Team Nessassity Mods - Best Wishes In The Year... Of The Loch Ness Monster! Okay That Was Actually Dumb... Someone Stop Me Please! (Patreon)

Happy Lunar New Year! @o@

Okay, I am a bit late on that and this post was supposed to go up last week but with the avalanche of new things worth talking about coming every day I decided to wait for some downtime to collect my thoughts!

Oh! And also, this month we are super excited to share something special with you! It involves a guest appearance and...

...all in good time (￣▽￣) Let me keep you in suspense a while longer! BUT without further ado, we don't do ado here!

Our Stellaris Mods & Nemesis

Before we get into specifics, I'd just like to nerd out a bit over all the news we've heard since last month! Who could have expected what we thought would be just an espionage expansion to also encompass such things as becoming an end-game Crisis (in a more official way than we do already I guess) and further improvements to the Galactic Community?

While admittedly none of our mods currently have much to do with crises (if we ignore the Xenocidal trait, that one never fails to cause me an existential crisis when I learn of a new and creative way in which it fails to work as intended. Or worse - when it does >.<), both becoming Custodians of the Galaxy and subjugating it under the banner of a Galactic Empire are things that are very near and dear to our Elven hearts. And Asari too, to some extent.

MEC: Asari

For now, we do not have any specific plans regarding those aspects, although we can certainly see the possibilities. Custodianship of the Galaxy certainly sounds like something that Asari Republics going down the path of Ascendancy would be tempted to pursue, and I personally would love to further expand on the "storylines" branching off of the Prothean Beacon investigation. I'd like to look into that after the planned Illium Civic rework.
As well as have another look at Ardat-Yakshi, who I suspect might find a new and much more interesting purpose as special Assets under the espionage system. We also have some event content lined up for them that I've been itching to use for ages!

Until Nemesis actually comes out, we won't know to what extent we can integrate MEC with the new mechanics but rest assured, we will try!

MEC: Omega

Ah, but you know who else would love to take part in all the shady shiny features of Nemesis? Because I can think of a few people, and many probably reside on Omega! Or... will, in the near future.

Yes, Omega is being put off hiatus once again, and hopefully for the last time!

One big problem with Omega that we've always faced was the dilemma of how to reconcile the 4X gameplay that Stellaris demands in order for Empires to stay competitive and influential, with the expansion-light, soft-power-focused gameplay we wanted Omega to engage in. The introduction of Megacorps, and specifically Criminal Syndicates, in Megacorp was a major step in the right direction, but not quite enough to truly create an environment in which a surreptitious, subtle power could thrive. There was no Intrigue Lifestyle in Stellaris unfortunately.

However, with the advent of Espionage, I do believe we have finally struck gold! Of course, how viable espionage turns out to be as a primary playstyle is yet to be seen and extensively tested... but we also think that we have enough experience iterating on and reworking Omega at this point that if even it doesn't work in vanilla, we can force it to work for us. I mean, hopefully, because we're pretty sure we're at the short end of Aria's patience at this point >.>

Elves of Stellaris

On the Elven side of things, we don't have any concrete plans to take advantage of Nemesis features just yet (although it's just a matter of time, it's not hard to come up with... quite a lot) but you might be happy to hear that we've been continuing to work on even further improving the Elven Origins. The Lhuren, especially, are slated for additional features to come soon. We've even brought in some outside help for this one... but I won't reveal who that is just yet or what she's been working on n_n

But what I can say is that we have heard our users' dissatisfaction with the Celestial Throne Origin being stuck with the Inwards Perfection Civic and its stringent limitations. In response, there is something we are working on to hopefully address it in... creatively roundabout ways.

Speaking of... I suppose I've been roundabout about the promised special guest for long enough by now, so...

I'll let him take it from here!

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MEC: Expanded Galaxy

Hi all, I’m LostInACave and I’ve been working with Team Nessassity since June 2018 as one of the writers of MEC: Asari and other MEC content that is in the works. ^-^ Hopefully some of you have enjoyed the Prothean Beacon dig-site, various planetary features and other story content, because we have plenty more on the way!

Most recently I have been working on a side project for Mass Effect Civilizations, named MEC: Expanded Galaxy (MEC: EG). This project is designed to bring a bit of the Mass Effect galaxy and history to your Stellaris playthroughs by adding over 85 systems, nearly 40 anomalies, 3 archaeological dig-sites and a few extra treats for good measure!

*Don’t worry, the spelling error has been fixed… you saw nothing!*

Whilst many of the anomalies are mere flavor, heavily based on planetary descriptions from the Mass Effect trilogy, it should still make the galaxy feel that bit more connected to the Mass Effect universe. The dig-sites of course are almost entirely original work that I hope you will all enjoy! Below is an image of one of the dig-sites so SPOILER! The other two will remain a secret for you to find and investigate!

*Getting a sense of déjà vu for some reason*

Moving forward I aim to add some original “random” anomalies that will fit within the Mass Effect universe. These won’t be tied to specific planets and/or stars. Also I wish to improve anomaly/dig-site interaction for Hive Minds and Machine Empires, and finally, add more dig-sites and events for players to investigate.

Whilst we do not have a release date for the next Stellaris expansion, Nemesis, I’m hoping to release MEC: EG soon after.

Looking even further into the future I have ideas on introducing a galaxy spanning investigation(s) into the mysteries of the past (I’m sure you can all guess what that may involve) and integration of elements from MEC: Asari and any other future MEC projects.

*What horrors could lurk nearby?*

I have thoroughly enjoyed making this project, and I hope you will all enjoy adding a bit more Mass Effect lore to your genocidal campaigns/alien lovefest/corporate dystopia. Whatever floats your boat!

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Thank you, Lost! <3

As you can see, there's a lot to look forward to in 2021, both from Team Nessassity and its associates. While we are still not quite ready to expand our core roster, we could not have come this far without the support and contributions of volunteers like LostInACave, and I could not be more proud to see them take the initiative and launch their own projects under the MEC umbrella!

In future monthly Mod Reports, I would like you to meet our other members and associates (if they would like to) and let them talk about the things they're passionate about and what they've been working on. As much as I love to relay as much as I can every month, it cannot compare to hearing it from the space horse's own mouth!

(What? Space horse? Really? What's wrong with me?)

...

(Don't answer that please >.>)

ANYWAYS! That's it for February! Oh! But before I warp away, there WAS supposed to be a progress report on Veiled Realms as well, but for various logistical reasons, the Shiny Things™ that I wanted to showcase weren't ready in time, and I did not want to delay this post any longer, so I am profusely sorry for skipping our CK3 project this time! I will make sure to prepare you a double serving of delicious Shiny next month, as well as give you an overview of the new scope and progress on the project!

Until then, thank you, thank you, thank you forever for continuing to support us and somehow still putting up with my signature scatterbrain and ranty walls of text that someone more eloquent could probably compress to a fraction of the length BUT WHERE'S THE FUN IN THAT? (˵◕ ɔ ◕˵)

So, as always, thank you for your interest in Team Nessassity's brainy byproducts and have fun playing the Paradox games we all love and can't imagine an overwhelming chunk of our free time without! ✿