Dev Diary #356 - Building a Grand Archive and Displaying Your Collection

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

by Eladrin

Hello, everyone!

The Grand Archive opens its doors on October 29th.

Today we take a look at the Grand Archive structure itself, specimen collection and display mechanics, and then examine the new Archivism tradition tree.
What is a Grand Archive?​ The Grand Archive is the cultural center for your empire, a place to house and display the story of your people through the greatest specimens of interest that you have collected over the years.

This one-stage structure can be built over any colony with 25 or more pops, and will not block other improvements such as Orbital Rings. We expect that most empires will want to build them over their capital world, to keep their treasures close.

The Galactic Archivism technology required for building a Grand Archive can appear as a tier 2 society tech, and as such building a Grand Archive does not require high tier technologies such as Mega-Engineering.

Shortly after you have discovered your first Specimen worthy of display, you have the chance to invest in the concept of a Grand Archive - if you pass on this opportunity, it can show up later as normal in your Society research options.


A collection that embraces the whole galaxy allows you to consider the whole galaxy. That is what an institution such as the Grand Archive is for.

Grand Archives can be built by any empire, including genocidal empires like Fanatic Purifiers, even if they have a more proactive stand on turning their neighbors into “historical interests” earlier than one would otherwise expect.


A closer look at the Grand Archive. The color scheme matches your empire flag and chosen shipset.

Specimen Collection and Display​ An Archive with nothing to display within it is simply a building. (And an expensive one at that.) Luckily, fascinating moments worth remembering occur all the time in Stellaris, so the Grand Archive Story Pack has added 151 unique Specimens to events, archaeology sites, and other content from across the base game and the new content added in the Story Pack. The team has gone through all of the other Stellaris content as well, giving us a final total of over 240 Specimens to collect, study, and appreciate. (Ancient Relics, Distant Stars, and Astral Planes, as our most exploration-focused releases, benefited the most from this pass.) The Specimen Collection system requires the Grand Archive Story Pack.

A symbol is shown when you have acquired a Specimen of interest - occasionally these are tied to a specific choice in an event, while other times they may be linked to your Origin or actions that you have taken.

Newly acquired Specimens appear in a toast to give you a quick look at what you’ve found.


Give me an archive, and I will fill it.


Sometimes Specimens will instead find you.​

The Discoveries tab now allows you to explore your collection and choose which Specimens to have on display. Displaying Specimens has an initial cost (which increases with the number of Specimens of that category that you have on display) as well as ongoing upkeep (which is affected by Empire Size). Each Specimen has its own effects while on display - some produce a small amount of resources, while others might grant anything from Energy from Jobs to Cloned Fauna Growth Speed.

Each Specimen also has expanded lore, and keeps track of where and when you acquired it in the first place.





A toggle in the top right of the Specimen window lets you set whether or not you want to automatically put any new Specimens you acquire directly on display. You can also set up how you want to handle your overflow if not everything can be on display at once. You can have up to nine Specimens on display in each category - Aesthetic Wonders, Galactic History, and Xeno Geology.

How Else Can I Get Specimens?​
Earlier I recommended building your Grand Archive close to the protected heart of your Empire. It’d be a terrible shame if something were to happen to it, after all.


The Grand Archive is great for seeing how excellent we were at stealing things​

The vile Yarrowreacheran Consensus stole three of my precious Specimens! Thankfully the rest of them are still safe, waiting for me to rebuild the Grand Archive and put them back on display.


Hey, that was mine! I even wrote my name on it!​

On the bright side, after spending some time working on our relations, they’re happy to trade it back to me.



You can also dig through your pile of Minor Artifacts to see if there’s anything worthwhile in there that got missed when you first acquired them.



Artifact Analysis can be performed up to five times, and has an increasing cost every time you use it.
Archivism Traditions and the Galactic Curator Civics ​
Once you’ve researched Galactic Archivism, the Archivism traditions become available. Empty shelves do not make for a wondrous attraction, but focusing on Archivism can help fill them up nicely.


Frontier Archaeology is my favorite.

Exhibition Specialization lets you focus your Archive’s output to one of the three Specimen categories, reducing the other two, and the Agenda associated with Archivism increases the chance of finding Archaeology Sites and increases Specimen Output.


Genocidal empires, having less use for Diplomatic Weight than many other Empires, replace Expert Negotiation with Galactic Reaping.


Let’s make (you) history.

If you’re really interested in having the best Grand Archive possible, there are the Galactic Curator civics. These civilizations all begin with Galactic Archivism as a guaranteed research option, one common Specimen of each category, and get a discount when dealing with the Curator Order. They also gain a 25% discount when actually building a Grand Archive, and have an increased chance to discover anomalies, but also tend to overwork their bureaucrats, reducing their effectiveness by a small amount. Nothing delights them more than a new find, though - Specimen discoveries and completion of Archaeology Sites grant them a Unity bonus.



The Curator Order​ The Curator Order is dedicated to the protection of knowledge, and you can impress them with your collection should you share similar interests.



If your collection is substantial enough to attract their attention, you could ask them for various things - whether it be specialized museum plans, or help setting up cultural enrichment programs. Naturally, they’ll want to be compensated for their help.





Impress them enough, and they’ll even be willing to allow you to give them a generous donation in exchange for the honor of selecting a relic to care for from their collection.



There are fifteen relics being added to the Curators in the Grand Archive Story Pack, five associated with each of the three Specimen categories.

Meanwhile… A Little Something From the Custodians​ The game setup screen has gotten a bit cumbersome over the years, with a huge number of options. We’re revisiting this screen in 3.14 “Circinus” to make things a little bit more understandable.

Pictures speak louder than words, so:


No more asking “which shape was Starburst again?”



Next Week​ Next week we’ll be going over the care and feeding of Tiyanki, the proper use of Gravity Snares and a Vivarium, and take a look at the Domestication traditions and Beastmasters civics.

See you then!

Pre-purchase Stellaris: Grand Archive alone or with a discount as part of Stellaris: Season 08!​