Stellaris News

Stellaris Dev Diary #396 - 4.1 'Lyra' Preliminary Release Notes

[p][/p][p]by Eladrin[/p][p][/p][p]Hello, Stellaris Community!

Shadows of the Shroud and the 4.1 ‘Lyra’ update will be released next Monday, September 22nd.

Today we have preliminary release notes, as well as the Chosen set of Civics and some of the Advanced Psionic Government options.
[/p][h2]Preliminary Release Notes[/h2][p]Here’s the current list of expected changes coming next week.[/p][p][/p][h3]Shadows of the Shroud DLC[/h3][p]The ‘Arc of Ascension’ is complete at last with Shadows of the Shroud.[/p]

[p]Overhauled Psionic Ascension[/p]
- [p]Like the other Ascension Paths, Psionic Ascension has now been elevated with an Ascension Situation that explores the impact Ascension has on your Empire. Your moral and ethical decisions will influence your attunement to the domains of the Shroud, culminating in your first delve as you Breach the Shroud.[/p]
- [p]Track your exploration of the Shroud in the new Shroud Panel, which will show your current attunement to the domains of the Shroud and provide means to influence your spiritual travels. Attuning to a domain grants Accords, and the local Patron may offer you a Covenant: Power for a price.[/p]
- [p]The Shroud contains 4 Major Patrons, 8 Minor Patrons, and 2 Great Patrons, though not all can be encountered in a single playthrough.[/p]
- [p]Encounter new events when "Delving" into the Shroud, including 4 new Psionic technologies for ship components.[/p]
- [p]A new path through the Shroud where you reject Covenants to forge your own way, beholden to no Patron.[/p]
- [p]An overhauled End of the Cycle[/p]
[p]Psionic Auras[/p]
- [p]The power of the Shroud can influence corporeal reality through Psionic Auras. These manifestations of the strength of your attuned domain or Patron spread outward from your colonies but can be countered by the Shroud Seals of the Mindwarden Enclave.[/p]
[p]3 New Origins[/p]
- [p]Shroud-Forged: The guidance of a Shroud entity comes with a cost. The entity known as the Animator of Clay has taken a special interest in this Machine Intelligence civilization.[/p]
- [p]Mindwardens: Freedom is meaningless without sovereignty of thought. Carry on the fight of your ancestors by defending the galaxy from psionic threats.[/p]
- [p]Endbringers: IT IS NOT YET YOUR TIME. BUT IT COULD BE.[/p]
[p]6 New Civics[/p]
- [p]Entropy Drinkers[/p]
- [p]Secret Societies[/p]
- [p]Superstitious Beliefs[/p]
- [p]Experimental Sentencing[/p]
- [p]Tankbound[/p]
- [p]Chosen[/p]
[p]Expanded events when delving in the Shroud[/p]
- [p]Plus 80+ additional new galactic anomalies and events (unrelated to the Shroud)[/p]
[p]8 New Paragon leaders[/p]
[p]2 New Relics[/p]
[p]Mindwarden Enclave & Shroud Seals[/p]
[p]New Shroudwalker Enclave interactions[/p]
[p]Proxy Wars introduced[/p]
[p]Hive Minds and Machine empires can now Psionically ascend[/p]
[p]Advanced Psionic Governments[/p]
[p]13 New portraits[/p]
[p]Psionic shipset[/p]
[p]Mindwarden shipset[/p]
[p]Advisor Voice[/p]
[p]4 New Music tracks by Andreas Waldetoft
[/p]

[h3]STELLARIS 4.1.0 ‘LYRA’ PATCH NOTES[/h3][p]
Features[/p]

[p]Significant improvements to the Planet UI based on player feedback.[/p]
- [p]The Planet UI now makes better use of horizontal space available even at our lowest resolutions.[/p]
- [p]City Set and Environments have been re-exported at higher resolution to reduce blurriness.[/p]
- [p]Surface Tab:[/p]
  - [p]Build Queue is always visible.[/p]
  - [p]More information in the Planet Summary, including the Planetary Decisions button[/p]
  - [p]Multiple buildings can be sequentially added to the build queue from the same building specialization[/p]
  - [p]New District Specialization icons[/p]
- [p]Management Tab:[/p]
  - [p]Added Monthly Pop Summary including Growth, Migration, and Assembly information[/p]
    - [p]Pie charts are back![/p]
  - [p]Reworked the Current Population information to show more and clearer information about your pop groups. Pops are now sorted by Species, Strata, and then Group.[/p]
- [p]Economy Tab:[/p]
  - [p]Added Workforce Summary providing more easily accessible information[/p]
    - [p]Pie charts are back![/p]
  - [p]Improved Tooltips for jobs, which now show the total production and upkeep of all pops working that job (instead of just showing the pop-based production and output).[/p]
    - [p]Holding ALT will show estimates for 100 Pops working that job in these tooltips, allowing for better job-to-job comparisons.[/p]
- [p]Armies Tab:[/p]
  - [p]Recruitment is now part of the main window.[/p]
- [p]Holdings:[/p]
  - [p]Mostly just arrangement changes.[/p]

[p]Balance[/p]

[p]The Fallen Shipyard planetary feature now gives 1 miner per 25 pops, not 1 per 4 pops.[/p]
[p]The Ship Junkyard planetary modifier now gives 0.5 alloys and 0.5 engineering research per 100 miners instead of 1 of each.[/p]
[p]Combining Planetscapers and Arc Welders will only spawn blockers that block a single district.[/p]
[p]Planetscapers will now spawn two different blockers on your homeworld.[/p]
[p]Slaver Guilds and Indentured Assets now provide Job Efficiency for Slaves. These civics no longer enslave a percentage of your population. We intend on revisiting them in a future update to find a better way to fulfill their fantasy.[/p]
[p]Leaders governing planets and sectors now gain 10 XP whenever planetary infrastructure (districts, district specializations, or buildings) are constructed. If a planet has a local governor and a sector governor, the local planetary governor will take priority.[/p]
[p]Rural support district specializations that add trade upkeep to farmers, miners and technicians, now scale greater on ringworlds, since ringworld districts have as many jobs.[/p]
[p]Necromancers now produce Society and Engineering research instead of Physics and Society research.[/p]
[p]Removed automation from Telepath jobs - you cannot automate telepathy effectively[/p]
[p]Planetary Ascension cost reduction is now capped at 90%.[/p]
[p]Reduced the initial power of Resource Consolidation, but allowed the origin to ignore the tech requirements for the Machine Worlds AP.[/p]
[p]Buffed the Dread Encampment to provide additional research production (and upkeep) to Necromancers.[/p]
[p]The Computation Core Focus policies now affect job efficiency for selected jobs instead of planetary production of selected resources.[/p]
[p]Hive Sensorium Sites now require the Cultural Heritage technology. Hive Minds can now research this technology.[/p]
[p]Cultural Heritage technology now requires Planetary Unification instead of being a starting tech.[/p]
[p]Heritage Site technology is now Tier 2 instead of Tier 1.[/p]
[p]Hypercomms Forum technology is now more expensive.[/p]

[p]Bugfix[/p]

[p]Fix auto-culling prioritizing culling breeding adults over babies[/p]
[p]The Chosen can no longer be declared the most delicious aliens in the galaxy, letting you contact them early when they are still sealed away.[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue where the game would not let you build Ephaptic Clusters after researching the technology.[/p]
[p]Cloned leaders will now also clone their flags and variables from the original leader[/p]
[p]You can no longer build a grand archive over a sufficiently populated pre-FTL world[/p]
[p]Add safeguard for potential crash while handling graphics for capture space critter fleet order[/p]
[p]Fixed some tooltips saying that Scrap Miners were converted into Scrap Miners.[/p]
[p]Fix a crash when displaying growth tooltips[/p]
[p]Fix Federation perk modifiers not being localized properly[/p]
[p]Add missing modifier for Fanatic Pacifist[/p]
[p]Planetscapers can no longer start with more districts of a certain type than a planet can support (e.g. 7/6 generator districts).[/p]
[p]The Atomic Clock will no longer be able to make your Arc Furnace into a gaia world[/p]
[p]Paragons no longer spawn with all their bespoke traits as well as all their trait picks still available.[/p]
[p]Nanotech and Machine Foundry World flavor text displays correctly.[/p]
[p]Fixed armies shenanigans, resulting in randomly dying fleets[/p]
[p]Fix pop growth wildly varying between months by calculating it across species instead of per pop group[/p]
[p]Trade deposits in space be collected by mining stations[/p]
[p]Fix Maulers flying in circles instead of attacking[/p]
[p]The Prethoryn should no longer constantly attempt to colonize uninhabited habitats or ringworlds as they lack interesting biomass.[/p]
[p]Fix pop groups changed from purge to slaves staying in promotion job[/p]
[p]Fixed The Nursery event telling you that it will advance your Evolutionary Predator situation even when you don't have the origin.[/p]
[p]Fixed an exploit where if you got a resort world through trade or integration it would stay a resort world. Allowing you to get multiples of them.[/p]
[p]Integrating a subject will no longer leave you with their dimensional fleets in perpetuity.[/p]
[p]Fix Wilderness jobs having malus workforce for 1 month at game start[/p]
[p]Fix the workforce tooltip of wilderness pop jobs never showing modifiers[/p]
[p]Gave the Riddles Decoded modifier a proper icon.[/p]
[p]Fixed Synaptic Sub-Processing stating that it only gave +2 jobs[/p]
[p]Fixes not all pops being properly assigned to jobs and not calculating workforce multipliers properly[/p]
[p]Pre-sapients now once again need feeding[/p]
[p]Robots don't get Bonus Growth anymore[/p]
[p]Planet UI now shows Downgrade again instead of Destroy for upgraded buildings[/p]
[p]The evolutionary predators agenda granted by mutation traditions now grants other species mutagenic habitability[/p]
[p]Fixed amenities on the Storm Relief Center for Wilderness[/p]
[p]Fixed job efficiency modifiers for disconnected drone citizenship[/p]
[p]Slaves should be less likely to get stuck in a "repurposing" job.[/p]
[p]Job modifiers now correctly apply to production for the Overlord[/p]
[p]Stopped the Botanical Paradise project from attaching to the science ship discovering it.[/p]
[p]Made the Arc Furnace dismantling not leave any lingering deposits.[/p]
[p]Repairing a ruined Arc Furnace no longer gives too many mineral deposits.[/p]
[p]Hive and Machine worlds now correctly have access to district specializations for harvesting of betharian, rare crystals, exotic gases and volatile motes.[/p]
[p]District specializations for strategic resources now correctly check you have the required technology.[/p]

[p]UI[/p]

[p]Gestalts and Robots can now have their migration controlled[/p]
[p]Large species selection buttons in the species list will now work even when hovering over some other tooltip triggering UI element inside the button.[/p]
[p]Updated city sets and environments to higher-resolution versions with standardized 800×400 px layers.[/p]
[p]Fix Last Month Growth of species or strata sometimes being incorrect[/p]
[p]Improve Growth tooltips at the species level[/p]
[p]Improve production and tooltip display of job types triggered static modifiers[/p]
[p]Improve the tooltip when hovering the name of a job in planet view[/p]
[p]Fix a bunch of resources display discrepancies in the holding tab[/p]
[p]Improve District Specialization requirement tooltips[/p]

[p]Performance[/p]

[p]Fixed various scripted localization performance issues related to the Paragons content[/p]
[p]Diminish the number of VFSExists from portrait evolution[/p]
[p]Default texture lifetime management is now forbidden for CInstantSprite.[/p]
[p]Reduces the frequency of portrait texture file existence checking[/p]
[p]Branch office planet profits are calculated monthly instead of daily[/p]
[p]We no longer create a fake country on the death of great leaders[/p]

[p]AI[/p]

[p]The AI should now build defensive platforms in orbit of deep space citadels.[/p]
[p]Improved AI behaviour for agendas granted by ascension paths[/p]

[p]Modding[/p]

[p]Scripted localization for renowned and legendary leaders have moved to the actual leaders. So we now have set_leader_tier and is_leader_tier on the leader scope for them. They can be defined in common/leader_tiers[/p]
[p]tier attribute is now supported for the create_leader and clone_leader effect. And the same goes for the ethic_leader_creator scripted effect[/p]
[p]Add owner_or_space_owner scope[/p]
[p]Added the on_zone_complete on action.[/p]
[p]Remove unused can_be_cleared_override and add can_be_cleared_potential to deposit type. If false, the clearing buttons and infos are not shown[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr][h3]Chosen Civics[/h3][p]The Chosen set of Civics act as a fast-track to forming Accords with a Major Patron of your choice.[/p][p][/p][p]Shortly after starting, you will be able to select which Major Patron has selected your people.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]After making your choice, you will gain attunement with your Patron and begin with their first Accord. Your innate connection to the Shroud lets you view the Shroud UI, though you will not be able to Delve into the Shroud itself until you progress through Psionic Ascension.[/p][p][/p][p]You’ll also be able to affect your Attunement to the Shroud.[/p][p]
Once you Breach the Shroud, you’ll be greeted by the Major Patron with whom you have traditionally been affiliated.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Having a way paved for you makes things easier, and while you start with a head-start at attuning towards your Chosen Patron, you are not required to form a Covenant with them. Those who took this easy way are, however, unable to forge their own path.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We hadn’t mentioned it before when we initially revealed Accords and Covenants, but some time after initially forming a Covenant with a Patron you have an opportunity to confirm or renounce it.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Psionic Advanced Governments[/h3][p]During one of your Delves into the Shroud, the Shroud itself may ask you a series of tarot-style questions. Your answers will reshape your Empire.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Your questions may vary.[/p][p][/p][p]My United Chosen of Earth ended up as a Transcendant Democracy. The individualist organic transcendent governments are:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Other answers would have led us to these corporeal variants:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Gestalts have these authorities:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]What’s Next?[/h3][p]Release! See you Monday!

The next Stellaris dev diary is planned for October 2nd.

[/p][p]Shadows of the Shroud and the 4.1.0 ‘Lyra’ update will be released on Monday, September 22nd, and is included as part of Stellaris: Season 09.[/p]

The Stellaris Endbringers turn 4X norms on their head and embrace your downfall

I've got to give Paradox Interactive's Stellaris team credit for their recent commitment to being weird. The previous expansion, Biogenesis, introduced the most unique and interesting origin we've ever seen in Wilderness, which let you play as a sentient planet. Now, for Shadows of the Shroud, the developer has once again delivered. The Endbringers are described as "a challenging and doomed" faction, bound by a cosmic force that's drawing them towards an inevitable and ultimately inescapable fate. Fight it, embrace it, spread it - but know that it's always coming.

Read the rest of the story...

Stellaris Dev Diary #395 - THE END IS NEAR

[p] by Eladrin

The [color]End of the Cycle[/color] is not a crisis. It’s an opportunity. [color]An opportunity to end all things.[/color]

This too, shall pass.

Today we’ll be looking at the end of things, and the remaining civics and an addition to Subterfuge - Proxy Wars.

[h3][color]The Endbringers and the End of the Cycle[/color][/h3]
The Endbringers are a challenging and doomed origin. A mysterious calamity turned a neighboring planet into a shrouded world, and your people have been cursed with a sense of foreboding and growing paranoia ever since.

[h2][color]IT IS NOT YET YOUR TIME. BUT IT COULD BE.[/color][/h2]

Should you not act to quell it, your Empire’s Paranoia grows over time, up to a maximum of 50%.

Endbringers soon discover an archaeology site at the shrouded world that will provide few answers but will guide you towards your dark patron.

As a madness-consumed doomsday cult, your journey through Psionic Ascension will differ a little from more conventional paths. No Ascension Perk is needed for them to pursue Psionic Ascension - this decision was already made for you long ago.

Your Psi-Corps in the Tradition tree are also replaced with the Chambers of Silence.

Your entry into the Shroud itself differs a bit as well, as you have already been claimed.

A perfectly silent galaxy awaits, saturated in the inevitability of the [color]Aura of the End[/color].

Forming this covenant changes the conventional Shroud UI to a ticking clock, counting down the moments until the end of your story.

As the Cycle progresses, you will gain more Covenant Powers, including some that will let you stall for time. Powers that reduce the End of the Cycle Situation Progress can be used only once per game, though: while the End is patient, it is relentless.

Should you blanket enough of the galaxy in the Aura of the End, you will be permitted to rest in a [color]perfected universe[/color]. Should you fail, the Reckoning will consume you.

The Endbringers are not the only way to form a Covenant with the End of the Cycle - the “old way” of encountering them conventionally still exists. This will also switch your Shroud UI over to the ticking clock, but will not change your Psi-Corps.

[h3][color]Entropy Drinkers[/color][/h3]
The Entropy Drinkers civics enable the transfer of life energy from the populace to the Empire's leaders.

Leader, take my energy!

These empires possess edicts that further empower their leaders by siphoning additional life energy from the populace. The Convergence of Will edict has both Unity and Zro upkeep.

Having plenty of Energy Thralls will also reduce the Pop Growth Speed penalties of these edicts.

[h3][color]Proxy Wars and Secret Societies[/color][/h3]
Proxy Wars allow empires to incite conflict between other civilizations via the Diplomacy menu, requiring high Trust or Infiltration, with potential diplomatic consequences if discovered.

Proxy Wars require Trust or Infiltration and Influence to trigger. When starting a Proxy War, you can select the CB you wish to manipulate the Attacker into using, though some cost more Trust or Infiltration and Influence than others.

In general, when manipulating other nations it’s best to select a cause for war that corresponds with their inherent biases and desires, so they seek to achieve their war goals rather than accepting a status quo early.

Secret Societies civics grant earlier access to Proxy Wars and introduce covert actors who influence galactic affairs from the shadows.

These mysterious factions are revealed upon establishing communications with their contacts, each driven by priorities markedly different from standard factions.

[h3][color]Shadows of the Shroud Stream[/color][/h3]
Our final Shadows of the Shroud stream will be held today at 16:00 CEST, in which we plan on showcasing the Endbringers.

[h3][color]This Thursday[/color][/h3]
This Thursday’s dev diary will be the Preliminary Release Notes for the 4.1.0 ‘Vela’ update!

Shadows of the Shroud and the 4.1.0 ‘Vela’ update will be released on Monday, September 22nd, and is included as part of Stellaris: Season 09.

Stellaris Dev Diary #394 - Mindwardens and Machines

[p][/p][p]by Eladrin[/p][p][/p][p]Hi everyone![/p][p][/p][p]Earlier this week we introduced some of the entities you’ll meet in Shadows of the Shroud, and had a brief overview of the Psionic Auras system. Today’s topic is Mindwardens! Mindwardens! Mindwardens! (and Shroud-Forged… and Tankbound.)[/p][p][/p][p]Put on your tinfoil hats and get ready to fight back against the psionic menace.[/p]

Mindwarden Enclave

[p]Fledgling empires are so eager to throw away their freedom and enslave themselves to eldritch entities for a pittance of power.[/p][p][/p][p]Motivated by a deep antipathy toward the Shroud, this organization provides services and technology to counteract the powerful effects of psionic practices. Their mission is to protect against the menace of the Shroud and all those who spread its ill effects. They believe in minds free from invasion, and a galaxy fortified against psionics.[/p][p][/p][p]
Assuming you have not been compromised, the Mindwardens will provide a number of services. They will happily warn newcomers of the dangers presented by the ethereal, can offer “Thought Police” services to reduce crime, can provide targeted raids against known threats (similar to Marauders, but with greater strength of purpose and intent), and will happily dispose of donated Zro.[/p][p][/p][p]Those who have earned the Mindwarden’s trust can also make use of their logistical assistance - reducing ship upkeep for ten years, hire Assault Warden armies that excel against Psionic foes, or provide the services of a Mindwarden Commissioner that can act as a Thought Warden on your Council.[/p][p]
[/p][p]One of the greatest inventions of the Mindwardens, however, is the Shroud Seal. These seals drain the power of Psionic Auras, weakening them over time. Shroud Seals will suppress their system and adjacent systems, though there are rumors of a Relic that can increase their power.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Should the corruptive influences of a Psionic Aura threaten your territory, the Mindwardens can provide a counter to this malicious influence.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Shroudwalkers tend to take offense at those interacting with the Mindwardens, and will cease all dealings with you should you perform profane acts such as building a Shroud Seal.[/p]

Mindwarden Origin

[p]Freedom is meaningless without sovereignty of thought.[/p][p][/p][p]Should you wish to take a proactive approach towards dealing with otherworldly menaces, the challenging Mindwarden origin is here.[/p][p]
[/p][p]The Krijdex Wardenship is one of the three prescripted empires in Shadows of the Shroud[/p][p]
The perils of the Shroud are not only many, but unfortunately they are also near. The terrible “psi-radiation” of the Aura of the Dreamer infects many of the systems close to your homeworld.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]You’ll need to learn about this threat and how to counteract it. Thankfully, your ancestors overcame a psychic plague long ago and left you with an Ancient Ward to protect your people.
[/p][p]Should you succeed at containing this menace and securing the psychic safety of your empire, you’ll be able to release fleets to establish the first Mindwarden enclaves. Your empire will have a special relationship with them - providing the services the Enclaves normally possess as well as having a relationship similar to that between Mercenary Enclaves and their patrons.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

Mindwarden Shipset

[p]Many triangles and sharp edges came together to produce this image for your desktop.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In-game screenshots of many of these ships can be found in last week’s dev diary thread.
[/p]

The Shroud-Forged

[p]The Shroud-Forged Origin explores the tale of a gestalt machine intelligence that has attracted the attention of the Shroud entity known as the Animator of Clay.[/p][p][/p][p]The Yorphian Extactorate is the second of our three prescripted empires in Shadows of the Shroud.[/p][p][/p][p]It’s up to you whether you seek to reassert control over these rogue models, or embrace the Animator’s gifts. Both paths have unique benefits and drawbacks - spurning the blessings of a capricious eldritch entity has obvious downsides, but accepting them could be just as dangerous.[/p][p]
(Dangerous to whom?)
[/p][p]The balance of power within your empire is reflected in Forged by the Shroud situation.
[/p][p][/p][p]In the end, is this the story of the Animator of Clay playing with their beloved toys, or is it a tale of hubris leading to their downfall?[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]I’m not explicitly saying that the Shroud-Forged story can get a little dark, but if you have Nemesis, one of the possible Shroud-Forged paths has some special interactions with the Galactic Nemesis Ascension Perk.[/p]

Tankbound Civic

[p]Completing our trifecta of prescripted empires is the Oracularity of Noerm, a Prosperous Unification empire with Superstitious Beliefs and the Tankbound civic.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]It automates.[/p][p]
Pops from a Tankbound society are unable to leave their protective vats of specialized bio-fluids. They are heavily reliant on assistive equipment and have difficulty engaging directly in physical work. They automatically automate their rural jobs (though starting with less efficiency than true automation), but as they unlock technologies related to automation they will work off these penalties.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]It optimizes.[/p][p][/p][p]The Tankbound civic requires one of the three portraits that heavily feature these chambers:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

What’s Next?

[p]Today at 16:00 CEST we’ll continue streaming Shadows of the Shroud. Today I expect that we’ll play through the beginnings of a Mindwarden empire, but the voices of the entities of chat will guide us.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

THE END IS NEAR.

[p]In next Tuesday’s dev diary we’ll end the cycle.[/p][p][/p][p]A funny thing happened while writing next Tuesday’s dev diary…[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

Stellaris Dev Diary #393 - Entities of the Shroud and Psionic Auras

[p]Hello everyone!
[/p][p]Last week we took a quick look at the Shroud UI coming in Shadows of the Shroud. Today we’re going to talk about the various entities of the Shroud, find out what Psionic Auras are, and then revisit the Cevantian Sovereignty now that they’ve gotten a third civic - Experimental Sentencing.
[/p][p]Let’s get to it![/p]

Entities of the Shroud

[p]The four Major Patrons - the Instrument of Desire, the Composer of Strands, the Eater of Worlds and the Cradle of Souls are dominant in the Shroud, and navigating their domains is a major part of Psionic gameplay.
[/p][p]The Instrument of Desire: A boundless urge to possess and indulge.[/p][p]The Composer of Strands: A primal connection to the natural world.[/p][p]The Eater of Worlds: An unending hunger that cannot be sated.[/p][p]The Cradle of Souls: A welcoming vessel for communication and exchange.
[/p][p]They’re not the only denizens of the Shroud though - in each playthrough you may meet four of eight Minor Patrons.
[/p][p]A Sculpting Presence, a Sorrowed Entity, a Fathomless Being, an Insurmountable One, a Luxurious Being, an Irenic Entity, an Unyielding One, and a Restless Presence await you. Each has their place between two domains, though the being you encounter may differ from game to game.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Minor Patrons have Accords for those they meet, and should you encounter them again may grant you a portion of their power in the form of a Zro-consuming Edict.[/p][p]
[/p][p]There are also two Great Patrons.
[/p][p]One will be the focus of next Tuesday’s dev diary, and the other…[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]At the center of the Shroud spins the Whisperers, an ever-shifting amalgam of all Patrons with knowledge of all things.[/p][p][/p][p]The Shroud is no fixed realm. It bends to the psyche of those who enter, reflecting their nature, desires, and fears. What one empire encounters within may differ wildly from another’s experience. The Shroud reveals, and conceals, in equal measure. Most mysterious.[/p][p][/p]

Psionic Auras

[p]An empire that has achieved a certain level of accord with a domain unlocks Accords, but also gains access to the Psionic Auras technology. This will allow some of the Shroud’s power to leak back into corporeal reality, emitted from where your psionic population is concentrated. These Auras provide passive benefits to you and your allies, and hinder your enemies.
[/p][p]If you haven’t made a Covenant with an entity, your Aura will reflect the nature of the domain with which you have the greatest accord - though if you’re actively moving about the Shroud it won’t change more than once a month.
[/p][p]Upon forming a Covenant or rejecting all Covenants to forge your own path, Psionic Aura Intensification becomes available to research. [/p][p]
Oops, it looks like I didn’t crop that image correctly.[/p][p][/p][p]This allows your Aura to grow and even spread into other systems. When two Auras collide, the stronger Aura will eat away at the weaker one until it can take over.
[/p][p]Psionic Auras can be seen on the Galaxy Map similar to cosmic storms:[/p][p]
Wait, that’s not one of the ones you listed before.[/p][p][/p]

Experimental Sentencing

[p]Last dev diary the Cevantian Sovereignty rejected the shackles of a Covenant. [/p][p][/p][p]Their neighbors, the Maggar, aren’t quite so lucky. They found themselves in Cevantian shackles, as the Cevanti took Experimental Sentencing as their third civic.[/p][p]
[/p][p]The Experimental Testing situation lets you choose a branch of research to focus on - Physics, Society, or Engineering, and when completed will provide progress on a technology upon completion. Some of the Test Subjects will be lost, but it’s easy enough to acquire more.
[/p][p]Slaves set to the Orderlies Slavery Type will assist your researchers if they do not have any other worker job to take, providing a small number of Amenities and increasing Researcher Output.[/p]

Psionic Shipset

[p]One of the two playable shipsets coming in Shadows of the Shroud is the Psionic shipset. I posted some in-game images in last week’s thread, but Abrakam created this image for those who need a nice desktop background.[/p][p]
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