Paradox have announced that the Stellaris: First Contact Story Pack will be releasing on March 14th, along with the Canis Minor free update for all players.
First Contact is focused on new interactions and game mechanics for pre-FTL civilizations, which should make numerous parts of the game more interesting. Not only that, the new cloaking technology that will become available should enrich some spying and espionage. There's plenty more in it like new civilization origins and other new game mechanics to make it sound quite exciting.
Direct Link
Main Features:
- New Origins:
- Broken Shackles: You didn’t take to the stars; you were taken to the stars as an alien captive! Now, you and your fellow prisoners have overtaken the ship and found yourselves banding together to survive and thrive as a diverse new community. Can you rise to greatness from this humble origin… and will your former captors take notice?
- Payback: No one would have believed your world was being watched keenly by intelligences greater than your own — until they invaded. But you did not go quietly into the night! Your civilization has repelled a would-be conqueror from space, and with sudden access to their advanced technology, you’re about to discover just what else is out there beyond the stars!
- Fear of the Dark: As you’ve explored your home system, you’ve always suspected you weren’t alone in the galaxy… especially when one of your planets suddenly suffered an “incident” a while back. A very large faction of your own people have long advocated against tempting fate out in the dark abyss of the unknown. What path will you choose as you find yourself needing room to grow?
- Pre-FTL: What will your role be when the next member of the galactic community tells their origin story? New mechanics allow for a broader range of interactions with pre-FTL civilizations, depending on their level of technology and their awareness of your presence. Will your arrival be celebrated, or met with violent panic?
- Cloaking: Nobody saw this feature coming! Equip your ships with cloaking devices to survey in secret or catch a foe unaware; keep subtle tabs on your pre-FTL neighbors with cloaked observation posts. Just be sure your own scanners and intel are strong… you never know which of your neighbors might be lurking in the shadows!
It will be available March 14th.
As for the free update they mentioned it will contain various gameplay improvements, add new "Archaeotechnologies" to dig up in the Ancient Relics Story Pack and more.
I see it's not mentioned in the feature notes here, but the Dev Diaries they've basically confirmed that cloaking will, in fact, let you send cloaked ships into empires with closed borders, so that sounds fun. I mean, on top of all the pre-FTL interaction stuff which is what I'm really here for.I don't think I'd use that for spying very much--when it comes to wars I just rely on big fleets crushing stuff. But I'd love it for those times when I've got some kind of research project chain, like finding all those critters, and it turns out they're in places that have closed their borders to me and I'm thinking "OK, should I start a war just to get my hands on the Elusive Zoolantha or whatever?" A nice cloaked science ship would be just the ticket.
But I'd love it for those times when I've got some kind of research project chain, like finding all those critters,THIS. So much this. 🤣
I actually spent some time drafting a suggestion post in my head to change that event so it spawns the creatures within your borders, or at least not within empires with closed borders to you (though obviously there are some constraints on the planets that can be used).
Actually, if there's one more thing I'd love to see in Stellaris, it'd be a story pack expanding on these sorts of non-sapient or pre-sapient lifeforms. Like having a bunch of randomly-generated animal/plant/fungus species that are only found on one planet in the galaxy, or within one system (or maybe they hitch rides on spaceships and end up spreading across the galaxy! Invasive species have lots of story potential.) They wouldn't necessarily have to do much beyond exist, though they could maybe give little bonuses (maybe they have their own trait system like "Cuddly: +2% happiness to pops on this planet", etc.). It'd help planets feel more unique instead of just "Frozen World #213" if they're the only place in the galaxy a unique type of charismatic megafauna lives, for instance.
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