• 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 #161 - Development Update

Hello everyone!

For this week’s dev diary we chose to switch the order of a couple of dev diaries to be able to give you some updates earlier rather than later.

The Stellaris brand has understandably been under more scrutiny than usual for the last few months, and we want to address situations related to work-in-progress art in Federations. As an example, we had some UI design mockups (shown during PDXCon) that contained placeholder art. We want to make clear this is not how the game will appear in its final version.

Moving on to Federations: During PDXCON 2019 we said that we would give more information on the expansion later during the year – and today we want to share some news that Federations is targeted for release in early 2020. Although we understand that some of you might be disappointed that Federations will not be released in December, we want you to know that we are taking more time to make sure that the next update is going to be amazing.

In addition, to give us the best chance of improving some of the pain points you’ve shared with us, we have assigned some of our team members to focus solely on trying to improve performance and AI. It is very important to us that 2.6 does not compound any of the current issues with the game, and that we can take the time we need to address some of the issues remaining from 2.2. It’s important to remember, however, that working on these kinds of issues is not a sprint, but a marathon – it's something that is constantly being worked on over longer periods of time.

If you want to read more about performance, and how we work to maintain it over time, we shared some more information on this topic in Dev Diary #149.

While we have been unable to give concrete information or specifics related to these issues, we can say that it is very important to us. With that said, it's important for us that you know that your feedback is not being ignored, even if we have no news to share.

We want to thank you for being such a dedicated community and helping us by providing feedback and reporting issues with the game. We appreciate this to no end and encourage you to continue voicing your thoughts to us.

From the beginning of next year, we’ll be doing a series of dev diaries dedicated entirely to answering questions related to specific topics each week. The schedule for those dev diaries will be released later in December when we’ll summarize and round up the year.

---

That is it for this week! Dev diaries will resume their regular schedule, and as promised last week, next week we will be talking about some of the new things affecting diplomacy, such as Envoys.

P.S:
Since this dev diary had no pictures I felt it was necessary to add something, so here's a picture of the premade Lithoid-empire that some of you have been asking us to add to the Lithoids Species Pack! (Will also be updated with 2.6)

upload_2019-11-21_15-28-57.png
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
I have nearly a thousand hours in Stellaris. It's likely my most played game, and one of my absolute favourites. You guys have done a fantastic job, and it's been more than worth every penny I've spent.

Whether I buy Federations (and Lithoids) will depend entirely on how much progress is made towards fixing the things that have made the game unplayable for me.

These are:
Performance
Micromanagement
Crisis bugs
AI

I'm happy to leave Stellaris on the shelf of games I loved but am finished with. I just want the powers that be to know that more money doesn't entirely hinge on shiny new features.
 
This is great news! Thank you for responding to our input!

That being said, I’m pretty disappointed we wont be learning about some of the new diplomacy systems. I feel like what was said could have been added at the beginning or end of the diary and we’d still get our weekly fix of Stellaris :(
 
Nice new room background and symbol. I just thought it would be cool to get some Lithoidlike background.
Well, um, er, you see... It’s already in the game. You just need lithoids. It’s background 23 I think.
 
Excellent news. I love that you guys are taking your time with this one.

Easy for me to say I guess, but I love the game and want expansions and updates for as long as possible.
 
I'm a bit sad that you guys felt like you had to delay Dev Diaries to say that yes, you are actually working on improving performance. While performance ain't great right now, I wish the histrionics in the fanbase hadn't prevented a dev diary about the gameplay.

That said, I'm very pleased to hear that you're keeping Federations in the oven until it's fully baked! I always want to be vocally supportive of companies that are willing to hold releases until the game they're releasing is of high quality, and I'm very appreciative that Paradox is doing so for the Federations release!
 
Hello everyone!
today we want to share some news that Federations is targeted for release in early 2020.
For the first time in the history of a gaming company, the fanbase breathes a deep sigh of relief that the release is LATER than expected.

Thanks grekulf. I was getting worried that the release was slated for December. This has made me far, far happier than you can imagine.
 
To this day, since following the game from the release of 1.0, I've not ever commented on any Stellaris forums. Ever.

Today breaks that.

Ignore those who're complaining they didn't get their weekly "Federations Fix." They're quite literally the child without any candy—completely oblivious to any serious matter at hand.

It's the equivalent of a spoiled girl who whines that she wasn't given the new iPhone, because the family's grandmother has been dying in the hospital, and word just got back that she might just make it through her illness alive.

They whine about not getting any previews of that sweet, juicy Federations content, even though Stellaris has been dying and ill since 2.2, and finally we've all received word that this game might just make it through.

Point being, I'm happy the Stellaris dev team took note of the community's complaints, assessed the situation, and put morals before money. Seriously, thank you for this Dev Diary. It was needed.

To another Stellaris DLC!
 
I know you said that any Stellaris Dev Clash wasn't going to be until next year at the earliest, but is there any plans to possibly do a sort of "Here's the stuff in action" stream before the break?
Let me answer that. :)

In general, the end of the year, especially as busy as this one (after PDX Con, with the announcement of Federations), means laying down plans for the next year, agreeing on budgets etc. While I'm sure @badgr is planning some cool community stuff for everyone, if the general consensus is that we're all giving the devs more time to work on the game and mentioned issues, let's try to take up as little of their time as possible for other stuff, for the time being. ;)

And, while the vague responses are never fun, a gameplay stream will be shown when the devs feel the build is in a state they're happy to show live. :)
 
This is honestly the best news we've had in a long time.
I personally think that the best news is the galactic community/origins.
Do you have any plans to reduce micro somehow? Right now I think it's brain cell melting.
I would love a tech tree since the tech system is so complex now, I think guessing which tech belongs to which category is counter-productive and you will just have to google it to min-max properly.
I don’t want to sound like one of those stuck-up jerks, but the game uses a mixture between a tech tree and a deck of cards. You just don’t get to see it in action.
I'm a bit sad that you guys felt like you had to delay Dev Diaries to say that yes, you are actually working on improving performance. While performance ain't great right now, I wish the histrionics in the fanbase hadn't prevented a dev diary about the gameplay.

That said, I'm very pleased to hear that you're keeping Federations in the oven until it's fully baked! I always want to be vocally supportive of companies that are willing to hold releases until the game they're releasing is of high quality, and I'm very appreciative that Paradox is doing so for the Federations release!
I agree.
 
For the first time in the history of a gaming company, the fanbase breathes a deep sigh of relief that the release is LATER than expected.
<points to the bloodlines part of the forum>
 
Finally ! Everyone has been crying out for you to fix the AI, the crisis and improve performance for almost a year now. It's good to see that you're delaying in the interest of fixing things and minimizing launch issues rather than trying to maximize profit by a pre-Christmas release like you did with 2.2, which turned out to be a disaster and lead to massive losses in reputation and player trust.
 
To this day, since following the game from the release of 1.0, I've not ever commented on any Stellaris forums. Ever.

Today breaks that.

Ignore those who're complaining they didn't get their weekly "Federations Fix." They're quite literally the child without any candy—completely oblivious to any serious matter at hand.

It's the equivalent of a spoiled girl who whines that she wasn't given the new iPhone, because the family's grandmother has been dying in the hospital, and word just got back that she might just make it through her illness alive.

They whine about not getting any previews of that sweet, juicy Federations content, even though Stellaris has been dying and ill since 2.2, and finally we've all received word that this game might just make it through.

Point being, I'm happy the Stellaris dev team took note of the community's complaints, assessed the situation, and put morals before money. Seriously, thank you for this Dev Diary. It was needed.

To another Stellaris DLC!

LOL, seriously?
I mean, the game has been in a worst state just before the 2.0 overhaul. It's not that I lost faith in the team, is just that I was hoping they would show more stuff they intend to put with the DLC. An overhaul of the diplomacy/federation system is something that has been asked for SINCE the game was originally launched, so, I'm sorry if the priorities of other people aren't totally the same as yours.