4.2.4 ‘Corvus’ is in certification and may have been released by the time this goes live, with the following changes:[/p]
4.2.4 ‘Corvus’ Release Notes
[p]Balance[/p]- [p]+25% volcanic world habitability for machine climate preference traits to match their minimum habitability value on Volcanic worlds.[/p][/*]
- [p]Replaced Food output for some specimens with one quarter as Alloy output bonus for Infernals.[/p][/*]
- [p]Slightly lower Unity and Research rewards for several events in the Red Giant and Cosmic Dawn Origins.[/p][/*]
- [p]The Payback origin now get the correct starting buildings as Materialist and Spiritualist[/p][/*]
- [p]The trait Propaganda Machines now shows the correct modifier[/p][/*]
- [p]When transferring planets under colonization after a war is on, if the colonizing species isn't allowed to colonize the colony is destroyed (stops forever colonization where you keep sending the new colons to the slave pits)[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed leaders losing ascension related traits after species modification in some cases.[/p][/*]
- [p]The tooltip for Permanent Employment Civic's Reassigners say they use "Food (or equivalent)", implying they use Alloys when you are Thermophile.[/p][/*]
- [p]Ringworld construction and other binary/trinary restrictions correctly apply in binary or trinary hyperthermia systems.[/p][/*]
- [p]Replaced minor additional food upkeep for hive mind unity boosting buildings with extra Alloy upkeep.[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed infernal Alloy upkeep for Voidling, purging, and non-sapient pops.[/p][/*]
- [p]Voidworm Troika designs can be saved.[/p][/*]
- [p]Voidworm Troikas are no longer created without upgrades when three large voidworms combine.[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed some issues with machine empires, catalytic processing and alloy producing jobs.[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed stuck in combat when the defender refuses to actually do combat.[/p][/*]
- [p]Volcanic Districts now improve tech weights.[/p][/*]
- [p]Preventing evasion to go negative from evasion against psionic modifier in combat calculation.[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixing abduction code setting the species correctly when checking if species can live on planet.[/p][/*]
- [p]Optimized string allocation in ship component modifier processing.[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed random CTD with invalid ships[/p][/*]
- [p]Changed stack allocation to heap in particle varied values to avoid CTD:ing[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed CTD due to race condition between UI and AI accessing base growth cache.[/p][/*]
- [p]OOS fix: Planet species caches are now stored in arrays instead of unordered sets or maps"[/p][/*]
- [p]Shows the 25% Minimum Habitability on Volcanic worlds for Mechanical and Machine pops[/p][/*]
4.3 ‘Cetus’ Open Beta
[p]As I mentioned last week, this Open Beta is very compartmentalized so we will have the option to pick and choose different aspects to bring to the final release. This first content drop of the Cetus Open Beta includes only a partial set of Economic and Naval Change branches on top of a 4.2 base.If all goes according to plan, 4.3 will be released to the live branches during the first quarter of 2026, but if we deem that it’s not ready yet, we’re planning to keep it in beta for longer. It’s also possible that we’ll choose to release some elements in 4.3 and then continue with a 4.4 Open Beta with the things that still need more work or polish.
The economic changes in 4.0 brought a high level of customization to planets and introduced ways of optimizing your production that did not exist before, leading to much stronger overall results. Coupled with the power creep of the Ascension expansions, empires were able to create fleets that dwarfed the end game fleets of 3.x by the mid-game.
The changes in this beta seek to ratchet that power level back significantly, restricting most sources of non-linear economic growth, in order to bring us to a more balanced level overall. Our pass is not yet complete, so I’m sure you’ll be able to find some civics, traits, or other sources that we haven’t gotten to yet - that’s okay, but expect that when we’re done we’ll have adjusted those as well. Some other changes are still in a work-in-progress state, waiting for some code support to make them work the way we want them to. Helping us find things that we may have missed or display excessive synergies and highlighting them will be very helpful.
Internally, we nicknamed this branch “The Reckoning” before it got its constellation name, since the fifty weeks of being overpowered were coming to an end.[/p][p][/p]
Cetus Design Goals and Philosophy
[p]We’re not trying to recreate the economic level of 3.x in this branch - we’re looking for where the baseline of the 4.x economy should be. We believe that this is at a level that is much lower than the 4.0-4.2 level, and that there are parts of Stellaris that haven’t been an interesting challenge for quite a long time. There’s not much incentive in doing a special project to pacify hostile Space Fauna, for instance, if an early game fleet can casually erase them from existence.We wanted to reduce the number of ships in the game to both improve performance and to make the ships you have feel more valuable. If you have 20 full fleets moving around in a doomstack, each individual battleship you may have is just another number.
A popular mod multiplies the power and cost of ships to improve performance. It did accomplish both of those goals, but we desired a system that we believed would better fit both early and late game. We came to the conclusion that as long as the changes were consistent across the entire playing field, the economy and ships did not absolutely necessitate equal power increases to achieve the desired results. Economic output and fleet power will be significantly lower than what you’re used to, and some things that were previously trivial threats may now be a real obstacle.
In earlier dev diaries, I mentioned that I experimented with a system where naval hulls would tier up into advanced hull types. This did reduce end game ship counts and made individual ships more impactful, but we found a few drawbacks with the experiment. The importance of tech was increased even more than it already was, and there were “growing pains” moments when converting fleets up to the next tier that we thought might be interesting, but were more annoying than fun.
So far we’ve enjoyed the challenges posed by the following variant more:[/p]
The Naval Changes
[p]The Cetus Open Beta is decoupling Naval Capacity from The Corvette Standard™. Just like how in the pop rework this gave us more granularity with jobs, this gave us the design space to do things like give Frigates their own spot in the lineup partway between Corvettes and Destroyers, and let us move Bioships to their own scale. Starting Naval Capacity has been increased to 40, and you’ll still (typically) start with three Corvettes, but they’ll take more Naval Capacity than before. This does make it easier to maintain Power Projection, but building a massive fleet is a much larger undertaking, and individual fleets have a handful of each class of ship instead of an uncountable blob of overlapping polygons.Here’s a spreadsheet excerpt that shows tentative Naval Capacity, Hull, Cost, and Upkeep for various ships. Costs and (especially) Upkeep are notably higher than before. Frigates are now faster (moving at Destroyer speed instead of Cruiser), sturdier, get another Aux slot, and use Destroyer-grade reactors instead of Corvette-grade. Titan Perdition Beams (and similar weapons) deal collateral damage to entire fleets. (This may be changed in future Open Beta updates to something like hitting 500 Naval Capacity worth of ships in the system instead, if it seems to incentivize fleet splitting too much.)[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/9703436/bee67bd71df412936f103519c74caf52fc38e12d.png"][/img]Systems Designer @Gruntsatwork warned that based on his experience playing Vicky, leaving The Corvette Standard would lead to inflation.[/p][p]Juggernauts now have 10 shipyards (and the logistics reducing aura they already have).[/p][p][/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/9703436/df8d32874e24f4cb4feb91c8e80cf605eba7a1c9.png"][/img]Harbingers have an unusual Utility slot progression but we’re currently okay with that.[/p][p][/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/9703436/22d9ec7a0a37a2a4ce675ac68d61f9cbdeb9e996.png"][/img][/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/9703436/4523262abf88c5d85846a4c6a1fb2421b44fa1c3.png"][/img][/p][p]These are probably completely overpowered but we’ll see.[/p][p][/p][p]Torpedoes have been rebalanced around these numbers and require more power (compensated on Frigates by their larger reactors).[/p]
Economic Changes
[p]Economically, the 4.3 ‘Cetus’ Open Beta aims to deflate non-linear growth and push the game towards flatter, more controlled economies.Goals of these changes were to make more modifiers matter, decrease the outliers, and create a leaner, more deliberate economic landscape. Some aspects of gameplay were too easy to circumvent or pin at maximum values such as empire size, happiness, and stability, while other systems such as unemployment were generally unenjoyable and did not add value to the game. Many modifiers have been returned to provide smaller, more focused bonuses or penalties, and during our economic pass we tended to favor job efficiency over raw output.
There have been some significant changes to how Automation and Fallen Empire Buildings function. They’re now job specific and Fallen Empire buildings are the only source of Specialist Job Automation.
Partial passes have been done on Origins and Ascensions, but I expect that we’ll be tweaking things and continuing passes for the next couple of months.[/p]
What Are We Looking For?
[p]We’d like feedback on what you think of these changes. Where have we gone too hard, what do you like, what have we missed, and so on. As I’ve mentioned, this is still an early build and we’ll be iterating on it until it releases. If (and when) you find something that’s grossly out of line with the rest of the game balance, let us know so we make sure it’s looked at.Is the challenge level appropriate? Are there more sliders that we should add to galaxy generation, or changes we should make to the base game difficulties?
We've done up a feedback form so that we can get everyone's feedback in the one place, you can find it here.
Please note: This feedback form will be changed for each Open Beta update to ensure we're getting the latest information. Feel free to fill it out every time it comes out.[/p][p][/p]
Open Beta Patch Notes
[p]Okay, here we go. Note that some of the changes in the branch are not explicitly listed here, and are covered by general notes (Like “Many sources of Unity production have been reduced.”):[/p]4.3 ‘Cetus’ Open Beta Patch Notes 2025-12-11
[p]Balance[/p]- [p]The Dimensional Fleet Astral Action has been adjusted to the reduced general fleet sizes.[/p][/*]
- [p]Summons a number of Escorts equal to the number of Astral Rifts you have explored, and Cruisers equal to half that number, rounded down.[/p][/*]
- [p]Ship Naval Capacity usage has changed significantly.[/p][/*]
- [p]Corvettes: 5[/p][list]
- [p]Frigates: 8[/p][/*]
- [p]Destroyers: 10[/p][/*]
- [p]Cruisers: 20[/p][/*]
- [p]Battleships: 40[/p][/*]
- [p]Titans and Bio-Titans: 80[/p][/*]
- [p]Juggernauts and Colossi: 100[/p][/*]
- [p]Maulers: 4/6/8[/p][/*]
- [p]Weavers: 8/12/16[/p][/*]
- [p]Harbingers: 16/24/32[/p][/*]
- [p]Stingers: 32/48/64[/p][/*]
- [p]Most ships (including Space Fauna and Event Ships) in general have 5x the Naval Capacity usage they used to.[/p][/*]
- [p]Nanite Swarmers are size 1[/p][list]
- [p]TODO: Teeth of the Eater will likely take Naval Cap while you are not at war.[/p][/*]
- [p]Increased base and modified Vivarium capacity to work with new numbers[/p][/*]
- [p]Galactic Nemesis Marauding ships have 20% less naval capacity usage than their size would normally require. (Corvettes: 4, Destroyers: 8, Cruisers: 16)[/p][/*]
- [p]S: 50 Hull, -1 Damage[/p][list]
- [p]M: 150 Hull, -2 Damage[/p][/*]
- [p]L: 450 Hull, -4 Damage[/p][/*]
- [p]M: 300 Hull, -4 Damage[/p][/*]
- [p]L: 900 Hull, -8 Damage[/p][/*]
- [p]Especially things that reduce Empire Size from Pops down to 0.[/p][/*]
- [p]The base amount of Empire Size generated by colonies has been increased to 20.[/p][/*]
- [p]Removed the "Rising Unemployment" event chain.[/p][/*]
- [p]Living Standards have been adjusted.[/p][/*]
- [p]All living standards now include information for Slaves, just in case you find some way to get them unusual and unexpected standards like Utopian Abundance.[/p][list]
- [p]Happiness penalties on lower living standards now apply to Civilians.[/p][/*]
- [p]Worker Production bonus is now Worker Job Efficiency.[/p][/*]
- [p]Egalitarian[/p][/*]
- [p]Specialist Production bonus is now Specialist Job Efficiency.[/p][/*]
- [p]Pacifist[/p][/*]
- [p]Reduced Empire Size from Pops bonus to -10%/-20%.[/p][/*]
- [p]Added an on action to remove the Preserves if you reform your government[/p][/*]
- [p]Reduced rewards from colonising from 500 Unity and 25 Influence to 250 Unity and 5 Influence[/p][/*]
- [p]Reduced rewards from uplifting from 1000 unity to 250 Unity and 5 Influence[/p][/*]
- [p]Ensured that a Genesis Preserve is created only if one does not already exist.[/p][/*]
- [p]Unity from Jobs modifier from the Genesis Monument is decreased to 10% if you don't have the civic[/p][/*]
- [p]Updated various checks to check for all variants of the civic instead of just the version for regular individualist empires[/p][/*]
- [p]Set the strata for newly spawned pre-sapients to actually be pre-sapient instead of No Category[/p][/*]
- [p]Automation Buildings are now job specific, and no longer increase their upkeep based on district count.[/p][/*]
- [p]Automated Worker or Simple Drone Jobs increase their upkeep by 4 Energy per 100 jobs.[/p][list]
- [p]Automated Specialist or Complex Drone Jobs increase their upkeep by 8 Energy per 100 jobs.[/p][/*]
- [p]Automated Elite Jobs increase their upkeep by 12 Energy per 100 jobs.[/p][/*]
- [p]Exceptions:[/p][list]
- [p]Dimensional Replicator now produces 10 of each Strategic Resource, Dimensional Fabricator now produces 25 of each Strategic Resource and 5 of each Rare Resource[/p][list]
- [p]Sky Dome / Empyrean Dome, Shrinkspace Depot / Extra-Dimensional Depot functionality remains the same.[/p][/*]
- [p]Anchorages now have Trade Upkeep equal to the Naval Capacity they are providing.[/p][/*]
- [p]+30% Researcher job efficiency -> +20% Researcher job efficiency[/p][list]
- [p]Rationale: Number too big[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Number too big[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Number too big[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Number too big[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Number too big[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Number too big[/p][/*]
- [p]Upkeep per 100 Pops: 0.02 Dark Matter -> 0.03 Dark Matter[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Makes the cost matter more[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Makes the cost matter more[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Number too big[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Number too big[/p][/*]
- [p]Upkeep per 100 Pops: 0.01 Rare Crystals -> 0.02 Rare Crystals[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Makes the cost matter more[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Makes the cost matter more[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: General nerf and harmonisation with the next trait[/p][/*]
- [p]Upkeep per 100 Pops: 0.04 Exotic Gases -> 0.05 Exotic Gases[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Makes the cost matter more[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: General nerf and harmonisation with the previous trait[/p][/*]
- [p]Upkeep per 100 Pops: 0.02 Volatile Motes -> 0.05 Volatile Motes[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Makes the cost matter more and harmonisation with the previous trait[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Flavour text makes this more appropriate for habitability[/p][/*]
- [p]Upkeep per 100 Pops: 0.02 Rare Crystals -> 0.05 Rare Crystals[/p][/*]
- [p]Rationale: Makes the cost matter more and harmonisation with the previous traits[/p][/*]
- [p]Physiological Transcendency now gives +2 Unity per 100 Politician jobs instead of +3 Unity per 100 Elite pops.[/p][/*]
- [p]Dictatorial Cybervision and Homogenous Submission now give Governing Ethics Attraction instead of Authoritarian ethics attraction.[/p][/*]
- [p]Removed remaining references to pre-4.0 strategic resource harvesting jobs that were converted into job swaps.[/p][/*]
- [p]AI empires will now prefer to have three or fewer underdeveloped colonies before colonizing the next one. (Underdeveloped is defined as having under 1000 pops.)[/p][/*]
- [p]When using Observer mode, Mercenary Enclaves no longer appear in the regular empire list, they're at the end classified as "Minors"[/p][/*]
- [p]Unemployment information in the central bar of the planet view has been replaced with information on planet Denizens (Civilians or Maintenance Drones)[/p][/*]
- [p]Added faction_demands_met_mult and faction_demands_unmet_mult which affect faction approval or disapproval of met or unmet demands.[/p][/*]
To access a Stellaris beta, go to your Steam Library, right-click the game, and select "Properties". From there, choose the "Betas" tab, and in the "Beta Participation" dropdown menu, select the cetus_open_beta beta branch from the list.[/p][p][/p]
