atched
Stellaris
Stellaris
4.3.0|Mar 11, 2026
View on Steam↗

Stellaris Dev Diary #412 - 4.3.0 ‘Cetus’ Preliminary Release Notes

5/5 Game-Changing

Stellaris 4.3.0 'Cetus' introduces a massive naval and economic overhaul, increasing ship naval capacity usage by 5x while halving tech costs and significantly optimizing game performance.

Share:

Key Changes

  • 1Naval Capacity usage for all ships increased by 5x (e.g., Battleships cost 40 instead of 8)
  • 2Technology costs reduced by 50% across the board
  • 3Empire Size from pops halved; base Empire Size from colonies increased to 20
  • 4Titan Perdition Beams now deal area-of-effect damage to nearby ships
  • 5Unemployed pops now demote to Civilian/Maintenance Drone strata immediately at month-end
  • 6Crisis fleet power reduced by 33-50% to balance against smaller player navies
  • 7Performance overhaul: 10% reduction in frame processing time and 83x faster scope handling
  • 8Stability bonuses from buildings and traits reduced by 50-66%
  • 9New Refugee Attraction mechanics added to civics like Free Haven
  • 10Armor and Shields now provide hardening stats based on their tier

All Changes

🚀Naval Systems(16)

  • nerfCorvettes: Increased Naval Capacity usage for Corvettes to 5.
  • nerfFrigates: Increased Naval Capacity usage for Frigates to 8.
  • nerfDestroyers: Increased Naval Capacity usage for Destroyers to 10.
  • nerfCruisers: Increased Naval Capacity usage for Cruisers to 20.
  • nerfBattleships: Increased Naval Capacity usage for Battleships to 40.
  • nerfTitans: Increased Naval Capacity usage for Titans and Bio-Titans to 80.
  • nerfJuggernauts: Increased Naval Capacity usage for Juggernauts and Colossi to 100.
  • buffNaval Capacity: Increased base Naval Capacity for all empires to 50.
  • buffPerdition Beams: Perdition Beams now deal area-of-effect damage to nearby ships on hit.
  • buffIon Cannons: Ion Cannons and Starfire Cannons now deal collateral damage.
  • buffShip Components: Armor and Shields now grant (tier - 1)% Armor or Shield Hardening.
  • nerfShip Components: Increased costs and upkeep for higher tier ship sections and components.
  • buffCrystal Hull Plating: Crystal Hull plating now grants flat damage reduction (up to -4 for Large Forged).
  • buffFrigates: Frigates are now faster (Destroyer speed) and have +1 Utility and Aux Slot.
  • buffBubbles: Bubbles and its variants no longer consume Naval Capacity.
  • changeAnchorages: Anchorages now provide +5 Naval Capacity but require Trade Upkeep.

💰Economy & Jobs(11)

  • changeUnemployment: All unemployed pops now demote to Civilian or Maintenance Drone at the end of the month.
  • removeUnemployment: Removed the 'Rising Unemployment' event chain.
  • changeResettlement: Resettlement costs are now identical across all strata.
  • buffUnity: Base Unity production increased from 5 to 10.
  • nerfPlanetary Ascension: Planetary Ascension effect reduced from 25% to 10% per tier.
  • buffEmpire Size: Base Empire Size from pops has been halved.
  • nerfEmpire Size: Base Empire Size from colonies increased to 20.
  • buffTechnology: Technology costs have been reduced by 50%.
  • nerfStability: Stability bonuses from most sources reduced to 1/2 or 1/3 of previous values.
  • nerfSoldiers: Soldiers are now Specialist jobs with 1 Alloy upkeep.
  • changeAutomation Buildings: Automation buildings now have job-specific energy upkeep (4-12 Energy per 100 jobs).

👾Crisis & Fallen Empires(5)

  • buffEnd Game Crisis: Reduced fleet power of Prethoryn, Contingency, and other standard crises by ~33%.
  • buffFallen Empires: Reduced fleet power of Awakened Fallen Empires and Cetana by ~50%.
  • changeCosmogenesis: Fallen Empires now directly oppose Cosmogenesis experiments, leading to Total War at Stage 5.
  • nerfFallen Empire Buildings: Fallen Empire buildings are now limited to 1 per planet.
  • changeEnd Game Crisis: Crises can now spawn 25 years after another crisis when multiple are enabled.

📜Origins & Civics(4)

  • buffSynthetic Fertility: Synthetic Fertility pop death rate halved from 30/month to 15/month.
  • changeMutagenic Spas: Mutagenic Spas redesigned to provide +3 leader level for Substance Abuser governors.
  • changeTechnocracy: Technocracy now provides +1 Scientist Cap but -1 Official Cap.
  • changeOppressive Autocracy: Oppressive Autocracy now moves Enforcers and Telepaths into Elite strata.

⚙️Performance & Stability(4)

  • fixPerformance: Reduced frame processing time by approximately 10%.
  • fixPerformance: Optimized event parameter storage, making AddScopeParameter 83x faster.
  • fixPerformance: Ship modifier calculation is now 68% faster.
  • fixPerformance: Optimized render cycle to perform as if V-Sync were off without screen tearing.

Summary

Naval & Combat Overhaul

The 'Cetus' update fundamentally changes fleet composition by increasing the Naval Capacity usage of most ships by 5x (e.g., Corvettes now cost 5, Battleships 40). To compensate, individual ships are sturdier, and Titan-class weapons now feature area-of-effect collateral damage. Crisis fleets have been nerfed by 33-50% to maintain balance against these smaller player navies.

Economic Rebalancing

The economy has been shifted to a lower power level. Tech costs have been halved, but research job output is also reduced. Empire size from pops is halved, while the base size from colonies has doubled to 20. Stability and Unity modifiers have been broadly reduced to make high-tier optimization more challenging.

Performance & Quality of Life

Custodian programmers have delivered massive performance gains, including a 10% reduction in frame processing time and up to 83x faster event scope parameter handling. Gameplay improvements include a total rework of unemployment (immediate demotion) and new Refugee Attraction mechanics.

← OlderStellaris 4.3 "Cetus" Open Beta Updated (2026-03-06)Mar 6, 2026Newer →Stellaris 4.3.1 hotfix release (checksum f646)Mar 19, 2026

More from Stellaris

View all patches →