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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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If it was a perfect sphere, it wouldn't have those lines on it... :p
 
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Nice DD, but I still hope to hear about fleet combat changes (priority fire, ship behaviour, fleet formations, additional fleet order etc)
 
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These look sick, super excited about it.

Really hope some of the Guardians/Leviathans are related to the spaceborn aliens as well. I want to see Mother Tiyanki or a Mega Space Amoeba.

I also wonder what happens to the dragon if you anger it enough... will it chase you down to one of your planets and roast it for good?!
 
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How many guardians are there?

Also: brace yourselves for hundreds upon hundreds of people asking how to get the Dragon's Horde...
 
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So can we make the assumption that some of them are sentient and some them aren't? I think so.

Lord knows the ball could be an automated thing, or a life form.

I think what disturbs me most about this is not what is shown but what isn't shown. Individual life forms who exist in space could be as simple as giant space worms from Star Wars.

Or they could be space travelling technological gods who have ascended past mere biology.

Am I going to meet a Krayak or Ellimist like being? If anyone is familiar with the old Animorphs book series.
 
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They look great, but still think its odd to have payed content this early when the game is still such a mess. The mid/end game is super dull, so now we have to pay to make it somewhat interesting. I know this has been said to death, but still think this should have been free or released once we have had some actually updates.
Any word on price ? Looking at the content I am guessing £5 max, anymore than that will be a bit of slap in the face.
 
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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 communicate 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?

Excession?
 
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If we send a single corvette named 'Burglar', 'Hobbit' or 'Flattery' at the dragon, will we get unique dialogue/interaction with the beast? You know, the sort that might spite it to attack a neighboring empire after you claim to be from there? :p

Yes, I'm fishing for oddball easter egg options tied to the Leviathans. They look to be awesome in their own right, but... as a local saying goes, "much wants more".

Very much looking forward to interacting with these behemoths. I wonder if that shiny crab uses stars an egg... Nova births, anyone?
 
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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?
bf0xnUT.png

iOYyJnC.png


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.
c'tan...
 
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Any chance that the Dragon's system is called: Here be Dragon?
 
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