Stellaris 3.0 "Dick" Update Free Features

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Wondering what free features are coming on April 15th in the Stellaris 3.0 Update?

Check out our Stellaris 3.0 Update Free Features Video!
Yeah I'm wondering what the features are. I'd like to not have to sit and listen/watch a video to find out though. Where's the usual write-up that occurs with these announcements? This is what I really don't like with the advent of Youtube and video these days. Everyone just pumps out videos to drive up views instead of actually properly documenting something that should be documented to begin with.
 
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Is espionage going to be in the free patch?

Yes, a limited version of the system that only has the "gather intel" operation IIRC.

That's probably the right choice, those that don't want sabotage/steal tech etc can just choose not to get the DLC.


at least read the dev diary , or wait for somone to give the answer ...

* Subterfuge - Information gathering and operations that improve the spy network itself
* Sabotage - Ruining things (physical or immaterial)
* Manipulation - Replacing the truth with your own improved version
* Provocations - Don't do these, they're bad
those will be part of the free patch .

the DLC will add some kind of operations ( I'M NOT SURE about witch one, for example the one that make an empire the focus of the crisis is probably of the DLC , but i may be wrong)
 
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at least read the dev diary , or wait for somone to give the answer ...


those will be part of the free patch .

the DLC will add some kind of operations ( I'M NOT SURE about witch one, for example the one that make an empire the focus of the crisis is probably of the DLC , but i may be wrong)

3.0 ‘Dick’ Features:
  • New Intel system
  • Reworked First Contact
  • Reworked Pop Growth
  • New Industrial Districts & some changes to production of Alloys/Consumer Goods
  • New Espionage system & Gather Intelligence Operation (other Operations will be a part of Nemesis)
  • Numerous bug fixes & improvements
Dev Diary #205 seems to indicate that the Gather Intel operation will be the only one available without Nemesis, though admittedly that may have been changed. However, the feature breakdown video glosses over espionage entirely, so I'm fairly confident we're still left only with gather intel.

As for the detailed patch notes, those are hopefully coming in a dev diary tomorrow if the past is any guide.
 
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Dev Diary #205 seems to indicate that the Gather Intel operation will be the only one available without Nemesis, though admittedly that may have been changed. However, the feature breakdown video glosses over espionage entirely, so I'm fairly confident we're still left only with gather intel.

As for the detailed patch notes, those are hopefully coming in a dev diary tomorrow if the past is any guide.
intel system , is the SYSTEM that is defined by intel .

inside this system you have all operations, counter intelligence (heavely nerfed in contenent), etc .









EDIT: YES, after watching the video , they did GLASS over it , so i've my dubts too ... gona re-read all dev dieary about it.
 
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Dev Diary #205 seems to indicate that the Gather Intel operation will be the only one available without Nemesis, though admittedly that may have been changed. However, the feature breakdown video glosses over espionage entirely, so I'm fairly confident we're still left only with gather intel.

As for the detailed patch notes, those are hopefully coming in a dev diary tomorrow if the past is any guide.
you almost got me...
Espionage Update
The Espionage system has undergone some changes since the Dev Diaries that previewed them. Based on playtesting and qualitative feedback, we simplified a few of the systems that seemed to be adding unnecessary complexity or were difficult or awkward to understand. The way Encryption, Decryption, and Counter-Espionage all interacted were one of these points of frequent confusion, so we decided to scrap Counter-Espionage entirely, renamed Decryption to Codebreaking, and apply standardized rules when using them:

Encryption is always used as "Espionage Defense"
Codebreaking is always used as "Espionage Offense"

In earlier iterations, which modifier was being referenced varied based on the exact circumstances, which muddled the stats a bit and made it difficult to tell which one would help you more when you're attempting to infiltrate an empire. We renamed Decryption in order to further reduce confusion. Relative Encryption is used often in the system, and will now always compare the "offensive" Empire's Codebreaking with the "defending" Empire's Encryption.

1616066569235.png

Relative Encryption tooltip. In this example, our Codebreaking is lower than their Encryption and their Codebreaking is higher than our Encryption.

1616066587607.png

The refined Operations UI. Envoy on the top left, Infiltration Level (current/max) as progress bar & value. Intel categories in the top-right.
We've streamlined the Operations UI significantly, reducing the sheer amount of numbers associated with a network and the Operations themselves. As part of this streamlining, we've removed the concept of spy power and bandwidth, so it's no longer possible to run multiple simultaneous Operations on a single Empire simultaneously - you'll have to run them one at a time. This change also alleviates a problem we had where it wouldn't always be immediately perfectly clear which mission random events were affecting, so the "mental burden" of running Operations is lower.

Upon completion, Operations will now almost always cause a significant hit to Infiltration to represent lost contacts and heightened security. Operations also used to have varying difficulty per chapter - we've standardized them so we can now list the Operation difficulty on the UI, and let you know if you have an Asset that is especially good at this one.

it is LITTERALY under the part you quoted ...
 
I'd like to see some sort of rework to research such that you're not into repeatables before the game is even half over. It's really unhealthy for how the game plays.

You should have been playing with 2400 as the victory year since 2.2, The game is perfectly balanced like that. It's just the default dates that are bad.
 
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If you think it's too short, then turn up the tech costs instead? Literally all the tools are there for you to play the game in the way you want. You're basically just complaining that the default isn't to your liking.


Increase tech cost? ....

I think the whole way research is implemented needs an overhaul and should have diminishing returns the more of it you build.

It's also a huge problem with the way empire sprawl is implemented now. It used to be (and this was much better) that when you expanded your empire massively your tech also progressed slower. Now huge empires progress exponentially faster than small ones. Once an empire gets ahead it snowballs and they get farther ahead, it's boring.

Changing the tech costs doesn't change the poor way Empire Sprawl is implemented with regards to research.
 
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That's way too short, they need to fix the game.

Increase tech cost? ....

This is what I do.
How dare you propose something so simple and obvious. There is no way to complain about it, if there is already a solution in the game! ;)

Alternatively, technologies could cost more to research if nobody else has discovered them yet. It could even be made a setting, ranging from 1x (no increase) to 10x. I think I would prefer a solution like that, since it would kill several birds with one stone.

(it would still be perfectly possible to stay ahead in tech, but it would become less easy to get very very far ahead of the other empires, especially if techs also got cheaper once they have been discovered by many other empires)
This would tie me down to the potentially weak AI tech progression.
While also making Research pacts a lot more powerfull (given that you help others to unlock the same techs you alrady got).
Maybe make it a suggestion so people can vote on it?

That being said, there are some limits like this in the Ship sizes:
Code:
weight_modifier = {
    modifier = {
        factor = 0.1
        NOT = { years_passed > 10 }
    }
    modifier = {
        factor = 10
        any_neighbor_country = {
            has_technology = tech_destroyers
        }
    }
    modifier = {
        factor = 2
        years_passed > 15
    }
    modifier = {
        factor = 3
        years_passed > 20
    }
    modifier = {
        factor = 4
        years_passed > 30
    }
    modifier = {
        factor = 1.25
        has_tradition = tr_supremacy_adopt
    }
    modifier = {
        factor = 1.25
        research_leader = {
            area = engineering
            has_trait = "leader_trait_expertise_voidcraft"
        }
    }
}
Depending on the year, the modifier is:
x0.1, x1, x2, x6, x24
But the x0.1 is somewhat overriden by the neighbour check giving x10.
 
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I think the whole way research is implemented needs an overhaul and should have diminishing returns the more of it you build.

It's also a huge problem with the way empire sprawl is implemented now. It used to be (and this was much better) that when you expanded your empire massively your tech also progressed slower. Now huge empires progress exponentially faster than small ones. Once an empire gets ahead it snowballs and they get farther ahead, it's boring.

Changing the tech costs doesn't change the poor way Empire Sprawl is implemented with regards to research.
if you are playing against AI , then yes.


but this is fake news .

big empires have the potential to do research at the same speed , or even be faster ; but a small empire will always have the advantage early .


now, we hate to talk about what you mean for " big empires" .

i don't think you can talk about "big" if an empires manage to remain inside it's accetable administration malus ...



i can see why you think tech is implemented badly, and it can be improved as anything could be , but it is not so umbalanced ( at least for how it is gain)

it is true that tech is the most important thing early-mid game , and having advantage in it will alow you to snowball , because the only alternative is the economy (atm diplomacy - internal politic is inexistent , and having advantage in those is a waste of civ-ethics) but tech is directly correlated with having economy and naval capacity ( in fact early game tech of 30 nav cap give you more than 1-2 starbases dedicated to it )

it is not how is implemented sprawl and tech costs ; is evrything else that is underwelming .
i mean , this is realistic , technology ( even in form of ideas and strategy) is the most important thing evrything else just follow it. and stellaris is no different .

i would say that a way to balance it is by removing technology bonuses to all ethics-civics , so no empire can be " tech rush focus" ... maybe having discount on the price of scientist or more choise of tech is still inside the accetable realm . but flat increase of tech speed\tech production should be removed in order to open up other civ\ethics.
 
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The issue with increasing tech costs in game settings is that it makes all tech research slower, but only tier 3+ technologies are researched too fast (because sprawl is now negated). This leads to tier 1 and to a lesser degree tier 2 tech researching taking forever and in the early game your tech is virtually stagnant, which doesn't feel good either.

Tier 1 tech costs are good at 1x settings (maybe even a bit sluggish). The problem is that research is increasing at a higher rate than costs of higher tier technologies. Each next tier of technology has double the cost of the previous one, but going from basic to upgraded labs along with the researcher production bonuses from the first two techs you get 3x as much research from the same number of labs. The solution would be to not increase all tech costs equally, but to increase the cost of the higer tier techs by a bigger factor.

I'm experimenting with a self-made mod in which I halved the cost of tier 1 technologies, but each next tier increases costs by 4x. This makes tier 2 tech have vanilal cost, tier 3 costs cost 2x as much as vanilla, tier 4 techs cost 4x as much as in vanilla, and tier 5 techs cost 8x as much as vanilla. So far it feels good, but I'm only in the midgame of my first test.
 
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Considering that we're getting patch notes today ... And this is making the very bold assumption that those 20-ish pages are, in fact, the full patch notes, then we should be seeing them sometime later this evening.
oh i must have missed that :O