• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Stellaris Dev Diary #129 - Tradition Updates

Hello everyone! Today you will be able to enjoy yet another Stellaris development diary, so that the drudgery of ordinary life gets momentarily replaced with excitement and joyous anticipation. As promised we will continue by detailing the features in the free 2.2 'Le Guin' update, and the topic will be the traditions and how they have been updated to work with our new game systems.

As per usual I of course have to reiterate that we're not yet ready to reveal anything about when 2.2 ‘Le Guin’ is coming out, and that images may contain placeholder art, interfaces and non-final numbers.

Lets get started then! Updating the traditions was of course a necessity with the reworked economy, but a secondary objective was also to make the themes of each tradition tree be more well-defined. A tradition tree should stick to a theme or a playstyle, while also making sure the bonuses are as unique and fun as possible.

Expansion
The Expansion Traditions are themed around colonizing faster, growing a large population, and generally having a large empire.
upload_2018-10-11_14-15-55.png upload_2018-10-11_14-16-39.png upload_2018-10-11_14-17-56.pngupload_2018-10-11_14-18-2.png
upload_2018-10-11_14-19-23.png upload_2018-10-11_14-20-18.png upload_2018-10-11_14-20-27.png

Domination
The Domination Traditions are no longer focused around vassals, but are instead focused around reducing crime, better workers and slaves, and better rulers and governors.
upload_2018-10-11_14-21-26.png upload_2018-10-11_14-21-41.png upload_2018-10-11_14-21-55.pngupload_2018-10-11_14-22-6.png
upload_2018-10-11_14-22-27.png upload_2018-10-11_14-22-52.png upload_2018-10-11_14-23-6.png

Prosperity
The Prosperity Traditions are themed around improving planets and making specialists better.
upload_2018-10-11_14-23-38.png upload_2018-10-11_14-23-55.png upload_2018-10-11_14-24-8.pngupload_2018-10-11_14-24-20.png
upload_2018-10-11_14-24-37.png upload_2018-10-11_14-25-48.png upload_2018-10-11_14-24-50.png

Harmony
The Harmony Traditions are themed around sustainability, amenities, and stability.
upload_2018-10-11_14-26-22.png upload_2018-10-11_14-26-37.pngupload_2018-10-11_14-26-59.pngupload_2018-10-11_14-27-11.png
upload_2018-10-11_14-27-24.png upload_2018-10-11_14-27-42.png upload_2018-10-11_14-27-59.png

Supremacy
The Supremacy Traditions are themed around domination of space. You will be able to field larger fleets and upgrade more starbases, while both of them will also be stronger.
upload_2018-10-11_14-33-46.png upload_2018-10-11_14-33-57.png upload_2018-10-11_14-34-6.pngupload_2018-10-11_14-34-20.png
upload_2018-10-11_14-34-35.png upload_2018-10-11_14-34-44.png upload_2018-10-11_14-34-56.png

Diplomacy
The Diplomacy Traditions are themed around federations, the galactic market and trade.
upload_2018-10-11_14-35-18.png upload_2018-10-11_14-35-30.png upload_2018-10-11_14-35-48.pngupload_2018-10-11_14-35-57.png
upload_2018-10-11_14-36-9.pngupload_2018-10-11_14-40-53.png upload_2018-10-11_14-36-29.png

Discovery
The Discovery Traditions are themed around research and space exploration.
upload_2018-10-11_14-36-46.png upload_2018-10-11_14-37-0.png upload_2018-10-11_14-37-19.pngupload_2018-10-11_14-42-14.png
upload_2018-10-11_14-37-44.png upload_2018-10-11_14-38-1.png upload_2018-10-11_14-38-21.png

That covers most the traditions and how they have been updated to the new system. As you saw, some of them still have some work that needs to be done. They are also still prone to change and numbers are non-final and all that.

Tune in for a short stream today where I’ll be talking some more about the traditions, and perhaps showing up some the more unique traditions for gestalt empires and purifiers.

Next week we will continue to mercilessly tease you about the upcoming update by showing some of the New Technologies, so make sure to mark it in your calendars!
 
Last edited:
Is there something new about tradition modding?
In the current system, I need to keep in my mod whole tradition category file even if I just want to add one tradition swap for my civic for example.
Overwriting vanilla files lead to bad between mods compatibility and I don't want to keep vanilla things in my mod if I don't actually change it (whats also big pain after every game's patch).
 
So how do you vassalize other nation now without the domination tradition ?
Same way you did it before 1.5. You just have the Wargoal without Conditions.
 
Kinda upset that you don't get 3 months of unity for every tech researched, but I guess it was a bit overpowered. I'm really liking these changes though, Usually I'd pick discovery first, but now, I'm not so sure xD Prosperity seems really good for building up an economy and stuff. How does this change for Hive minds, or genocidal empires?
 
I can confirm that now it is really hard to decide what you want to pick.

I'm not really sure about that. Currently Expansion and Discovery were competing for first pick, but with this I can see Expansion emerge as the clear victor. Discovery has got a second tradition that only really becomes good in the late game (reduced Scientist upkeep). Meanwhile, Expansion remains the go-to group for rapid expansion, which has always been a very good strategy in Stellaris.

I can see me going Full Expansion -> Exploration except for Faith in Science and Assist Research -> Open Diplomacy (+10% Immigration Pop Growth sounds great if you have lots of young colonies to grow) -> Finish Exploration

After that it becomes really interesting though. You could finish Diplomacy or open any of the other Tradition troops. But as I tend to play expansionist empires backed by their strong economy, I tend to pick between Supremacy and Prosperity.
 
Are you changing the techo factions "Dull Edge" issue in 2.2?

Om harder difficulties it is totally impossible to satisfy that faction before a long time, due to AI bonuses. It is a pain for the Materialist ethos.
 
I always found it a bit odd that every play through you basically go through picking the same things like opening an advent calendar around Christmas.

I can see that you guys have tried to mitigate that and make it so there's more than one optimal order of choosing, but honestly a system where you can only ever pick 3/4 traditions, but they are much deeper (maybe 15 points, rather than 5) would add a lot more depth and customization to an empire, rather than always knowing that eventually you're going to open door number 24, so to speak.

( i also think that the word "Traditions" indicates that is should be something you pick in the empire selection screen, like this empire/species has a tradition of X Y Z based on its evolutionary environment that defined its personality and cultural psyche. You then start with the "choose" bonuses and fill out the trees as normal during play.)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Not sure I like the flavour of "Pursuit of Profit". It being a "core tenet of society" makes it sounds more like a civic of a mercantile empire.

I'm not sure if it'd really fit, lorewise, into my luxurious space communism.
 
a system where you can only ever pick 3/4 traditions, but they are much deeper (maybe 15 points, rather than 5) would add a lot more depth and customization to an empire
Or they could go wide instead of deep. Many different trees, but with the limited amount of Unity you have to be more picky in what you get (especially since you also want ascension perks). That would allow for more flavor and role playing.
 
Hi there,
What bugged me in every game so far is that in some time, you have to choose every tradition, even if you play pacifists, you have tradition points to spend and will take the War doctrines. Will this be changed, that you won't have enough points lategame, or can do something else wiht them?
Cheers,
Camael
 
@grekulf

I notice that Generals and Scientists have been left out, while Admirals, Governors and Rulers get +2 to their level cap. Is there a different way for those specific Leaders to catch up to the general level?
 
I keep telling them that. They keep disagreeing. Apparently you have to spell it out for them with a Description Swap.

The disagreement is entirely valid. Simply saying "pretend it isn't this" doesn't alleviate those criticisms. I get it, there's a lot of RP that could be done to fit traditions to wildly different empire types, workplace motivators is a good example of this. But some of them are written so as to explicitly rule out many styles of play and that is lame in a game where diversity of roleplay/empires fills in a big part of the play.
 
A tradition tree should stick to a theme or a playstyle, [...]

That would be nice, but as it stands now, you usually have all traditions unlocked by the endgame anyway (if you focus on it, doing it in 150 years or less is quite possible). Will there be changes to stop that and make tradition choices meaningful in the long term or does the current situation stay that only the order matters and not the choice itself? Maybe by adding more trees or make the current ones longer?

Great work otherwise!
 
So "A new life" is now a continuos bonus instead of a one free pop, great. I like the "work-space motivators", i want to see it's flavor text. Are you not seeing too much of the traditions through the lenses of economy? I understand that Prosperity should change and in great deal, but while economy is a important aspect of any empire, it is not the only aspect. You have eliminated all the unity producing traditions, or at least their effect. Why? They never were the great producers of unity, but helpers. So much has the pop unity that you needed to take them out? In any case great work-in-progress, think about diplomacy and good job, at least for now. If this is what the puny organics recibe i want to see what my superior machine empire will get. I hope the traditions are useful and flavorful, having tailor made traditions for each gestalt consciousness and the special civics make the game more fun and speak too well about the effort you put on it, so keep going and make space even greater again.
 
First of all, i'm so glad that Domination is now(will be) not only about subjects. It was bugging me for so long( together with it being a requirement for Authoritarian faction happiness) and now it make more sense.
Secondly, it's great that now all trees feels more powerful. Hurrah for competition and choices.

But Expansion still feels very strong choice as first tree, unless you play a specific build that not depend on early rush, or just play in large galaxy and can take your time.
 
A lot of these traditions don't makes sense for the new classless, socialist states. In fact, that traditions are not filtered by ethics (and that any one empire can attain them all) really doesn't make sense from a roleplay perspective, and I think detracts in some way from the weight of which decision should be chosen.
Still looks fun I guess