Developer diaries

Version

This article is timeless and should be accurate for any version of the game.

Version history

Utopia

1.6 • 1.6.1 • 1.6.2

1.5 • 1.5.1

Leviathans

1.4 • 1.4.1

1.3 • 1.3.1 • 1.3.2

Base version

1.2 • 1.2.1 • 1.2.2 • 1.2.3 • 1.2.4 • 1.2.5

1.1

1.0 • 1.0.1 • 1.0.2 • 1.0.3

Developer diaries are articles, sometimes accompanied by videos, published by Paradox to describe the game design in detail.

Unannounced Content

All developer diaries about an unannounced expansion and patch 1.8 (aka Čapek).

No.	Title and Link	Description	Date
1	Crises & The Contingency	Improvements done on the crises front with a major revision of the AI uprising crisis.	2017-06-01
2	The Čapek Update	Changes and improvements to Habitability and Terraforming coming in 1.8.	2017-06-15
3	Genemodding Templates	Changes coming to genetic modification in the 1.8 Čapek update.	2017-06-22

Utopia

All developer diaries about Utopia expansion, patch 1.5 (aka Banks), patch 1.6 (aka Adams) and patch 1.7 (aka Bradbury).

Patch 1.5 (Banks)

No.	Title and Link	Description	Date
1	Ethics Rework	Reworked empire and pop ethics, as well as a new outlook on factions	2016-12-08
2	Unity and Traditions	Banks 1.5 will introduce new mechanics	2016-12-15
3	Ascension Perks	The new Ascension mechanic and its following 'species endgame' paths coming in Banks	2017-01-12
4	Species Rights	Changes to pops: species rights/obligations, new degrees of slavery and purging, refugees, core worlds and more.	2017-01-19
5	Habitats	Your new home above your home	2017-01-26
6	Megastructures	Megastructures: the headline feature of the Utopia expansion.	2017-02-02
7	Psionics and The Shroud	Psionic Ascension Path	2017-02-09
8	Indoctrination, Unrest and Faction Interactions	Wiz goes into details on indoctrinating pre-FTL species, new unrest system for factions and ways to interact with them	2017-02-16
9	Government, Civics and Hive Minds	Banks focus on internal politics warrants a government rework	2017-02-23
10	Synthetic and Biological Ascension	A closer look at ascension paths	2017-03-02
11	Minor Features and Tweaks	Empire-wide Food, Terraforming Candidate anomaly, War Demand cost reducing, UI improvements	2017-03-09
12	The Music of Utopia	Andreas Waldetoft composed some new music	2017-03-16
13	Graphics & Interface in Banks	Changes to the map in Banks	2017-03-23
14	Update 1.5 Banks Patch Notes	Full Patch Notes	2017-03-30

Patch 1.6 (Adams)

No.	Title and Link	Description	Date
15	Introductions and Farewells	Rikard Åslund (Zoft), master of dad-jokes, passes the project lead torch to newcomer Jamie Wood (Jamor)	2017-04-13
16	Beyond Utopia	Revisiting the old priorities list and the future beyond Utopia	2017-04-20
17	The Adams Update (part 1)	Ruined megastructures, split taxes sectors, sector stockpiles and new art assets in 1.6 Adams	2017-04-27
18	The Adams Update (part 2)	Devouring Swarm civic for Hive Minds, terraforming enhancements, and full patch notes.	2017-05-04

Leviathans

All developer diaries about Leviathans Story pack, patch 1.3 (aka Heinlein) and patch 1.4 (aka Kennedy).

Patch 1.3 (Heinlein)

No.	Title and Link	Description	Date
1	Back in Action	Focusing on addressing community feedback in Heinlein	2016-08-01
2	Heinlein Patch (part 1)	Auto-explore, rally points, expansion planner, strategic resource rework	2016-08-08
3	Heinlein Patch (part 2)	Ship roles and weapon re-balance	2016-08-15
4	Heinlein Patch (part 3)	Changes to planet habitability and federations/alliances, sector improvements and more galaxy setup options	2016-08-22
5	The Fallen	Changes to Fallen Empires in Heinlein, and also "The War in Heaven" events	2016-08-29
6	Space Creature Rework	Grounding space creatures to a regional 'nexus' and expansion of space piracy	2016-09-06
7	Ship Balance	More details on ship roles and weapon re-balance	2016-09-12
8	Enclaves	Enclaves coming in Stellaris: Leviathans	2016-09-19
9	The Guardians	The Guardians are the headline feature of Stellaris: Leviathans	2016-09-29
10	Roar! And Boom!	A look at the sound and music of Leviathans	2016-10-06
11	Graphics & Portraits	New graphics and portraits coming in Heinlein and Leviathans	2016-10-13

Patch 1.4 (Kennedy)

No.	Title and Link	Description	Date
12	The Journey Ahead	Current status and general plan for the future	2016-10-27
13	Extradimensionals and Precursors	Kennedy update news - precursors and extradimensionals	2016-11-03
14	New Achievements	Kennedy hails with 32 new achievements	2016-11-10

Post-release patches

All developer diaries about post-release patches, patch 1.1 (aka Clarke) and patch 1.2 (aka Asimov).

Patch 1.1 (Clarke)

No.	Title and Link	Description	Date
1	The Maiden Voyage	Paradox' plans for the next three Stellaris patches	2016-05-16
2	Clarke Patch	UI, AI and empire builder improvements, balance changes, bug fixes	2016-05-24
3	QA in Space	A little light on QA work	2016-05-30

Patch 1.2 (Asimov)

No.	Title and Link	Description	Date
4	Asimov Patch (part 1)	Diplomacy improvements, border access and embassies	2016-06-14
5	Asimov Patch (part 2)	Better looking battles, map modes, nomad fleets, slave factions, new wargoals, diplomatic incidents	2016-06-20
6	New Skyboxes	Variation added to the universe with the introduction of new Skyboxes	2016-06-27

Base game

All developer diaries about Stellaris (base game).

No.	Title and Link	Description	Date
1	The Vision	Design goals	2015-09-21
2	Art Vision	Artistic choices	2015-09-28
3	Galaxy Generation	How galaxies are generated	2015-10-05
4	Means of Travel	About FTL propulsion	2015-10-12
5	Empires and Species	What sets species apart	2015-10-19
6	Rulers and Leaders	Role that characters play	2015-10-26
7	Science Ships, Surveys and Anomalies	Science ships and events	2015-11-02
8	The Situation Log and Special Projects	Event journal	2015-11-09
9	Planets & Resources	Planetary differences, resource collection methods	2015-11-16
10	The Spaceport and rare resources	Spaceport upgrades and rare resource use	2015-11-23
11	Research & Technology	The hidden, semi-random tech tree	2015-11-30
12	Policies & Edicts	Empire-wide policies, temporary edicts	2015-12-07
13	Primitive Civilizations	Study, enlighten, or infiltrate the natives	2015-12-14
14	Uplifting and Subspecies	Uplift and tailor pre-sentients, alter your own people	2015-12-21
15	Fallen Empires	Powerful, isolationist AI empires	2016-01-04
16	Colony Events	Events to set your planets apart	2016-01-11
17	Ship Designer	Choose a design's sections, and fill their weapon and utility slots	2016-01-18
18	Fleet Combat	Weapon/defense types, hands-off combat, and emergency FTL	2016-01-25
19	Diplomacy & Trade	Trade negotiations and subject types	2016-02-01
20	War and peace	War goals and war score	2016-02-08
21	Administrative Sectors	Few directly managed planets, AI-managed sectors	2016-02-15
22	Alliances and Federations	Multilateral alliances and closely cooperating federations	2016-02-22
23	Multiplayer	32-player multiplayer and enhanced stability	2016-02-29
24	AI	Unique personalities, threat assessments, AI budgeting	2016-03-07
25	Reverse Engineering and Unique Technologies	Studying debris	2016-03-14
26	Migration, Slavery & Purges	Policies concerning Migration, Slavery and Purges	2016-03-21
27	Music & Sound	The soundtrack and sound design of Stellaris	2016-03-28
28	Project Lead speaks	The project lead of Stellaris, Rikard "Zoft" Åslund speaks	2016-04-04
29	Pop Factions & Elections	About populations (pops), factions and elections	2016-04-11
30	Late Game Crises	About late game crises	2016-04-18
31	Modding (Scripting Anomalies)	About modding in general, and scripting anomalies in particular	2016-04-25
32	Modding (Art)	About modding art, with a focus on characters and ship modding	2016-05-02

Videos

Developer video diaries and developer's let's play sessions on the various expansions.

Videos

No.	Title and Link	Description	Date
1	Tour of the Galaxy	Stellaris pre-order trailer recounting the game's features	2016-04-14
2	Leviathans - 1.3 Heinlein patch	Anders "cKnoor" Carlsson drags Daniel "Grekulf" Moregård and Aziz Faghihinejad to go over the 1.3 (Heinlein) patch	2016-09-29
3	Leviathans - Feature Spotlight	Martin "Wiz" Anward, Stellaris' game director, explains the new additions coming to the game in Leviathans	2016-10-17
4	EGX Rezzed - Utopia build ideas	Daniel "Grekulf" Moregård shows some of his favorite builds to use Utopia	2017-03-30
5	EGX Rezzed - Alexis Kennedy	Anders "cKnoor" Carlsson sits down with Alexis Kennedy to talk about his work on Horizon Signal for Stellaris	2017-04-01
6	Utopia - Feature Spotlight	Martin "Wiz" Anward goes over the features in the coming Stellaris expansion Utopia	2017-04-03
7	Utopia - 1.6 Adams patch	Wiz and cKnoor on the balance/bug-fix patch in the pipelines for Stellaris	2017-04-20
8	Tutorial - Colonization	Martin "Wiz" Anward takes the place of your loyal advisor to instruct you on the process of colonization	2017-04-21
9	Design Corner #01	Martin Anward and & Daniel Moregård, Stellaris' game director and game designer, go through some of the design challenges with Stellaris and ideas of what might happen next: FTL, borders, combat, crises and more.	2017-04-27

Let's Plays

No.	Video archive	Description	Start date	End date
1	All hail Blorg, Space Friends	Pre-release LP's of Stellaris by Martin "Wiz" Anward and Anders "cKnoor" Carlsson	2016-03-17	2016-05-26
2	Blorg Cinematic Universe	Multiplayer event of Stellaris in London where devs and youtubers fight for dominance	2016-05-03	2016-05-04
3	Community Galaxy	A new galaxy populated with community created species	2016-06-09	2016-08-04
4	Community Galaxy - The Rad	A galaxy populated with community created species (and plantoids)	2016-08-11	2016-09-22
5	Cute Co-Op	A new galaxy showcasing patch 1.3 (Heinlein) and the Leviathans story pack	2016-10-06	2016-12-08
6	Starcrossed Starfish	Two sub-species, evil and good, vying for supremacy in an extra hot code preview of patch 1.4/Utopia	2017-02-02	2017-03-23
7	Devouring Flock	Martin teaches Susie (new Stellaris community manager) how to play Stellaris while simultaneously checking out the Devouring Swarm Hivemind!	2017-06-15

Stellaris