• 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 #70: The Adams Update (part 1)

Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris development diary. Today's dev diary is a highlight of a few things coming in 1.6 'Adams', a bug-fixing and quality of life-focused update that we are currently working on. We can't tell you the exact release date of Adams yet, only that it won't be a very long wait. Since it's not a major update, it's also not expected to break saves from 1.5 'Banks'. There will be no paid DLC accompanying Adams, so everything listed below is either free for everyone or only requires a previously released expansion. We wanted to make sure we had time for as much bugfixing and smaller quality of life tweaks as possible, so don't expect any major features to be part of this update!


Ruined Megastructures
One of the things we were hoping to have time for in 1.5 'Banks' that ended up being cut for time was having ruined and repairable megastructures in addition to the ones you can build. This will now be part of the Adams update instead. Once Adams is released, you will be able to find ruined versions of all the different types of megastructures in a variety of systems while exploring. Claiming these systems will allow you to repair these ruined megastructures and restore them to full functionality. Repairing a megastructure is cheaper and faster than building a brand new one, and also doesn't require any Ascension Perks, only the Mega-Enineering technology. Ruined ringworlds that existed previously (such as the Cybrex homeworld and the ones owned by the Keepers of Knowledge) are also able to be repaired, and will be able to be restored even for players that do not have the Utopia expansion. Utopia is however required to find and restore the Science Nexus, Dyson Sphere and Sentry Array.
2017_04_27_1.png


Sector Taxes & Stockpiles
Another addition to Adams is a few more tools for managing your sectors' economy. As of 1.6 you will be able to set taxes for Energy and Minerals separately, and we've added a new 'Drain Stockpile' interaction that allows you to seize 75% of a sector's stockpiled resources at the cost of 100 influence. In the event that you are fighting in a defensive war, this cost goes down to 25 influence, allowing you to use rich sectors as a resource reserve for an unexpected war declaration. Finally, we've added the ability to feed your sectors 1000 resources at a time through CTRL-clicking.
2017_04_19_1.png


New Room Backgrounds
While the code and content design team have been busy with fixes and improvements, the art time has not been idle either. As part of the Adams update, we've created 15 new room backgrounds themed around the various AI personalities. Randomly generated empires will use the background appropriate to their personality, adding flavor and allowing you to more easily tell the Slaving Despots from the Federation Builders at a glance. All 15 rooms are naturally also available when designing an empire, so if you really want your pacifist xenophile egalitarians to conduct diplomacy in a room surrounded by alien skulls, we have you covered! In addition to the player-usable rooms there are also 4 new rooms for the Fallen/Awakened Empires that are designed to suit their unique aesthetics.
2017_04_25_1.png

2017_04_20_1.png


That's all for today! Next week we'll continue talking about the Adams update, so stay tuned.
 
Let me use this analogy, which is much clearer what I have wrote before.

Lets say you get declared war on the 10th year when the huge sector fills up. In this case you are right, and one huge sector will be much more cost efficient taking out the resources. It will be 25 influence. In this scenario, if you want the same amount of resources out of the 4 medium sectors, you would need to pay 4*25 influence. In this case yes the huge sector is much better.

HOWEVER

Lets say you get declared war (i.e. defensive war) on the 40th year. If you keep draining your huge sector it would cost you 3*100 + 1*25 influence to get as many resources as from the 4 medium sized sectors which are about to fill up just right now, so they would only cost 4*25 influence to get the same amount of resources out of them as that one huge sector.

For the benefit of getting the reduced influence cost it is on average not important whether you have one large, or many small sectors. I can agree with you here.

What you however forget, is that Time Is Money, and you want to be draining resources as soon as possible. Having 3 of your 4 small sectors sitting idly on Minerals while you wait for them to fill up is a hidden cost. The Minerals are not doing anything for you. Hence, it is best to keep a single stockpile that fills fast and drains often so that you can spend your money faster.

Edit: Now let me emphasize that this is by no means a game-breaking loop hole. It is just a little nuisance for me. There are already reasons not to have multiple sectors (Governer bonus + Leader Limit).
 
Let me use this analogy, which is much clearer what I have wrote before.

Lets say you get declared war on the 10th year when the huge sector fills up. In this case you are right, and one huge sector will be much more cost efficient taking out the resources. It will be 25 influence. In this scenario, if you want the same amount of resources out of the 4 medium sectors, you would need to pay 4*25 influence. In this case yes the huge sector is much better.

HOWEVER

Lets say you get declared war (i.e. defensive war) on the 40th year. If you keep draining your huge sector it would cost you 3*100 + 1*25 influence to get as many resources as from the 4 medium sized sectors which are about to fill up just right now, so they would only cost 4*25 influence to get the same amount of resources out of them as that one huge sector.

So people both ways have ups and downs. Its for the player to decide which route to take. I personally like this and would love to try it out. Also who sais you cant mix the two system? Get one huge sector and then later on a lot small ones? So best of both worlds?
This.

Still, one huge sector is better for influence/drain, but not as such as it may seem at first look. In the long run influence/drained.resources ratio is more or less the same no matter how many sectors end how big they are.
But I understand why a -one time drain- from a huge sector is MUCH more effective and it makes the on huge sector strategy more flexible.

Overall having only a huge sector has it ups and downs (mostly down is the AI finds difficult to manage lots of planets in a sector), and the influence/drain is not such dominant factor to make it choose one huge sector no matter what.
 
For the benefit of getting the reduced influence cost it is on average not important whether you have one large, or many small sectors. I can agree with you here.

What you however forget, is that Time Is Money, and you want to be draining resources as soon as possible. Having 3 of your 4 small sectors sitting idly on Minerals while you wait for them to fill up is a hidden cost. The Minerals are not doing anything for you. Hence, it is best to keep a single stockpile that fills fast and drains often so that you can spend your money faster.

Edit: Now let me emphasize that this is by no means a game-breaking loop hole. It is just a little nuisance for me. There are already reasons not to have multiple sectors (Governer bonus + Leader Limit).
I dont quite agree with you, Usually when I am at peace, I dont have mineral problems, the constraint is build time. When I am arming my fleet, then it can become an issue. From early mid game you generally can build as many colony ships and keep upgrading all your colonies as you want without the need from sector drain. If you feel threatened and need to build up your navy fast, you areright, it is important to get as many minerals as fast as possible. It all depends on the situation.
 
Ok let's try to write a final conclusion:


Sector max storage is 20k for both EC and Minerals IIRC.

It means you ideally pay 100 influece for 15k EC and 15k Minerals. Period, no matter what. You can't get better values than this.
On the long run collecting resources from sectors makes no difference.

But for the reason Birnenpappe said
What you however forget, is that Time Is Money, and you want to be draining resources as soon as possible. Having 3 of your 4 small sectors sitting idly on Minerals while you wait for them to fill up is a hidden cost. The Minerals are not doing anything for you. Hence, it is best to keep a single stockpile that fills fast and drains often so that you can spend your money faster.
One huge sector is more flexible and versatile.


EDIT: And I agree with your edit @Birnenpappe, there are other factors much more important to keep in mind so that the dreain features makes a big difference.
 
Let's say one HUGE sector has HUGE income and caps its storage every ten years.
Let's say four medium sectors have medium income and cap their storage (wich is the same) every forty years.

It means every forty years you drain your huge sector four times, or your four sectors one time each. In both cases it's 100 influence every ten years on average.


In real game it doesnt really work this way, but his statement makes sense.

Possibly a bit contentious but I'd like to see sectors only being able to have the same number of planetary systems as your core worlds. Makes researching core world tech more valuable and prevents exploitation of having one massive sector that otherwise comprises your empire.
 
Last edited:
Could we get the ability to abandon planets/be able to pull the last robot/inhabitant off a planet we deem worthless(like a size 12 in a tall empire). I am not sure what the balance issue would be?
 
Possibly a bit contentious but I'd like to see sectors only being able to have the same number of planets as your core worlds. Makes researching core world tech more valuable and prevents exploitation of having one massive sector that otherwise comprises your empire.
Same number of planetary systems*
 
Uhmmm, shouldn't megastructures that have been abandoned due to damage(I.e. So damaged that the precursor didn't bother fixing it) be MORE expensive to repair than building a new one, particularly if you don't have the correct set of perks?

I mean think about it, if I'm an auto mechanic, I can save a ton of money by working on repairing my own car, and even profit from fixing up broken down cars from a past age. Why? Because I have specialized knowledge about xyz.

Otherwise, If my car keeps breaking down and I don't know how to address the major problems myself, guess what, time to buy a new car.

(Yes yes I know the car anology isn't perfect, but in a vacuum it fits.)

(Edit: haha vacuum? Get it?)
 
Last edited:
Uhmmm, shouldn't megastructures that have been abandoned due to damage(I.e. So damaged that the precursor didn't bother fixing it) be MORE expensive to repair than building a new one, particularly if you don't have the correct set of perks?
I mean, a lot of the cost of e.g. a ringworld is devouring the planets and moving them to the right location (which, after all, involves shifting around multiple Jupiter-masses of material, and converting it into whatever matter makes up ringworlds). A ruined one already has that done for you; you just need to patch the holes, repair/rebuild the various maintenance devices, etc. All of which should be much cheaper than constructing it from scratch.

After all, it's very likely that the previous owners didn't abandon it because it was too expensive to repair, but because they couldn't (either because they were dead, or because they had lost the technological know-how).
 
I mean, a lot of the cost of e.g. a ringworld is devouring the planets and moving them to the right location (which, after all, involves shifting around multiple Jupiter-masses of material, and converting it into whatever matter makes up ringworlds). A ruined one already has that done for you; you just need to patch the holes, repair/rebuild the various maintenance devices, etc. All of which should be much cheaper than constructing it from scratch.

After all, it's very likely that the previous owners didn't abandon it because it was too expensive to repair, but because they couldn't (either because they were dead, or because they had lost the technological know-how).

That's fine, but materials cost is usually pretty cheap anyway. It's labor and overhead that eats project budgets alive. Nothing leads me to believe that stellaris empires have ascended beyond our basic understanding of project management
 
The "drain sector stockpile" ability is really neat, it will give sectors more strategic value in the game overall since you can basically use them as resource batteries. People might actually want to set up at least one sector now.
 
Uhmmm, shouldn't megastructures that have been abandoned due to damage(I.e. So damaged that the precursor didn't bother fixing it) be MORE expensive to repair than building a new one, particularly if you don't have the correct set of perks?

I mean think about it, if I'm an auto mechanic, I can save a ton of money by working on repairing my own car, and even profit from fixing up broken down cars from a past age. Why? Because I have specialized knowledge about xyz.

Otherwise, If my car keeps breaking down and I don't know how to address the major problems myself, guess what, time to buy a new car.

(Yes yes I know the car anology isn't perfect, but in a vacuum it fits.)
Your analogy makes perfect sense.

But you need the technology to be able to repair. In your example you became the mechanic.

You just don't have to have te Ascension Perk to repair the ringworld. Not having the ascension perk does not mean you don't have the know-how. You can see is as your Empire knows as to built a ringworld but does not want to, maybe because does not want to consume an entire system, or I don't know, some other ethical reason. But repair a broken ringworld? Yeah totally fine with that, we know a ring world works!
 
Uhmmm, shouldn't megastructures that have been abandoned due to damage(I.e. So damaged that the precursor didn't bother fixing it) be MORE expensive to repair than building a new one, particularly if you don't have the correct set of perks?

I mean think about it, if I'm an auto mechanic, I can save a ton of money by working on repairing my own car, and even profit from fixing up broken down cars from a past age. Why? Because I have specialized knowledge about xyz.

Otherwise, If my car keeps breaking down and I don't know how to address the major problems myself, guess what, time to buy a new car.

(Yes yes I know the car anology isn't perfect, but in a vacuum it fits.)

(Edit: haha vacuum? Get it?)


In space, no one can fix your car
 
If we still can't, please give us an option to ban selected portraits.

This is possible, but so far as I know you must have a custom empire that exists with their portrait. You can then copy/paste the United Nations of Earth line of code which (off the top of my head) is something like 'is_portrait_unique = yes'