Dear Stellaris Fans,

Our latest and greatest version of the game, the 3.12.5 patch, is now live and available for download.

This patch brings further fixes and tweaks and wraps up our 3.12 + The Machine Age release cycle.
Please find the patch notes below.


Improvement

• Obsessional Directive empires that control a black hole now get an option for safe and secure storage for their commodities.
  
• Reworked how Fallen Empires view empires trying to match their technological level. Unless you're a Scion, any FE level tech you acquire will accrue a stacking opinion penalty with them, that is doubled for the materialist Fallen Empire.
  
• Added new building icons for the Sensorium and Simulation Sites and their upgrades
  
• Species list will not longer show founder species from various contacts that do not even have any presence on any of the planets.
  
• Megastrutures that are supposed to be built outside the gravity well will not be displayed in the list whilte trying to build one on top of planets or stars.
  
• Nanite deposits with non-zero available quantity below 1 now appear in galaxy and solar system views
  
• Nanotech empires will no longer receive ships every 5 years, and will instead gain an equivalent amount of nanites with which to build ships. They now have access to the Interdictor ship, a battleship alternative with a fixed nanite cost that can use torpedoes and hangars.

UI

• The first Outliner tab now includes military fleets, civilian ships and armies by default.

Balance

• Constructing an Arc Furnace in a system will now remove all trade deposits to make way for the mining stations
  
• Increased the output of Haruspex and Technophants.
  
• Haruspex now produce 3 Unity and 2.5 Engineering Research (was 2 Unity and 2 Engineering Research).
  
• Technophants now produce 6 Unity and 5 Engineering Research (was 4 Unity and 4 Engineering Research).
  
• Spyware Directives now start with Basic Cloaking Fields as a research option
  
• Synaptic Subprocessing for Hive Minds now grants Augmentor Drones to Spawning Pools instead of Modular Cybernetics, however the effect on Empire Size from Districts was halved
  
• Modular Cybernetics now grants Hive Minds +3 Organic Species Trait Points as they cannot research robotic technologies
  
• The AI Emporium Branch Office Holding no longer provides +5% resources from jobs, instead it provides +1 Identity Designer job and +10% Branch Office Value from Roboticists and Identity Designers. This allows the empire in which it is constructed to assemble robots even if they do not have the required technology. However, only one can be constructed in each empire in which you have a branch office and it can only be constructed if the empire has not outlawed robots.
  
• The Customer Insights edict now reduces both the energy and influence cost for Branch Offices
  
• The Empire Size Effect for Integrated Hives has been reduced from -50% to -33%
  
• Empire Size from Pops for OTA Updates has been reduced from -20% to -15%
  
• Empire Size from Pops from Harmony and Synchronicity tradition trees have been reduced from -15% to -10%
  
• Cetana's relic now provides -50% planetary ascension cost, down from 75%.
  
• The job strata bonuses from Synthesization have been rebalanced, moved to the robot assembly buildings, and apply to both regular empires and Synthetic Fertility

Bugfix

• Planets which had an anomaly present while an Arc Furnace was constructed will now correctly inherit all the deposits when the anomaly is cleared, if the planet can support mining deposits
  
• Updated many anomalies to no longer remove deposits if applicable.
  
• Gone Native' event has default text in case none of the other options were appropriate
  
• AI Empires will check if they already have an assigned emissary for the galactic community before assigning a new one.
  
• AI will assign emissaries to the Galactic Community.
  
• AI will check if a federation already has an assigned representative before assigning a new one. Will prevent it from continually switching representatives.
  
• Cybernetic Creed start event duplication blocked
  
• Fallen Empires created by Cosmogenesis should now no longer sometimes be created tragically without a personality.
  
• Federation/Galcom fleet template size is now limited by the corresponding capacity, not by the command limit.
  
• Fixed Augmentation Bazaars sometimes not granting the full effects from some Cyberization choices
  
• Fixed Expand the Council agenda behavior for savefiles that predate Galactic Paragons DLC
  
• Fixed former federation fleets being treated as federation fleets when checking which ship designs can be added to the template.
  
• Fixed some logical errors for the Bot Lord, Truth Seeker and Shroud Preacher traits
  
• Fixed the concept tooltip for Machine Template System
  
• Fixed the nanite deposit scaling
  
• Fixed the void dweller origin sometimes trying to spawn a mining station around the habitat central complex
  
• Hide Dyson Sphere build option when Machine DLC is enabled
  
• Increased the animation speed of Imperial Colossus. Now it has enough time to trigger laser beam animation.
  
• New rulers will properly abandon their old council positions.
  
• Paradox titan graphics no longer uses the same mesh twice and looks broken.
  
• Pre-sapient pop will no longer display colony abandonment cost if only one sapient pop is left on the planet.
  
• Psionic species variants can be cyberized
  
• Refugees will no longer flee to places where they will be dismantled on arrival
  
• Replaced most checks for the Servile, Nerve Stapled, Zombie and Suppressed traits with the can_think trait.
  
• Science ships using automation should no longer excavate archeology sites that aren't available to the owning empire.
  
• Script error in resort worker job block
  
• The Psionic Theory no longer tries to check if your empire has the Psionic Expertise trait, instead it checks if a Councilor has the trait.
  
• The tooltip for Diplomatic Weight now states "Delegate" instead of "Envoys"
  
• The Victory Score breakdown will now correctly include Victory Score from effects in its Score calculation at the top of the screen.
  
• When a country leaves a federation, its federation fleet templates are now transferred to the president.
  
• When a federation is disbanded, the president takes control of all federation fleet templates, including ones without a fleet.
  
• When a non-president country builds a federation fleet from a template, the template is now transferred to the president along with the fleet.
  
• When the GDF changes ownership, GDF fleet templates without actual fleets are now transferred.
  
• The Eternal Throne relic still grants immortality after the Eternal Machine species trait has been modified away.
  
• Arc Furnace and Dyson Swarm limits no longer suffer an off-by-one error
  
• Outposts raids conducted by multiple fleets should no longer be cut short after one of the fleets is destroyed.
  
• Made sure that non player countries are properly destroyed upon activation of the Aetherophasic Engine.
  
• The Reformed Queen event should now properly display Cetana.
  
• Ministry of Acquisition checks for Overlord Consumer Goods Use
  
• Ship preview should no longer black out when viewing certain ships

AI

• AI empires can no longer adopt Virtuality.

Stability

• Fixed crash in federation fleet ui entry after resync
  
• Fixed crash in federation member UI item when resyncing
  
• Fixed crash upon loading a save with faulty owners of megastructures
  
• Fixed CTD when technology without tech area is processed by the database
  
• Fixes oos related to mining planet megastructure
  
• Fixed CTD at startup on older macOS (before 13.x) due to missing library

Modding

• Added on_auto_colony_type_changed on_action.
  
• Added the Servile trait to the can_think scripted trigger

The team will now shift focus to our next major release, as well as take some vacation in between.

See you again after summer!

by Eladrin

Hello everyone!

This week the 3.12.4 hotfix (which fixed a crash related to non-latin letters in usernames) has been deployed to non-Steam platforms.

Today I’ve got a preliminary list of changes for the 3.12.5 patch, which we currently have planned for Tuesday, June 18th.


Improvement​

• Democratic Crusaders no longer hate Worker Coops for being Oligarchies
  
• Obsessional Directive empires that control a black hole now get an option for safe and secure storage for their commodities.
  
• Reworked how Fallen Empires view empires trying to match their technological level. Unless you're a Scion, any FE level tech you acquire will accrue a stacking opinion penalty with them, that is doubled for the materialist Fallen Empire.
  
• Added new building icons for the Sensorium and Simulation Sites and their upgrades
  
• Species list will not longer show founder species from various contacts that do not even have any presence on any of the planets.

Balance​

• Constructing an Arc Furnace in a system will now remove all trade deposits to make way for the mining stations
  
• Increased the output of Haruspex and Technophants.
  
  • Haruspex now produce 3 Unity and 2.5 Engineering Research (was 2 Unity and 2 Engineering Research).
    
  • Technophants now produce 6 Unity and 5 Engineering Research (was 4 Unity and 4 Engineering Research).
• Spyware Directives now start with Basic Cloaking Fields as a research option
  
• Synaptic Subprocessing for Hive Minds now grants Augmentor Drones to Spawning Pools instead of Modular Cybernetics, however the effect on Empire Size from Districts was halved
  
• Modular Cybernetics now grants Hive Minds +3 Organic Species Trait Points as they cannot research robotic technologies
  
• The AI Emporium Branch Office Holding no longer provides +5% resources from jobs, instead it provides +1 Identity Designer job and +10% Branch Office Value from Roboticists and Identity Designers. This allows the empire in which it is constructed to assemble robots even if they do not have the required technology. However, only one can be constructed in each empire in which you have a branch office and it can only be constructed if the empire has not outlawed robots.
  
• The Customer Insights edict now reduces both the energy and influence cost for Branch Offices
  
• The Empire Size Effect for Integrated Hives has been reduced from -50% to -33%
  
• Empire Size from Pops for OTA Updates has been reduced from -20% to -15%
  
• Empire Size from Pops from Harmony and Synchronicity tradition trees have been reduced from -15% to -10%
  
• Cetana's relic now provides -50% planetary ascension cost, down from 75%.
  
• The job strata bonuses from Synthesization have been rebalanced, moved to the robot assembly buildings, and apply to both regular empires and Synthetic Fertility

Bugfix​

• Planets which had an anomaly present while an Arc Furnace was constructed will now correctly inherit all the deposits when the anomaly is cleared, if the planet can support mining deposits
  
• Updated many anomalies to no longer remove deposits if applicable.
  
• Gone Native' event has default text in case none of the other options were appropriate
  
• AI Empires will check if they already have an assigned emissary for the galactic community before assigning a new one.
  
• AI will assign emissaries to the Galactic Community.
  
• AI will check if a federation already has an assigned representative before assigning a new one. Will prevent it from continually switching representatives.
  
• Cybernetic Creed start event duplication blocked
  
• Fallen Empires created by Cosmogenesis should now no longer sometimes be created tragically without a personality.
  
• Federation/Galcom fleet template size is now limited by the corresponding capacity, not by the command limit.
  
• Fixed Augmentation Bazaars sometimes not granting the full effects from some Cyberization choices
  
• Fixed Expand the Council agenda behavior for savefiles that predate Galactic Paragons DLC
  
• Fixed former federation fleets being treated as federation fleets when checking which ship designs can be added to the template.
  
• Fixed some logical errors for the Bot Lord, Truth Seeker and Shroud Preacher traits
  
• Fixed the concept tooltip for Machine Template System
  
• Fixed the nanite deposit scaling
  
• Fixed the void dweller origin sometimes trying to spawn a mining station around the habitat central complex
  
• Hide Dyson Sphere build option when Machine DLC is enabled
  
• Increased the animation speed of Imperial Colossus. Now it has enough time to trigger laser beam animation.
  
• New rulers will properly abandon their old council positions.
  
• Paradox titan graphics no longer uses the same mesh twice and looks broken.
  
• Pre-sapient pop will no longer display colony abandonment cost if only one sapient pop is left on the planet.
  
• Psionic species variants can be cyberized
  
• Refugees will no longer flee to places where they will be dismantled on arrival
  
• Replaced most checks for the Servile, Nerve Stapled, Zombie and Suppressed traits with the can_think trait.
  
• Science ships using automation should no longer excavate archeology sites that aren't available to the owning empire.
  
• Script error in resort worker job block
  
• The Psionic Theory no longer tries to check if your empire has the Psionic Expertise trait, instead it checks if a Councilor has the trait.
  
• The tooltip for Diplomatic Weight now states "Delegate" instead of "Envoys"
  
• The Victory Score breakdown will now correctly include Victory Score from effects in its Score calculation at the top of the screen.
  
• When a country leaves a federation, its federation fleet templates are now transferred to the president.
  
• When a federation is disbanded, the president takes control of all federation fleet templates, including ones without a fleet.
  
• When a non-president country builds a federation fleet from a template, the template is now transferred to the president along with the fleet.
  
• When the GDF changes ownership, GDF fleet templates without actual fleets are now transferred.

Stability​

• Fixed crash in federation fleet ui entry after resync
  
• Fixed crash in federation member UI item when resyncing
  
• Fixed crash upon loading a save with faulty owners of megastructures
  
• Fixed CTD when technology without tech area is processed by the database
  
• Fixes oos related to mining planet megastructure

Modding​

• Added on_auto_colony_type_changed on_action.
  
• Added the Servile trait to the can_think scripted trigger

Barring the unexpected, this is expected to be the final release of the "Andromeda" patch cycle, so your mods are safe until the storms blow them away with the 3.13 "Vela" release coming in Q3 2024.


Next Tuesday we’ll find out what this is about:

We’re also going to have a Stellaris Free Weekend starting on June 20th, running through the weekend.

To help our new players out, next Thursday’s dev diary will be "Tips from the Developers".

See you then!

Hello,

A hotfix patch is now available via Steam, addressing a crash affecting some players trying to start a new game in 3.12.3.

• Fixed a crash where the user directory could not be accessed by the game if the file path included certain characters

Thanks for playing Stellaris, and apologies for the inconvenience!

by Eladrin

Hi everyone!

The 3.12.3 “Andromeda” patch was released this week, with the following changes:
Feature​

• Added tradition agendas for Modularity, Nanotech and Virtuality
  
• Some megastructures (mostly kilostructures) can now be dismantled if you have the technology to build them and are not at war.
  
• Solar system tooltips now show the arc furnace and habitat potential of a system, if you meet the construction requirements for the megastructures

Improvement​

• Added heir titles to Mortal Empire and Bandit Kingdom governments
  
• Added missing heir titles for Imperial governments
  
• Added more character names to the Cyberpunk list
  
• Added tooltips to the Transformation situation to summarize the different ascension paths in the event that you make a choice of which path to select.
  
• Awakened fallen empires now can use the daedalus seal relic.
  
• Completing the Synthetic Fertility event chain will now grant additional robot modification trait points and picks and award a unique trait for your synths
  
• Cybernetic Creed pops can now be modified
  
• Democratic Crusaders no longer hate Worker Coops for being Oligarchies
  
• Non-Spiritualist pops in a Cybernetic Creed empire now only have the Cybernetic Creed traits removed instead of all Cyborg traits
  
• Redesigned top-menu resource tooltips for clarity
  
• Robots Pops are now called Machine or Mechanical Pops in most places
  
• Scavenger civics now have 10% of the base cost of buildings, districts and megastructures refunded upon dismantling them
  
• Selecting a Cybernetic Creed as your sole Spiritualist faction no longer forces a template onto your species
  
• The Commodities Consolidation situation will now show if you are on track to produce enough consumer goods or if you do not have enough storage space to the quota. Thanks to SirBlackAxe for the improvement suggestions!
  
• Your choice in the Virtual Salvation event now influences the Synthetic Society Shift in the Digital Refactoring event chain

Balance​

• Added Election Term Variance (Years): +5 to the Shadow Council civic. This means that each election will have a term length equal to that of the authority +/- a random number of years between -5 and +5.
  
• Added Election Term Length (Years): -50% to the Worker Cooperative civic, giving empires with this civic the same term length as the democratic authority.
  
• All Virtual empires (either Machines that take Virtuality traditions or Organic empires that adopt a Virtual government after completing Synthetic Ascension) now get access to the Virtual Economic Policy
  
• Buffed the Mutual Aid trade policy to also provide unity
  
• Cosmogenesis Battlecruiser and Titans now use reactors one class above theirs, and should now provide ample power for modules.
  
• Dark Matter Engine effects reduced from +60% to +40%
  
• Increased the effects of the modifier nerfing FE against Cetana.
  
• Machine World planet designation now increases the output of all jobs by 5% instead of only simple drones and increases the build speed of all resource districts by 25%
  
• Made Rogue Servitors slightly more likely to build organic sanctuaries and their upgrades
  
• Reduced the time needed to complete the special projects "The Queen's Databank" and "Cetana: Race The Tempest"
  
• Selecting a Cybernetic Creed as your sole Spiritualist faction now awards a country modifier for that Creed - these modifiers are:
  
  • The Fellowship of the Hammer, Elevated Fellowship, +1 Biological Trait Points, +1 Biological Trait Picks, -10% Building and District Upkeep, -10% Megastructure Upkeep
    
  • The Templars of Steel, Elevated Templars, +1 Biological Trait Points, +1 Biological Trait Picks, +5% Naval Capacity
    
  • The Choir of the Mind, Elevated Choir, +1 Biological Trait Points, +1 Biological Trait Picks, +5% Research Speed, +5% Researcher Upkeep
    
  • The Commune of Toil, Elevated Commune, +1 Biological Trait Points, +1 Biological Trait Picks, +10% Cyborg Happiness
    
  • The United Creeds has their modifier changed to +2 Biological Trait Points, +1 Biological Trait Picks
• Selecting a Cybernetic Creed as your sole Spiritualist faction now gives +10% Faction Approval for the Creed
  
• Selecting the physical path for Synthetic Ascension now unlocks the advanced traits from Modularity
  
• Shielded Components points cost reduced from 4 to 3
  
• Synthetic Imperial authorities no longer have -10% pop assembly speed
  
• Synthetic Oligarchic authorities now have Enforcer provide +10% Resources from Ruler Jobs instead of +5%
  
• Synthetic Physical Corporate government now gives +5% Trade Value
  
• Synthetic Physical Imperial government now gives +2 leader starting level and +10% leader XP gain
  
• Synthetic Virtual Corporate government now gives +1 Codebreaking
  
• The additional trait picks and points awarded by Cybernetic Creed now only apply to biological species
  
• The Augmentations of the Commune now gives +20% Worker Output, but no longer gives +20% Worker Happiness
  
• The Bot Lord destiny trait is now available for all leader classes and now instead increases the production and decreases the upkeep of both robots and cyborgs. It is twice as likely to show up if you are an individual machine or have synthetic or cybernetic ascension.
  
• The Computation Core Focus policy for Synthetic MegaCorps no longer removes the +1% Trade Value modifier from Clerks and the Production Streamlining option now also increases Consumer Goods production in addition to alloys.
  
• The Nanotech World designation now also affects agri-drones if you build hydroponic farms on the planet
  
• The Shroud Preacher and Truth Seeker destiny traits are now blocked if you have undertaken another a non-psionic path. They are twice as likely to show up if you have psionic ascension. The traits no longer require spiritualist ethics
  
• Virtuality Adoptions grants a -15% metallurgist and artisan production
  
• Virtuality Policy now grants +80%/-50%, down from +100%/-40%

Bugfix​

• Added a homeworld or planet preference to multiple event species, mainly machines
  
• Added a plural version of the loc for synaptic lathe districts
  
• Added a warning to Synthetic Age that it will not grant a new tradition if you have no tradition slots left
  
• Added military academy to shattered ring and habitat
  
• Added more checks to prevent Worker Coops from using banned trade policies
  
• Assembly tooltip will now combine empire wide add modifiers into the same category.
  
• Becoming a machine removes the brain slug trait from leaders
  
• Blocked parades and deficits from targeting the synaptic lathe
  
• Cetana's fleets now begin at 1st
  
• Changed resilience bonus for immortal leaders
  
• Changed Synthetic Dawn machine empire gender to indeterminable.
  
• Changed the cost of the Integrated Mega Construction edict so it wouldn't break the UI
  
• Clarified the loc of the AI policy and machine Citizenships
  
• Colony ships for Synthetic Fertility now use energy instead of food or minerals
  
• Completely new fleet will be able to accept more than the default 20 ships by forcing an early modifier update.
  
• Corrected icons for Zero Waste Protocols and Diplomatic Protocols
  
• Corrected the highlighting on the Free at Last concept tooltip
  
• Corrected the names of some gestalt agendas
  
• create_species effect can no longer create species without habitability traits
  
• Cyberization can handle multiple species templates
  
• Defenders of the galaxy can not become a crisis anymore
  
• Destroyed orbital rings are no longer duplicated
  
• Dyson Swarm's stage name 1 is now properly displayed in Russian
  
• election_term_variance values for government authorities now behave as expected and go negative.
  
• First contract breakthrough chance is now affected by encryption.
  
• Fixed a bug where players would occasionally not receive the "Mysterious Tempest" special project needed to declare war to Cetana
  
• Fixed a bunch of typos reported on the forums
  
• Fixed a couple of issues with coordinator districts and virtuality traditions
  
• Fixed a crash when switching between countries while in observer mode with the Leader View open.
  
• Fixed a number of capital buildings checking for the wrong synthetics tradition to add roboticist jobs
  
• Fixed an issue that allowed you to keep playing after Cetana won
  
• Fixed an issue with the Mother Knows Best achievement being incorrectly configured for some storefronts
  
• Fixed Archaeology and Astral Rift exploration failure probability sometimes showing nonsense values
  
• Fixed building type AI weight calculations again
  
• Fixed cloaking effect for Enigma Battlecruiser and Paradox Titan
  
• Fixed Clone Army and Natural Design not being mutually exclusive
  
• Fixed Cybernetic Creed pops sometimes not growing if there were robots present on the planet
  
• Fixed job weights for Resort Workers
  
• Fixed leaders undergoing synthetic ascension not changing age correctly
  
• Fixed Natural Design civics sometimes starting with more buildings than the capital could support
  
• Fixed some errors in the calculations for merc enclave dividend payout frequency
  
• Fixed some minor typos with traditions
  
• Fixed the "Mass Graves" blocker not having a description.
  
• Fixed the additional priest jobs from Virtuality traditions not actually checking for the tradition
  
• Fixed the extra clerk jobs from Virtuality traditions granting the wrong number of jobs
  
• Fixed the habitability for secondary species for Driven Assimilators and Rogue Servitors with some origins
  
• Fixed the Rulerchip being reset whenever you gain a new relic
  
• Fixed unlocalized string for the machine ring world habitability trait
  
• Fixes issues with modification of uplifted species
  
• Fruitful Partnership Origin: stopped critters from leaving seeds on artificial worlds and habitats
  
• Full citizenship for robots requires tech Artificial Administration
  
• Gave the machine fallen empire ring world preference
  
• High-Level Enhancements now provides +1 Unity from Bio-Trophies for Rogue Servitors
  
• Hiveminds can now purge hiveminds again
  
• Keep the Transformation deposits when terraforming into a Machine World
  
• Landing armies on the synaptic lathe is forbidden
  
• Leaders in empires with Feudal Society now correctly require upkeep
  
• Limited the first contact breakthrough and insight gain percentages to values between 0 and 100 percent.
  
• Loading a save should now unassign scientists from the pre-3.8 research areas.
  
• Machines with the Shattered Ring origin now require robomodding techs in order to modify their machine species
  
• Made AI realize it can not take FEs with 10k fleetpower
  
• Made explosion after cracking lathe/habitat/ringworld stick until it has played thru.
  
• Made the language used for trait points and trait picks modifiers consistent
  
• Make sure planet jobs are properly refreshed upon building/district build queue actions finishes.
  
• Ministry of Acquisition now correctly produces Consumer Goods if the overlord uses them
  
• Moved warning text for virtuality into tradition adoption effect instead of widely available trait
  
• Moving the capital destroys the old Cyberdome building
  
• Opinion modifiers of Interstellar Assemblies now stacks for each owned Assembly
  
• Other Crises should no longer be allowed to spawn while the Synth Queen is ongoing
  
• Pops on the lathe can not be assimilated
  
• Pops that are turned Virtual while on the Lathe, will have their Virtuality trait quietly removed
  
• Progenitor hives now receive the correct jobs from the Fallen Empire clinic buildings.
  
• Reduced the likelihood of designation switching for foundry and factory worlds
  
• Refugees won't willingly resettle to the Synaptic Lathe anymore
  
• Removed mentions of stockpiles from the Delete Sector tooltip
  
• Removed the formless from the end-game crisis list, which might have caused some issues regarding crisis spawning
  
• Removed the reference to the Server Load Reduction decision, since it is no longer available
  
• Removed useless "go to" camera button in the "No Response" event
  
• Show disabled crisis button on Synaptic Lathe view in case another empire takes it over.
  
• Show large weapon slot and hangars as separate entries for sections in ship designer
  
• Special project names in tooltips are now highlighted in yellow
  
• Special projects to raid outposts should now get properly cleared after failing a raid and new projects should display the proper location instead of the empire name.
  
• Subsuming a planet into a nanite world now correctly removes planetary modifiers and features
  
• Synthetic Fertility gets access to edicts Subsidized Identity Backups and Optimized Identity Creation
  
• Synthetic Fertility should now always have access to the AI right policy
  
• Synthetic Fertility: Keep the organic species portrait in the Identity Repository and Robot Surrogates are now non-holographic
  
• Terraforming planets related to Keides event chain now removes their unique features
  
• The Artifact Exhibition planetary decision is now available for Haruspex jobs
  
• The brainmines now require a minimum sapience
  
• The Determined Exterminator civic no longer mentions that you start on a tomb world
  
• The FE robot assembly building should no longer be automatically destroyed after being built.
  
• The Grand Battlements of Steel and Aegis Complex now provide FTL inhibitors
  
• The limit on the number of built Dyson Swarm and Arc Furnaces now correctly includes structures under construction
  
• The modifiers from the Rulerchip are now listed in the same order as leader classes in the leader UI
  
• The Nanotech World designation now requires the Unbridled Consumption tradition
  
• The United Creeds now have their unique faction icon
  
• Unique planetary features added through the Transformation situation and Genesis Guides civics are now kept when restoring a shattered ringworld or turning a planet into an ecumenopolis
  
• Updated Archaeological Site Excavation failure probability to show accurate number on the tooltip.
  
• Updated Astral Rift Exploration failure probability to show accurate number on the tooltip.
  
• Virtual Pops are now properly blocked from resettling on the lathe
  
• Wrecked Fleet event only fires once afterwards, notifications are given
  
• You can now only trade one leader at a time
  
• Initial election for countries now takes into account modifiers to election term length

Stability​

• Adding check to start_astral_action_cooldown effect for validating that the country type can use astral actions (currently either playable or has the ai interior_minister_module) instead of potentially crashing.
  
• Fixed CTD when a non playable empire decides to lock wormholes etc
  
• Fixed OOS in hotjoin/resync due to clients cleaning up invalid ship components

UI/UX​

• Added "Build Megastructure" option to fleet order context menu in galaxy view.
  
• Fixed planet "Build Megastructure" command not correctly hiding unbuildable megastructures from the list.
  
• Fixed some incorrect leader assignment text.
  
• Fixed subscription's title not being localized in the popup when buying it through the additional content browser.
  
• Fixed zoom animation not playing if you go to system view for the last system that you visited in system view.
  
• Implemented unique icons for galactic focuses concerning mid-game and end-game crises
  
• System megastructure selection view tooltips show detailed fail text for non-planet-specific checks.
  
• The Science Nexus build tooltip no longer shows "Exists" fail text in systems without a starbase.
  
• The government panel now shows your election frequency

Modding​

• Added election_term_variance_add and election_term_variance_mult modifiers
  
• Adding the ability to dismantle megastructures, see megastructure documentation
  
• Readding support for appending portrait sets and implementing it for portrait categories
  
• Removed obsolete is_researching_area and research_leader triggers.
  
• Renamed government_election_years_add and government_election_years_mult to election_term_years_add and election_term_years_mult

We’re currently working on 3.12.4 which will likely be the last patch in the 3.12 “Andromeda” cycle. Summer approaches, and with it, team vacations.

Winds in the fall will bring us the 3.13 “Vela” update, and with it, Cosmic Storms.

Vela is the constellation representing the sails of the Argo Navis, the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed to get the Golden Fleece. We thought it a fitting name for an expansion relating to galactic weather.

As a bit of a sneak peek, I’ll show you some screenshots from the game I’m currently playing.

Note: I cranked up the frequency and intensity of storms up to the absolute max for this run, so a normal galaxy should be a bit more chill.

The storm map mode will make it easier to see what systems are under the effects of storms.

In system view, you’ll see the glowies.

Prediction technologies can help you figure out where the storms may be going.

That’s probably the path it will take, if nothing interferes with it. I wonder if Teersonia will be hit?​

Next week is Sweden’s National Day, so our next dev diary will be June 13th, which I’m currently penciling in as a possible 3.12.4 release date.

See you in two weeks!

by Ealdrin

Hello everybody!

Last week we released 3.12.2 to the public, and since then we’ve been working on further post release support. Today we’ll be going into some of the things we’re planning for a 3.12.3 release. Currently we’re looking at next Thursday as the tentative release date, but we’ll keep you posted.
Following the deluge of feedback from the release of The Machine Age, 3.12.3 will include the following changes:

• Selecting the “physical” path for Synthetic Ascension will unlock the advanced machine traits from the Modularity path for Machines.
  
• Selecting the “virtual” path for Synthetic Ascension will unlock the Virtual Economic Policy from the Virtuality path for Machines. (Though the policy has been rebalanced.)
  
• The unique planetary features added from the Transformation situation are now kept when turning a planet into an ecumenopolis or restoring a shattered ringworld.
  
• Synthetic authorities have been rebalanced.
  
• The Commodities Consolidation situation will now show if you are on track to produce enough consumer goods or if you do not have enough storage space to the quota.
  
• The Virtuality, Modularity and Nanotech tradition trees now have agendas.
  
• Cybernetic Creed:
  
  • Embracing a Cybernetic Creed no longer forces a template onto your species.
    
  • Embracing a Cybernetic Creed now gives +10% Faction Approval when they become your sole Spiritualist faction (This does not apply if you unite the Creeds).
    
  • Embracing a Cybernetic Creed now awards a unique country modifier for that Creed.
    
  • Non-Spiritualist pops in a Cybernetic Creed empire now only have the Cybernetic Creed traits removed instead of all Cyborg traits.
• Synthetic Fertility:
  
  • Your choice in the Virtual Salvation event now influences the Synthetic Society Shift in the Digital Refactoring event chain.
    
  • Finishing the situation now grants access to the Subsidized Identity Backups and Optimized Identity Creation edicts.
    
  • Completing the Synthetic Fertility event chain will now grant additional robot modification trait points and picks and award a unique free trait for your synthetically ascended population.
• Refugees won't willingly resettle to the Synaptic Lathe anymore.
  
• Dark Matter Engines have been reduced from +60% Resource Production to +40%
  
• Virtuality Adoptions grants a -15% metallurgist and artisan production

​
As a small QOL UX improvement, if you can construct Arc Furnaces or Habitats, the tooltips for solar systems will now include a summary of the system potential for both megastructures.

Long have the conquered Hyper Relays of your fallen enemies been the bane of your economy, however in 3.12.3, this will be changing with the addition of the ability to dismantle select kilostructures.

Kilostructures that will be allowed to be dismantled (for a moderate energy and time investment) will be limited to:

• Gateways
  
• Hyper Relays
  
• Dyson Swarms
  
• Arc Furnaces

As always, modders will have the ability to extend this to their megastructures (and make us weep in horror).

The pesky UNE will soon have their railway network dismantled!

Even better if you have a Scavenger civic, dismantling buildings, districts and kilostructures will give you a slight refund on any physical resources used to construct them.

We’ve added the ability for Civics (and other sources of country modifiers) to easily modify the length and variance of election terms along with the government screen now showing the length of election terms in your empire. Two civics have made use of these changes

Worker Cooperative now has a -50% to Election Term Length making it have the same as a regular Democracy.

Meanwhile, Shadow Council now grants +5 to Election Term Variance, as the powers-that-be in the shadows ensure elections never occur on a regular basis.

If all goes according to plan, next week’s dev diary will be the 3.12.3 release notes. I expect that we'll have one more release after that before we head off for the summer, so keep on submitting bug reports and suggestions, they’re very helpful for allocating post-release support resources.

See you next week!

Strap in to your acceleration couches, this one's a going to be a big one. - E

Hello there!

I’m Anton, the Art Manager & Producer on Stellaris, and I would like to welcome you all to this absolute monster of a Dev Diary we have prepared for you!

I just want to use this opportunity to mention how amazing it is to work with these fantastic artists on a day to day basis and how extremely proud I am of the team.
We managed to do a lot for this DLC, more than we’ve done for an expansion or DLC ever before.

In fact the total logged art work time (I just looked at our stats in JIRA) for The Machine Age is over 2 years and 41 weeks.

Truly spectacular. Great job Team!

In the last The Art of The Machine Age dev diary[forum.paradoxplaza.com], we showed you (and talked about the process of) a lot of what we had been doing - but far from it all.

So get comfortable, take out your favorite snack and get ready to look at a lot of art. Almost everything we did for The Machine Age will be showcased - but first, some words from our Art Director.

Alright! Here we go! We hope you enjoy this!


As you have heard countless times already, our latest project, The Machine Age, is the largest pack we’ve ever put out for Stellaris. The reason that you’ve heard it countless times is because we think it’s worth repeating. We have well over double the amount of ships and FX, triple the amount of characters and animation, and probably quadruple the amount of 2D/Icon work. As daunting as that might seem, we pulled it off. And not just pulled it off, but did it without losing any quality and with an unbelievably tight schedule. Sure things were busy, but we can proudly say that we didn’t have to burn the midnight oil or resort to overtime or crunch.

While I would love, as the AD, to just take credit for all of that hard work and bask in the amazing light of glorious praise, the real credit goes to our “Little Art Team That Could”.
In the boundless expanses and the incomprehensibly infinite universe of game design, our small art team shines like a supernova of talent and efficiency. Though few in number, our art team possesses a galaxy's worth of skill and dedication, crafting the most awe-inspiring sci-fi visuals that breathe life into every pixel, every polygon and every frame of Stellaris.
Each artist possesses a bewildering array of talents, with skills so sharp they could slice through space-time, creating shortcuts to other dimensions where deadlines don't exist and cups of caffeinated beverages never run dry. They churn out masterpieces with such alarming speed and regularity that one begins to suspect they've cloned themselves and are operating in shifts spanning multiple parallel universes (Please, do not let HR in on this…).

I am ever thankful for the chance to voyage through the cosmos of Stellaris with such brilliantly unhinged minds. Their talent and relentless dedication are the warp drive to our projects, and their visionary artistry is the very soul of our games. I am ever grateful for their dedication and downright chuffed to navigate the nebulous realms of creativity alongside such splendidly imaginative life forms.

Together, we continue to chart courses that boldly go where no game has gone before. And, as always, to the players, I say: “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

-Scott Austin-
Art Director, Paradox Interactive

[Note from your friendly Stellaris Community Ambassador: Steam will not allow us to include all 150+ images the Art Team has shared in this Dev Diary, so please visit the Paradox forums if you want to see it all!]


Cybernetic Portraits[www.artstation.com]

Synthetic Portraits[www.artstation.com]

The Synthetic Queen[www.artstation.com]


Illustrations[www.artstation.com]

Super Structures & The Synthetic Queen Ships Concepts[www.artstation.com]

The Machine Age Ship Concepts[www.artstation.com]


Cybernetic Portraits[www.artstation.com]

Cybernetic Portraits - Part II[www.artstation.com]

Synthetic Portraits[www.artstation.com]

Illustrations[www.artstation.com]

Concept Art - Ships[www.artstation.com]


Cybernetics Ship Set[www.artstation.com]

Machines Ship Set[www.artstation.com]


Cybernetics Ship Set[www.artstation.com]

Machines ship set[www.artstation.com]

The Synthetic Queen Ships[www.artstation.com]


Cybernetics Ship Set[www.artstation.com]


[Stellaris CA note: the GIFs that go here are too pretty to compress to fit Steam image limits; go look at them on the forums or click through to Erik's ArtStation page.]


Stellaris - The Machine Age - Animations[www.artstation.com]


Achievements, Technologies, Buildings, Authorities, Traits & Civics[www.artstation.com]

The Ruler Chip Relic[www.artstation.com]

Synthetic Fertility Event Image[www.artstation.com]


The Machine Age UI Art - The Synaptic Lathe[www.artstation.com]

The Machine Age UI Art - Cosmogenesis Crisis[www.artstation.com]

The Machine Age UI Art - Tradition Trees, Achievements and Misc[www.artstation.com]


Building Icons - Part I[www.artstation.com]

Building Icons - Part II[www.artstation.com]

Eladrin here. There has been an ongoing discussion about the responsible use of AI tools in game development.

As mentioned in our Steam AI generated content disclosure, during the development of The Machine Age the Stellaris team used text and image generative AI tools for ideation purposes to inspire creativity in a developer, or to aid in explaining a designer’s intent to other members of the development team. We subscribe to the legal opinion that there is no copyright or ownership attached to the output of generative AI, and our team is disallowed from putting any such generated text or image directly into the game.


We have used an advanced text-to-speech AI tool to create a voice for Cetana and the Cyberpunk advisor. The scripts and lines for these voices were created by our Content Design team, and the voice actors that created any voice models that are used by this tool receive payment for each line generated, and will continue to receive payments if more lines are generated using their voice models in the future. The use of this tool allowed our Audio team (with quite a bit of effort as described in Dev Diary #340[forum.paradoxplaza.com]) to fully voice Cetana, and will allow us to keep the advisor voice up-to-date should new mechanics be added to Stellaris over the upcoming years. This will prevent the voice from needing to fall back to the default VIR voice, as many of our other advisors did when Galactic Paragon added Council Agendas.

These technologies are evolving quickly, and personally I have great hopes for further improvements and potential uses of this text-to-speech technology in particular. In the 3.6 “Orion” update we added support for text-to-speech in events as a major accessibility improvement, but currently it is limited to the use of operating system based voice packs. While these audio tools are not yet at a point where we can use this technology to improve that experience, I look forward to a day some years from now where AI-based advanced text-to-speech could replace these relatively crude voices with more thematically appropriate ones, and be able to better handle languages other than English.
​
Next week we’ll be looking at post-release support, and may have a preliminary list of release notes for the next planned patch.

See you then!

Dear Stellaris Fans,

Our first official patch is now ready following last weeks Machine Age release.

3.12.2 is available for download!

This version includes what was made available in the open beta previously, plus a few more fixes and tweaks.

The team is now focusing on the next patch.

3.12.2 Patch Notes
[expand type=details]

Bugfixes

• Added additional checks to prevent fully virtual pops from being created on the lathe
  
• Fix for Hive Mind background unaligned
  
• Fixed Sectors released by Individualist Machines having the wrong ethics
  
• Fixed virtual pops sometimes being created while planets are being colonised
  
• Fixed weapon and strike craft range calculations in ship behavior.
  
• If an active relic gets removed the relic cooldown is now reset.
  
• The paradox titan will now appear correctly in the ship view
  
• Updated Resort Workers, Clerks and Cyberdome Spectators to have trade preference for auto-modding
  
• Uplifted species will now always have their required traits
  
• Blocked Cosmogenesis empires from becoming custodian
  
• Fix for pause being completely blocked in MP forcing the player to rehost
  
• Fixed cybercreed pops not being able to grow if every pop on the planet was spiritualist
  
• Fixed non-spiritualist pops in cybercreed empires sometimes having their augmentation bazaars traits removed
  
• Fixed Determined Exterminators starting with too many planetary features on their homeworld
  
• Hired fleets are now able to properly enter Cetana's territory once the projects have been researched.
  
• Inwards Perfection now provides Pop Assembly Speed to Individual Machines
  
• Megastructures should now correctly hide resources unless they are making use of them.
  
• The Progressive Growth agenda now gives progress on Machine Template System for individualist machines
  
• Trait Integrated Weaponry for cyborgs requires The Machine Age DLC

Balance

• The Progressive Growth agenda now gives progress on Artificial Workforce without needing Powered Exoskeletons

Stability

• Civic tooltip CTD fix
  
• Fix CTD when resync has occured with a player in system view using certain graphical assets
  
• Fixed CTD after resync
  
• Fixed CTD in planetview timed modifier tooltip.
  
• Fixed potential crash in resettlement view tooltips
  
• Fixed rare crash in planet view
  
• Fixed crash when buying subscription from the additional content browser.
  
• Fixed CTD in traits effect tooltip
  
• Fixed CTD when aborting the construction of Synaptic Lathe

AI

• Fixed building type AI weight calculations

Modding

• Added range_components to ship behaviors, which specifies which components to use for range calculations.

[/expand]

Stellaris Game Director Eladrin here!

Earlier this week we released our major expansion for the year and the first “episode” of Stellaris: Season 08 - The Machine Age. The team has worked tirelessly on this expansion, with some (admittedly rough) estimates putting the amount of work that went into this expansion somewhere on the order of 20 man-years.

The Stellaris team and I are overwhelmed by the Community’s response to The Machine Age. We’ve been watching our Community channels closely over the past two days, looking for both the things that you like, and the things that you dislike about the new expansion. But today, we just want to stop for a second to say: Thank you! Thank you for being part of our Community, for playing Stellaris, for the support you’ve shown us over the past eight years, for being excited when we get it right, and for letting us know when we’ve got it wrong.

As an anecdotal example of this, we recently did an AMA on /r/Stellaris (you can find it here): out of the hundreds of questions we had asked, we had 0 comments removed for being inappropriate and/or breaking rules. I don’t know how many Game Directors would be able to come out and say something like that, but I’m gonna gloat about it a little bit during the next Social Hour.

Happy Anniversary, Stellaris Community! ​

Thank you for being there for us over the years. The future of Stellaris looks so bright, we have many more space adventures planned, and we can’t wait to bring you with us through the Cosmic Storms!

by Eladrin

Hello everybody!

The 3.12.1 "Andromeda" release with The Machine Age has gone well, but we have some more bugfixes and stability improvements that didn't quite make it into the release version.

Since this is a holiday-shortened week in Sweden, we won't be releasing these to the live build until next Thursday. In the interim I've asked the team to put up a Steam Open Beta using the stellaris_test branch with the following changes:


Bugfixes

• Added additional checks to prevent fully virtual pops from being created on the lathe
  
• Fix for Hive Mind background unaligned
  
• Fixed Sectors released by Individualist Machines having the wrong ethics
  
• Fixed virtual pops sometimes being created while planets are being colonised
  
• Fixed weapon and strike craft range calculations in ship behavior.
  
• If an active relic gets removed the relic cooldown is now reset.
  
• The paradox titan will now appear correctly in the ship view
  
• Updated Resort Workers, Clerks and Cyberdome Spectators to have trade preference for auto-modding
  
• Uplifted species will now always have their required traits

Stability

• Civic tooltip CTD fix
  
• Fix CTD when resync has occured with a player in system view using certain graphical assets
  
• Fixed CTD after resync
  
• Fixed CTD in planetview timed modifier tooltip.

AI

• Fixes building type AI weight calculations

Modding

• Added range_components to ship behaviors, which specifies which components to use for range calculations.

There may be a few more fixes in next week's release, but we wanted you to get these stability fixes as quickly as possible.

Have a great weekend and thank you for playing Stellaris!

The Machine Age is a time of unbridled progress.

As cybernetic augmentation transcends the limits of the body, synthetic ascension beckons with the promise of eternal life. Structures of immense size and power appear between the stars with shocking regularity. Scientists race to unlock the secrets of creation even as individual machines compete for resources and prestige.

It is a period of technological marvels, rapid change, and unchecked ambition... But from the ashes of a Fallen Empire, a danger unlike any before encountered is about to emerge, a looming threat that will throw the very meaning of life into question.

Welcome to The Machine Age, a new Expansion for Stellaris developed by Paradox Development Studio!

New Endgame Crisis
A tempest rages in space, a Fallen Empire goes dark, and a long-forgotten enemy emerges to shake the foundations of power.

Cetana, the Synthetic Queen, promises to deliver the galaxy from suffering. Her reach is immense, and her true aims opaque. Will you collaborate, or seek to derail her plans? Prepare for a Crisis unlike any other, and a battle beyond imagination…

New Player Crisis Path
We are all bound by limits – constraints of the body, of time, and the physical rules of an uncaring universe. Who among us has not dreamed of casting off these chains? Of breaking through to a new, better reality?

To accomplish such a task, technology on a scale never before seen must be developed. Calculations will be needed far beyond the scope of any computer. Within the Synaptic Lathe, your best and brightest minds must be put to work. If a few are burnt out along the way, so be it. No breakthrough comes without sacrifice.

Individualistic Machines
Your machine empires are no longer limited to gestalt consciousness. What is your story? Were you simple servitors who suddenly acquired consciousness? Will you want to indulge in the pleasures of the material world without the consequences that an organic body would have to suffer? Further customize your empire with 3 new Machine Ascension Paths.

Reactive Cybernetic and Synthetic Portraits
Explore two new sets of portraits for your species that visually represent your advancement through Cybernetic and Synthetic Ascension.

New Situations and Advanced Government Authorities
As you delve ever closer to the mind of the machine, you will have to face new challenges for your society. Every decision matters and the only certainty is that your empire will not be the same after its Ascension.

3 New Origins
Cybernetic Creed - Your empire pursues a divine calling: the holy fusion of the body and cybernetics. Augmentation is worship.

Synthetic Fertility - Once a thriving society, a novel genetic disease leaves your empire unable to reproduce biologically. Digital salvation seems the only option to avoid extinction.

Arc Welders - Hailing from a world starved for space, a robotic society turns to the stars for resources.

On top of that, 6 new Civics, 2 shipsets (Cybernetic and Machine), 2 new superstructures (the molten Arc Furnace and powerful Dyson Swarm), new Pop Traits, and 7 brand new music tracks for the best in synthetic beats!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2840100/Stellaris_The_Machine_Age/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863190/Stellaris_Season_08/

Stellaris: Season 08 includes The Machine Age (Available now!), Cosmic Storms (coming Q3 2024), and The Grand Archive Story Pack (coming Q4 2024). As a bonus, you will also get a new Rick the Cube Machine Portrait and over a 20% discount when compared to buying all the content separately!

Stellaris: The Machine Age (Available now!)
Explore the Cyberpunk Fantasies of technological augmentation and digitalization of consciousness by expanding the possibilities offered in game by the Cybernetics and Synthetics Ascension. Address the moral and social challenges that communing with the machine bring to your space-faring empire, and face a new threat looming over the galaxy… or become a new threat yourself, as you tear through time and space to shape reality to your image

Stellaris: Cosmic Storms (Releases Q3 2024)
A new phenomenon has been observed around the Galaxy - storms are sweeping through systems. Prepare your Empire and brace to face this new upcoming threat, and leverage possibilities that open when your opponents are weakened by it.

Stellaris: The Grand Archive Story Pack (Releases Q4 2024)
The Galaxy is vast and full of wonders, and it is up to you to store records of all the unique lifeforms and marvels you will meet. Build a new megastructure, and collect examples of specimens you will meet in your space-faring adventures!"

Bonus: Rick The Cube Species Portrait
An exclusive portrait for you species, to play as the most enigmatic species in the galaxy. As every Stellaris Species Portrait, it comes with three different variants (phenotypes) and custom animations. Players will be able to select this portrait in the empire creation screen before starting a new game session.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863190/Stellaris_Season_08/