Let's imagine DLCs/expansions for Stellaris

[jose2534]

(Inglish is not my mother language)

I have a new keyword that doesn’t hurt my fingers, at last!!!!!! And I can writhe stuff again without stop because of my fingers smashing what before was a brick! So I have been imagination a lot and I want to share this:

Let’s imagine together the names and content of stellaris possible future DLCs, note that this is an exercise of imagination and creativity, one doesn’t need to be ultra-detailed in their descriptions and let the names of the “DLC/expansions” do most of the explaining some times; so let’s have fun together and let’s see if some of these ideas make it to the devs, or to Wiz for that matter!!!


Love and Joy in Space: a DLC/expansion centering in pop (same species and interspecies) related events, new happiness modifiers and or mechanics, new leader related events that can shake ones empire and or give a laugh or a thought, it also adds some interesting interactions to have with pre-FTL civilizations.


Whispers in the Void: a Story Pack centering in horror themed events, where ghost ships soar the cosmos with unknown intentions, lost “arc” ships orbit perfectly habitable worlds but no life signs come out of them, tomb worlds and terraformed tomb worlds (they get a flag like “was a tomb world”) contain mysteries and some invisible (and some pretty visible) horrors (and hopes for the long dead species), supernatural sitautions become cotidian to some people in some planets. New mechanics for tomb worlds, new horror related portraits, and new events.


Utopias and Dystopias: a totally expanded ethos mechanic, were government ethos can get “corrupted” or “Enhance”, turning against the player, its people or its objectives (even an utopia can be a problem sometimes), a new “stability” resource to stop the corruption or the “enhancement” (I don’t have a better word for this) from happening, more in depth mechanics for governments, in which they can be turn in a Dystopia or a Utopia version of itself, government with some painful penalties, but some strong positive perks too. This expansion has a new, more in depth, empire leader system, in which the leaders have strong personality traits that can shape empires, make federations come closer or get destroyed from the inside, and to a government type to be change, so democracies can be change in autocracies or oligarchies and vice versa. (I really want some way to fall in love or hate the enemy or allies leaders, now they are just placeholders with no voice or wishes, I will love to see some empires turn in democracies because of an emperor that want so, or a president elect that crown himself, or a long term ally that elect a aislasionist that suddenly cut all ties with you nation or just close its borders to everybody)


Strong of Body and Mind: DLC that contains new traits in species creation, and creates a difference between physical and psychological traits, this difference has mechanic implications, not because they are pic separately, they still share the same tab and picking that we have today (they still are traits), but differ in the way that they can be remove or added during game. I don’t know about you but having “nomadic”, “sedentary”, “solitary” and “Communal” and some other traits to be removed with genetic modification feels odd to me, because I found those to be more “cultural/psychological” than “genetic related”.


The Little Ones: A complete expansion of Pre-FTL interactions, where one can make them be stuck forever in a certain age, make them go back and forth technologically, save them from certain doomsday situation like: preventing nuclear war with selective infiltration in governments, helping them to cure pandemics that treat their species survival, or have prepared a lot of ships in orbit for a fast and clean operation of rescue in case of nukes fired (in case one doesn’t infiltrate). One can exterminate the ones below their technological level in new terrible and funny ways too.


And I’m out of ideas for today, what do you think? What of these you will like to see come true? What ideas do you have? Give us some cool names and descriptions!!!

 

[Prussian Prince]

How about a DLC that legitimize's some of the best loved Mods.

 

[Wyvax]

Love and Joy in Space: a DLC/expansion centering in pop (same species and interspecies) related events, new happiness modifiers and or mechanics, new leader related events that can shake ones empire and or give a laugh or a thought, it also adds some interesting interactions to have with pre-FTL civilizations.


Whispers in the Void: a Story Pack centering in horror themed events, where ghost ships soar the cosmos with unknown intentions, lost “arc” ships orbit perfectly habitable worlds but no life signs come out of them, tomb worlds and terraformed tomb worlds (they get a flag like “was a tomb world”) contain mysteries and some invisible (and some pretty visible) horrors (and hopes for the long dead species), supernatural sitautions become cotidian to some people in some planets. New mechanics for tomb worlds, new horror related portraits, and new events.


Utopias and Dystopias: a totally expanded ethos mechanic, were government ethos can get “corrupted” or “Enhance”, turning against the player, its people or its objectives (even an utopia can be a problem sometimes), a new “stability” resource to stop the corruption or the “enhancement” (I don’t have a better

All these ideas are great actually. I'd like to see all of them added sooner or later.

 

[Elfwind]

No tongue or tentacles first date!

 

[Wyvax]

No tongue or tentacles first date!

Well yes, obviously, but.... whaaaat????

 

[jose2534]

No tongue or tentacles first date!

You forgot the roots of the plant and fungoid people, never forget the roots

 

[BOOMER BOOM! MAN!]

Eyes in the Shadows, Teeth from the Darkness: An espionage-focused DLC that include agents that could be sent against rival empires to perform a wide range of covert missions such as sabotage, assassination, stealing scientific research, etc. as well as counterintelligence ops in order to protect your empire from such activities. Also could add a intergalactic 'underground' where you could hire rogue leaders for a hefty price or hire pirates to send on raids against the other empires unknowingly. Of course, there would be more traits to go along with the espionage game such as 'Secretive', that makes it harder to be spied on, 'Shadowy' that increases your chances of success with missions against others, 'Open' which makes it easier to be spied on or 'Honest' that makes it harder to perform offensive espionage activity. The storypack with this DLC would involve the galaxy being undermined by a race of shapeshifting beings that have infiltrated the governments of several of the games empires and have began a coup d'etat, quickly taking over entire empires with their own fleets to ensure that the rest of the galaxy will be under their rule. Can you stand against this unforeseeable and predatory threat?...Or...have they already infiltrated the highest offices of your government like a parasite, just waiting for a chance to reveal themselves, turning your planets, your fleets and even your leaders against you?

 

[WebShaman]

The Shadow steals the Soul - stealth ship modules and stealth detection modules. Should allow a stealthed ship to enter a closed border region and in combat to sneak attack (launching the first salvo unless first detected).

Weapon Pack - new weapon modules for ships and defense stations.

Doomsday Devices - left-over from long forgotten wars, the original participants long gone from the galactic stage. It "re-activates" upon being disturbed and now begins a desperate race to either destroy it before it destroys you, or to find a way to turn it on someone else!

 

[Milten]

Space nomads. Since there is already a stub for it, that's pretty much a given. Travel between systems, mine stuff, annoy it's owners. Work as biggest mercenary fleet in a galaxy. 'Harvest' alien worlds if you are xenophobic a bit, invite them to your fleet if you are not. Reach the absolute self-sufficiency and travel to another galaxy or make entire galaxy your tributary.
Corporations. They would set up stations and factories on uninhabitable worlds and asteroids, giving you part of their gains (and problems) in return. Just make sure they aren't digging ancient obelisks and demon portals out there. And aren't kidnapping people for experiments, nobody likes that.

Love and Joy in Space:

Eh...

No tongue or tentacles first date!

"What? Somebody bring me another translator, this isn't working"

 

[Garfazz Steamfang]

Surprised that no one has mentionned an economic/market based DLC for making peacefull bureaucratie/ cartel usefull and create some peacefull traders empires (or slaves traders as well).
Definitly a must have with a diplomatic expended DLC.

 

[Xorix]

Crusader Klings:
A dlc about religion.

 

[jose2534]

Poets of the Stars: is an expansion about culture and identity, and this includes an expansion in the ethos choosing, being one able to attach a “doctrine/belief/focus” to their ethos (2 in case of fanatic and one in regular ethos), so a spiritualist is way different from other spiritualist in game. There are a new set of events and situations that can shape the way an empire behave and interact with others, because the “doctrines” are not immutable, but can be change, at a planetary level and at a empire level. This has an expansion in population diversification depth. Writhers, musicians, and movie directors became something in both a mechanical level and a narrative one, and this talented individuals (some agree and other disagree with currents policies and ethos of the state) can change a planet or empire way of seeing things, for good or ill. Intercultural exchange, passive, intentional or aggressive, is a thing, and one can influence the galaxy from a little focused empire, that has a lot of internal unity and a talented artisan circle. Dictators with unhappy pops should be careful, the artists could spark a wide spread rebellion even among the high ranks of state if they are not trap in time; but have in consideration, dictators, elected or not, can themselves use loyalist artist to impulse their agendas.

Of Houses and Palaces: this DLC includes a new mechanic in which pops have a social status in base of what they work out of tiles, this has an effect on democratic elections, and ways an oligarchy and autocratic government interact with pops.

Definitly a must have with a diplomatic expended DLC.

Name it!

 

[GloatingSwine]

DLC for Hive Minds.

Replacing the ethics and leader system for a species because they are not individuals, they're all part of the same hive organism. Instead of leaders the hive mind could have something like attention points which it can assign to a type of research, fleet, or planet which give it bonuses (can't get traits but can micromanage attention more freely because it isn't a particular type of thing, can take attention away from a planet and put it on a fleet, for instance), and instead of ethics/happiness it has some kind of strength of hive connectivity which makes poorly connected planets work inefficiently.

 

[prithupaul]

Fire in the Skies : A complete overhaul and expansion of the military aspects of the game (the giant gaping hole in Stellaris' gameplay) - from preparation to aftermath of war, with more detailed fleet compositions and structures (OOB), "terrain" variations, hugely improved UI, less tedious recruitment methods, introduction of logistics, fleet strategies, formations, stances, improved ground forces management, more realistic leader system (incl chain of command), optionally autonomous AI leaders, more realistic warscore counter, expanded post-war diplomatic options etc. Borrow some ideas from AGEOD, or your own March of the Eagles & Hearts of Iron.

Make wars feel less like Fartcraft / Age of Empires, and more like a strategic wargame.

 

[Scourgeclaw]

Wanderers and Collectives: the space-bound nomad fleet and hive-mind story

Communion Communication: The ability to create and customize your own religion with different traits ideologies and deities, allowing cultures and religions to act as another means of converting other worlds to join you rather than just conquest- non spiritualist/materialist empires only having minor belief systems that can be overwritten over time by embracing another empire's religion or ignored stoically opposing the concept of religion.

FYI I'm a spy: Espionage and ship stealth. Let me steal technology from that one neighboring player that got Psi jump drives fasTER THAN I DID SO HE CAN STOP WARRING ME AND JUMPING CIRCLES AROUND ME WITH HIS FLEET HALF THE STRENGTH OF MINE HNNNNGHF

Combat made worth a damn: implementing Advanced Ship Behaivor Modules-esque functionality to the depth and balance of ship combat

Colors of the Rainbow~: adding more colors so I can finally tell which empires are which

Grounded in Reality: Ground combat overhaul wherein the Armies planetary menu begins to more resemble the Surface menu with an invasion and defense overlay
also Psionic armies are made into something useful

Critical Calamity: End Game Crisis events are finally fixed and new ones are added, up to or including: Galactic-scale plagues causing extreme depopulation and the warring over non-infected worlds, extragalactic refugee crisis wherein a calamity of some description decimates another galaxy and fleets of refugees flee to the nearest available galactic cluster (yours) flooding worlds with unhappy pops for those that accept them and angering nearby empires who get shelved more refugees because you refused them access. New nations form from these haven-seekers and old nation's rivalries arise, causing these fledgling refugee-states to ask nearby empires to settle old grievances

Crisis Core: The galactic core is revealed to house the radiation-drenched decaying remnants of an ancient stellar empire of some description with such advanced technology that puts the Fallen Empires to shame. The galaxy scrambles to harness this tech and all of it's hidden parts throughout the galaxy's length and breadth for themselves.

I see 'em up ahead, lets Rock and Roll!: Silicoids with different options for planetary habitability: allowing the colonization of new planet types and revealing new ones such as Silicon-Garden Worlds (silicon based life's paradise jungle worlds), Coral worlds (ocean worlds with no landed surface- only underwater coral reefs and sea-plains), Ash worlds ( constant volcanic eruptions and ash-fall everywhere. Silicoids love it!)

 

[monkofmimmir]

The above dlc ideas sound grand, here are my suggestions.

Strange tech: Gives the option in species creation to allow races to choose variants on the normal tech tree with unique techs, such as civilisations which almost exclusively use biotech/crystals/psionics/etc instead of mechanical technology or a society that tends to rely on older technology but instead focuses on refining and perfecting it to the point it can compete with more advanced technologies.


Beyond the void: A DLC based around the idea of pocket dimensions and other planes, allows for a new FTL type where ships can enter a hyperspace like dimension. You could even have 2 races with this FTL type battling in this hyperspace instead of normal space, the downside of the tech being that this space can only be entered or left through gates. The DLC would also include a few interesting tech such as space compression which would allow larger weapons and equipment than normal to be mounted on ships for a large extra cost.


Parasites and nanites: This DLC allows for the creation of parasitical and symbiotic races that require host species (such as the Borg, Goa'uld or Trill), they'd be limited in their population growth by the number of hosts that they can acquire but would have a huge edge when it came to intrigue based tactics. It also creates end game crisis based upon this infiltration.


Song of the stars: Allows for playing non-sentient race (think like the Tyranids or alien). Races like this loose access to the tech tree but instead get access to a genetic mutation tree that allows them to develop new abilities and sub-species.


Dead whispers: A small DLC to add a new end game crisis, a previously primitive species suddenly develops space travel and advances their technology at a terrifying pace quickly taking out and conquering larger empires, it soon becomes clear they're being guided by a mysterious cult-like figure who is giving them access to technology and information more advanced than even that held by fallen empires. It then becomes a race against time to find out this mysterious stranger's true motives and stop him before every empire in the galaxy falls to his terrifying machinations.


Pirates, monks and mercenaries: Populate the game world with non-nation factions such as mercenary companies that may even gain enough wealth/power to eventually create their own colonies (free pirate colonies anyone?). These groups could often be created either by losing sides in wars, factions that have been exiled from their home nation or regions of space enduring long drawn-out conflicts.

 

[xe2s]

Rise of Crime: "I understand. You found paradise in Space, you had a good trade, you made a good living. The army protected you and there were fixed sector AI. You didn't need a friend like me. But, now you come to me, and you say: "Don Blorgleone, give me justice." But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Blorgfather. Instead, you come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married, and you ask me to do murder for money."

New game mechanics featuring playable crime syndicates and cartels (Something similar to merchant republics in CK2). Slave trade, spice trade, black markets, planetary extortions, various illicit goods, bounty hunters, assasins, private armies. Bring your inner Jabba the Hutt.