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Stellaris Dev Diary #15 - Fallen Empires

Hello and happy new year! I’ll be your substitute Doomdark for today and in this week’s dev diary we’ll take a closer look at Fallen Empires.

The galaxy is vast, old and unknown. New species constantly flare into existence and some are even able to take their first cautious steps towards other stars. Of those that do some are arrogant enough to assume that they are the first and only chosen. They fail to realize that others may have taken those same steps before them, others who have found amazing wonders and unraveled their secrets, others who reached the furthest edges of knowledge only to crumble away. Those others are called Fallen Empires.

These are once-glorious empires that for unknown reasons have stagnated and often fallen to infighting or crippling apathy. That which once covered hundreds of systems have shrunk to a fraction, barely held on to by superior technology and what little remains of a once glorious fleet. Fallen Empires are isolationist and will look at newer species with disinterest or outright contempt. Diplomatic attempts are futile and they will most likely attack any unknown ships entering one of their remaining systems.

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The response of Fallen Empires vary greatly when approached. It is rarely friendly though.

Design Reasoning

We’ve added Fallen Empires to the game for a couple of reasons. They have the potential to enable some really cool stories and there is a bunch of different directions we can take to ensure players get a different experience from game to game. Players should never feel confident in how a Fallen Empire may react to different events in the galaxy. If left alone they might resurge as a reaction to a galaxy-wide threat or become outraged when their most holy planets are colonized by lesser races.

Gameplay-wise the Fallen Empires can act as a potential source of advanced technology for players willing to invest the military forces required to defeat one of their fleets in battle. In Stellaris, all ships destroyed in combat will leave debris behind and through reverse engineering a player may discover the technologies required to build the weapons and components equipped by those ships. Players can also invade planets belonging to Fallen Empires, allowing them to utilize whatever advanced buildings placed there. This of course means dealing with a new species within the Empire.
While the rewards may be tempting, players may want to consider the risks before attacking a Fallen Empire. Who knows what horrors they have unearthed during the ages, what forbidden secrets their planets hold within, what captives might be unleashed should their wardens be struck down.

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Fallen Empires will use a separate series of models for their ships and stations.

Next week the good Goosecreature will be back with a dev diary on the events and mishaps that may befall colonies and their inhabitants. Until then!
 
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I wish you will be able to create carefully tailored Fallen Empires to sometimes appear in yours, or other players games. e.g. Cult of the Resplendent Sun slapping anyone who gets too close to their sacred stars.
 
Great, Space Jihad
become outraged when their most holy planets are colonized by lesser races.
Who knows what horrors they have unearthed during the ages, what forbidden secrets their planets hold within, what captives might be unleashed should their wardens be struck down.

That's like Guren Lagann and Mist Trilogy put together there. The plot after the regular plot ends. The meta plot.

Those fallen structures/ships reminds me of Minbari Battleships vs human ships that still spun to get their gravity.

Them also being the size of asteroids is probably also a thing.
 
Why are aliens using such a specifically designed Terran symbol? I mean, stars and shields and other generic things like that could be common enough, but an axe behind a bundle of sticks like that? It seems a bit odd.

The question should be why are humans using the precursor's symbols?
 
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Sounds pretty sweet ! Love the idea of reversing engineering tech from destroyed / captured ships. Can't wait to fight the guardian of Orion lol
 
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Fallen Empires where one of the things i was looking forward to finding out about the most, so this was awesome.

"Who knows what horrors they have unearthed during the ages, what forbidden secrets their planets hold within, what captives might be unleashed should their wardens be struck down."

Hmm, you would think that would drive me away and stop me from attacking them, but the priiiiiize.
 
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Sounds very intriguing. Honestly wasn't expecting much of anything from this beyond "planet with ancient ruins that gives X bonus", so this level of complexity and potential interaction is far beyond my expectations.
 
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Five have already fallen, one still lives, and the last has not yet come.

It is good to see that those who have come before will have the chance to remedy their errors.
 
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Fallen Empires where one of the things i was looking forward to finding out about the most, so this was awesome.

"Who knows what horrors they have unearthed during the ages, what forbidden secrets their planets hold within, what captives might be unleashed should their wardens be struck down."

Hmm, you would think that would drive me away and stop me from attacking them, but the priiiiiize.

Well there's also the fact that the player may be controlling a race of aliens that are itching for that kind of fight.

"It's incredibly dangerous. They're few in number, but they have far better weapons and armour. They're driven by religious fanaticism, they're utterly ruthless and even if we beat their fleet our ground army will probably be devoured by the massive tentacle monster that has taken over their home planet."

"Sounds good to me general. For the Scourge!"
 
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The question should be why are humans using the precursor's symbols?
The origins of the fasces have been traced to the Etruscans. The origins of the Etruscans, however, are unknown...
 
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I must say, this DD exceeded my expectations for the Fallen Empire feature. Extremely pleased that it'd be possible to reverse engineer tech from space debris. Can't wait to mod in Space Byzantine and Space Poland as Fallen Empires.

Those Fallen Empire ships look sweet too... I may steal them for my playable civs.
 
Well there's also the fact that the player may be controlling a race of aliens that are itching for that kind of fight.

"It's incredibly dangerous. They're few in number, but they have far better weapons and armour. They're driven by religious fanaticism, they're utterly ruthless and even if we beat their fleet our ground army will probably be devoured by the massive tentacle monster that has taken over their home planet."
Nah it is more like: "Today is good day to die!"
 
Anyone else notice the hyperlanes not crossing the expanse between galactic arms? Be nice to invade over that with a warp faction, they can defend but they can't counter attack.
 
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Honestly i care... but look at that map! it's beautiful! :eek:
Capture.png

This is the best map I've ever seen in a sci-fi 4x game
 
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It is a bundle of sticks. It means that they are stronger together. The symbol originated in Italy.
It's infact, an ancient Roman symbol. Certain Roman Bodyguards held those bundles of sticks, called fasces with them. Italian Fascists used it because for exactly that reason (unity), and because they liked being Rome.
 
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Why are aliens using such a specifically designed Terran symbol? I mean, stars and shields and other generic things like that could be common enough, but an axe behind a bundle of sticks like that? It seems a bit odd.

I assume it's randomized, but the possibility isn't impossible; axes were invented across various cultures around the globe, it isn't ridiculous to assume aliens might do the same. The image of a bundle of sticks bound to represent strength is also something a foreign culture could come up with. It's not that inconceivable, especially if they indeed have a Fascism-esque ideology.
 
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