Stellaris - (2.5.1) Nivlac Circle Empire is bugged upon creation, does not function properly.

[Walkaboutout]

Description
(2.5.1) Nivlac Circle Empire is bugged upon creation, does not function properly.

Game Version
2.5.1

What version do you use?

Steam

What expansions do you have installed?
All of the above

Do you have mods enabled?
No

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
So, when you bring the Impossible Organism event chain to completion, and choose to relocate the Nivlac to their own world, the resulting empire, the Nivlac Circle, is broken.

The empire (after inspecting it a bit in the save game file, as well as the in-game observations) has no ethics assigned to it at all, no empire type/empire AI in the diplomacy screen, and no diplomatic options in the diplomacy screen, except for declare war (which does not work, because you cannot choose any of the war goals), and make claims, which is greyed out. I'm not in front of the game right now, but I don't think they have any opinion ratings of you either, as any normal diplomacy capable empire has. There's just no numbers displayed where that information usually is.

To my knowledge their broken state does not change as time goes on in-game (assuming you take no save editing actions); the empire simply remains broken to you, in a diplomatic sense.

Additionally, if you edit the save to add ethics, and change the empire "type=nivlacs" to "type=default" it does appear to fix them in-game. Mostly anyways, as they end up as despicable neutrals in that case.

I don't know if this is intended behavior, but I can only assume that it is not.

Steps to reproduce the issue.
Find in-game, or launch via console, the Impossible Organism event chain. When it comes to its conclusion, choose to relocate the Nivlac to their own world. When they emerge as the Nivlac Circle, note that the empire appears to be broken.

As a side thought, it's certainly possible there are specific in-game circumstances that break them, and circumstances that don't break them, but I couldn't say at this point. I think they are just generally broken though.

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[Walkaboutout]

After some further testing with the save file, I think (though who knows, right?) that the big issue is the ' type = "nivlacs" ' entry. Changing other things about the empire in the save game leaves them broken; as soon as I change that entry from "nivlacs" to "default" they get all the standard characteristics of an in-game empire. So maye something about that "nivlacs" define is broken code-side or something. Hopefully that helps.

 

[Kami-sama]

I was going to report the same bug now but thought to check if someone reported it before so I'll bump this thread instead. Hope it gets fixed, I was disappointed that the species I kept nurturing in the event chain ended up in a broken empire.

 

[Mr. Morague]

It’s because the Nivlac country type has essentially no code in it, whereas a default country type does. I’m not sure why they needed a new country type, though it does have the unique ability to bypass borders for some reason.

 

[Rodmar18]

I remember that, back to 2.7 (last time I had the Nivlac), they appeared kind of like any normal emergent pre-FTL empire:
- they had a good opinion on me because I had fed them and didn't thrown them into the vacuum;
- they used their science vessels to explore;
- I had to compete with them in order to restrict them on but a few systems (closed borders, encircling them);
- we had an expansion war together, because I had forbidden them to leave their space, and refused them any pact (I was so afraid of these prolific monsters), and I finally absorbed them.
- I had to control them, because their high adaptability made them invade my worlds, but in the end, they allow me to virtually colonize any world.

Perhaps they emerge as a vassal of some sort, and they can't have diplomacy, etc.

By the way, if Nivlac is not a defined country, shouldn't default country settings precisely apply in this case?

 

[Kami-sama]

Those are the Nivlacs I remember too, the ones I was familiar with when I created their entries on the wiki. But in one of the last patches, presumably the last one, they got broken.

By the way, if Nivlac is not a defined country, shouldn't default country settings precisely apply in this case?

Nivlac is a defined country, they appear in the country types file and are referenced in the event file that creates their empire. But apparently they're insufficiently defined.