Parasites

[Strager]

Another cool thing to potentially add are "Parasites" similar to the Go'Auld in Stargate or any number of other sci-fi races.

To do this you'd have a special civic which would cause another (chosen?) race spawn on your world instead of your own. These "hosts" have their own traits separate from your own (which enhance the hosts).

 

[garbud]

Another cool thing to potentially add are "Parasites" similar to the Go'Auld in Stargate or any number of other sci-fi races.

To do this you'd have a special civic which would cause another (chosen?) race spawn on your world instead of your own. These "hosts" have their own traits separate from your own (which enhance the hosts).

actually this is already a thing in the update kinda were you have a second subservient species on your home-planet that is strong and dumb. look at some of the twitter update threads.

 

[Strager]

actually this is already a thing in the update kinda were you have a second subservient species on your home-planet that is strong and dumb

Totally different. Those are like if the neanderthals survived.

This is "you are a parasite" - you can take over other species bodies and use them as hosts.

 

[smjjames]

There's actually one molluscoid species which has a wormlike, creature, attached to what would be the face and snakes behind the head and loosely around the neck.

Another one which may be parasitic, but could be a symbiote, is a fungoid portrait which has a mammalian creature which is covered with a plantlike fungoid.

 

[ashbery76]

I recall pre release the game was supposed to have them.

 

[Lothmar]

It'd have to be its own special govt type, or unique mechanics like hive mind.

But yeah, I think it'd be interesting if 'parasties' needed other living beings in order to make their pops. In essence kind of making them an 'infestor' species. Sure you can rp this shit is happening but meh.

perhaps they start with pops like any civ, then those pops make new pops accordingly and they get infested or implanted etc, however their main benefit would be in their ability to go to a world with say pre sentient life forms, or primitives, or dangerous predators, etc and convert those into pops. Increased infection chances per army stationed on a planet and each infected pop already in place which allows you to invade a culture and then transform them over time. Have a mechanic like processing for purging to transform them.

Honestly that just sounds like hive mind though with their ability to convert pops later...

 

[General Retreat]

A decent way to represent this would be a parasitic species trait. Grants bonuses to growth if there is a pop being harvested as livestock on the planet, with new pops gaining the same habitability type as the best optimised livestock type available (in the event of there being multiple species/types).

If there aren't any livestock present, the specie suffers a growth and habitability penalty. This makes it a harvesting equivalent of decadent's slavery. The fluff for how parasites reproduce could be that they use their own stock of non sentient life forms from the home world in times of need, but the ability to co-opt the beneficial genetic traits of advanced life forms makes harvesting actual pops preferable.

Naturally a prerequisite of this trait is 'repugnant'.

 

[DukeLeto42]

... you just want to play as the Goa'uld, don't you? Not saying I don't myself....

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

I imagine the best way to represent a parasite capable of controlling any given species as a host would be to use a special Trait that can be transmitted to neighbouring POPs.

 

[The Founder]

Another cool thing to potentially add are "Parasites" similar to the Go'Auld in Stargate or any number of other sci-fi races.

To do this you'd have a special civic which would cause another (chosen?) race spawn on your world instead of your own. These "hosts" have their own traits separate from your own (which enhance the hosts).

What would be the drawback?
It sounds like you want to have your cake (the others traits) and eat it too (adding the Parasites Traits).

Basically you would be getting a broken amount of Trait points: Both races of this unwilling partnership would get the 2 Free Trait points as well each benefiting from the Trait point additions. And you could do very broken stuff, like leader Focussed Symbiote with Production focussed host.

actually this is already a thing in the update kinda were you have a second subservient species on your home-planet that is strong and dumb. look at some of the twitter update threads.

Totally different. Those are like if the neanderthals survived.

This is "you are a parasite" - you can take over other species bodies and use them as hosts.

That is what you are saying. My headcanon could differ easily. And all we got thus far is a single description on a non-finished part of the game.

Consider:
Goa'uld do not actually inhabit each and every Jaffa and Human under thier Influences. There is only very few Goa-Uld, having conquered at least 2 species. While Jaffa are very solidly enslaved (the gestation cycle of a Goa'uld lava is a biological requirement) this could be mimiced by Synchro Evolution as well.
With SynchEvo you could easily make the main species non-adaptive leader focussed. And just colonise with the lesser species (we will have to see if the traits will actually allow that).


If the parasites do inhabit every last member on the original planet, what you are actually playing is the Parasite Infested Host Species. About the only mechanic I could think about:
After a conquest non-infested pops aquire the "infested" Trait. Upon getting it that trait will reroll thier Ethos once to conform to the Government Ethos. Basically you have a much improoved conversion after conquest. But that is it. They still diverge normally after that and if you loose em and they get converted, you have to correct that the hard way.

 

[Rath12]

The downside could be making non-infested pops be useless, just like conquered primitives.

 

[blackchoas]

Totally different. Those are like if the neanderthals survived.

This is "you are a parasite" - you can take over other species bodies and use them as hosts.

isn't one of the fungal races actually a mammal being controlled by a fungus?

I mean suggest a mechanic for how this would actually play out

also to be fair I think there is a reasonable science argument against it, while fungus do actually do this type of mind control thing in the real world but separate species exist to infect different creatures and for a single species to be able to infect multiple species from completely unrelated evolutionary trees is a little silly, its also why scifi stories that end with germs killed the aliens are silly but those are at least a little believable if you consider viral and bacterial evolution rates, however were are talking about an extremely complex and sentient fungus, no way they would evolve at viral rates

 

[Avian Overlord]

also to be fair I think there is a reasonable science argument against it, while fungus do actually do this type of mind control thing in the real world but separate species exist to infect different creatures and for a single species to be able to infect multiple species from completely unrelated evolutionary trees is a little silly, its also why scifi stories that end with germs killed the aliens are silly but those are at least a little believable if you consider viral and bacterial evolution rates, however were are talking about an extremely complex and sentient fungus, no way they would evolve at viral rates

I really hope Stellaris at least keeps the parasites who presumably use a non-sapient host species and act like any other species. It adds some variety beyond the scifi cliches.

 

[smjjames]

isn't one of the fungal races actually a mammal being controlled by a fungus?

Yeah, two if you count the infected evil mammalian from one of the expanded purchase packages. Though the nature of the symbiosis is left to the players imagination.

 

[Avalon8782]

It would also provide something interesting if we ever get to see a subterfuge system.

 

[DukeLeto42]

It sounds to me that this almost is a way for the creation of political elite pops in the game to actually generate not merely marked "noble" or "elite" pops, but pops with a different trait set.

You could manage this by requiring the trait syncretic evolution in civics and then giving one or both species the "host" trait (probably a 0-cost trait that makes the host species suitable). This would indicate the host/parasite interaction, but depending on ethos it could be anything from Star Trek Trills to the Goa'uld. Then, some galaxy species would spawn as potential hosts, so you would need to either only inhabit certain species or genetic engineer to increase your host population.

 

[pieman]

Another cool thing to potentially add are "Parasites" similar to the Go'Auld in Stargate or any number of other sci-fi races.

To do this you'd have a special civic which would cause another (chosen?) race spawn on your world instead of your own. These "hosts" have their own traits separate from your own (which enhance the hosts).

pfft. Go'Auld are a buncha losers. Yeerks are the true kings of parasitic brain-jackers.

 

[The Founder]

also to be fair I think there is a reasonable science argument against it, while fungus do actually do this type of mind control thing in the real world but separate species exist to infect different creatures and for a single species to be able to infect multiple species from completely unrelated evolutionary trees is a little silly, [...] were are talking about an extremely complex and sentient fungus, no way they would evolve at viral rates

Until they get to Genetic Engineering.

One simple way to make this "parasite/host" interaction would be a low divergence empire, with the starting pops having Conformist. And then every conquered pop having Conformist added to them (making them "Suiteable of Infection") via the Biological Ascension Path.

 

[Rubido]

I had this rough suggestion some time ago https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/parasites-and-hidden-traits.994530/

 

[The Founder]

I had this rough suggestion some time ago https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/parasites-and-hidden-traits.994530/

Hidden traits sound like a bad idea. Informing the player of facts is critical to make meaningfull decisions, inlcuding who to conquer. With the Billions of people moving around, there should be some way to capture a handfull for analysis on parasite compatibility and hidden traits.
Even if there is no Migration access, there would still be movement of all the civilian ships.