command
  
• Added planet scope to distance_to_capital trigger
  
• Added is_ship_category trigger
  
• Added support to inline_scripts in event files
  
• set_mia = mia_emergency_ftl now does a complete emergency ftl instead of just going mia, displaying the associated vfx
  
• Added handled_by_event_tooltip parameter to special projects requirements allowing special projects to not being possible to complete manually
  
• Added country_specimen_selling_cost_mult modifier
  
• Added num_exhibits trigger
  
• Added on_exhibit_unlocked on_action
  
• Added space_fauna_growth_rate_mult modifier
  
• Added ship_damage_against_boss_mult modifier
  
• Added months and years parameters to event firing effects like country_event
  
• Added monthly_loyalty_from_synthetic_subjects and monthly_loyalty_from_organic_subjects modifiers
  
• Add detailed description to add_relic effect
  
• Add trigger field to message variables
  
• Added "has_any_flag" trigger
  
• Added graphical_culture_fallback to create_ship effect in case graphical_culture targets an invalid GFX culture
  
• Added is_core_component_set to component_sets, forcing the use of the core component icon in the technology view
  
• Added on_colony_destroyed_by_bombardment on_action
  
• Added timed_flag_days_left trigger

We have seven new achievements coming in with the Grand Archive Story Pack:


It Belongs in a... oh right
Fill any Collection category with active Exhibits.


Void Charmer
Build each type of Voidlure in one game, and attract each type of eligible Space Fauna.


Animal Farm
Reach 50 Vivarium capacity.


Wormageddon
Destroy a Voidworm nest.


That's No Asteroid
Capture a Cutholoid with a Gravity Snare.


X Marks the Spot
Discover Captain Ness's Treasure Hoard.


Beastmaster
Defeat the endgame crisis without building a single artificial military ship.

We’ll be holding a developer Q&A on the Official Stellaris Discord a little later today, stop on by and ask us questions!



We should have a little bit of early post-release commentary next week, after you have the Grand Archive Story Pack in your [species.GetHandNamePlural].

See you then!

Hi everyone!

The Grand Archive Story Pack is lurking in an asteroid field nearby, and will ambush nearby Science Vessels on October 29th.

Today’s dev diary will look at the two new space fauna being added to Stellaris, as well as a peek at the Origins.


Cutholoids are cunning ambush predators, lurking within the shadowed hollows of desolate asteroids. There, they bide their time, waiting to ensnare unwary vessels that drift too close.

A typical first encounter with them may look something like this:


If my science ship was cloaked or had encountered them before, things might have turned out differently.​

Thankfully, Cutholoids have a very slow digestive process so these ships can be rescued by either capturing the Cutholoid or defeating it in battle.


I don’t have Gravity Snares yet, so arm the Nuclear Missiles – there’s “research” to be done.







When cloning your own Cutholoids from Hatcheries, these creatures can steal enemy ships by swallowing them whole.


Om nom nom. I wouldn’t call it exactly “a new car smell”.​

As one would expect, Cutholoids prefer systems with asteroid belts as their preferred habitat.


Voidworms are parasitic creatures that depend on planet-based hosts to reproduce. They deposit spores on inhabited worlds with sufficient biomass, raising their offspring in nests perilously close to Black Holes.

Their full lifecycle is present in-game. Nymphs will grow through the Juvenile stage to maturity in Adulthood.

Voidworms mate in groups of three, a formation known as a "Troika." These creatures become bound for life in a never-ending mating ritual. However, they require an external biological host to produce offspring. Upon reaching maturity, each Voidworm develops a clutch of cysts within their reproductive systems. These protective cysts contain highly caustic gametes that, when combined with others in a Troika, can be sent to planets with suitable biomass in order to give birth to more of their nymphs.

Their hosts do not survive this process.


Who’s the cutest little Voidworm Nymph? Why, you are! Yes, you are!


A Juvenile Scout


A fleet of Adult Voidworms that have not yet merged


The Adults that have formed a Troika


A Voidworm Nest​

Nymphs will travel to and remain in the safety of their nest systems, while Juveniles explore the galaxy looking for suitable worlds for the next generation. Once they find a suitable target, the Adults will form Troikas and go forth to continue the cycle of life.

There is evidence that the Voidworms coordinate their bombardments so as to maintain a sustainable amount of viable hosts throughout the galaxy, so there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.

OH COME ON, I LITERALLY JUST SAID THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!​

Oh. Okay, maybe that was a bit premature.

If Voidworm populations reach a critical mass in the galaxy, there is a chance that the Voidworm Plague will begin. In this possible mid-game crisis, a mutation causes swarms of Voidworms to enter a reproductive frenzy and begin to bombard planets with abandon.

A situation will begin to deal with the crisis, with several possible approaches.


Good old “Do Nothing”. Let someone else deal with it.​

Destroying the Voidworm nests will end the plague, or you can find a cure, rendering your population useless to the voidworm life cycle. Completing the situation will remove your planets from their target list.

The Galactic Community, naturally, has a few ideas related to these new lifeforms.


Since both of these new additions are rather aggressive, the Grand Archive Story Pack adds two new sliders into Advanced Settings to control the prevalence of Voidworms and Cutholoids.


My Science Ship might be safe, but we’re pretty much guaranteeing that the Voidworms will be a mid-game crisis.​
Treasure Hunters is the narrative-focused Origin in this Story Pack. You can expect a lengthy event chain with a mysterious treasure map at the core of it all.

Into pirates, swashbuckling (of sorts), and endless riches? Treasure Hunters may be an Origin you’re interested in. As it’s a narrative-focused Origin, I’m not going to spoil too much of it ahead of time.


Follow the trail and find riches beyond imagination.​

The Oviron Lodge are a prescripted empire we’ve created that uses the Treasure Hunters Origin with the Galactic Curators and Mining Guilds civics.
The Primal Calling Origin is heavily invested into various fauna related playstyles, from those who want to preserve and protect wildlife to those who prefer them stuffed and mounted as trophies of the hunt.



Primal Calling is one of our most versatile Origins, able to adapt to many different playstyles. After you complete First Contact with a new breed of Space Fauna, you’ll get to pick a stance for your civilization. Which stances you can pick are influenced by your ethics - for example, the Animal Handler stance requires some element of Pacifism or Xenophilia.



This stance choice has additional effects on your empire - replacing the Wrangler jobs with Ranchers, Animal Handlers, or Trophy Hunters, changing the Wildlife Ranch into Hunting Grounds, or granting various new perks or modifiers.

You will also get new events during first contact with space fauna, but caution is advised, as interacting with wildlife is unpredictable and sometimes dangerous.

The Graparx Primal Stalkers are our Primal Calling prescripted empire, with the Beastmasters and Citizen Service civics.
Next on the list is our preliminary 3.14.1 “Circinus” release notes. The Archive is almost open!

See you next week!

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!