The next ‘story pack’ for Stellaris will be doing the robot on 21 September. Priced at $10, Synthetic Dawn is going to be all about the rise of the machines.
The new Story Pack will also include a whole load of race portraits and other race parts to create custom factions with. You’ll also have access to a new Machine Start for your games that will unlock a variety of new events and narrative paths that are unique to synthetic races. Depending on the path of development you choose, these narrative paths will also branch. So if you’re playing a Determined Exterminator game, expect the events to be catered around a particularly murderous theme.
As expected, 1.8 will focus on expanding the mechanics around robots and AI. Robots will now have the ability to create modified sub-species ala gene modding in the base game.You’ll create Machine Templates for your race that can then be used as the basis for your future as a species. Once you start modding your robot hordes, you’ll be able to gain access to the next involution of synthetic life.
Related: See our other Synthetic Dawn coverage
Once a template is created, it can be used to build robots of that type on all of your Stellaris planets. There will also be a way to convert existing robots to the new designs. So managining robot pops in 1.8 will become at less clicky and more like the current fleet upgrade mechanics.
Paradox add that because these new systems will make Robotic Pops (and Synthetically Ascended Empires) stronger, they will be doing a balance pass on 1.8 as well. Other ascension paths may get buffed in kind.
