Nexus 5X News

Good news and bad news time,

It’s been an interesting weekend for us. As you may have seen, big news rippled across the industry over the weekend. It’s industry-shaking news, and we know what that means when it comes to the overall buzz (heck, we’re also excited!)

This video should give you a general idea of how we in the Stellaris Nexus team are taking it. We’ll drop all the information on what will be happening after the video, so you can enjoy the wonderful theatrics of Whatboy’s Co-Founder, Dax.

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[h2]So What Now?[/h2]
The Bad News
The bad news is that we’re, of course, going to be delaying the release of our Early Access to December 12. This isn’t ideal but we’re doing what we can to give our beloved game the best chance on release.

The Good News
We know there are people who have been looking forward to playing Stellaris Nexus with their friends, so what we’re doing instead is pushing the game out into Open Beta so that you can hop in and check it out.

What’s Included in Open Beta?
Everything that was planned for the Early Access release. The only difference between the Open Beta and the Early Access will be any bugs or issues that we fix between December 5-12.

What About Progression After Open Beta?
There will be a wipe of progression at Open Beta, meaning that from December 5, any previous progress from the Demo or earlier versions will be reset. When we switch to Early Access on December 12, the intention is that there will not be another wipe.

How Much Will The Game Be?
The Early Access release of the game will be priced at 14.99€ / £12.99 / $14.99 (USD).

Tell Us How You REALLY Feel!
Look, the fact is, this is huge news and we are not about to step into the ring to compete for coverage from content creators or gaming media or your attention. Everyone’s eyes will be fixed firmly on all the announcements (not only GTA!); speaking honestly, so will ours… video games are cool, and we’re excited for what’s to come just as everyone else is. From the perspective of giving our own beloved game the best possible chance at success, though, we have to be smart about it!

So, that’s the big change. If you’ve been waiting to play Stellaris Nexus for a while, hopefully, this won’t make a huge impact on your enjoyment! It’s also a perfect opportunity to get some friends to try it as it will be available in Open Beta with zero commitment. This game definitely shines with a group of friends, creating endless amounts of banter.

That’s all from us.

Thanks for your support,
- The Stellaris Nexus Team

The Turtuon Federation is a lithoid faction unique to Stellaris Nexus and offers a play style that fits neatly into the idea of the smallest empire with the largest reach. Their insular nature means that you pay a higher Support penalty for each planet you control, which if not monitored carefully can cause problems in the early game.



But their unique resource Patriarchs, is automatically converted into the same number of extra Council Votes. This means you've got more power to push through the Titles that benefit you the most and get those all-important Succession Points. You get Patriarchs every time you use the Construction Edict, so the more you build up your planets, the more influence you have on the Galactic Council.

They also get an extra building slot on their planets, and the Edict Insular Growth, which adds another new building slot, and only costs 4 support and 1 Patriarchs.



And last but not least, the Turtuon also get +25% Army Defense, so if anyone wants to try and conquer one of their planets, they need to come prepared.

If you enjoy the idea of sitting in your fortress pulling strings; the leader Statesman has the Edict Electors; which gives you 1 Patriarchs and 6 Materials, building up your Patriarchs quickly, so that you can swing almost any vote in your favor.

But locking down on a few high-value planets, isn't the only way to play with the Turtuon.
If you like a slower pace, but still want to play a more military focused game, you can play as the Nationalist. They get the unique Edict Militia, which gives all the fleets within your empire +1 Ships, and quickly turns you into a force to be reckoned with.



The Turtuon are a slow faction in an otherwise fast-paced game, which can make them complex to play if you're new to Stellaris Nexus, but don't underestimate them, or you might find yourself between a Turtuon and a hard place.

Studio Director Dax spoke to Head of QA Brad who drilled deep into every crevice of the Turtuon, as can be seen in the video below:
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Before we get to the Dev Diary, we want to take this opportunity to announce the Early Access release date for Stellaris Nexus! We're very happy to share that in just a week, on 5th December, you will be able to dive in and play the game for yourself! We've prepared a date announcement trailer for you right here:

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Now back to our regularly scheduled Dev Diary...



Hi and welcome to another Stellaris Nexus Dev Diary. Today we're going be talking about the galactic council and succession and how players win the game through accumulating succession points.

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[h2]Succession[/h2]
Stellaris Nexus isn't an out and out war game. The objective of the game isn't to conquer the galaxy but prove that you're most suited to lead it.

In the aftermath of the collapse of the Tzynn empire, the galactic populous are looking for strong leader, someone who can lead the Galaxy to stability and prosperity. A leader who is proven.
So the objective of the game is to prove that YOU are the best choice to succeed the fallen Tzynn Emperor as the new emperor of the galaxy.

Players will do that by earing succession points throughout the game. And the aim of the game is to have 100 succession points coming out of a galactic council meeting.



What makes this idea of succession so compelling is that it can take a number of different forms. Succession gives you a lot of different routes to victory.

Depending on your play style, you can develop your economy to build giant mega structures or spread your culture to other factions or you can engage in diplomacy to promote stability throughout the galaxy. The more pacts that you make the more succession points you will gain or you can go for the all important titles that are voted in by all factions when the New League Council meets every eight years.


[h2]The New League Council[/h2]
At the meetings of the New League Council, the various achievements of the factions are recognized and succession points are awarded, but most importantly, players then vote on which new titles and resolutions are going to be adopted moving forward in the game. This gives players the choice and the power to decide who wins and how they win by putting the victory conditions for the game in the hands of the players.

Each council, players get a number of titles to vote on and whichever title get adopted will join the victory conditions for the rest of the game. In that way, we let players as a as a group, decide on how that game is going to go. If they vote in lots of economic titles, they’re probably going to have a fairly friendly game, but with a few sort of key skirmishes over key economic planets.

Whereas if you go for more military focused titles or territory focused titles, you're really going to see a lot more conflict and hostility.

But it's not just titles - there's also resolutions that can be voted on at each council phase.
Once a title is adopted, it's then there for the rest of the game, whereas resolutions only have an effect between council phases and then get completely revoked and replaced at the next council.



These dual systems (of Titles and Resolutions) is an important piece of design, because it ensures that players always have an interesting choice when it comes to voting during the council phase.

If there's a title that you really want to win, obviously, you're going to put a lot of your votes behind that. But if can see that the rest of the factions are likely to support that Title anyway, then those votes can feel like they’re wasted. So, instead you can choose to put those votes on a resolution which have an immediate impact and can change the game some massive way.
For example, the Unity resolution creates a non-aggression pact between all factions. So if you need to slow down the game a bit by removing aggression between factions, that's a great one to go for.



Stellaris Nexus is a fast 4X game designed to be played, start to finish in about 60 minutes, but every game plays out very differently, not only as a result of the factions that players choose, but also the decisions that they collectively make when the council meets. The titles and resolutions that receive the most votes have a huge impact on the path to victory for all players.

But there can only be one winner. And it's the player who manages to navigate that path most successfully that will ascend victorious to the throne on Nexus and take the crown as the new emperor of the galaxy.



That is all for this week, everyone. Be sure to join our Discord ahead of the Early Access release. We'll have plenty of people looking for games that you can connect and play with!!

See you in-game next week!
- The team at Whatboy

What sets the Ix'Idar Star Collective apart from the other factions in Stellaris Nexus, is that they're a hive mind, so the idea of needing Support to get things done doesn't really apply.
In fact, it barely affects the Ix'Idar at all, since their actions are dictated by the unique resource Pheromones.

For every other faction, each action you take within a turn costs you progressively more Support, but that's not the case here. Each turn the Ix'Idar get 3 Pheromones and each action costs just 1 Pheromone. This means you can consistently plan your strategies around making 3 actions every turn, no matter what.



This isn't to say Support isn't useful, as you'll still need it for things like Diplomatic takeovers, building starbases, and spreading Culture, but it isn't nearly as vital as other resources.
The Ix'Idar also gains +1 Material for each planet they control, so spreading to as many planets as possible, specifically in the early game, is a great way to build up your Material income.

But as if that wasn't enough of an incentive to take over the galaxy, the leader Proliferator gets the Edict Hostile Colonization; for 40 Material if you have a ship in a system with no habitable planets, you can still take over and occupy an uninhabitable one. This basically means you can make new planets, which you control, in empty systems.



Or if you play as the leader Collective, you can use the Edict Deep Excavation, which is +1 Material to a target planet you control. It can only be used once per planet, but that's just another reason to have lots of planets.

If you are brand new to Stellaris Nexus the Ix'Idar can be a little intimidating, but they're quick to learn and great for experienced players who want to change up their play style. Also, it's a lot of fun owning half the galaxy.

Studio Director Dax is joined by Illustrator Max to discuss how to expand the hive as fast as possible on a limited action economy.

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