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Stellaris Dev Diary #282 - Announcing First Contact

Hi everyone!

About twenty minutes after we posted Dev Diary 280, the community had largely decoded the message we hid in there... CONTACT IS COMING.

Last week, we had A Message from Minamar Specialized Industries, and it's time to take them up on that offer. (And you deciphered the message in there even more quickly!)


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I'm pleased to announce that the First Contact Story Pack will be released alongside the Stellaris 3.7 "Canis Minor" update. Click here to wishlist the Story Pack.


Look to the Stars, For You Are Not Alone​

For countless ages, your people have looked to the stars with wonder - is there anybody else out there? When we meet, will they be friends or enemies? Will we be the ones to discover them, or are they already here, hiding in plain sight?

The First Contact Story Pack focuses on the experiences of these Pre-FTL civilizations, both from the point of view of the civilizations themselves as well as from the observers. Observation has been revamped with new enhanced systems relating to civilization Awareness, Diplomacy, and Espionage. New Insights can be learned from observing civilizations that have not been corrupted by the galaxy as a whole.

They've been here before.



The Universe Is Cruel, But Also Awe-Inspiring

Origins
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Two Challenging Origins - Payback and Broken Shackles - revolve around the struggles of empires against the oppressive Minamar Specialized Industries, while a third standard Origin - Fear of the Dark - examines the fine line between paranoia and prudence. As befits a Story Pack, all three of First Contact's Origins are heavily narrative focused.

Our benevolent overlord.


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Several new low-technology civics can change the way you take your first steps to the stars or how you interact with the pre-FTL civilizations you find.

Civics


One small step...

Nobody saw this coming in a Story Pack, but there's also Cloaking... We'll reveal more about that later.


This Thursday, we'll discuss the vision and themes of First Contact in greater detail.

See you then!
 

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Oh boy, I can't wait for my planet to be repossessed!
 
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Payback = XCOM origin?

Broken Shackles = Primitive slave rebellion origin?

Fear of the Dark = Dark forest origin?

Literally every origin I was hoping for with a primitives pack.
 
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oh shit cloaking and civics with new mechanics
this is going to be VERY fun
also calling it, cloaking will be tied to the funky space station on the trailer and will probably just hide you from primitives/change the way you interact with em, as well as allow you to maybe hide fleets or space stations from other empires. nevermind, cloaking will probably be tied to the main patch, and cloaking your observation stations or not will probably change the Awareness of the primitives.
do any of the ascension paths have any interactions with the mechanic?
 
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"Nobody saw this coming in a Story Pack, but there's also Cloaking... We'll reveal more about that later."

The Treaty of Algeron may be annulled? Impossible! XD
 
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Koopatin said:
i doubt it will be about or only about pre ftl primitives. For a fallen empire our empires are still primitive so whatever comes with the dlc might want to uplift us. Like the Enigmatic Cache Builders for example. I would bet on it, a bit at least.
Click to expand...
...

well...primitive focus. f*** i might have been wrong... not that i not like what i see... still...
 
And that raises the question, will default 1x primitive setting be buffed to have more primitives?
I too play with a higher setting because 1x is terrible, way too rare; almost a missing feature.
 
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This looks promising. Can't wait for the details of the new civics for some Role-playing. Fear of the Dark sounds like a promising origin.
 
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Finally Cloaking.
Does this mean I can send in cloaked ships into empires whose borders are closed?
Let's hope so.
Closed borders should never hinder my movement among the stars...

And thanks for the expansion of the Primitives. Looking forward to show the Elders how to deal with XCom
 
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A part of me hope that "narrative focused" doesn't mean like it was for Knights of the Toxic God, because that was just walls of text without any big choices except at the end.

"Narrative focused" in the way of On The Shoulders Of Giants or similar is much better in my opinion. I don't know why, but it really feels better and more engaging with the archeology and stuff. Or if you want to go the previous route, have some choices be made that come to define your civilization more.
 
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Eladrin said:
The First Contact Story Pack focuses on the experiences of these Pre-FTL civilizations, both from the point of view of the civilizations themselves as well as from the observers. Observation has been revamped with new enhanced systems relating to civilization Awareness, Diplomacy, and Espionage. New Insights can be learned from observing civilizations that have not been corrupted by the galaxy as a whole.
Click to expand...
Alas the memes of oblivious primitives is over. It was fun while it lasted. I wonder if they'll have different reactions to you colonizing their moon, another planet in their system, or building a megastructure? Or even if you decide to mass all your 200k fleets over their homeworld for some reason.
Comic1.png


Speaking of Pre-FTL - Should there be a Origin where your species is a abandoned uplifted species (start with a pre-sapient trait) - as a reference to Children of Time/Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky? If not, I guess it could be included later as a Custodian patch.
 
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Wow, I am really looking forward to this.
First contact stories are one of my favorite Sci-fi tropes and they definitely needed some love gameplay-wise.

Just one question:
What about the patch that comes with the DLC?
Will it be a full on custodian patch or a "smaller" patch that sets up the framework for the DLC + general hotfixes that didn't make it into the last update?
 
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Zolana said:
As someone who always plays with 5x Primitives, I cannot wait!
Click to expand...
You madperson. You will set the galaxy at flame...
I applaud you.
Will you differ in your approach to the primitives like a vengeful god, granting favor to one crushing the other or are you a fair god, let everyone suffer your wrath
 
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ZomgK3tchup said:
Payback = XCOM origin?

Broken Shackles = Primitive slave rebellion origin?

Fear of the Dark = Dark forest origin?

Literally every origin I was hoping for with a primitives pack.
Click to expand...
I hope Payback is about resisting an invasion. And the other two make sense as well. I wonder how fear of the dark will work.

MSI looks pretty interesting as a 'minor' anantagonist to players as well. If I had to guess, they're authoritarian/militarist, and maybe materialist. And since broken shackles is part of that narrative, Indentured Assests as well.
 
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The mention of the homeworld story line for the slave origin is interesting. It would be cool if homeworlds had more of an impact in the game. For example: getting some sort of event/bonus if you liberate a world where the original pops were purged and create a vassal with them as the primary species.

In any case excited to see this one! If payback is an origin where there was a failed invasion that sounds like a great set up for an X-Com/Stellaris mega campaign :p

EDIT: Are there any galactic resolutions that come with this DLC? Seems like resolutions that create galactic reserves would fit right in.
 
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Eladrin said:
Nobody saw this coming in a Story Pack, but there's also Cloaking... We'll reveal more about that later.
Click to expand...

Can we expect Stellaris to return to inserting non-cosmetic/narrative content into Story Packs in the future? I personally like Story Packs (and will almost certainly be getting First Contact as Primitives x5 player), so I'm not really affected by this, but I know some players prefer having new content additions be limited to expansion packs.

I do understand that doing this makes Story Packs less niche, and that said content may never have been added if the Story Pack wasn't put out, but it does seem like an odd shift when EU4 has been moving away from this with mission-tree only DLC like Lions of the North.
 
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