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Stellaris
Stellaris
4.4.5|Jun 25, 2026
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Stellaris 4.4.5 "Pegasus" Early Open Beta (c22e) now available!

3/5 Moderate

BETAIntroduces a Resource Abundance slider for galaxy generation and a major overhaul to Nomadic Operational Reserves, including scaling caps and a new Critical stage.

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Key Changes

  • 1Added a Resource Abundance slider for galaxy generation (Scarce to x5).
  • 2Overhauled Operational Reserves with 1:1 resource tracking and scaling capacity based on Arkships.
  • 3Space Fauna now disable Waystations instead of destroying them.
  • 4Added a 'Critical' stage to Operational Reserves with severe economic and population penalties.
  • 5Arkships now have a 10-year cooldown on Max Aura effects to prevent rapid ascension.
  • 6Wanderlust bonuses are now partially granted immediately rather than at the end.
  • 7Fixed a major bug where the Khan Aspirant could result in two Khans spawning.
  • 8Fixed Tombworld Earth spawning too frequently and replacing the UNE.
  • 9Added Waystation and Arkship Voidlure modules to manipulate space fauna movement.
  • 10Megastructures now require Waystations for resource collection for Nomadic empires.

All Changes

🌌Galaxy Settings(1)

  • newResource Abundance slider: Added a Resource Abundance slider ranging from 'Scarce' to x5 in 0.25 increments (default x2).

🛸Nomadic Empires(11)

  • buffOperational Reserves: Operational Reserves now track Energy and Minerals at a 1:1 ratio, improved from 3:1.
  • changeOperational Reserves: Maximum Operational Reserves now scale with Arkship count and tier (Base 15k + 5k/7.5k/10k per Tier I/II/III) instead of a fixed cap.
  • nerfOperational Reserves: Added a Critical stage to Operational Reserves with severe penalties to Research, Unity, and Alloys.
  • nerfOperational Reserves: Critical Operational Reserves now penalize populations: Lithoids lose Happiness/Growth/Efficiency; Mechanicals lose Job Efficiency.
  • buffCivilian Arkships: Civilian Arkships now grant an additional 2,500 Operational Reserve capacity per Tier.
  • buffResource Silos: Resource Silos (Standard, Fallen Empire, Arkship, and Waystation) now increase maximum Operational Reserves.
  • newVoidlure modules: Added Waystation Voidlure modules and Arkship Voidlure Array modules to lure space fauna.
  • buffNomadic Primal Calling: Nomadic Primal Calling now starts with a Voidlure Array equipped on the Arkship.
  • buffNomadic Empires: Reduced opinion penalties for strip-mining, reprocessing planets, and Exodus Jumps, and increased their decay rate.
  • fixNomads: Nomads can now build Megastructures in systems with Waystations even if unsurveyed.
  • fixNomads: Nomads will no longer get double benefits from their own resource-producing megastructures; Waystations are now required for collection.

⚙️Gameplay Systems(7)

  • changeSpace Fauna: Space Fauna now disable Waystations instead of destroying them; they re-enable once fauna leaves.
  • changeMap Mode: Details map mode now toggles between three states: Normal, Detailed, and Hidden.
  • changeLogistic Ship: Logistic Ship automation now defaults to 'On' for Harvest Resources and 'Off' for Waystation collection.
  • fixSpecies Rights: The game now recalculates species rights automatically upon loading a save game.
  • buffWanderlust: Wanderlust now grants half its bonuses immediately and the rest after completing 4 categories.
  • nerfArkship: Arkships now have a 10-year cooldown after benefiting from a Max Aura effect.
  • changeFirst Contact: Planets can now be bombarded during a first contact war.

🐛Bug Fixes(7)

  • fixStability: Fixed a crash occurring when updating waystation networks.
  • fixTombworld Earth: Fixed Tombworld Earth spawning too frequently, sometimes replacing the UNE.
  • fixAssault Armies: Assault Armies will no longer incorrectly split into separate fleets after leaving a planet surface.
  • fixArkship: Fixed Arkships unintentionally syncing to the same auto-generated design, overwriting individual customizations.
  • fixThe Khan: Fixed an issue where the Khan Aspirant would not despawn, leading to two Khans existing simultaneously.
  • fixBuildings: Fixed buildings like Psi Corps and Galactic Stock Exchange being buildable on both a colony and its Arkship starbase simultaneously.
  • fixPops: Fixed pops sometimes becoming stuck in Assimilation citizenship or stratum.

Summary

This early open beta for Stellaris v4.4.5 focuses on refining the Nomadic empire playstyle and providing more granular control over galaxy generation. The headline feature is a new Resource Abundance slider, allowing players to tune resource density from 'Scarce' to 5x.

Nomadic Overhaul

Nomadic empires receive a significant balance pass to their Operational Reserves. The system now tracks resources at a 1:1 ratio and features a scaling maximum capacity based on the number and tier of owned Arkships. A new 'Critical' stage has been added to the reserves track, imposing severe penalties on research, Unity, and Alloys if resources run too low.

Gameplay Improvements

Space Fauna behavior has been adjusted to disable Waystations rather than destroy them, and several automation defaults for Logistic Ships have been updated. The update also includes a wide array of bug fixes targeting Arkship mechanics, event triggers, and empire-specific traditions.

← OlderStellaris 4.4.4 patch released (5505)Jun 24, 2026Newer →Stellaris Dev Diary #427 - We've Had One, Yes. But What About Second Open Beta?Jul 2, 2026

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