The Belt (4.5 Update)

The Belt (4.5 Update)

An updated, standalone version of (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2948502334) for Stellaris 4.5 "Cygnus". The original mod was built for 3.7 and depended on "Xenos' Mod Dependency". Neither works with the 4.x pop, district and zone system any more. This version has been rewritten from scratch for 4.5 and needs no other mods.

All credit for the original idea, artwork and event texts goes to the author of (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2948502334). Uploaded with permission.

Features

• Colonize asteroids: regular, ice and crystal asteroids can become real colonies.

• New technology: Extraplanetary Artificial Biomes (Society, tier 2, requires Terrestrial Sculpting), followed by Asteroid Adaptation and Improved Asteroid Adaptation.

• Terraform first: after the tech, asteroids inside your borders can be terraformed into colonizable asteroids for 1000 energy (360 days).

• Own district set, with 4 district types per asteroid:

  • Asteroid: Habitation Modules, Asteroid Mines, Solar Arrays, Research Outpost

  • Ice asteroid: Habitation Modules, Asteroid Mines, Hydroponic Bays, Research Outpost

  • Crystal asteroid: Habitation Modules, Rare Crystal Mines, Solar Arrays, Research Outpost

• Urban zones: Habitation Modules have zone slots like orbital habitats, so vanilla urban zones and buildings work. Works for regular, hive and machine empires.

• New buildings: Life-Support System, Maintenance Bay, Private Security Station, Black Market, Asteroid Mining Coordination Center.

• Species traits: Asteroid Miners (biological) and Asteroid Mining Bots (robotic).

• Events: life-support failures, the growth of independent mining, and a choice between carbonaceous and metallic asteroid exploitation.

• Terravore support: Terravore hives get a Consume Asteroid decision. Once the colony is eaten, the asteroid turns back into a plain asteroid.

AI behaviour

The AI uses asteroid colonies too, but in moderation. It only terraforms an asteroid when:

• it already has at least 5 colonies,

• it has fewer than 3 asteroid colonies,

• and it is not already terraforming another asteroid.

These limits don't apply to players.

Habitability

No species has a natural preference for asteroids. Habitability comes from:

• Extraplanetary Artificial Biomes: +40%

• Asteroid Adaptation / Improved Asteroid Adaptation: +10% each

• Life-Support System building: +20%

• Asteroid Miners trait: +40%

Compatibility

• Made for Stellaris 4.5.x.

• Not save-game compatible with the old 3.7 version. Start a new game, and disable the old "The Belt ver 3.7" and "Xenos' Mod Dependency".

• Overrides the vanilla can_colonize_planet game rule, so asteroid colonization requires the tech.

• Overrides the World Forger Volcanic Forge / Volcanic Foundry buildings, so they cannot turn an asteroid colony into a Volcanic World.

• Mods that change those same items may conflict. Everything else is new content and should be compatible with most mods.

Known limitations

• English localisation only.

• Balance values are a first pass. Feedback is welcome in the comments.

Changelog

• Terravore support: new Consume Asteroid decision for Terravore hives.

• AI limit: the AI no longer turns every asteroid it owns into a colony.