Stellaris News

by Eladrin

Hello everyone!

The Stellaris 3.10.0 “Pyxis” update will be released alongside the Astral Planes Narrative Expansion on Thursday, November 16th. The expansion has a 10% discount until November 27th.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2534090/Stellaris_Astral_Planes

Today we’ll have an extra dev diary reviewing some of the features the Custodian Team has been working on.

Preliminary release notes will be posted next Tuesday, with final release notes posted on Thursday alongside the release.

Let's get to it!

[h3]Leader Consolidation​[/h3]
We introduced the idea of the Leader Consolidation back in Dev Diary #307 and then gave an update in Dev Diary #316. Today we’ll go in deeper detail regarding the changes that will be coming in 3.10.0.

To recap from DD#316, but with the new subclass effects included:


Admirals and Generals have been merged into the Commander, the Military leader class.

Admiral and General will remain as veteran classes, with the following foci:

• Admiral - Focuses on Fleets and general naval combat
  
  • Ship Weapon Damage: +5%
    
  • Ship Fire Rate: +5%
    
  • Ship Disengage Chance: +5%
    
• General - Focuses on taking planets and assaulting static defenses - Armies, Planetary Bombardment, Ground Combat, and attacking defensive structures such as Starbases are the General’s forte
  
  • Ship Damage Against Starbases: +5%
    
  • Ship Orbital Bombardment Damage: +5%
    
  • Army Damage: +5%
    
• Commissioner - Focuses on Planetary Governance (Martial Law)
  
  • Planet Effects:
    
    • +2 Soldier Jobs
      
  • Sector Effects:
    
    • +1 Soldier Jobs
• Strategist - Focuses on the Council, especially the Minister of Defense position
  
  • Military Ship Build Speed: +5%
    

The old Governors and some Envoy functions have been merged into Officials, the Administrative leader class.

• Delegate - Focuses on Federations and the Galactic Community
  
  • GalCom Effects: +5% Diplomatic Weight
    
  • Federation Effects: +0.5 Monthly Cohesion
    
• Industrialist - Focuses on Planetary Governance (Industry and Development)
  
  • Planet Effects:
    
    • Resources from Specialist Jobs: +5%
      
    • Pop Amenities Usage: -10%
      
  • Sector Effects:
    
    • Resources from Specialist Jobs: +2.5%
      
    • Pop Amenities Usage: -5%
      
• Ambassador - Council Focus (Diplomacy, Espionage, and First Contact), especially suited for the new Minister of State position
  
  • Country Trust Growth: +5%
    
• Advisor - Council Focus (Economy)
  
  • Pop Upkeep: -5%
    
  • Trade Value: +5%
    

Scientists remain the third, Scientific leader class.

Veteran Classes:

• Explorer - Focuses on Surveying and Exploration
  
  • Survey Speed: +10%
    
  • Anomaly Discovery Chance: +10%
    
• Academic - Focuses on Archaeology and Anomalies
  
  • Anomaly Research Speed: +10%
    
  • Archaeology Excavation Speed: +10%
    
  • Astral Rift Exploration Speed: +10%
    
• Analyst - Focuses on Planetary Governance (Assist Research)
  
  Planet Effects:
  
  • Research from Jobs: +10%
    
  Sector Effects:
  
  • Research from Jobs: +5%
    
• Statistician - Focuses on the Council, especially the Minister of Science position
  
  • Research Speed: +5%
    

As part of this redesign, we’ve gone through and rebalanced or replaced hundreds of leader traits. Many have changed significantly, and the overall power level has generally been decreased.

In order to ensure that leader levelling feels rewarding, regardless of owning Galactic Paragons or not, traits chosen when levelling up will now be biased towards the leader's current position.

As mentioned in the previous dev diaries, leader caps are now per-class, and exceeding one only affects that class.



[h3]Governors[/h3]​
With the removal of the “Governor” leader class, we’ve now allowed all leader classes to govern planets and sectors. Each leader class focuses on a different aspect of governance:

• Officials are better suited to be generalists and governing your resource extraction and industrial worlds.
  
• Scientists are better suited to governing research worlds, which has replaced the Assist Research functionality that the science ship formerly had.
  
• Commanders are better suited to govern recently conquered worlds and those with a high level of crime.
  

While bringing back sector governors, we still wanted local planetary governors to be desirable in some cases. Thus, throughout the game, we’ve gone and ensured that the majority of governor-related traits and leader effects apply at full strength to the planet they are governing and at half strength to all other planets in the same sector, if they are governing the sector capital.

However, a planetary governor will always supersede the sector governor, if one exists. Thus you might have an Industrialist overseeing your core sector and assign a Commissioner to a planet where that pesky Criminal Syndicate has set up shop in order to drive down crime.

The modifiers for each leader class when governing. These are multiplied by the leader’s level.​

Each leader class also has a veteran subclass dedicated to governance, which is required to gain governor veteran traits.



Many of the various traits from the Industrialist (Governor), Pioneer (Governor), Protector (General), and Analyst (Scientist) have been distributed throughout the various governing subclasses in the rework.

[h3]Representatives and Emissaries​[/h3]
In addition to the Minister of State Council position that most non-Gestalt empires now have at the start of the game. Officials can now be assigned as Federation Representatives and Galactic Community Emissaries instead of Envoys. An Official assigned to one of these positions gives the same effects as a number of Envoys equal to their level did back before 3.10. Thus, your envoys are now freed to improve or harm relations with other empires or build spy networks in them.



The Minister of State position provides several bonuses to your envoys.

Certain Civics (currently Inwards Perfection and Fanatic Purifiers) block access to the Minister of State position and will instead start with their Civic Council Position unlocked. As mentioned above, as not having a Minister of State will impart a -25% Diplomatic Weight penalty, we’ve reduced the penalty for the Isolationist Diplomatic Stance from -50% to -25%.



For Officials that are assigned to either the GalCom or your Federation, there is now a subclass and variety of veteran traits that can be used in these assignments.



[h3]Admirals, Generals and Commanders[/h3]​
As mentioned above, we’ve combined Admirals and Generals into the Commander leader class. Broadly speaking, their subclass traits were assigned as follows:

• Aggressor -> Admiral
  
• Tactician -> Admiral
  
• Strategist -> Strategist
  
• Invader -> General
  
• Protector -> Split between General and Commissioner
  
• Marshal -> Split between Strategist (army-related traits) and Ambassador (espionage-related traits)
  

[h3]Council Legitimacy[/h3]​
Back in 3.8 we added Council Legitimacy. Although it had no mechanical effects, it was a good step to represent the degree to which factions in your empire approve of how the empire is run, the council, empire policies and so on. In 3.10, having high Council Legitimacy will give a bonus to Council Agenda Speed (capping at +25% at 100% Legitimacy) and having low Council Legitimacy will give a penalty to Council Agenda Speed (capping at -50% at 0% Legitimacy). For modders, these values are determined by defines.

Since Council Legitimacy is a weighted sum of the approval of each faction multiplied by their support in the empire, this means that empires with relatively few factions (each of which have high approval) should manage to pass Agendas more quickly.



For owners of Galactic Paragons, we’ve made the Minister of Defense, Head of Research and new Minister of State council positions no longer mandatory. Instead, when you choose to Reorganize the Council, these positions will be removed and can be reselected, much like Civic and Enclave Council Positions. However, each of these positions will have their own penalties if they are not present and staffed.

• Minister of Defense: -25% Naval Capacity
  
• Minister of State: -25% Diplomatic Weight
  
• Head of Research: -25% Research Speed
  

During the work done for the Leader Consolidation, we discussed various ideas for further improving the council mechanics and may revisit them at some point in the future.

[h3]Civics[/h3]​
We’ve rebalanced the majority of civics that were leader related or themed, and I’ll leave you with a few examples. As part of this, we've also changed effects that previously made it too easy to support a near-infinite number of vassals.





[h3]Traditions & Ascension Perks​[/h3]
While reworking leader classes and traits, we’ve also gone through and rebalanced leader adjacent tradition trees and ascension perks:

Aptitude

• Opener: Swapped +1 Trait on leaders for +1 Trait Selection when leveling up.
  
• Finisher: Replaced effects with +1 Commander, +1 Official and +1 Scientist Cap
  
• The Empire Needs You: No longer increases Leader Pool Size
  
• Specialist Training: Swapped +25% Leader XP gain for +1 Leader Pool Size
  
• Psychological Profiling: No longer reduces the number of negative traits leaders can have
  
• Healthcare Program: Swapped +20 Leader Lifespan for -1 Max Negative Traits
  
• Champions of the Empire: Replaced effects with +1 Leader Initial Level.

Discovery

• Science Division: Replaced Scientist Cost and Upkeep modifiers with +1 Scientist Capacity and +1 Scientist Initial Level.
  

Domination

• Colonial Viceroys: Replaced Governor Cost and Upkeep modifiers with +1 Official Capacity and +1 Official Initial Level.

Enmity

• Rise to the Occasion: Now provides +1 Commander, +1 Official and +1 Scientist Cap for every 3 Rivals.

Politics:

• Opener and Gravitas: Now affect Officials assigned to GalCom, not Envoys.

Statecraft:

• Opener: Increased Edict Fund from 20 to 50.
  
• Finisher: Replaced effects with -5% Empire Size
  
• Constitutional Focus: Increased Council Agenda Speed to 25% from 10%
  
• Immutable Directives: Increased Agenda Duration to 25% from 10%
  
• Amongst Peers: Replaced effects with Councilor gain 150 XP per Level when an Agenda is completed
  
• Shared Benefits: Replaced effects with +1 Effective Councilor Level

Supremacy

• War Games: Replaced Admiral Cost and Upkeep modifiers with +1 Commander Capacity and +1 Commander Initial Level.

Unyielding

• Resistance is Frugal: Removed modifiers for Generals

Synthetics

• Non-Machine Opener: Replaced effects with -25% Roboticist Upkeep and -25% Robot Upkeep

Ascension Perks

• Archaeo-Engineers: Added +1 Scientist Capacity
  
• Galactic Force Projection: Reworked, now increases Influence from Power Projection by 2, gives +1 Commander Capacity, +100 Naval Capacity and +50 Fleet Capacity.
  
• Eternal Vigilance: Added +1 Commander Capacity
  
• Imperial Prerogative: Added +2 Official Capacity
  
• Transcendent Learning: Now provides +2 Scientist Capacity and +25% Leader XP gain
  
• Universal Transactions: Added +1 Official Capacity and +20% Commercial Pact Effectiveness

[h3]The Additional Content Browser​[/h3]
We often see threads asking exactly what’s in each of our DLCs. In an effort to improve the clarity of what you’re getting with each release, we’ve expanded the Recommended Content element that’s been in the game for a while, and made some improvements.

The Recommended Content element gave brief descriptions of the various DLCs, but left a lot of questions. We’ve replaced this with a more robust Additional Content Browser that can draw information directly from game files, providing much more detailed and accurate preview information. Hopefully this will help you make more informed decisions about DLC purchases.


Concepts in Tooltips are fully supported in the additional content browser.

Portraits, ship sets, megastructures, and screenshots can be shown on the left hand side. Pack details and tooltip-able lists go on the right.

The Additional Content Browser will only be available on some storefronts, and will not update information without an active internet connection.

[h3]Outliner Improvements[/h3]​
Another bit of feedback we’ve gotten a lot is that the outliner has gotten cumbersome over the years. While we’ve added some ability to customize it in past releases, in 3.10.0 we’re adding Outliner Tabs.

In this first version of the tabbed outliner, we have four tabs: Government, Ships, Politics, and Structures. These tabs will appear in the outliner once they’re relevant.

Notification bubbles can be activated on the tabs to let you know if there’s something of interest on them. Green ones are for non-urgent things like “a planet got colonized and has been added to the Government tab”, while red ones are a call to action, like “your science ship has no scientist”.



The OUN Avamdur is leaderless. I should do something about that.

In future releases, we plan on exploring some more ideas we had to make the Outliner more customizable and even more useful.

[h3]Event Chain Subtitles​[/h3]
Finally, we custodians have also added a small new quality of life to help you keep track of what events belong to what chain! This new subtitle can be manually added to events and when clicked it will bring you to the relevant situation log.

Since these have to be added manually however we will be asking for your help to hunt down any event chains you feel should be tracked this way but aren’t once the patch is out. We should have a form available in the dev diary two weeks from now, after the 3.10.0 release.



[h3]What’s Next?​[/h3]
This dev diary was a few days early so we could get this information to you before the 3.10.0 “Pyxis” and Astral Planes release. Preliminary release notes will be posted next Tuesday, with final release notes posted on Thursday alongside the release. (Replacing the normal dev diary scheduled for the 16th.)

Regular dev diaries will resume the week after, on November 23rd.

See you then!

Hello again,

Gary from Abrakam Entertainment here to talk some more about the upcoming expansion, Astral Planes. If you haven't yet, you might want to read the first two posts: Rifts and Scars, and Astral Actions.
​
Astral Planes will release on November 16th for US$/€19.99!​ Buy before November 27th for a 10% discount!​

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Astral Planes includes:

• Core Mechanics
  
  • Astral Scars
    
  • New Site Type: Astral Rift
    
  • New Resource: Astral Thread
    
  • Astral Harvesting - Technology to harvest Astral Threads
    
  • Rift Sphere - Technology to explore Astral Rifts Rifts
    
  • "Rift in Space" Situation - Unlocks Rift Sphere tech.
    
  • Random Stage 2 Rift Situation Events
    
• 30+ Rift Sites - Each site contains branching narratives, featuring multiple potential endings and a chance at powerful new rewards.
  
• New Relics - Astral Planes features new Relics, from the Infinity Root to The Continuum, featuring 8 new Relics in total.
  
• Astral Actions
  
  • 10 New Astral Actions
    
  • 4 Additional Astral Actions (requires Overlord)
    
• The Formless
  
• Riftworld Origin - start with an active Astral Rift in your home system
  
• 4 New Civics
  
  • Hyperspace Speciality
    
  • Dimensional Worship
    
  • Dark Consortium
    
  • Sovereign Guardianship
    
• New Sounds, Music and Visual Effects
  
  • 3 New Music Tracks from Andreas Waldetoft
    
  • 70+ New Event Pictures
    
  • 80+ New Sound Effects
    

* Some content may require DLC sold separately

So far, we've covered a lot of the basic mechanics of the new content, and now we'll wrap everything up by covering the new Origin and Civics that we've developed - as well as any other loose ends we can think of.

[h3]New Origin - Riftworld​[/h3]



Riftworld is what we consider our 'launchpad' Origin for this expansion. If you want to get right into what Astral Planes is all about, this is where you might want to start.

Riftworld is the only way that a full-blown Astral Rift will appear at map generation. As you may remember, all other Rifts are formed from Astral Scars that open over time throughout the course of the game. In the Riftworld, you have had one looming over your home planet as long as your society can remember.



Why is it there, and what significance does it have? You'll have accelerated access to Astral Rift technology with this Origin, so you'll be able to find out.

Being so closely connected to worlds beyond the Rifts, you'll also possess some general attunement to the planes and enjoy several bonuses that make exploring them both more likely, and less dangerous.

[h3]Hyperspace Specialty Civic​[/h3]

Debug tooltips intentionally left on so you can read the Council position descriptions.​

Hyperspace Specialty encompasses one of the core themes of the Astral Planes: the manipulation of time and space.

Gotta go fast? This might be for you. This civic will set you on the fast track for Hyperlane research, provides some extra sublight speed, and boosts your Physics research. Physics research is another recurring theme in the Astral Planes - observing many of the phenomena inside of the Rifts will give new insights to your scientists.

You'll also have a boost to planet sensor range, which will start you with some greater understanding of your initial surroundings.

[h3]Dimensional Worship Civic​[/h3]



There is a spiritual aspect to the Astral Planes that can be ignored, but not if you choose this Civic.

At each place you discover a weakness in the boundaries between dimensions, you have the opportunity to build a shrine to other worlds. You'll also get a bonus to Astral Rifts appearing (which stacks with the Riftworld Origin),

One area we enjoyed in developing this new content was getting the chance to explore the new design space introduced by the systems in Galactic Paragons, which in this case can gear your priests to have an additional affinity toward Physics research.

[h3]Dark Consortium Civic[/h3]​


​
Dark Matter is a material which makes up 'the nothing' throughout various dimensions, and we thought it interesting to include an option to play as a society which is deeply attuned to its utilization.

The Dark Consortium is a type of Civic that cannot be removed* after the game starts, as it adds some significant changes to your society. Not only do you begin with a Dark Matter deposit in your home system, you already have the capability to harvest it.

*Edit for clarification: Dark Consortium is a bit unique here. If you start with the Dark Consortium Civic, it can never removed. However, you can add it once you research Dark Matter Drawing, but once you use its Council Agenda to obtain Dark Matter technologies, it can then never be removed. Sorry about any confusion there.

First, you'll have access to a set of new Edicts which have Dark Matter as a cost.



Dark Matter Forging and Dark Matter Unravelling are global production benefits which will increase your monthly Alloy and Energy generation, respectively. Baryonic Insight is yet another way to boost your monthly Physics research. Investing in Shadow Matrix provides advantages in Encryption, Codebreaking, and Infiltration Levels.

Toward the late-game, you'll also have the opportunity to activate a Council Agenda which will unlock one of the Dark Matter technologies at random, a privilege previously only available if you were able to 'borrow' it from one of the Fallen Empires.

Its Council position provides a way for you to generate even more Dark Matter, without having to find new sources of harvest.

[h3]Sovereign Guardianship Civic​[/h3]



Another Civic which cannot be added or removed, the Sovereign Guardianship may seem a bit out of left-field in the Astral Planes. It is very much the opposite of what you generally want to do regarding exploring the universe and other dimensions. This is for those who prefer to develop a 'tall' build, which should be clear by the heavy penalties introduced by expanding too much.

Those penalties are offset by some juicy defensive bonuses, including a new Starbase Module called the Reloading Bay which improves the efficiency of Starbase weaponry. You'll also be given access to a unique Edict which can convert your potentially languishing Influence into Unity.

We thought it important to provide as many playstyle options as possible with Astral Planes, even if it isn't necessarily themed to the new content. Feel free to turtle up, if you wish.

[h3]Pre-Scripted Empires and new species Portrait​[/h3]

Rounding out some of the extra content we've included in Astral Planes, we have two new pre-scripted Empires. Feel free to totally ignore these if you prefer to always make your own species, but you might be interested in a quick start into the new content. For that, we recommend:

The Certeran Covenant (New Portrait)​



When a Certeran dies, it is believed that their essence feeds back through a gateway into the astral planes. In this way, they are assured of a life after death, though what form that may take remains a mystery. A strict moral code is enforced to keep the population aligned in this belief; no pious Certeran wants to wander eternity alone.

The bravest of their explorers now search for rifts in space and time, driven to answer their society's most important question: Where do you go when you die?​

Here we have a brand new Humanoid species portrait for you. This portrait will be available for use in any species you create, not just the Certerans.

The Certeran Empire represents the ultimate 'jump start' into the Astral Planes. Their boosts to physics research will make it much easier to obtain requisite technologies for exploring Rifts, and Dimensional Worship will allow you to gain Unity while you do it. Notably, their Ascensionist Civic (previously from Utopia) will become available to anyone who owns Astral Planes as well.

Guardianship of Nyrr​



The typical Nyrrian lifecycle lasts nearly two hundred years. Incubating for decades in sanctuaries below the burning sands of their home planet, only one in a hundred eggs will hatch, and only one in a thousand hatchlings will crawl their way to safety.

Upon coming of age, all Nyrrians swear a blood oath to protect their sanctuaries with their lives. To witness the death of another Nyrrian from unnatural causes is the greatest shame imaginable; the values of preservation and vigilance are etched into every facet of Nyrrian culture.

To breach the walls of any city on Nyrra is nigh impossible, and none alive can remember when the last brick fell. The most stalwart defenders now carry this ethos to the stars.​

Here we are showcasing the new Sovereign Guardianship Civic in metaphorical turtle form. This will be a good way for you to test out this Civic without having to think too hard about exactly how you'd like to customize it. Pre-scripted empires are really one of the best tools for both casual play and roleplay, and we wanted to make sure we included a couple of those for this new content.

[h3]What is the story of the Astral Planes?​[/h3]

Well, first of all, yes there is an overarching story… but we don't want to reveal too much.

Of course, the Riftworld Origin has its own narrative to weave. Beyond that, regardless of your Origin, there is something else going on. Maybe you'll encounter it, and maybe you won't. If you continue to explore beyond the Rifts, it's sure to find you sooner or later. It will be your choice on how to handle what you find.

[h3]Conclusion​[/h3]

Thank you for reading this far, and we're really looking forward to letting everyone experience what we've done with this expansion. We've poured an incredible amount of effort into its development, and Paradox has been with us every step of the way in making sure it meets the standards you expect from the game. We don't think you'll be disappointed.

Hope to see you there - in the Astral Planes.

[h3]Next Week​[/h3]
Eladrin taking the mic.

We're going to have another dev diary tomorrow, providing expanded details on some of the Custodian changes in the 3.10.0 "Pyxis" update. (Leader Consolidation, Council Legitimacy, the Additional Content Browser, the Tabbed Outliner, and Event Chain Subtitles.)

[h3]​Astral Planes can be Pre-Purchased on Steam now!​​[/h3]

Astral Planes will be available on November 16th!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2534090/Stellaris_Astral_Planes/

[previewyoutube][RDA trailer][/previewyoutube]
Pre-Purchase Now on Steam!

Astral Planes offers you the chance to chart your own path as you travel through Rifts in space and time for a glimpse of strange, new realities. What will you discover, in a universe beyond limits?

The Stellaris team has been working with Abrakam Entertainment since October 2022, and they've been working on Astral Planes in close collaboration with the rest of the Stellaris team and we are excited to show you what they’ve been working on all this time!

[h3]What are Astral Rifts?[/h3]

In the galaxy, there are points at which the boundaries of space and time are weaker than others. Once discovered, these will appear as Astral Scars. Astral Scars are not large enough to explore on their own, but can leak material into our galaxy that might be of some use to your empire.

An Astral Scar

After a time, these Scars will become unstable and blossom into a full-grown Astral Rift. Once you have an Astral Rift in your space, your scientists will begin studying how to explore the rift. Eventually, their studies will lead you to the Rift Sphere technology, allowing you to lower a scientist down into the rift and explore the dimension on the other side.

A fully formed Astral Rift

Fully grown Astral Rifts will start appearing in the midgame, offering more exploration opportunities than ever before in Stellaris.

After your Empire develops the Rift Sphere technology, you can begin to explore any Astral Rifts that exist within your space. Similar to Archaeology Sites, over time your Scientist will report back their findings and other events that happen on the other side of the rift. Unlike Archaeology Sites, Astral Rift explorations offer branching choices that can affect the outcome of the Rift. These decisions each have a difficulty - you may choose the safe option to protect your Scientists, or gamble that what they’re trying will be successful.



Nearly every rift contains some sort of unique reward, from new Faction Modifiers, Relics, Planetary Decisions and even Leaders – if you make the right choices, and provided your Scientists survive those choices.

[h3]Astral Planes includes:[/h3]
Core Mechanics

• Astral Scars
  
• New Site Type: Astral Rift
  
• New Resource: Astral Thread
  
• Astral Harvesting - Technology to harvest Astral Threads
  
• Rift Sphere - Technology to explore Astral Rifts Rifts
  
• "Rift in Space" Situation - Unlocks Rift Sphere tech.
  
• Random Stage 2 Rift Situation Events
• 30+ Rift Sites - Each site contains branching narratives, featuring multiple potential endings and a chance at powerful new rewards.
  
• New Relics - Astral Planes features new Relics, from the Infinity Root to The Continuum, featuring 8 new Relics in total.
  
• Astral Actions
  
  • 10 New Astral Actions
    
  • 4 Additional Astral Actions (requires Overlord)
• The Formless
  
• Riftworld Origin - start with an active Astral Rift in your home system
  
• 4 New Civics
  
  • Hyperspace Speciality
    
  • Dimensional Worship
    
  • Dark Consortium
    
  • Sovereign Guardianship
• New Sounds, Music and Visual Effects
  
  • 3 New Music Tracks from Andreas Waldetoft
    
  • 70+ New Event Pictures
    
  • 80+ New Sound Effects

* Some content may require DLC sold separately

[h3]Threads and Actions[/h3]

Astral Rifts are tears in space and time, and at the edge of a tear, you can always find a few threads. These threads are condensed filaments of space-time itself, and can be used to alter the shape of space and behavior of time in our own universe.

Enter, Astral Actions:

Over time your scientists will develop new ways to use these threads, from using them to further physics research or to create new Astral Rifts, to using them to attract fleets of interdimensional beings and shifting fleets to another dimension.

Overall, there are a total of 10 unique Astral Actions (plus an additional 4 Actions that require Overlord) that can be performed – provided you have enough Astral threads. Some are infinitely repeatable, while others can only be performed once, or a limited number of times.

[h3]Hyperspace Specialty Civic[/h3]

The manipulation of space and time is one of the core themes in Astral Planes. With the Hyperspace Specialty Civic, you start on the fast lane with hyperlane research.

Effects:

• Guaranteed Research Option: Hyperspace Breach Points
  
• Low Intel on all systems within 3 Hyperlanes of your home system
  
• Planet Sensor Range: +2
  
• Sublight Speed: +10%
  
• Research Speed (Physics): +15%

Hyperlane Supervisor Council Position:

• Hyperlane Registrar Starbase Building: +1 Stability per Leader Level

[h3]Dimensional Worship Civic[/h3]

Empires with the Dimensional Worship Civic believe divine existence lies beyond the folds of space and time. Systems containing instabilities in spacetime should be considered sacred, and are a source of pilgrimage and research.

Dimensional Worship can construct a Dimensional Shrine starbase building in systems containing an Astral Rift or Scar, Wormhole, L-Gate or Shroud tunnel.

Effects:

• Dimensional Shrine: +10 Unity
  
• Monthly Astral Threads: +25%
  
• Astral Rift chance in owned systems: +100%
  
• Rare Technologies appear at 1.1x the normal rate

Astral Minister Council Position:

• Priests provide +0.20 Physics Research per Leader Level

[h3]Dark Consortium Civic[/h3]

Empires with the Dark Consortium Civic have an inherent and deep understanding of the nature of the universe, which allowed them to harness the unique properties of Dark Matter before the discovery of the Hyperdrive.

The Dark Consortium Civic cannot be added or removed after game start.

Effects:

• Start with Dark Matter Drawing already researched
  
• Access to 4 unique Edicts that cost Dark Matter
  
• Access to the Dark Matter Breakthrough Council Agenda

Shadow Weaver Council Position:

• Researchers generate +0.02 Dark Matter per Leader Level

Edicts:

• Dark Matter Forging: +5% Monthly Alloys
  
• Dark Matter Unravelling: +10% Monthly Energy Credits
  
• Baryonic Insight: +10% Monthly Physics Research
  
• Shadow Matrix: +1 Encryption, +1 Codebreaking, Maximum Infiltration Level: +10

After unlocking a Tier 5 Technology, you'll also have the ability to activate a Council Agenda which will unlock one of the Dark Matter technologies at random, previously only available if you were to 'liberate' it from one of the Fallen Empires.



[h3]Sovereign Guardianship Civic[/h3]

Empires with the Sovereign Guardianship Civic started as a collection of warring tribes and have developed a historical preference for entrenched territories and defensive posturing. Now united, they set out into the stars with this same philosophy, aiming to keep their borders solid and tensions low.

The Sovereign Guardianship Civic cannot be added or removed after game start.

Effects:

• Unlocks Fanatic Guardians defensive armies
  
• Access to Reloading Bay Starbase Module
  
• Access to Inner Focus Edict
  
• Empire Size from Planets: +100%
  
• Empire Size from Branch Offices: +100%
  
• Empire Size from Systems: +150%
  
• Empire Size from Pops: -50%
  
• Empire Size from Districts: -50%
  
• Diplomatic Weight: +20%
  
• Unity from Soldiers: +1

First Citadel Council Position:
Effects per Leader Level

• Defense Army Damage: +10%
  
• Starbase Hull Points: +5%
  
• Starbase Armor: +5%
  
• Shield Hit Points in Friendly Systems: +5%
  
• Ship Fire Rate in Friendly Systems: +5%
  
• Accuracy in Friendly Systems: +5%

Intended to enable a “tall” playstyle, Sovereign Guardianship has massive penalties for expansion. Those penalties are offset by defensive bonuses, including a new Starbase Module called the Reloading Bay which improves the efficiency of Starbase weaponry. You'll also be given access to a unique Edict which can convert your potentially languishing Influence into Unity.



[h3]Riftworld Origin[/h3]

With the Riftworld Origin, your species evolved with an Astral Rift looming over your homeworld. After studying the object from afar for millennia, the recent advent of starship technology will finally allow you to reach out and discover what secrets it might hold.



Effects:

• Homeworld: Ancient Crater Archaeology Site
  
• Owned Systems: Chance for Astral Rifts +100%
  
• Astral Rift Exploration Speed: +25%
  
• Astral Rift Fail Probability: -50%

The Riftworld Origin is the only way for an Astral Rift to appear at the start of the game. What significance does this Rift have to your people? After spending most of your known history studying the Astral Rift over your homeworld, you will have accelerated access to Astral Rift technologies and possess a general attunement to the Astral Planes, as well as several bonuses that give you advantages when exploring Astral Rifts.

[h3]What is the story of the Astral Planes?[/h3]

Well, first of all, yes there is an overarching story… but we don't want to reveal too much.

Of course, the Riftworld Origin has its own narrative to weave. Beyond that, regardless of your Origin, there is something else going on. Maybe you'll encounter it, and maybe you won't. If you continue to explore beyond the Rifts, it's sure to find you sooner or later. It will be your choice on how to handle what you find.

Astral Planes will release on November 16th, and is currently available to Pre-Purchase on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2534090/Stellaris_Astral_Planes

by Atmaz

Hello!

Gary from Abrakam Entertainment here.

Last week we talked about what Astral Rifts were, how they were formed, and what you could find in them. We also briefly mentioned something nebulous about a new resource called Astral Threads and what you can do with them. We call these, simply enough, Astral Actions.

Let's dig a little deeper.

[h3]Astral Threads​[/h3]

Conceptually, an Astral Thread is the material that binds the boundaries between dimensions. In areas where these boundaries are weakest, these filaments of existence unravel to the point at which they become tangible objects that can be harvested. This unique resource can be put to various uses should you possess the proper technologies and level of attunement to the Astral Planes.

You'll first be able to gather Astral Threads when you encounter an Astral Scar, which you'll remember from our last post are minor tears in space-time present at map-generation. As when discovering other rare resources such as Dark Matter or Rare Crystals, you'll be prompted to begin researching a new technology: Astral Harvesting.



This means you can begin gathering this material before you ever set foot inside of a Rift. But what can you do with it?

[h3]Discovery Tab​[/h3]



First, let's cover where you can find the Astral Actions.

We have taken this opportunity to create a new category on the sidebar: Discoveries. This category now contains all Relics and Astral Actions you have acquired. This means, of course, that Relics and Minor Artifact actions have been removed from the Society Management Category. With the addition of Astral Actions, more Relics, and a particular action that can manipulate Relics, this made practical sense to do.

Another extra feature we've added here is that you can now click Minor Artifacts or Astral Threads in the topbar dropdown to move immediately to this category - similar to how you can click the other resources to open the Galactic Market.

[h3]Astral Actions​[/h3]



Generally, these are various empire-wide effects that you can activate by spending Astral Threads. Some actions are repeatable on a cooldown, while others have a limited amount of uses. All actions generally have something to do with manipulating space-time or interacting with other dimensions.

When you first look here, you won't have many actions you can do at all. You'll need to attune yourself to the Planes in order to master their use. In other words, the more Astral Rifts you explore, the more actions you will unlock. After exploring 5 Astral Rifts, you will have unlocked all possible actions. Generally, the higher the attunement level required, the more powerful the action.

[h3]Thread Count​[/h3]



Initially, you will start at an Astral Thread cap of 500. This seems quite low, but increasing this cap comes naturally with increasing your level of attunement. With each Rift explored, you'll bump the cap up by 250. There is also a special structure called the Astral Siphon you can unlock which can increase the cap even further.

Many actions will increase in cost as you use them, so you'll need to be sure to increase your cap if you intend on using these routinely.

Let's show a few examples.

[h3]Astral Splitting​[/h3]



Astral Splitting will be one of the first actions available to you. Every 10 years, if you have the available space, you can utilize Astral Threads to tear at the space-time within your own borders and open a new Rift. Astral Rifts cannot open if one already exists in an adjacent system, so keep that in mind.

This is an example of an action that has both a limited number of uses, and an increasing cost. All 'limited use' actions are organized on the bottom row of the Astral Action tab.

This action is useful if you haven't gotten very lucky in your explorations and found as many natural Rifts as you'd hoped.

[h3]Dimensional Lock​[/h3]



Here we have an example of a more powerful action with unlimited uses.

The Dimensional Lock allows you, for the first time in Stellaris, to prevent movement across wormholes and other bypasses. This will last for 10 years, and only those with whom you have Open Border agreements can pass through. Have a vulnerable back door into the heart of your empire? This might be worth taking advantage of.

Note: This won't work on the Shroud Tunnel in the Shroudwalker enclave, or the main L-Gate in its cluster. It can only block links between two exact points in space, not nexus points. To be clear, it will still work on Shroud Tunnels created from beacons, and normal L-Gates.

[h3]Hyper Relay Insight​[/h3]

There are a few actions that give bonuses to features from the Overlord expansion, specifically for Hyper Relays and Quantum Catapults.



If you have not yet researched Hyper Relay technology, Hyper Relay Insight will give you a boost to get started in doing so.

Once researched, this action will become something entirely new: Flash Forging Hyper Relays

[h3]Flash Forge Hyper Relays​[/h3]



This action is unique in that it is the only one that costs another resource in addition to Astral Threads. At double the normal Influence cost, you'll be able to instantly place a Hyper Relay anywhere you like. If you ever find yourself in a situation where building your space highway becomes a priority, this should help out considerably. Like Dimensional Locks, this action is infinitely repeatable with a cooldown.

[h3]What else can you do?​[/h3]

We're only detailing a few of the actions available to you and saving the rest to be discovered. Some you may have guessed already by their icons, and some you may have not.

Next week, we'll talk about the new Origin and Civics we're introducing with Astral Planes.

Thanks for reading. See you then!