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Stellaris Dev Diary #50 - The Journey Ahead

Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris development diary. Today we'll be talking a bit about where the game stands, where we're going, and what we want to focus on in the future.

Where we stand
As anyone who regularly reads the Stellaris dev diaries should know, the intent for Heinlein changed quite a bit back at the end of the summer. While we had originally planned Heinelin to be an update accompanying a major expansion, we decided instead to scale back the scope of the paid content by making a Story Pack, Leviathans, and focusing most of our resources on the actual free update. Now that Heinlein and Leviathans are out, my conclusion is that this was the right decision on our part. By doing this, we gave ourselves time to iterate on some of our weaker features and add a great deal of UI and quality of life functionality. Heinlein ended up as a *huge* update that we feel moved the game forward in a lot of ways, and judging from the huge amount of positive feedback we have gotten, you guys seem to generally agree with this assessment.

So where *do* we stand? My view is that we now have a very solid base game to build on, and that going forward it's time to scale up our ambitions. To make space even greater, so to speak.

Where we're going
So what's next for Stellaris? I have talked a bit about the planned 'Banks' update, which will be a major update accompanied by a full-sized expansion. This is still the plan, but before we release Banks we have another update, dubbed 'Kennedy', which we aim to release before the end of the year. This will be a small update targeting a few specific key issues, such as precursor event chains and endgame crises, that we did not have time for in Heinlein. After that will be Banks, and while we will not be providing any details about the Banks update or accompanying expansion at this time, I will say that the author name chosen for this update may offer some clues. ;)

What we want
Finally, I just wanted to offer some insight into what we believe are the key areas of the game that we should focus on at this time. We have received, and continue to receive, an amazing amount of good feedback and ideas, and of course we have our own ambitions and ideas for where we want to take Stellaris, but at the moment there are three key areas that we aim to continually target with future updates and content, namely:
  • Fleshing out the mid- and lategame through the addition of more interesting narratives and 'galactic events' akin to Awakened Fallen Empires that shake up the galactic scene.
  • Improving the internal workings of empires, making pops and leaders more interesting, and making empires feel more alive.
  • Expanding on the ethics system, creating more unique playstyles and enhancing roleplaying.

This is of course not the *only* things we aim to focus on, but they are what we consider to be the most important areas going forward right now. Just to give you an idea of what else you can expect in the future, here is a list of some features (in no particular order of priority) that we are looking into adding in the future.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE OR FINAL LIST, AND NOTHING BELOW IS CERTAIN TO HAPPEN!

  • Ship appearance that differs for each empire, so no two empires' ships look exactly the same.
  • More story events and reactive narratives that give a sense of an unfolding story as you play.
  • More potential for empire customization, ability to build competitive 'tall' empires.
  • Deeper Federations that start out as loose alliances and can eventually be turned into single states through diplomatic manuevering.
  • Ability to set rights and obligations for particular species in your empire.
  • Global food that can be shared between planets.
  • Superweapons and planet killers.
  • Ability to construct space habitats and ringworlds.
  • More interesting mechanics for pre-FTL civilizations.
  • Factions that are proper interest groups with specific likes and dislikes and the potential to be a benefit to an empire instead of just being rebels.
  • A 'galactic community' with interstellar politics and a 'space UN'.
  • Buildable Dreadnoughts and Titans.

Again, remember that the above is not a list of promises, that I can't answer any specific questions about future content, and that plans can and will change, but I hope I've at least given you some idea of where Stellaris will be going from here, and that you look forward to the journey ahead of us as much as we do here in the development team.
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Cool. Between finer grain policies, better empire ethos combination characterization and sensible federation mechanics (federations right now are not federations at all, they are just alliances. Confederations at best) you plan to cover all the flows that I still see in the game design.

All the rest is just very welcome additions. Keep up the good work!
 
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Very interesting.

Will the new pre-FTL mechanics include a fix to the stone age primitives?

talt
 
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Thanks for the insight. It's always nice to know what the future looks like, even if it might change a bit over time. :)

Heinlein ended up as a *huge* update that we feel moved the game forward in a lot of ways, and judging from the huge amount of positive feedback we have gotten, you guys seem to generally agree with this assessment.
Indeed, I can only agree with that assessement.
 
i wish you had some kind of domestic and interstellar trade in your plans
I assume that economics and espionage is something that gets attention sooner or later.
 
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So... there are no confirmed (or unconfirmed) plans to update the military aspects, which (UI and mechanics) is one of the worst, most underdeveloped parts of the game at this moment.

Are you, as seasoned developers, who have produced games like HoI and March of the Eagles, are really happy with the warfare in this game?
 
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I like the sound of all of those potential features, especially the ones that enhance roleplaying, since that's my approach to all Paradox games.

Though, I would be lying if I didn't say that making "tall" empires more viable and sharing food between planets didn't excite me as well.
 
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I like the sound of all of those potential features, especially the ones that enhance roleplaying, since that's my approach to all Paradox games.

Though, I would be lying if I didn't say that making "tall" empires more viable and sharing food between planets didn't excite me as well.
Sorry if this is a remedial question, but what is a "tall" empire?
 
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I would hope that given the interest and popularity of robotic empire mods, such as http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=681553348, http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=728268465, http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=764214160 and http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=685661068, that you could find time to implement native support for such empire types.

Ideally we'd see the possibility of the old MOO Silicoids that would be consuming Minerals instead of food and Synthetics/Otherworldly that would consume Energy instead of Food.

Whether this would be handled via the traits system or via a new system at species creation which lets you select which food type the species consumes, either way would be welcome.
 
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So... there are no confirmed (or unconfirmed) plans to update the military aspects, which (UI and mechanics) is one of the worst, most underdeveloped parts of the game at this moment.

Are you, as seasoned developers, who have produced games like HoI and March of the Eagles, are really happy with the warfare in this game?

There was a large, bold-fonted disclaimer that the posted list is not an exhaustive list.
 
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Sorry if this is a remedial question, but what is a "tall" empire?

A 'tall' empire is one that focuses on staying small and building vertically, as opposed to spreading out in all directions.
 
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Sorry if this is a remedial question, but what is a "tall" empire?
it's the opposite of 'wide', which is expanding and conquering above all else. 'tall' is about developing your own empire
 
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If all of these things would make it into the game I'd be very, VERY happy with Stellaris for years to come.

Also, what about more lore regarding spaceborn aliens? I feel like that is an area that could be utilized a lot more. Uplifting space amoebae, breeding Tiyanki as a special project for scientific purposes, maybe even new races, all stuff that could be really cool.
And while I realize that is most likely way out of scope for this project atm, what about some sort of "canon universe" generation setting for people who like more assymetrical starts and the classic EU4/CK2 feeling?
 
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You did a stellar job with Heinlein, I've literally played through the night, on a workday... And all this sounds perfect, except...

  • Global food that can be shared between planets.
Why? Whyyy?! Does every 4x have to follow in the footsteps of the first Civ game, which does its best for its time to present gameplay for the early ages of a society when agrarian production and employment are limiting factors? This makes seldom sense fo anything past the 20th century :(

Water, on the other hand...
 
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