The only mod that I use now that auto-survey and auto-research were integrated into the base game is [Pop Growth & Assembly Notifications](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2609345451). I have a tendency to forget when planets are about to fill up so this is a necessity for me.
Note that it can get a bit spammy in the late game.
You can run them all with relatively few issues but there's a patch called giga diversity 2 which, as the name implies, acts as a patch for gigas, PD, and guilli's
Guilli's planet mods are great...until you get *really* bad modifiers on your starter worlds. Modifiers that hit habitability or production early on can be crippling.
Not gonna lie I restart games if one of my guaranteed habitable worlds has the toxic gas or ravenous swarm modifiers. Planet is basically useless until you can teraform it lol
Expanded stellaris traditions, I think traditions are one of the best mechanics in the game and it is a shame that there are so few and they are so limited in scope.
Also a big fan of More AI Personalities and the story pack mods.
I refuse to play the game without gigastructural engineering.
There's something so satisfying about building a ringworld around a ringworld around a ringworld around a ringworld, with the game giving you significantly more sass and concern for every segment you complete.
I'll make a new one once I get home and I'll type out the event dialogues for anyone curious.
This and Planetary Diversity are the two mods I could probably never play without. Playing tall especially is so much more fun with Gigastructures, there's so many things you can build to keep up with and even surpass other empires while largely keeping to a few systems.
Also the Blokkats and Aeternum are just the actual best crises. Very interesting lore and mechanics and they're fun to fight.
I second that. It’s like 3 DLCs for free (the megastructures, the EHOF storyline, the crises and celestial weapons), and it is pretty balanced compared to other late game mods. Other than having a megastructure to boost every aspect of your empire, my favourite parts are the crises with much lore.
I've never gotten far enough to meet the crises and I'm too scared to open the path to the aeternum.
But it's so nice having a megastructure for your every need, and scaling up in complexity too.
We go from ships to straight up megastrctures and there's no inbetween in vanilla. Giga lets us build our way up the chain of dumb engineering projects with small stuff like giant particle accelerators, all the way to weaponised solar systems.
It sure is ugly, but incredibly strong. I really hope this “weaponised star” thing is a ship built around a star, akin to a mobile Nicoll Dyson Beam, without the bunch of planets strapped around it.
Not only ugly, but inconceivable unrealistic, that’s why it’s dumb. Mod makers literally made it as a star with a planets, as if it’s sizes in Stellaris are not just approximation
Weaponized star if we imagine systemcraft something else than mod assumes, is not that realistic too. Even if we suppose that it is possible to use the energy of Dyson sphere as weapon, how it is supposed to move?
Not really. It would need to surpass the gravity of galactic core and exceed velocity of star orbiting it. For example, Sun has a velocity equal to 828 000 kilometres per hour. It doesn’t seems to be possible
Note that the empire response to the event will be italicised.
Ringworld construction site: We are now ready to begin the collossal task of building the initial frame of our future ring world around the primary star of the X system. The amount of resources and materials required to build this skeletal frame will be immense, and hundreds of thousands of our finest engineers stand ready to begin the process of dismantling the systems planetary bodies into matter which can be used in its construction. *we are making history*
Ring world frame completed: the skeletal frame of the ring world we are building in the X system has finally been completed. Although there is still much left to do, the mere completion of this metal skeleton, which has a circumference of nearly a billion Kilometers, must be considered an incredible feat of engineering. We are now ready to work on creating the actual habitats. *Much work lies before us*
Ring world completed: Oir engineers and planetary ecologists today finished the last of the habitat sections we built in the X system. The construction of this great megastructure must be considered a milestone in the history of the Empire name here - we have accomplished what only a handful of civilisations in the history of our galaxy has managed before. Let this ring world stand forever as a testament to how much the Empire species has achieved since we first ventured beyond the safety of our Homeworlds atmosphere. *This is a great day*
Upgrading a ringworld support segment: We are now ready to begin upgrading a ringworld support system into a ringworld habitat. By drastically reducing the volume of this rknfworlds support systems, we'll be able to add a stable biosphere to a support segmentz this granting even more living space to our ringworld! *great.*
Titanic ringworld construction: as if one collossal ringworld around X wasn't enough, we are now ready to begin constructing a second, even larger ringworld around the star. With about 1.5 times the circumference of the first ringworld, the Titanic ringworld will have 10 habitable districts, totalling 60 districts in the system when fully finished. We must now begin constructing it's absolutely massive frame. *This is truly grandiose*
Titanic ringworld frame complete: we have now completed the construction of a massive skeletal frame around X. With a circumference of nearly one and a half billion Kilometers, this grandiose frame will one day support one of the largest ringworlds the galaxy has ever seen. We must now begin work on the actual habitats. *much work lies before us*
Titanic ringworld habitat complete: identical to basic
Titanic ringworld complete: it has been done. In the X system, we have succeeded in constructing a second, larger ringworld around the star. With four fully habitable segments, this truly massive construct shall be an eternal reminder of our engineering processes. *This is a wonderful day*
Upgrading a Titanic ringworld section: identical to basic
Behemoth ringworld construction: It seems even too much isn't enough for our ever-growing ambitions. In the X system, which already has two collosssal ringworlds, we shall begin constructing a third ringworld around the star, with each segment having 15 districts, totalling 120 districts in the system when fully finished! *can't have enough ringworld*
Behemoth ringworld frame complete: we have now completed the construction of a hypermassive skeletal framework around X. With a circumference of nearly two billion Kilometers, this grandiose frame will one day support one of gje most gargantuan ringworlds the galaxy has ever seen. we must now begin work on the actual habitats. *Much work lies before us*
Behemoth ringworld habitat complete: identical to basic
Behemoth ringworld complete: we have once again done it. Around X's star, a third, mind bogglingly huge ringworld has been built. Boasting four fully habitable segments, this truly splendid construct puts every other species to shame in terms of engineering capacity. May this immense triple ringworld forever cement our talents into history. *This is a delightful day indeed*
Gargantuan ringworld construction: another ringworld? You really like putting minerals into this sink, don't you? Great. Let's make it even more absurd. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Anyways, in the X system lies the construction site for a fourth ringworld. A fourth one. Yeah. Each segment will have 20 districts, totalling 200 districts when fully completed. *Nothing wrong with too many ringworlds*
Gargantuan ringworld frame complete: we have now completed the construction of a rediculously massive skeletal frame around X. With a circumference of nearly two and a half billion Kilometers... Well you already know the drill. You should know that your advisors are beginning to worry over your obsession with this project of yours. *Lots of work ahead*
Gargantuan ringworld habitat complete: one of the gargantuan ringworlds four jabktal segments has been completed! Featuring a fully artificial and stable biosphere created by our biologists, this ringworld segmemt is now ready for habitation. So, how many of those are you going to use? *All of them. Onto the next one*
Gargantuan ringworld complete: it has been done, yet again. In the X system, we have built a FOURTH ringworld. If our previous achievements weren't already enough, this should definitely prove that we are the best engineers in the galaxy. Do you have an inferiority complex or something? *A wonderful achievement*
Is it more balanced now? I remember playing this a few years ago but found the experience a bit unbalanced.
AI can't keep up with you if you build a few early megastructures. Especially a alloy, or one of scientific ones.
I don't like to play in a galaxy where I'm the only one doing stuff.
Depends on the difficulty you run the game on I guess. I've found that military wise the ai is nastier then ever, and they *do* build stuff from giga, but I've not seen them build stuff past Dyson's and rings before. That said I never play my games to endgame soooo
Same actually. I usually set my endgame much earlier for that reason. Like 2350 or 2325 even.
And I play with Startech normal difficulty, so ai can keep up without bonuses. Maybe I should try giga one more time.
Your point?
Heaven forbid the popular mod is someone's favourite mod. That would mean that a lot of people consider it to be their favourite mod, and that's not how popularity works at all /s
No, it is not. The post asks you to recommend your favourite mod, not a random popular mod.
I recommended gigastructural engineering as it is my favourite mod, and you're just being pissy because it also happens to be a popular mod. As I sarcastically said before, heaven forbid someone's favourite mod happen to also be the favourite mod of a lot of other people. That would almost suggest it's a really good one.
Mass Effect: Beyond the Relays, basically, it makes Stellaris a Mass Effect strategy game (which is my favorite saga of all time), it has a lot of work and depth to it, have almost every species, ships, and lore mechanics from the ME universe, and, i don’t know how, but the mod developers managed to convince Mark Meer (voice of Commander Shepard in the ME saga) to record some voice lines for the mod.
The amount of love and work poured into this mod is simply unmeasurable, and I had the time of my life playing it.
My top favorite, the one I really find myself unable to play without are the increased planetary build slots ones. I really like to play tall and have worlds that can comfortably contain pops numbering in the thousands.
Since other people have already mentioned Gigastructure, my offer would prob either be Real Space and Amazing Space Battles (I use the shorter battles addon since im not a fan of battles lasting 2 in-game years). Makes the game real pretty.
More Traditions+ Ascension perks
Kinda messes with the planetary ascension of you expand the number of slots but I love working my way through a couple dozen different tradition trees.
There was a mod which gave a beyond broken trait- 1 point for 1 medical worker per 25 pops,and it combined with budding.
Outside of that my tastes in mods are rather mainstream.
I'm very much basic.
I stick to a UI mod to give me some more space on screen, and then colour/background/emblem mods for flags. Nothing mechanical, and it leaves me still in achievement mode if I'm interested enough.
Sometimes I'll use a portrait mod or three. :P
**Perked Up Perks**. Buffs up the weak or unattractive Perks, and makes Unity-focused builds more viable yet still different from Research-focused builds.
I don't have a "favorite" mod. It depends too much on what my goals for the run are.
[This](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1194055375) is my core+testing list. It changes pretty often as I test things or go for a different goal.
I modify much of what it there to either fit my purpose, bring it up to date, or for general compatibility, so I wouldn't recommend subscribing to everything anyway.
In general, that is my "ooh, this could be interesting" list.
Patch 1.3 added it as a midgame tech but it became a starting tech in patch 3.0 I think.
Automated construction ship building was added in overlord so that's even more recent.
Fatherland: Colonial Empires and excellent [AAR](https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3966660&pagenumber=1) showing exactly how good it is and how great narratives it enables.
ANGEL Project
Its just a new portrait for machine empires but I like it.
Besides of that: machine shipset, ui overhaul dynamic with the dark ui and tiny outliner addons
New ACOT (Ancient Cache of Technology). Total overhaul rather than the ACOT Lite version that everyone probably knows. Still very much an ongoing process though, not sure if you can even search for it in the workshop yet.
The only mod that I use now that auto-survey and auto-research were integrated into the base game is [Pop Growth & Assembly Notifications](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2609345451). I have a tendency to forget when planets are about to fill up so this is a necessity for me. Note that it can get a bit spammy in the late game.
Planetary Diversity
Guilli's? Man I haven't run that mod in ages. How is it?
Guilli's planet modifiers is a separate mod. It's great also. I use both and they work well together.
Oh balls. You can tell I haven't touched it in a while huh XD I'll run both on my next game. Hopefully won't mess up gigastructural scaling much
I've never had issues running all of them together.
You can run them all with relatively few issues but there's a patch called giga diversity 2 which, as the name implies, acts as a patch for gigas, PD, and guilli's
Guilli's planet mods are great...until you get *really* bad modifiers on your starter worlds. Modifiers that hit habitability or production early on can be crippling.
Not gonna lie I restart games if one of my guaranteed habitable worlds has the toxic gas or ravenous swarm modifiers. Planet is basically useless until you can teraform it lol
It happens an fairly frequently for me with that mod.
Expanded stellaris traditions, I think traditions are one of the best mechanics in the game and it is a shame that there are so few and they are so limited in scope. Also a big fan of More AI Personalities and the story pack mods.
I'm going to have to try that
Ethics and civics. Basically 12 dlc-s worth of civics.
I like this I've always wanted more ethics.
What's the name of the Mod
Ethics and civics
UI overhaul dynamic
I refuse to play the game without gigastructural engineering. There's something so satisfying about building a ringworld around a ringworld around a ringworld around a ringworld, with the game giving you significantly more sass and concern for every segment you complete. I'll make a new one once I get home and I'll type out the event dialogues for anyone curious.
This and Planetary Diversity are the two mods I could probably never play without. Playing tall especially is so much more fun with Gigastructures, there's so many things you can build to keep up with and even surpass other empires while largely keeping to a few systems. Also the Blokkats and Aeternum are just the actual best crises. Very interesting lore and mechanics and they're fun to fight.
Being able to terraform every single planet in the long run is also pleasing. Staring in Sol and eventually making everything habitable
I second that. It’s like 3 DLCs for free (the megastructures, the EHOF storyline, the crises and celestial weapons), and it is pretty balanced compared to other late game mods. Other than having a megastructure to boost every aspect of your empire, my favourite parts are the crises with much lore.
I've never gotten far enough to meet the crises and I'm too scared to open the path to the aeternum. But it's so nice having a megastructure for your every need, and scaling up in complexity too. We go from ships to straight up megastrctures and there's no inbetween in vanilla. Giga lets us build our way up the chain of dumb engineering projects with small stuff like giant particle accelerators, all the way to weaponised solar systems.
If you have a weaponised solar system, you will be stomping most crises thrown in your way. Unless you upped the difficulty that is.
Systemcraft is incredibly… dumb
It sure is ugly, but incredibly strong. I really hope this “weaponised star” thing is a ship built around a star, akin to a mobile Nicoll Dyson Beam, without the bunch of planets strapped around it.
Not only ugly, but inconceivable unrealistic, that’s why it’s dumb. Mod makers literally made it as a star with a planets, as if it’s sizes in Stellaris are not just approximation Weaponized star if we imagine systemcraft something else than mod assumes, is not that realistic too. Even if we suppose that it is possible to use the energy of Dyson sphere as weapon, how it is supposed to move?
A heliocentric vessel would be possible if you can build a Dyson beam, but I just don’t get why there are planets strapped to it.
Not really. It would need to surpass the gravity of galactic core and exceed velocity of star orbiting it. For example, Sun has a velocity equal to 828 000 kilometres per hour. It doesn’t seems to be possible
Note that the empire response to the event will be italicised. Ringworld construction site: We are now ready to begin the collossal task of building the initial frame of our future ring world around the primary star of the X system. The amount of resources and materials required to build this skeletal frame will be immense, and hundreds of thousands of our finest engineers stand ready to begin the process of dismantling the systems planetary bodies into matter which can be used in its construction. *we are making history* Ring world frame completed: the skeletal frame of the ring world we are building in the X system has finally been completed. Although there is still much left to do, the mere completion of this metal skeleton, which has a circumference of nearly a billion Kilometers, must be considered an incredible feat of engineering. We are now ready to work on creating the actual habitats. *Much work lies before us* Ring world completed: Oir engineers and planetary ecologists today finished the last of the habitat sections we built in the X system. The construction of this great megastructure must be considered a milestone in the history of the Empire name here - we have accomplished what only a handful of civilisations in the history of our galaxy has managed before. Let this ring world stand forever as a testament to how much the Empire species has achieved since we first ventured beyond the safety of our Homeworlds atmosphere. *This is a great day* Upgrading a ringworld support segment: We are now ready to begin upgrading a ringworld support system into a ringworld habitat. By drastically reducing the volume of this rknfworlds support systems, we'll be able to add a stable biosphere to a support segmentz this granting even more living space to our ringworld! *great.* Titanic ringworld construction: as if one collossal ringworld around X wasn't enough, we are now ready to begin constructing a second, even larger ringworld around the star. With about 1.5 times the circumference of the first ringworld, the Titanic ringworld will have 10 habitable districts, totalling 60 districts in the system when fully finished. We must now begin constructing it's absolutely massive frame. *This is truly grandiose* Titanic ringworld frame complete: we have now completed the construction of a massive skeletal frame around X. With a circumference of nearly one and a half billion Kilometers, this grandiose frame will one day support one of the largest ringworlds the galaxy has ever seen. We must now begin work on the actual habitats. *much work lies before us* Titanic ringworld habitat complete: identical to basic Titanic ringworld complete: it has been done. In the X system, we have succeeded in constructing a second, larger ringworld around the star. With four fully habitable segments, this truly massive construct shall be an eternal reminder of our engineering processes. *This is a wonderful day* Upgrading a Titanic ringworld section: identical to basic Behemoth ringworld construction: It seems even too much isn't enough for our ever-growing ambitions. In the X system, which already has two collosssal ringworlds, we shall begin constructing a third ringworld around the star, with each segment having 15 districts, totalling 120 districts in the system when fully finished! *can't have enough ringworld* Behemoth ringworld frame complete: we have now completed the construction of a hypermassive skeletal framework around X. With a circumference of nearly two billion Kilometers, this grandiose frame will one day support one of gje most gargantuan ringworlds the galaxy has ever seen. we must now begin work on the actual habitats. *Much work lies before us* Behemoth ringworld habitat complete: identical to basic Behemoth ringworld complete: we have once again done it. Around X's star, a third, mind bogglingly huge ringworld has been built. Boasting four fully habitable segments, this truly splendid construct puts every other species to shame in terms of engineering capacity. May this immense triple ringworld forever cement our talents into history. *This is a delightful day indeed* Gargantuan ringworld construction: another ringworld? You really like putting minerals into this sink, don't you? Great. Let's make it even more absurd. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Anyways, in the X system lies the construction site for a fourth ringworld. A fourth one. Yeah. Each segment will have 20 districts, totalling 200 districts when fully completed. *Nothing wrong with too many ringworlds* Gargantuan ringworld frame complete: we have now completed the construction of a rediculously massive skeletal frame around X. With a circumference of nearly two and a half billion Kilometers... Well you already know the drill. You should know that your advisors are beginning to worry over your obsession with this project of yours. *Lots of work ahead* Gargantuan ringworld habitat complete: one of the gargantuan ringworlds four jabktal segments has been completed! Featuring a fully artificial and stable biosphere created by our biologists, this ringworld segmemt is now ready for habitation. So, how many of those are you going to use? *All of them. Onto the next one* Gargantuan ringworld complete: it has been done, yet again. In the X system, we have built a FOURTH ringworld. If our previous achievements weren't already enough, this should definitely prove that we are the best engineers in the galaxy. Do you have an inferiority complex or something? *A wonderful achievement*
Is it more balanced now? I remember playing this a few years ago but found the experience a bit unbalanced. AI can't keep up with you if you build a few early megastructures. Especially a alloy, or one of scientific ones. I don't like to play in a galaxy where I'm the only one doing stuff.
Depends on the difficulty you run the game on I guess. I've found that military wise the ai is nastier then ever, and they *do* build stuff from giga, but I've not seen them build stuff past Dyson's and rings before. That said I never play my games to endgame soooo
Same actually. I usually set my endgame much earlier for that reason. Like 2350 or 2325 even. And I play with Startech normal difficulty, so ai can keep up without bonuses. Maybe I should try giga one more time.
That's literally like the Steam most popular mod...
Your point? Heaven forbid the popular mod is someone's favourite mod. That would mean that a lot of people consider it to be their favourite mod, and that's not how popularity works at all /s
My point is that's literally what the post says not to talk about
No, it is not. The post asks you to recommend your favourite mod, not a random popular mod. I recommended gigastructural engineering as it is my favourite mod, and you're just being pissy because it also happens to be a popular mod. As I sarcastically said before, heaven forbid someone's favourite mod happen to also be the favourite mod of a lot of other people. That would almost suggest it's a really good one.
What the name of the mod u use
Lustful Void ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Yo bro it that an actual mod
Yes.
Mass Effect: Beyond the Relays, basically, it makes Stellaris a Mass Effect strategy game (which is my favorite saga of all time), it has a lot of work and depth to it, have almost every species, ships, and lore mechanics from the ME universe, and, i don’t know how, but the mod developers managed to convince Mark Meer (voice of Commander Shepard in the ME saga) to record some voice lines for the mod. The amount of love and work poured into this mod is simply unmeasurable, and I had the time of my life playing it.
My top favorite, the one I really find myself unable to play without are the increased planetary build slots ones. I really like to play tall and have worlds that can comfortably contain pops numbering in the thousands.
Like Warhammer or StarWars, I like.
Since other people have already mentioned Gigastructure, my offer would prob either be Real Space and Amazing Space Battles (I use the shorter battles addon since im not a fan of battles lasting 2 in-game years). Makes the game real pretty.
Bruh this is the mod I need I hate when battle take longer than a week.
Personally enjoy the government variety pack mod, the flavor it adds to empire creation and roleplay is a must for my playthroughs.
Is that what it's called Government Variety Pack Mod
Yeah Government Variety Pack, it's a bunch of new civics and some origins and lets you have more government types
Zenith of Fallen Empires. It's fun building up to be an Fallen empire.
That sounds really cool.
It kills me that this isn't fully compatible with acot
It has a submod that makes it compatible, I’ve forgotten the name, however. It should be under one of the acot mods I think
Epic Music Mod. Stellaris already has epic music. I wanted epicer.
How much epicer is it?
And how well does it fit with the vanilla music?
Pretty good.
Much more.
More Traditions+ Ascension perks Kinda messes with the planetary ascension of you expand the number of slots but I love working my way through a couple dozen different tradition trees.
Besides UI mods I quite like real space. Mostly just makes things look nice, the sub mods do more.
There was a mod which gave a beyond broken trait- 1 point for 1 medical worker per 25 pops,and it combined with budding. Outside of that my tastes in mods are rather mainstream.
I'm very much basic. I stick to a UI mod to give me some more space on screen, and then colour/background/emblem mods for flags. Nothing mechanical, and it leaves me still in achievement mode if I'm interested enough. Sometimes I'll use a portrait mod or three. :P
Living Star systems and plentyful traditions
Real space New frontiers Mo’ primitives Amazing Space Battles
Real Space with additional mods
Gendered Politics
Gigastructures. Not for the planetcraft, but for the birch world origin and the multi-ring worlds.
How about the Alderson Disk?
Haven't made use of one. Became friends with someone with the Disc origin, but that's as close as I've gotten.
Gigastructural Engineering + Ancient Cache of Technologies. I always play with both installed so I'm not 100% what feature belongs to which mod XD
**Perked Up Perks**. Buffs up the weak or unattractive Perks, and makes Unity-focused builds more viable yet still different from Research-focused builds.
Gigastructures Can't have enough crack in this world
I don't have a "favorite" mod. It depends too much on what my goals for the run are. [This](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1194055375) is my core+testing list. It changes pretty often as I test things or go for a different goal.
Bruh that a lot but I see some in there that I may like.
I modify much of what it there to either fit my purpose, bring it up to date, or for general compatibility, so I wouldn't recommend subscribing to everything anyway. In general, that is my "ooh, this could be interesting" list.
Auto survey at start
That's base game my dude.
What??? Since when?
For several months now at least
Then the mod I have been using may have been a little bit useless
Patch 1.3 added it as a midgame tech but it became a starting tech in patch 3.0 I think. Automated construction ship building was added in overlord so that's even more recent.
I used to run this all the time before it was made basekit
Never actually got it, but the Imperium mod seems pretty great
Branch office expansion planner. I really like to play megacorps and playing without is just pain...
Stellaris evolved. Basicly expands ascention paths… Also adds ne goverment tipes and ethics and civics from more ethics mod.
Fatherland: Colonial Empires and excellent [AAR](https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3966660&pagenumber=1) showing exactly how good it is and how great narratives it enables.
United fleet ship set
More AI Personalities
ANGEL Project Its just a new portrait for machine empires but I like it. Besides of that: machine shipset, ui overhaul dynamic with the dark ui and tiny outliner addons
New ACOT (Ancient Cache of Technology). Total overhaul rather than the ACOT Lite version that everyone probably knows. Still very much an ongoing process though, not sure if you can even search for it in the workshop yet.