Wild Space Mod

Wild Space Mod

Wild Space – compatible with v2.7.2 Wells

Summary

The purpose of this mod is to make galactic geography matter. It currently does three things:

• adds “wild space†systems that cannot be colonised, which fill most nebulae and the galactic core;
• adds events for differential hyperlane density between “wild” and “normal” space; and
• adds new galaxy maps that dramatically increases the proportion of systems that are within a nebula.

In effect, these changes create “sea” zones in Stellaris.

By doing so it prevents the entire map from being locked down by empire borders by the end of the early game, increasing maneuverability and extending the exploration phase of the game. It also reduces the number of habitable planets and should increase performance (whilst not changing the density of planets as determined by standard settings).

Vanilla friendly and should be compatible all mods that don’t effect galaxy generation. Real Space 3.6 compatibility is built in. Details, quibbles and caveats below.

Sub Mods:

• Adds Wild Space to the Galactic Rim:
• Removes Wild Space from Galactic Core:
• Map pack 1 – Space is Big:

“Wild†or “neutral†space

Adds systems without any central star which I’ve called “wild spaceâ€. Stellaris will only allow you to build a starbase on top of a star. Removing that star makes the system un-colonisable and permanently neutral. ‘Wild space’ systems have some relatively violent nebula visuals. If you have Annatar’s absolutely beautiful Real Space mod activated the in system effects will be a mix of his and Vanilla. If not, the visuals will be entirely based on Vanilla nebula effects.

These systems should fill most of the space within any nebulae that are generated except for: the areas immediately surrounding empires; Fallen empires; marauders; special systems etc. They’ll also fill the core and parts of the galactic rim.

That means that large tracts of space will remain traversable and impossible to lock down throughout the game. The size of those zones is determined principally by the size of the nebula and the number and positioning of empires. On the standard Vanilla galaxy sizes the nebulae are very small. On the maps added by this mod the size of those nebulae are massively increased and wild space will fill an appreciable proportion of the map.

The exact scale of wild space on the “Wild Space” maps is random. The systems will / should not spawn within two jumps of any empire homeworld. So if you play with high numbers of empires, and particularly if these empires are spread relatively evenly, the amount of wild space will fall significantly.

I haven’t had much time to actually run games with this and so I don’t know how well the AI deals with the non-colonisable space. I’ve run a few simulations and it seems to go fine, but feedback would be much appreciated.

Credit for the “wild space†name, which is way better than what I was going to call it, goes to Grekulf / Daniel Moregard on the Paradox forums in the thread below. That thread is full of interesting ideas. Good to know the devs are looking at this too and hopefully they make this mod redundant ASAP.

Exploration

Vanilla Stellaris exploration ends when all of the systems are gobbled up. This tends to happen quickly. Preventing this from happening naturally increases the length of the exploration phase and makes it much, much harder for you to be shut out of other areas of the map.

I’ve also changed a few standard Vanilla systems to only appear in a nebula and have added a few special systems as ‘islands’ that should only appear in the middle of wild space. These systems are colonisable and tend to either be rich or include rewards. This part of the mod is relatively undeveloped and, depending on my interest, I’ll probably build it out.

Performance

Graphically, the systems are probably a little bit more demanding than Vanilla nebulae. If you can run Annatar’s Real Space mod you can definitely run this. They are fine on my distinctly average graphics card, but may be problematic if you’re using integrated graphics on a laptop. If there ends up being demand I might see what I can do to make a low effect version. No promises.

Otherwise, it shouldn’t have any impact on game speed. Given that it will reduce the amount of colonisable space and planets at any given galaxy size it may have a mildly positive impact. Again, no promises.

Compatibility

Overwrites:

• marauders initialisers and the home systems for ameoba, tiyanki and privateers. These are now far more likely to be found inside nebulae than elsewhere;
• crisis 1 (Prethoryn) and crisis 2 (Unbidden) events. Necessary to avoid potential bug when spawning in wild space systems. As such this will be incompatible with mods changing those crises. Currently looking for a less invasive solution.

Load order: below Real Space / anything modifying crisis events is the only thing that should matter. Even if you don’t do that you should only get marauders in the wrong place and Real Space textures for the nebulae on the galaxy map (which are too bright when they’re as big as they are here).

Known issues

So far as I can tell its impossible to control nebula generation directly without using a static galaxy or to prevent empire starting systems from spawning in a nebula (some please tell me if they know how to). The result is that RNG means that empires will spawn randomly and, where they spawn in nebula, reduce the size of the wild space that is then created. I can’t decide whether than random nature is good or bad. But I think its inevitable.

You will spawn inside a nebula a lot. Can be a bit annoying. No idea how to avoid it, other than reloading.

Future plans / considerations

• hyperlane rework 2 – differential hyperlanes between different star types
• Events / anomalies / possible integration
• Sensor stations (fortresses?) in wild space?
• Wildlife
• Minor civilisations / enclaves
• More variety for Wild Space systems (including possible work arounds for non-colonisable systems that include non-primary stars – to be tested)
• More “island†systems and reduce odds of existing ones spawning to improve replayability
• Are AI / neighbour distance adjustments needed?
• Is it possible to control nebula generation (location, shape etc) directly without using a static galaxy?