Editing Stellaris (section)

==DLC==

[[Rage|The paid ones are absolutely fucking expensive.]]

With that out of the way, here's a list of them. They're in order of release (besides the first three since they basically all came out at the same time). Feel free to add more as they invariably come out to drain our wallets:

* '''Login Bonus''': Not really traditional DLC per se but it locks content behind a Paradox account, so it counts as free DLC. Gives you an avian portrait based on the chirpy social media app in another Paradox game, Cities: Skylines. [[Lulz|Since it has no variation it unintentionally works great for clone origin empires]].
* '''Galaxy Edition''': The collector's edition of the game. Only here because it gives an exclusive species portrait. It also comes with two E-books, if you fancy yourself an en-/lit/-end individual. You can also shill 13 bucks (USD, convert as you will) to upgrade the base game to it.
* '''Creatures of the Void''': Preorder bonus of portraits that they got to exclusively use for a year before being given out for free to everyone.
* '''Plantoids''': The first paid DLC released for the game, and a taste of the avarice to come. Adds an entirely new class of species into the game, being plant people. Started out as little more than a cosmetics pack, got slightly better after unique traits were introduced for plants species.
* '''Leviathans''': The first paid DLC that isn't cosmetic. Adds a bunch of unique events into the game that all have a chance of generating in your galaxy, and all involving some big boss (like a space-faring Dragon defending its hoard) your fleets will have to fight for a unique reward. Also lets you play the totally-not-Babylon 5 story if you're old enough to know about it.
* '''Horizon Signal''': Free Eldritch uber-rare questline DLC. WHAT WAS, WILL BE; WHAT WILL BE, WAS.
* '''Utopia''': The first of the "major overhaul" DLCs that accompanied gameplay-changing revisions. While said changes are subject to [[Skub|debate]] even nowadays, at least we got the ability to build megastructures out of it. Also added [[Tyranids|Hive Minds]], which dominates a lot of the meta to this day.
* '''Anniversary Portraits''': Free DLC that released the aforementioned "Creatures of the Void" DLC to those who didn't preorder, but also added some extra portraits on top.
* '''Synthetic Dawn''': Skynet is here. Major revisions to robots and such, and greatly expands on the Contingency. Lets you play as Machine Empires and allows for [[Necrons|synthetic ascension]], both of which are as powerful as you might expect.
* '''Apocalypse''': The second major revision DLC. Gave us the glory of Exterminatus (or Death Star lasers, if you swing that way) via Colossi, as well as the fuckhuge Titan-class capital ships. This also brought in the Marauders, space-faring pirates who can become the Mongol Empire (IN SPACE!) as a mid-game Crisis event.
* '''Humanoids''': Another fucking species pack. At least it adds some fantasy-inspired portraits to the mix. [[Awesome|You can now be Orks without mods.]]
* '''Distant Stars''': [[Meme|Nanomachines, son!]] Adds a small cluster (uninventively called the L-Cluster) off the side of the galaxy only accessible via special L-Gates which has the super rare "Nanite" resource which can be used for making the most unbalanced ship weapon per the last update(Nanite Autocannon) or be used for more mundane (stupid) tasks. Beware what can come out the other side. Also adds a few more Leviathan-style encounters.
* '''MegaCorp''': Another goddamn revision update came out with this one, coming with the advent of Megacorporations. Become Geedubs in space, or the Hutts. Or deal with them. Also adds caravaneers (with a parody of lootboxes), more megastructures, and the slave trade.
* '''Ancient Relics''': Archaeology, IN SPHESS! Mainly fleshes out existing Precursors (besides the Cybrex, who already got their limelight in Synthetic Dawn) as well as adding new ones. Also adds an event chain featuring space Skaven. They really are neckbeards...
* '''Lithoids''': Species Pack yet again. At least these silicon lifeforms actually have unique gameplay attributes tied to them, unlike the others, setting a possible trend. [[What|Like farting valuable gases and being enslaved and raised like cattle...for minerals and gems for energy weapons! Feel free to enslave and farm living rocks for their argon farts, mineral bodies and gem dandruff and turn a mineral poor planet into a powerhouse of pain and rock cannibalism.]]
* '''Federations''': Revision Update/DLC combo #4. Federations get revamped, there's now a Galactic Community, a new XBAWKSHUEG ship-slash-mobile-base class (the Juggernaut), new origins for your species, and more. Also adds a megastructure specifically made for shitting out ships in large numbers, [[Cheese|which can become incredibly cheesy due to producing 1d20 battleships every six RL minutes so long as you have the alloys to keep it running]].
* '''Necroids''': Space undead/vampires/what have you. Second in a trend of "species packs that aren't just overpriced cosmetic packs", they add an Origin which lets them play like they look. Basically there are new civics like regular population sacrifice temples for culture boost for normal races, and said necroids turning conquered populations either semi-voluntarily (well-treated cultists who are taught the necroid culture for 5 years and turned into undead) or forced upon conquest like mass-embracing Kindred.
* '''Nemesis''': The fifth revision, and the [[Edgy|Edgelord]] of the bunch. Lets you become the Empire from Star Wars or go full Chaos and rape the galaxy to death; it also revamps the otherwise borderline-useless espionage system to let you live out your [[Alpha Legion]] fantasies. You also get a more brutalist-style ship set for endgame mineral sink.
* '''Aquatics''': Why there wasn't the ability to play an aquatic species when mollusk-based portraits were already in the game is beyond us, but it's finally been rectified. Not only does it add ''more'' species portraits and such, but you can also now choose to live under the sea like Merfolk. Or go fishing. You also can ally with a Leviathan via an Origin - but since it's a dragon, it'll turn on you if you stop being useful to it. [[What|There's also a new Colossus weapon that drowns your enemies from orbit. Yes, really.]]
* '''Overlord''' - More Megastructures, a (retarded) overhaul of the Vassal system, new Origins (including a new Psionic origin that makes Psionic Ascension more viable), etc. The game changes included in this update are current as of May 2022, but knowing these guys it won't be for too long. The old 'Empire Sprawl' mechanic has become an "Empire Size" value, penalising wide empires' tech and tradition research rates to force the players into playing tall, [[What|meaning that it's entirely possible for a one-planet empire to research faster than a ten-planet one with dozens of research labs and hundreds of scientists]]. Vassals now cost you absurd amounts of resources to maintain and will rebel if you make them do anything, [[Fail|but the ES malus means you can't just beat them to death and take their stuff]]. Edicts got a kick in the nuts, being reworked so that [[RAGE|Everything costs Unity (rather than influence)]], which is spent like the Political Power of [[Hearts of Iron]]. [[Skub|Contentious in the extreme]] due to massively altering the game, to say the least.
* '''Toxoids''': A species/origin pack themed around pollution, including new origins and civics. You can genetically overdrive your species, [[Looted|scavenge wrecks after battle]], and [[Hive World|even pollute your own planets via unrestrained industrialisation]], and there is a unique faction gameplay named Toxic Knights who act all "Monty Python meets Nurgle". If there is a silver lining is that at this moment, after all these years of coding, the AI can often outperform the player in mundane tasks, and will establish *very* powerful empires if left alone. Vassals are slightly re-balanced, now they are OK with staying vassals with reasonable support and some freedom in expansion, allowing a religious authoritarian empire to make Holy Roman Empire in space delegating all the shit lands they can't be arsed with.
* '''First Contact''': Three Origins, Cloaking Tech, and some interesting options for interacting with pre-spaceflight civilizations.
* '''Galactic Paragons''': A Leader rework, with new traits for leaders as well as reworking the trait system in general. Now you can choose to level up Traits to be more powerful when you level up instead of only getting one level and hoping for the luck of the draw. It also adds in the Council, which is essentially head leaders from each type plus your empire's ruler. [[Awesome|This had the side effect of reducing the number of science leaders you need for research down to just one]], at the cost of there now being a leader cap. For RP purposes, you can also set your original ruler's backstory now as well as their initial focus, and RNG leaders have their backstory list out various traits. Speaking of foci, they're reworked to also be choosable by the player instead of directly tied to whatever leader is currently in charge - with a windup period that gives some bonuses at first followed by a launch period where the real meat of the boons come in. 

===The DLC Cheat Sheet===

For the purposes of "What DLC should I buy?", well, the short version is "Utopia and Lithoids for learning the game" (Hive Minds, from Utopia, avoid all that pesky internal politics, and Lithoids avoid all that pesky "habitability" stuff)<ref>Robot empires, from Synthetic Dawn, combine these, but have serious scaling issues, and the Ascension Paths from Utopia are fairly desirable for many late-game empires</ref>, "Leviathans, Ancient Relics, Distant Stars, and Apocalypse for a more interesting galaxy, in very roughly that order". Then there's "Plantoids, Necroids, Federations, Synthetic Dawn, Overlord, Toxoids, Galactic Paragons, and Nemesis for various roleplaying options."