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Stellaris Dev Diary #275 - Bless Thy Soul

Hello everyone!

It’s been a busy few weeks here on the Stellaris team, and I wanted to thank the community for helping us out so much with the 3.6 Orion Open Beta.

There was significantly more activity than anticipated - during the month of October, over 100,000 players took part in the Orion Open Beta branch - and the volume of feedback we received was incredible. The 3.6 update should be much better thanks to your involvement.

We have a few more fixes that we’d like to get into the update (such as vassals colonizing Holy Worlds), after which it’ll go through the final testing, localization, and release process. As mentioned last week, we’ll be keeping the Open Beta branch available until the live release of 3.6 Orion so you can continue your games.

I’ll now pass you over to Mr.Cosmogone, who will provide a bit of enlightenment about one of the features that has been in the Open Beta, but hasn’t gotten a proper dev diary thus far. (Now, with non-placeholder art!)

Raising Spirits

Peace be upon you, children,

Mr.Cosmogone here, to tell you about the upcoming Spiritualist Federation. I had the chance to collaborate on this with the famous Caligula who had long yearned for a way to share his spiritual convictions with his allies.

Some of you may have already had a chance to play this as part of the ongoing Open Beta, they might not find anything new here, but for the rest of the faithfuls, let me introduce to the Holy Covenant:

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Spiritualist empires will find this new federation type to be quite aligned with their gamestyle, as it will provide them with a range of bonuses about unity, priests and the spiritualist faction.

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Their level two perks will help lay strong foundations for your church:

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While the third level will help you on your way towards ascension:

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At the fourth level, priests will start appearing left and right to carry the good word.

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The fifth and last level of the federation will be a consecration for its members:

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Like all federation types, the Holy Covenant comes with a unique succession challenge, the conclave, where the most pious are assured to be rewarded. Or perhaps the most generous. Money is the root of all sins after all, so you might as well give it away.

That’s it from me this week, and remember if you want to play all the cool things we’ve talked about over the last few weeks, go play the beta!

To opt-in to the Open Beta branch, right-click Stellaris, click Properties, Betas tab, and choose “Stellaris_test” from the drop-down.
 
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Definitely happy to wait for the 3.6 release to be as polished as possible. Didn't check out the beta because achievement hunting in 3.5.3.
Might do one more game as my achievement punching bag empire. I'll call it revenge of the derps.
 
So Divinity of Life are more likely to be passed (if ethics are chosen totally randomly, and develop at roughly the same speed). Will materialists gain bonus voting weights on their agendas in a later patch?
 
There was significantly more activity than anticipated - during the month of October, over 100,000 players took part in the Orion Open Beta branch - and the volume of feedback we received was incredible. The 3.6 update should be much better thanks to your involvement.
Do you think the Open Beta concept is beneficial enough to be used more frequently for Custodian Updates?
The concept is clearly welcomed by the community, but obviously comes with a lot of overhead on your end.
 
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That´s cool. Thanks Devs, Freelancers and Paradox in General that your Games get an long-time support. That´s not self-evident, esp. with Games which have a lot of Potential left. Stellaris and Hoi 4 are such examples.

Thanks a lot that you service your Games and the Community from them with an long-time-Concept. Keep up that good work.
 
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Do you think the Open Beta concept is beneficial enough to be used more frequently for Custodian Updates?
The concept is clearly welcomed by the community, but obviously comes with a lot of overhead on your end.

Yes.

I already have a plan for the next one. (Though it'll be smaller in scope than the Combat open beta.)
 
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So Divinity of Life are more likely to be passed (if ethics are chosen totally randomly, and develop at roughly the same speed). Will materialists gain bonus voting weights on their agendas in a later patch?

Materialists already have an indirect bonus to diplomatic weight since Technology is a major part of the base diplo weight calculation.
 
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When is the expected "final" version of Orion? I miss some of my mods.

Also, I just want to say that the custodian program for Stellaris might be the single best thing to ever be created for a strategy game. I'm finding fun in Stellaris that I never had before, and I've put about 30 hours into it this week and still can't wait to play more.

Also, are the AI players better or is it just me? I've having a hard time keeping up with my old strategies.

Lastly, can anyone talk about what might be the focuses of future DLC/expansions?
 
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Kinda wish the Holy Covenant was less directly Spiritualist and more indirectly useful to others.

Like how Trade League isn't limited to MegaCorps but is very good for them, but also good for many other empire types.

I feel like this Holy Covenant is a bit too specific in some ways.
 
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Wait, do you mean by 20% of its current value, or +20% Spiritualist attraction? Cause the latter would be ridiculously strong.


I wonder if this should be unique to Spiritualists. Shouldn't other Federations also have an interest in passing resolutions aligning with their ideological goals?

I can easily see Trade League wanting to have Galactic Commerce resolutions passed, Research Cooperatives wanting Unchained Knowledge to aid the advancement of science, and Martial Alliances wanting Mutual Defense resolutions to promote military readiness.
 
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Wait, do you mean by 20% of its current value, or +20% Spiritualist attraction? Cause the latter would be ridiculously strong.



I wonder if this should be unique to Spiritualists. Shouldn't other Federations also have an interest in passing resolutions aligning with their ideological goals?

I can easily see Trade League wanting to have Galactic Commerce resolutions passed, Research Cooperatives wanting Unchained Knowledge to aid the advancement of science, and Martial Alliances wanting Mutual Defense resolutions to promote military readiness.
Well, judging by their answer above, I think it's their design choice because the types of empires and federations you cite should theoretically already have greater diplomatic weight due to economy, technology and fleet power, respectively.
 
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*Halo Stellaris campaign intensifies*

Some musings & questions about this federation:

- How much does the Zro edict boost psionic output?
- What if different members worship different Shroud gods? Wouldn't that translate into lesser federation cohesion or some kind of schism?
- It looks like you have no incentive to join this federation unless you're a spiritual empire yourself, or if you plan to become one at some point in the future. Perhaps some bonuses ought to be more universally useful (say, changing spiritualist ethic attraction bonuses to government ethic attraction bonuses)
- It seems quite appropriate for a spiritualist federation to have that kind of proselytizing bonuses, such as the galactic community bonuses. Let it be their niche, why not
- Gotta love all the bonuses for planet ascensions & culture workers. One step closer to cultural utopia!
- Generally talking, an unexpected, albeit quite welcome addition
 
Oh i most definitely bless thy souls of any spiritualists i will see. Have you heard about holy ritual of Nerve Stapling? Or prayed at the sight of divine Colossus?
 
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Oh i most definitely bless thy souls of any spiritualists i will see. Have you heard about holy ritual of Nerve Stapling? Or prayed at the sight of divine Colossus?
I still don't get why Neutron Sweep is unavailable to Spiritualists.

It's the weapon used by the Holy Guardians fallen empire. And it's a perfect weapon for "cleansing" the planets of heretics.
 
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