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Stellaris Dev Diary #47 - Guardians

Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris development diary. Today we'll continue talking about the Leviathans Story Pack, specifically its headline feature: the Guardians.

The Guardians (Paid Feature)
The Guardians, or Leviathans as they're also known, are space-dwelling beings of immense power. They vary a great deal in biology and composition: Some are enormous space creatures, some are technological remnants of ancient civilizations, and some are something far different altogether. How you find them also varies - some you may encounter in their home systems, jealously guarding their territory, others may be unleashed on the galaxy by exploring the wrong planet or star.

The chance of a particular Guardian being present in your game will depend on the size of your galaxy - a tiny galaxy might only have one or two, while a Huge galaxy might contain nearly all or even all of them if you explore far enough. Defeating them, or in some cases, helping them, will unlock rewards in the form of resources, empire-wide modifiers and unique technologies. Guardians vary in power, but are meant to be a serious challenge for a mid-game empire, so don't expect to be able to bring them down in the first decades of the game.

Below I am going to talk a little about a few of the Guardians. These are just a sample and not nearly all of them, but we want to avoid showing off everything there is for a player to find in the Leviathans Story Pack for those who wish to explore and find out for themselves.
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The Space Dragon
The Space Dragon is a capricious being, jealously guarding its hoard. With this particular Guardian, there is no reasoning or dialogue... it wants to be left alone, and will attack any and all trespassers in its territory. If you wish to get at its hoard, you will have to slay it, and you had best be sure to bring a large enough fleet - anger it enough, and it will not settle for simply driving you off. Should you bring it down, however, the vast mineral riches of its hoard will be yours to claim... and who knows what you might find among the treasures. Technology, artifacts... perhaps even a dragon egg?
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The Infinity Machine
The Infinity Machine, a strange metal sphere, sits at the edge of a massive black hole, unmoving. It does not attack as you approach, does not communicate, does not even react. It seems to be waiting for something. Perhaps if you find a way to speak with it, you can find out what it wants. Perhaps you can even help it? Or, if you choose, you could simply order your fleet to attack... after all, how much of a threat could a mere metal sphere be?
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Stellarite
What can live inside a star?

What sort of being can withstand, and even thrive in, such immense heat and pressure?

What could be its purpose?

... what does it eat?
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That's all for today! Next week we'll be talking about changes to the graphics and sound of Stellaris coming in the Heinlein update, as well as a teaser on the more than 20 minutes of new music by Andreas Waldetoft included in the Leviathans Story Pack.
 
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Those are opposite ethics, and I see no relation between the ethics and hoarding. Militarist makes sense, as it *is* an enormous, laser-shooting monster that'll kill dead anything going near it.

Oh dip it's been so long since I've played I forgot that about ethics. *chuckle* Ok Fanatic materialist x militarist then.

Sure it's an enormous monster that'll kill shit but that's because it's protecting its Hoard (the planet with 30 E and 30 M) in a reactive fashion, you know like dragons are famous for doing. Granted with what we saw a dragon might get pissed if you attack it too much and it launch an attack to exterminate the source of the ships attempting to steal its hoard. Now that would be a sight.
*imagines dragon orbital bombardment*
 
Oh dip it's been so long since I've played I forgot that about ethics. *chuckle* Ok Fanatic materialist x militarist then.

Sure it's an enormous monster that'll kill shit but that's because it's protecting its Hoard (the planet with 30 E and 30 M) in a reactive fashion, you know like dragons are famous for doing. Granted with what we saw a dragon might get pissed if you attack it too much and it launch an attack to exterminate the source of the ships attempting to steal its hoard. Now that would be a sight.
*imagines dragon orbital bombardment*
I just don't see where Materialist is coming from. Are you sure you don't mean spiritualist? Because these are the kind of guys that'll actively worship something.
 
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The Infinity Machine
The Infinity Machine, a strange metal sphere, sits at the edge of a massive black hole, unmoving. It does not attack as you approach, does not communicate, does not even react. It seems to be waiting for something. Perhaps if you find a way to speak with it, you can find out what it wants. Perhaps you can even help it? Or, if you choose, you could simply order your fleet to attack... after all, how much of a threat could a mere metal sphere be?

This is the place where the Vicky 3's team works. To be able to speak to them you'll need to wait until Vicky 3 announcement. And to help them ... apply beta maybe? :p
 
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I just don't see where Materialist is coming from. Are you sure you don't mean spiritualist? Because these are the kind of guys that'll actively worship something.

Well sure in the strictest of sense, but considering how spiritualism and materialism are divided up in this game it wouldn't make sense that there could be a religion based around their avarice.

Where as I can see Materialism disguising itself under a veneer of spiritualism in order to garner wealth/power.
 
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Well sure in the strictest of sense, but considering how spiritualism and materialism are divided up in this game it wouldn't make sense that there could be a religion based around their avarice.
Uhh that's missing the point. What is being worshipped is not the hoard, it is the dragon itself and the enormus power and potential for destruction that it represents. Militarism is a good fit for that, but Xenophobe could also work as an alternative due to how the Dragon jealously protects its own system.

Where as I can see Materialism disguising itself under a veneer of spiritualism in order to garner wealth/power.
This just does not make much sense. I think you are conflating philosophical materialism and consumerist materialism, when those are two completely different things, and the former is the one in Stellaris. It is a type of monism that basically says that only things that are material and measurable do exist, with no space for anything beyond it such as ghosts and gods and other silly superstition. The two are absolutely anathema to each other.
 
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Oh right, yeah forgot materialism is the research boost one and there's not really an Ethos that represents what I meant. Sorry it's been months since I last played and my memory on some stuff got hazy. So yeah I could see a Militarist / Spiritualist (pick your fanaticism or third thing) might worship the beast because of it's natural strength etc. I also like the image of that same ethos being a society obsessed with taking it down to prove their strength. *chuckle*

Im still more interested in seeing if the dragon will go after planets if you attack it enough without managing to kill it off and if it has like a 'super heavy' orbital bombardment option where it can raze planets and destroy buildings on them quicker etc.