Stellaris: First Contact Story Pack

You are not alone! The galaxy is vast and full of wonders, but it’s also full of alien empires you’re going to encounter, whether you’re ready or not. First Contact offers a set of new origins and mechanics that give players the chance to tell stories about their civilizations’ early encounters with visitors from the stars — ones that may not have come in peace!

NEW ORIGINS
Broken Shackles: You didn’t take to the stars; you were taken to the stars as an alien captive! Now, you and your fellow prisoners have overtaken the ship and found yourselves banding together to survive and thrive as a diverse new community. Can you rise to greatness from this humble origin… and will your former captors take notice?

Payback: No one would have believed your world was being watched keenly by intelligences greater than your own — until they invaded. But you did not go quietly into the night! Your civilization has repelled a would-be conqueror from space, and with sudden access to their advanced technology, you’re about to discover just what else is out there beyond the stars!

Fear of the Dark: As you’ve explored your home system, you’ve always suspected you weren’t alone in the galaxy… especially when one of your planets suddenly suffered an “incident” a while back. A very large faction of your own people have long advocated against tempting fate out in the dark abyss of the unknown. What path will you choose as you find yourself needing room to grow?

NEW PRE-FTL INTERACTION OPTIONS
What will your role be when the next member of the galactic community tells their origin story? New mechanics allow for a broader range of interactions with pre-FTL civilizations, depending on their level of technology and their awareness of your presence. Will your arrival be celebrated, or met with violent panic?

CLOAKING TECHNOLOGY
Nobody saw this feature coming! Equip your ships with cloaking devices to survey in secret or catch a foe unaware; keep subtle tabs on your pre-FTL neighbors with cloaked observation posts. Just be sure your own scanners and intel are strong… you never know which of your neighbors might be lurking in the shadows!

*Some features may require content sold separately

Explore a vast galaxy full of wonder!
Paradox Development Studio, makers of the Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis series presents Stellaris, an evolution of the grand strategy genre with space exploration at its core.

Featuring deep strategic gameplay, a rich and enormously diverse selection of alien races and emergent storytelling, Stellaris has engaging challenging gameplay that rewards interstellar exploration as you traverse, discover, interact and learn more about the multitude of species you will encounter during your travels.

Etch your name across the cosmos by forging a galactic empire; colonizing remote planets and integrating alien civilizations. Will you expand through war alone or walk the path of diplomacy to achieve your goals?

DEEP AND VARIED EXPLORATION
Every game begins with a civilization that has just discovered the means to travel between stars and is ready to explore the galaxy. Have your science ships survey and explore anomalies, leading you into a myriad of quests, introducing strange worlds with even stranger stories and discoveries that may completely change your outcome.

STUNNING SPACE VISUALS
With characteristically complex unique planets and celestial bodies, you will enter a whirlwind of spectacles in a highly detailed universe.

INFINITE VARIATION OF SPECIES AND ADVANCED DIPLOMACY
Through customization and procedural generation, you will encounter infinitely varied races. Choose positive or negative traits, specific ideologies, limitations, evolutions or anything you can imagine. Interact with others through the advanced diplomacy system. Diplomacy is key in a proper grand strategy adventure. Adjust your strategy to your situation through negotiation and skill.

INTERSTELLAR WARFARE
An eternal cycle of war, diplomacy, suspicions and alliances await you. Defend or attack with fully customizable war fleets, where adaptation is the key to victory. Choose from an array of complex technologies when designing and customizing your ships with the complex ship designer. You have a multitude of capabilities to choose from to meet the unknown quests that await.

ENORMOUS PROCEDURAL GALAXIES
Grow and expand your empire with thousands of randomly generated planet types, galaxies, quests and monsters lurking in space.

PLAY THE WAY YOU WANT
Customize your Empire! The characters you choose, be it a murderous mushroom society or an engineering reptile race, can be customized with traits like ethics, type of technology, form of preferred space travel, type of habitat, philosophies and more. The direction of the game is based on your choices.