Stellaris Cloaking Explained & Pre-FTL Civics

[@lakdav]

The fact that there is Dark Matter-based cloaking suggests Fallen Empire cloaked fleets. Awakened Empire cloaked fleets. That is scary.

[@jimyvanloock3510]

They might have fleets ready and you'll never know because they're cloaked and you'll misjudge how powerful they are and suddenly you make a mistake, rouse their anger, and suddenly the space you have near them are under attack because *their fleets were there and you NEVER KNEW!*

[@isuckatusernames4297]

would expalain how they magically gain fleets when awakening

[@Hession0Drasha]

I guess it will depend on how proud they are, as to whether they feel the need to use it. It makes sense to me that warrior cultures would see it as dishonourable.

[@justinthompson6364]

​@I suck at usernames I assumed they just had a bunch of mothballed ships lying around. It would make sense for a fallen empire to have a bunch of ships from their height they weren't maintaining in storage somewhere.

[@lakdav]

@@Hession0Drasha An alien's sense of honour might be greatly different. If they evolve from an ambusher predatory species, a well-laid trap might just be the most honorable military achievement

[@KaiObelisk]

While psionic ascension probably doesn't need this in a meta sense, it definitely needed it in a roleplaying sense. Using the power of the shroud to get the best cloaking just makes so much sense. We've come a long, long way from Spiritualist and Psionic being underpowered haven't we?

[@Jenna_Talia]

I'm so glad to see it too cause I love having spiritualist empires. Roleplaying as psychics is so cool.

[@fabucla]

@@Jenna_Talia I'm just very disappointed, it is tangled so heavily with religion in Stellaris.

[@Jenna_Talia]

@@fabucla yeah. One thing Stellaris doesn't tackle is "oh, our gods don't exist. Instead there's these eldritch beings in the shroud..." No religious nation would live with that and cope easily. Like you'd think spiritualism is tied with religion, and it is, but in Stellaris it's purely the concept of the soul and the ability to be psychic.

[@thechazz3230]

@@Jenna_Talia It's so goddamn annoying that you can't design your own religion after picking Spiritualist in The Empire Designer. Or upon making my Ruler The Chosen One, have him be the center of worship. Hell why can't I make a religion based around turning my Ruler into my Empire's into a literal God Emperor beyond just the name. By attempting to Ascend him into a Shroud Entity in and of itself. Like the mother fucker he's literally named after? Imagine being able to forcefully convert other religious Empires via Crusades, and having special casus beli on Empires that worship Shroud Entities for being heretics. Once again, like the fucking setting all of The Shroud and Psionics are directly ripped from.

[@thechazz3230]

@Fabu Cla The fact that A soul and afterlife exist are intrinsically linked with religion. No society aware of those two would ever not be a religious one.

[@raideurng2508]

Psi-Phase Field Generator: This allows the ship to remain undetected by all but the best sensor arrays, though what the crew may be forced to witness is better left unsaid." Let's hope those psi-shields keep out the impossible horrors that will drive you to madness at a glance. I'm sure we'll be ok.

[@MontuPlays]

NO ONE IS SAFE FROM THE WARP *Screeching* *Static* Sorry, about that folks. We seem to have had a minor audio glitch.

[@MediumRareOpinions]

Where we're going we won't need eyes to see...

[@Nomadic_Gaming]

@@MontuPlays do pulsars/quasars/black holes lower or nullify cloaks like they do shields sublight speed etc since nebulas increase it

[@TheRealWormbo]

@@Nomadic_Gaming The dev diary did not say anything about that, only that the environmental effects of nebular actually boost cloaking strength. So if your choke point is in a nebula, forget about that cloak detection option, it's not going to work.

[@Nomadic_Gaming]

@@TheRealWormbo yeah but y choke point a nebula vs a pulsar or black hole shield negation or sublight and escape nerfs w a giga fortress station and a decent fleet make the best choke points because u have lowered speed for high range weapons todo work or shield negation allows for certain focusing of weapons and defense parts to make battles simpler nebula was always ok for ambushing fleets sure but not as good of a choke point station

[@RedGearZ96]

Having science ships gather intel on enemy planets is a great idea and way to use science ships mid game. I like to have loads in the early game to trigger as many anomalies as possible for resources but are left with 5 or 6 doing nothing later on i end up disbanding them. So this is a welcomed change.

[@hankrearden5460]

Do you not just have them "Research Assist" That's what i normally do with them.

[@stevenbart2375]

​@@hankrearden5460 But how many tech worlds do you usually have by then? For me, at least half my science ships just end up as clutter on my outlier...

[@RedGearZ96]

@@hankrearden5460 i do that but still have 4 or 5 left over. I put the spare ships on auto research until every system is surveyed then they are just kind of useless doing nothing i sometimes use them as spy ships to see whats happening in a part of the map so this new update goes well with that strategy.

[@OnlineKenji]

Yeah same. I only have so many research worlds/dig-sites, and usually way more science ships.

[@SaAleer]

The toxic god star system has 100% armour nullification. Unfortunately the single one star system with this modifier.

[@hjblom93]

I'm really glad subterfuge is getting a buff via the new cloaking mechanic.

[@Griffolion0]

I think they really missed a trick by not allowing a mixed cloaked/revealed fleet. Imagine only having a small contingent of cruisers and battleships revealed and the enemy attacks thinking they outmatch you only for you to reveal a bunch of torpedo corvettes and destroyers. Baiting the enemy into a trap would be such cool gameplay.

[@peterknutsen3070]

Set those small-ship fleets to follow your heavy fleet.

[@marshallpaulikens5017]

​@@peterknutsen3070 That's a workaround to a shortcoming. OP has a good point about sending in a small fleet of a few cruisers and battleships, only for said fleet to be attacked and Corvettes and destroyers to ambush The attackers.

[@TheRewasder97]

Yes, or being able to have the frigates cloacked to be able to sneak their torpedoes but keeping the rest of the fleet without cloacking debuffs.

[@TheIT221]

I mean it’d be a lot more micromanaging, but couldn’t you split the fleet?

[@christianmoore7932]

@@marshallpaulikens5017 feel like 2 different fleets are better

[@kompav5621]

I sure hope whoever uses Psi-Phase Field Generators don't forget to turn their Gellar shields on.

[@peterknutsen3070]

5:57 It says “per tier of Planetary Cpital”. This means that if the planet has a tier-3 Capital then you should get +30% speed and +60 Intel. At least that’s what it sounds like to me.

[@jameshildebrand907]

I hope there is an alternative tech for cloaking. Fleet spoofing. You present a false fleet power, either higher or lower than actual.

[@TheBronzeDog]

Never played the game, but I think there was an indie air combat game inspired by Ace Combat that included some electronic warfare like that: Modules for creating radar decoys and duplicates of your craft to confuse the enemy, along with appropriate countermeasures for all sorts of military mind games if you wanted to do something other than straight dogfights.

[@justjackmarstonwithinternet]

I saw someone say something like this I cant wait to be like oh heck yeah this fleets weak I'ma take it out and then like a fleet of battleships just uncloaks

[@jameshildebrand907]

@@TheBronzeDog I know in Gratuitous Space Battles there was a module to project fake ships to attract munitions and targeting. Was a great strategy in that game.

[@MrMirageCaster]

Abridged Freeza: "OH how cute, they can hide their power levels."

[@Arkonoid404]

Supreme Commander neurons are firing.

[@TheRewasder97]

Wait, different FTLs are back!? That makes me so unbelievably happy, I didn't play stellaris until just after the removal of the pop cells, so I never played with the different FTLs

[@asraarradon4115]

I actually quit playing for a long time after they took them out, because it felt to me like they were putting the interests of the multiplayer crowd first. I loved the other FTL styles, they were interesting.

[@o-mangaming5042]

They never actually left, they just changed. You could always spec into non-hyperdrive FTL later in the game. All this does is add a low level jump drive into your starting options if you're willing to accept serious economic penalties.

[@TheRewasder97]

@@o-mangaming5042 they kinda did, jump drives are a late game tech that doesn't lock you out of hyperlane travel and gateways are not really like the old portal thingy. Plus everyone is the same techwise, there's little flavour there.

[@o-mangaming5042]

@@TheRewasder97 Fair point.

[@asraarradon4115]

@@o-mangaming5042 Warp is still completely gone. Granted it was the slowest FTL method, but I liked not being limited in movement and growth to the hyperlanes. Jump was always in, even back when warp was. So that's not a replacement for it.

[@Deadpanlives]

I wonder if you can launch a cloaked fleet with the quantum catapult, or cloak troop transports. I also really hope there's an audible alert for fleets decloaking within your borders!

[@jeremygarner9985]

Red Alert Klaxons ala Trek??

[@AJCherenkov]

I could imagine some wild raiding strats if you could shotgun cloaked fleets into enemy space like that. Then again, stations being able to detect cloaked ships upwards of 5 systems away means that probably wouldn't work out.

[@sbiner5480]

What about a audible alert for your own stealth fleets being discovered by the enemy? The ruthless megacorp advisor would probably say something like "Oh shoot! They found us!"

[@Nemo2342]

You can't cloak troop transports; Devs said it turned out to be too over powered. Not sure about the catapult though.

[@vaultdude4871]

I still think espionage should have ethic or "civic" operations, where you increase the ethic attraction of an ethic or create a faction with a civic-ethic aligment, or maybe a geopolitical aligment, which could be use to stage coups or give CBs to annex or liberate sectors from enemy empires

[@vmorales225]

Funny in star wars cloaking small ships was considered impossible as Captain Needa said "No ship that small has a cloaking device"

[@ericlondon2663]

Finally......a legit Romulan empire will be possible.

[@letsplaysvonaja1714]

make sure you take the purist civic and don't join the community XD just sit around and do minimal diplomacy >w

[@shade16858]

16:27 This is also dependent on if cloaking detection propagates through Gateways like trade protection and gather range. If so then simply have one station in the heart of your empire that is full of detectors with a gateway in its system just like you do with hanger bays and trade hubs. Then strategically place Gateways so that you have good coverage of your empire and put Bastion class Citadels on your borders.

[@williamschubert4819]

Having a Bastion behind a pulsar system might be better than in the system now because you'll have shields and theirs will need to regen.

[@SeithonJetter]

i suspect that a system with a starbase AND a planet with a orbital ring with detection modules will be the ultimate choke point.

[@jameshildebrand907]

Makes me even further wish habitats could have rings. C'est la vie.

[@walkir2662]

You can use starbases in adjacent systems for detection, though.

[@lanceheyen645]

Talking from a purely single-player point of view, I like the idea of being able to park an uncloaked weak fleet in a system as bait for a enemy fleet with a cloaked all armour fleet waiting to spring the trap. It may mean less time spent chasing down enemy fleets during wars.

[@OmniGundam777]

As soon as I saw the overview video, I was excited for your breakdown of it, as I definitely missed a lot by myself.

[@MontuPlays]

Hope you enjoyed it!

[@pieterfaes6263]

I think the path not taken might possibly be a reference to the mirror universe-portal event, where you encounter your empire with warp drives (and warp beasts. Oh, now what if the Warp Beasts is a new crisis faction...).

[@JabberwockOclock]

No it's likely a Harry Turtledove reference as Montu said, pertaining to a short story about a schizo-tech alien invasion.

[@seanneder5475]

I was thinking about that event too. We can be the other side of the portal now.

[@NKGerydos]

It might have skipped my attention, but did the devs say anithing about the "Sentry Array"? That might give us some decent anti cloacking cababilities. Just guessing.

[@mateuszpaczos323]

What is interesting that you can combine Slingshot to the Stars and those new civics

[@Kaleidoscope-Crew]

These new civics are suddenly the most exciting thing about the dlc.

[@badpiggies988]

I find it really cool lore-wise how pre-FTLs can now spawn with origins besides PU. I’ve come across a few Remnants ones on relic worlds that had special names, and in one playthrough as UNE I had a late-medieval Shattered Ring one spawn only 2 jumps away from Sol; I’ve repaired the 2 ruined segments for them as the prereq for making my own some day, even colonizing one and dedicating it entirely to research districts, just for them. Now that I’ve brainwashed them to embrace democracy, I can’t wait to plant knowledge and then use a migration treaty to get a strong, void-dwelling lithoid species to colonize habitats and ringworlds

[@maiqtheliar789]

Sounds like a good reason to use a lot of corvettes in the late game to me. Especially with the higher levels of cloak which don't effect speed. Good for some hit and run tactics. Attack where they are weak and disappear before something stronger shows up. Even if caught they are cheap so expendable. Definitely looking forward to seeing what types of strategy and tactics players come up with the use the cloaking system though.

[@AM-kg3ij]

A fleet of cloaked frigates to snipe some starbases should be interesting

[@curseofthefallen4941]

I wonder how this will effect multiplayer, sending 5 corvette fleets behind enemy lines to screw with the resources in space. Naturally ftl blockers will be an issue still it has its potential.

[@SteveBlewett]

Armor nullification is in the game (the code anyway), just nothing in the core game does it. Mods use it, I think Real Space has some pulsar like thing that reduces armor by 15% or so. Been awhile since I played it.

[@fatalroc1033]

the video just deactivated cloaking, making us feel like it was comming fast. But in reality, It was already lurking in the shadow, waiting for the right instant to strike thanks for the video 🙏

[@MontuPlays]

literally true.

[@pancakes4193]

THIS QUICK???? Montu ain't playing damn.

[@MontuPlays]

We're in the Endgame now...

[@luizmenezes9971]

Eager Explorers + Distinguished Admiralty + Clone Armies + Crystaline Scales will be insane! Crystaline Sensors will reveal the enemy and you can jump around launching hit and run attacks on the colonies.

[@ace_the_race9340]

Jump drives and cloaking will be a terrifying combination.

[@Chestyfriend]

They should be mutually exclusive to be honest.

[@salter1630]

​@@Chestyfriend or just disable cloaking during jump drive cooldown

[@archmagemc3561]

The Psi cloak might come from researching the psionic avatar remains in that one tri system that you gotta wormhole to. That leviathan did have nothing as a reward besides the system after all.

[@williamnadeau475]

I hope so because if not get ready to see every meta player do a Spiritualist Empire...

[@LAVINIUS]

Montu, me and my friends want to have sectors add/remove button or something. It was good in old days, why they remove that?

[@walkir2662]

I hope that psi edict includes a cloaking bonus (at least if combined with the psi PHASE CLOAK - why go Klingon/Romulan when you can go all USS Pegasus?) as well. I'd say detection, too, but that starts feeling greedy. Also, I wonder if space fauna has detection or Science ships can get through their systems after researching that tech.

[@ScorpioneOrzion]

space fauna has no detection

[@alexandercaires5921]

Space fauna can not detect cloaked ships according to a dev response

[@hankrearden5460]

I wonder if pirates will have access to cloaking tech? Like both the marauders and the generated ones from your empire? That would be really annoying to play "wack a mole" with them as they go around wrecking star bases in your empire.

[@Fireballun]

I think you are right. Only weather and pulsar systems nullify shields. Unless Disruption module from starbase kinda counts.

[@Quanefel]

I will be using this with the "Shadow" ships mod from B5. The ships screech when they enter a system, this will be a cherry on top of that.

[@o-mangaming5042]

Feels like high level cloaks will make disruptors more viable. Hide until you're in striking range, then decloak and disrupt the enemy's hull. ETA: Pair up one of those Subspace civics with the species trait that links pop-growth to current population (starting with +30% and moving down to -10% as you're more crowded) and you can probably pull some high-speed compensation for the penalties.

[@l.a.3680]

Interesting. I like the "bigger ships can do it but small ships do it better" approach. Edit: And i like that it is paertly tied to traditions/ascension perks, this means not everyone will invest in cloaking the same way.

[@CrimsonReaper189]

i am really looking forward to clocking for rp games since it will allow u to play around with having hidden fleets so u can not be countered or allowing u to hide ur true fleet power and trick other players. it will also allow me to do a nice rp with fear the dark where u dont want to interact with any other race but will always be ready to crush them

[@draekas]

I think the subspace drives should work exactly like the current experimental science ship drive you can get now, that lets you "jump" anywhere in the galaxy. In this case, however, it has a range limit. So you pick a target in range, hit jump, and your fleet disappears for some length of time, and then reappears at the target system. In that way, its not jump>arrival>cooldown, instead it's jump>cooldown>arrival. That'd make it an interesting travel alternative but remove the tactical advantage that a real jump drive gives you currently, and just leaves it as a means of travel.

[@TheBronzeDog]

I'm pretty new, so I wasn't around for the days when you picked your FTL type. I'm looking forward to trying out the subspace drives. Along with cloaking, it seems like managing choke points is going to get harder. Between this and the 3.6 combat rework, it's looking like an interesting time for meta shakeups and experimentation. I'm also a big fan of increasing my sublight speed, so I might give these a try and see if I can get over the initial economic hump. (Go Overtuned + cloning vats!) Does make me wonder about the influence cost of building outposts: If you're not using hyperlanes, it doesn't make much sense for the cost to be based on the number of lanes away from your border. Another thought: How might these civics mix with the retooled Slingshot to the Stars? Could make for a very different style of warfare from what I'm seeing.

[@TheRewasder97]

Now that I think about it, I hope they make the ships jump automatically or it's going to be a micro hell and undo everything we got with autosurvey and autoconstruction. Also, getting that early jump tech from primitive insights will make me not kill them automatically, and I think should be added to them. It fits the paths not taken for those techs.

[@OmniGundam777]

As a dedicated machine player, I am a little disappointed that the best cloak is denied to me. I wish there was some kind of alternative.

[@isuckatusernames4297]

mods will probs rectify that. also, kind abs that the psi ascention gives you some of the most powerfull ship components, like I get giving them a cool jump drive, but adter a while, that feels like favorism.

[@tomisabum]

Ooo. Combining Eager Explorers with Mechanist origin could be pretty flavorful.

[@wolftooth6678]

Could be interesting to equip a fleet with cloaking devices and hide them in a Bastion system. Let the AI empire attack your bastion and then have your cloaked fleet move in to reinforce... Not really possible with shield builds but armor or Psionic Shield builds would work IMO

[@bartekmaliszewski4775]

I'm afraid that this Tier 10 cloaking device will probably be on Unbidden or Contingency crisis fleets.

[@MontuPlays]

be more afraid of their detection facilities!

[@Alister222222]

My god, this is going to change the game completely. I am so here for it.

[@bc175]

As a diehard turtle up and bottleneck player I have mixed feelings about this expansion. I love it as a concept and I'm excited to get it... But i hate the idea of fleets, science vessels and possibly construction ships getting beyond my locked down borders. Gonna be a lot of early game wars for me if they start trying to get passed my roadblocks to their expansion. I just want to be left alone with the 2 to 3 dozen systems I claim between bottlenecks that will keep me content until mid game.

[@Nemo2342]

I guess the thing to do now is to cloak up a bunch of frigates and try to get them in place to alpha-strike the AI's ship yards as soon as you declare war.

[@asraarradon4115]

I'm positive that's a Harry Turtledove reference, because being technologically advanced but missing developing the simplest FTL technology was the whole point of that story.

[@smokinggnu6584]

16:41 I'd suggest here, that if you have sufficient starbase capacity, setup the starbase at the chokepoint as the armed, defensive starbase, then setup a starbase one system into your territory as the cloak-detection specialized starbase.

[@Alister222222]

I agree that this would make sense if the detection range of the starbase is more than 1 system, although from a narrative real-life physics point of view it obviously wouldn't work (at least early game, before something like subspace scanners), as the speed of light limits how fast information can move between systems. On Earth, for example, it takes over 4 years for us to see anything that happens in Alpha Centauri, which would obviously be too late for us to respond militarily. Later game when you have magical technologies then it should make more sense :D

[@LordTeronal]

Just imagine something like a cloaked Stellar System Craft from Gigastructures! That sounds like something they would do.

[@DancingCra]

I might have missed but something I haven't seen info on, is if transport ships/army would have cloaking too.

[@MrMarinus18]

20:30 I like that shot at a lot of current day tech companies that promise the world to gain funds and then give almost nothing.

[@intetx]

I really dislike that tendency for more and more mono hull fleets. You'd think a good fleet commander could take advantage of different ship types and their unique advantages, especially with tools like cloaking.

[@smoore6461]

I really hoped that cloaking detectors would be independent buildings outside of the Starbase, like a defense platform since a Starbase already has such limited slots. Unless you mod them, of course.

[@smoore6461]

Espionage still needs a bit of work, IMO. there needs to be a much wider array of operations that can be carried out. I would still love stellaris to see the psionic system worked a little. Telepathy should level or have a P score (Ala Babylon 5) with low-level psychers being able to do basic things, and higher levels bring your psicorps, envoys, and spies. The idea would be to make psychic pops a resource of their own. I'd only really like it for flavor, and so thar not ever psionic pop can perform as well as any other. I guess like an expansion to Espionage. It's probably a pipe dream, though. This does look like a nice addition.

[@nguyenvule2605]

Apparently enemy fleet can't occupy outpost if there's still invisible fleet nearby. I tried it, the enemy fleet got stucked at station, not aware of my invisible fleet nearby

[@LordFusion5620]

Looking forward to the modder who makes cloaking colonized planets and habitats a thing.

[@FieserMoep]

This settles it. Spiritualists that start with the Dark Forrest, get Psi Ascension and then get the ethics shift to Xenophobe at the end of the event chain. Super Stealth Erradicator Fleets that just appear over some planets and make them go away.

[@michaelalexander2753]

Armour nullification might be one of two things: being in the space of a hostile high level bulwark as it dismantles your ships, or your ships exploding.

[@Hup.]

If we take a jump drive oriented start are we gonna have to start dealing with those pesky Warp Beasts like in the portal Universe galaxy?

[@13g0man]

Choke points may need to be double layered - the first layer is a Bastion, a massive brick wall, the second layer is detection with crew quarters to station a defensive fleet on.

[@kiritotheabridgedgod4178]

16:44 I can think of 2 ways that are slightly more expensive, but otherwise more effective way than just deciding whether your choke point statbases have detection or military. Either, you have have your chokepoint starbase be detection based and supported by weapons platforms or you have a secondary statbase enough systems over that it's still within sensor range of your chokepoint (preferably multiple chokepoints) that reveal cloaked ships either when they enter the choke point system, or when they reach the system beforehand. Also, on the subspace drives, I'd argue that it would probably be good to have a mix between subspace and hyperdrives. Corvettes/Frigates and maybe destroyers running hyperdrives, cruisers and above running subspace. That way, you have fast response vehicles that can manoeuvre easily around your empire and harry/distract your enemy, then jump the big boys in behind enemy lines too act as the anvil you crush them upon.

[@PersimmonHurmo]

I don't think shields should be regenerating slowly after being nullified. The shield caoacitators should still have all their energy. If that energy was drained by some hostile action - then yes. Maybe even if cloaking requires lot of energy, then that would make sense. Shields should regenerate much more quickly after leaving a system with nullification effect, rather than after being drained.

[@mqb3gofjzkko7nzx38]

It's hilarious that eager explorers isn't incompatible with fanatic purifiers. Eagerly exploring the galaxy to find and purge all the xenos.

[@shade16858]

Well you gotta find the filthy xenos of you're gonna deal with them. lol

[@wildesanity]

Loving the new features. Hopefully the Unyielding tradition tree can help with detection. I am worried that Psionic ascension is becoming that much stronger for bio playstyles. Bio ascension is still lagging behind even with Erudite and Overtuned traits and all the pop modifying you have to do.

[@wildesanity]

My preferred ascension is Bio with Overtuned traits but I have to field that much more ships to match a Psionic empire's fleet with their shields and leaders. Erudite just doesn't do much to close the gap. Economically though, I am a powerhouse especially with livestock relieving my raw resource woes with bio and lithoid pops. But still, its quite micro intensive to move pops around.

[@luizmenezes9971]

Overtuned mixes better with Cybernetic than Biological Ascension

[@ulruc]

How about putting Armor nullification around black hole and keep shield nullification on pulsar? It would make the Star Eater uberly dangerous :) But honestly, where you got Star Trek vibes, I wish we could get a component on an orbital ring to cloak a planet in exchange for a big expense in energy. Like it was done in Star Gate season 10 against the Ori :) Yeah, I know, it was phasing in Star Gate, not cloaking. Until we get phasing, this is the next best thing :)

[@FrozenPhoenix15]

Aww yeah, time for _Circumference_ -class science ships, _Dusk_ -class corvettes, _Midsummer Night_ -class destroyers, and _Point of No Return_ -class cruisers. Gonna show the galaxy how ONI managed to successfully stall a losing war for almost 3 decades.

[@AjarTadpole7202]

9:55 Is that the techs individually? Or can they stack? Like if I have all the base techs without Psi-Phase or dark matter, would my corvettes then have the strength of 1+2+3, or just 3? If it's the former, then you could have a Titan/Battleship with the same cloaking strength as a tech 2 corvette

[@valdonchev7296]

If you want to talk about different FTL methods, I wonder how Stargazers reduction to starbase influence distance cost stacks with the ruined quantum catapult origin. Imagine if you could claim any system at almost no additional cost. In general, the fact that these are civics makes me curious what kind of interplay between them and origins is possible.

[@TheCarloCarlone]

Montu: better not cloak battleships Me: cloaks battleship while keeping them docked, so they don't show when you have sensor range, making me appear weaker than I am.

[@UnknownTuber450]

Do you think the xenophile fallen empire will have events in first contact against other smaller empires because they want to put preserve all species on one planet?

[@kapgames5731]

I wonder if the new science building will still be given to you at base if you have remnants as your origin with the eager explorers civic

[@kinngrimm]

Starbase detection range of cloaked ships, is it seperate from the usual scanner range or the same as those?

[@kongilian]

Question: How often do AI empires re-spec their ships? Do they change their corvettes from interceptors to pickets and back? Would be valuable info for your spies to keep up with and possibly to sell to other empires in a future update.

[@bioboy1819]

Psionic is really good… borderline too much stuff. I think if starbases are needed for detection, they need to bring back buildable higher tier defence structures. Let me turtle properly!

[@JimmyJoeBob]

Shit startled the piss out of me first time the AI used it. I figured with how dog water it usually is, it wouldn't use it right. My dudes, they drew my forces away with a feint and then hit a choke point with a small cloaked fleet.

[@lattekahvi1298]

I think that those sublight drives work similarly to sublight jumps that science vessels use, but they could still be useful in reliably avoiding enemy chokepoints by simply outmaneuvering them and hitting the enemy core systems directly

[@janrudzki5651]

Armour nulification (as far as I am aware) only happens in the system in which you find the toxic God, the one with the acid-green star

[@Reoh0z]

Psi-Phase Cloaking Field Generator... Not only can you not see us, you can't even think about us.

[@marciusnhasty]

Eager explorers should be an origin. It's exactly the type of civic that shouldn't be a civic in the first place.

[@Techstriker1]

Huh, this would give the ability to bypass hyberdrive jammers immediately?

[@ahizzy5566]

A long way from the days of battleship artillery being all you needed to consider in fleet combat

[@xenazaizm]

In my opinion, biological and robotic ascentions should also have higher tiers of cloacking like the psionics one. A organo-cloaking device interface and a sintetic one. Locking the big one on a fallen empire seems to hard on those types of empires.

[@jackwhite8204]

The obvious solution to the starbase issue is to have one with 6 detection arrays, science ship assistance, etc. next to a gateway, then gateway the hell out of the rest of your systems

[@Yams255]

Armour nullification shows up via the toxic god being present, but that's the only thing that comes to mind

[@nivayu]

And if you have watched (read) this far, please decloak that like button! (Have not watched the video far enough yet, so this is my prediction)

[@MontuPlays]

damn it. Am I so predictable?

[@walkir2662]

Haven't found it yet, sorry.

[@nivayu]

@@MontuPlays I really like that you keep chosing a different method to operate that like button. Keeps us on our toes and makes it less anoying to hear it ;) Thank you for your videos, really looking forward to the new DLC. Would be awesome if we could just hide our planets and ignore all enemies with supperior tech. Maybe mods will allow that.

[@avengerXable]

Will fully upgraded sentry array now see low cloaked level ships? Should do

[@MN-vz8qm]

Stargazer + Slingshot = nearly 0% starbase influence distance cost?

[@cadis4257]

Cloaking should give a huge evasion boost to ships. Hard to hit targets you can't see.

[@isuckatusernames4297]

maybe gestalts could get kamikaze clokaed ships. that'd be interesting.

[@purpleisthesneakiest]

Note that the only restrictions on the pre-FTL civics are the new origins amd Inward Perfection. Scion pre-FTL is very tempting - oldest of the old and newest of the new!

[@Ulmaramlu]

Starbases weren't ever much use in battle anyways after the early game, so using anti-cloak on them sounds like a better investment to me. edit after watching more of the video: the subspace drive looks amazing! its the old warp drive ftl method! The range looks fairly impressive to me too. On a small galaxy that range will be significant!

[@peterknutsen3070]

16:18 I don’t think so. I think the Listening Post will just continue to increase the Sensor Range, so that it synergizes with the Detection Arrays in an orthogonal way.

[@chtechindustries4174]

I hope we can cloak our star bases(making shooting it harder)

[@celsetialarchives5909]

More stuff for psi ascension is always a bonus My fave path

[@TobiSGD]

Nice, so subterfuge traditions finally get something that makes them worth taking outside of RP.