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[IronyOwl]

New Dev Diary, covering Synthetic and Biological Ascension Paths as promised.

Spoiler: Text, No Pictures (click to show/hide)

Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris dev diary. This week we'll be talking about Ascension again, specifically the Synthetic and Biological Ascension Paths. In dev diary #60 we talked about the Psionic Ascension Path and the associated Shroud. The Shroud was a fairly major mechanical addition to the game, which we felt was needed as Psionics lacked any such mechanic associated with them, unlike the other two. For this reason, the Biological and Synthetic Ascension Paths do not have the same degree of new mechanics associated with them, but rather focus on enhancing the existing mechanics (Genemodding and Robots) that they are tied to.

The Synthetic Ascension Path focuses on abandoning your frail biological forms for that of a perfect machine. The first step, the Flesh is Weak, requires the Droids technology and allows you to modify your entire population through a special project, turning them into cyborgs. This gives them an immediate +20% boost to habitability, as well as bonuses to mineral production and army damage, and also makes any leaders generated from those species have the Cyborg trait granting an additional +40 years of lifespan.


The next step, Synthetic Evolution, requires the ability to build Synths, and allows you to upgrade your cyborg population into fully mechanical forms, finally abandoning the frailty of flesh for the surety of synthetics. When it is complete, you will become a fully robotic empire, with a robotic primary species. Your population will benefit from all the advantages normally conferred to Synths in production and research, and all your leaders will be immortal, able to be killed only in battle or through events. You will also naturally no longer require Food for your synthetic population, instead being replaced by an Energy maintenance similar to regular Synths. You will also be able to name your new, gloriously post-biological people.


The Biological Ascension Path focuses on mastery of DNA and evolution. The first step, Engineered Evolution, requires the Gene Tailoring technology and grants a major reduction to the cost and time required to genetically modify species, gives you +2 trait points, and also unlocks the ability to research the Gene Seed Purification technology which is otherwise unavailable (it can still be researched as normal for those who do not have the Utopia expansion), allowing recruitment of Gene Warriors.


The next step, Evolutionary Mastery requires the Targeted Gene Expressions technology. It grants an additional +3 trait points, a further reduction in time and cost of genemodding, and unlocks the ability to research the Genetic Resequencing technology, which once researched unlocks Advanced Genemodding. With Advanced Genemodding you will be able to add negative traits and remove positive traits, allowing you to completely reshape species at your whim. It also unlocks five new traits that are exclusively available to the Biological Ascension Path:
Robust: Upgrades from Extremely Adaptable, adds +30% habitability and an extra +30 years of lifespan.
Fertile: Upgrades from Rapid Breeders, gives -30% growth time and +5% happiness
Erudite: Upgrades from Intelligent, gives +20% science production and +1 leader skill levels.
Delicious: Makes the species delicious and nutritious, granting +100% food yield from Processing and Livestock.
Nerve Stapled: Removes the ability of the species to feel happiness or sadness. Happiness is disabled and Food/Mineral production increased, but adds major penalties to other resource production.


Additionally, Advanced Genemodding allows for the ability for non-Hive Mind empires to remove the Hive-Minded trait from Pops and for Hive Minds to add it to Pops, as mentioned in dev diary #62.

That's all for today! Next week we'll be talking a variety of smaller features coming in the Banks update, including the ability to terraform Mars.

Notably:

With Advanced Genemodding you will be able to add negative traits and remove positive traits, allowing you to completely reshape species at your whim.

Kind of pissed this is paywalled.

It also unlocks five new traits that are exclusively available to the Biological Ascension Path:
Robust: Upgrades from Extremely Adaptable, adds +30% habitability and an extra +30 years of lifespan.
Fertile: Upgrades from Rapid Breeders, gives -30% growth time and +5% happiness
Erudite: Upgrades from Intelligent, gives +20% science production and +1 leader skill levels.
Delicious: Makes the species delicious and nutritious, granting +100% food yield from Processing and Livestock.
Nerve Stapled: Removes the ability of the species to feel happiness or sadness. Happiness is disabled and Food/Mineral production increased, but adds major penalties to other resource production.

I could do without the "Even better!" traits, but paywalling the ability to further denigrate my slaves makes me grumble. Then again, it's probably trivial to mod.

[Vivalas]

I really like that you'll be able to enslave aliens and modify them to make them a better and tastier source of food. Imagining aliens doing this to humans is terrifying but then again we do it to just about all of our livestock already.

[Criptfeind]

Kinda boring compared to the shroud, a bit sad.

[IronyOwl]

Now that I think about it, Nerve Stapled should result in emotionless drones who produce more/better quality meat than those marinating in despair.

This is, of course, completely backwards.

[Descan]

it's kind of funny how the meme is that SADNESS AND DESPAIR = good meat when in reality, animals that tense up, are stressed, or otherwise In A Bad Way tend to make really shitty meat.

[forsaken1111]

I just like that nerve stapled + tasty mods = livestock slaves with zero unrest. You could further mess them up by making them stupid and fast breeders.

[Man of Paper]

It's going to be My Little Mermaid Farm all over again.

[IronyOwl]

it's kind of funny how the meme is that SADNESS AND DESPAIR = good meat when in reality, animals that tense up, are stressed, or otherwise In A Bad Way tend to make really shitty meat.

Yeah, but it fits the pattern better. Intelligent food is going to be logistically horrible for meat anyway, so it gives you more of an excuse if causing them suffering helps you somehow. And it helps push you as the bad guys over potentially competent people aware of their condition but unable to break free of it.

Pampered food isn't a super rare thing either, I don't think, but it tends to show up more in the "Wow this place is a parad- OHGODWHAT" type stories, where the people are kind of oblivious that there's a problem so it's up to a determined outsider to ruin everything.

Nerve stapled+tasty+fertile, at that. Hyper speed farming/mining livestock.

Throw in Charismatic to make them pleasant to be around before AND during dinner!

And to horrify visiting aliens. Nobody cares when you eat ugly people.

[Egan_BW]

What's the actual benefit to eating sapients anyway, besides horrifying other civilizations?

[Teneb]

What's the actual benefit to eating sapients anyway, besides horrifying other civilizations?

Food. Lots of it.

[forsaken1111]

Basically it's an efficient food source with minimal upkeep, but the pops don't produce any other resources.

[Cruxador]

What's the actual benefit to eating sapients anyway, besides horrifying other civilizations?

Game mechanics don't let you make a planet of non-sentient livestock. Because somehow farms aren't the same thing.

[redwallzyl]

What's the actual benefit to eating sapients anyway, besides horrifying other civilizations?

Game mechanics don't let you make a planet of non-sentient livestock. Because somehow farms aren't the same thing.

i think you can either process all immediately for a lot of food or keep them around as the equivalent of a farm.

[Cruxador]

What's the actual benefit to eating sapients anyway, besides horrifying other civilizations?

Game mechanics don't let you make a planet of non-sentient livestock. Because somehow farms aren't the same thing.

i think you can either process all immediately for a lot of food or keep them around as the equivalent of a farm.

It's not the equivalent of a farm. Farms are buildings. And you can put this pop on a farm building – and will want to, as food is the only thing they can produce.

[stabbymcstabstab]

What's the actual benefit to eating sapients anyway, besides horrifying other civilizations?

Game mechanics don't let you make a planet of non-sentient livestock. Because somehow farms aren't the same thing.

i think you can either process all immediately for a lot of food or keep them around as the equivalent of a farm.

It's not the equivalent of a farm. Farms are buildings. And you can put this pop on a farm building – and will want to, as food is the only thing they can produce.

So basically they're food that grows more food and can maintain itself and other livestock species with minimum outside influence.