Hello again Console Fans!
This is the last dev diary before we release Console Edition update 2.2, Synthetic Dawn Story Pack, and Expansion Pass Two tomorrow!
We have a few more exciting things to talk about before we go live tomorrow, the Ancient Caretakers (the machine Fallen Empire) and the new Contingency crisis.
Ancient Caretakers
Those with the Synthetic Dawn Story Pack will be able to encounter a brand new Fallen Empire - the Ancient Caretakers. The Ancient Caretakers are a fallen synthetic civilization that appears to be the remnant of some great conflict in the distant past. From what they tell you, they appear to have been part of something called the “Custodian Project”, an initiative to construct and maintain a number of ringworlds as a refuge for biological sapients fleeing some unknown menace. Their erratic behavior and speech, however, suggests that something may be very wrong indeed with this Fallen Machine Empire.
The Ancient Caretakers have a new attitude called 'Enigmatic' and an obscured opinion score to represent their bizarre and unpredictable nature. They may help you with gifts of ships of technology, request your assistance with tasks that may make little apparent sense, or even make demands of your empire that you would be unwise to ignore. They do not awaken like a regular Fallen Empire, but instead have a particular 'triggering event' that, if it happens during the course of the game, will automatically awaken them... though they will not always awaken in the same way. All in all, they behave quite differently from the other Fallen and Awakened Empires, and have their own backstory to explore, as well as unique interactions when dealing with other synthetic civilizations.
We have also made a change to the way you establish contact with Fallen Empires. Previously, unless you had done something to anger them (for example, colonizing a Holy World) FEs would only open communications when you directly entered their space. This has been changed so that Fallen Empires will instead contact you when your ships enter any system adjacent to their space. This should make it harder to accidentally colonize next to Militant Isolationists and also make it so your exploring science ship isn’t hurled back to your capital just because it took a wrong turn after Omicron Persei.
The Contingency
The Contingency is an ancient AI whose purpose appears to be to sterilize the galaxy of all higher biological life and control or destroy all other Synthetic life forms. At the start of the game, it is dormant, broadcasting a weak signal across the galaxy that affects Synthetics in unpredictable ways. The chance of the Contingency waking up is directly tied to the prevalence of Synthetic life in the galaxy, and should it wake, it will attempt to use its signal to control Synthetics and force them to aid it in its implacable task of galactic sterilization. Unlike the previous AI crisis, the Contingency has formidable fleet assets with which to carry out this task and has to be fought both in space and at home, as it makes use of subversion and infiltration to soften up its targets before the sterilization units arrive.
Just as with the Extradimensionals and Scourge, there are additional events and hidden lore to be discovered regarding the Contingency, and synthetic empires will have special interactions and challenges related to it. The Contingency completely replaces the old AI uprising crisis.
That’s it for today, folks! See you tomorrow at 10:00 AM CEST/ 9.00 AM BST / 4:00 AM EST / 1 AM PST for our Stellaris: Console Edition Launch Stream!
This is the last dev diary before we release Console Edition update 2.2, Synthetic Dawn Story Pack, and Expansion Pass Two tomorrow!
We have a few more exciting things to talk about before we go live tomorrow, the Ancient Caretakers (the machine Fallen Empire) and the new Contingency crisis.
Ancient Caretakers
Those with the Synthetic Dawn Story Pack will be able to encounter a brand new Fallen Empire - the Ancient Caretakers. The Ancient Caretakers are a fallen synthetic civilization that appears to be the remnant of some great conflict in the distant past. From what they tell you, they appear to have been part of something called the “Custodian Project”, an initiative to construct and maintain a number of ringworlds as a refuge for biological sapients fleeing some unknown menace. Their erratic behavior and speech, however, suggests that something may be very wrong indeed with this Fallen Machine Empire.
The Ancient Caretakers have a new attitude called 'Enigmatic' and an obscured opinion score to represent their bizarre and unpredictable nature. They may help you with gifts of ships of technology, request your assistance with tasks that may make little apparent sense, or even make demands of your empire that you would be unwise to ignore. They do not awaken like a regular Fallen Empire, but instead have a particular 'triggering event' that, if it happens during the course of the game, will automatically awaken them... though they will not always awaken in the same way. All in all, they behave quite differently from the other Fallen and Awakened Empires, and have their own backstory to explore, as well as unique interactions when dealing with other synthetic civilizations.
We have also made a change to the way you establish contact with Fallen Empires. Previously, unless you had done something to anger them (for example, colonizing a Holy World) FEs would only open communications when you directly entered their space. This has been changed so that Fallen Empires will instead contact you when your ships enter any system adjacent to their space. This should make it harder to accidentally colonize next to Militant Isolationists and also make it so your exploring science ship isn’t hurled back to your capital just because it took a wrong turn after Omicron Persei.
The Contingency
The Contingency is an ancient AI whose purpose appears to be to sterilize the galaxy of all higher biological life and control or destroy all other Synthetic life forms. At the start of the game, it is dormant, broadcasting a weak signal across the galaxy that affects Synthetics in unpredictable ways. The chance of the Contingency waking up is directly tied to the prevalence of Synthetic life in the galaxy, and should it wake, it will attempt to use its signal to control Synthetics and force them to aid it in its implacable task of galactic sterilization. Unlike the previous AI crisis, the Contingency has formidable fleet assets with which to carry out this task and has to be fought both in space and at home, as it makes use of subversion and infiltration to soften up its targets before the sterilization units arrive.
Just as with the Extradimensionals and Scourge, there are additional events and hidden lore to be discovered regarding the Contingency, and synthetic empires will have special interactions and challenges related to it. The Contingency completely replaces the old AI uprising crisis.
That’s it for today, folks! See you tomorrow at 10:00 AM CEST/ 9.00 AM BST / 4:00 AM EST / 1 AM PST for our Stellaris: Console Edition Launch Stream!
