Stellaris News

The First Contact Story Pack will release on March 14th for $14.99!

The galaxy is vast and full of wonders, but it’s also full of alien empires you’re going to encounter - whether you’re ready or not. Tell the story of your empire’s early contacts with visitors from the stars, or become a visitor yourself. Will you remain cloaked in shadows, or reveal your presence to those you visit?

Preorder the First Contact Story Pack today!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Explore three new narrative-led Origins: Band together in Broken Shackles as the survivors of a crashed slaver ship and build a diverse empire with multiple species from across the galaxy. Embark on a quest to find your various homeworlds, as long as you escape the prying eyes of your former captors.



Do not go quietly into the night with the Payback Origin. Your civilization is the result of a civilization that did not invent faster than light travel, but instead was invaded by – and repelled – an invader from the stars. With access to their advanced technology, your empire is now ready to enter the galactic stage and find out just what else is out there.



In Fear of the Dark, a large portion of your population has embraced isolationism and xenophobia, ever since a planet in your solar system suffered an “incident”. Will you ignore their concerns and explore the stars, making “friends” along the way? Or will you appease their isolationism in order to grow your civilization even more powerful?



As you venture out into the stars, you will discover other civilizations that have yet to develop faster than light travel, and are in various stages of development. What stories will these civilizations tell about you when they reach the galactic community? Will your civilization be known as heartless invaders, benign shepherds, or a civilization of all-powerful deities? Will you reveal your presence at all, or choose to remain cloaked in the shadows?



And the feature nobody saw coming! Not just for hiding Observation Posts, equip your military and civilian ships with cloaking devices to allow them to remain undetected, even while traveling through closed or hostile space. Decloak to catch your foes unaware and unprepared, or survey systems in secret. But be sure you keep your scanners up to date and powered, in a galaxy full of possibilities, you never know what may be hidden in plain sight.



Get all this and more with the First Contact Story Pack on March 14th. Preorder now!

by Lloyd Drake-Brockman

Hi, I’m Lloyd Drake-Brockman, Concept artist on the Stellaris team. I worked extensively on the First Contact DLC and I'm excited to share some of the artistic journey that this pack took me and the art team on. Specifically we're going to be discussing the development of MSI, a new, non-player faction with a really interesting visual style. I was involved in designing most of their visual elements. I think we have ended up with a great set of designs that are quite unique in the world of Stellaris. I'm going to take you through some of my design journey working on various elements of this faction.



[h2]MSI Flagship​[/h2]
The flagship was the first element of MSI that I worked on. It was a complicated design challenge and it informed the aesthetics for MSI as a whole. Not only were there quite a few gameplay requirements which restricted the design, it has a unique visual language which gives the player insight into the nature of MSI themselves.

‘Corporate Vaporwave’ was the brief for the ship’s general aesthetic. A combination of bright neon, classical architecture and modern corporate sensibilities.

MSI flagship early sketches by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
The first thing I had to nail down was the overall shape. It had to be imposing, beautiful, mysterious and ruthless. You can see here the sketch on the bottom right pretty much became the design of the finished ship, when viewed from above.

MSI flagship chosen sketch by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
From the top-view I worked out a side view of the design. I was very keen for the ship to involve some sort of central rotating element. This ship would move around quite unlike most of the other ships in the game and I wanted to show that it had some sort of unique drive system.

MSI flagship design development sketches over 3D by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
Happy with these sketches, I mocked the design up in 3D. Here you can see three stages of refining the shapes of the ship. Then it's time to take the concept to final.

MSI flagship final concept by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
Here's the final version of the concept art for the ship. The purpose of this image is to give the 3D and animation teams all the information they need to build the ship in-game. The concept was mostly built in 3D with certain elements such as the gold detailing around the edge of the marble panels added afterwards in Photoshop.

MSI Flagship In-game, modeled and textured by Tim Wiberg​

[h2]MSI Uniform​[/h2]
After the ship the next thing I looked at was the MSI portrait. It was decided early on that we were going to use an existing species from the game and dress them in a unique outfit, therefore the only thing I had to concept was the uniform.

Initial sketches for the MSI uniform by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
I began with some sketches. I chose to sketch the outfits symmetrically, even though all the portraits in Stellaris are angled to the right. This helps me sketch faster and I have to think less about the process of drawing. I knew I wanted some kind of mysterious head-covering but I did not know whether to go down a more mystical, or corporate route. In the end the design for the robes was taken largely from a different piece of art, and the helmet that I sketched above was added to make up the whole uniform.

MSI uniform approved sketch by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
Once this sketch was approved I continued to refine it. We also required male and female variants, so I added another version of the outfit.

MSI uniform final concept by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
This is the point where I handed these concepts over to another artist who finalized the painting and prepared the asset for animation. A lot of work goes into each of these portraits, to bring them to a high standard and ensure that they work properly with all the game’s systems. I couldn't be happier with the final result.

MSI uniform finished portrait by Alec Beals​

[h2]MSI Diplomacy Room​[/h2]
These characters needed somewhere to take their video calls of course, and it was also my job to work on the MSI Diplomacy room. This asset I worked on all the way to its final in-game state.

I imagined that the MSI representatives would be calling from onboard their flagship, but I didn't want to make it too specific in case they were somewhere else. Either way, given the design of their ship and outfit, an over-the-top opulent hall seemed to be fitting. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted the scene to look like. So my initial sketch was extremely rough. Just enough for me to see that it was going to work.

MSI diplomacy room initial sketch by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
From here I went over to 3D and built the whole scene, paying attention to the materials and lights to give the space the feeling of grandeur I was after. I also made sure that the pillars at the top of the room disappeared off the top of the image towards a distant ceiling, making the space feel larger than what you can see. The busts that flank the hall are not playable species - other than the human of course - but they do appear in other places in first contact, which I felt was a fun way to tie some of the elements of the story pack together.

3D development of the MSI diplomacy room by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
From this point it was back over to Photoshop for the final cleanup. As you can see most of the bright reflections on the walls and floor have been painted out. Although they were accurate they ended up being too distracting in the final image.

MSI diplomacy room final image by Lloyd Drake-Brockman​

[h2]Payback Event Image​[/h2]
This is the last piece of art I did that involved MSI. It was great fun to be able to show the ship I had concepted in a scene. Some of you might recognise this as being similar to a shot from the recently released teaser trailer for First Contact. I'm proud to say that this image came first!

The brief I was given for this image asked that we see the MSI Flagship looming over a city in space. There was some confusion as to whether the ship should be out in space or lower over the city. Here are some of my first stabs at the composition.

Payback event image thumbnails by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
We settled on a variant of (A), as we could show the ship in space, but from the perspective of someone on the planet.

For this image I knew I was going to need some buildings. To make them I chose to use a new technique of projecting satellite image textures from real-world-Earth cities onto simple geometry, resulting in some pretty convincing looking buildings

Creating buildings by projecting satellite images onto geometry in 3D by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
As I already had a 3D Model of the MSI flagship, I rendered it with matching lighting and combined all the elements in Photoshop.

3D renders used to build up the final image by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
I had fun creating some alien script to add some life to the signs on the buildings. Most of this can't be seen in the in-game image as it's too small. But I feel it's still necessary to put in so that the final image has the right “feel” to it when it's scaled down. I was very happy with how the ship looks in the finished piece. All the dark areas are obscured by the blue of the sky, just like how you can't see the dark side of the moon when you look at it during the day.

Payback event image by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
​
Well, that's all the shiny things I have to show today! Thanks for reading, and if you play First Contact I hope you enjoy seeing some of my art in there!

by PDS_Iggy

Hello everyone! I am PDS_Iggy, and I’m here to tell you all about Fear of the Dark!

This new narrative origin for First Contact focuses on a people divided. After a planet in your solar system blew up, fear and xenophobia spread to such a degree that a large portion of your population decided to flee your homeworld. Their goal? To hide from the rest of the galaxy.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Incoming Transmission:​

You mean, “The sane individuals of our species took the only prudent action possible when being attacked by an alien force capable of destroying planets!​"

This split in your population is reflected in the effects of the origin. With a sizable section of your empire living on a neighboring world, your research alternatives and choices for leaders are reduced. Yet, even more inquisitive than a regular empire, you will have no difficulty discovering more anomalies as you explore the void.



No doubt you’ll return from your galavantings the next time we reach a breakthrough! Our scientific research is one of the few way we can even hope to delay you from dooming us all. Once you lead the aliens back to our home, it will all be over.​



Additionally, Fear of the Dark starts with quite a unique system, one that will have you starting with binary planets - your ‘cousins’ are living just a rocket jump away. (A Sol start will have them placed on Mars.)

It will be up to you to make the best of this situation. Your partner planet can be a powerful ally, yet they are also very skittish. Ensure that they don’t torpedo your entrance on the galactic stage.

Perhaps you will stop treating the alien threat so lightly when our upcoming study of ‘the Divider’ is finished. Just you wait. We won’t be hunted.​



Whatever happens, remember that you are one people and you are stronger together. Oh, and your partner planet has cloaked ships.



Now off to MrCosmogone and his wondrous archaeo-technologies for this patch's custodian update!

Did you ever think, as you pass by an old laser cannon in a glass case, that not everything belongs in a museum? That perhaps, the Irassian tractor beam could be used for your cause instead of gathering dust?

Well, so do I. And if you own Ancient Relics, I have good news!

Excavated dig sites will now sometimes generate minor artifact deposits that can be exploited by orbital stations, or by colonizing the planet.

There could always be more trinkets to find!​

Your income in minor artifacts can then be put to good use with the new archaeo-technologies that will unlock buildings, starbase modules and ship components, all costing minor artifacts to build.
There are several ways to acquire these archaeo-technologies. Completing the Secrets of the [PRECURSOR] special projects will now give you a research option to unlock some unique archaeo-components:
The power of a precursor in the palm of your hand.​

Several of our dig sites can now grant you access to one of the new technologies. This is a very reliable way of acquiring them.



Get to work, Oxygal, I want this research on my desk by the end of the week!​

All these new technologies are found in the society field, in an all-new “Archaeostudies” category which is all about fitting ancient tech into your machines and weapons. Discovering these archaeo-technologies by yourself is a long and hard process, but luckily, you can be assisted by dedicated researchers who share your interest in ancient things.

They largely just make old things go boom.​

Should you decide to pick the Remnants origin that starts you on a relic world, you will now start the game with the Faculty of Archaeostudies unlocked and replacing your starting research lab.

And if this still does not quench your thirst for specialization in archaeo-technologies, if you still want to dig deeper, we even have a new ascension perk for you!

For all you history lovers!​

With increased minor artifact generation, the scale of the existing economy needed to be increased, but we also took this opportunity to now display artifacts in the topbar alongside the other strategic resources.

Bigger numbers mean better game, right?​

And while you still can’t buy them on the market, you can trade them to other empires!

It belongs in MY museum!
​
I don’t really have the space here to show you ALL the things, but here, have a tease.

Archaeotitan go brrrrrrrr

Oh and one last thing before we wrap things up. I might have made a Devolving Beam for colossi, to return those pesky humans from the UNE back to their origins:

Return to Monke!

They’ll make good pets.

written by Alfray Stryke

Hello!

Before I delve into the new systems for interactions with pre-FTL civilizations, I'm handing over to one of our newest Content Designers PDS_Bojj to discuss an example of the types of events that will feature in First Contact.

[h2]Pre-FTL Observation Events​[/h2]
Hey, I’m PDS_Bojj! I’m a Content Designer on Stellaris. I’m jumping in to talk about the new observation events we have in First Contact!

The new Story Pack introduces a bunch of new events for those who build Observation Posts in orbit of pre-FTL worlds. These events give you the opportunity to gather research on pre-space-faring civilizations in various technological ages, and- if it takes your fancy- interfere with the development of their society.

Your chosen ethics will affect the types of events you can be presented with, along with the choices you will face when dealing with the inhabitants of these worlds. There are a variety of rewards to gain from studying the pre-FTLs, including the brand new Tech Insights.

While surveying the galaxy, if you discover a pre-FTL civilization world in any of the ten technological ages (Stone, Bronze, Iron, Medieval, Renaissance, Steam, Industrial, Machine, Atomic, or Early Space Age) - then I’d recommend claiming that system and building an Observation Post in orbit of the planet. That’ll add the module for that Post in the Observations section of the Outliner, and allow you to toggle between Passive Observation and Aggressive Observation.

There are also some brand new non-age-related events that have a chance of firing in any technological age, but I’m particularly hyped about the age-specific events which give you a chance to better understand (or manipulate) the pre-FTL civilizations within your borders. There is some cool content for players to sink their teeth into.

... Is for us?​

So… When I became a developer on Stellaris, one of the first things I noticed was the lack of options for committing an interplanetary train heist. Well, I’ve fixed that. If you’re observing a civilization in their equivalent of the Steam, Industrial, or Machine ages, there is a chance they will construct a network of land freighters for transporting cargo across their planet. What happens next is largely up to you, but just to be clear: you can officially now commit an interplanetary train heist in Stellaris.

I hope you have fun playing through these events. It’s been a lot of fun developing them, so I’m very excited to see how they are received. That’s all from me for now.

[h2]Awareness[/h2]​
Hello again! As part of the First Contact Story Pack, we wanted to make sure that interactions with pre-FTL Civilizations were connected to all the various systems that they were previously not part of. As Eladrin mentioned a few weeks back, most of the previous functions of Observation Post have been moved to overt Diplomacy or covert Espionage interactions with the civilizations in question.

A core part of how interactions with pre-FTL Civilizations now function is their Awareness. Mechanically-speaking, Awareness is a country-level value that ranges from 0-100 in five stages.

• 0: Completely Unaware
  
• 1–30: Low Awareness
  
• 31-60: Partially Aware
  
• 61-99: High Awareness
  
• 100: Fully Aware
  

This can be influenced in a variety of ways and has the appropriate script effects, triggers and values in the defines file for our modders to make use of.

Narratively-speaking, Awareness is a measure of not only the civilization’s observations that “something is out there”, but them correctly attributing it to interstellar, alien life. Thus Renaissance-era (or something akin to it) astronomers might observe your uncloaked observation post in orbit of their world, but are unlikely to attribute its presence to an alien civilization. On the other hand, an Early Space Age civilization that has constructed a planetary array of radio telescopes will almost certainly correctly attribute the light pollution and radio traffic from your colonies in their solar system to be evidence of alien life.

Our recent test firing of our planet cracker may not have gone unnoticed.​

Although there aren’t any events directly triggered by a change in Awareness of pre-FTL Civilizations, aside from them reaching out to contact you if they become Fully Aware, Awareness itself is used both to determine which events can fire while you are observing a pre-FTL Civilization and can be influenced by the events themselves.

In addition to the numerous new events alluded to above, we’ve gone back and ensured that all of the existing observation events tie into the new systems of First Contact, for example shooting down a rogue asteroid on course to impact a pre-FTL world may increase their Awareness.

In order to engage with either Diplomacy or Espionage with pre-FTL civilizations you will need an Observation Post in orbit of their homeworld and the types of interactions your empire has access to is determined by your relevant policies on both Interference and Enlightenment.

As an Observation Post in orbit of an Early Space Age civilization, currently engaging in Passive Observation. We could switch to Aggressive Observation and gain more knowledge, but our interference could cause long-lasting effects. ​

Before we reveal ourselves to the Sathorians, we have the opportunity to carry out a number of Espionage Operations. However, once they are Fully Aware of the existence of alien life, some of these Operations will not be available to carry out.

The various Operations available to carry out against the unaware Sathorians that our Observation Post is in orbit of.​

After a pre-FTL civilization becomes Fully Aware of alien life, be it by their own observations or a spacefaring empire revealing their presence, the Observation Post in orbit of their homeworld will stop observation efforts and instead be repurposed as an embassy.

Our Observation Post has been turned into an Embassy.​

One of the new additions to the list of pre-FTL interactions is being able to form a Commercial Agreement with them, this will have a minor upkeep in minerals, but your Observation Post will generate some local trade value. The benefits of such a partnership will scale with how advanced the civilization you’re trading with is, so it might be useful to teach a Stone Age society what exactly economics is before trading with them. Additionally, if a civilization is in the Atomic or Early Space Age, signing such agreements will allow MegaCorps to open branch offices on these pre-FTL worlds.

The Sathorians are experiencing some minor culture shock due to us revealing our presence. We should probably send an Envoy to Improve Relations, so they’ll be willing to accept a Commercial Agreement.​

Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to be able to decide on how to interact with the pre-FTL civilizations within our borders without the Galactic Community having an opinion. As such, the GalCom now has access to three mutually exclusive Resolutions.



Turns out the Galactic Community is not in favor of passing the Equal Standing Act, which is a good thing since we’d be in Breach of it!​

Each of these Resolutions makes different types of interactions considered to be in breach of Galactic Law and refusing to comply will impact the usual sanctions and fines.

Next week PDS_Iggy will be showing off a new style of starting system unique to the Fear of the Dark origin alongside some archaic Custodian updates from PDX_Cosmogone.

written by CGInglis

[h3]Free at Last![/h3]

I’m incredibly excited to introduce ‘Broken Shackles’, one of the new origins featured in the upcoming First Contact DLC.

Watch the Video Dev Diary here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

From the very beginning of the project, Eladrin stressed the word ‘utopian’: First Contact celebrates the discovery of strange new worlds, and all the ways in which different cultures (and different species) interact with and support one another.

As I set out to design an origin for the DLC, this was the spirit and tone I was striving for. What’s more utopian than a rag-tag group of slaves who band together in a daring bid for freedom? Thrown together by the insidious Minamar Specialized Industries, these former indentured assets seize control of their captor’s ship and survive the chaotic crash landing on a habitable planet.

You’ll have to make do with using the remains of your hijacked ship as infrastructure at the start of the game.​

While the origin is challenging (players start out at a technological disadvantage, and will need to work hard before they can progress very far into space), a diverse population means that there is ample opportunity to colonize new worlds.

More species = better parties.​

As your empire progresses, you will also have the opportunity to seek out each of your former home worlds. Reaching these planets not only represents a triumphant homecoming, but may also propel your people to new heights.

There’s no place like home.​

However, not everything is peaches and cream. Different species mean diverse points of view, and the demands of various factions will need to be appeased if players hope to maximize the potential of their burgeoning empire.

[h3]Interactive Narrative[/h3]

Broken Shackles represents a new paradigm for Stellaris origins: along with ‘Payback’, it comprises one half of a full story. But what’s a story without a good villain?

Enter Minamar Specialized Industries, or ‘MSI.’ This ‘benevolent corporation’ prides itself on helping ‘less developed societies’ reach their full potential. They kickstart development by loaning new technology to pre-FTL societies – loans provided at what they promise are very generous rates.

What happens when the bill comes due is another story. Indentured servitude is just one of MSI’s tools of debt collection.

“Enlightenment may not be free. But at MSI, it is always worth the cost.”​

[h3]Why MSI?[/h3]

Helmets in the boardroom.​

Back in the earliest days of development, there was a discussion about how present the “evil slaver empire” would be. We decided on an advanced empire that can be stumbled across at any point in the game – sometimes they will spawn near your home cluster, while at others they show up on the far side of the galaxy. This random placement can have radical effects on a playthrough.

Initially, we envisioned the antagonist of ‘Broken Shackles’ and ‘Payback’ as a generic authoritarian slaver empire, but as the origins took shape, their motives and nature changed.

Minamar Specialized Industries styles itself a benevolent corporation that provides technological enlightenment for a nominal fee. Some might say that they take advantage of the naivety of the species they propel to the stars, but business is business. In any case, it’s likely that the rank and file at MSI believe the company line, even if the Board of Directors considers itself above such petty issues as morality.

In regards to their erstwhile assets, the ‘indentured servants’ who comprise the starting pops of the Broken Shackles origin, MSI claims not to hold any grudges. In fact, we intentionally shied away from styling MSI as ‘an ultimate evil’ that can’t be reasoned or dealt with. From the perspective of a Broken Shackles empire, MSI may indeed represent the worst instincts of sentient life, but to the rest of the galaxy they’re just another greedy Megacorp.

There isn’t much Megacorp related content in Stellaris in general, and what does exist is all locked behind the expansion of the same name. Playing with the ‘evil corporation’ trope allowed us to give MSI a distinct personality and flavor. To me, they feel like the perfect foil for a utopian origin, and I can’t wait for the release!