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.

 

[Danarcis]

So you will not be able to set a price of your own for the slaves?

 

[Shen10]

Will caretakers have option to buy slaves to give them a proper mandatory pampering?

 

[klingonadmiral]

"Basket" DD this week, Modding next week?

Putting my money on a December 13th to December 20th release.

 

[Jin_Cardassian]

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.

Can Driven Assimilators and/or Rogue Servitors purchase slaves for the purpose of bio-trophies and assimilation?

Will they be able to sell their organic pops as slaves? While not technically slaves, they do have the same subject status and total lack of volition. I could see this being overpowered in the case of cyborgs proliferating, at least in the early game, although the same could happen if a conventional slaver empire happens to conquer a planet with some on it.

 

[Leylos]

I did ask this in another thread before, but if marauders abduct pops, will they appear on the slave market?

 

[stilgarpl]

If I go Biological Ascension, why can’t I produce and sell Sterile slave POPs, ones that won’t reproduce?

Obviously, them being Sterile means that they’re worth less, but the idea is that them being Nerve-Stapled, Very Strong and Industrious more than compensates, and so other empires, including AI empires, should still want to buy them.

"Sterile" would have to be a negative trait. Any empire can remove negative traits by genetic engineering. What's the point?

 

[Enska]

Is slave trade intended to be a major source of population growth, or just an occasional booster?

 

[WhapXI]

If I go Biological Ascension, why can’t I produce and sell Sterile slave POPs, ones that won’t reproduce?

I would love something like this. Give them Fleeting and sterilise them so that they purge over the course of a few years. Makes the slave-buyers come back for more! Sustain your own slave economy. Don't just give them the tools to make more of their own!

In practice, this is almost definitely impossible to track on a pop by pop basis, but still, the idea's cool.

 

[henzington]

"Basket" DD this week, Modding next week?

Putting my money on a December 13th to December 20th release.

I doubt 20th as they won’t have time to release at hot fix before Christmas

 

[James Fire]

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."

I mean, it's realistic that it doesn't, given real life politicians campaign promises.

 

[WhapXI]

"Sterile" would have to be a negative trait. Any empire can remove negative traits by genetic engineering. What's the point?

So that the buyers don't just get a lifetime supply at first purchase. Keep the customers coming back.

Monsanto does it with their GM'd hardy crops. They'll grow anywhere but never go to seed, so you have to buy a fresh batch of seeds next year.

 

[Calvax]

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."

Since when have political mandates had to be realistically achievable to get someone elected? Jokes aside it doesn't sound fun if impractical mandates keep popping up, especially towards the endgame.

 

[ShakenBake]

I love that there will be more mandates. Hopefully we get some teasers of these on Twitter and in the Dev Clash.

It's interesting that Unity Ambitions are free now. Have any new Unity Ambitions been added? Are any still exclusive to Apocalypse, as some Ascension Perks still require Utopia?

 

[tobias.mb]

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.

Selecting each individual slave you want to buy or sell sounds fine in the early game, where you only buy/sell a few at a time, but in the mid- late-game won't that become an annoying amount of clicking?
Have you considered a bulk buy/sell option? Also, what about a "sell all unemployed" option?

 

[stilgarpl]

So that the buyers don't just get a lifetime supply at first purchase. Keep the customers coming back.

Monsanto does it with their GM'd hardy crops. They'll grow anywhere but never go to seed, so you have to buy a fresh batch of seeds next year.

I understand the idea, I'm just saying that it wouldn't work in the game.

Monsanto does not sell sterile crops, they enforce it by different ways (in courts). I don't think anyone uses terminator genes right now...

But, like I said, it wouldn't work in the game. There is no court to enforce no reproduction and sterile trait can be easily removed by any empire who invented genetic engineering.

 

[klingonadmiral]

I doubt 20th as they won’t have time to release at hot fix before Christmas

Yeah. But generally the last three DDs are Modding, Soundtrack, Achievements and Patchnotes. A week later, the expansion is released. With modding on Nov 22nd, Soundtrack would be Nov 29th, Achievements Dec 6th, Patch Notes Dec 13th and then released Dec 20th. That's very, very close to the Christmas holidays though, so they might push the release to January. They could also put the Achievements in the Soundtrack DD and release a week earlier.

 

[Guderian's Wild Ride]

Somewhat off topic, but have you taken a look at the cloning vat building and thought about making it function like your robot spawning building, allowing you to choose which pops will spawn on a particular planet?

 

[Alectron]

Now I want to play an egalitarian empire which would buy all slaves off the market to set them free.

 

[Trailblazer]

I need some abolitionist means to bring the system dowwwwn, man. It would be interesting to be able to sell fake slaves who are actually trained rabble rousers, that kind of thing. A little caveat emptor if you will.

 

[themunck]

Yes.

Does this mean Hive Mind can buy races to assimilate as well, with the right tech and ascension perks?
Will Driven Assimilators be able to buy races to assimilate?
Will Rogue Servitors be able to buy slaves for use a bio trophies?