Spaceborne aliens

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This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only.

Spaceborne aliens

Spaceborne aliens

Enclaves

Guardians

Marauders

Caravaneers

Spaceborne aliens range from non-sentient, space-dwelling creatures to gargantuan leviathans to alien enclaves, including the warlike marauders. Spaceborne aliens are likely be the first encounter for newly spacefaring species. Mechanically, each type of spaceborne alien is considered a special type of empire, though exempt from many of the game's usual rules. Spaceborne aliens have increased stats based on the difficulty settings.

Space fauna

Humanoid science ships encountering a pacified Space Amoeba Mother

Space creatures are entities which may not even classify as ships or life in the common meaning of the words. They generally inhabit a certain area of space and are seldom seen away from it. Upon First Contact completion a special project will be added to the situation log, which when completed will allow an empire to deal with them in three ways:

• Researching unlocks a special project for detailed research that will grant a choice between an empire modifier and possibly a creature technology.
• Hunting will grant a +33% damage bonus empire modifier towards that type of Space Creature, and resources rewards upon killing them. If the creatures cannot be pacified the option is available to all empires, otherwise it is only available to Militarist, Xenophobe and Genocidal empires.
• Pacify will unlock a special project that costs 5000 Physics research and allows an empire to turn the space creatures non-hostile and unlock the ability to research all special components the creatures use. Only 2 of the 5 Space Creatures can be pacified. This option is available to Pacifist, Xenophile, Empath or Rogue Servitor empires. If the Galactic Community is formed the Space Amoeba pacification modifier can be offered to all members by passing the Space Amoeba Protection Act Resolution.

If killed, space creatures will slowly respawn in their home system.

Space Creatures	Research option bonuses	Hunting	Pacifying	Type	Home System	Tactics
Ancient Mining Drones	Cost: 2000 Engineering research +10% Mining Station Minerals			Can expand	Contains 2 normal mining stations and the Home Base Ore Grinder. Each station is guarded by two fleets, one purely destroyers and one made of drones. Destroying Home Base Ore Grinder grants 4000 Minerals and 500 Alloys. If the Ancient Relics DLC is installed it also grants the Surveyor Relic.	Ancient Mining Drones use regular components. The Cutting Lasers can be salvaged. Mining Drone Combat Drone Destroyer Base 2 Cutting Laser 1 Armor T1 1 Armor T1 Reactor T2 Thrusters T2 Sensor T1 1 Cutting Laser 2 Cutting Laser 1 Armor T1 2 Armor T1 Reactor T2 Thrusters T2 Sensor T1 2 Cutting Laser 2 Cutting Laser 1 Armor T1 3 Armor T1 Reactor T2 Thrusters T2 Sensor T1 2 Laser T5 3 Strike Craft 5 Armor T1 Reactor T2 Sensor T1
Crystalline Entities	Cost: 2000 Physics research +5% Energy from Jobs OR Crystal-Infused Plating tech			Can expand	Contains Crystal Nidus, a large crystalline structure guarded by 4 elite fleets. The system can be safely explored and claimed if the crystalline entities have been pacified. As their home system has a pulsar, shields will be useless when attacking it.	Defensively: Armor or shields - their shard weapons deal +50% damage against hull but have no other bonus Offensively: Plasma launchers, mining lasers, or lasers - Crystalline Entities have resilient and regenerating hulls, but no shields or armor Unique salvage: Crystal-Infused Plating from ships, Crystal-Forged Plating from Crystal Nidus, both are the only hull increasing components in the game.
Space Amoeba	Cost: 2000 Society research +5% Evasion OR Regenerative Hull Tissue tech			Migratory	Always called Amor Alveo, its various celestial body deposits produce in total 8 Energy, 12 Minerals, 6 Society, 3 Exotic Gases, 3 Volatile Motes and 2 Rare Crystals.	Defensively: Shields and point defense - their weapons deal +25% damage against armor and large amoeba launch strike craft Offensively: Energy weapons - Space Amoeba have natural armor and regenerate Unique salvage: Amoeba Flagella, strike craft almost as strong as Tier 2 Improved Strike Craft
Void Clouds	Cost: 2000 Physics research +10% Physics from Jobs			Stationary	Always called Great Wound, it is a black hole cluster guarded by 3 Void Cloud fleets. Most black holes have deposits of 4 Physics and the central one contains the largest Dark Matter deposit in the galaxy. The system should be attacked with a highly superior force due to the effects of black holes on space battles.	Defensively: Crystal plated hulls if available - their weapons ignore both shields and armor. Their erratic damage can sometimes destroy Corvettes in one hit. Offensively: Missiles and Autocannons - Void Clouds have equal amounts of natural shields and hull Unique salvage: Cloud Lightning, L weapons that ignore both shields and armor
Tiyanki Space Whales	Frequency Tuning tech		Already	Migratory	Always called Tiyana Vek, it contains 4 Gas Giants. Each one has a deposit of 6 society. The star itself always has a deposit of 6 physics. Have a secondary system always called Tiyun Ort, its various celestial body deposits produce 6 Physics and 3 Volatile Motes. The ice asteroid Zhaduva contains a level 3 anomaly that will add another deposit of 3 Society. The unique world Orek Vuul contains the archaeology site Tiyanki Grave Mound.	Tiyanki fleets can consist of Cows, Bulls, Calves and Hatchlings. They are not hostile unless attacked. Regenerative Hull Tissue can be salvaged. Orek Vuul contains four Tiyanki Ox guards. Bull and Cow Calf and Hatchling Loadout 5 Energy Siphon 1 Regenerative Hull Tissue 3 Energy Siphon 1 Regenerative Hull Tissue Kill rewards 500 Energy 50 Exotic Gases 250 Energy 25 Exotic Gases

Seed pods

The core function of Seed pods is that Tiyanki will randomly seed planets they pass allowing you to colonize such a planet for 3000 credits, without claiming the system or building a colony ship. A pop will be grown that includes any modifications to your base species, including Synthetic Ascension.

Non-hostile space fauna fleets that feed at starbases or orbital rings with a Garden building will be loaded with Seed Pods. Hovering over a space fauna fleet that carries Seed Pods on the galaxy map or selecting it will show a Seed Pods icon. Space fauna can carry the seeds from multiple Fruitful Partnership empires, in which case whose seeds make planetfall is determined at random. When a fleet with Seed Pods orbits a habitable world the following will happen:

• If the world in uncolonized it will gain the  Dormant Seed Pods modifier and the owner of the starbase or orbital ring where the space fauna fleet fed will gain an Open Seed Pods special project. The project costs 3000 Energy and takes only a month to finish and completing it will colonize the world. The opportunity is lost if another empire colonized the world.
• if the world is colonized by another empire before or after the seeds are dropped the colony will gain a Pop from the main species of the Fruitful Partnership empire and a modifier that grants colony bonuses but gives all empires with the Fruitful Partnership origin at war with the world's owner a special project that costs 500 Energy to summon armies on the planet. The empire owning the colony will gain +50 Opinion with the Fruitful Partnership empire. If the two empires did not complete a First Contact they will instantly establish communications.
• If the world is colonized by the Fruitful Partnership empire with a colony ship it will gain an additional Pop.

VLUUR

VLUUR is a powerful migrating Void Cloud that has around 32K fleet power and is armed with 8 Cloud Lighting weapons. For as long as VLUUR is in a system it will cause a storm that causes −50% sublight speed and −15% fire rate on ships. VLUUR moves to a new system every 4-7 years.

VLUUR is not hostile but can be attacked. It has powerful shields and high evasion, but low hull, and can be defeated deceptively easily with missile weapons. Defeating VLUUR grants 100 dark matter, and creates various deposits of 1-3 dark matter on up to 4 planets in the system it's defeated in.

Bemat Thalassocracy

The Bemat Thalassocracy is a hostile fleet that can appear after the end-game year is reached. It appears in a system owned by an empire that produces at least 180 trade value. The fleet is made up of the following ships:

40 corvettes	35 destroyers	34 cruisers
1 Kinetic T3 1 Plasma T1 1 Disruptor T1 2 Shield T2 1 Afterburners T2 1 Shield Capacitor Jump Drive Thrusters T4 Sensors T2 Reactor T5 Combat Computer T1	1 Plasma T3 1 Plasma T3 3 Laser T5 4 Shield T4 2 Armor T3 1 Shield Capacitor Jump Drive Thrusters T3 Sensors T2 Reactor T5 Combat Computer T2 (Line)	1 Missiles T5 2 Swarmer Missiles T1 2 Disruptor T2 2 Plasma T3 2 Kinetic T3 5 Shield T4 3 Armor T3 1 Auxiliary Fire Control 1 Nanite Repair System Jump Drive Thrusters T3 Sensors T2 Reactor T5 Combat Computer T2 (Artillery)

Nomads

The nomad fleet

Nomads are replaced by Caravaneers if the MegaCorp DLC is enabled.

The Nomads, or Namarians as they call themselves, are a passive millennia old intergalactic race with no homeworld, forever traveling the void in their starships. Once they establish communications with an empire, the nomads help establish communications between any encountered empires that haven't discovered each other yet. They travel from system to system during their temporary stay in the galaxy, and eventually set sail for another galaxy. Events related to them can take place during their stay.

The date when and if the Nomads arrive is rolled at game start, with the following chances per human player:

• 20% chance to appear after 7,300 to 7,800 days (roughly 20.28 to 21.67 years)
• 25% chance to appear after 14,600 to 15,100 days (roughly 40.56 to 41.94 years)
• 25% chance to appear after 20,075 to 20,575 days (roughly 55.76 to 57.15 years)
• 30% chance to not trigger (they may still appear if another human player rolls them)

If more than one player triggers the Nomads, they spawn a single time on the earliest rolled date.

When they arrive, the Nomads spawn in a random non-hostile rim system that no regular empire has more than low intel on. Upon appearing, they decide the midpoint and endpoint systems of their journey.

• Midpoint: A random non-hostile system with a distance of 250 to 500 from their starting system. If no such system exists, they choose a system with a distance of 150 to 500, whether or not it's hostile.
• Endpoint: A random rim system with a distance of 400 to 1450 from their starting system. If no such system exists, they choose a system with a distance of 250 to 1450.

On their journey, Nomads perform an action on entering a system. Those actions depends on if the system has an owner and what their relationship with the owner is. If the system is owned by an empire they haven't contacted and isn't hostile to them, they start orbiting a random planet in the system until contact is established. The system owner is unable to decipher their communications, but contact is always established after 100 days. After contact is established, they send the owner a request. If they enter another system owned by the same empire, they roll for a request again. Each interaction has the following chances:

• 30% - Ask to leave some pops on an owned planet within the empire's borders. If the empire agrees, three Egalitarian Namarian pops spawn on a random Arid, Desert, or Savannah colony. A colony is 6 times as likely to be chosen if it has more than 0 free housing and 11 times as likely to be chosen if it has more than 1 free housing. Namarians are immortal and have the Desert Preference, Nomadic, Venerable, and Natural Engineers traits.
  • ×0 If the system owner does not have a colony on a Dry planet
  • ×0 If the system owner is a Hive Mind
  • ×0.75 If they've already left pops with the system owner
  • ×1.5 If they haven't left pops with the system owner yet and the system owner is some degree of Xenophile, Egalitarian, or Spiritualist
  • ×0.3 If the system owner's slavery policy is set to Allowed
• 30% - Ask for an uncolonized planet to colonize, forming a new empire. If the empire agrees, they gain 150 to 300 influence and a random uncolonized Arid, Desert, Tropical, Ocean, or Gaia world within their borders becomes the capital of a new single-system Namarian empire. The new empire has Democratic authority, the Egalitarian, Spiritualist, and Xenophile ethics, random civics, and a decaying +100 opinion modifier towards the empire. The new empire starts with 14 Egalitarian Namarian pops that have their climate preference trait changed to match their new planet, 1000 energy and minerals, and 500 influence. Because they start with no other resources, no buildings, and no districts, this new empire immediately starts suffering from food and consumer goods deficits, housing shortages, and unemployment.
  • ×0 If the system owner doesn't control an uncolonized Tundra, Arid, Desert, Tropical, Continental, or Gaia world in an uninhabited system.
  • ×0 If the system owner is a Hive Mind
  • ×0.5 If they've already colonized a planet from any empire
  • ×1.75 If they haven't colonized a planet yet and the system owner is some degree of Xenophile, Egalitarian, or Spiritualist
• 30% - Sell 5 or 15 Cruisers.
  • ×0 If the system owner already was offered ships
  • ×0.25 If the system owner is Fanatic Militarist or Fanatic Xenophobe
  • ×0.5 If they already sold ships to an empire
  • ×1.75 If they haven't sold ships to anyone yet and the system owner is some degree of Xenophile, Egalitarian, or Spiritualist
• 10% - Move on with no request.

If the system has no owner, isn't hostile, and isn't the mid- or endpoint of their journey, they perform a peaceful action with the following chances:

• 10% - Repair fleet and build new ships.
  • ×10 If under 3k Fleet Power
  • ×5 If under 5k Fleet Power
  • ×0 If over 10k Fleet Power or have built new ships within the last 120 days
• 80% - Pick a random planet and wait in orbit for 40–50 days. Afterwards, they have a 25% chance to move on and 75% chance to pick another planet in the system to orbit. They orbit a maximum of three planets this way before moving on.
  • ×0 If less than 1.5k Fleet Power
• 10% - Move on without doing anything.

While the Nomads are inherently peaceful, a fight can be picked in order to get access to their technology. Nomads are easy prey but their technology is just average by midgame, making this rarely useful. The nomad fleet consists of the following:

20 Protectors	3 Ark Ships
1 Laser T4 2 Point-Defense T2 2 Armor T3 1 Shields T3 Hyperdrive T3 Thrusters T3 Sensors T3 Reactor T4 Combat Computer T3 (Picket)	Hyperdrive T3 Thrusters T3 Sensors T3 Reactor T4

Enigmatic Cache

Enigmatic Cache

The Enigmatic Cache, or BALDOR as it calls itself, is a tubular entity that emerges from any Gateway or L-Gate once the mid-game year is reached, if any player empire is at peace, and sets course for the nearest empire that is not at war. Upon taking damage to its hull, it instantly teleports away to the closest system with a Gateway or L-Gate.

Once the Enigmatic Cache enters an empire's borders, it starts orbiting each one of the empire's colonies for a decade. As long as it orbits a colony, it gives it a +30% research output modifier to the colony, but also −10% happiness to any pops with the Xenophobe ethic. The first time the Enigmatic Cache orbits an empire's colony, the empire receives the option of issuing a special project to study it or leave it alone and gain 50 influence. The special project costs 2500 engineering research and finishing it refunds 90-250 engineering research and grants an L-Gate insight, if the empire has discovered an L-Gate. Once all colonies have been scanned, the Enigmatic Cache sets course for the nearest empire and repeats the process.

Enigmatic Uplifting

After all colonies in the galaxy have been scanned, the Enigmatic Cache goes to the capital of a biological empire that did not attack it and requests to uplift the main species via a special project that takes 2 years. In multiplayer, the human player with the lowest relative power is chosen, random if tied. In singleplayer, the player empire is always chosen.

Enigmatic Dreams

If main species doesn't have Intelligent or Quick Learners, 60 to 80 days into the project there is a 50% chance to be given the choice between aborting the uplift or adding the Fatigued modifier ( −30% resources from jobs) on 60 random non-robotic main species pops that have one of the following jobs:

The modifier lasts until the uplift process is completed or aborted.

Alert

130 to 170 days into the project, the empire is notified that the Enigmatic Cache is deteriorating. 4 random non-robotic main species pops (with the same job restrictions as Enigmatic Dreams) gain the Vegetable modifier ( −80% resources from jobs) until the uplift is completed or aborted, and the player is offered the following options:

• Abort the uplift, causing the Enigmatic Cache to teleport away and never return.
• Ignore it. Once the project is complete, the 4 pops with the Vegetable modifier gain the Unlifted trait ( −60% research), all other non-robotic main species pops gain the Somewhat Uplifted trait ( +10% research), and all of them gain the PTSD modifier ( −20% happiness) for 10 years. The Enigmatic Cache remains in orbit above the capital and permanently gives its research output modifier.
• Issue a special project to repair the Enigmatic Cache with a construction ship. Once the uplift is complete, if the repair project was finished, the main species gains the Uplifted trait ( +10% researcher output and +25% leader experience gain) and lose the Slow Learners trait. The Enigmatic Cache also remains in orbit above the capital and permanently gives its research output modifier. If any pops from the main species didn't have the Intelligent or Quick Learners trait, there's a 75% chance they gain the Ignorance is Bliss modifier ( −10% happiness) for 10 years.
• If the main species is a Hive Mind with the Erudite trait, Uplifted will not be applied as it is apparently incompatible.

Note: The traits do not give unique bonuses to leaders despite the tooltips saying they do.

References

Game concepts