[Mod] After Earth - A humans only mod

[Arcvalons]

Honestly this is the only reason I miss the lack of pick any empire mid game like CK2 and the other games are where you can start as Portugal play for 50 years and switch of Egypt. I would love to actually start as the only empire made up entirely as humans design it to fall (low happiness, high divergence) and after it collapses switch to one of the smaller breakaway states and attempt to reunite the galaxy.

I had an idea the other day, that you start without practical FTL travel or communication, but you can still send generation ships at the beginning of the game to systems nearby, and when they reach their destination the colonies inmediately become independent. They themselves also send their own ships some time after settling their original planet, and so on. After some time you discover faster FTL techs, and begin to explore the galaxy as in vanilla, only to find half of it has already been settled by humans from Sol.

 

[MalevolenceIV]

One request- make Earth divided between various entities/states.

 

[klopkr]

I have updated the mod to the latest patch. The Mysterious CTD that formerly plagued the mod seems to have vanished after updating it to the 1.2.5 patch. It seems that it might have been an issue on Pdox's side rather than my own.

Very few inner workings of the mod have been changed but the latest patch features updated localization that removes many mentions of Aliens from the game. Unfortunately Localization is very slow and tedious work and so I've decided to release an update to the mod before localization is fully finished in order to offer the ability to play it before the next big Stellaris patch comes and requires a lot of readjusting.

Thank you all for your ideas and enjoyment of my mod. I hope you will stick around to see it's completed form.

 

[klopkr]

I had an idea the other day, that you start without practical FTL travel or communication, but you can still send generation ships at the beginning of the game to systems nearby, and when they reach their destination the colonies inmediately become independent. They themselves also send their own ships some time after settling their original planet, and so on. After some time you discover faster FTL techs, and begin to explore the galaxy as in vanilla, only to find half of it has already been settled by humans from Sol.

I do like this idea but i think that it would alienate many vanilla players that just want an alien free version of Stellaris. I will however consider making an add on mod along these lines when the primary mod is finished.

One request- make Earth divided between various entities/states.

I'd love to do this but unfortunately I don't think it's possible just yet. I will keep an eye out for ways to implement this as a feature.

 

[klopkr]

Just updated the mod to the latest patch. Now Plantoids and all DLC are compatible if you own them!

The game works exactly like vanilla but without aliens. Some localization still mentions alien species, this is because vanilla loves to point out that things are alien regardless of whether or not it's necessary and fixing localization is very monotonous.

I will likely update the mod to the next patch much sooner than i did this time now that Stellaris devs have settled down with their patches.

Thank you for all of your continued support!

 

[klopkr]

Just uploaded the newest version of the mod.

In this version I've made major strides in removing mentions of aliens and xenos in the games localization. I've also fixed up some minor bugs along the same lines.

Once the localization is finished I will move the mod towards version 1.0.0.

 

[klopkr]

Hey guys, I'm currently out of the country and wont be working much on this mod for the next month or so. I endeavor to get a working version for Utopia as soon as I will be able to.

Recently the devs have revealed some new interesting mechanics and I've been thinking about which ones fit and don't fit within a human only universe. I'd like to hear your thoughts on hive minds and the void. Should they be included in this mod? Should I try an keep the mechanics but rewrite the concept to fit the mods lore better? Perhaps the void is where some of the past humans went during the great cataclysm. Perhaps former individual human civilizations used machine, genetics to create a hive mind.

What are your thoughts on these new game mechanics?

 

[Tirenedon]

Hey guys, I'm currently out of the country and wont be working much on this mod for the next month or so. I endeavor to get a working version for Utopia as soon as I will be able to.

Recently the devs have revealed some new interesting mechanics and I've been thinking about which ones fit and don't fit within a human only universe. I'd like to hear your thoughts on hive minds and the void. Should they be included in this mod? Should I try an keep the mechanics but rewrite the concept to fit the mods lore better? Perhaps the void is where some of the past humans went during the great cataclysm. Perhaps former individual human civilizations used machine, genetics to create a hive mind.

What are your thoughts on these new game mechanics?

I like them and think they should be in in some way. Perhaps the void is full of humans who millennia ago ascended to a higher plain of existence. Hive minds, depending on how they're done, could be humans who were biologically engineered (whether on their own of forcefully) to work as one.

 

[WhaleThemedMercandise]

Question, will the fallen men of Sol still live on Earth, or has it been destroyed to some extent?

 

[klopkr]

I like them and think they should be in in some way. Perhaps the void is full of humans who millennia ago ascended to a higher plain of existence. Hive minds, depending on how they're done, could be humans who were biologically engineered (whether on their own of forcefully) to work as one.

I'm leaning towards this too. I think it adds to the mystery of what happened to the galaxy before your civilization.

Question, will the fallen men of Sol still live on Earth, or has it been destroyed to some extent?

Currently Sol functions the same as the base game. So it can pop up as an empire or as primitives or as a toxic wasteland. I actually really like this because it changes the story of the galaxy a bit each time.

I plan to add extra scenarios for Sol. For example more empire types, a version where Mars is habitable but earth is toxic, and a version with a fallen empire around Sol, among others. Since this requires writing new code I'm putting it on the back burner until after I'm done rewriting the existing events, nations, etc...

 

[Gebilde]

will there be regressed humans
like colonies witch have fallen back in medieval stages with some uniqe tileblocker on the planet?
will you use the humanoid potrais like the elven ones?

 

[klopkr]

will there be regressed humans
like colonies witch have fallen back in medieval stages with some uniqe tileblocker on the planet?
will you use the humanoid potrais like the elven ones?

There will be/is regressed humans.

I have thought about the humanoid portraits and I may consider using the elven one's eventually. I'm also trying to decide what to do about these new AI empires.
Right now I'm leaning towards using both but since my mod is niche I can be very easily swayed.

 

[elektrizikekswerk]

I very much like the idea of the mod and the lore. I guess I will give it a try.
But one thing jumped my eyes and ripped them out:

3: Change the start date to 4400AD - ✓

The lore:
In the year 2200 or so the humans of earth discovered FTL [...]. Within the millennium the entire galaxy had been mapped [...] Thousands of years have now passed [...]

So, the story begins at ~2200. At ~3k (or so) the galaxy is mapped. Colonization started, the empire thrived, fell apart and many colonies perished. Thousands (plural!) of years come and go. And now we have 4400 AD?

My suggestion: Set the start date to ~10k and everything's fine, I guess.

 

[klopkr]

I very much like the idea of the mod and the lore. I guess I will give it a try.
But one thing jumped my eyes and ripped them out:


So, the story begins at ~2200. At ~3k (or so) the galaxy is mapped. Colonization started, the empire thrived, fell apart and many colonies perished. Thousands (plural!) of years come and go. And now we have 4400 AD?

My suggestion: Set the start date to ~10k and everything's fine, I guess.

Honestly I've never been too set on the dates. The time scale is astronomically smaller than in vanilla stellaris which constantly refers to things that happened millions of years before but we can't work on those scales because humans would have just evolved into new species by then.

So far I don't think I actually wrote 4400AD anywhere I just set it as the start date. I'm not too sure how the game handles really large dates or if it'd be even sensible. Maybe it should be 4400 years since the event that collapsed the humans?

It's complicated because I re-wrote most of the events in game to fit the new timeline and getting a reasonable timescale for before the event and between the event and the game start isn't totally set down yet.

Anyways about the status of the mod. I actually updated it to the patch before synthetic dawn but never published it because I got busy and never fully bug tested it. I haven't updated the game to synthetic dawn yet because I don't own the DLC yet. (slightly broke).

What do you think I should do about these AI empires. On one hand they fit the setting but on the other it feels a bit weird to have no aliens but alien robots. Should all AI portraits be available or just the humanoid ones? Should I reduce their occurrence in the universe?

 

[elektrizikekswerk]

Honestly I've never been too set on the dates. The time scale is astronomically smaller than in vanilla stellaris which constantly refers to things that happened millions of years before but we can't work on those scales because humans would have just evolved into new species by then.

So far I don't think I actually wrote 4400AD anywhere I just set it as the start date. I'm not too sure how the game handles really large dates or if it'd be even sensible. Maybe it should be 4400 years since the event that collapsed the humans?

It's complicated because I re-wrote most of the events in game to fit the new timeline and getting a reasonable timescale for before the event and between the event and the game start isn't totally set down yet.

Anyways about the status of the mod. I actually updated it to the patch before synthetic dawn but never published it because I got busy and never fully bug tested it. I haven't updated the game to synthetic dawn yet because I don't own the DLC yet. (slightly broke).

What do you think I should do about these AI empires. On one hand they fit the setting but on the other it feels a bit weird to have no aliens but alien robots. Should all AI portraits be available or just the humanoid ones? Should I reduce their occurrence in the universe?

I think 4400 since "Event X" sounds reasonable

To the problem with synths: I think it would be fine to let them as they are. (Automated) mechanical evolution is several orders of magnitude faster than biological evolution. So imho it's reasonable to assume that all the synths that don't look like humans (or even humanoid) simply evolved into their current shape because that design fits better their "native" environment. Additionally no one said that these synth evolved from a humanoid original at all. No one said that their origin must be like "I, Robot" or "Terminator". The original design could have been something else entirely. Harvesting machines (e.g. KKND 2), military equipment (e.g. Supreme Commander) or something else.

And depending on what “Event X“ actually was it's fine to have many Synth empires as well. Maybe "Event X" actually was a Synth Revolution?

 

[klopkr]

@elektrizikekswerk I like your way of thinking.

Event X is supposed to be up to your imagination so this fits perfectly fine.

 

[elektrizikekswerk]

Event X is supposed to be up to your imagination so this fits perfectly fine.

In general I like that idea. But on the other hand you're wasting lots of potential in regard to events referring to the history of your universe. Maybe you should think of two or three (or more) alternative event chains that deal with it. One could be the aforementioned synth Revolution. Another could be some disturbances in the FTL technology. Etc... The Warhammer 40k lore basically gives you anything you need.
Which history is relevant for the current game could be random.
I say this because you already somewhat complained about many vanilla events being more or less useless. If you want to replace them the best opportunity is history. But if you decide to let the history to be in the player's imagination you miss that opportunity.

 

[Timjames]

Will the Enclaves (Artists, Traders, Curators, etc) and Primitive Worlds be inhabited by humans or will they just be removed from the game?

 

[klopkr]

So I updated the mod to the latest patch and everything seems to be working.

The mod is in a releasable state so I have decided to call this patch 1.0.0!

Here's my goals for this mod from now on:
Continuing to update this each patch from now on.
Looking through all the new event pictures and techs to see if i can replace them with alien free versions.
Creating patriarchal and matriarchal policy option for greater diversity.
Replacing the rieklings with dwarves or hobbits if i can.
Rework the anomalies to integrate them into a non-alien world.
Add in a pirate authority/civic with built in barbaric despoilers.
Rework the Sol system to have a dynamic story.
Tweak galaxy generation for milkdromeda shape.

 

[klopkr]

Will the Enclaves (Artists, Traders, Curators, etc) and Primitive Worlds be inhabited by humans or will they just be removed from the game?

They're controlled by humans. Primitives are humans that lost their their tech in the great event. Nonsapients are humans who devolved after the event. I might consider using some of the alien portraits in a future events related to uplifting regular animals like foxes or cows.