Stellaris: The Machine Age

Stellaris: The Machine Age is the ninth expansion (larger than smalls DLC packs like Species Pack and Story Pack) to the space strategy game titled Stellaris released in 2016. The add-on was developed by the Paradox Development Studio team, specialized in the grand strategy genre, who created the base version of the game and previous DLCs.

Plot

Stellaris: The Machine Age focuses on issues related to the development of artificial intelligence and cybernetics. In a distant corner of the galaxy, an empire of robots equipped with synthetic consciousness was born, each of which is an individual entity.

Meanwhile, organic species are facing one of the biggest problems in their history - the rapidly changing idea of identity and the advancing development of cybernetic enhancements, which are causing enormous social changes throughout the known Universe.

Mechanics

Stellaris: The Machine Age introduces a number of new features. Their list is opened by unconnected machine empires, created by individualistic personalities, as well as connected empires of mechanical intelligence. Three new origins also play an important role here, namely:

1. Cybernetic Creed, in which society strives to combine the body and the machine;
2. Synthetic Fertility, which forces a species condemned to extinction to seek chances of survival in synthetic technology;
3. Arc Welders, allowing for a large scale exploitation of resources hidden among the stars.

In addition, the DLC brings six previously unavailable ethos (Guided Sapience, Natural Design, Obsessional Directive, Protocol Droids, Tactical Cogitators, and Augmentation Bazaars; the latter are only available to owners of the Stellaris: MegaCorp expansion), as well as two new mid-game structures - Arc Furnace and Dyson Swarm (which is a prelude to the so-called Dyson sphere).

The add-on also introduces additional development paths for machine empires, the ability to unlock cybernetic and synthetic progression paths (also available in the Stellaris: Utopia DLC) and examine the effects of their implementation, new species traits for robots, cyborgs and machines, as well as two previously unavailable sets of ships, cities and synthetic rooms.

There is a new Player Crisis Path waiting to be explored (it is based on the system introduced in the Stellaris: Nemesis expansion - it focuses on technological domination at all costs) and a new Endgame Crisis (reviving an ancient threat that has plagued the game for millennia and was locked away).

Additionally, for the purposes of this expansion, reactive cybernetic and synthetic portraits were developed, which undergo transformations along with progress.

Game modes

Similar to the base version of the game, in Stellaris: The Machine Age we can play alone or in multiplayer mode over the Internet.

Technical aspects

Seven new musical pieces inspired by synthetics and cybernetics have been prepared with Stellaris: The Machine Age in mind. As this is a non-standalone add-on, it requires the base game Stellaris to run.