Stellaris Dev Diary #207: Challenging Origins

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Eladrin

Stellaris Game Director
Paradox Staff
Apr 4, 2019
836
28.978
www.paradoxplaza.com
Hi! Happy April Fool's Day!

This week we want to show off some of the challenging new Origins that are not coming soon.

The first, titled Surviving the Aftermath, is a variant on Void Dwellers.

The Surviving the Aftermath origin starts with the premise that a construction ship and colony ship were lost in MIA when a Crisis nation activated the Aetherophasic Engine and destroyed the galaxy, and you're left in a habitat to pick up the pieces.

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Your home system.

As the galaxy has been destroyed and there are no resources anywhere, we expect this to be an exciting and challenging origin to play.

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The local cluster.

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The galaxy. So alone. So very alone.

The next is the Crusader King Origin, where you begin the game as the ruler of a primitive civilization in the late medieval time period.

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Living in luxury.

This origin starts at a significant tech disadvantage, but our playtests suggest that you should achieve spaceflight within a few hundred years.

Several events have been added in case another empire wishes to enlighten your civilization, as well as a "burn the alien at the stake" minigame.

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Includes special diplomatic options!

Winning the game as a Crusader King grants the new Universe Universalis achievement.

The Prison Architect Origin is restricted to Rogue Servitors only, and drastically changes their gameplay. Instead of pampering their organic charges, they seek to collect all organics and like the Criminal Syndicate, are affected by and gain bonuses for having high Crime. They also gain extra Unity for each Criminal Syndicate pop they collect.

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Gotta catch ‘em all!

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Some minor changes to the Organic Sanctuary.

Open to all empire types, the This is Fine origin has a new twist - your empire thinks it’s hot stuff and is limited to colonizing stars.

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Is it warm in here, or is it just me? Looking pretty radiant though.

Your buildings have a chance of being ruined each month due to fires, but your energy production is vastly increased.

Last but not least, the AI Custodianship Origin is our most challenging yet, where you and the AI both control your empire simultaneously. This Origin is also open to all empire types, and represents a fractured leadership or gestalt intelligence where two leaders struggle for power, sometimes issuing contradictory orders. The AI Custodian will act to implement its flawless and foolproof algorithms, undoubtedly bringing your empire success in the long run, if you would only listen to it.

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The AI has great plans for my homeworld. The greatest of plans.

That's all for this week. As a reminder, the Stellaris 3.0 'Dick' update and Nemesis arrive two weeks from today on the 15th of April.

What Origins would you create if you wanted a special challenge?
 
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Damn, why is this a command and not an option on the game start menu? that’s awesome thanks! Still doesn’t have the flavour, story building and potential enlightenment events being a primitive would bring but it’ll do for now I guess. Cheers!

You could also set all AI empires to advanced starts, that'll put them a couple of decades ahead of you.
 
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That’s the plan, thanks. And sorry for kind of laying into you paradox lads in my original post, finding it wasn’t real was just fresh and I had been really looking forward to it, love your games, cheers.

No offense taken. I'd agree that starting with a penalty to the AI can be an interesting challenge (one of the reason I enjoy playing non-Europeans in EUIV), but we can't add everything we ever want to the game. :)

That said, I do feel that pre-FTL starts are better left to modders.
 
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