Stellaris Dev Diary #143 - Changes to megastructures

[henzington]

I assume you need the dlc to have access to the tech either utopia or megacorp?

 

[Spaceception]

This looks good! Will the outputs/bonuses also be reworked, or no?
Also, will we eventually see new megastructures? A Matrioshka brain would be a great galactic wonder - although it could edge out the science nexus.

 

[Dunaedine]

There was a better Idea (IMO) in the forum: link the megastructure to others asciension perks (and in fact, delete the Galactic Wonders perk). So the Science Nexus would be linked to the Technology Ascendency perk, the ring world with Void Born, the Strategic Coordination to Eternal Vigilance (for instance) and so on.

 

[Asiak]

Booo I liked having them all under one ascension perk.

 

[Gilad Pellaeon]

There was a better Idea (IMO) in the forum: link the megastructure to others asciension perks (and in fact, delete the Galactic Wonders perk). So the Science Nexus would be linked to the Technology Ascendency perk, the ring world with Void Born, the Strategic Coordination to Eternal Vigilance (for instance) and so on.

Yes, this would give the other perks both more meaning and more flavour, and would help make more empires distinct from each other in mid-/late-game.

 

[Alastor]

Well this doesn't really change that much for me. The perk remains an absolute must.

 

[SelorKiith]

So it is very much possible that I end up in a game where I never see any of them due to bad RNG?
That's less than stellar...

 

[Mastikator]

I'm not sure if I agree that a dyson sphere is more powerful than a science nexus.

But this will mean more galactic wonders late game.

I hope the wonders are still locked behind DLC. It would be unfair if I (a person who has not bought megacorp) is allowed to have features someone else paid for.

 

[klingonadmiral]

This looks like a great change. Because while stuff like the Research Nexus and Strategic Coordination Center are indeed powerful, they just don't have the same ... let's call it scale than Ring Worlds and Dyson Spheres. Encircling or encasing an entire star is just on a completely different level than building a somewhat larger-than-average space station.

I hope something similar happens to Voidborn sooner rather than later. Deep space habitats would be bread-and-butter solutions for spacefaring societies, not something elusive.

However, could you take a look at tech again? Imho the three different branches are currently not balanced very well. Engineering in particular has a large number of crucial techs (bigger ships, bigger starbases) but constantly lags behind Physics and Society because it lacks the additional ways to generate it those two branches have (Physics deposits seem rather common in space + Black Hole Observatories on starbases, Society is created by Culture workers and from observation posts).

 

[Spaceception]

So it is very much possible that I end up in a game where I never see any of them due to bad RNG?
That's less than stellar...

You'll see all the techs at one point. It may take a while, but so will building each megastructure one by one. Once you meet the requirements, you'll see it. Just research the next one the moment it pops up.

 

[Frahfrah]

This is one of the rare decisions I disagree with. Your initial point was exactly right: it feels like a necessary perk to select; so everyone has to. Rather than making the system more limiting (as it seems the instinct is) go the other direction: make all of the megastructures techs without the need for the perk. Instead, inflate the built time and cost and buff Master Builders to reward the societies which decide to focus their efforts on engineering projects.

 

[grekulf]

I amuse you need the dlc to have access to the tech either utopia or megacorp?

Yes, the same ownership requirements apply.

I hope something similar happens to Voidborn sooner rather than later. Deep space habitats would be bread-and-butter solutions for spacefaring societies, not something elusive.

Yeah, I'd like to do something with habitats in the future. I agree with your sentiment.

 

[Withr]

With Galactic Wonders now unlocking less but more powerful Megastructures. could it also raise the cap on how many Megastructures you can build at one time, even by +1 to indicate that your civillisation has been able to dedicate alot of resources to mastering these unquie buildings

 

[Spaceception]

Instead, inflate the built time and cost and buff Master Builders to reward the societies which decide to focus their efforts on engineering projects.

Why not both? And I feel the galactic wonders should stay behind a perk, because those are supposed to be grand, and difficult to build. I mean, encasing a planet in a city is behind a perk? Yeah, that works, I can see that. But encasing a star in solar panels, or massive ring is not? Why?

 

[grekulf]

... inflate the built time and cost and buff Master Builders to reward the societies which decide to focus their efforts on engineering projects.

I have been thinking something similar as well. Nothing is set in stone atm

 

[Withr]

But encasing a star in solar panels, or massive ring is not? Why?

the Megastructures that generate primary resources. food, energy and minerals are locked behind the new wonder perk. just the secondary resources megastructures are not any more. just behind a super low chance tech

 

[MilkInBags]

Could you add to Master Builders or Galactic Wonders the possibility to build more than one Megastructure at a time? I’ve always found it way too long to actually finish those projets because of that limitation, even if my economy can support multiple constructions. If you feel it’s too strong, maybe put a penalty for each additional megastructure project.

 

[Arrnea]

With Galactic Wonders now unlocking less but more powerful Megastructures. could it also raise the cap on how many Megastructures you can build at one time, even by +1 to indicate that your civillisation has been able to dedicate alot of resources to mastering these unquie buildings

I think Master Builders should be the perk that lets you do two megastructures at once, to be honest.

Or, and here's another idea - turn Master Builders into a repeatable endgame tech, rather than an ascension perk (so you can also stack the buff to Habitat district cap).

 

[Rodahtnov]

I think its a bad change, at least the "rare tech wall" part
You should have the options always up if you take the perk, so its redundant having to research each one (and make it more tedious), specially when you already had researched megastructural, and specially with engineering being a saturated tech line.
Imagine playing tall and having bad luck with the RNG of nexus, its a frustrating mechanic.
Maybe distribute each mega tech to each kind of science line? I mean, Art/Militar/Assembly to society, Nexus to Physics



PD1: Why not making habitats baseline tech with tier 4 starbases? With the current state of habs, they are a "niche" pick for encased empires rather a nice space colony development tool
Why not creating specialized habitats? Mining asteroids, researching near special stellar bodies, etc
And how about creating a new perk for artificial worlds? Reshaping a barren/cold with an habitable layer with special districts, could be so cool

PD2: What will happen with the 2 habitat districts slots from the lost perk?