Part of this has been due to Paradox’s continued work on the game over the past 5 years, which has kept the community alive. We’ve seen the game grow from the very basics to include more complicated mechanics including, Titans, Megastructures and even Enhanced Federations which give more than just an alliance.
The next DLC which is due to be released is Nemesis, which is set to introduce some of the most expansive changes we’ve seen yet, including an espionage system which will let us spy and conduct operations within the other empires that fill the galaxy. This will seem familiar to players of Hearts of Iron who got a similar update last year with La Resistance.
One of the hardest parts about the game is the endgame crisis. This is a randomly picked scenario from an assortment of choices and might include anything from 'extra galactic' to 'interdimensional invaders'. Each one is extremely hard and usually requires the cooperation of the galaxy to defeat (unless you’re epic at the game).
In a recently released piece of news, it’s been announced that players can actually become, and facilitate the endgame crisis for their own game, with this option being available for every player. All it requires is an ascension perk and the willingness to be a general evil doer.
After you select the perk you then generate menace which lets you progress through the levels which take you from being just a menace to an Existential Crisis. This is done through a variety of means from destroying other empires to simply purging pops.
This system does seem similar somewhat to the Federations because as you go through the levels, you can unlock perks which help you become the meanest empire in the galaxy.
Once you reach that final tier of general evil, you can then look at eating stars. 'But why would you want to do that?', I can hear you asking. The answer is simple. You will want to construct the Aetherophasic Engine Frame, which is the final goal of your Empire. There’s not much information about what this is for or what it’ll do, but it requires a lot of Dark Matter and logically, you can get that by exploding stars? I’m not sure if that’s scientifically accurate, but I’m positive it’ll look cool.
I wonder if there will be some people on a planet somewhere remarking that the stars are going out? (extra points for those who get the reference). Maybe if we’re lucky.
While there’s a lot of emphasis on that, the overall galactic community will also have extra perks to help with stopping this rogue (or multiple) empires and again. This is something we’re waiting for more information on.
Overall, this new DLC from the folks behind Stellaris is shaping up to be an interesting one on par with Utopia or Apocalypse.
When this drops, let me know if you plan to be that bastion of society or a maniacal dictator intent on galactic domination/destruction.
WRITTEN BY Chris Wilkinson
EDITED BY Silek
