Paradox Interactive released the first of many Stellaris updates on Wednesday afternoon, barely missing its goal of delivering the patch before the end of May, and fans might be surprised by just how much work Paradox managed to finish in the weeks since Stellaris’ May 9 debut
Less than a month after releasing its latest strategy game, Paradox Interactive has returned with Stellaris Update 1.1; the first of many free patches that will be published over the life of the game. Just as promised, the game’s first patch focuses primarily on improving Stellaris’ existing user interface, eliminating some of the game’s most problematic bugs and balancing the game’s launch content. That said, there are also a few surprises bundled into Stellaris Update 1.1, including better mod support and tweaks to the game’s artificial intelligence.
Of course, seeing as we’re only a few weeks removed from the game’s debut, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that most of the changes in Stellaris Update 1.1 are the kinds of tweaks that can’t actually be seen by the player. This week’s patch does include a few graphical changes, and some of the new features are visually represented by the game’s UI, but the dozens of balance changes featured in Stellaris Update 1.1 will have to be experienced in your next campaign.
Below, you’ll find the bulk of the patch notes for Stellaris Update 1.1. Those interested in seeing a list of bug fixes and performance tweaks can find them on the official Paradox forums .
Features
Strike Craft attack behavior was changed
It is no longer necessary to control planets to demand them in war, but controlling planets that are set as wargoals now generates more warscore
It is now possible to set a custom ruler/heir title for your custom empires
It is now possible to write a biography for your custom empire
* Added an Influence reward for establishing communications, or conversely being contacted
Collection of strategic resources on planet tiles is no longer suppressed by buildings
Added settings for AI aggressiveness in the galaxy setup screen
"Shipwright" mandate for democractic empires has been reworked
Added resource reward to Raid on Smugglers event
Individualist empires will no longer generate election candidates with slaver mandates, and Individualist Pops are less likely to vote for candidates with slaver mandates
Slaver mandate no longer possible if slavery is outlawed
It is now possible to set difficulty in multiplayer
Symbols of Domination is now available for everyone
Platypus species portrait and Paradox empire flag is now available for everyone
Balance
Technology
Technology costs now increase by +10% per owned planet (up from +0%) and by +1% per Pop (down from +2%)
Unlocking Spaceport technologies now makes you more likely to get research options for new reactor techs
Spiritualists and Materialists now get tech progress towards Frequency Tuning for researching Space Whales
Ethics
Fanatic Individualist
Pops are now more unhappy in collectivist empires
No longer have increased ethics divergence
Individualist
Pops are now more unhappy in collectivist empires
No longer have increased ethics divergence
Fanatic Xenophobe
Rivalries now provide 50% more Influence
Xenophobe
Rivalries now provide 25% more Influence
Fanatic Xenophile
Alliance Influence cost reduced by 100%
Maximum number of embassies increased by 2
Xenophile
Alliance Influence cost reduced by 50%
Maximum number of embassies increased by 1
Fanatic Militarist
No longer gains additional Influence from rivalries
No longer have an increased Influence cost for being in an Alliance
Militarist
No longer gains additional Influence from rivalries
No longer have an increased Influence cost for being in an Alliance
Fanatic Pacifist
Pops are now more unhappy in militarist empires
No longer increases Food output, but rather reduces growth needed for a new Pop by 30%
Pacifist
Pops are now more unhappy in militarist empires
No longer increases Food output, but rather reduces growth needed for a new Pop by 15%
Components
Strike Craft engagement range was significantly increased
Strike Craft launch time reduced from 5 to 3 days
Fighter movement speed increased from ~2 to 3.5
Bomber movement speed increased from 1.5 to 3
Chemical Thrusters Chance to Evade reduced from +10 to +5
Ion Thrusters Chance to Evade reduced from +20 to +10
Plasma Thrusters Chance to Evade reduced from +30 to +15
Impulse Thrusters Chance to Evade reduced from +40 to +20
Buildings
Research Institute modifier to research speed reduced from +10% to +5%
Colony Shelter modifier to ethics divergence reduced from +20% to +10%
Empire Capital-Complex can now only be built on a capital world
Government forms
Theocratic Republic
Additional Core Planets reduced from +2 to +1
Transcendent Republic
Additional Core Planets reduced from +4 to +2
Traits
Aggressive - fire rate bonus reduced from +20% to +10%
Butcher - army damage bonus reduced from +20% to +10%
Glory Seeker - army morale damage bonus reduced from +10% to +5%
Modifiers
Youthful Elite modifier effect on leader lifespan reduced from +50 to +25 years
AI
Misc.
Computer-controlled Empires will start outlawing AI over time during a certain Crisis
Increased negative opinion scaling for relative power of subjects
AI will now colonize far away systems if COLONIZE_NON_ADJACENT define is enabled
Fixed a bug where the AI would not use planetary edicts due to too small stockpile cap
Empires that were previously controlled by a player (for example if said player drops in multiplayer) will now refrain from making any major changes to the country for a period of 10 years
Fixed a bug where AI was modifying their species with bad traits, effectively giving them lots of traits
Fixed a bug where military focused sectors would not build military stations
Fixed an issue where the AI would not enslave any Pops
Diplomacy
AI will no longer accept a white peace when they are winning in warscore
AI is now more open to trading access, migration rights and (for some personalities) research treaties
Fixed a bug where AI would offer peace deals that gave allies' war goals to the player
Fixed AI spamming the player with military access offers
AI is now more aggressive against easily defeated targets
Economy
Fixed an issue where the AI would not disband ships even when running a heavy energy credit deficit
Sector
Respect Tile Resources setting will now prevent sector from building the wrong type of building for a tile regardless of special circumstances
Improved the way sectors determine which resources the country needs when constructing buildings
Fixed a bug where sector AI would move Pops back and forth
Fixed budget issues that were preventing sectors from properly managing spaceports and construction ships
Warfare
Improved military tactics and handling of units
Improved handling of military fleets vs. transport fleets
AI now fights Crises
Fixed issues where military fleets would not move
AI should be better at trying to regain control of occupied planets
AI should be better at trying to invade planets taken by ""AI uprisings"
User Interface
Diplomatic notifications and pop-ups have been improved
End of combat UI has been improved
Colony Ships now show which Pop it is carrying
Localization of armor/shield penetration updated
If a weapon has both shield penetration and a corresponding reduced damage to shields the two effects are replaced by a single line: "Ignores X% Shields"
Habitability icons in galaxy map and systems view have been improved
(BETA) Added a new experimental option for GUI-scaling in the options menu
User modding
Ported system for weights/triggers on songs from HoI4/EU4
Fixed so that effect set_name can use localization system
Moved Domination victory condition into defines
Added NOR operator
Species Appearance screen is now moddable
Species City Appearance screen is now moddable
Ship Appearance screen is now moddable
Added num_energy trigger
Reading a single on_action entry from multiple files will now append the events to the list entry rather than overwriting it. This should allow more mods to be compatible
Prescripted countries can now set the attribute "disallow_editing = yes" to disable the edit button in the Empire selection view before game start
Added an alert to tell the player that a research field is missing a Scientist
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