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Stellaris Dev Diary #200: The Custodian

Hello everyone!

Today we’re back again with yet another dev diary; number 200 in fact. It sure has been a very exciting journey for Stellaris, and I think it is only going to get better! Nemesis is shaping up to be a very interesting addition to Stellaris, and today we thought we would talk about another headline feature for our upcoming expansion – namely the Custodian.

While some empires seek to set the universe on fire, others need to find their destiny as its defender. As we mentioned last week, the Galactic Community will get their own tools to fight the crisis, and that is what they can do by electing their chief crisis fighter.

We are setting the stage for these two nemeses to battle over the fate of the galaxy, and it is up to you who will win.

Becoming the Custodian
As soon as there is a Galactic Council, the Galactic Community can propose to elect one of the council members to become the Custodian. It is possible to have multiple proposals going at once, but as soon as a resolution is passed that elects a Custodian, others cannot be proposed anymore, as the choice has already been made.

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Concrete evidence that my lithoids should rock the Custodianship.​

The AI is more likely to vote for a Custodian when there is some sort of crisis going on, which can be a Marauder crisis, end-game crisis, “Become the Crisis”-crisis or any of the other things that can happen.

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Time to get to work.​

Powers of the Custodian
In order to be effective at their role, the Custodian must gain access to some special powers. The Custodian may need to be able to affect which resolutions move to the Senate Floor, so they have extended powers to be able to influence that more directly.

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The Custodian in the Galactic Community.​

Prematurely End Session: A Custodian can end the current session after half of its voting period, which will pass or reject the resolution being voted on depending on the voting situation at the time.

Emergency Measures: The Custodian can use the Emergency Measures power to send a proposal to the Senate Floor, but has a much lower cooldown than regular council members.

Shared Intel: The Custodian will gain some Intel on all other members of the Galactic Community, such as knowing their Relative Fleet Power.

Freezing proposals: The custodian can pay 200 influence to freeze a resolution for 4 years, making it impossible for the resolution to move to the Senate Floor for the duration.

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Brrrr. Will you be resolute and wait it out..?​

Custodial Resolutions
There are a number of new Resolutions that are tied to the Custodian. Let’s take a look at some of them:

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Galactic Defense Force
In order to protect the galaxy from threats from within and from beyond, the Custodian is able to construct ships for a Galactic Defense Force. The GDF is very similar to a federation fleet in the way it works, with the exception that it’s under the control of the current Custodian.

Should there cease to be a Custodian, the GDF will become an independent entity until a new Custodian is established.

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Once again, similar to federation ships, the GDF ships can be designed in the ship designer., which can be accessed from the Galactic Community UI.

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GDF? Ship just got real.​

A Galaxy on Fire
After you have gloriously hammered the crisis into obscurity, your service as a Custodian is no longer needed, and the powers that came with the responsibility could be returned.

Maybe it was a really tough fight, a war the galaxy is sure to remember, and maybe you needed to ask the Galactic Community for more powers in order to win against the crisis – powers that you may not want to give up so easily...

This very much captures what we are trying to do with Nemesis. After one crisis has been defeated, maybe the next one is just around the corner… and this time it's a diplomatic one.
 
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orochi2k said:
What if a Custodian becomes the crisis? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

That will not be possible. At a certain point, a crisis player cannot be a part of the Galactic Community.

Anonim97 said:
From what I understood they persist true, but they require Custodian first to have them created. And they are in "CUSTODIANSHIP" tab in Galactic Community.
Click to expand...
Yes, only the Custodian can propose those. All members can propose repeals though.
 
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Oh yes, I do so love Democracy!

Zxcpoi said:
So Nemesis won't work without Federation?

Great idea, anyway

P.S. TO all dislikers - What are you respectfully disagree with?
Click to expand...

Usually, when a DLC requires a feature from another DLC, then both of these DLCs unlock the same feature.

Spaceman78 said:
Could a custodian use the GDF to attack other empires?
GDF is like a federation fleet. What reward or motivation would a Custodian or any other empires have in building the GDF? For the custodian there is a danger of losing the GDF. For am empire there is no motivation to build the GDF. The GDF might even be a threat.
Click to expand...

If the Crisis is too powerful, they'll take the risk (the whole point of Custodian is to buff an Empire so it can fight the Crisis in the name of others). A player will probably not support it, but the AI is not as efficient and will want to survive.
Besides, a Custodian turning Dictator is still better than getting erased by a Crisis.
 
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I like the idea but this feature as the one from last week are features that you barely interact with during a game. Both of them only matter during the late game and even then they aren't guaranteed to be important every game. Maybe a lot more could be gained by making existing features a lot more exciting than they are right now.
 
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Considering how prone the Galactic Council is to bickering and suggesting/repealing the same proposal over and over again?

The benefits of becoming a Custodian are nowhere near significant enough to offset the powers of a self-proclaimed galactic crisis, doubly so if that crisis ends up in the hands of a human player.
 
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Coconut_Cookie said:
I like the idea but this feature as the one from last weak are features that you barely interact with during a game. Both of them only matter during the late game and even then they aren't guaranteed to be important every game. Maybe a lot more could be gained by making existing features a lot more exciting than they are right now.
Click to expand...

It sounds like this can be used in response to the Great Khan, that happens during midgame, so I don't think this is strictly true.
 
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is that a new shipset in the GDF fleet screen? i'm not familiar with those ship configurations.

maybe a shared shipset between nemesis and custodian - with nemesis version getting an "evil" paint job?
 
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grekulf said:
Galactic Defense Force
In order to protect the galaxy from threats from within and from beyond, the Custodian is able to construct ships for a Galactic Defense Force. The GDF is very similar to a federation fleet in the way it works, with the exception that it’s under the control of the current Custodian.

Should there cease to be a Custodian, the GDF will become an independent entity until a new Custodian is established.
Click to expand...
  1. So can a GDF be proposed/reinforced without a Custodian in office?
  2. And what will the GDF do if the custodian doesnt exist/isnt removed?
    • Like, can they intervene in wars on their own (a la UN peacekeepers),
    • Can the other Council members issue orders to the GDF? (turning it into the "council's fleet" rather than the custodian's specifically).
    • or will the GDF just sit around the nearest GC-nation starbase not doing much until the new custodian appears?
  3. Where will they call home?
    • Will we see a "Galactic Community Starbase/HQ" appear somewhere for them to mothball/dock at when no custodian is using them?
    • Or will the GDF be disbanded after a while without a custodian?
    • Seeing as those GDF ships have a new shipset - maybe they have new station GFX too?

grekulf said:
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Couple questions on these:
  • Does Galactic mobilisation give All GC nations + 150 FC or just the custodian?
  • If there's an anti piracy initiative ... Is piracy getting made into an actual threat now and not something that everyone ignores (including the AI, sometimes)?
  • Does the Interstellar Navigation Agency speed up travel for Only GC ships in GC space or All ships in GC space? e.g. non-GC members, Pirates, Amoeba etc.
  • Will there be any events tied to GALPOL? (which sounds like a cough syrup lol) - e.g. the GC demanding you (either a GC signatory or not) give up some citizen in your empire for some crimes - and ramifications therein.
 
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Two suggestions:
  1. Active Modifers list in Galactic Community is an unreadable mess. You should separate it into groups as the resolutions are (Economic, Military etc.)
  2. Smiliarily, the "Monthly Energy Credits -2%" modifiers tied to Custodianship should be replaced by "Galactic Taxes" or something like this.
That would make it clearer how much being in the Galactic Community costs/benefits you (a member).
 
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Custodian Resolutions seem weak, damage vs pirates was never an issue, it is more akin to swatting annoying fly.
Same for crime, it is like always 0 anyway, unless some crime syndicate operates in your empire or you are purging species.
 
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Hound Archon said:
Considering how prone the Galactic Council is to bickering and suggesting/repealing the same proposal over and over again?

The benefits of becoming a Custodian are nowhere near significant enough to offset the powers of a self-proclaimed galactic crisis, doubly so if that crisis ends up in the hands of a human player.
Click to expand...

Custodian is much better for those who prefer to be Dictators rather than Exterminators, and who like the fantasy of taking over Galaxies as Palpatine. Not everything is about numbers (and if everything were, then everything would feel samey), and it wouldn't make sense if Custodian was as strong as someone who is supposed to be alone against an entire Galaxy.
The AI could use improvement, but that is always the case.
 
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domein said:
Custodian Resolutions seem weak, damage vs pirates was never an issue, it is more akin to swatting annoying fly.
Same for crime, it is like always 0 anyway, unless some crime syndicate operates in your empire or you are purging species.
Click to expand...

presumably the "damage to pirates and marauders" includes the marauder midgame crisis (great khan). which makes sense if the galaxy appointed a custodian to fight off that crisis
 
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grekulf said:
This very much captures what we are trying to do with Nemesis. After one crisis has been defeated, maybe the next one is just around the corner… and this time it's a diplomatic one
Click to expand...

Wait.... this may be good. What you mean is, there is a crisis, then the election of an anti-crisis guy to fight off the crisis, but eventually the anti-crisis guy may become the crisis himself? A third mechanic, other than the 'nemesis' and the 'custodian'? If so, this may be interesting.

A suggestion: there needs to be some mechanic to replace or remove the current custodian. The idea that one has been chosen and can't be replaced ever is not a good one. Overtime the custodian, elected for that because it was the strongest empire at the time, may become weaker later. So some form of struggle to become the new custodian would be an interesting mechanic.
 
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grekulf said:
That will not be possible. At a certain point, a crisis player cannot be a part of the Galactic Community.


Yes, only the Custodian can propose those. All members can propose repeals though.
Click to expand...
Kinda sucks, ngl. Especially since these resolutions do feel like "day to day that will make everyone lifes better" stuff rather than "I need this to stop the crisis, please lend me your energy" stuff.
 
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Custodian it's not such a good name, as it reminds the caretakers machines.

If I have enigmatic engineering, can my unique and sensitive technologies be stolen through GDF?

Anyway, I loved the game mechanics.
 
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@grekulf Are Awakened Fallen Empires going to be considered a Crisis as well?
While we are at it, are there any plans (for future DLCs) to update the Awakened Fallen Empire Federations into... well, something on the level of Federations and GC?
 
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Nyrael said:
Custodian is much better for those who prefer to be Dictators rather than Exterminators, and who like the fantasy of taking over Galaxies as Palpatine. Not everything is about numbers (and if everything were, then everything would feel samey), and it wouldn't make sense if Custodian was as strong as someone who is supposed to be alone against an entire Galaxy.
The AI could use improvement, but that is always the case.
Click to expand...
It is funny you should say that, because all of Custodian benefits we have been shown are about numbers and feel samey.

Self-proclaimed galactic crisis gets new game mechanics like extinguishing stars and building their game-ending engine, Custodian does not.
 
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