Hello Console Edition Community!
Happy Dev Diary #40! It’s hard to believe that we’ve hit 40 Console Edition Dev Diaries already. Seems like only yesterday we started these things. And it couldn’t’ve happened at a better time, because:
Nemesis and Expansion Pass Five will be available for purchase on May 3rd! Expansion Pass Five includes Nemesis, the Aquatics Species Pack (coming later in 2022), and Overlord (coming 2023)!
Since we only have one dev diary to get through all the features coming in Nemesis… strap yourselves in, this is going to be a long one!
Expanded Espionage
Last week we introduced you to Intel and the Fog of War. The Espionage tab had fewer operations in it the last time we showed it to you.
We’ll briefly run through what each of these operations does:
Steal Technology (Subterfuge, Technology): Through a variety of means, your agents will attempt to gain access to the research databases of the target. Depending on how things go, several outcomes could occur - they might be able to get some hints as to how a technology works (granting it as a research option and providing some progress), they may be able to leave a backdoor (increasing your empire’s research speed for a time), or if things get messy, they could just destroy whatever research they can (inflicting penalties on the target). Your operatives can only take research that your empire has the hope of understanding, so you must meet all appropriate prerequisites, and the Enigmatic Engineering Ascension Perk will stop you from stealing technology at all.
Smear Campaign (Manipulation, Diplomacy): is dedicated to working against the relationship two empires may have. After the first chapter completes, you'll have the choice of which relationship you wish your operatives to attempt to diminish. Later, your agents will inform you of the tactics they want to use, with different schemes proposed based on the nature of the selected empires.
Acquire Asset (Subterfuge, Government): is the most consistent way to gain them. It’s possible to gain Assets through random events during other Operations, but tempting them into your service is much more reliable.
Each Asset has two categories they excel at - one of each from Subterfuge, Sabotage, or Manipulation, and Government, Diplomacy, Military, Economy, or Technology. When an Operation is initiated, you can assign the Asset to be part of it, and for each category that matches, the Asset will make completing the mission easier.
Arm Privateers (Provocation, Economy): It's a fairly advanced Operation requiring an Infiltration level of 60 and has the primary objective of disrupting the target empire by providing weapons and funding to violent and unstable individuals.
Crisis Beacon is an extremely difficult Operation to pull off, but if successful, will add the target's capital system as a target of interest to an ongoing End-Game Crisis. It currently has the highest Infiltration level requirement (80) and cost of any Operation. This will typically require an extremely well-developed Spy Network with numerous Assets.
Become the Crisis
Choosing to Become the Crisis requires picking two other Ascension Perks first, and is not available to xenophiles, pacifists, and rogue servitors. Become the Crisis also cannot be chosen if you’re the Galactic Custodian or the Galactic Emperor. Nor can you become the Custodian or Emperor after picking Become the Crisis.
There is no limit to the number of players that can pick Become the Crisis, but the AI will be less likely to do choose Become the Crisis if there is another empire that has already chosen it.
Menace
Choosing to Become the Crisis will unlock a new progression menu. You will progress through the stages by accumulating Menace from performing evil deeds throughout the galaxy.
After each stage, you will need to complete a special project before you can proceed to the following stage.
Crisis Perks
After unlocking a new Crisis level, you will gain access to certain perks which will give you various advantages towards your ultimate goal. These include the ability to build Menacing Ships (ships constructed out of Minerals instead of Alloys), a Total War CB, increased purge speed, and more.
Once you complete the final stage of Become the Crisis, an Aetherophasic Engine Frame will appear in your capital system, as well as several Star Eaters. The Aetherophasic Engine costs Dark Matter to upgrade, and quite a lot of it. The Star Eaters will produce an amount of Dark Matter for every star they destroy.
The other empires in the galaxy will be less than happy about your plans, and as the stars wink out one by one, they will band together in an attempt to stop you.
Galactic Custodian
There comes a time in every galaxy, when someone or something is trying to light the galaxy on fire. It’s a time when heroes are made, legends are written and dictators--er--crisis fighters are born.
After the establishment of the Galactic Council, it is possible to Nominate a Custodian. There can be many Custodianship proposals in the proposal queue, but only one may pass. The AI is more likely to vote for Custodianship when there is some sort of crisis occurring. It could be marauders, the end-game crisis, or a Become the Crisis crisis.
In order to cut through the red tape, and protect the galaxy, the Galactic Custodian gets extra powers in the Galactic Community. Let's take a look at them:
Prematurely End Session: A Custodian can end the current session after half of its voting period, which will pass or reject the resolution being voted on depending on the voting situation at the time.
Emergency Measures: The Custodian can use the Emergency Measures power to send a proposal to the Senate Floor, but has a much lower cooldown than regular council members.
Shared Intel: The Custodian will gain some Intel on all other members of the Galactic Community, such as knowing their Relative Fleet Power.
Freezing proposals: The custodian can pay 200 influence to freeze a resolution for 4 years, making it impossible for the resolution to move to the Senate Floor for the duration.
Initially, Galactic Custodian will serve for 30 years, after which their powers will be automatically removed and they will become another normal empire. Unless..
Custodian Resolutions
Becoming the Galactic Custodian also brings a new set of resolutions that can be proposed and passed in the Galactic Community. These resolutions let you do things like establish a Galactic Defense Force, Extend or Remove Custodian Term limits, and many others.
Galactic Imperium
Should the Galactic Community choose to give you a Permanent Custodianship (by passing the Remove Custodian Term Limit resolution), a new option will appear in the Custodian Resolutions:
Should this resolution pass, your empire will be renamed to Imperial Core, your ethics will shift towards Authoritarian and your Authority will shift to Imperial. Any civics invalidated by this change will be removed, and you will be given the Imperial Sovereign civic.
All empires in the Galactic Imperium will have their Federations dissolved. You will also retain all the powers granted to you as the Galactic Custodian. If you’ve previously established the Galactic Defense Force it will be renamed the Imperial Armada. Other Custodian resolutions will also be renamed to the Imperial equivalents.
While some things in the newly formed Galactic Imperium will be similar to what you’re familiar with in the Galactic Community, other things will be different, such as:
Imperial Authority
This is a new measure of how tightly you hold the reigns of power in your newly formed Imperium. It can be strengthened by you and other Imperial Members by adding envoys to add to the Imperial Authority.
However, empires dissatisfied with your rule can add envoys to Weaken Imperial Authority. If your Imperial Authority drops below 50, Empires in the Imperium will get a special espionage operation to Spark Rebellion.
Rebellion!
Those who refuse to join the rebels will join a loyalist federation instead, and a war will be declared that pits these two federations against each other. All rebel empires will leave the Imperium for the duration of this war.
If the Rebels win the war, the Imperium is dismantled and reverts back into the Galactic Community. All Rebels will rejoin the Community, Council members lose their seats, and all Loyalists get a temporary debuff to their diplomatic weight for a few years, meaning their influence in the reborn Galactic Community will be limited to begin with. The former Emperor will get even greater diplomatic weight penalties which will also last longer.
If the Loyalists win, the Rebels are all forced back into the Galactic Imperium and they get a temporary debuff which lowers their diplomatic weight for a few years. In addition, Imperial Authority is greatly increased.
Regardless of who wins, the Rebel and Loyalist federations are disbanded.
If the war ends in a Status Quo/White Peace, the Rebels secede from the Imperium, and their Federation stays intact.
Whew! That was a lot of stuff to get through in one Dev Diary. Be sure to pick up Expansion Pass Five on May 3rd for Xbox and Playstation!
Happy Dev Diary #40! It’s hard to believe that we’ve hit 40 Console Edition Dev Diaries already. Seems like only yesterday we started these things. And it couldn’t’ve happened at a better time, because:
Nemesis and Expansion Pass Five will be available for purchase on May 3rd! Expansion Pass Five includes Nemesis, the Aquatics Species Pack (coming later in 2022), and Overlord (coming 2023)!
Since we only have one dev diary to get through all the features coming in Nemesis… strap yourselves in, this is going to be a long one!
Expanded Espionage
Last week we introduced you to Intel and the Fog of War. The Espionage tab had fewer operations in it the last time we showed it to you.
We’ll briefly run through what each of these operations does:
Steal Technology (Subterfuge, Technology): Through a variety of means, your agents will attempt to gain access to the research databases of the target. Depending on how things go, several outcomes could occur - they might be able to get some hints as to how a technology works (granting it as a research option and providing some progress), they may be able to leave a backdoor (increasing your empire’s research speed for a time), or if things get messy, they could just destroy whatever research they can (inflicting penalties on the target). Your operatives can only take research that your empire has the hope of understanding, so you must meet all appropriate prerequisites, and the Enigmatic Engineering Ascension Perk will stop you from stealing technology at all.
Smear Campaign (Manipulation, Diplomacy): is dedicated to working against the relationship two empires may have. After the first chapter completes, you'll have the choice of which relationship you wish your operatives to attempt to diminish. Later, your agents will inform you of the tactics they want to use, with different schemes proposed based on the nature of the selected empires.
Acquire Asset (Subterfuge, Government): is the most consistent way to gain them. It’s possible to gain Assets through random events during other Operations, but tempting them into your service is much more reliable.
Each Asset has two categories they excel at - one of each from Subterfuge, Sabotage, or Manipulation, and Government, Diplomacy, Military, Economy, or Technology. When an Operation is initiated, you can assign the Asset to be part of it, and for each category that matches, the Asset will make completing the mission easier.
Arm Privateers (Provocation, Economy): It's a fairly advanced Operation requiring an Infiltration level of 60 and has the primary objective of disrupting the target empire by providing weapons and funding to violent and unstable individuals.
Crisis Beacon is an extremely difficult Operation to pull off, but if successful, will add the target's capital system as a target of interest to an ongoing End-Game Crisis. It currently has the highest Infiltration level requirement (80) and cost of any Operation. This will typically require an extremely well-developed Spy Network with numerous Assets.
Become the Crisis
Choosing to Become the Crisis requires picking two other Ascension Perks first, and is not available to xenophiles, pacifists, and rogue servitors. Become the Crisis also cannot be chosen if you’re the Galactic Custodian or the Galactic Emperor. Nor can you become the Custodian or Emperor after picking Become the Crisis.
There is no limit to the number of players that can pick Become the Crisis, but the AI will be less likely to do choose Become the Crisis if there is another empire that has already chosen it.
Menace
Choosing to Become the Crisis will unlock a new progression menu. You will progress through the stages by accumulating Menace from performing evil deeds throughout the galaxy.
After each stage, you will need to complete a special project before you can proceed to the following stage.
Crisis Perks
After unlocking a new Crisis level, you will gain access to certain perks which will give you various advantages towards your ultimate goal. These include the ability to build Menacing Ships (ships constructed out of Minerals instead of Alloys), a Total War CB, increased purge speed, and more.
Once you complete the final stage of Become the Crisis, an Aetherophasic Engine Frame will appear in your capital system, as well as several Star Eaters. The Aetherophasic Engine costs Dark Matter to upgrade, and quite a lot of it. The Star Eaters will produce an amount of Dark Matter for every star they destroy.
The other empires in the galaxy will be less than happy about your plans, and as the stars wink out one by one, they will band together in an attempt to stop you.
Galactic Custodian
There comes a time in every galaxy, when someone or something is trying to light the galaxy on fire. It’s a time when heroes are made, legends are written and dictators--er--crisis fighters are born.
After the establishment of the Galactic Council, it is possible to Nominate a Custodian. There can be many Custodianship proposals in the proposal queue, but only one may pass. The AI is more likely to vote for Custodianship when there is some sort of crisis occurring. It could be marauders, the end-game crisis, or a Become the Crisis crisis.
In order to cut through the red tape, and protect the galaxy, the Galactic Custodian gets extra powers in the Galactic Community. Let's take a look at them:
Prematurely End Session: A Custodian can end the current session after half of its voting period, which will pass or reject the resolution being voted on depending on the voting situation at the time.
Emergency Measures: The Custodian can use the Emergency Measures power to send a proposal to the Senate Floor, but has a much lower cooldown than regular council members.
Shared Intel: The Custodian will gain some Intel on all other members of the Galactic Community, such as knowing their Relative Fleet Power.
Freezing proposals: The custodian can pay 200 influence to freeze a resolution for 4 years, making it impossible for the resolution to move to the Senate Floor for the duration.
Initially, Galactic Custodian will serve for 30 years, after which their powers will be automatically removed and they will become another normal empire. Unless..
Custodian Resolutions
Becoming the Galactic Custodian also brings a new set of resolutions that can be proposed and passed in the Galactic Community. These resolutions let you do things like establish a Galactic Defense Force, Extend or Remove Custodian Term limits, and many others.
Galactic Imperium
Should the Galactic Community choose to give you a Permanent Custodianship (by passing the Remove Custodian Term Limit resolution), a new option will appear in the Custodian Resolutions:
Should this resolution pass, your empire will be renamed to Imperial Core, your ethics will shift towards Authoritarian and your Authority will shift to Imperial. Any civics invalidated by this change will be removed, and you will be given the Imperial Sovereign civic.
All empires in the Galactic Imperium will have their Federations dissolved. You will also retain all the powers granted to you as the Galactic Custodian. If you’ve previously established the Galactic Defense Force it will be renamed the Imperial Armada. Other Custodian resolutions will also be renamed to the Imperial equivalents.
While some things in the newly formed Galactic Imperium will be similar to what you’re familiar with in the Galactic Community, other things will be different, such as:
Imperial Authority
This is a new measure of how tightly you hold the reigns of power in your newly formed Imperium. It can be strengthened by you and other Imperial Members by adding envoys to add to the Imperial Authority.
However, empires dissatisfied with your rule can add envoys to Weaken Imperial Authority. If your Imperial Authority drops below 50, Empires in the Imperium will get a special espionage operation to Spark Rebellion.
Rebellion!
Those who refuse to join the rebels will join a loyalist federation instead, and a war will be declared that pits these two federations against each other. All rebel empires will leave the Imperium for the duration of this war.
If the Rebels win the war, the Imperium is dismantled and reverts back into the Galactic Community. All Rebels will rejoin the Community, Council members lose their seats, and all Loyalists get a temporary debuff to their diplomatic weight for a few years, meaning their influence in the reborn Galactic Community will be limited to begin with. The former Emperor will get even greater diplomatic weight penalties which will also last longer.
If the Loyalists win, the Rebels are all forced back into the Galactic Imperium and they get a temporary debuff which lowers their diplomatic weight for a few years. In addition, Imperial Authority is greatly increased.
Regardless of who wins, the Rebel and Loyalist federations are disbanded.
If the war ends in a Status Quo/White Peace, the Rebels secede from the Imperium, and their Federation stays intact.
Whew! That was a lot of stuff to get through in one Dev Diary. Be sure to pick up Expansion Pass Five on May 3rd for Xbox and Playstation!
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