Technology – Stellaris Wiki

Guardians are extremely powerful Spaceborne aliens added in various DLCs. They can be found in special predetermined systems and rival moons in size and mass. They are marked with a skull icon both in the fleet power box and on the galactic map, and the exact strength number can only be seen with debug mode on. Each guardian has a unique event chain. While one can just stumble over one during exploration, they can also be found with the help of the Curator Enclave. Guardians have an immense amount of health and should only be engaged mid-late game. Furthermore, as of version 3.4, guardians now have the ability to regenerate their health extremely quickly, making them much stronger than they were before.

Guardians get various bonuses to make them stronger based on the game difficulty. AI empires will only attack a guardian if their fleet power is at least 40k.

Empire with the  Reanimators or  Permanent Employment civic that kill an organic guardian will gain the option to issue a special project that costs 10000  society research to resurrect the guardian on their side. Reanimated guardians cannot be merged into fleets or be commanded by admirals, but they retain their original strength and power while taking up only 32 naval capacity, making them very useful even well into the late-game. Unlike conventional warships which consume energy and alloys, owned guardians must be kept fed and thus have a very high food upkeep.

A random system in the galaxy will have an asteroid belt containing 5 unique crystalline asteroids with deposits of 6-8  Minerals and 6 unselectable asteroids with one of them producing a chirping-like sound. Entering the system for the first time will display an event window hinting that there’s more to the system than meets the eye.

If the system is claimed with a Starbase the Asteroid Hives will awaken with the following MTTH based on the number of constructed mining stations:

The Asteroid Hives use only strike craft as their weapons. As a result carrier ships are the ideal counters as the Asteroid Hives have no point-defense themselves and launched strike craft will engage and destroy the enemy ones before attacking the guardians. In addition carrier ships have point defenses themselves.

Defeating all 6 Asteroid Hives will grant 500  Energy and 2000  Society research in addition to allowing the system to be safely mined.

A random system in the galaxy with two habitable worlds will be defended by the Automated Dreadnought, an ancient warship of old locked in patrol mode. The Automated Dreadnought uses regular ship components and can be countered appropriately.

Defeating the Automated Dreadnought gives the following two choices:

1. Salvage the dreadnought for 5000  Energy and  Minerals and 30x monthly (1000~5000)  Engineering research.
2. Issue a special project to repair and use it that costs 50000  Engineering research. Dreadnought is the same as listed above except that it loses Leviathan modifiers for Hull and Shields, but it revive 2 additional Hyper Shields. Its Jump Drive will be upgraded to a Psi Jump Drive if the empire has the technology. The components will not be able to be upgraded/changed even if better tech is available (jump drive included after fully repairing it). The player-controlled dreadnought is significantly weaker than the original, possessing only about 7k of fleet power.

A random black hole system in the galaxy will appear empty on sensors but reveal the Dimensional Horror when first entered, a nightmarish creature that entered only partially in the current dimension. The guardian cannot move but its tentacles can strike across the entire system. Its weapons ignore armor but do -75% damage to shields. The Dimensional Horror has equal amount of shields, armor and hull as well as no evasion, making the long-ranged Kinetic Artillery or size X weapons the ideal counter.

Defeating the Dimensional Horror will leave behind a dimensional rift with a special project that takes 140 days to be researched. Once examined, it will give the following rewards:

A random class A star system in the galaxy will house the Enigmatic Fortress, a massive space station guarded by numerous unique defense platforms. The Enigmatic Fortress uses regular components and can be countered appropriately. The installation consists of the following stations:

Defeating the Enigmatic Fortress will start a lengthy event chain that must be completed to gain its rewards. Letting the timer expire at any point will result in the vault repowering.

Successfully investigating the Enigmatic Fortress will grant 1000-5000  Research across all fields as well as unlock the Enigmatic Encoder and Enigmatic Decoder technologies.

A random class F star system in the galaxy will feature a Molten World called Dragon’s Hoard guarded by the Ether Drake, a dragon-like guardian the size of a moon. The Ether Drake uses only energy weapons that do -20% damage to shields and has high hull and armor but no shields itself. As a result, shielded fleets equipped with energy weapons are the ideal counter. Initially the Ether Drake will stay and guard Dragon’s Hoard but should it be attacked enough to lose 20% HP it will go to two random systems belonging to the attacker and destroy their starbases. After the Ether Drake leaves if the systems were colonized the starbases will be rebuild into frontier outposts. If the Ether Drake loses 85% HP it will stay or retreat to Dragon’s Hoard and heal.

Defeating the Ether Drake grants the following rewards:

A black hole system in the galaxy named Gargantua will house the Infinity Machine, the only guardian in the game that’s not hostile. At first no interaction with the Infinity Machine is possible but a year or two after being discovered the guardian will send a transmission and start a special project that requires 360 days and at least a level 3 scientist leader to be finished. Completing the special project allows the following options:

Alternatively the Infinity Machine can be attacked, forcing it to open and become aggressive. The guardian comes equipped with lasers, strike craft, heavy shields and regeneration components and has good evasion. As a result, shielded fleets using kinetic weapons are the ideal counter. Destroying the Infinity Machine will allow it to be broken down for 700-4000  Minerals and 250-500  Influence. Alternatively empires that are not  Gestalt Consciousness can study its nature to permanently unlock the next tier of  Mechanical Pop research. Destroying the Infinity Machine removes any empire modifier.

If the Horizon Signal event chain has been started entering the Gargantua system, whether it’s the first time or not, will have the Infinity Machine initiate contact and ask you for 800  Energy and  Minerals. Refusing with either of the two options will have the guardian ask again next time a ship enters the system. Accepting will have the Infinity Machine disappear like the Horizon Signal science ship and add a 10 Society Research deposit to Gargantua.

The Spectral Wraith is a guardian that can only appear during the mid-game years. A random pulsar in the galaxy when surveyed will reveal a unique Pulse Germination modifier. The first empire that surveys the pulsar will be shown an event window pointing to the date when the mid-game starts and hinting that is the system where the Spectral Wraith will spawn.

Unlike other guardians the Spectral Wraith is completely mobile and can travel anywhere in the galaxy. It will spawn in one of three colors: red, yellow or blue. In systems whose star has the same color (M for red wraiths, G for yellow wraiths, and A or B for blue wraiths) the Spectral Wraith will gain -50%  Armor and  Evasion. Other star types do NOT trigger this debuff, even if the color mentioned in the star’s description matches (e.g. Red Giants have no effect); and it also will not trigger in binary/trinary systems. Aside from the debuff, the color variation is purely cosmetic.

Combat:

• the hull has 20k Hitpoints, 10k Armor and a serious 75% Evasion. With aforementioned debuff reducing it to 5k Armor, 25% Evasion. Accordingly, small Energy Weapons offer the right amount of Tracking and Anti-Armor Ability, but with the high hull/armor ratio just about any weapon can work
• the Weapons deal 100% to hull, 200% to Armor, 50% to Shields, at 80% Accuracy, 75% Tracking
• Destroyers or Cruisers with small to medium guns and heavy shields or crystal plating should be ideal and available
• Defeating it is possible starting ~5k Fleet power, assuming a perfect countering built. With ~10k the player is able to defeat it trivially even with suboptimal conditions like large guns and a pulsar system. This makes it one of the weakest Leviathans, but in turn catching it is usually the issue.

Defeating the leviathan gives a permanent empire modifier with the following effects:

A random class M star system in the galaxy will appear empty on sensors but reveal the Stellar Devourer when entered, a glowing spaceborne entity that feeds upon stars. If the Stellar Devourer was engaged and did not lose at least 67% HP it will attack one of the attacker’s systems until the starbase is disabled and then stay for 90 days until retreating. If the system is colonized all planets will get −25% Happiness and  habitability until the guardian leaves.

The Stellar Devourer’s weapons are mostly energy and torpedoes, so shields and point defense are an effective counter. It has extremely high hull and point-defenses, but no armor or shields, making hull-damaging weapons such as plasma weapons and particle launchers the most effective counter.

Defeating the Stellar Devourer will give the option to issue a special project to investigate its remains that takes 60 days to be finished. Once examined it will give the following options:

1. Harvest the body’s energy deposits for a large bonus of 10,000  Energy, 2000  Minerals and 80  Influence.
2. Try to reignite the Sun in the leviathan’s home System. The Project has a 30% chance to kill the scientist and its ship but is guaranteed to turn the whole System more habitable: All Frozen Planets will become Arctic planets. All other planets undergo a temperature increase as well, rerolling them completely.

Xenophobe and Militarist empires have the option to instead gain the unique Stellar Devourer Trophy planetary feature ( 8  Unity, 5%  Happiness ) on the empire capital, as well as 500  influence.

A random planet in the galaxy might contain an archaeological site named The Broken Gates. It has 4 chapters, each one granting 1-5  Minor Artifacts. Upon completing the final chapter the Elder One will begin manifesting and the empire will get the choice to either prevent it and gain 350-10000  Engineering Research or release it. Releasing it will destroy the system identically to a Star-Eater and the Elder One will emerge but not become hostile. If let out the Elder One will contact the empire 10 days later and offer to rebuild the starbase of the destroyed system and grant an empire modifier that gives 6% Research Speed and −10% Growth Speed. Refusing will grant 150-300  Influence but the Elder One will become hostile.

The Elder One fights identically to the Dimensional Horror. If killed the empire modifier provided will be removed.

A randomly placed system with a wormhole will bring an event window when first entered, mentioning a signal coming out of the wormhole and hinting that this specific wormhole is different from the rest. Exploring the wormhole will reveal its connection to a trinary system in the galaxy with no hyperlane connections. Said system is guarded by a Corrupted Avatar (aka Psionic Entity). The Avatar uses only energy weapons that ignore armor but do -75% damage to shields. It has moderate hull and strong shields but no armor or PD, making missiles and strike craft very effective.

Defeating the Corrupted Avatar allows free access to the system, which contains a  Gaia World which when surveyed will reveal a level V anomaly. Investigating the anomaly grants access to the  Neural Tissue Engineering technology to organic empires or 300-1000  Society Research if  Machine Intelligence. The gas giant in the system will also have an  Exotic Gases deposit.

The Corrupted Avatar can be avoided by setting a science ship’s stance to passive and guiding it around the guardian. This approach does not allow colonizing the Gaia World but it does allow the research reward to be claimed.

If a Sentry Array has been completed the system housing the Corrupted Avatar can be seen but cannot be entered with Jump Drives until the system has been entered via the wormhole first.

Unlike other guardians the Corrupted Avatar will always be present if the required DLC is installed. Its system is accessible only via a wormhole which will appear even if wormholes were disabled on game startup.

In the  Utopia DLC Corrupted Avatars can also appear for 10 years following Shroud failures. They have the same stats but do not grant any reward upon being defeated.

A random system in the galaxy with a Gaia World and another habitable world will be home to the Tiyanki Matriarch, the eldest member of the species and the only one to be aggressive when approached. The Matriarch has two weapons – one that ignores armor and does -75% damage against shields and one that deals double damage against both shields and armor. It also has significant armor and very high hull but no shields and as a result should be engaged with energy weapons.

Defeating the Tiyanki Matriarch will breach the Galactic Law if the Tiyanki Conservation Act Resolution was passed and the empire is a member of the Galactic Community. Doing so will also incur a fine of −5000 Energy Credits.

Defeating the Tiyanki Matriarch gives the following rewards:

The Voidspawn is an unborn guardian, hidden within a size 20 Dry world orbiting a class G star. Within a year after colonizing a planet in the system, an event will mention how the dry world has a pulse. Within the next half a year the planet will change its appearance, add 30 Devastation and create 3 Rifts Blockers. Within another half a year one of two things will happen. Either the pulse will stop or the planet will once again change its appearance, add 30 Devastation and create 3 Rifts Blockers. Should the latter happen the Voidspawn will hatch in a few months, destroying the colony and turning the planet into a Cracked World with a 20  Society Research deposit. A month later it becomes hostile.

The Voidspawn uses only guided weapons. It has high hull and armor but no shields, making energy weapons effective against it.

Defeating the guardian grants 600-6000  Unity and brings the option to start a special project to research what was left of the egg planet that takes 140 days and grants the Gargantuan Evolution technology.

If the Voidspawn did not hatch the planet will return to its original appearance once all Rifts Blockers are removed.

A random class M Red Giant star system will contain an ancient battlefield debris field patrolled by the Scavenger Bot, an ancient construct constantly scrounging the debris field for new parts.

The guardian uses only guided weapons. It uses equal amounts of shields and armor but has no point-defense and barely any evasion, making both guided weapons and strike craft very effective against it.

Defeating the Scavenger Bot grants the Nanite Repair System technology, as well as two random tier V component techs or a large amount of  Engineering research if all techs were already researched.

Additionally the system has two broken worlds that bring in a total 20  Minerals and 1  Nanites when mined.

Shard is a guardian that fights identically to the Ether Drake. She appears upon the conclusion of the Kleptomaniac Rats Archaeology Site excavation.

If the Relic World is colonized, Shard will destroy the colony in two years if she’s not defeated.

As the excavation already requires claiming the system, the starbase can be upgraded into a bastion citadel in preparation for the fight. Alternatively the final Chapter of the site can be delayed to better prepare technologically.

If Shard spawns adjacent to a Fallen Empire, it will send a fleet to defeat her, rendering the Rubricator unobtainable.

Defeating her grants the Rubricator Relic.

All empires with the  Here Be Dragons origin will start the game with a Sky Dragon guardian. The guardian is allied with the owner of its system and can only be attacked by empires who are at war with the system owner.

Between 6.5 and 13.5 years after the the game has started the owner of the system will get a notification that the Sky Dragon is hungry and be given the option to let it land on the capital, refuse or observe.

Feeding the Sky Dragon takes 14-16 years, during which the capital will gain the Feeding Dragon planetary feature. When feeding is complete the empire will be given a reward to choose between a small amount of  Research or 1000  Energy and 100  Exotic Gases. The Sky Dragon will not protect the system while feeding but if another empire attempts to invade the planet the guardian will cancel feeding and protect the system.

If the system owner researches at least 2  Society and 2  Engineering technologies during the first 13-49 years it will gain the option to issue one of two special projects:

After either special project has completed and the empire has established communications with at least 70% of the galaxy a first contact will be established with the Sky Dragon. Finishing the first contact grants 150  Influence and an increased amount of  Unity.

After establishing first contact with the Sky Dragon, and picking 6 ascension perks, or 4 ascension perks including a phase 2 ascension path perk, the guardian will ask the empire to help raise its children. Refusing will grant 500  Influence but the Sky Dragon will disappear. If the offer is accepted the empire will gain control of Sky Dragon and unlock the Dragon Hatchery starbase building.

An empire that kills the Sky Dragon will gain access to the  Artificial Dragonscales research option. If the technology has already been obtained from the Ether Drake it will instead grant 100-4000  Minerals and 1000-100000  Society research. If an Admiral was leading the fleet that defeated it, it will gain the Dragonslayer trait.

The Sky Dragon uses only energy weapons and armor and as a result ships equipped with shields and energy weapons are the ideal counter.

Planetary management involves district creation, building construction, and assigning a workforce for resource production to maintain peace and order, manage population growth, and set up garrisons for planetary defense.

Planets are, without a doubt, a vital part of a stellar empire because they provide the overwhelming majority of resources and the population required for an empire to grow and prosper. If a planet is managed properly, it could provide the needs of its populace and the demands of its empire and if an empire has a large collection of prosperous, productive planets within its borders, it can quite easily be seen as a successful empire.

Stability is a measure of the overall stability of a world, either socio-political or in terms of drone functionality, and is influenced by a large number of factors such as happiness, housing, amenities and crime or deviancy. It ranges from 0 to 100 and has a base level of 50.

Low stability can give a planet one of the following modifiers once every 2 years. Modifiers that require slaves can be removed instantly by discontinuing slavery.

If a colony’s stability decreases below 10, a rebellion can take place. If the rebel armies are defeated the world will get 20 stability for 10 years. If the rebel armies win the rebel colony will take control of the system’s starbase and every other colony present in the system and create a rebel empire with −100 opinion. This empire will often be annexed by a hostile empire nearby.

Stability can be increased by the following:

Stability is also increased by 10 on all human player worlds if the game difficulty is set to Cadet and by 5 for all AI player worlds for each difficulty step above Ensign.

Crime and Deviancy are measures of the overall level of non-compliance in the population of a world. Crime and Deviancy are produced by any Pop, ranging from 0 at 100% Happiness to 2 at 0% Happiness. While Unemployment does not increase Crime or Deviancy it can add modifiers that cause them if measures aren’t taken. Crime and Deviancy are reduced by certain Jobs as well as Governor leaders. Non-sentient  mechanical pops in an organic empire and mechanical pops integrated into a  Machine Intelligence empire do not produce crime or deviancy, despite counting as 50% happiness for the purpose of approval rating.

Every year one of the following modifiers can be added as long as the requirements are met. Another modifier cannot be added for the next 10 years. Alternatively 15 Devastation can be added instead of a modifier. Once a planet has below 10 Crime or Deviancy all modifiers will be removed after 15 years. The timer is reduced by 50% for each  Enforcer or  Hunter-Seeker Drone Job. All modifiers are also removed if a planet changes ownership.

Decisions represent planet-wide undertakings. Most decisions have a cost to be used, either when taking the decision or when agreeing to the deal that made the decision available in the first place. Some decisions also take some time to implement, from a few days up to 10 years; these decisions go into the planet’s construction queue, and can be paused and resumed by reordering like other constructions.

The following decisions will terraform the world to a new class.

The following decisions each add a permanent or temporary planet modifier.

The Consecrate World decision requires the  Consecrated Worlds ascension perk and can only be used on up to 3 uncolonized planets at the same time at the cost of 500  unity. It can be canceled at any time for the same cost and if taken again the result will be re-rolled. When the decision is taken the empire will gain a Consecrated modifier and give the empire the following bonuses:

Consecrating a  Holy World gives a cumulative 30 Opinion with the Holy Guardians fallen empire.