Stellaris - Paradox new sci-fi grand strategy game

[Space Satan]

New Patch or, more probably, DLC seem to be fun after all, given how synthetics were treated in vanilla

 

[Old One]

I want to know more about the "trial and error," particularly the error.

 

[Grotesque]

"Now, for the more biologically inclined... don't worry! If you like your species, you can keep it... and modify the crap out of it."

 

[Prime Junta]

Ho, this is starting to look interesting.

 

[Norfleet]

New Patch or, more probably, DLC seem to be fun after all, given how synthetics were treated in vanilla

This sounds like the start of Total Annihilation.

 

[Grotesque]

"Synths and genemodding are both well and good, but maybe your idea of ascendance is a little more literal?"

 

[Grotesque]

Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris development diary. Today we'll be talking about a feature that was hinted at in last dev diary, Ascension Perks. Ascension Perks are related to the Traditions and Unity system, but is a paid feature in the (unannounced) expansion accompanying the 1.5 'Banks' update, rather than a part of the update itself. Those without the expansion will get full access to the Traditions and Unity features, but not to the Ascension Perks themselves.

Ascension Perks
The idea behind the Ascension Perks is to provide more unique unlockable features for Empires, and to provide the player with the ability to determine an 'endgame' for their species: What their empire is striving towards. Perhaps your goal is to go all-in on AI, replacing the frail biological bodies of your pops with immortal machines, or to harness the psionic potential of your species and reach a higher form of existence, allowing your empire to tap into other planes of being? All these and more are covered by the Ascension Perk system.

Each time you complete a Tradition tree, you will unlock one Ascension Perk slot, of which there are 8 in total. There may also be other ways to unlock slots, such as from certain rare technologies or as a reward for a particular event chain. This slot can then be filled with any of the Ascension Perks available to you. The final number of perks is not yet set down, but there are currently more than 20 and there will likely be more added. Ascension Perks have pre-requisites, which can for example be a particular technology or tradition, a certain number of Ascension Perk slots to be unlocked, or a specific ethos or government type. Some Ascension Perks are one-offs that simply provide a bonus to a particular area of your empire: For example, a bonus to border range, or cheaper terraforming. Others unlock new features, such as the ability to construct new types of space structures (more on in later dev diaries).

Finally there are the three 'Species Endgame' paths: The biological path, the spiritual path and the synthetic path. These three paths each consist of two perks, the first of which unlocks access to the second once a number of other pre-requisites have been met. The paths are mutually exclusive, and once you start heading down one of them, the other two are locked off.

• The Biological Path focuses on mastery over biological evolution. The first level of it gives access to more gene points and significantly cuts the cost of genemodding projects, while the second level expands the options available during genemodding in addition to further providing more points and less cost.
• The Psionic Path focuses on developing the psionic potential of your population. The first level unlocks new psionic technologies and benefits, while the second level allows your empire to reach a higher level of existance and communicate with the beings present there.
• The Synthetic Path focuses on the replacement of biology with machinery. The first level allows you to turn your population partly synthetic through the use of cybernetics, while the second level replaces your biological pops with robots, turning your empire entirely synthetic.

That's all for today! Next week we'll be talking about the concept of species rights and obligations.

Also about eating pops.

 

[tindrli]

Fuckin moneymilkers

 

[Tigranes]

Why do they finally come up with some bitching techs/decisions ... and then they just give you +x% damage or someshit instead of actually changing how the game plays

 

[Nahel]

Multiplayer balance, the bane of every interesting solo game.

 

[tindrli]

Why do they finally come up with some bitching techs/decisions ... and then they just give you +x% damage or someshit instead of actually changing how the game plays

They will.. In december 2018

 

[Alienman]

Multiplayer balance, the bane of every interesting solo game.

Can not brofist this statement enough.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Bros, are psionics a proper bro-approved S-F trope, or a popamole magic in space?

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

this game needs first some more fluid diplomacy, because right now alliances are set in stone and will never be broken.
then, and only then, new techs and stuff.

 

[Destroid]

Bros, are psionics a proper bro-approved S-F trope, or a popamole magic in space?

 

[Prime Junta]

Bros, are psionics a proper bro-approved S-F trope, or a popamole magic in space?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule_(Foundation)

 

[Grotesque]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

this game needs first some more fluid diplomacy, because right now alliances are set in stone and will never be broken.
then, and only then, new techs and stuff.

Not just alliances, IMO the biggest thing to work on (and which I think has been sorely neglected by 4X as a genre since forever) is creating more depth and intrapolitics to federations (not to mention variety and nature) and a massive expansion and overhaul of Galactic Senate/Space UN/Whatever so diplomacy becomes much, much more important. This would be something where having a hard capped fleet capacity (a'la the very low 1000 at launch, for example) and similar measures that start to limit the military gap between individual empires of all sizes and thus puts more emphasis on more complex political and diplomatic entities. A good example of this would be that there needs to be a diverse number of possible types of federations, that would range from an empire ruled with an iron fist by the founding empire of the "federation" (at this point federation would be more of a feature name or term) of them and their assorted slave races, vassals and satellites, with the other extreme being a Space UN type federation in style of United Federation of Planets. Key to balancing this out in terms of gameplay should be that the spectrum of federation types operates on a trade-offs between stability, strength, and proactivity. While an iron fist ruled empire will be able to act without any constraints or delay, the "federation" subjects would have to be kept artificially weaker than they could be by their overlord in order to keep the stability, while in opposite end the Space UN federation has only full strength member empires but has to operate by diplomatic internal consensus and avoid upsetting the balance of interests between members. Basically speed vs power, I suppose.

Still, I think having actual civilizational goals that can differ in the endgame is a step in the right direction, compared to the traditional one-size-fits-all development or aim for victory condition approaches. Even a little touch of roleplaying adds a great deal.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i heard they're working in the direction you want. of course i don't know if they're doing a good job or not.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I'm cool with just providing robust and flexible tools, since at least then it's something modders can toy with.

 

[Thane Solus]

i heard they're working in the direction you want. of course i don't know if they're doing a good job or not.

neither do they...

 

[Space Satan]

Because why not?

 

[Space Satan]

It gets better

 

[Lone Wolf]

If any of you are Star Trek fans, then you should look into the New Horizons mod for Stellaris, which might end up being the definitive Star Trek strategy gaming experience.

 

[SmartCheetah]

It gets better

Is this from some mod, or this new update/expansion/dlc? Looks definitely interesting. That could potentially create a lot of nice events (ofc if it won't end up as a +/- happiness factor only)