Stellaris Dev Diary #112 - The L-Cluster

[scarfacemperor]

Will the L-Cluster be visible before being discovered with a complete Sentry Array ?

 

[Rayki]

I'm so "stockholm syndrome"-d by pdx... i'd buy an expansion named "Stellaris - Working AI" as bugfix-deluxe edition and even pay 30$.



Edit: im all in for constructive criticism so.... PLEASE install glavius AI mod for your own sake.

Already got it installed, as well as couple of other AI mods depending on what version I was playing, so sad that modders can get the AI to work but the devs can't.

 

[TempusxX]

There are 2 AI mods that I use together that in my opinion makes the AI really shine with the game

though there is something I am wondering but it will probably be quite awhile before it happens and that is when will Diplomacy and Federations get reworked like everything else has been reworked

 

[derelictdreamer]

2 years and there are still bugs that existed in the first iteration of the game.

Is there a list somewhere of these bugs?

 

[FreddyChen]

Great, now I can hide in another cluster of the galaxy when my red daddy screws my enemies.

 

[bitmapmedivh]

though there is something I am wondering but it will probably be quite awhile before it happens and that is when will Diplomacy and Federations get reworked like everything else has been reworked

Well, the Niven patch and the Distant Stars DLC seems to be all about exploration and the "Galactic Terrain" that the designer's talked about in their stream all those months ago, and Apocalypse was all about reworking war, so chances are pretty high that Diplomacy is the next item on the agenda. It was one of the options on that twitter poll way, way back. It's either that or Economy/Trade. Might even be both, depending on the size of the post-Niven patch/DLC.

 

[Astax]

Will the L-Cluster be visible before being discovered with a complete Sentry Array ?

Brilliant Question!

 

[Zalmoxis]

@Wiz

So story-wise, is this cluster part of the Galaxy but on the edge, or just outside it, or very very far away (map is not to scale) out there in intergalactic space? Just how distant are these stars?

 

[spendabuck]

Will the L-Cluster be safe from the Shroud should you seal a covenant with the End of the Cycle? This question also applies to other end-game crises.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

Will the L-Cluster be safe from the Shroud should you seal a covenant with the End of the Cycle? This question also applies to other end-game crises.

I don't see why it would be immune to the End of the Cycle, since that targets your colonized worlds. If you've colonized the L-Cluster, why wouldn't those colonies be hit?

It might be excluded from having Contingency hubs spawn there, Unbidden portals open there, or Prethoryn arrive there though.

...Then again, that is precisely the sort of thing I'd expect Paradox to potentially overlook or experience bugs with regards to, so who knows, maybe we'll be seeing "boxed" Crises soon.

 

[Highlordelliot]

Anyone else hoping to make secret Bastions within the Galactic Core like Palpatine did in Star wars.

 

[spendabuck]

I don't see why it would be immune to the End of the Cycle, since that targets your colonized worlds. If you've colonized the L-Cluster, why wouldn't those colonies be hit?

What if you somehow colonized the L-Cluster after triggering the End of the Cycle, then abandoned the rest of the galaxy? I'm probably overlooking some major components of both the L-Cluster and the End of the Cycle, as while I definitely enjoy the game (otherwise I wouldn't be posting here), Stellaris isn't the game I'm most knowledgeable about, which would probably be CK2.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

What if you somehow colonized the L-Cluster after triggering the End of the Cycle, then abandoned the rest of the galaxy? I'm probably overlooking some major components of both the L-Cluster and the End of the Cycle, as while I definitely enjoy the game (otherwise I wouldn't be posting here), Stellaris isn't the game I'm most knowledgeable about, which would probably be CK2.

Whether or not the End of the Cycle could reach you in said scenario depends entirely on if L-Cluster gates behave like gates or like wormholes- that is to say, whether or not they can be travelled irrespective of alliance/border status. If they act like wormholes, it'll get to you eventually- if they act like gateways, you're safe.

 

[Random of Amber]

I was under the impression that relays could send you to any other relay (with one or two special exceptions). If you mean that this would permit those exceptions, sure I guess? I've been expecting a Mass Effect mod since 2.0 basic came out, though. Gateways are clearly perfect for one.

I was thinking more along the lines of a map full of Clusters accessed from Mass Relays. In Mass Effect Relays are used to access different regions of space after which FTL is used to reach the nearby surrounding systems.

 

[Vladisi]

Whether or not the End of the Cycle could reach you in said scenario depends entirely on if L-Cluster gates behave like gates or like wormholes- that is to say, whether or not they can be travelled irrespective of alliance/border status. If they act like wormholes, it'll get to you eventually- if they act like gateways, you're safe.

I don't think I've ever seen a Crisis use a wormhole or a gate, so the question still stands. And yes, they act as wormholes in regards to borders.

 

[pieman]

Will you be able to jump to the L-Cluster using jump drives or will it always be to far away?

That distance looks reachable for Jump Drive to me.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

I don't think I've ever seen a Crisis use a wormhole or a gate, so the question still stands. And yes, they act as wormholes in regards to borders.

I vaguely recall that one of the patch notes talked about fixing it so they could, but maybe I'm misremembering. I know when 2.0 hit, you couldn't use wormholes to enter Crisis territory because their "borders were closed".

 

[SinisterSamurai]

Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris development diary. Today, we're going to be covering the headline feature of the Distant Stars Story Pack that will be accompanying the 2.1 'Niven' update.

The L-Cluster
In Distant Stars, some Black Hole systems are home to mysterious "L-Gate" structures that the player can find while exploring the galaxy. Originally part of the regular Gateway network, these L-Gates were heavily modified shortly after the initial construction of the network. The gates are operable but stuck in perpetual maintenance loops, possibly due to intentional sabotage. L-Gates cannot be activated by the usual Gateway technologies, instead requiring the collection of insights relating to subspace and the nanite technology used to activate the gates. Insights can be collected in a wide variety of ways - from anomalies and exploration, from defeating certain enemies, and from researching a repeatable technology that becomes available once your empire is sufficiently advanced to conduct independent research on nanites.
View attachment 361978

Once an empire has amassed enough insights, they will be able to open an L-Gate and access the L-Cluster, a cluster of stars located just outside the galaxy and entirely inaccessible from the regular hyperlane network. What precisely you will find there, we are not going to be spoil in this dev diary, but suffice to say that there are several possible outcomes, and that the gates may have been locked down for a reason...
View attachment 361975

On a technical level L-Gates are a new and fully moddable bypass type, distinct from Wormholes and Gateways. L-Gates cannot be built and there is a finite number of them (up to 10) in the galaxy. They use a hierarchical (or hub-and-spoke) connection design, where all roads lead to the L-Cluster. This means that an L-Gate can only send a fleet to the L-Cluster, but once in the L-Cluster the fleet can travel to any L-Gate in the galaxy. This bypass type, along with the ability to create whole new areas of the galaxy (and specify their location relative to another system or the galactic core) is available for modders to use as part of the free Niven update.
View attachment 361977
View attachment 361976

That's all for today! Next week we're going to continue talking about the Distant Stars Story Pack, on the topic of new anomalies, new systems and new Leviathans.

@Wiz, can a second L-cluster be modded in (or mods can only spawn "normal" clusters, even if those aren't properly connected to the rest of the galaxy), and if yes, how will L-gates for those two L-clusters interact with each other?

I second the idea of having the ability to generate multiple removed clusters, especially if we can just call them, "Companion clusters," or "Satellite galaxies," with L-Cluster referring to this specific horrific locked cluster?

 

[Orphalesion]

I love the idea of those constellations and the things we might find there!

Are they far enough away from the galaxy to be considered "intergalactic space"? That'd be very interesting...

 

[Tarakia]

Personally, I love the idea of the L-cluster as its like the milky way's small Magellanic cloud, and that as a random chance (like the Virgil achievement species/anomaly) that something has been held in there, and that the sabotaging of the L-Gates might be due to a ancient empire trying to keep something locked away, or that there is something like in the Horizon story pack that is trying to get species/players to find them. But if there is some sort of alien beast hidden in there that when you open the L-gates there that the alien will destroy whatever you have in the system that it's in and move through the gate rampaging across the galaxy (like the shroud!), but maybe there is just a bigger Dimensional horror there and a massive multi-empire fleet(s) are sent in there to deal with it! who knows? all I know is the modding community on steam is going to love this.