Stellaris #MODJAM2020 Now Available on the Steam Workshop and Paradox Mods!

[MrFreake_PDX]

Stellaris #MODJAM2020 sponsored by NVIDIA is now available on Steam and Paradox Mods!

Enjoy the modder-created origins, and vote for your favorite!

The top three Modders by Community Vote will be entered into a draw to win a GeForce RTX 2080 Super, donated by our partners at NVIDIA.

Subscribe Now!

Steam Workshop: https://pdxint.at/3qL​

Paradox Mods: https://pdxint.at/2Lv​

Vote Here: http://pdxint.at/3nyoX54​

​

Found a bug? Report it in this thread: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/modjam2020-bug-reporting-thread.1449518/​

​

 

[Kami-sama]

Added it to news section on the wiki. May the best mod win

 

[CHILLY_FOX]

Any DLC's reqiured?

 

[MrFreake_PDX]

Any DLC's reqiured?

The Origins will be gated based on the content they require, and there are many that don't have any DLC requirements.

 

[CHILLY_FOX]

Thank you and from what i've played its a very good mod

 

[Bankipriel]

Thank you to everyone that made this possible!!

The origins look *great*! I just started my first new game using one, and I had a very difficult time choosing which one to try out first. I don't know if I can get through them all before the voting deadline . . . but I'm looking forward to trying XD

Seriously though, great job utilizing the incredible modding community to breath some fresh content into the game while we wait for the next official DLC.

Given how hard these next few months are going to be while we wait in the darkest days to get our vaccines,
I really appreciate having some new Stellaris content.

 

[MrFreake_PDX]

Thank you to everyone that made this possible!!

The origins look *great*! I just started my first new game using one, and I had a very difficult time choosing which one to try out first. I don't know if I can get through them all before the voting deadline . . . but I'm looking forward to trying XD

Seriously though, great job utilizing the incredible modding community to breath some fresh content into the game while we wait for the next official DLC.

Given how hard these next few months are going to be while we wait in the darkest days to get our vaccines,
I really appreciate having some new Stellaris content.

It's great to be able to work with the modding community like this, it's been a privilege

 

[SteelCrow]

Can I just vote for all of them? They look so good!

 

[Spleenling]

Where do I go to get bugfixes/other support? The Steam Workshop page has had it's comment section locked and I have already found a Major issue with the Caretaker Origin that make it incompatible with Planetary Diversity, namely that the Caretaker Core won't spawn on any of the PD worlds.

 

[MrFreake_PDX]

Where do I go to get bugfixes/other support? The Steam Workshop page has had it's comment section locked and I have already found a Major issue with the Caretaker Origin that make it incompatible with Planetary Diversity, namely that the Caretaker Core won't spawn on any of the PD worlds.

Mod compatibility isn't guaranteed, unfortunately. As for your issue with Planetary Diversity, there will be no updates to the Mod Jam mod until after the voting phase is over.

You can go here to report bugs: https://discord.gg/Jcn426dZm8

 

[klopkr]

This is great. Can't wait to try these mods.

 

[Bankipriel]

Where do I go to get bugfixes/other support? The Steam Workshop page has had it's comment section locked and I have already found a Major issue with the Caretaker Origin that make it incompatible with Planetary Diversity, namely that the Caretaker Core won't spawn on any of the PD worlds.

Good to know. It would be helpful to have a comments section on the mod page where people could post info like this, i.e. incompatibility with very common mods. Also, this made me laugh out loud; in a world full of change, it's good to know that some things (e.g. AA's stance on PD) always remain the same.

 

[Dragatus]

I started playing through all of the origins and I figured I might as well post my impressions here.

1. Factory Automation

The handling of automation with edicts and planetary features is functional, but feels rather clunky. It would've been much smoother if the origin instead modified districts to directly produce resources instead of providing jobs. But I suspect there was a limitation imposed on modders to not override any vanilla files and the UI currently doesn't support enough different types of districts, so the choice is understandable. I also have a nitpick about the origin description, which uses "less pops" when it should use "fewer pops".

As for the actual content of the origin, it's extremely powerful and borders on an economic hack. Your basic resources, CGs, and alloys all get produced by the automated factory, so you don't need any pops for them. This means that you can largely ignore habitability on any planet that isn't dedicated to research. It's highly effective to dedicate planets of your capital and guaranteed habitable planets as population centers churning out science while low hab planets are used to produce everything else. You can also turn a new colony into an economically important planet much faster. You're not limited by population growth, only by your ability to clear blockers and build factories. All that also makes it an ideal origin for xenophobic empires, especially Fanatic Purifiers.

What I like about this origin most is that it shakes up the order in which you pick your traditions. You'll want to pick Domination in place of Expansion because you don't need the population growth bonuses nearly as much, but you do benefit from cheaper blocker clearing from the Domination opener. You can then either switch to whatever you'd pick usually or you can finish it for the powerful finisher of +1 influence per month.

Overall I'd rate Automated Factory with a 3/5. It has some good ideas, but I find those would actually work better as a general gameplay mechanic than they do as an origin.


2. Absolute Zero

This is a highly narrative driven origin. The warning that this is a challenging origin is accurate too. Without spoiling too much of the story you will have to dedicate a good deal of engineering research and alloy production to a special project, which will leave you with a weakened fleet. You also do not get any nearby habitable worlds, which will put you behind compared to empires that do. However, if you survive you will gain access to several special technologies that will give you a serious edge and help you make a comeback.

What I particularly like is that the military technology you gain gives your ships a very strong flavor and gets you to make an uncommon design choice. Also props for giving gestalts more origin choices. In fact it probably works best of all for a terravore swarm.

The main criticism I have is for the writing. It feels rather amateurish and there are still several typos. It's still functional, but requires a good deal of polishing up.

Overall I'd rate Absolute Zero with 4/5. It's a cool narrative origin, it's available for hives, it gives you an extra challenge in the early game and some cool toys to play with later on, and the only downside is the aforementioned writing. If that gets fixed though I'd rate it above all of the vanilla origins.

 

[kwheeler]

I started playing through all of the origins and I figured I might as well post my impressions here.

1. Factory Automation I also have a nitpick about the origin description, which uses "less pops" when it should use "fewer pops".

Yep, I have the same pet peeve about people using "less" for count-nouns when they mean "fewer."

 

[TheGrinningMan]

Playing with it, but not yet having finished the chain, I can say A Second Dawn is a conceptually cool origin that also might be a bit strong (two 100% habitability worlds, at the cost of a third being toxified), is a touch buggy, and is in need of an editor on the writing side. I get the impression that English isn't the author's first language, though the ideas are quite fascinating and, despite the roughness of the writing, I'm liking the narrative so far.

I will say that perfectly imitating Stellaris writing style is hard even for skilled writers with English as a native tongue. It's a very particular "official document" writing style, that leads one to imagine an author who tries quite hard to be a non-judgmental professional but occasionally indulges in a bit of dry irony when circumstances are too absurd for this to be avoided. (As such, it's no wonder that the Worm in Waiting is so popular and fits so neatly into Stellaris. Alexis Kennedy has a natural talent for this kind of thing.)

 

[MrFreake_PDX]

Many of our modders for this mod jam, and in the Stellaris community as a whole, are not native English speakers. On top of that, Modders were only given four weeks to produce their origin, and working within fairly restrictive rules (regarding previously produced content/vanilla overwrites and monthly/yearly pulse events specifically) when many people spend years working on a mod and perfecting it gradually over time.

I urge you not to judge them on their grammar, spelling, etc, but instead on the enjoyment you get from playing the content they worked for a month to produce.

I'm proud of all the modders that participated in #MODJAM2020, and I hope we get to do more events to highlight our fantastic modding community in the future.

 

[FortunaDraken]

Played through and finished Paradigm Shift last night (Hive Mind with a successful outcome) and it's actually really quite fun. I enjoyed the longer narrative it has, and that it added interesting bits without being too overbearing about it.

Lost Spawn threw me with the result I got, I had to laugh. Might replay it and see if there's any differing outcomes. Also enjoying my Caretaker playthrough, though I might restart it for a better game spot (got boxed in by genocidals early)

I think the only thing I've found that's bugging me so far is that the upgraded Subterranean unique buildings have consumer goods upkeep when the origin is available to Hive Minds who can't produce consumer goods.

 

[Dragatus]

I think I'm probably harsher than most on the English of people who are not native English speakers because I myself am not a native English speaker and I have this sense of "I learned it so why can't they" that I have to consciously suppress. That said, I am trying to be understanding of the fact than not everyone has a gift for foreign languages and that the focus ought to be on the gameplay regardless so I did not let it influence the scores I gave too much. I mention it largely as a warning to anyone reading who might care about the level of the writing and in part as what I hope to be constructive criticism.

I should probably also mention that when I rate something as 3 out of 5, that's actually a good score. 3/5 from me means it does what it's meant to do and it's on par with the vanilla origins produced by PDX. And speaking of me rating things, I have tried out two more of the origins.


3. Shielded

This is another narrative origin and its strengths and weaknesses are the exact opposite of Absolute Zero. The writing is the best part and it actually fits in well with vanilla Stellaris. The downside though is that it's fairly short and it left me waiting for more which never came. You excavate one archeological site and then you're basically done. The rewards are nice but beyond a special planetary shield for your homeworld you don't get anything unique and even that is largely an economic modifier.

I think though that part of the reason for my disappointment were my expectations which have been elevated by Absolute Zero and while I experienced the fact that you learn what happened but there is no follow up as to why it happened as a downside it can also be an upside because it allows you to invent your own reasons. I would have also wished for the origin to be available to gestalt empires, but I understand that would have required a set of alternate event texts for both hives and machines and the author probably did not have enough time to write it.

Overall I'd rate Shielded with a 3/5 (good). The story is short but well written and while the benefits aren't groundbreaking they are still nice. And as a final point of endorsement, I might add that the origin blends into Stellaris so well that if I hadn't known it was added by a mod I wouldn't have been able to tell.

My suggestion for the author is to polish the mod by making it available for gestalt empires as it would've been perfect origin for a Devouring Swarm. Calibrating the expectations of players to only expect a short narrative would also help but I am unsure how one would go about doing that, so for now it's on the players to set their own expectations.


4. Ancient Juggernaut

This one does exactly what it says on the tin. Instead of the usual trio of corvettes you start with a juggernaut. It might be missing the X weapons and hangars, it might have a series of debuffs to it's firepower and durability which leave it with a mere 250 or so fleet strength, and it might have damaged thrusters, but it's still a *beeeeeeeep* juggernaut.

You restore it mainly by researching bigger hull sizes until you research juggernauts and you get a project to fully restore it. There is also an initial special project to restore thrusters after which you can use it. And actually having a useful juggernaut is the best thing about the mod. In normal play juggernauts come when you have at least one and usually multiple of advanced thrusters, gateways, and jump drives so your fleets are simply too mobile to really need a movable starbase that can advance into enemy territory. But with this origin you have one from the start when your fleets are still weak, fragile, and slow which means it will actually be a significant asset in your wars. It will be the heart of your navy and your fleets will act as support for it.

The one notable downside that I could find is the event text, which is pretty rough but I also have a strong impression the author is not a native English speaker. Your mileage may vary on how important that is, but it sticks out quite significantly for those that do care about it. I also found it unusual you can't be xenophobic to use it, but I guess the reasoning is that you incorporated a significant piece of foreign technology into your culture.

Overall I'd rate Ancient Juggernaut with a 3/5 (good). How good it is really depends how much you want a giant flagship that is the heart of your navy and how much of a stickler you are for English. If you care little for the former and a lot about the latter it will probably be a poor 1/5 for you, but if it's the reverse it might be a superb 5/5.

My suggestion for the author is to find someone to go through the text and polish it up. Other than the low quality of the English it's a very solid origin and I can't think of any obvious improvements.

 

[GuildenSpur]

Thanks to PDX for organizing this and especially the modders for coming up with these great mods. There is not 1 of those mods that makes me say "meh". Thanks for your time and effort, I appreciate it. (I need a thumbs up smiley! )

 

[kwheeler]

Many of our modders for this mod jam, and in the Stellaris community as a whole, are not native English speakers. On top of that, Modders were only given four weeks to produce their origin, and working within fairly restrictive rules (regarding previously produced content/vanilla overwrites and monthly/yearly pulse events specifically) when many people spend years working on a mod and perfecting it gradually over time.

I urge you not to judge them on their grammar, spelling, etc, but instead on the enjoyment you get from playing the content they worked for a month to produce.

I'm proud of all the modders that participated in #MODJAM2020, and I hope we get to do more events to highlight our fantastic modding community in the future.

Fair enough. I'm not meaning to be harsh--just add it as a detail they can fine tune later after the contest ends.