• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Hello everyone!

We’re back for this week’s installment of the Stellaris Dev Diary. This week we will covering a mix of paid and free features. More exactly, we’ll be talking about the Slave Market, Unity Ambitions and new Mandates. I bet I know which one you’ll want to read about first, so let’s start with that one.

Before we start I need to reiterate that this dev diary contains things that are WIP, with non-final numbers, interfaces or mechanics that might change.

The Slave Market (PAID)
To better facilitate slaver playstyles, we’ve added the Slave Market feature to MegaCorp. This will allow more easy transfer of slaves between empires. In MegaCorp, nothing can stand in the way of the pursuit of profit.

Access to the Slave Market is granted once the Galactic Market is founded. Only empires that also have access to the Galactic Market will be able to use the Slave Market. Only Pops that are currently Slaves are able to be sold on the Slave Market, but anyone can buy them (either to set them free or to put them to work). We're also considering making (non-Gestalt) robots that do not have citizen rights buyable and sellable on the market.

upload_2018-11-15_12-9-5.png

To sell a slave you select one or more Pop(s) on a planet (it must be enslaved). Right now the interface shows planets as the drop-down, but we will be changing it so that you first select a species, and then the list shows the different planets. We’re tweaking the interface right now, so some things might look a bit different as the next couple of weeks pass.

upload_2018-11-15_12-11-5.png

When you have decided which slaves to sell, they will be put on the market. The price of slaves is 500 ± the cost affected by traits. The traits that make them good slaves drives the price up, while things that make them bad slaves drives the price down. Many traits will not affect the cost of a slave.

upload_2018-11-15_12-11-51.png

To buy a slave, you select a destination planet and then simply click the buy button. This will complete the transaction and move the pop to your selected planet.

We are considering adding a simple bidding process as an additional step, but at this time we cannot promise that we will have time to add it before the release of MegaCorp.

Unity Ambitions (FREE)
Because of the changes to the economy system, with Unity coming from multiple sources and being a more integrated resource, we wanted to make sure that Unity is always useful. Previously a paid feature in Apocalypse, Unity Ambitions have now been made a free feature in 2.2 'Le Guin'.

Mandates (FREE)
Since we've added a bunch of new mechanics with 2.2 'Le Guin', we now have a lot more things that we can hook into. As a result of that, we have reworked and added a bunch of new mandates for democratic empires. They usually go along the lines of building more districts, building more stations to gather resource, to increasing monthly income etc.

upload_2018-11-15_12-13-48.png

That is what we have for this week. Next week we’ll return with a Dev Diary about what the community can expect in terms of new Modding capabilities for 2.2 (hint: It's a *lot* of new capabilities).

Don’t forget to tune into Twitch for the Dev Clash at 15:00 CET, so you can see us whack at each other with our new pointy sticks! You can also watch a summarized version on YouTube.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My Xenophile dreams are coming into reality, all I need now for is a edict like Hallowed World but for Leviathans to protect the organic ones at all costs!

And of course a preserve-esque megastructure/edict.
 
Hello everyone!

We’re back for this week’s installment of the Stellaris Dev Diary. This week we will covering a mix of paid and free features. More exactly, we’ll be talking about the Slave Market, Unity Ambitions and new Mandates. I bet I know which one you’ll want to read about first, so let’s start with that one.

Before we start I need to reiterate that this dev diary contains things that are WIP, with non-final numbers, interfaces or mechanics that might change.

The Slave Market (PAID)
To better facilitate slaver playstyles, we’ve added the Slave Market feature to MegaCorp. This will allow more easy transfer of slaves between empires. In MegaCorp, nothing can stand in the way of the pursuit of profit.

Access to the Slave Market is granted once the Galactic Market is founded. Only empires that also have access to the Galactic Market will be able to use the Slave Market. Only Pops that are currently Slaves are able to be sold on the Slave Market, but anyone can buy them (either to set them free or to put them to work). We're also considering making (non-Gestalt) robots that do not have citizen rights buyable and sellable on the market.


To sell a slave you select one or more Pop(s) on a planet (it must be enslaved). Right now the interface shows planets as the drop-down, but we will be changing it so that you first select a species, and then the list shows the different planets. We’re tweaking the interface right now, so some things might look a bit different as the next couple of weeks pass.


When you have decided which slaves to sell, they will be put on the market. The price of slaves is 500 ± the cost affected by traits. The traits that make them good slaves drives the price up, while things that make them bad slaves drives the price down. Many traits will not affect the cost of a slave.


To buy a slave, you select a destination planet and then simply click the buy button. This will complete the transaction and move the pop to your selected planet.

We are considering adding a simple bidding process as an additional step, but at this time we cannot promise that we will have time to add it before the release of MegaCorp.

Unity Ambitions (FREE)
Because of the changes to the economy system, with Unity coming from multiple sources and being a more integrated resource, we wanted to make sure that Unity is always useful. Previously a paid feature in Apocalypse, Unity Ambitions have now been made a free feature in 2.2 'Le Guin'.

Mandates (FREE)
Since we've added a bunch of new mechanics with 2.2 'Le Guin', we now have a lot more things that we can hook into. As a result of that, we have reworked and added a bunch of new mandates for democratic empires. They usually go along the lines of building more districts, building more stations to gather resource, to increasing monthly income etc.


That is what we have for this week. Next week we’ll return with a Dev Diary about what the community can expect in terms of new Modding capabilities for 2.2 (hint: It's a *lot* of new capabilities).

Don’t forget to tune into Twitch for the Dev Clash at 15:00 CET, so you can see us whack at each other with our new pointy sticks! You can also watch a summarized version on YouTube.
So I can buy droids or slaves and then sell them for a profit later? Looking forward to manufacturing droids for farming mining etc and then selling them on the galactic market.
 
Somehow i doubt that the slavemarket will be used extensively with this approach

I would rather see a more per Person approach ... add a (or more) companion slot (s)to all leaders which will give a bonus to certain values based on their traits
and those should be traded on the market.. incl the option to buy one free him and offer a paid position as companion
Of course another option e.g. event should be possible to get a certain random companion
 
Somehow i doubt that the slavemarket will be used extensively with this approach

I would rather see a more per Person approach ... add a (or more) companion slot (s)to all leaders which will give a bonus to certain values based on their traits
and those should be traded on the market.. incl the option to buy one free him and offer a paid position as companion
Of course another option e.g. event should be possible to get a certain random companion


You mean single leaders ... unlucky the sistem dont realy sustain a slave leaders sistem . Slave market work with entire pops, if you free them you can have leaders of that pop (given the policy and rights) .

I know you meant companions not in the sense of proper leaders , but you still need a sinset of single entityes buy/selling . In the game the only single entityes with theyr personal trait and racial traits are leaders , feom there i took the leaders as examples .
 
I've been wondering about the utility of Slave Market in late game and thought of a neat mechanic. It would be cool to have a new "Work to Death" slave policy, which at the cost of increased resource production would eventually kill the owned Pop after some time. Empire utilizing such mechanic would either need to constantly raid other empires for pops or rely on constant stream of slaves from the Slave Market.
 
I've been wondering about the utility of Slave Market in late game and thought of a neat mechanic. It would be cool to have a new "Work to Death" slave policy, which at the cost of increased resource production would eventually kill the owned Pop after some time. Empire utilizing such mechanic would either need to constantly raid other empires for pops or rely on constant stream of slaves from the Slave Market.
It's called purging by forced labor in 2.1. It's quite useless right now, but only because it does not have any bonuses of slavery (so it work quite poorly and SPF don't reduce their unrest). Just give pops on that purging type some bonuses to production and they can be useful. It will be very nice to see some buffs for that in 2.2
 
We are considering adding a simple bidding process as an additional step, but at this time we cannot promise that we will have time to add it before the release of MegaCorp.

I have a high tolerance for all of this but I think this in particular would be pushing against the boundary of taste.
 
I have a high tolerance for all of this but I think this in particular would be pushing against the boundary of taste.

Why? What's the big deal in adding bidding? It would actually be a nice way to make the sales more profitable.

You can livestock sapient xenos, use them as battery, commit genocide on them and all sorts of other crazy stuff and you think bidding is "too much"?
 
I think that anyone who is using the market to liberate slaves should have to pay a higher price than one who wasn't. Slaver Empires would be very reluctant, especially Xenophobes, to sell if they see other empires freeing up slave populations. Since these empires make gains from the market themselves, letting pops be liberated from it hurts them in the long run. At least when they sell to a fellow Slaver Empire, that empire might a few decades later, sell back a few more pops that grew from the one they bought.

More importantly, this feature should really serve to buff the ethics that do allow slavery (Authoritarian, Xenophobe), because right now, they are some of the weaker picks balance wise. Increasing prices for everyone else would ensure they at least get the highest chance to actually buy as well as sell, considering how fast pops do sell based on what's been seen.
Except if the Egalitarians are buying slaves, the slavers just make more and sell them.
 
Except if the Egalitarians are buying slaves, the slavers just make more and sell them.
Appropriately enough for the old name of Egalitarianism, and this DLC, there was an anarcho-capitalist webcomic I've read that philosophized on this subject.
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=523
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=524
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=525

Of course, that particular plan might not work too well for organic slaves. Maybe there could be a "sting operation" event for Xenophilic Egalitarians?
 
There's a reason the most picked Ethic statistically has been confirmed to be Xenophile. One enables easy cohesion and high happiness with a large diversity of species, who can be used interchangeably, and has a faction with lots of ways to draw pop's into it, whereas the other, you have very limited use of your Pop's, everyone hates you, and the mere usage of higher than decent living standards turns all your pops Egalitarian and riling for an ethics shift. Getting some more minerals than if you just used regular miners or totally subservient robots is your sole concession for choosing the latter.
There certainly is a reason that it's the most picked, but I think the reason probably has more to do with the United Nations of Earth then it does with any idea of balance. After all, a vast majority of stellaris players are very likely, like the vast majority of players of any games, playing it very casually, one or two games perhaps not even played to the end, this sorta idea can be easy to loose track of when talking on a forum dedicated to a game, but it's important to keep in mind when making appeals to popularity. In stellaris the order of importance for resource gathering is minerals>everything else. By a fairly large margin. So simply put the increased mineral output of slaves easily overwhelms the advantages given by any other ethic. And, honestly even if that wasn't the case, I think every point you've made I disagree with: Authoritarian faction is easy to keep happy, so are Xenophiles, Egalitarians less so, but in general a highly cohesive and happy society is easy enough no matter what you do, you just do whatever it is your already doing more or less. Diversity of species doesn't really help, you want a good mineral gathering species, and secondary in importance is a good researching species, after that any other species are superfluous and more likely to be a hindrance then a help. Slavers have an easier time with the faction system because the people who aren't authoritarians tend to be enslaved, removing them from consideration when it comes to factions. I don't even understand what you mean by limited use of your pops, since authoritarians get better use out of their pops then anyone else. Slavers hate egalitarians, egalitarians hate slavers. You're not going to be more popular as an egalitarian, the galaxy will simply spawn more slavers for you to have as neighbors. I do agree with the living standards point, however it's a relatively small weight, it won't overwhelm the weight gained from enslaving pops and also a lot of the times higher living standards is trading minerals for other resources, which, as already stated, minerals>everything else. So higher living standards aren't exactly always a positive, especially in a bigger empire.

Ultimately what it comes down to though is the "sole concession" of more minerals easily overwhelms everything else, since more minerals is all anyone needs. At least from the perspective of "what is the most powerful"
 
There certainly is a reason that it's the most picked, but I think the reason probably has more to do with the United Nations of Earth then it does with any idea of balance. After all, a vast majority of stellaris players are very likely, like the vast majority of players of any games, playing it very casually, one or two games perhaps not even played to the end, this sorta idea can be easy to loose track of when talking on a forum dedicated to a game, but it's important to keep in mind when making appeals to popularity. In stellaris the order of importance for resource gathering is minerals>everything else. By a fairly large margin. So simply put the increased mineral output of slaves easily overwhelms the advantages given by any other ethic. And, honestly even if that wasn't the case, I think every point you've made I disagree with: Authoritarian faction is easy to keep happy, so are Xenophiles, Egalitarians less so, but in general a highly cohesive and happy society is easy enough no matter what you do, you just do whatever it is your already doing more or less. Diversity of species doesn't really help, you want a good mineral gathering species, and secondary in importance is a good researching species, after that any other species are superfluous and more likely to be a hindrance then a help. Slavers have an easier time with the faction system because the people who aren't authoritarians tend to be enslaved, removing them from consideration when it comes to factions. I don't even understand what you mean by limited use of your pops, since authoritarians get better use out of their pops then anyone else. Slavers hate egalitarians, egalitarians hate slavers. You're not going to be more popular as an egalitarian, the galaxy will simply spawn more slavers for you to have as neighbors. I do agree with the living standards point, however it's a relatively small weight, it won't overwhelm the weight gained from enslaving pops and also a lot of the times higher living standards is trading minerals for other resources, which, as already stated, minerals>everything else. So higher living standards aren't exactly always a positive, especially in a bigger empire.

Ultimately what it comes down to though is the "sole concession" of more minerals easily overwhelms everything else, since more minerals is all anyone needs. At least from the perspective of "what is the most powerful"

There's probably a large section of the player pool who like playing xenophiles because they like being the good guys. I personally don't mind playing xenophobes, but I very rarely play slavers or exterminators simply because it makes me feel bad enslaving or eating aliens - even if they are entirely fictional. But I agree that whats the most popular has little to no correlation with whats powerful.
 
Appropriately enough for the old name of Egalitarianism, and this DLC, there was an anarcho-capitalist webcomic I've read that philosophized on this subject.
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=523
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=524
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=525

Of course, that particular plan might not work too well for organic slaves. Maybe there could be a "sting operation" event for Xenophilic Egalitarians?
THANK YOU FOR THAT!

I've now caught up to what he's posted.
 
Quick question about the mandates:
Does the AI check, if your empire is able to fullfill the mandate? Like "We can't build more mining districts or stations, because we are maxed out, therefor we don't have that as a mandate."
That's the problem with democracy: politicians make promises they can't possibly deliver on, get elected anyway. Feature, not a bug.