Editing Stellaris (section)

== Setting and Timeline ==

The game starts in 2200, with a galaxy and several independent cultures. The game has three phases, adjustable in options: '''Early Game''', '''Middle Game''' and '''Late Game''', each with their own events. The win conditions used to be territorial, but now work around a score system and a timer; you win when the game is over and you have the best score. 

There are two kinds of resources: Material and Abstract.

Tangible resources are: minerals for generic construction and processing, food, energy (as credits), alloys for military and high-tech construction, "Trade Units" (unless you are not a Hivemind or Machine Intelligence, e.g autonomous people's empire), biomass (if you are a hivemind or use biotechnology) and consumer goods.  Each species has different needs for these resources as well -- organics need food, lithoids need minerals, robots need energy, cyborgs need a combination of those and so on. Then there are intangible resources like amenities (signifying ease of citizens's lives and infrastructural comforts) and unity (which is gained by cultural activities like joyous festivals or the holy slaughter of aliens). Tradable special resources are exotic gasses (super powerful space fuel), volatile motes (quasi fantastic space explosive), Zro dust (spice from Dune), "crystals" (lots of superstrong gems for lensing), Dark Matter, Living Metal (yup Necrodermis). Super rare resources are on the other hand, Nanites, "Astral Threads" ([[Wat|transdimensional keys into other universes]], craftable or harvestable) and Precursor artefacts (which are gained from archaeological excavation sites and from a super rare extragalactic cluster). Instead of barbarians and natives, we have pre-FTL civilizations and space monsters, relics, ancient drones ready to be destroyed...or researched and even adapted to.

To simulate a [[Europa Universalis]] atmosphere, the game has obstacles and shenanigans of empires familiar to those from the medieval era of ancient Earth, it doesn't get any more anthropocentric than that.

In '''Early Game''', empires expand and start their national quest-lines according to their natures. Minor space monsters will be encountered, making the player explore and research/kill them.

In '''Middle Game''' (if enabled), a few crises might happen to shake things up: a culture of hostile and bickering space-nomads somewhere in the galaxy will have an some orphan with protagonist disease aiming for greater things and uniting the tribes for galactic conquest with a dark start but noble goals in mind, Alexander the Great meets Attila. There might be an outbreak of space worms attacking others, small-scale outbreak of astral space demons, or nanite Gray Tempest.

In '''Late Game''' (if enabled), the galaxy gets an endgame crisis (one of many possibilities from several shout-outs to many settings) like Middle Game but it's [[Genghis motherfucking Khan|an outsider who'll fuck everyone's shit]] on steroids, forcing everyone to contribute or see the whole gameboard wiped clean.  Fallen Empires (younger than Precursors, older than the Early Game empires), can awaken in this phase and will be as friendly and helpful as [[Eldar]] and [[Necrons]].

Nemesis (of course it costs you) also  brought a '''Post Crisis Era''' for neckbeards. During a Middle Game or Late Game Crisis event (or technically any time if you've got the votes lined up, but it's hard to do without a crisis), the Galactic Community can declare a Galactic Custodian moment where one of the empires are given massive powers similar to a Roman Dictator (which, for [[Roman Empire]] noobs, was actually a fairly voluntary and democratic gamble) to lead the rest of the galaxy to war whatever is threatening them with an implicit promise to let go of the dictatorial powers. But, obviously, a player can [[Meme|say they're the Senate]] and declare a Galactic Imperium as freedom dies in thunderous applause and start dismantling all federations to bind to themself. [[Star Wars|And yes, a Rebel Alliance will happen]]. You can play the Star Wars Main Theme with your mouth now.
::You can Found the Galactic Imperium multiple times in a game with the number iteration increasing each time until the 10th iteration, after which it becomes the Last (11th), Final (12th), Ultimate (13th), Truly Last (14th) and then Another Galactic Imperium (15th+). That is going to be a lot of rebels to deal with.

The Galaxy Crises are inevitable, but extremely nuanced and challenging. A single player game will be difficult to handle its crisis in Ironman mode, doubly so if the player is a Megacorp who usually profits by being buddies. They are as follows:

#'''Prethoryn Swarm:''' Extra-galactic bug swarm who invades your galaxy to eat up everything and run away. [[Tyranid|Where did we see that before?]] [[Rape|Sucks if you start at the specific edge of the galaxy they will burst in from]]. If you capture a queen (need to be a psionic empire) and then defeat the swarm, after some time she starts telling your scientists that "they" are coming. The scientists take a look at the galaxy they came from... [[Story:The Shape Of The Nightmare To Come 50k|only to notice it missing from the cosmos itself.]]
#'''Extradimensional Invaders:''' A bunch of not-[[Daemons]] who look like the Drej from that western cartoon Titan A.E invade from [[Warp|the Shroud]]. They create "anchor" structures that signal-boost their presence in the universe and open up portals to spawn new fleets in other systems, then start seeking out planets so they can psychically mind-rape the population to death and eat their souls. These guys are all shields and no hull, so pack shield penetrators and keep your ships long range; find their anchor(s), then the portal systems and destroy them. They may or may not be a species that pulled a Zroni and underwent some kind of [[Daemon Prince|psychic ascension]].
#'''[[Cybernetic Revolt|The Contingency]]:''' The best storyline crisis along with extensive writing (because the extra parts of the plot need a DLC), basically the Reapers from Mass Effect, seasoned with a pinch of Skynet. Long time ago some ancient race made a fuckhuge computer at the edge of galaxy to prevent a Singularity. Per stereotype, the computer decides all organics need to be exterminated regularly, [[Bioware#Mass_Effect|starting with its makers]]. When Late Game Trigger happens, every empire gets a "strange radio signal" simultaneously emanating everywhere across the galaxy. Robot units and ship AI's start going bad, and Robot populations start building makeshift ships and fuck off into the edge of the galaxy. If you are a robot empire, it's even more of a frying pan/fire situation to find the source and dampen the signal with an engineering project. [[Dune|And yes, those least harmed are the empires that outlawed all A.I]] [[Imperium of Man|and use biological labor whenever possible.]] When enough time passes, or the signal is muffled, random uninhabitable planets across the galaxy split open, revealing nearly endless robot armies and fleets with the entire planet being a gargantuan machine making them. These can spawn anywhere, [[Troll|including your undefended, trade-focused capital system]]. Bombard all four while fighting them off, and you get to find the final planet at the edge of the galaxy. Destroy that via orbital bombardment, and it's over.
#'''[[Fall of the Eldar|End of the Cycle]]:''' Not a crisis ''per se'' but any psychic empire can decide to make a dark deal that results in the empire getting empowered by a spirit of excess for 50 years, going faster, harder and researching more (the bonuses being truly excessive compared to other sources)... [[grimdark|yet there is a price to pay]]. After 50 years, the empire is destroyed - all planets (along with the vassal's planets) are converted to [[Daemon World|Shrouded worlds]] (i.e. permanently removing them from play) and the entire population's souls are devoured by a [[Slaanesh|gigantic psychic monstrosity]], supported by a host of lesser soul fleets, which will promptly begin rampaging across the galaxy and destroying everything they run across. All you are left with is a [[Exodite World|single colony, called the Exile]], with just a few pops to start over with.... and an entire galaxy that now hates you for bringing about the end. In other words, new game plus with all the tech, minus a whole lot of planets and a universally hostile galaxy. <s>[[Awesome|Bring it on.]]</s> No, there is no way to come back; All leaders and stockpiled resources are consumed, you have no shipyard and Exile's production is in the '''single digits''' on top  debufs being applied to construction that last years. On top of it, the ETOC's Avatar is now traveling across the galaxy with it's power being the sum total of your ''entire empire'' while becoming even ''stronger'' with each enemy pop killed afterwards. It is also Jump Drive capable. [[Grimdark|It destroys each and every other Empire in the galaxy one by one with you being trapped on Exile with no way to escape or even fight back, until you are the last one left in a dead galaxy; only then does it finish the job]]. This isn't even the first time this has happened in this galaxy.
##Yeah, in multiplayer if someone was foolish enough to keep the ETOC enabled the fool who makes a compact becomes enemy number one. [[End Times|Especially in a nightmare scenario where an ''Awakened Empire'' forms a covenant...]]
## Sidenote: In a weird twist the EOTC's lore and theme lines up extremely well with [[The Dark King]] despite the EOTC predating The Dark King by about 6 years, a fun coincidence.
#'''[[Yvraine|The Synth Queen]]''': This one looks a little different. Cetana shows up being a nice girl who just wants what's best for everyone in the galaxy and starts out by taking down those pesky Fallen Empires who are mucking up the galaxy. Once she's done with that, she gets to work. She's just doing something to make the galaxy a better place, and she wants help from everyone in the galaxy, and will provide you with gifts if you help and murder the shit out of you if you piss her off. But there's also little hints around the galaxy about what's actually going on and why she looks like a goddess. And when you piece the truth together, it turns out that it's because she [[Imperial Truth|wants to end all suffering, and to do that, will eliminate all sentience galaxy-wide so nobody will ever suffer again]]. If her project completes, all sentience in the galaxy dies. Now, you can't make it into her defended systems until you complete the story, but once you can, go kill the colossus she's living in and all her bots are gonna just blow up for you.
#'''[[Xeelee Sequence#Interim Coalition of Governance|Galactic Nemesis]]''': The new ''Nemesis'' DLC, in all its buggy glory (the dubious honor now goes to the latest DLC kek) has brought a new crisis. Basically, the player can choose to be the endgame crisis faction after its third cultural tree completion. This "Menace" storyline is a revisit of the Zroni precursor storyline, making the player finish what the Zroni started, merging the [[Great Rift|Shroud with the realspace]]. Long story short, the player needs to amp up its empire's psychic power by committing [[Chaos|wanton and often senseless acts of violence]], genocide and conquest to fill the citizens' minds with [[Khorne|visions of war and conquest]] (fun fact: pissing off the galactic United Nations by kicking kittens [[Counts As|counts as]] menace points). Every 2000 Menace points gives the player a project, with the fifth and final one giving you a giant machine to shatter the galaxy, if you can spare an enormous amount of Dark Matter (140000!) which you'll harvest by blowing up stars with gigantic star eaters. Obviously once you reach the "Stage Five" menace the entire galaxy (including Fallen Empires!) will declare war on the player faction; to counter this you get tons of bonuses to combat and "menacing" spaceships resembling [[Ork]] [[Rok|Roks]] who don't need complicated alloys to build to bulk your fleets, letting you spend the alloys for fortifications and defense platforms which you'll have to erect to keep endless swarms of enemies at bay as you destroy the universe. 
#'''[[C'Tan|Cosmogenesis]]''': The other player crisis. The Machine Age DLC adds yet another crisis for empires to delve into, named Cosmogenesis. Unlike Nemesis, where being horrible evil bastard is the play of the game, Cosmogenesis is more about callous indifference and theoretically noble causes. Where Nemesis dealt out cobbled together [[Rok|asteroid ships]], Cosmogenesis will be dealing out only the finest of quality space craft. Also, unlike Nemesis, anyone can pick this one, so don't worry about your ethics. One of the main draws of this crisis however is the ability to research fallen empire technology and to become one yourself. That's right, this is basically a elaborate extension of your tech tree. Those sweet FE ships and buildings? All yours to research and build. No more RNG "reverse engineer arcane technology" for anyone unless you hate yourself. Now like all technologies in the tree, this takes time to research. A LONG time to research. Fortunately for those who have places to be, there are in fact short cuts. And one of those shortcuts is the Synaptic Lathe, a brand-new megastructure for you to build. Now you can use your best and brightest (or other empires best and brightest) as processing power to increase your research, at the cost of burning out your best and brightest like lightbulbs. Now like Nemesis, this crisis also has five levels of research and progress. Each level, you unlock more FE technologies to advance your civilization with. At level four however, you'll start to understand why fallen empire tech is described as "arcane". At level 4, you get to unlock a DANGEROUS technology known as "Applied Infinity Theses". What does that mean? Fucking reality warping. With such technology, you can now do things like mess with time to your liking, make lighter and sturdier alloys, and of course allow more FE developments. Now, things may not go as plan with these reality changes, and you may end up pissing off the neighbors a bit, but honestly who cares? Small drop in the mud in comparison to all the other things going on. Just a tiny bit of problematic reality distortion, that's all. So, since you are now able to make changes to reality on a galaxy wide scale, the next step is obviously to go even further with reality manipulation tech, right? Maybe go universal, turn the galaxy into a giant teacup? Wrong. Unfortunately for aspiring empires, reality is too stubborn and resilient. It is too old, too damaged by entropy, too needy, and too flawed. While you can make some changes, your empire will ultimately be limited in their capabilities. It would be like changing an aging needy elderly man who holds a double barrel on his lap and has a habit yelling at everyone to get off his lawn. [[Stellaris|Or a 8-year-old video game made by Paradox]]. So what is a go getter of an empire supposed to do about a set in its ways universe? Nothing, you get the hell out it, and go find a younger new universe that'll accept your reality edits and new concepts better. Luckily, any empire that has made it this far will have all tools (allowed by this reality) at their disposal. And potentially unfortunate to rest of the galaxy, this is where the crisis really starts to kick in (if they didn't already get steamrolled by FE tech earlier). In yet another comparison to nemesis, you'll be building yet another megastructure like the Aetherophasic Engine: The Horizon Needle. The Horizon Needle is an exquisitely fine advanced reality warping ship and mobile mega structure bult for the purpose of diving into a black hole to create and enter a new young universe with specifications of your empire's choosing. The ship has everything an empire needs for its exodus, including space for all pops it chooses to bring along. Should the exodus succeed, a new perfect universe will be created to the successful empire's specifications. A control group elects stay behind in the original universe and observe. And all is well, right? Not necessarily. While everything goes smoothly for those who went on the Needle to a new universe and the control group, everything goes pretty shitty for the rest of galaxy. Some explosions occur in the galaxy, but the main shitshow is the time warp that occurs after the horizon needle's dive. An eternity passes, the galaxy is in ruins, billions are dead. The territories of the aspiring empire lie barren, and their borders and shrunken to only their core sector. The control group that stayed behind had progressed beyond recognition. And that, kids, is how fallen empires are made. Now, if you are pretty sure you'll be left behind by the Cosmogenesis crisis empire and/or have other reasons for stopping the dive of the Horizon Needle, there is a vulnerability to the megastructure. It is a ship that is completely defenseless and needs to be carefully protected. So once you have it in a isolated spot, you'll have a clean shot to take it out.
#'''[[Tarrasque#How_to_fly_over_Tarrasque_(3.5e_or_5e)|Behemoth]]''': You raise space Kaiju to fuck everyone's shit up, eat populations, entire planets and feed them and breed more of a fleet of super space Kaiju to fuck everyone's shit up. Imagine a swarm of FTL-capable, flying space Tarrasques on steroids that literally eat the galaxy in your name.
#*tl;dr: [[DOOM: Repercussions of Evil|No, player, you are the Crisis.]]