Stellaris Dev Diary #133 - The Caravaneers

[Zarpaulus]

To be clear, are Caravaneers replacing Nomads?

I've been annoyed a few times when the Nomads came through my territory and I couldn't afford their deals, only for them to leave the galaxy altogether by the time I can afford to buy a fleet off them

 

[Mr Thursday]

Is there any truth to the rumour that the Slave Market diary was delayed due to placeholder art being N.S.F.W?

 

[Varren]

So what does gambling at slots get you? Just more Caravan Coinz? That'd make it a bit of a waste, mathematically speaking. It'd be neat if you could get comped some other perks, so you've got a reason to use it besides a spectacular ignorance of probability.

Say, every ten pulls gets you a voucher you can spend to reroll a caravan offer, and every fifty immediately schedules a caravan to swing by your empire asap. (Obviously, all compensations will benefit the house in some way.)

 

[AlphaAsh]

Caravaneers seems like a funny filler when you have nothing to do, but let's be honest, everyone is waiting for a release date now.

Nah, I'm good. Games Workshop has gone nuts recently and I'm skint right now. Take your time, Paradox.

 

[Nornjen]

I see new empire emblems there!
Are these only for Caravaneers? If not, will they be an addition to the base game or the MegaCorp expansion?

 

[DukeOfValois1]

Did...did Paradox Interactive really just waste time, a dev diary, production, art resources and programming on an elaborate loot box joke!? Really?

 

[Gabarius]

Will you be able to find things ingame to open the loot boxes?

(Please please please don't tell me that this is going to be the "loot boxes" in the same fashion as other games with microtransactions required to open them. Paradox would never do us dirty like that, right guys?)

 

[Althizor]

All the more reason to go for big energy generation. I think it should let you gamble more than you have and go into debt though. If you can't/don't pay they will send raiders and mercenaries after you. Strong ones.

Then you could have an empire building a Dyson sphere to pay off their gambling debts.

 

[Crexxer]

Will they know to avoid systems containing hostile Leviathans, space life, the khan etc? Will they respawn at all? It would be a shame if this feature kept getting destroyed by AI.

I remember reading somewhere that when they're destroyed, they will eventually ask other Empires if they can re-establish their space station in their borders. So yes, they can ¨respawn¨. However, if every Empire denies to accept their refuge, they could theoretically go extinct.

 

[FleetingRain]

...oh god, I just remember I asked the devs if we could get an eldritch horror from the Reliquaries

Is it what the Galatron is? Please tell me it is

 

[Jean-Luc]

Can't wait to squander my multi-planetary civilization's wealth on gambling and loot boxes.

 

[Calvax]

I already mentioned it, but spending state money on gambling should create some kind of crisis, at least in egalitarian empires. In general, the idea of a space casino does not fit very well in a game like this.

It’s not too hard to imagine a democratically approved budget for alien relations. I expect that if an advanced species parked a spaceship in Earth orbit and offered each government a chance to gamble for potentially exotic resources or new technology few populations would have a problem with it. The winnings go to the state/people after all, not the pockets of the elite (in authoritarian/imperial societies they’re more of the same thing of course).

Another interpretation as that players are not assuming the role of the state, they’re assuming the role of society has a whole.

 

[Darth.]

...Is this...

Are those Reliquiaries basically a maybe-actually-helpful parody of Loot boxes?
I love it.

If you saw the Megacorp reveal stream, the Reliquary they opened turned out to be empty, but luckily Blondie did get "an inexplicable sense of pride and accomplishment" out of it

(This is actual in-game text BTW and the EA Offices are right across the street from Paradox so I love it )

 

[WhapXI]

Will you be able to find things ingame to open the loot boxes?

(Please please please don't tell me that this is going to be the "loot boxes" in the same fashion as other games with microtransactions required to open them. Paradox would never do us dirty like that, right guys?)

Worry not, the whole thing is just an elaborate microtransaction gag. You spend energy to buy a premium currency which is then used to buy these boxes. No actual microtransactions. Read over the diary again.

 

[Lucian Thyatira]

These are the prettiest ships and space stations I've seen. Would you consider making a DLC to get these ships and stations for my own ostentatious golden empire?

 

[anamiac]

Meh. I never like to see gambling in a game that allows you to save.

 

[DrBLOOD95]

Something cool would be some custom events with them asking for protection because of an incoming fleet of Marauders, then after protecting them and destroying the fleet they would offer us something like a free deal.

 

[Althizor]

Meh. I never like to see gambling in a game that allows you to save.

You can't save (at least normally, sure there are ways to trick the game) in Ironman mode, and if you aren't in ironman mode, there are a plethora of ways already to outright cheat.

I mean, even outside of this explicit gambling, there are all sorts of random events you could savescum.

 

[Almond_Brown]

I find the concept of casino in space pretty stupid...

I think I will have to blow this caravanner system up every game. How strong are its defenses ?

The Milky Way Galaxy is in Space.
The Planet Earth is in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is in Space.
The Planet Earth has Casino's on it which means there are already Casino's in Space.
So what is so stupid about Casino's in space again?

 

[Primarch Victus]

​

The Caravaneer Coalition Base
For those who seek to enjoy some quality pastime, a visit to the caravaneer base is surely worth a visit! The caravaneers have some great deals on offer – only Energy Credits are accepted for being exchanged for the exciting CaravanCoinz! (Your primitive £, $, € won't be accepted here!)

CaravanCoinz allows you partake in some excellent games of chance, or to buy sealed boxes of loot. Who knows, maybe you will be lucky enough to find the most glorious and precious thing known in the galaxy – The Galatron.

*Points a gun at grekulf*: The one that controls the Galatron, controls the universe! WHERE IT IS?