Space 4X strategy game Stellaris launched in 2016, but Paradox can’t stop adding to the universe. Last time I checked in, it was school trips to other dimensions. Now it’s Cosmic Storms. Set to release alongside the Stellaris 3.13 Vela update on September 10th, it’s a paid “mechanical add-on” (priced at a hefty £11, $13, or €13, and available as part of the current season pass) that expands on the game’s existing Space Storms, “delivering a deeper experience with strategically meaningful gameplay and beautifully enhanced visuals.” Wash that down with modern citizenships, precursor narratives, anomalies, archaeological sites, technologies, edicts, a modern Ascension perk, and modern galactic community developments.
How in detail on SteamThere are eight such modern and violent space weather events, ranging from more straightforward electrical storms to nexus storms of “unprecedented magnitude.” Each can have positive and negative effects on ships, worlds, and civilizations that cross their path. As they sweep across your planets, they can change geography and reveal long-buried treasures.
The developers are adding a “Weather Map Mode” so you can play, um, the interstellar equivalent of a meteorologist, forecasting storms and predicting their movement. Ah yes, Astrometeorologist! You can also research technologies and buildings that allow you to attract, repel, and even (with the Ascension Perk) create Space Storms. There’s also a modern Storm Chaser origin, apparently consisting of Speedo-wearing lunatics who live for the thrill of being face-planted in a solar system-sized cyclone. As for the additional Forerunner narrative chains, they “weave tales of civilizations long lost to the cosmic winds, with untold secrets buried beneath the stars.”
Storm chasers, huh? This could almost have been planned to crossover with the modern Twister movie, which I haven’t seen because I find the modern male protagonist insufferable. Go eat a hurricane, you smug macho idiot. If you like storms but prefer a more direct experience, maybe try EXIT – This is an early simulation of North America’s legendary tornado alley.
