Please explain a little more about guardians

[weregamer]

There's almost no in-game info, and the trailer doesn't fill in all the holes.

I see that my Unfallen starting world already has a "guardian" pop that can't be moved and gives some nice bonuses for a pop - though nowhere near so nice as to be a major feature of the race (and cost 40 points as a custom pick). That much makes sense, I think. But it also has a curiosity that I can't unlock at the beginning, which says "guardian". After getting my curiosity level up, exploring it says "guardian" but no further text, and nothing happens.

Exploring around, I find "guardian" curiosities elsewhere. Exploring them says "guardian" and does nothing. Colonizing those worlds later reveals nothing either.

I have a nasty suspicion that exploring a "guardian" curiosity when the planet is not colonized or already is at max pop wastes it. If that's the case, it's a serious problem that there's no confirmation or consolation prize. I'm usually cruising through unexplored territory exploring every curiosity I find, and having to stop to look at the type of every one would be seriously annoying.

[Olden Sloe]

As they say in France, "On Guard" - that is all I know.

[b3nt0]

haha bags, it seems to function as additional troops
If you invade you can actually insert guardian population into the planet.

[Astasia]

When you explore a guardian curiosity a guardian pop is added to that planet and the planet population cap is increased by one. It doesn't matter if the planet is already colonized or not, when you do colonize it that guardian will be there.

There are two positive effects from guardians as the unfallen. The first is a +20 influence bonus on any system with a guardian. The second is a stacking +5 global happiness bonus on every system you own for every guardian pop in the galaxy on an owned planet (owned by you or other AIs, doesn't matter).

I don't know what the negative effects of guardians are on other factions because I don't have any interest in playing against an unfallen. They are worse than cravers at ruining the map.

[weregamer]

OK, thanks!

[Wintermute]

Another question them - is it possible to explore guardians without scout ship? Anomaly is permanently grayed out for me, saying my curiosity meter isn't enough (which is weird since I'm almost finished with exploration tree). Scouts do manage to explore them, but it's still kinda weird.

[Astasia]

No, you need a probe. I'm not sure why it works that way.

[Gorbash]

Guardians are worth their weight in gold and every cent of those 40 picks...
they add a general 5(6?) happiness bonus to EVERY system you colonize for each guardian living in ur empire...and it does not matter when you open them up, they will still be there when you colonize much later....also easy tip, you can always find guardians on planets with trees (boreal, forest and toxic I believe)...and I think you can explore curiosities in the productionque of the local system (if one planet is already developed)...so probably also guardians (not confirmed)

[weregamer]

As others have said, you can't use the production queue for guardians. You must use a ship. I suspect this is a bug, but it might be intentionsl.