by Eladrin

Today's update includes some fixes to Civilians, and armies can now invade planets. Oh, and Cosmic Storms no longer deal devastation.

Fixes and Improvements​

• AI now uses the focus system
  
• Adjusted colony designation tooltips in the colonization UI.
  
• Increased habitat district jobs
  
• Zones conversions (such as when a hive takes over a standard planet) should now function and retain buildings that fit in both zone types.
  
• Civilians no longer count as unemployed (they will still automigrate).
  
• Civilians now appear in the jobs list correctly when it is collapsed.
  
• The ANGRY RED BRIEFCASE of unemployment will now only appear if there are 100 or more unemployed pops on a planet. The orange briefcase of migration will still appear if there is any outward migration going on.
  
• Clerk icon fix.
  
• Timeline forward and back buttons can now be clicked if you have a very lengthy timeline
  
• Armies can invade planets again! There still aren’t defenders, so ground combat is very easy.
  
• More pop growth modifiers work.
  
• Fix building and district job outputs being inflated
  
• You now have to own a planet to modify job sliders
  
• Improvements to Colonization UI
  
• Planetary Ascension text is in
  
• Concepts that referred to Industrial Districts have been updated
  
• Leaders are now affected by species modification correctly
  
• More tooltips and fields show real pop numbers
  
• All planets should now have the correct number of zones (2) in their primary district
  
• Rare Resource buildings now require the appropriate deposits or technologies
  
• Enforcers and Entertainers should no longer bounce around
  
• Cosmic storms no longer cause devastation.

1. Turn off your mods. They will almost certainly cause you to crash.
   
2. Go to your Steam library, right click on Stellaris -> Properties -> Betas -> select "stellaris_test - 3.99.7 Open Beta" branch in the Beta Participation dropdown.

All previous 3.99.* Open Beta branches will also remain available. If you are having issues accessing the latest version of the 3.99.* Open Beta, please see this forum post for troubleshooting.

For more information on the Open Beta, as well as the intentions and goals of releasing such an early, unpolished version, please see this dev diary.

This is the final update to the 3.99 Open Beta.

I want to sincerely thank you for all of your feedback and assistance through the 3.99 beta test process. You've helped us a tremendous amount in helping the 4.0 release in May.

Hello Stellaris community!

I’m PDS_Bojj, a content designer on Stellaris, and as someone with a deep love for storytelling, weird science, and moral quandaries wrapped in biotech horror, working on BioGenesis has been an absolute joy. This expansion dives deep (like deep deep) into what it means to reshape life, not just physically, but culturally, philosophically, and even politically.

In today’s diary, I’m thrilled to share a look at something we’ve been brewing in the gene-vats for a while now: Biomorphosis, our brand-new Genetic Ascension path, and all the squishy systems that come with it: situations, modular traditions, and yes, even genetically-themed Advanced Authorities! It’s evolution, but make it playable.

So whether you're here for the cloned bureaucrats, the flawless über-citizens, or the writhing mutation-hives of your dreams… Auntie Bojj has got you covered!

Let’s dive in!​
​


Biomorphosis: Why not jump-start the future of our species?

In BioGenesis, we’ve reimagined the Genetic Ascension path into something more dynamic, thematic, and, dare I say… organic. Welcome to Biomorphosis, a Situation that unfolds over three stages, each one a critical turning point in your species’ transformation.​


Your Situation Approach is a lot like yourself… It matters.

When you take the newly named Biomorphosis Ascension Perk, you will start on the path to shape the future of your civilization through a series of decisions that define how your species evolves. At the beginning of each stage, you’ll select one of three philosophical and technological approaches to guide your development:
​
Purity​
The body is a sacred vessel, and perfection lies in refinement, not deviation. This approach focuses on enhancing existing traits, optimizing your species’ current genetic code, and preserving essential identity. Expect events about ideological purity, resistance to corruption (internal and external), and perhaps a little eugenics drama if you’re feeling spicy.
​
Cloning​
Mass production meets organic precision. Cloning enables you to scale your population quickly and efficiently, but at what cost to individuality? This path explores questions of identity, resource management, and ethical dilemmas surrounding consciousness and copyhood. You might find your leaders arguing about the souls of your citizens... or the cost-benefit analysis of their replaceability.
​
Mutation​
Why perfect the old when you can become something new? Mutation embraces chaos, randomness, and radical adaptation. This is the path for those who believe in progress through transformation, no matter how monstrous. As your species warps and shifts, so too will your empire! Expect powerful new traits, disturbing events, and maybe even a few limbs where there weren’t any before.​


You can’t facilitate genome research without a Genomic Research Facility!
​
Each stage of Biomorphosis brings with it new narrative events and mechanical consequences, all tailored to your chosen approach. You can double down on a single path, or mix and match to create something truly unique; a mosaic of flesh, thought, and purpose. But don’t forget to build a Genomic Research Facility on one of your planets first, otherwise you won’t have the facilities to engage in genomic research!

So, whether you’re breeding perfect paragons, churning out clone armies, or embracing the squelching beauty of the unknowable genome, Biomorphosis offers you a chance to live your best post-Darwinian fantasy.​
​
​
BioGenesis doesn’t just reshape your species, it reshapes how your empire thinks, acts, and dreams. Introducing the Modular Tradition Tree: a dynamic, partially customizable tradition system tailored to your Biomorphosis journey.​


M-U-T-A-T-I-O-N, YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR MUTATION!
​
As your empire progresses through the Biomorphosis Situation, the approach choices you make (Purity, Cloning, or Mutation) don’t just influence events, they also determine which Traditions you’ll gain access to in a new unique Genetic Ascension tree.

Each playthrough will feel different, because each tradition tree is built around a foundational path (again: either Purity, Cloning, or Mutation), augmented by select traditions from the other two, depending on your hybridization of choices across the three Biomorphosis stages.

At the end of the Biomorphosis situation, your empire unlocks a special ascension tradition tree. This tree is centered around your dominant approach (whichever of the three you selected the most during the situation). Additional picks in the tree will be drawn from the other approaches you dipped into, creating a hybrid structure.

So, if you’ve picked Mutation twice and Cloning once, you’ll get a Mutation-based tree with some synthetic reproductive flavor. Or, if for example, you go all in on Purity, you can expect a tradition tree as tight and controlled as your gene pool.

Each tradition within the tree reinforces the strengths and philosophies of its source:

Purity Traditions enhance species cohesion, trait optimization, and biological defense mechanisms.

Cloning Traditions focus on growth efficiency, leader replacement, and societal adaptation to mass-production living.

Mutation Traditions unlock exotic biology, unpredictable perks, and a flirtation with the unrecognizable.​
​
Question: Why did you do this?​
Answer: We wanted to create a system that reflects you. Not just your empire’s species, but the ideological journey you’ve taken. This modular design means you aren’t locked into one narrow vision of Genetic Ascension. It means you can experiment, mix paths, or triple-down on your biological ideals. Whether you’re crafting a society of elegant gene-purists or an unholy sprawl of ever-shifting abominations, the tradition tree will evolve with you.
​
Once you’ve completed your unique Genetic Ascension tradition tree, your empire will be ready for its next evolutionary leap, not just biologically, but politically. BioGenesis introduces a new system of Advanced Authorities, tailored to the philosophy that shaped your Biomorphosis journey.​


Everyone is equal! Even if you have tentacles coming out of your head! But also… ew.
​
Whether you rule through mandate, decree, profit, consensus, or collective consciousness, your ascended society will transform into a more specialized and thematically rich version of its base authority, infused with either Purity, Cloning, or Mutation ideology.

These are not just cosmetic upgrades. Each Advanced Authority comes with unique modifiers, and governing mechanics, reflecting the bio-political ideals your empire has chosen to embody.​
​
Here are some examples of the new Advanced Authorities:​

• Cloning Democracy, or “Cordant Multiplicity”
  This government embraces cloning technology as a testament to equality and progress. Clones stand shoulder to shoulder with natural-born individuals, their voices equally valued. The will of the people is enriched by the diversity of every perspective, clone or not.
  
  
• Mutation Hive Mind, or “Adaptive Dominion”
  This Hive's hyper-adaptive drones form a dynamic and ever-evolving force, leveraging constant mutation to overcome environmental and tactical challenges. Each adaptation strengthens the collective, ensuring unparalleled versatility and resilience as the Hive mind thrives in any condition.
  
  
• Purity Dictatorship, or “Nucleic Judiciary”
  This government wields genetic and biometric data as tools of pre-emptive justice, scrutinizing every citizen's genetic code for criminal predispositions. By intervening before transgression, it ensures order through meticulous oversight. True justice is not reactive but preventive, safeguarding society by eliminating crime at the root.
  
  
• Cloning Megacorp, or “Replicating Horde”
  Advanced cloning technology drives the relentless production of genetically identical drones, each engineered for perfect efficiency and unity. Obeying the innate command to go forth and multiply, this hive intends to blot out the stars.
  
  
• Mutation Empire, or “Genomic Expansionist”
  Embracing the unpredictable power of random mutation, this empire taps into untold potential, fostering innovations and abilities that traditional methods could never achieve. In the race for dominance, the chaos of mutation becomes their greatest advantage, propelling them toward unrivaled supremacy.
  
  
• Purity Oligarchy, or “Eugenic Hierarchy”
  Absolute power must be entrusted to the genetically ordained elite, the purest and most capable stewards of this civilization's destiny. Beneath them, each citizen fulfills a predefined role, meticulously tailored to their inherited genetic potential. Contentment flows not from ambition, but from accepting one's designated purpose.

​
​
Each of the three Biomorphosis philosophies (Purity, Cloning, and Mutation) has its own flavor of Authority type. That’s 18 total Advanced Authorities, all designed to express a vision of what society has become in the aftermath of biological transcendence.

Choosing your Advanced Authority is a crowning moment. It’s a reflection of your empire’s journey from mere organic matter to a society reborn in gene-forged glory.

That’s all from me for now. Thanks so much for reading! May your biomass be bountiful, your cloning vats efficient, and your mutations... mostly non-lethal.

Stay curious, stay squishy,
PDS_Bojj

...​
Hey, Alfray Stryke jumping in here as I’ve seen a lot of questions of “How does the Clone Army origin interact with BioGenesis??1!”

To start with, as a Clone Army origin you will be prevented from undertaking Biomorphosis until you’ve unlocked your genetic potential however, once you’ve done so you could even take the ascension perk as your first AP.​


How do you unlock your genetic potential, you ask? By completing either the Clone Fertility or Clone Potential special projects.




Clone Fertility makes your species capable of reproduction once more and allows you to undergo Biomorphosis with the complete freedom of any path you desire.
​
Clone Potential however means that your species remains as infertile clones and as such locks you to an upgraded version of the Cloning path if you undertake Biomorphosis. This upgraded Cloning path grants the following, in addition to the regular rewards:​

• The ability to genetically modify Clone Soldier species.​
  
• Regular Clone Vats, Genomic Research Facilities and Medical Buildings increase the number of Clone Soldiers sustained per planet.​
  
• Being able to apply the Clone Soldier trait to other species via Genetic Modification.​

Next week we’ll be exploring Phenotype Traits and the Evolutionary Predators Origin.

See you then!​

by Eladrin

Today's update includes some major changes to the planet view, and some very, very basic gestalt functionality.

Planets now start with six building slots in their Urban District, with two Zones available to customize its output. Your homeworld will generally begin with an Industrial (Alloys + Consumer Goods) and an Archives (Unity + Research) Zone at game start. These changes have not been replicated to gestalts or special planets or starts yet.

We are planning one more Open Beta update (3.99.7) this Friday.


Beta Features​

• Planets now have six building slots by default and two zones that can be used to specialize their urban districts.
  
  • Most empires no longer start with the early space age industry buildings or jobs
    
  • Known Issue: This has not been replicated to gestalts or special planets yet.
• Planet UI now shows last month's growth for each pop group.
  
• Added a mixed Research and Unity “Archives” Zone.

Fixes and Improvements​

• Adjusted rural job numbers
  
• Added urban zones to mining districts for Subterranean empires
  
• Clicking on a built Zone will now bring up the District Details panel
  
• By player request, the Build Queue side panel now automatically starts open when looking at your planets
  
• Prevent AI from cheating for zone building
  
• Industrial Zones now use the correct icon.
  
• Strata now show their population when collapsed.
  
• Timeline origin images are now properly masked
  
• Planetary Ascension area in the Management Tab now functions.
  
  • Add icon and style label for ascension tier in management tab
    
  • Add text with breakdown of the modifiers provided by planetary ascension
• Some Hive and Machine setup has been completed, they should be slightly functional now
  
  • Known Issue: Hives do not get Mining Drones from Mining Districts, so, uh… maybe go Void Hive?
    
  • Hive and Machine Worlds have had an initial pass
    
  • Machine Starting Conditions have had an initial pass

1. Turn off your mods. They will almost certainly cause you to crash.
   
2. Go to your Steam library, right click on Stellaris -> Properties -> Betas -> select "stellaris_test - 3.99.6 Open Beta" branch in the Beta Participation dropdown.

All previous 3.99.* Open Beta branches will also remain available. If you are having issues accessing the latest version of the 3.99.* Open Beta, please see this forum post for troubleshooting.

For more information on the Open Beta, as well as the intentions and goals of releasing such an early, unpolished version, please see this dev diary.

This week's feedback survey looks at Trade, Logistics, and Notifications and Messaging.

This week's Open Beta feedback survey is available here!

by Eladrin

Today's update adds the Betharian Zone, a Mandarin voice advisor, and new stargazer color variants, with broad fixes throughout.


Beta Features

• Added the Betharian Zone.
  
• “Venerable Scientist" (Mandarin Language) Voice Advisor
  
• Added new color variants for stargazer portrait

Fixes and Improvements

• Unbroke all colonies.
  
• Fixed issues with Catalytic Processing civics.
  
• Fixed the zone planet modifiers not being applied if districts have multiples of the same zone type.
  
• Fixed the Chosen's habitats.
  
• Pirates are a little less gung-ho to form.
  
• Planetary deficits now cost trade instead of providing it.
  
• Increased the base rate of Auto-Migration.
  
• Pops will now automatically migrate to planets with 20% habitability or higher instead of 40% or higher.
  
• When the maximum number of auto-modded pops changes, the current number is now updated correctly.
  
• City Districts now change their name and descriptions based on their zone specializations.
  
• Compressed unity and added job swaps.
  
• City set graphics scale adjusted.
  
• Updated Empire Progression Rewards to always display which technology is unlocked.
  
• Allowed rural zones on ringworlds.
  
• Removed bonus production on tier 1 buildings, removed tier 1 buildings planet limit.
  
• Pop count, Housing, and Amenities on the planet view now use short notation (such as 13.4k rather than 13405).
  
• Replaced Upgrade buttons for districts with icons.
  
• Background graphics added for all districts.
  
• Added progress bars to the zones that are being built or replaced.
  
• District/Zone/Building Construction tooltips added.
  
• Changed how selected District is being highlighted.
  
• Highlight the selected zone slot when building new zones.
  
• Display old zone name, icon and building slots if the zone is being replaced.
  
• Display the icon and name of the zone being constructed.
  
• Rural district zones can now also be built by clicking anywhere within the empty zone slot.
  
• Further Timeline UI adjustments, fixing background masking.
  
• Added designation description in the colonization UI.
  
• Adjusted district numbers in the colonization UI to show the max amount of possible districts.
  
• Added functionality to deselect a selected colony designation.
  
• Rearranged and tweaked colony modifier displaying in the colonization UI.
  
• Added new databank icons.
  
• Added starting notification for selecting Empire Focus.
  
• Added planetary deficits to the Planetary view

1. Turn off your mods. They will almost certainly cause you to crash.
   
2. Go to your Steam library, right click on Stellaris -> Properties -> Betas -> select "stellaris_test - 3.99.4 Open Beta" branch in the Beta Participation dropdown.

All previous 3.99.* Open Beta branches will also remain available. If you are having issues accessing the latest version of the 3.99.* Open Beta, please see this forum post for troubleshooting.

For more information on the Open Beta, as well as the intentions and goals of releasing such an early, unpolished version, please see this dev diary.

We also have a new feedback survey this week, which looks at first impressions of Precursor selection, Databank, Species Modification, and Game Pacing Adjustments.

This week's Open Beta feedback survey is available here!

by Alfray Stryke

Hello everybody! Welcome to our first BioGenesis development diary!

Today we will talk about ships. That are made of meat.

—

Several weeks ago, Eladrin mentioned that the ship designer changes originally planned for 4.0 "Phoenix" would not be included in the Open Beta, as they’re now needed for our upcoming Q2 DLC release. We’ve since seen a fair amount of speculation as to what we might have been cooking that’d require such changes… So please allow me to introduce our Biological Ships!


In BioGenesis, we are adding two distinct Biological shipsets, with unique ship classes and technology.

Our goals in adding Biological Ships to Stellaris were to ensure that they are not only different in appearance from mechanical ships (and space fauna), but also in gameplay. Thus, the key mechanical differences are:

• When using Biological Ships, Corvettes, Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers and Battleships are replaced with Maulers, Weavers, Harbingers, and Stingers, each of which have three growth stages.
  
• Biological Ships, including Starbases, Megastructures and Stations, have their primary construction resource converted from Alloys (or Minerals) into Food and their Energy upkeep likewise replaced with Food upkeep.
  
• Overwhelmingly, Biological Ship technologies fall in Society Research (Biology) instead of the familiar Engineering Research (Voidcraft).

And in classic Stellaris fashion, we’ve kept the flavor and narrative around Biological Ships intentionally vague, just enough to let you roleplay them however you like. Maybe they’re an extension of your Devouring Swarm, just another drone in space. Or maybe they’re advanced bio-machines, the pinnacle of your scientific achievement.

In order to use Biological Ships, you’ll need to select one of the shipsets during empire creation.


Different types of ships prompted our UX designer to give the Shipset selector a fresh coat of paint!


Similar to Space Fauna from Grand Archive, Biological Ships have growth stages, but unlike Space Fauna, they do not naturally progress through these by aging. Instead, these ships have a unique component slot for supplementary organs that can be researched. Generally speaking, the Juvenile and Mature growth stages will likely be occupied by Growth Organs that allow the ships to progress to the next stage.



Alternatively, docking a fleet to a Starbase equipped with a Growth Chamber allows for additional growth, regardless of ship configuration.,



The accumulated growth progress for ships is shown in both the ship’s tooltip and the ship details window.





When Biological Ships are designed (either automatically or using the ship designer), all researched Growth Stages are configured as part of a single ship design. Once a Biological Ship has acquired sufficient Growth Progress, it will automatically change to using the next Growth Stage in its design. Alternatively, Biological Ships can be constructed at a shipyard at a later Growth Stage.


The three growth stages of the Weaver

Although all Growth Stages of Biological Ships use the same Fleet Command Limit for their ship class, later Growth Stages use more naval capacity, with the Mature stage using 1.5× and the Elder stage using 2× the Naval Capacity of the Juvenile stage.


Maulers primarily focus on short-range combat with shield penetration and high damage to armor and shields. Equipped with melee-range mandible weapons and either short-range S-slot or PD-slot weapons, these ships will form the bulk of your navy in the early game. Their unique mandible weapons have similar damage scaling against starbases and larger ships as torpedoes.





The unique Organ components that Maulers have access to are the Corrosive Fluids and Metabolic Recycler (and their upgraded versions)





Weavers are support ships, making use of unique weapons to apply powerful buffs to their allies or debuffs to their enemies.



Weavers have unique access to an array of six support components, each with six tiers that belong in the PD-slot.





The unique Organ components that Weavers have access to are Symbiotic Amplifiers and Developmental Pheromones





Harbingers are carriers capable of deploying large amounts of strike craft and supporting them with point defense or long range missiles.





Strike craft for empires using Biological Ships are deployed in greater numbers per fighter wing, but have reduced hull points and armour instead of shields.



The unique Organ components that Harbingers have access to are Chitin Growth Regulators and the Incubation Matrix





Stingers are powerful late-game warships, equipped with multiple XL weapons or capable of unleashing heavy broadside barrages.





The unique Organ components that Stingers have access to are Exhaust Spiracles and Rangefinder Clusters.





As each of the different Growth Stages of each of the classes of Biological Ships can be built at a shipyard, we’ve taken the opportunity to implement collapsable headers when selecting which ships to build.


This works for mechanical ships and space fauna too!

Since Biological Ships have their own weapons, armour, shield and core components, we’ve gone through and ensured that the technologies use the appropriate icons depending on if you are using a Biological shipset or not.



As part of the work required to implement Biological Ships there have been a lot of changes to how ship components are scripted. Here’s some highlights:

• class_restriction, size_restriction and slot_restriction are deprecated in favour of using the possible and potential trigger blocks instead.
  
• Core Components now have an upgrade_path parameter, components that have the same upgrade path are shown on the same row.
  
• Ship components now support the show_tech_unlock_if = { } field, like buildings.
  
• New targeting parameters:
  
  • use_ship_main_target: if yes, overrides target_type and target_focus when ship's main target is within range, default no
    
  • target_type (target_enemies (default) / target_allies / target_controlled / target_own)
    
  • target_focus (single (default) / spread)
    
  • target_type: only valid if component_set has affects_target_type = yes
    
  • target_focus: only valid if component_set has affects_target_focus = yes
• New parameters for weapons:
  
  • on_hit: apply effects to target on hit. Scope = ship (target), from = ship (shooter)
    
  • hide_damage_values_from_tooltip = yes/no # If yes, it will hide Damage and Average Damage from weapon component tooltip (default = no)

Next week we’ll be looking at Ascension, Traditions, and Advanced Governments​. See you then!

by Eladrin

Today's update includes some AI improvements and fixes to the new breadthwise job allocation.


Fixes and Improvements​

• Significant improvements to the breadthwise job assignment distribution.
  
• AI now understands the use of Zones.
  
  • (Known Inssue: Scripting weights are not yet balanced.)
• Fixed cloaking detection tooltip overwriting value breakdown with generic description
  
• Fixed demotions not working as they should
  
• Fixed factions not forming.
  
• Fixed the integration cost for subjects
  
• Fixed tooltips for Commercial Zone building mentioning clerks and soldiers
  
• Tier 1 Development focus tasks now award progress
  
• Decreased habitat district cost and upkeep
  
• Void Dweller prescripted systems now have larger deposits
  
• Habitat districts now have the same base number of jobs as regular districts
  
• Demense Zones now have the number of squire jobs increased by taking the Voidborne AP.
  
• Shattered Ring, Ringworlds and Arcologies should now be semi-functional.
  
  • (Known Issue: The "rural" segments of Ringworlds do not yet have Agricultural or Generator zones to choose from.)
• Add toggle on the header of the automation side panel to enable/disable planet automation
  
• Move "decisions" in management tab and "resettle" in economy tab
  
• Small fixes for planet view
  
• Toggle icon in surface tab and add tooltips
  
• Revamped several tutorial entries
  
• Added a new Medical Center building that gives access to Medical Workers before Gene Clinics
  
• Rebalanced Medical Workers
  
• Rebalanced the Mutagenic Spas building
  
• Entertainers and Traders no longer benefit from Gene Clinics, Augmentation Centers or Ranger Lodges
  
• Added a has_any_industry_zone scripted trigger
  
• The Revolutionary Medi-Gel now provides +25% Job Efficiency for Medical Workers

1. Turn off your mods. They will almost certainly cause you to crash.
   
2. Go to your Steam library, right click on Stellaris -> Properties -> Betas -> select "stellaris_test - 3.99.4 Open Beta" branch in the Beta Participation dropdown.

All previous 3.99.* Open Beta branches will also remain available. If you are having issues accessing the latest version of the 3.99.* Open Beta, please see this forum post for troubleshooting.

For more information on the Open Beta, as well as the intentions and goals of releasing such an early, unpolished version, please see this dev diary.

We also have a new feedback survey this week, which looks at first impressions of Precursor selection, Databank, Species Modification, and Game Pacing Adjustments.

This week's Open Beta feedback survey is available here!

It’s my great pleasure to announce the start of Stellaris: Season 09, with the BioGenesis expansion leading the way alongside the Stellaris 4.0 ‘Phoenix’ update.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/3417870

The future of evolution is here. BioGenesis continues our remastering of the Ascension Paths by granting you unprecedented power over life itself and hatches May 5th, 2025.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3417840



Two Biological Shipsets
Command living fleets that evolve alongside your empire. Customize these genetic marvels for specialized roles, from ferocious Maulers to adaptable support Weavers, each capable of empowering allies and weakening foes.

Three New Origins

• Evolutionary Predators: Push the boundaries of Species Traits by unlocking and combining unique phenotype abilities to craft the ultimate adaptive empire.
  
• Starlit Citadel: Solve the mystery of your empire’s biological attackers while boosting hyperlane choke-point strategies with early access to the Deep Space Citadel megastructure.
  
• Wilderness: Begin as a sapient planetary ecosystem, a living gestalt of countless lifeforms united in harmony, seeking to spread its consciousness to the stars.

Overhauled Genetic Ascension
Choose from three Ascension paths (Cloning, Purity, and Mutation) and over 18 enhanced Authorities. Customize your genetic ascension by blending Purity, Cloning, and Mutation traditions into a unique path for your play style.

Hives with a Twist
Encounter a Hive Fallen Empire, a fractured hive mind struggling to awake between its three splintered personalities.

Six New Civics
Genetic Identification, Crowdsourcing, Familiar Face, Aerospace Adaptation, Shared Genetics, Civil Education

Deep Space Citadel Megastructure
A versatile new defensive station capable of holding off powerful enemy fleets at any system.

Behemoth Fury Crisis Path
The apex predators of the stars are not bound by petty limitations. Cast off the biological weaknesses that hold you back, and become a force of nature.

• Gestalt Hive Empires (also unlocked by Utopia)​
  
• Two biological Shipsets with distinct mechanics from traditional spacecraft
  
• Three new Origins​
  • Evolutionary Predators
    
  • Wilderness
    
  • Starlit Citadel​
• Civics​
  • Genetic Identification
    
  • Crowdsourcing
    
  • Familiar Face
    
  • Aerospace Adaptation
    
  • Shared Genetics
    
  • Civil Education
• Deep Space Citadel Megastructure
  
• Biological Ascension (also unlocked by Utopia)​
  • Expanded with BioGenesis to include a mutable tradition tree that reflects your path through Ascension
• Exploration of the effects of Biological Ascension on society
  
• Advanced Government Forms
  
• 16 new genetic Species Traits, including phenotype based traits
  
• Portraits that change based on pop strata and leader level
  
• The Splintered Hive Fallen Empire
  
• Two Diplomatic Rooms and City Sets​
  
• 7 music tracks
  
• And a new Player Crisis Path​ - Behemoth Fury

Planned Dev Diary Schedule
March 27 - Biological Ships and Mechanics
April 3 - Ascension, Traditions, Advanced Governments
April 10 - Phenotype Traits, Evolutionary Predators Origin
April 17 - Deep Space Citadel, Starlit Citadel Origin
April 24 - Hive Fallen Empire, Wilderness Origin
May 1 - Civics, Behemoth Fury, Preliminary Release Notes
May 5 - BioGenesis Release Date

The Stellaris: Season 09 Expansion Pass is your gateway to an entire year of cosmic evolution, psionic mysteries, and apocalyptic infernos. With instant access to the exclusive Stargazer Species Portrait, this expansion pass delivers three major content packs that will redefine the Biological and Psionic Ascensions and the most ambitious species pack so far!

Purchasing the Expansion Pass grants access to all four DLCs as soon as they become available.





Stargazer Species Portrait (Instant Unlock)
Dream of the stars with this exclusive portrait, available immediately upon purchasing Stellaris: Season 09. Featuring three phenotypes and unique animations, the Stargazer Species Portrait is perfect for players who seek to embody the spirit of cosmic curiosity.



BioGenesis (Releases May 5, 2025 - $24.99)
Take command of the forces of life itself in Stellaris: BioGenesis. Engineer living ships and wield advanced genetic tools to shape the destiny of your empire. Will you create a utopia of adaptation and growth or weaponize biology to dominate the stars?

• Overhauled Genetic Ascension: Choose from three distinct paths—Cloning, Purity, and Mutation—and customize your evolution.
  
• Living Ships: Command biological starships that evolve alongside your empire.
  
• Player Crisis Path: Unleash the unstoppable Behemoth Fury on the galaxy.
  
• Three New Origins: Play as evolutionary predators, a sapient planetary ecosystem, or a fortress civilization.
  
• New Megastructure: Construct the Deep Space Citadel to control hyperlane choke points.

Shadows of the Shroud (Releases Q3 2025 - $19.99)
The psionic plane holds untold power—but at what cost? Shadows of the Shroud is a complete overhaul of the Psionic Ascension path, introducing new moral dilemmas, Patron allegiances, and a whole new way of interacting with the mysteries of the Shroud.

• Breach into the Shroud: Shape your empire’s spiritual destiny with a revamped Shroud system.
  
• Shroud Panel: Track your empire’s attunement and unlock new powers.
  
• Revamped End of the Cycle: The ultimate deal with the devil—can you delay the inevitable?
  
• Psionic Auras: Let your Shroud influence shape entire star systems.
  
• New Content: Origins, civics, ships, government types, and more!

Infernals Species Pack (Releases Q4 2025 - $12.99)
Forge your destiny in the Stellaris: Infernals Species Pack - our most ambitious Species Pack ever. Adapted to relentless heat and volatile landscapes, you wield the power of extreme environments to reshape the galaxy. Will your empire thrive in the heat, or be consumed by the very forces it seeks to command?

• Player Crisis Path: Burn the galaxy to ashes as your empire thrives in destruction.
  
• New Origins: Unearth ancient kin or endure the scorching wrath of a dying sun in two new Origins.
  
• Volcanic Worlds: A new planetary class with unique districts, events, and archaeological sites.
  
• New Species & Customization: Ships, portraits, civics, and more!

The Stellaris: Season 09 Expansion Pass is now available for purchase for $44.99 or regional equivalent, a 20% discount over purchasing the contents individually.

This Thursday we’ll flesh out the bio-ships!

See you then!


BioGenesis is now available for pre-purchase for $24.99 or regional equivalent,
or with a 20% discount as part of the Stellaris: Season 09 Expansion Pass, which is available now for $44.99 or regional equivalent.

by Eladrin

Another update today for the weekend! Lots of important changes in this one.


Fixes and Improvements

• Habitats are now semi-functional in the Open Beta.
  
  • Habitats now derive their maximum mining, generator, and science district development based on the resources in the system. Orbital deposits grant 1 + (half their base value, rounded down) maximum district development.
    
  • Habitat orbitals are automatically constructed for free when a new district is completed on the central habitat complex, if one can be built
    
  • Habitat orbitals are now megastructures instead of dummy fleets, preventing them from being attacked (and therefore attempting to to flee from attackers)
    
  • Habitat orbitals now collect the resources from the deposit that they are built over
    
  • Habitat orbitals now have the same upkeep as mining and research stations, since they serve similar purposes
    
  • Habitat districts now take longer to build and cost alloys to build
    
  • Habitats now gain +0.25 Max Districts per Planet or Star in the System per Capital Building Tier
    
  • Upon converting MSI's ruined warship into a habitat, it is immediately colonised
    
  • Void Dweller empires now get +50% jobs from habitat districts. This does not currently include scaling jobs from jobs, but should in the future.
    
  • Voidborne AP and Void Dweller origins now give Habitat District cost reduction
    
  • Void Dwellers now get Civilians on game start
    
  • Added a Hydroponics Zone for Habitats
• Building and Zone Changes:
  
  • Replaced the Early Industry Zone with the Urban Zone. The Urban Zone currently accepts all buildings, limitations will be added in a future update
    
  • Default starting planets now have Basic Offices and Basic Research Labs buildings in addition to the Basic Factories
    
    • Basic Factories provide Laborer jobs and can be upgraded into either Alloy Foundries or Civilian Industries
      
    • The Primitive Factory no longer decreases the Job Efficiency of Bureaucrats, Physicists, Biologists and Engineers
      
    • Basic Offices provide Administrator jobs and can be upgraded into Administrative Offices or Temples
      
    • Basic Research Labs provide Researcher jobs and be upgraded into Research Labs. These Researchers are worse than Researchers from 3.14.
  • Administrative Offices now provide Bureaucrat jobs and no longer require a Unity Zone
    
  • Alloy Foundries now provide Metallurgist jobs and no longer require an Industry or Foundry Zone
    
  • Anglers now have a unique zone on wet worlds.
    
  • Civilian Industries now provide Artisan jobs and no longer require an Industry or Factory Zone
    
  • Research Labs now provide Physicists, Biologists and Engineers and no longer require a Research Zone
    
  • Temples now provide Priest jobs and no longer require a Unity Zone
    
  • The Autochthon Monument no longer requires a Unity Zone
    
  • The food processing facility building now gives some base farmer jobs.
    
  • Uncapped rural districts now support the correct zones
    
  • Zones now display an icon and tooltip stating that they provide building slots
    
  • Zones now have auto-generated tooltips stating the jobs that they provide
    
  • Adjusted job counts of Districts and Zones
    
  • Converted the Order's Demense to a unique zone for KotTG
    
    • Scaling Knight jobs are now given by Squires, instead of the Order's Keep. You will no longer get thousands of Knights from keeping the entire galaxy's population as livestock.
• Capital Buildings no longer state that they provide building slots.
  
• City Districts no longer state that they provide Building Slots
  
• Jobs are now filled in a more breadthwise manner - weighting still affects job preferences, but pops will attempt to fill all jobs of a strata instead of focusing exclusively on their dream jobs. Somebody still has to make the Consumer Goods even if you had your heart set on being a Physicist.
  
  • The intent of this is to alter the “land rush” when new jobs open up and to prevent certain economic death spirals. Let us know how it works out for you.
• Mastercrafter civics now provide extra consumer goods and trade to artisan jobs
  
• Rebalanced biologist jobs for normal empires
  
• Rebalanced Engineer jobs
  
• Reworked Artisan sub-jobs
  
• Fixed the modifier icon for some researcher modifiers not showing
  
• Researcher sub-jobs no longer show that they provide 0 naval capacity
  
• Increased the base Consumer Goods income for empires that use Consumer Goods
  
• Increased the food (or equivalent) and consumer goods income of default countries
  
• Laborer jobs are now Specialists that produce Alloys and Consumer Goods
  
• Rebalanced physicist jobs for normal empires
  
• More progress on the planetary UI.
  
• New Look for the District boxes in the Planet Summary Screen.
  
• Removed sound effect when interacting with enclaves
  
• Revamped initial tutorial events
  
• Move planetary automation button in planet surface tab

Modding Notes

• Added documentation for new district_planet_modifier and triggered_district_planet_modifier modifiers for Zones
  
• Orbital and Planet Deposits now support habitat_modifier, which as you might expect from the name, applies a static modifier to the habitat(s) in the system.

1. Turn off your mods. They will almost certainly cause you to crash.
   
2. Go to your Steam library, right click on Stellaris -> Properties -> Betas -> select "stellaris_test - 3.99.2 Open Beta" branch in the Beta Participation dropdown.

The 3.99.0, 3.99.1, and 3.99.2 Open Beta branches will also remain available. If you are having issues accessing the latest version of the 3.99.* Open Beta, please see this forum post for troubleshooting.

For more information on the Open Beta, as well as the intentions and goals of releasing such an early, unpolished version, please see this dev diary.

We also have a new feedback survey this week, which looks at first impressions of the planet UI and rework. We know it's not in a finished or releasable state, but want your feedback regardless.

This week's Open Beta feedback survey is available here!

by Eladrin

Hi everyone!

We’ve entered our second week of the Stellaris 3.99 ‘Phoenix’ Open Beta, and if all goes according to plan are planning another update tomorrow morning with some major changes to the starting situation of your planets. (Goodbye, primitive factory debuffs. I'd say we'll miss you, but... we won't.)

While we recognize that the early state of the Open Beta makes it difficult to provide balancing feedback, it’s proven itself invaluable already.

The Open Beta has found several issues with growth and decline - from robots causing the inevitable decline of your empire to Fallen Empires and Pre-FTL societies being doomed due to not using standard growth models. You’ve found economic death spirals and identified needs that will help our designers produce a better balanced and fun experience in the final release.

These were precisely some of the types of things I was looking for when we decided to push the Open Beta despite the early state that it was in, and I’m thankful that we did. Thank you for all of your help so far, and I hope you’ll continue to give us your feedback as we continue to update.

We will continue the twice-weekly update cadence until the end of the month, with dev livestreams every Thursday.

Back when we released The Grand Archive, we created a version of the trailer in Mandarin, and it was really, really good.



After such a positive reception from the Chinese Stellaris community, we decided to call the same voice actor back in to record a full Advisor set. The recordings are now complete, in time to be included as part of the Stellaris 4.0 update. It should show up in one of the next few Open Beta updates.



We’ll have two dev diaries next week that will be a bit meatier than this one, to flesh out some of the other things coming in the next Quarter.

See you then!

by Eladrin

We have another update to the Open Beta today, and are planning for another later on this week.


Fixes and Improvements

• Added an Industrial Zone for mixed alloys and consumer goods
  
• The focus task "Embrace a Faction" is changed to "Promote a Faction"
  
• Added two focus tasks for MegaCorps to establish branch offices
  
• Updated costs of special projects that have costs that scale with the number of pops
  
• Changed every_owned_pop to every_owned_pop_group, so now looping through groups
  
• Made ethic changes work on pop groups instead of pops
  
• Updated robot pop checks to pop groups
  
• Zones now have icons associated with their type.
  
• Zones now have a larger active area to click on that is clearly visible.
  
• Planet UI now has basic Zone tooltips
  
• Replaced a bunch of placeholder icons with less placeholder ones.
  
• Revamped Rise of the manifesti event chain
  
• Created new message type for new terraforming candidate events and turned them into a notification
  
• Lithoid resource traits no longer block cybernetic leviathan traits
  
• Improved the Modifiers section of the colonization UI.
  
• Replaced jobs with strata in resettlement view
  
• Workforce modifier icons added

Modding

• Moved resource upkeep and production for pops from species archetype and traits to the resource tables for archetypes and traits, instead of them being part of the pop categories

1. Turn off your mods. They will almost certainly cause you to crash.
   
2. Go to your Steam library, right click on Stellaris -> Properties -> Betas -> select "stellaris_test - 3.99.2 Open Beta" branch in the Beta Participation dropdown.

The 3.99.0 and 3.99.1 Open Beta branches will also remain available. If you are having issues accessing the latest version of the 3.99.* Open Beta, please see this forum post for troubleshooting.

For more information on the Open Beta, as well as the intentions and goals of releasing such an early, unpolished version, please see this dev diary.

We also have a new feedback survey this week, which looks at first impressions of the planet UI and rework. We know it's not in a finished or releasable state, but want your feedback regardless.

This week's Open Beta feedback survey is available here!