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This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only.
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
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 3.9. |
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 | |||||||||
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Ancient Mining Drones![]() |
Cost: 2000 ![]() ![]() |
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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 ![]() ![]() If the |
Ancient Mining Drones use regular components. The Cutting Lasers can be salvaged.
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Crystalline Entities![]() |
Cost: 2000 ![]() ![]() OR ![]() |
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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. |
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Space Amoeba![]() |
Cost: 2000 ![]() ![]() OR ![]() |
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Migratory | Always called Amor Alveo, its various celestial body deposits produce in total 8 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Void Clouds![]() |
Cost: 2000 ![]() ![]() |
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Stationary | Always called Great Wound, it is a black hole cluster guarded by 3 Void Cloud fleets. Most black holes have deposits of 4 ![]() ![]() |
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Tiyanki Space Whales![]() |
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Already | Migratory | Always called Tiyana Vek, it contains 4 Gas Giants. Each one has a deposit of ![]() ![]() Have a secondary system always called Tiyun Ort, its various celestial body deposits produce 6 |
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.
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Seed pods[]
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Available only with the Plantoids DLC enabled. |
Non-hostile space fauna fleets that feed at starbases or orbital rings with a Garden building will be loaded with
Seed Pods. Hovering oven 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 |
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Nomads[]

The nomad fleet
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 3.9. |
- 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.[1][2]
- ×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
- ×0 If the system owner doesn't control an uncolonized
- 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 |
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Enigmatic Cache[]

Enigmatic Cache
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 3.9. |
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Available only with the Distant Stars DLC enabled. |
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[]
- ↑ Because of differences between the planet classes the Nomads look for when triggering the event and the planet classes they actually can actually choose to colonize, this event may fail if you have an available
Tundra or
Continental world but not one of the classes the Nomads can use.
- ↑ It's possible for the Nomads to colonize a Spiritualist fallen empire's holy world this way, resulting in a very short-lived empire.
Exploration | Exploration • FTL • Anomaly • Archaeological site • Relics • Pre-FTL species • Fallen empire • Events • Spaceborne aliens • Enclaves • Guardians • Marauders • Caravaneers |
Celestial bodies | Celestial body • Colonization • Terraforming • Planetary features • Planet modifiers |
Species | Species • Traits • Population • Pop modification • Species rights • Ethics • Leader |
Governance | Empire • Origin • Government • Civics • Policies • Edicts • Factions • Technology • Traditions • Situations |
Economy | Resources • Planetary management • Districts • Buildings • Holdings • Jobs • Designation • Trade • Megastructures |
Diplomacy | Diplomacy • Relations • Galactic community • Federations • Subject empires • Intelligence • AI personalities |
Warfare | Warfare • Space warfare • Land warfare • Starbase • Ship • Ship designer • Crisis |
Others | The Shroud • L-Cluster • Unique systems • Preset empires • AI players • Easter eggs |