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Stellarisbound - Starbound Factions in Stellaris

Discussion in 'Starbound Discussion' started by Jonesy, Jan 11, 2019.

  1. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    Late last year, I discovered the space-based 4X strategy game Stellaris. In it, you take the helm of an interstellar empire as you explore, expand, exploit and exterminate your way through the galaxy, visiting alien worlds and either competing or cooperating with other empires. I've had a pretty fun time with it so far, but there is one part that stands head and shoulders above other games in the genre that I've played; empire customization.

    Honestly, customizing a species and the society they live under is at least half the fun of the game for me. So far, I've managed to recreate the factions from the 1999 video game Sid Meir's Alpha Centauri and a space opera novel that I have planned, and at some point I intend to give the same treatment to the Civilization IV mod Final Frontier. But seeing as I have a fondness for Starbound's universe, I decided to do the same with it and post the results here for all to see.

    There is quite a lot involved in the creation process, but I'll quickly describe some of the key elements involved to ensure we're on the same page.
    • Species Traits: These provide various bonuses and drawbacks to members of your species. You start with a trait score of 2, and can then add positive traits (which detract from the score) and negative traits (which add to the score) to ultimately balance it out at zero. For instance, making a species Extremely Adaptive (giving them a hefty +20% to planet habitability) would cost 4 points, meaning you'd need to take two -1 traits or a single -2 trait. Some traits are also mutually exclusive; a species cannot be Rapid Breeders (+10% population growth speed) and Slow Breeders (-10% population growth speed).
    • Ethics: Determines the ideology of a civilization and its inhabitants, while providing civilization-wide bonuses, determining possible policy choices and affecting diplomatic interactions with other empires (which may share or oppose your views). Each civilization can have three moderate ethics, or one moderate ethic and a 'fanatical' ethic (which provides double the usual ethic bonus). There are eight ethics to choose from, each diametrically opposed to another that cannot be taken in conjunction; egalitarian vs authoritarian, xenophobe vs xenophile, militarist vs pacifist, and materialist vs spiritualist. Machine Empires and Hive Minds don't use traditional ethics, and instead use the special Gestalt Consciousness ethic to signify that they operate as one entity.
    • Authority: The style of government you operate, which alters gameplay and diplomatic relations. The basic options include democratic (full elections every 10 years), oligarchic (limited elections every 20 years), dictatorial (limited elections upon leader death) and imperial (designated heir takes throne upon leader death). Hive Minds and Machine Empires are selectable options here, while the MegaCorp DLC also adds the option to have a Corporate authority (which operates the same as oligarchic but has bonuses / penalties encouraging a smaller but more developed empire).
    • Civics: Sociopolitical traditions that have a varying impact on your gameplay. Each empire can have two civics (and can unlock capacity for a third halfway through the game), but can change most of them by reforming their government. Which civics are available depends on ethics and authority; for instance, Beacon of Liberty (+15% Unity, which is used to unlock 'tradition' perks) requires an egalitarian democracy that is not xenophobic. Some civics can dramatically change the game; Post-Apocalyptic makes you start on a bombed-out 'tomb world' but gives your species' leaders a longer lifespan and grants moderate habitability on all planet types (while most other species can only (initially) thrive on planets similar to their homeworld), and Fanatical Purifiers prevents any diplomatic activity and instead incentivizes the extermination of all other species in the galaxy. Megacorporations, Machine Empires and Hive Minds each have unique lists of civics separate from normal empires.
    There's a lot of stuff beside that, but it's mostly cosmetic things like namelists, ship / city appearance, and flag. All pretty self-explanatory, and doesn't really affect gameplay.

    So, without further ado, let's begin!

    Stellarisbound 1 - Protectorate.jpg

    The Protectorate was probably the easiest to do. I made humans Charismatic (+20% Amenities from jobs) and Adaptive (+10% habitability) to present them as intrepid interstellar explorers and diplomats, but offset this with them being Quarrelsome (-10% Unity from jobs) and Wasteful (+10% consumer goods consumption) to acknowledge darker moments of their past. The Protectorate would obviously be very xenophilic given their dedication to interspecies cooperation, which I supplemented with egalitarianism and the requisite democratic authority. I gave them the Beacon of Liberty civic to reflect their position as the main force of freedom in the galaxy, which I supplemented with the Idealistic Foundation civic (+5% population happiness) on account of how dedicated they are to their ideology. I even managed to find a pretty similar logo to the one seen in Starbound!

    Stellarisbound 2 - USCM.jpg

    Although in my headcanon (and my fanfic, Protectorate Rising) I prefer the old Starbound lore that had the United Systems as humanity's government - thus making the Protectorate a nonstate peacekeeping organization - I decided to make use of the recent MegaCorp DLC to make the newer lore's United Space Corporate Military. Naturally, I went with the two most militaristic civics possible to reflect their business, Private Military Companies (+20% army damage and -20% army upkeep) and Naval Contractors (+15% naval capacity). In terms of ethics, I went with moderate xenophobia on account of their pro-human agenda and fanatical militarism due to their line of work. Since I'm not aware of a canon USCM flag, I decided on one that vaguely resembles the flag of the Federation from Starship Troopers.

    Stellarisbound 3 - MiniKnog.jpg

    Starting with the Apex, I had to start getting creative with the species appearance and go with whatever looks closest. In this case, I went with the most simian-like species portrait available. The effects of the VEP have made them Intelligent (+10% research from jobs) and Strong (+20% army damage and +2% worker output), but also Wasteful due to increased caloric intake. Their long history of oppressive rule have also made them Communal (-10% population housing usage) and Sedentary (-15% immigration and +25% resettlement cost). They live under a dictatorship that is fanatically authoritarian and quite materialist, making their society both a Police State (+5 stability and +1 Unity from Enforcer jobs) and something of a Technocracy (+1 Unity from Researcher jobs and replaces some Administrator jobs at capital buildings with Science Directors). Their flag is based on the one seen in Starbound.

    Stellarisbound 4 - Rebels.jpg

    The Apex rebellion gets its own empire as well. Contrasting with the MiniKnog is their fanatical egalitarianism, while their status as an armed rebel group grants them a degree of militarism. Given that they oppose the highly stratified and exploitative society built by the MiniKnog, I decided to give them the new Shared Burdens civic (+5 stability, equal consumer goods consumption by all population stratas and faster demotion from higher stratas), while their militant nature meant I thought they'd be suited to the Citizen Service civic (+15% naval capacity and +1 Unity from Soldier jobs). I decided to go with the classic upraised fist as their logo, as fitting of a rebel group.

    Stellarisbound 5 - Hylotls.jpg

    Once again, my options were limited for the appearance of the Hylotl, given the lack of an amphibian portrait category. Instead, I had to go with the closest analogue in the molluscoid category. Given their focus on tradition, I made the Hylotl Traditional (+10% Unity from jobs), Communal, and Sedentary. In accordance with the lore surrounding them, their relatively shorter lifespan is represented by them being Fleeting (-10 years to leader lifespan) and their adaptive genetics is represented by... well, Adaptive. Their largely peaceful nature makes them fanatical pacifists, but their arrogance gives them some xenophobia. In fact, this unique mix of ethics made them ideal for the Inward Perfection civic (available only to pacifistic and xenophobic empires), which disables most diplomatic options while providing sizeable internal bonuses to promote a 'going it alone' gameplay style. I rounded this off with the Environmentalist civic (-10% consumer goods consumption), given that A) the more traditional parts of their societies likely shun consumerism and B) the consumerist parts of their society exist in underwater cities where resources are limited. For their flag, I couldn't replicate their three-eyed logo, which wouldn't matter since their portrait has four eyes. But I managed to find the next best thing.

    Stellarisbound 6 - Glitch.jpg

    The Glitch were probably the hardest to replicate, seeing as medieval robots aren't quite possible with Stellaris. Still, I was able to make them Recycled (-20% assembly cost) and Custom-Made (+15% assembly speed) to match the lore about them being assembled out of spare parts by their 'parents'. Their status as wannabe sapients also grants them Emotion Emulators (+20% Amenities from jobs) and Bulky (+10% housing usage). The Glitch Empire - representing the non-aware Glitch - feature Unitary Cohesion (+15% Unity) due to their hive mind and Zero-Waste Protocols (−10% robot upkeep) due to their tendency to recycle materials for reproduction (and, presumably, maintenance). Their flag is based on the one seen in Starbound.

    Stellarisbound 7 - Awakened Glitch.jpg

    The Awakened Glitch Republic is based on the self-aware Glitch. Unfortunately, I can't reflect this directly in gameplay, since Machine Empires have to have a Gestalt Consciousness. Still, I did manage to cheat a little with the civics; the Introspective civic (+20% engineering research speed) is based on their awareness that they are machines, while Factory Overclocking (+1 leader level cap and +10% leader experience gain) reflects their attempts to overcome their core programming. Their flag borrows a similar theme to the Glitch Empire, albeit maintaining a noticeable difference.

    Stellarisbound 8 - Florans.jpg

    Although there is a small DLC for Stellaris that adds a dedicated plantoid species type, I don't have it and thus had to make do with some fungoids. Their unusualness makes them be viewed as Repugnant (-20% amenities from jobs), but they are still Communal, Rapid Breeders and Natural Sociologists (+15% society research from jobs), with the latter being due to society research encompassing biological sciences. In order to make them an assembly of clans, I gave them the Warrior Culture civic (+20% army damage and -20% army upkeep), which itself requires some degree of militarism ethically. However, since Florans aren't complete warmongers, I gave them fanatical xenophilia to reflect their adventurousness while rounding out their civics with Environmentalist. Their flag is, once again, based on the one from Starbound.

    Stellarisbound 9 - Stargazers.jpg

    Avians, thankfully, were a little easier than the others to pull off visually. They not only have their own category of portraits, but also styles of cities and ships as well. Given that both the Stargazers and Grounded maintain largely traditional ways of life with minimal technology, I made the Avians Traditional. Their adventurous spirit makes them Nomadic (+15% immigration and -25% resettlement cost), while the tendency for Avians to turn their backs on Stargazer dogma and consider ideas from other cultures makes them Deviants (-15% governing ethics attraction). They are also described as being Intelligent in the lore, so I passed that trait onto them. I also decided to make them Weak (-20% army damage and -2% worker output) due to their hollow bones. Stargazer society is naturally fanatically spiritualist due to their dogmatic belief in Kluex and authoritarian due to their grip on Avian society. In light of this, they have the Exalted Priesthood civic (+1 Unity from Priest jobs and replaces some Administrator jobs at capital buildings with High Priests), as well as the Functional Architecture civic (-10% cost and upkeep for buildings and districts) on account of their traditional yet often simple architecture. For their flag, I just had to go with a phoenix-like logo to represent Kluex.

    Stellarisbound 10 - Grounded.jpg

    In order to reflect their aversion to Kluex or religion in general, the Grounded are materialists by virtue of opposing spiritualism. They are also very xenophilic due to their acceptance of and curiosity about other cultures (to say nothing of the flirtatious dialogue from older versions of the game). Given that many Grounded have fled from persecution, their society warrants the Free Haven civic (+15% immigration and +50% immigration pull), while relishing in their newfound freedom from oppression leads to them having the Meritocracy civic (+1 leader skill level and +1 leader pool size). And yes, their flag is indeed based on the Avian flag seen in-game.

    I've since created two additional factions based on other organizations seen in the game.

    Stellarisbound 11 - Occasus.jpg

    As you'd expect, the Occasus cult is fanatically xenophobic and militaristic besides, while being headed up by a single absolute leader. They're prime candidates for the Fanatic Purifiers civic (major military bonuses, no diplomacy + major diplomatic penalties, required to purge alien populations and is rewarded for doing so), plus a bit of the ol' Nationalistic Zeal (-10% influence cost to make claims on systems, -10% war weariness). Their flag is vaguely eye-like, and is tentacle-y enough to vaguely resemble the Ruin.

    Stellarisbound 12 - Letheia.jpg

    The Letheia Corporation represents a less xenophobic branch of Hylotl society, replacing xenophobia with materialism. I was tempted to go with xenophilia or egalitarian instead, but I think Letheia doesn't hold the lives of its workers (especially non-Hylotl) in high enough regard, and probably do a lot of R&D to justify the research bonus materialism offers. Their civics include Media Conglomerate (+5% happiness and -5% war exhaustion) on account of it being a major field they operate in, while the diversity of their offerings gives them Franchising (−33% subject power penalty and −25% empire sprawl from branch offices) as well. Their flag is completely original since the canon 'L' logo isn't possible, but the new one does have a jellyfish look that I think suits the Hylotl.

    That just about covers it. I considered adding a Fenerox and Alpaca race to make use of the vulpine and equine species portraits, but Stellaris suffers from performance issues when you have too many empires on too big a map. Even so, I've set up a game consisting solely of the Starbound races to see how it goes. I'm playing as the Apex Rebels; partly because I want to see how an empire with Shared Burdens works, and partly because I recently finished a game with my novel-inspired factions in which I played a human faction very similar to the Protectorate and thus wanted something different. If anything interesting happens in the course of the game, I'll be sure to post some updates.
     
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2019
  2. Roskii Heiral

    Roskii Heiral Heliosphere

    I did the Callistan Dominion too, I like the portraits you matched with each vanilla race.
    20190113151708_1.jpg

    I'm using a modded ship set (that's why its empty)

    I think i would have put the "idealistic origin" on the apex rebels instead of citizen service, but citizen service works too.

    Edit: I do want to actually make a callistan mod for stellaris, but i'm still hung up on developing for rimworldX3
     
  3. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    I've made a few updates, namely adding some in-game descriptions and changing around some of the traits to better reflect pieces of lore that I had overlooked. I've also added two brand-new factions; the Occasus Cult and Letheia Corporation!

    Haven't actually made much of a start on my Apex Rebellion playthrough, but I'll be starting over tomorrow with the new / updated factions.

    I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the Callistan mod, but it looks like you've made a pretty cohesive society that heavily features robotics and military service. Also interesting to see you've modded in some additional traits to better accomodate the race. I considered seeing what was out there, but decided I'd try and accomplish as much as I could in the vanilla game.

    As for Citizen Service, the idea was that the Apex Rebel Front is a revolutionary movement first and a civilian government second. So Citizen Service represents the expectation that people 'do their part' to contribute to the fight. Idealistic Foundation would make sense on paper, but the flat happiness bonus isn't as interesting as Citizen Service's Unity from soldier jobs and added naval capacity. Could be a good third civic, though. I'd have to think about it more when I get to the point of choosing it.
     
  4. Roskii Heiral

    Roskii Heiral Heliosphere

    Yes, there is a mod that adds neutral traits to help you flesh out your race. they have benefits and draw backs. So, my callistans are really only suited to survive well on tundra worlds (or space which was what i wanted to force them to live in). and yeah, they heavily focus on engineering and robotics xD.

    The only reason citizen service seemed weird to me is that I don't see the apex rebels as organized enough to have formal citizenship xD. Maybe Free Haven or Beacon of Liberty would be a better suggestion? Just my opinion.
     
  5. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    Well, I officially won the game of Stellarisbound, so I think it's time for a recap. Let's start with an overview of empire spawns.

    Federations.jpg
    The colours represents the three federations that formed in the game. Federations are alliances that offer automatic defense and commercial pacts, heightened diplomatic opinion between members, access to other members' starbases for ship repairs, and a vote in federation affairs (namely declaring wars and accepting new members). There are a few drawbacks, namely reduced monthly influence and taxation of energy credit income. You also have to dedicate part of your naval capacity to the federation, but this pays off by allowing the federation to field a federal fleet. It is operated by the (militarily and economically) strongest member of the federation, and consists of ships using the best technology the federation's members have available.

    Things got off to a good start with my empire's placement. Sometimes you'll spawn next to empires who will want you dead as soon as you meet them, but I got lucky this time. I quickly hit it off with the Florans, who liked me due to their xenophilia and our shared militarism ethic. The Letheia Corporation wasn't quite as forthcoming, but still always did right by me. The three of us formed the nucleus of what would become the dominant federation in the galaxy - the Interstellar Defense Initiative. It was originally formed by the Florans under a different name, but I eventually overtook them to become leader (at which point I could rename it). We were opposed by a hostile federation (consisting of the MiniKnog, Stargazer Avians and USCM) and an unfriendly-but-neutral federation (consisting of the Grounded Avians and both Glitch empires). The Hylotl remained neutral, but peacefully became my vassal midway through the game. The Occasus were hostile to everyone, naturally, and were destroyed early in the game for their trouble. I actually wound up absorbing their former territory, and making a vassal of a one-system empire that rebelled against Occasus in its final days. A second also existed, but was ultimately integrated by the Florans.

    End of Occassus.jpg
    As the game progressed, a priority of mine became liberating the Apex people from MiniKnog tyranny. This took place over two wars, the first of which saw me occupy most of the MiniKnog's territory. This territory seceded to become the Democratic Apex League.

    Democratic Apex 1.jpg
    Democratic Apex 2.jpg

    The second war saw the MiniKnog forced to accept my ideology, and soon become a member of my federation.

    Before:
    MiniKnog -  Before.jpg
    After:
    MiniKnog - After.jpg

    I proceeded to also wage wars of ideology against the Stargazers and USCM, who both become federation members.

    Then I broke the game slightly.

    In the endgame, the galaxy will come under attack by one of three 'crises' that will threaten all sentient life in the galaxy. In this case, it was the Prethoryn Scourge, a horde of parasites with organic vessels and insatiable hunger. Considering you're warned of a crisis' impending beginning, I was able to prepare.

    Scourge 1.jpg
    The game marks the projected point of the Scourges arrival. In this case, it was squarely in the middle of the MiniKnog's remaining territory. I immediately dispatched my assault fleet, an occupation fleet I'd used to hold captured territory in previous wars, and the IDI's federal fleet. The scourge arrived before they did, but between them and the MiniKnog's diminished navy we managed to fight off the vanguard that arrived before the main invasion force. However, because there were no Prethoryn left in the galaxy, the game declared the crisis over.

    Scourge 2.jpg
    Except the scripting about the Prethoryn main invasion force remained. I was alerted to their supposed arrival, which never materialized.

    Scourge 3.jpg
    For the last decade of the game, I joined in a Protectorate-led ideological war against the Grounded Avians. I didn't want to for lore reasons, but gameplay wise they'd been on poor terms with me for ages due to declared rivalries with my allies. I blame myself for not making the Grounded at least partly egalitarian in their ideology, which might have helped. Either way, the game ended before the war did, and I was happy to leave it there.

    Victory.jpg
     
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  6. Roskii Heiral

    Roskii Heiral Heliosphere

    Wow, your fleet power dwarfed the others xD

    That is great that you nailed the scourge, I still haven't made it to the endgame (in several games with buddies, hard to coordinate)
     
  7. Corleone

    Corleone Subatomic Cosmonaut

    Interesting! I did the same thing a while back before they changed everything to hyperlane only. But you thought about way more factions than I did! I just made the main ones: Terrene Protectorate (me), Floran Clans, Glitch Kingdoms, Hylotl Empire, Miniknog Dominion, Temple of Kluex and I also added the Agrarian Federation. My goal was to form a federation and become the Galactic Protectorate.

    I had the Florans and the Mininknog to my south, the Glitch and Agrarian to the north, Avians far north-west. The Hylotl meanwhile spawned all alone on the other side of the galaxy far from all of us.

    In my game the Florans became the badboys of the Galaxy. I formed a defensive pact with the Miniknog but the Florans attached them nevertheless. They even won the war because I couldn join forces with my ally in time. I didn't loose any territory but the Miniknog lost almost all of theirs being reduced to just a few systems. Over time I managed to make an alliance with the Agrarians as well. They where having a hard time with the Avians next to them. The Glitch didn't join but remained friendly to me.
    The Hylotl meanwhile managed to build a huge peaceful Empire stretching over almost one half of the Galaxy. They dwarfed all of us combined and I found that kind of cool.

    The new patch then came changing how the game works so I had to abandon this save.
    In my headcanon though :nurutease: the Florans eventually get pushed out by our alliance thus triggering a mass Floran exodus to the Hylotl Empire which in turn triggers the great Floran-Hylotl War from the lore. This then results in as we know the end of the Hylotl Empire whose members then mass emigrate to my alliance on the other side of the Galaxy. Eventually after many years things with the Florans calm down and the stage is set for the forming of the Galactic Protectorate which itself then gets destroyed 500 years later by the Ruin.
    My game would then take place in a area from the old Hylotl Empire bordering the Avians, Glitch and Agrarian where lots of small scale colonisation took place after the great war.
     
  8. Kirumaru

    Kirumaru Pangalactic Porcupine

    It's funny. I've done the same thing. I love Starbound & Stellaris and it's fun to see how Starbound races play out in Stellaris game engine.
    I'm comparing and contrasting your Empires to mine and laughing at how similar they are.

    My Protectorate is Beacon & Free Haven instead of Beacon & Idealistic Foundation - but I could go either way honestly!

    I think I made USCM before MegaCorps and thus they are a Military Junta, but I'm considering editing them into your build.
    Mine are Police State & Slave Guilds to account for all the prisons (and thus free labor), but they play fairly similarly to the MiniKnog who are Police State & Shadow Council.
    Again I could go either way between Shadow Council & Technocratic for Miniknog just because it highlights two distinct aspects of their society.

    Anyway, Corporation is in the name of the USCM. I dig it. I may revise and give their Military Corporation a try.

    I could go on with the slight differences but it may take too long to catalog every different trait and ideal, but there's more in common than not which I think is awesome. :)

    Edit: I also have Agaran, Frogg & Felyn (mod race) and I've considered adding more mod races as long as the mod creator has fleshed out backstories and government types that I can go off of to build the empire. Just a pixel art doesn't really cut it, but for example my Felyn Star Empire is a Bandit Kingdom locked in to raiding, looting and kidnapping. So that's fun.
     
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  9. Beatrice

    Beatrice Spaceman Spiff

    No Desulti? Jonesy, I'm disappointed :D
     
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  10. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    Oh man, there's a blast from the past.

    But it's funny you should say that, because there is a vaguely kangaroo-like species portrait. And I ended up making a Desulti-ish empire a while ago. It was more inspired by the Lio by Rick Griffin, but they resemble the Desulti in some ways.

    Onotachi Free State.jpg
     
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  11. Beatrice

    Beatrice Spaceman Spiff

    Blast from the past? I know exactly what you mean. ;)

    Leeven.PNG
     
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  12. rzrzrzrzrz

    rzrzrzrzrz Orbital Explorer



    allow me to revive dis thread if you don't mind

    i got a question for you: what version you were playing then?
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2021
  13. Armok

    Armok Cosmic Narwhal

    probably 2.2 or 2.3 given this was originally posted 2 years ago and has megacorp.

    rather nice to see other people's takes on SB civs in stellaris, me and a friend of mine have done our one takes on them before, I should probably share mine here sometime (probably once the aquatics dlc comes out though)
     
  14. rzrzrzrzrz

    rzrzrzrzrz Orbital Explorer

    i probably feel a bit unlucky because i was attempting to replicate the empire that he made, but the moment i got into origin, i got stuck which origin i should pick... (for the terrene protectorate that is), and that was me playing the current version (3.1.2 by the time i wrote it, or at least just 3.1, i think; i don't track the release time somehow)

    keep in mind that my play here is heavily modded. the amount of i owing you an explanation will be a LOT... (in which you can see the weird ship appearance, the amount of civics and ethics i picked, and the UI appearance; completely derailed of what he made)

    EDIT: think you want to suggest the origin of this empire? i thought of common ground origin but i'm not sure
    [​IMG]

    so, speaking of aquatics dlc (the text is written in white): are you expecting hylotl portrait or something alike for use?
     

    Attached Files:

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  15. Armok

    Armok Cosmic Narwhal

    prosperous unification's a better match imo, the Protectorate isn't really a federation but a sort of humanitarian/diplomatic/explorative organization if you ask me, there's no mention of any civs actually being part of it, in fact it's kinda treated as a civ of it's own

    (I see you're the same guy who recently shared your stellaris SB civs over on the subreddit heh)

    as for aquatics, I'm just hoping we get a portrait that's hell of a lot closer to the hylotl than the molluscoid portraits have been, the new shipset/cityset and planet type are excellent for a hylotl build in stellaris already
     
  16. rzrzrzrzrz

    rzrzrzrzrz Orbital Explorer

    sshhh… :X
     
  17. Pangaea

    Pangaea Forum Moderator

    @rzrzrzrzrz One word posts are frowned on. Please include at least a full sentence in your posts.
     
  18. rzrzrzrzrz

    rzrzrzrzrz Orbital Explorer

    a little bump might not hurt hopefully...

    a reminder for you that the pack was out on november 22nd, like a week ago...

    have you seen the portraits offered in the pack? here are the portraits
    [​IMG]



    alright then, guys, now hear my take (but i only make the take on six main races however)
    the game version was 3.2.2 by the time i made this

    but unfortunately:
    -all of my takes are modded ones, for many reasons
    -i suck at writing lore / bio of each races
    -i picked 5 civics as opposed to 2 civics, which is the normal amount you could pick

    mods used:
    -https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2618492269 (More Picks & Points: Traits|Civics|Ethics [STANDARD] (3.1+), gives ability to pick up to 5 civics at start, and you gained 5 ethic points that enables you to pick 2 fanatic ethics and 1 regular ethic, or 1 fanatic ethic and 3 regular ethics; fanatic ethics still cost 2 points and regular ethics still cost 1 ethic point. gestalt costs 5 ethic points however)
    -https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2441507863 (Machine & Robot Expansion, two of the origins offered by this mod [Synthetic Ascended, Mechanical Herritage] allows you to play as non gestalt robots. there's also a specific portrait category called Robotic to use)
    -https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=819148835 (Planetary Diversity, and most of its submods)

    stellaris_LdcnwwP4TI.png
    just basically the same as i made on the post above: https://community.playstarbound.com...nd-factions-in-stellaris.151441/#post-3377131 (yes i pick up to 5 civics, and the last civic is memorialist)

    stellaris_twRQCUyWJI.png
    i literally have zero idea why i picked pleasure seeker civic there, sounds like out of context eh? (the last civic i picked is Agarian Idyll. again, zero idea why). fanatic spiritualist because yes. beat yourself when those avians have started to develop psionic power the moment they pick Mind Over Matter ascension perk, then eventually Transcendence ascension perk, and started to think if kluex originally have psionic powers...

    stellaris_O1RquWPncg.png
    without mods, you basically impossible to choose normal government form, ethics and civics for machine portraits. in which you are only limited to pick either hive mind government form, or machine intelligence government form; and you must play as gestalt consciousness and its specific machine civics. somehow i've been thinking of a medieval way of government thing, so i somehow picked feudal society civic. the last civic is Aristocratic Elite.

    stellaris_GVxkQy1K1P.png
    apparently miniknog stands for ministry of knowledge (hence i use "miniknog" as its adjective). to pick technocracy civic, you must pick fanatic materialist ethic. i believe it was changed since 3.0, but no idea... why i picked post apocalyptic origin? beats me, but something told me about the plague thing that threatened apex survival, and then found a cure that not only make them immune to that plague, but also makes them devoled to ape like physics, but they're mentally much more capable, hence intelligent trait. (P.S.: there's a trait called "Erudite" after picking Evolutionary Mastery ascension perk, which can replace intelligent trait at a later time (intelligent and erudite trait do conflict on each other, for some reason...). the last civic i picked is Philosopher King.

    stellaris_0OtJCrcOJW.png
    life seeded origin? why not? given the fact that i have zero idea about their actual origin, to which i picked life seeded origin somehow... although they don't seem to be very hostile to other races, i picked fanatic xenophile instead of regular xenophile :rofl:. the last civic i picked is Parlimentary System (don't ask me why tho :rofl:). also egalitarian ethic? that seems to be out of context, don't you think?

    stellaris_8epe33sQcY.png
    a new species pack called Aquatics was out like a week ago, on November 22nd to be exact, along with the release of stellaris 3.2. don't bother with "aquatic world" and its planet background there because it's from a mod called Planetary Diversity (scroll up for the mod link above that i included on the post), but you may bother with the ship appearance, aquatic trait, anglers civic and aquatic species' city layout because they're part of the species pack itself. Aquatic Paradise origin? it's also from the same mod that allows the empire to start in aquatic world.
    unfortunately none of the portraits offered in aquatics pack are identical to hylotl, so i picked the one that i think at least near identical to hylotl. although it is said that hylotl lack ability to breathe underwater, aquatic trait allows them to grant better habitability on ocean worlds, reduced housing usage and increased job output from worker stratum on ocean worlds, but the opposite on dry (like desert, arid and savanna) and frozen (like arctic, tundra and alpine) planets. (Planetary Diversity mod somewhat modifies this trait to suit the mod's need on certain wet planets such as aquatic world).
    oh and the last civic i picked is Pompous Purists. in case you don't know what is Pompous Purists:
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    the civic itself is introduced in stellaris 3.2 (requires humanoids pack) that basically like, the empire only engage diplomatic propositions to empires they trust, but they cannot receive diplomatic propositions from any other empires. the reason i do not pick Inward Perfection civic is that empires with that civic are basically do not want to be disturbed by any means necessary, completely isolated from virtually everything. think of a personal space thing to comprehend what is inward perfection civic all about.
     
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  19. Armok

    Armok Cosmic Narwhal

    yeah I've seen them before, personally I think the one on the upper row next to the furthest right portrait is the best candidate for a Hylotl portrait, but that's just because of the three eyes lol
     
  20. Armok

    Armok Cosmic Narwhal

    welp, this took me longer to do than I had hoped, but here are my entries for comparison, with some mods thrown in (hopefully my links will embed here):

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    Here we have the Terrene Electorate, my idea for what the actual Human government is in Starbound, given that the Protectorate doesn't exactly feel like a full government itself (and that the Human flag is notably not the Protectorate one). The Protectorate and Peacekeepers are both just branches under them basically. I've represented the Protectorate here with the diplomatic corps civic, as that seems to be part of what the Protectorate does. They make use the modded machine shipset as it reminded me the most of this mod's take on a Protectorate themed player ship.

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    Here we have the USCM as they are in vanilla (which I personally prefer to their beta incarnation, they feel much less like an aliens knockoff now). They have the lost colony origin so they can be played in the same game as the Electorate pretty much. Once again I used the machine shipset here, although thinking about it the mammalian ship set would work better here.

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    The Occasus Cult, pretty self explanatory, I gave them the void dwellers origin to represent the Dantalion, as it's the closest thing to having a mobile (and likely formerly USCM owned) base

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    The Miniknog with a bit less of a science focus, the shadow council civic is a nod to how I think the Miniknog is implied to actually operate, a group of leaders who use Big Ape as a mask to hide under. I decided not to make any civ for the rebels and instead represented them through the unruly and deviant traits.

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    The death cult civic added by necroids felt like a good fit for the similarly bloodthirsty and sacrificial faith of the Stargazers, hence it's inclusion here. Warrior culture would make for a good dlcless alternative too.

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    The Floran if they unified into a single galactic power pretty much, there's no real good way to represent a decentralized power in stellaris unfortunately. The forest planet they call home is modded

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    Once again, we have the Glitch if they were unified, had to use a mod that enables synthetic empire builds to make these guys, although I since disabled it because it prevents you from playing as machine intelligences. The on the shoulders of giants origin felt rather fitting for the Glitch, if only as a reference to their creators. The ash planet was the closest modded planet type to volcanic available.

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    We also have my imagining of what the Hylotl civ is like, it's actually supposed to be a constitutional monarchy that has long shifted into a democratic parliamentary system, where the now figurehead emperor or empress is basically a chief philosopher of sorts. Pompous purists felt like a good alternative to inwards perfection, as the Hylotl probably aren't separate from galactic affairs, they just prefer to be left alone. Merchant guilds is a nod to the Letheia Corporation having influence too. I chose the 3 eyed sea slug portrait as it made me think of the Hylotl the most, even if it's not close to their actual species of amphibian. The origin listed here is a modded one, and basically represents the Hylotl-Floran war.

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    Letheia variant for the Hylotl civ here, consider it an alternate scenario where Letheia completely takes over. Don't let the xenophile ethic fool you, they don't treat non-hylotl workers well, they're just more actively interacting with everyone.

    I also went and made civs for the NPC vanilla races too, although frankly they'd work better as primitive civs in stellaris:

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    The Deadbeat (who for the record, aren't related to Humanity whatsoever), if they re-established their civilization. The reason why they have so many negative traits has to do with how the apocalypse has kinda screwed them over heh

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    Tried to make the Fenerox not a carbon copy of the Floran here as a stellaris civ, things got a bit touch and go with civics at this point I'll admit

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    Penguins, pretty self explanatory here, I have a headcanon that they were the result of a science experiment done on Earth penguins, hence their planet's name, modded class, and the origin they have.

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    This one might be a little controversial, but I honestly much prefer the current version of the Agaran, as pacifists who are naturally related to the Floran, to their beta incarnation, which had them as a universally evil race that may or may not have been the result of some experiment on the Floran, or whatever implications that was being vaguely alluded too back then. Mycelial planet type is a reference to the minibiome they call home, and the thrifty trait is a nod to their merchants. I'll admit I chose Idyllic Bloom as their second civic more for it's look as a placeholder, I don't actually think the Agaran convert things to mushrooms or something.

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    Decided to lean more into the Alpaca's viking vibes here even if they're rather peaceful in vanilla

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    The Frogg, I don't actually think they have a megacorp of their own, having them be nothing but individual peddlers makes a lot more sense to me. The swamp planet is modded.

    As a final detail, this aquatic robot portrait makes me think of the Cultivator/Ancients a bit. I did briefly consider making a civ to represent them too, but they're simply too mysterious to make anything substantial with, not that I would have them any other way
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2022
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