Hello everyone and welcome to another Stellaris development diary. Today's dev diary is the second part on the 1.6 'Adams' update, with a couple more breakdowns of features we wanted to highlight for the update. Additionally, we're also going to post the full 1.6 patchnotes, along with an announcement of the release of 1.6 'Adams' on Tuesday, May 9th, the 1-year anniversary of Stellaris' release! Save games from 1.5 should be fine to be continued in 1.6, but we will as always provide the ability to roll back your game to 1.5 if you experience any issues with your save. Devouring Swarm A new addition in 1.6 for those with Utopia is the Devouring Swarm civic. This civic represents a Hive Mind that is hell-bent on consuming or absorbing all other life in the galaxy and has no use for diplomacy with those that are not part of the Hive. Devouring Swarms have the same diplomatic restrictions with other species applied that Fanatic Purifiers do, and will effectively be unable to conduct any diplomacy besides wars and insults. Like Fanatic Purifiers, they get no additional tradition cost from alien Pops and get a boost to society research for each Pop they devour. They also get significant boosts to Army Damage, Ship Hull Points, Society Research and have a small amount of constant hull regeneration on their ships. We have also fixed regular Hive Minds so they can choose to displace rather than devour non-Hive Mind Pops.
Terraforming Enhancements Another new addition to 1.6 is the 'Ecological Adaptation' technology that can be researched after Atmospheric Manipulation and allows for terraforming of inhabited worlds. Terraforming an inhabited planet will leave the sentient population alive, but give them slight happiness penalties while the process is underway. You can still only terraform planets that are either owned by you or uninhabited but within your borders. Additionally, for those with Utopia we have also made some slight adjustments to the World Shaper perk. When it is taken, you will immediately unlock the Atmospheric Manipulation technology (if that technology is not already researched) and will be more likely to have other, more advanced terraforming technologies be available for research.
And now, without further ado, here are the full patchnotes of 1.6. Due to them being too long to fit in a Steam announcement, we must ask you to go to our official forums. [quote]Useful links Official Website Stellaris Wiki Stellaris Development Diary Archive