Stellaris #MODJAM2024 - Today's the Day!

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

by MrFreake

Hello Stellaris Community!

I have to start off by saying how proud I am of all the participants this year. This year saw the most signups for Mod Jam we've ever had, the most design documents submitted, and (I think) the most final submissions. The modders have really put their all into these contributions, and I think they've turned out fantastic. I can't wait to see what you all think!

The Mod Jam mod will release today around 5 PM CET! You can subscribe to the workshop mod now, and get this new content as soon as it becomes available!

Today we're going to be talking about the final 11 submissions that haven't been seen, so without further ado:
Vizierch Raffar by BrettlesSr

Inspiration: I had a couple of inspirations for Raffar - one was the classic trope of the scheming vizier, so I wanted to make a leader you knew you shouldn’t trust but who was rewarding enough to risk playing with fire. Then I’ve added lots of ideas loosely inspired from WH40k’s Necrons and Dr Who’s Cybermen into the mix for good measure.
Zob, Collector of Minds by Starchitect

Inspiration: I loved collecting and tending to my leaders long before Paragons made them cool, they can be the backbone of the kind of RP focused gameplay I enjoy most. Zob takes that leader gardening instinct to the next level, as Zob only gains power as you add your own leaders and your own story to Zobs. Trait stacking can also be a fun exercise for the min-maxer in me, and Zob facilitates that in what is hopefully, a limited and manageable way.
Daniel Reinhard by Jin2188

Inspiration: I’ve had the idea of this character in my head for some time, as the primary antagonist of an IP I never got onto paper. I decided to introduce the idea of Reinhard’s character to a wider community to see their opinions and acquire feedback. I’m aware of the power fantasy of wanting to play ‘the bad guys’, and figured that this was a good way to feed into that. Religion is also an idea I wanted to explore heavily with my as-of-yet nonexistent IP, diving into some of the benefits and drawbacks with the worship of deities and spirituality in general. Reinhard represents the bad parts of religion/spirituality; the authoritarianism, the corruption of values, the blind obedience to dogma, while his counterpart, Michael Faulkner (who is mentioned in-game, and who you may encounter in a playthrough with Reinhard) represents the good aspects; the community, the moral values, and the idea of the larger collective working together for the common good. I was heavily inspired by real-world evils associated with religion, with Reinhard himself being inspired by what I believe most cult leaders to be like; con-men who don’t actually believe anything they’re saying, but they say it anyway in order to gain power. Power is a central concept to Reinhard’s character, he’s a nihilist who believes that nothing matters except securing one’s own personal welfare, even at the expense of others. This mod is more of a proof of concept, since I wanted to make an expanded version where you could recruit Michael Faulkner as a leader as well, but I was only allowed to create a single recruitable leader for this ModJam, so I settled on this. I do intend to release this expanded version in the future, however.
Ursa Major by Honeytheyellowbear

The Spymaster Ralph Fasmid by bbt104

Inspiration: Our inspiration for Ralph Fasmid came from movies and shows such as Casablanca, SpyKids, Chuck, The Kingsman, and Bourne. Casablanca was our main inspiration for his design, Chuck was the inspiration for him to be exclusive to Megacorps. Bourne inspired a small event that only happens if you dismiss him.
Mictla, Whispering Aggregation by pat173

Inspiration: My inspiration for Mictla's concept originated from reading Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time trilogy, where I aimed to craft an entity that exuded a really alien and almost horror-like essence.

In terms of gameplay I wanted a leader focused mainly on one or two aspects of the game. Mictla's bonuses are heavily on what you'd expect from the society group of technologies. I also wanted them to feel to stand out, so I implemented a unique way for them to level up as they don't gain experience over time.

Lastly I wanted to design Mictla so that it could have an impact on the player's experience. So that if the player chose to, there would be drastic changes in your empire based on your decisions and approach with Mictla's events.

We're going on an adventure!

Nar by Lithrandil2

Spirit of the Junction, by Blue Commander

The Synthmind Sage by Nepnep5150

Venerable Bubbles by Regunes

Inspiration: “To be honest I prefer Cyto”
Naodeus by Dredaich

Inspiration: In my pen & paper campaign (Pathfinder 1e) Naodeus is a benevolent magical being from beyond the outer realms trapped in the campaign world. Talil is a city founded by his adopted children. Right after I learned of the Paragon update I wanted to make this leader. This ModJAM was an excuse to do so.

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And that's it for the Legendary Leaders included in this year's Mod Jam, 26 in total! What do you think? Which one are you most excited to play?

Just a reminder #MODJAM2024 will release at 5 PM CET today! (January 11th, 2024)