Stellaris 4.0 patch notes arrive as Paradox gives its space game a full overhaul

Stellaris steps outside of developer Paradox’s wheelhouse in a few ways. It’s more of a 4X game than their traditional grand-strategy stylings, and eschews historically based period drama in favor of the fantasy of alien species clashing across the galaxy. Nevertheless, it’s been a tremendous success, and remains a stalwart of the Steam charts as we approach its ninth anniversary this month. To celebrate, the studio is giving us Stellaris 4.0, a major redesign of some core systems aimed at making the game smoother and more fun than ever.

We’ve had a few glimpses at what changes Stellaris 4.0 will bring, but now game director Stephen ‘Eladrin’ Muray gives us a tidy rundown of the major features to watch out for. Even if you aren’t planning to pick up the new Biogenesis expansion, it’ll still be well worth returning to the space game when the update lands, with dramatic overhauls to a range of core systems. At its core is a complete transformation of the way populations (or ‘pops’) are handled, which should also have the benefit of helping the game run more smoothly as it gets into the later stages.

Pop groups will now produce ‘workforce,’ which can be assigned to multiple jobs across planets. Your populations will grow more realistically, and ‘workforce’ can function simultaneously across multiple species. A new specializations feature gives you the ability to choose two particular focus areas for each district, and a more flexible job-swapping system provides more freedom around which civics you can combine.

Trade routes have been removed, and in their place comes a ‘trade’ resource representing the overall logistical effort of your empire. As a bonus, this enables gestalt empires to make use of trading for the first time. In a move that should please both newer players and those who find the tech tree a little too random, your chosen ’empire focus’ will now grant you a series of tasks that you can complete to earn progress towards guaranteed tech options for essential upgrades.

Megacorps have been given a new look. You can earn bonuses to specific branch office buildings from most corporate civics, and while you’re only allowed to build one per planet you’ll find that they now supply much more suitable jobs for their location. You’ll also find improvements to criminal syndicates (whether you’re playing as or against them), with the introduction of specific commercial pacts to allow their buildings in a lawful form.

If you’ve had it with any of the precursor civilizations, you can switch them off one by one. Note that the game recommends including at least four, although you’re given the freedom to be as vicious with your cuts as you like. There’s an Empire timeline feature that keeps track of all the major events over the course of your game, helping you look back at your greatest achievements and when they were reached, and a big databank encompassing explanations of many of the wider systems and concepts across Stellaris. Plus, there’s a stylish new suite of mammalian portraits to give your people a fresh look.

Stellaris 4.0 will be launched Monday May 5 as a free update for all players, alongside the release of the new Biogenesis DLC. You can read through the preliminary patch notes courtesy of the Paradox forums if you want to browse all the changes in detail. Suffice it to say, there will be plenty of reasons to check in.

If you can’t wait until then, delve into another of the best 4X games on PC, or perhaps one of the best management games instead.

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