Store Page
Stellaris
All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos Workshop News Guides Reviews

Stellaris

Store Page
Stellaris >  Workshop > Alexus's Workshop
Not enough ratings
Expensive Expansion
Description Discussions0 Comments12 Change Notes
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Balance, Economy, Gameplay
File Size
Posted
Updated
257.848 KB
Mar 28, 2023 @ 6:40pm
Jan 22 @ 3:41pm
5 Change Notes ( view )
Created by
Alexus
Online
See all 14 collections (some may be hidden)
516 Unique Visitors
124 Current Subscribers
31 Current Favorites

Subscribe to download
Expensive Expansion

Description
This mode increases expansion cost by x10 times. This affect both starbase cost, distance multipliers and system claims.
Making base starbase cost 750 influence and base system claim cost 500 influence.

This results in more classic Sci-Fi like galaxies with smaller nations that span up to a dozen systems, with lots of empty space in between that will stay wild for most of the game.
This forces to expand more strategically claiming most valuable systems first and also gives much more sense to settle systems far from your core to claim planets, megastructures or critical resources.
Federation and Vassals playstyles are also strengthened due to a high system claim cost.

This mod is more fun with galaxy full of nations so putting max nations and max primitives is a good idea. With this mod a lot of primitives manage to reach space by themselves as they are not conquered by developed nations in 100% cases anymore.
12 Comments
< >
Alexus  [author] Mar 20 @ 4:52pm 
@axossk the think is that this is a bug in Stellaris. In defines it's clearly stated that cost of claiming system should never be over 1000, but for vassals with controlled expansion there is no max value check.

Raising influence cap is definitely one of solutions, but I'm not a huge fan of it. I'm wondering if it's possible to apply reverse discount for controlled expansion vassals to bring them back to a 1000 max cost.
axossk Mar 6 @ 3:12am 
What do you think about raising the influence cap?
I'm not sure vassals with controlled expansion can actually expand because the costs might be higher than 1000 influence.
axossk Feb 25 @ 6:51am 
Thanks to you & your 2 mods, I'll never play vanilla again.
Alexus  [author] Jan 7 @ 7:40pm 
Added ability to configure lower logistics ceiling (down to 0.05) and higher growth scale (100 max), so that population growth is much slower galaxy wide. Moving midgame and endgame by 100 years away might be a good options if you want to be ready for crisis.
KLS Jun 21, 2024 @ 4:06pm 
And exterminators and swarms are a bit broken in this mod because they don't need much influence to get new systems / can claim enemy systems for free. Never had a problem in a game with AI but if a player uses them it isn't a good experience, because they can grow at normal Stellaris speed and don't face much danger (some Federations could stand a chance but if you expand fast you can just eat your way through the galaxy).
Except for that I really like the slow and chilled games with that mod.
KLS Jun 21, 2024 @ 3:56pm 
How/Where can I change the cost (x5 /x3)?
Annarresti Jan 19, 2024 @ 2:19am 
Don't apologise for your hobby! People get so demanding of mod authors and really shouldn't.
It's a great mod, anyway. Yep that sounds great. I love the idea of slower expansion and longer exploration. What multiplier is it on at the moment out of interest? It feels like *a lot*. I also like the idea of growth via tech and productivity. Looking forward to everything you mentioned!
Alexus  [author] Jan 18, 2024 @ 6:08pm 
@Annarresti, yes, I have a private version of this mode with different settings and also version that makes it only 1 influence to claim the system.

I should really upload updates and all those mod sub-types. I'm somewhat guilty of making mods just for myself and my own games.

I promise to revisit this one with such plan:
- Add option of x5 and x3 (use other mod if can't change #DEFINES via UI)
- Add Cheap Expansion x5, x10, x100 (free close systems), x1000 (free anywhere in the galaxy)
- WHEN: By the end of Feb 2024 :-) pinky swear

P.S. Honestly my biggest mod focus in last 1-2 months was on new Expensive Growth mod that replaces how we develop in Stellaris. Instead of turning empire into a breeding farm for pops with hundreds of planets, development more done via optimisation, tech and productivity growth.

Major motivation - remove endgame lag.
Annarresti Jan 17, 2024 @ 3:47pm 
This is a great concept, but would a "lite" mode be possible? I.e. still expensive to expand, but not *so* expensive that it slows things to a crawl.
Alexus  [author] Apr 22, 2023 @ 7:17pm 
@Sedmeister I think there is not much change there. In my last play through, galaxy was split between few overlords in 50-70 years with ~15 nations. What's weird is that overlords weren't that much stronger than first vassals, then there were a snowball effect.
I never thought deeply about that problem, but maybe can tinker with vassal problem in future. Anyway this would be beyond the focus of that mod.

@Pesissos I'm sorry I haven't tried compatibility with other mods but others from my "Expensive <something>" mod set. Generally if some other mod overrides cost of outpost that would break my mod. You can try to change loading priority :-) that might help.