This week, Stellaris wants to show us how it’s going to build fantastical spaceships. Not just pre-designed ships but player created abominations as well. Let’s take a step aboard the SS-Dev Diary 17 and see what we can find in the recesses of this mighty craft.
In Stellaris, ships are not only flashy fun things to watch zoom around the stars — they also provide interstellar travel for your civilization. To make sure that you and your people are equipped for future missions into the unknown, Stellaris will put heavy emphasis on upgrading and future proofing your ships with the latest technology at your disposal. The way to upgrade your ship is through the sections application of all ships, with a minimum number of slots being one. Each section of the ship will also play host to modules and components. These components are researched, found, or unlocked by a certain type of leader.
According to Zoft, “Every section may have available weapons and utility slots. These slots can be of Small, Medium or Large sizes. The different sizes affect the size of the component you may place in the section; a large weapon component may, for example, do more damage but has a lower hit chance. Some sections also have a hangar slot…” I smell fighters.
So, obviously weapon modules are used for what their name suggests — killing stuff. The more nuanced gameplay mechanics will come from the utility modules. These passive components will affect the properties of the ship. With modules, you might get “different types of shield or improved power reactors.” says Zoft “A reactor is vital for your ship to function; several different weapon and utility components drain power, and unless you have enough reactors providing the necessary power, your ship will not be able to function (it’s an invalid design).” You need to be smart with how you plan out your ships design, and this isn’t even including your FTL drives. Oh man…
FTL drives are the bread and butter of your mobile ships. There are three different types of FTL drive in Stellaris, but you will need to stick with one type of drive per fleet. They wouldn’t want your ships arriving at different times and places. Also, there is a cool feature of setting the computer or AI of your ships. This will tell them how to react in battle and this can also be upgraded as time goes on.
If this all seems a bit much, don’t worry. Stellaris will also come with a built in ship generator that will take into account all your advancements and technologies. This is a nice design touch because, even though ship design sounds like one of the more intriguing parts of Stellaris, it might not always be the most “fun” to tinker with. Especially on your 50th run of the game.
So, what do you think about customizable ships in Stellaris? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
