"Massive" new Stellaris update overhauls the Wilderness and improves research

It's been nearly a decade since Stellaris came out, bringing Paradox's usual focus on the more grounded worlds of Crusader Kings 3 and Victoria 3 into the realm of sci-fi. Even as Paradox continues to work on other projects, like the upcoming Europa Universalis 5, the company has continued to support Stellaris with a consistent series of expansions and updates, like the recent Biogenesis DLC. The latest update, 4.0.22, just launched, and, with its focus on the Wilderness and a sweeping range of balancing changes, it looks to be one of the most substantial in quite some time.

The Wilderness faction has opened up a lot of new gameplay possibilities since it was introduced to Stellaris with the 4X game's Biogenesis expansion. In order to get the most out of the strange new mechanics represented by the Wilderness, Paradox has been hard at work updating the faction and the systems related to their design. Now, the results of this effort are available to everyone.

Update 4.0.22 alters the Wilderness by introducing tweaks like allowing the faction's jobs to be worked without requiring biomass and providing visible signs and slider customization for how jobs are worked by the faction. All of this is meant to stop you from sucking up all available biomass right away, while also reducing bugs and allowing for more granular control over playing as the Wilderness.

The update also adds a research restriction system meant to reduce how often dangerous technology is drawn and to stop you from accidentally researching it. It also provides bug fixes and rebalances a number of game elements, ranging from building and district upkeep to a wide variety of smaller details effecting game origins, weapons, and trade policies.

Stellaris Biogenesis is out now. You can grab a copy of the base game on Steam right here and the Biogenesis expansion here.

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