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Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio are mixing things up in Stellaris again with the upcoming update and the Federations expansion.

As usual for Paradox games, when a big DLC is released it will come with a massive feature patch for everyone to access. With Federations, which still has no release date, Paradox will be changing a big part of how you pick your empire with an Origins system.

When you start a game in Stellaris you can either pick a pre-made empire or roll your own. When you make your own you pick all sorts of things like their appearance, ship style, special traits like being Industrious to get more Minerals, government type and so on.

Back with the 1.5 "Banks" update and the Utopia expansion in 2017, they added Civics into the game. Civics are a sort of mix between political style, background and more. The new Origins feature is going to expand this quite a lot, acting as the definitive background of your civilization and you will only be able to pick one. Certain Civics will now become an Origin, opening them up to more types of civilizations too. Some Origins will be free for everyone, some only available in certain expansions.

Here's a list of what they currently have, subject to change and additions as the update continues development of course:

  • Prosperous Unification: Start with 4 additional Pops and 2 additional Districts. (Available to everyone)
  • Mechanist: Start with 8 Pops being robots, and the ability to build more. (Utopia)
  • Syncretic Evolution: Start the game with 12 Pops being of another species. (Utopia)
  • Life-Seeded: Start on a Gaia World. (Apocalypse)
  • Post-Apocalyptic: Start on a Tomb World. (Apocalypse)
  • Remnants: Start on a Relic World. (Federations)
  • Shattered Ring: Start on a Shattered Ring World. Your empire lives on the only intact section of the ancient megastructure, and it is possible to repair most of the other sections. (Federations)
  • Void Dwellers: Start on a Habitat above your destroyed, former homeworld. Adept at living in habitats, and start with the technology to build new ones. (Federations)
  • Scion: Start as the vassal of a Fallen Empire. (Federations)
  • Galactic Doorstep: Start with a dormant Gateway in your home system. (Available to everyone)
  • Tree of Life: Only for Hive Minds. Start with a powerful Tree of Life on your homeworld. Disastrous if you would somehow lose control of it. (Federations)
  • On the Shoulder of Giants: Start with an Archaeological Site related to a mysterious benefactor. (Federations)
  • Calamitous Birth: Lithoid Only. Start with a Massive Crater on your Homeworld. You are also able to build Meteorite Colony Ships, which colonize planets in a more dramatic fashion. (Lithoids)
  • Resource Consolidation: Machines only. Start with a Machine World as your homeworld. (Synthetic Dawn)
  • Common Ground: Start with as the leader of a Galactic Union federation, and with The Federation tradition unlocked. (Federations)
  • Hegemon: Start with as the leader of a Hegemony federation, and with The Federation tradition unlocked. (Federations)
  • Doomsday: Your homeworld is doomed and it will explode after 64 years, so you need to find a new home for your species. (Federations)
  • Lost Colony: Another empire with the same species as you will exist somewhere in the galaxy. (Available to everyone)

This actually sounds quite exciting, massively changing how each empire will start the game and so that will change how you progress through it too. Starting as the vassal of a Fallen Empire certainly sounds like it will present a bunch of new scenarios, as will the rush of having a homeworld that is going to explode. You can learn more about Origins in this dev diary.

You can grab Stellaris from Humble Store, Paradox Store, GOG and Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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5 comments

Kimyrielle Nov 18, 2019
Sounds great! I love Stellaris! They're making an already great game better, in their typical Paradox way. :)
Purple Library Guy Nov 18, 2019
So far, I like everything I've heard about this expansion (and the free stuff going with it) except for the basic problem that I hate federations. Partly I'm not big on them because the whole concept doesn't really grab me--I'm pleased enough to have peaceful empires that get along with other empires well diplomatically, but actually moorging together in a federation just doesn't please me at some level.
Plus I find the mechanics annoying, and maybe this will help with that because some of the specific federation rules look interesting, but I mean . . . any time I'm in a federation and get in a war, the federation fleets I've had to donate to wander around doing nothing useful, so they're a dead loss. And I can't remember but I'm pretty sure it's another one of those diplomatic things that kills my Influence, which means I can be in a federation or expand my territory quickly but I can't do both. (I've gotten way more wary about trade and research deals too; you can just cripple your expansion if you're not careful)
Philadelphus Nov 23, 2019
Origins definitely sound cool, and a great way to make empires even more unique while freeing up space for an extra civic—civics that you could only pick at the start of game and never change were an awkward compromise. While it was generally expected that those civics would get translated over, some of the new ones look really interesting, like Void Dwellers and Shattered Ring.

Now if I could just get that Calamitous Birth origin for a fungoid species, I could finally realize my dreams of playing the Mycon from The Ur-Quan Masters… :D
Purple Library Guy Nov 23, 2019
Quoting: PhiladelphusOrigins definitely sound cool, and a great way to make empires even more unique while freeing up space for an extra civic—civics that you could only pick at the start of game and never change were an awkward compromise. While it was generally expected that those civics would get translated over, some of the new ones look really interesting, like Void Dwellers and Shattered Ring.

Now if I could just get that Calamitous Birth origin for a fungoid species, I could finally realize my dreams of playing the Mycon from The Ur-Quan Masters… :D
Juffo-Wup flows through Time and Space. It cannot be stopped by mere energy blasts.
Philadelphus Nov 24, 2019
Juffo-Wup is inevitable.

Quoting: Purple Library GuySo far, I like everything I've heard about this expansion (and the free stuff going with it) except for the basic problem that I hate federations.
Yeah, I'm kinda in the same boat, even as a generally peaceful player who prefers exploration, expansion, development of planets, and building mega-structures to war. It sounds like maintaining a federation will become its own mini-game, which could be interesting (assuming we get better diplomatic interactions), but it'll probably need to come with some more value for being in one.
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