Stellaris Dev Diary #133 - The Caravaneers

[Maclardal]

If you have a very patchy empire because you haven't built on every star along the hyperlanes could you potentially get lots of offers from a travelling fleet as they travel in and out of each bit of your patchy borders?

 

[durbal]

Space casino and randomness like this in general are dumb and caravan fleet numbers need to scale to galaxy size.

 

[Maldazar]

That said, you’re now free to begin the honored tradition of ignoring that and start arguing about any numbers posted or asking for a release date.

Release date?

 

[Lumion32]

Do they have certain options that are unlocked by high opinion, like the scientist from the enclave for example?

 

[Kakotheres]

Could we use the very pretty Caravan shipset for our own empires, or will they remain forever out of reach?

 

[MAHak]

How about you just release 'MegaCorp' now with placeholder art and then just bring in the new art with a patch?
In return I offer my bug finding expertise, possibly along with that of the other members of this forum! (Warning! bug finding expertise results may vary).

 

[Turnil]

I thought that this dev dairy would cover the slave market?

 

[Tibi088]

I will now buff their defenses by x10

That only makes destroying them even more interesting.

 

[Tamwin5]

Could we have some info, any info, about the trades offered by the travelling caravaneers? Are they resource bulk trades(this was alluded to in a previous dev stream, iirc)? Do they accept any resource, a random specific resource (determined when the trade is "generated"), energy, or caravan coins?

Will the resource trades they offer just be base resources (minerals, energy, food), or will they include refined resources (consumer goods, alloys), rare resources (rare crystals, volatile motes, exotic gasses), or the super-rare resources (arcane technology, dark matter)

I understand that you probably didn't show any exact numbers since the balancing is still WIP, but I think most people here also want to know the sort of things they can expect from the Caravaneers.

 

[Kernog95]

I like the concept of these caravaneers.

However, I find the slots mini-game rather immersion-breaking, as I hardly see my High-Priest play a "Jackpot" wheel light-years away.
Why not replace it by a Galactic Lottery: you and other empires can buy a four-number ticket, and every year a winning combination is drawn. The winner earns rare resources and a happiness bonus from a "Luckiest guy in the galaxy" modifier.

 

[henzington]

I'm pretty sure that this dev diary was supposed to cover the slave market, but I can't prove it since the previous diary was edited today...

A bit disappointed tbh

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia

 

[RationalLemming]

I like the idea of the fleets but I really dislike the options for contacting the home base. It essentially is just a soft form of gambling. It might cause a chuckle initially but after giving it a go it seems like it will just be an annoying, never used feature because of the random chance. Yeah, I know that I'm whinging. I love pretty much everything else about the 2.2 patch and MegaCorp expansion but not the interactions with the home base explained here. I wonder why the home bases for the fleets were not simply tied to the trader enclaves. There are three trader enclaves so one fleet for each one of the three trader enclaves. (Yeah, I know that enclaves were from Leviathans but they also put curator enclaves into Distant Stars. I also know that the home base 'owns' the system unlike trader enclaves which are in systems but don't own them but that mechanic for trader enclaves could have been changed for this update.)

 

[Olterin]

I distinctly remember the last dev diary mentioning that this one would talk about the Slave Market and the Caravaneers. And here we are ... sorely lacking the former. Did the release date get pushed back, or is the Slave Market not in a presentation-worthy state yet? That said, you probably should buff the Caravaneer home system defenses to be on par with a lategame crisis at least, I sense many players will just go exterminatus on it with a vengeance if there's little penalty to it

 

[Wizzington]

Slave Market was not yet ready to show off, it'll be talked about next week.

 

[Pasadena1988]

I thought that this dev dairy would cover the slave market?

Next week.

 

[scaper12123]

Oh perfect, another target! <3

 

[Sapa Inca]

Destroyed caravanneer fleets respawn in caravaneer home system or they are lost forever?
If Chor compass is destroyed is possible reestabilish caravaneer base in another system?

 

[Hapchazzard]

Feels a little gimmicky, to be perfectly honest, though they have the potential to be interesting. Have them also boost trade value in empires they're passing through, have the duration of their stay/likelihood of coming to your empire in the first place depend on your relations with them and how much you trade with them, and put some actual diplomatic/trade options for their home system rather than it just being a space casino and they'll be much better IMO.

 

[Super-Soviet]

If a Caraveeners fleet flies past hostile entities like Marauders, space creatures and such will they fight them? Do they try and avoid dangerous systems?

 

[Johuotar]

PULL THE LEVER!