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Stellaris
Stellaris
4.3|Jan 30, 2026
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Stellaris 4.3 "Cetus" Open Beta Updated (2026-01-30)

4/5 Significant

Major balance overhaul for the Cetus Open Beta, featuring a massive 33-50% reduction in Crisis fleet power and a comprehensive buff to Cybernetic Ascension mechanics.

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Key Changes

  • 1Crisis fleet power (Prethoryn, Contingency, etc.) reduced by approximately 33%
  • 2Awakened Fallen Empire and Cetana fleet power reduced by approximately 50%
  • 3Cybernetic Ascension overhaul including new traits and major buffs to Augmentors and Cyber Hives
  • 4Economic system threading fixed, significantly improving monthly calculation performance
  • 5Command Limit and Naval Capacity sources changed from flat values to multipliers
  • 6Necrophage Origin reworked to prioritize secondary species growth over primary species
  • 7Ship component and section costs increased for higher tier vessels
  • 8Crystal Plating damage reduction values nerfed across all tiers
  • 9Chosen civics Unity bonus at 1,000 attunement slashed from 50% to 10%
  • 10Entropy Drinkers energy production changed to scale per 100 Psionic Pops

All Changes

⚔️Crisis & Combat(7)

  • nerfCrisis Fleets: Reduced fleet power of Prethoryn, Contingency, Extradimensionals, Great Khan, Diadochi, Tempest, and Dessanu by approximately 33%.
  • nerfAwakened Fallen Empires: Reduced fleet power of Awakened Fallen Empires and Cetana by approximately 50%.
  • nerfShips: Increased costs for building larger and higher tier ship sections and components, including Cosmogenesis Fallen Empire ships.
  • nerfCrystal Plating: Reduced Crystal Plating damage reduction from 1/2/4 and 2/4/8 to 1/2/3 and 2/3/4.
  • buffSpace Fauna: Space Fauna now gain 10% Armor and Shield Hardening per rarity tier above Common.
  • buffNaval Capacity: Increased many sources of Command Limit and Naval Capacity.
  • changeCommand Limit: Galactic Force Projection, War Games, and Better Glandular Stimulation now grant Command Limit multipliers instead of flat values.

🧬Ascension & Origins(12)

  • newCybernetic Ascension: Added two new positive Cyborg species traits for pop growth and bureaucrat output.
  • buffCybernetic Ascension: Metabolic Reprocessing now provides robot assembly from Augmentor jobs and organic assembly from Roboticist jobs.
  • changeCybernetic Ascension: Integrated Anatomy now grants +1 robot species trait point and +1 robot species trait pick instead of +1 organic trait pick.
  • buffCyber Hives: Cyber Hives receive temporary buffs to Nodes (+3 skill, +25% XP) and planets (+15% productivity, -7.5% upkeep) when assimilating cyborgs.
  • buffDriven Assimilators: Driven Assimilators unlock new ruler effects (-35% upkeep, +15% productivity) and governor effects (+20% replicator output) on cyborg traits.
  • buffAugmentors: Augmentors research output increased from 1.5 to 1.75 for Engineering and Society; Driven Assimilator variant pop assembly increased from 2 to 3.
  • nerfGenetic Ascension: Genomic researchers and spawning drones society research reduced from 4.5 to 3.5.
  • changeNecrophage: Necrophage Chambers of Elevation now block pop growth for necrophage species to prioritize secondary species growth.
  • buffNecrophage: Necrophyte Apprentice jobs now slightly boost the pop growth of non-necrophage species on the same planet.
  • changeNecrophage: Hive-minded necrophage force-spawned pre-FTL empires are no longer hive-minded.
  • changeEntropy Drinkers: Entropy Drinkers energy credit production changed to +0.5 per 100 Psionic Pops; councilors now give +3% Leader XP per level.
  • nerfChosen Civics: Chosen civics Unity bonus at 1,000 attunement points reduced from 50% to 10%.

⚙️Gameplay Systems(4)

  • changeVoidworms: Voidworms are less likely to attack planets with fewer than 1000 pops.
  • nerfStorm Relief Centers: Storm Relief Centers rural job modifiers have been halved.
  • buffMap Deposits: Improved mineral deposits on Asteroids and energy deposits on many stars.
  • buffRobots: Robot pops are no longer penalized by reduction to non-cyborg pop happiness.

🐞Bug Fixes(13)

  • fixPerformance: Fixed a bug disabling threading of the economic system, improving monthly calculation speed.
  • fixAwakened Empires: Awakened empires now correctly receive automated production bonuses.
  • fixVoidworms: Increased Voidworm Command Limits to allow merging into a troika.
  • fixRobots: Scrapping robots during an alloy deficit now gives 1 alloy per pop instead of 100.
  • fixRobots: Regular empires can no longer psionically awaken robots.
  • fixSynaptic Lathe: Fixed a ghost district appearing in the Synaptic Lathe UI.
  • fixShattered Ring: The Interloper in pre-FTL Shattered Ring systems can now be removed.
  • fixResettlement: Fixed inconsistent resettlement costs.
  • fixStorm Relief Centers: Fixed Storm Relief Centers so they can now be built.
  • fixSlaves: Fixed slaves benefiting from job efficiency bonuses twice.
  • fixUI: Clarified tooltips for Battle Thrall slavery and Military Service regarding soldier requirements.
  • fixRampaging Trees: Rampaging trees no longer continue killing pops after being defeated.
  • fixShips: Adjusted bioship and Offspring ship component costs and upkeep to match mechanical counterparts.

🚀Performance & Stability(5)

  • changePerformance: Removed redundant modifier updates from Armies and Pops.
  • changePerformance: Optimized memory allocations when counting species.
  • changePerformance: Moved script calculations and trigger evaluations out of modifier calculations.
  • fixPerformance: Fixed performance regression in the language localization system.
  • fixStability: Addressed stack overflows occurring on macOS.

🛠️Modding(1)

  • newModding: Added support for districts_per_building for District Specializations.

Summary

Crisis and Combat Rebalance

This update significantly scales back the difficulty of mid and end-game threats. Fleet power for major crises like the Prethoryn, Contingency, and Extradimensionals has been reduced by approximately one-third, while Awakened Fallen Empires and Cetana have seen their fleet power halved. To compensate for these shifts, ship component and section costs have been increased across the board, and Crystal Plating damage reduction has been nerfed.

Ascension and Origins

Cybernetic Ascension receives a substantial pass with new species traits, improved research output for Augmentors, and unique productivity buffs for Cyber Hives and Driven Assimilators. The Necrophage Origin has been reworked to solve 'pop growth weirdness' by blocking primary species growth in favor of secondary species growth, which is then converted via rituals.

Performance and Systems

Significant performance optimizations have been implemented, most notably fixing a bug that disabled threading in the economic system. This should result in much smoother monthly calculations. Additionally, Command Limit and Naval Capacity sources have been shifted from flat values to multipliers to improve late-game scaling.

← OlderStellaris Dev Diary #409 - The 4.3 ‘Cetus’ Open Beta ContinuesJan 22, 2026Newer →Stellaris Dev Diary #410 - 4.3 Performance ComparisonsFeb 5, 2026

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