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Hi and welcome to another Stellaris dev diary. Today we’re going to talk about some of the things we’re adding in the upcoming Kennedy update.

The Extradimensionals didn't work quite as we had imagined them. Players were more or less forced to throw everything they had at their dimensional portal, but there was no way to slowly push them back. The mechanics through which they received reinforcements also felt a bit too arbitrary, so we decided to shake things up a bit.

As before, the Unbidden care little for planets (aside from harvesting their populations). They are an entirely space-based civilization, but now they will also build a new class of station: Dimensional Anchors. These Anchors increase the ability of the Unbidden to bring in reinforcements from their portal. The more Anchors they have constructed, the shorter the time between their reinforcement waves. In addition to that, they will also bring in a new fleet from their portal every time an Anchor finishes construction.

As long as an Anchor is active, the Dimensional Portal will be indestructible.

Anchor.jpg


Anchors are very large stations, and they take a long time for the Unbidden to build. They also function as Frontier Outposts, in that they generate borders. If you see one under construction, you may want to consider a preemptive strike before it comes online…

Overall these changes mean that the Extradimensionals can no longer simply be defeated with a single surgical strike once they have had time to establish themselves in the galaxy, but also that they don’t get unlimited and instant reinforcements, so you can wear them down in a war of attrition.

Our illustrious Art Department has not been idle while we worked on these changes. They have added new death animations for all Extradimensional ships and stations:

ed_effect'.jpg


Extradimensional Constructors have also been given a new effect when they are building stations:

ED_construction_effect.png


We have also revisited the Precursor anomalies. It was much too difficult (sometimes impossible) to collect all six artifacts needed to finish their chains. As you approach the mid-game now, there is a chance that you will get a new event that spawns an additional anomaly somewhere inside your space.

lrCyMQI.png


That’s all for today! Next week we’ll be talking about new Achievements coming in the Kennedy update.
 
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How come in all 5 games I played I encountered only the Unbidden and no other end-game crisis?

I guess it is because you always go for (PSI) Jump Drives ?
Afaik each crisis has different trigger conditions so if you tend to go the same route in research this might be the cause.

Like you dont get robot rebellion if you dont do the A.I. research.

Or maybe you are just unlucky ;)
 
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I guess it is because you always go for (PSI) Jump Drives ?
Afaik each crisis has different trigger conditions so if you tend to go the same route in research this might be the cause.

Like you dont get robot rebellion if you dont do the A.I. research.

Or maybe you are just unlucky ;)
Yeah.

Two of the three crises have tech triggers, so I just never take those techs before a crisis starts. Once that happens they are perfectly safe, as only one crisis can occur in a vanilla game.
 
I have another issue with the precursor event chain. I had the Cybrex chain active, and of course it stalled out at 4 of 6 artifacts collected. Then I saw the Cybrex system had spawned already, which should make the event chain moot, right? What would happen if I finished my event chain? Would Cybrex spawn a second time? Shouldn't the event chain get cleared out if I find and scout Cybrex on my own?
 
All this is good news that will help make a better challenge, but...
Only one question @Goosecreature :

Will invaders actually be able to consume all of the galaxy like a true terror now if left unchecked, or will they still curl up in their corner and not attack any more after a set period of expansion?
 
Looks like a couple of good changes. Making the Unbidden a bit more engaging is definitely welcome.

Any chance we'll see a 1.3.2 though? There really are a lot of little things that need fixed. I'd be happy to do an unofficial fix mod, but some of the big issues in 1.3.1 are in the code (autocompletion on ship computers), so I can't really fix those.
 
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Will there be any indicator of where and how many stations still exist? I could see this mechanic becoming extremely frustrating without that.
 
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I have another issue with the precursor event chain. I had the Cybrex chain active, and of course it stalled out at 4 of 6 artifacts collected. Then I saw the Cybrex system had spawned already, which should make the event chain moot, right? What would happen if I finished my event chain? Would Cybrex spawn a second time? Shouldn't the event chain get cleared out if I find and scout Cybrex on my own?
So far as I know, the Cybrex system spawns after you find the final anomaly. I know when I completed that chain, a new system spawned inside my borders (a very lucky coincidence given everyone else's stories!).

It could well be that you discovered a randomly generated ringworld that was unrelated to the Cybrex, as they do rarely appear.
 
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I hope the rewards of the precursor event chains are looked at. If you get the cybrex, you are already waaay ahead of anyone who got a different precursor, since you end up with a broken ringworld system, while the other ones just get randomly generated systems, which are generally not nearly as good.
 
My 3 thoughts.

1.
Cybrex event chain was great.
The ohers? I almost didn't notice anything different from a basic anomaly.

Other precursor systems should be a big a reward as the cybrex is.

2.
Would love for some way to find new anomalies in old systems.
Non homeworld Planets occasionally spawning them would be great.

3.
I know you dont wanna hear it, but sectiors still poop and wee wee the bed.
Idk what, but depending on the empire and what i do, i should have what we have now, up to having almost 100% control of the planet myself.

Allow me to go to every planet, build w/e i want, and have a little lock button like civilization for pops, but for buildings.
That way there is 0% chance of any mix up,
They cant destroy it.

Oh and i liked everything i saw here, looking forward to next week!
 
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Looks really nice.

Is there a chance they'll show up even if no one has the drive in time? I'm rather tired of almost ever only seeing the Swarm.

On a related note, any chance there are plans to add more crises? Or at least make it so the AI rebellion can happen?
I've had the AI rebellion happen. Although they got stomped on pretty quickly whenever they got a foothold.
 
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Thank god they're finally changing the precursor events, I've never been able to complete even one. I'm glad that the unbidden are getting an upgrade too, but I think the game needs a lot of work on other things before they focus on the end game events. Diplomacy in particular needs a huge overhaul, so hopefully that will be fixed sooner rather than later.
 
My 3 thoughts.

1.
Cybrex event chain was great.
The ohers? I almost didn't notice anything different from a basic anomaly.

Other precursor systems should be a big a reward as the cybrex is.

Yeah, the other precursor systems aren't any different from the larger anomaly payouts, plus whatever the RNG grants you within the system. They really need some sort of reward inside them. Giving the former First League capitol world a large amount of social science output like say, 20 (due to xeno-archaeology on a world-spanning city), would be a start towards making that chain worth it.
 
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Extradimensional Constructors have also been given a new effect when they are building stations:

View attachment 216394
Unbidden confirmed as DS9's Wormhole Aliens.
500px-Orb_of_Prophecy_and_Change.jpg


I don't see how the change prevents sniping down the portal as soon as it spawns, which is how I've dealt with every Unbidden invasion (when I felt threatened by it; there were times when I just let it do its thing to tenderize other empires for me).

I think you're better off flipping the script on that. The Unbidden event means that portals can randomly spawn anywhere in the galaxy--multiple at the same time. You need to research tech to strength the dimensional whats-its that can be put on military stations, which will prevent new portals from spawning in a given radius. Thus, the crisis cannot be one-shot and never really goes away, it's just managed.
 
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We have also revisited the Precursor anomalies. It was much too difficult (sometimes impossible) to collect all six artifacts needed to finish their chains. As you approach the mid-game now, there is a chance that you will get a new event that spawns an additional anomaly somewhere inside your space.
So... The fact that it breaks if someone else has surveyed the world will remain unaddressed, then? Because that's what was making the events literally impossible, rather than just very difficult.
 
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