Stellaris News

by Eladrin

Hi everyone!

Today’s dev diary is going to be a relatively short one. The 3.13.1 ‘Vela’ patch is planned for next Tuesday, September 24th, and we have a set of preliminary release notes for you to look over.

The biggest change is probably the removal of Nexus storms from the early game pool.

The Vela cycle will be a very short one, since the 3.14 ‘Circinus’ update and Grand Archive is already bearing down on us.

[h3]Preliminary Release Notes​[/h3]
On to the release notes!

[h3]3.13.1 ‘Vela’ Preliminary Release Notes[/h3]

Balance

• Added free pop to first blocker for planetscapers
  
• Decreased Storm Creation costs and buffed Astrometeorology job
  
• Stormriders and Subterranean get less devastation from storms
  
• Scientist governors now also reduce devastation from storms
  
• The Nexus Storm of 2211 will no longer happen. (Nexus Storms have been removed from the Early Game storm pool.)
  

Bugfix

• A Fallen Empire cannot ask for a scientist that is exploring an Astral Rift
  
• Added traits to hired marauder leaders
  
• Added victory score to the two new precursor relics
  
• All starting council positions are also filled without Galactic Paragons
  
• Fixed a spelling error in the event Stormbound Sighted
  
• Fixed empire designs with different randomized names sometimes preventing each other from spawning in galaxy generation.
  
• Fixed machine name lists using ruler names for all non-envoy leaders.
  
• Fixed randomly generated rulers not using regnal names when they should.
  
• Fixed the concept tooltip for Storm Riders in the Storm Chasers origin tooltip
  
• Fixed the handling of scientist heirs in the Stormfall event Cosmic Shapes
  
• Fixes to Unique planets from Cosmic Storms:
  
  • Unique planets from Cosmic Storms can no longer spawn in the starting cluster of an empire
    
  • Reduced the size of the unique planets from Cosmic Storms
• Fixing Rick the Cube tooltip in the additional content being misleading
  
• Payload Padding technology now properly apply its effects
  
• Removed Double Jobs for Gestalts on Ecumenopolis
  
• Solar storm orbital resource modifiers now applying correctly
  
• The Crimson Crawlers: Cooked Consumption planet modifier now has a yellow border
  
• The Storm Touched trait is made available for individual machines
  
• The Strip Mine Planet decision is only allowed once per planet
  
• adAkkaria chain actually ends now when its over
  
• Added a job weight to Storm Dancers so that pops actually want to work the job
  
• Allow proper switching between corporate and non corporate planetscapers civic
  
• Fixed descriptions for the special projects Stabilize the Collision and Harmonize the Collision
  
• Fixed the secrets of the new precursors
  
• Fixing resetlement cost modifiers not being capped by minimum economic modifier mult define
  
• Made militarist empires with imperialist factions less likely to become vassals
  
• Made the Irradiated Wasteland planet modifier produce +10% physics research
  
• Planetscapers on Ocean Paradise will now get their blockers as promised
  
• Removed the mention of sector automation from the planet designation tooltip
  
• Saturated Filters can now be removed by the one who conquered the planet
  
• Tempest Invocator storm placement will now be canceled if you lose the selected Scientist.
  
• The Tempest Invocator's range is now centered on the selected Scientist's location.
  
• Voidforged may not access Geo-Engineering Inc anymore
  

Stability

• Changed cosmic storm spawn cooldown scale to prevent CTD
  
• Fixed CTD in fleet manager when reinforcing fleets with ships without fleet size
  
• Fixed CTD when in-game music player has no permission to write to playlist file
  

Modding

• Added regnal_second_names_female and regnal_second_names_male to namelists.
  
• Added use_regnal_name to effects that create leaders.
  
• Fixed randomly generated empires in static galaxies having missing data if the player empire is randomly generated.
  
• Removed ruler_names from namelists and added regnal_full_names. When generating regnal names, non-regnal full names will no longer be used if a regnal name is available, but if no regnal name is available, normal names will be used.
  

[h3]Next Week​[/h3]
Next week’s dev diary will be at 18:00 instead of 13:00, and will have more new stuff than this one. :D

See you then!

Hi everyone,

Gruntsatwork here, putting on my writing hat for today only, while Eladrin is on sick leave. While Dev Diaries are the domain of the Game Directors, we wanted to keep in close contact shortly after a release.

The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion released 2 days ago and we have been collecting your feedback on our forums and every other form of social media we could find.

We will continue to do so over the next few days, working on fixes and improvements to Cosmic Storms, for example:
Individualist Machines will get access to the Storm Touched trait so that they can use the Storm Devotion civic.
Planetscapers will get a deposit on game start to clear for +1 Pop.

There are also a few balance considerations we are making that we figured would be nice to mention.
[h3]I’d like to get off Mr. Nexus Storm’s Wild Ride!​[/h3]
We teased them before as being incredibly destructive and as it turns out, they are! What we didn’t intend was for them to appear as often and as early as they do. Their chance to appear is significantly smaller than most other storms.

Unfortunately, with the number of players we have, even a small chance means a sizable number of you are getting messed up and with no chance of defending yourself to boot.

We are planning to adjust Nexus Storms in the following way:

• No Nexus Storms in the early game (Mid-game and forward only).
  
• We will increase their speed of traversal, exact number pending, to make sure they remain destructive but that you can take action once they have passed. They will still bring you close to 100% devastation on any given planet but they won’t then sit on the planet and keep it at 100% forever.
  

[h3]“A Storm is a Trial. It is Change. It is Tribulation. It is the Dawning of a New Age and the End of Yours.”​[/h3]
While we are quite happy with the effect of all the other storms, we are seeing your reports about some storms staying in the same space for most of their duration or in fact, long over their duration, stuck at 0 for years on end. Simply put, a storm shouldn’t stay in the same place for years. They are supposed to move on unless a player intervenes.

We are investigating this issue and hope to have a solution for you as soon as possible.
[h3]You call that a storm? That’s barely a stiff breeze!​[/h3]
Some of you have called out the loss of impact storms experience once everyone has the storm protection techs in place. The original purpose of keeping those protections strong was relatively simple - to ensure that by the time you reach the end-game, you can continue with your strategies and plans.

It is one thing to lose a 15 minute campaign, it is another to lose a 30 hour campaign because your build just got invalidated.

We are looking into adjusting at the very least the ship protections, as we think there is some potential for smart plays if those protections weren’t quite as potent as they currently are.
[h3]Next Week​[/h3]
Next week, Eladrin will be back, fingers crossed, to regale you with new information that mere Game Designers are not privy to.

See you then!

The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion is now available as the second installment of Stellaris: Season 08!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863060/Stellaris_Cosmic_Storms/

In Cosmic Storms, the skies teem with eight new storm types filled with peril and promise. From Electric Storms harnessing the power of lightning to the formidable Nexus Storm, a galactic tempest of unparalleled magnitude, these natural phenomena challenge you to make skillful choices to steer your empire safely and profitably through the chaos.

Experience the majesty and menace of these cosmic forces through beautifully rendered art and immersive audio. Navigate the tempest, harness its power, and shape your empire’s destiny. The storms are coming. Are you prepared?

The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion contains:

• 8 New Space Storms
  
• Storm Chasers Origin
  
• 3 New Civics
  
  • Planetscapers
    
  • Astrometeorology​
    
  • Storm Devotion​
• Galactic Weather Control Ascension Perk
  
• Weather Forecasting Map Mode
  
• Two new Precursor narratives, with two new Relics​
  
• Events, Anomalies, and Archaeology Sites​
  
• Storm-related technologies, Edicts, and Galactic community resolutions
  

[h3]How Storms Work[/h3]

Storms will begin to spawn randomly a few years after the game starts. Spawning storms has a cooldown, and there is a limit to how many storms can spawn in a galaxy in the early, mid, and late game. These limits can be configured during galaxy setup. Storms spawned by players, events, and other mechanics will spawn regardless of galaxy settings.

When storms spawn, they will choose a target destination and dissipate after the time it would take to reach the destination has passed.

[h3]Storm Chasers Origin[/h3]

Storm Chasers empires have always sought out the extremes. Born in a world ravaged by relentless storms, they are daredevils and thrill seekers who push themselves to the limit and beyond.

They start with access to the Storm Manipulation Technology and within a unique system with the correct conditions to unleash a space storm. Storm Chasers also get bonuses when a storm is active in their space and increased chances for storms to spawn and for cosmic storm technologies. Additionally, their leaders get the unique Storm Rider trait, whose effects increase when the leader is in an active space storm.



[h3]Planetscapers Civic[/h3]

This society carefully crafted a perfect balance on their homeworld and is ready to tend even the most inhospitable environments. They gain maluses to resources, pop growth, and pop upkeep for each natural blocker on their worlds, but they gain significant bonuses to those things once the blockers on the planet are cleared.

Planetscapers also gain access to the Cultivated Worldscaping planetary decision, which increases a planet’s maximum districts, gives +75% resource districts, and adds cosmic storm protection, but decreases the habitability.

[h3]Astrometeorology​ Civic[/h3]

Astrometeorologists focus on the science behind the cosmic storms. Starting with an Astrometeorology Observatory on their homeworld, this planet-unique structure slightly emphasizes physics research. It receives significant bonuses to its job output if there’s a storm or other environmental effect active in the system, with additional science bonuses added from the Prime Forecaster council position.



[h3]Storm Devotion Civic​[/h3]

Using a unique combination of ritual and technology, empires with the Storm Devotion civic start with the ability to build the Storm Summoning Center, whose Storm Dancers increase the system's attractiveness to space storms while also producing unity and amenities.

Their pops also gain the Storm Touched trait, which increases job output and decreases amenities usage while a space storm is active in the system.

[h3]Galactic Weather Control Ascension Perk[/h3]

The Galactic Weather Control Ascension Perk requires the Advanced Storm Manipulation technology and one other ascension perk to be chosen. This ascension perk gives your science ships the ability to - with an investment in resources - spawn a storm in the system it’s in.



[h3]New Precursors[/h3]

The adAkkaria Convention of Benevolence and The Inetian Traders are two new precursors coming in Cosmic Storms. Both are steeped in Storm Lore, with several archaeology sites and special projects to progress through as you uncover their secrets, giving you the opportunity to dig deeper into what sorts of empires would meddle with storms so devastating they are notable on the cosmic scale.

Get Cosmic Storms today, or as part of Stellaris: Season 08!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863060/Stellaris_Cosmic_Storms/



[h2]3.13 “Vela” Free Update[/h2]

Alongside the customary bug fixes and improvements, the Custodian team has improved a few of the older features in the game. The Custodian team is a team of developers who are focused on improving older content in the game, as well as adding quality-of-life features and other improvements.

[h3]Changes to Planetary Resource Deposits[/h3]

As part of our Custodian Update for the 3.13 “Vela” patch, we’ve made some changes to how planetary deposits for rare resources are handled.

The deposits that previously gave access to Crystal Mines, Gas Extraction Wells, and Mote Harvesting Traps buildings now instead increase the number of mining districts available on the planet and, after researching the technology to extract the relevant resource, add a small amount of resource production to miners on that planet.

Additionally, we’ve buffed the Betharian Power Plant to increase the energy produced by Technician Jobs.

[h3]Penal Colonies & Thrall Worlds​[/h3]

Much like how Resort Worlds were updated earlier this year, we have taken the time to revisit both Penal Colonies and Thrall Worlds.

Penal Colonies now reduce crime across your empire while giving access to unique Prison Industrial Districts. These allow you to employ worker strata pops to produce alloys and consumer goods.

Thrall Worlds, on the other hand, have taken inspiration from the countless examples across science fiction of elite battle thrall armies and give access to the Battle Thrall District. Armies trained on a Thrall World will start with additional XP, and Battle Thrall jobs will increase the damage your armies do.

The Cosmic Storms Mechanical Expansion and the free 3.13 “Vela” update are available now!