Stellaris — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| Stellaris Dev Diary #418 - Announcing Nomads and Stellaris: Season 10 | 2026-04-29 | It’s my pleasure to announce boarding has started for all passengers departing on our tour of Stellaris: Season 10, with non-stop service to the Nomads expansion alongside the Stellaris 4.4 ‘Pegasus’ update. Following our first destination, there will be a brief stopover at the Stellaris 4.5 ‘Cygnus’ Custodian release, after which our cruise will continue to the Stellaris 4.6 ‘Corona Borealis‘ update, featuring Willpower, Scenario Pack 1, and Scenario Pack 2. All passengers are welcome to acquire their ‘Vipra the Vapor’ Species Portrait at the ticketing office now. The Stellaris 10-year anniversary is coming, and as part of that celebration, |
| Stellaris Dev Diary #417 - Situation Log Updated | 2026-04-23 | by EladrinHi everyone! Let’s look at some other UIs that are getting a facelift in the 4.4 ‘Pegasus’ update. I’m turning this over to our UX designer, Doğa: The Situation LogSince Situation Log is a core feature that has long needed some love, we wanted to redesign it to make it more user-friendly and cleaner. In this redesign, I wanted to address the pain points of navigation and lack of ordering, lack of grouping and hierarchy, desire for personalization, and also generally make it look better. Without further ado, I present you: the new Situation Log!UI Breakdown We have taken the old layout and made it anew. Events are no longer broken |
| Stellaris Dev Diary #416 - Quality of Life Improvements | 2026-04-16 | by EladrinHello Stellaris Community!The 4.3.4 ‘Cetus’ update was released today, with the following changes:4.3.4 ‘Cetus’ Release NotesNotes in italics were not in the 2026-04-10 Open Beta update. BalanceAdded a cap of 10 years (in defines) for how long a fleet can go MIA. (Exceptions: Phased or Eaten fleets, and those exploring Astral Rifts.)Disruptor weapons now also reduce Regeneration Effectiveness on hit for 10 days.T1: -20% Shield, -10% Armor/Hull Regen.T2: -35% Shield, -20% Armor/Hull Regen.T3: -50% Shield, -30% Armor/Hull Regen.Psionic: -35% Shield Regen, -20% Fire Rate, but remains on the anti-fire-rate channel so will stack with o |
| 4.3.4 Open Beta (part two) is now on stellaris_test [checksum 44ba] | 2026-04-10 | Hello everyone!We've just updated the stellaris_test branch with the fixes we were talking about yesterday.4.3.4 ‘Cetus’ Release Notes (ONGOING)Notes in italics were not in the 2026-04-02 Open Beta update. BalanceAdded a cap of 10 years (in defines) for how long a fleet can go MIA. (Exceptions: Phased or Eaten fleets, and those exploring Astral Rifts.)Disruptor weapons now also reduce Regeneration Effectiveness on hit for 10 days.T1: -20% Shield, -10% Armor/Hull Regen.T2: -35% Shield, -20% Armor/Hull Regen.T3: -50% Shield, -30% Armor/Hull Regen.Psionic: -35% Shield Regen, -20% Fire Rate, but remains on the anti-fire-rate channel so will sta |
| Stellaris Dev Diary #415 - The Gamma Menace | 2026-04-09 | by EladrinHi everyone!Currently we’re planning on updating the 4.3.4 Open Beta branch tomorrow, with the following changes:4.3.4 ‘Cetus’ Release Notes (ONGOING)Notes in Italics were not in the 2026-04-02 Open Beta update.BalanceAdded a cap of 10 years (in defines) for how long a fleet can go MIA. (Exceptions: Phased or Eaten fleets, and those exploring Astral Rifts.)Disruptor weapons now also reduce Regeneration Effectiveness on hit for 10 days. T1: -20% Shield, -10% Armor/Hull Regen. T2: -35% Shield, -20% Armor/Hull Regen. T3: -50% Shield, -30% Armor/Hull Regen. Psionic: -35% Shield Regen, -20% Fire Rate, but remains on the anti-fire-rate ch |
| Stellaris Dev Diary #414b - Portrait Substitution System | 2026-04-02 | by EladrinHI everyone!Yesterday we announced Arachnophilia Mode and mentioned the Portrait Substitution System that we’re currently working on. We left a few details out of that dev diary, which we’ll go over today. But first, let’s look at the current state of patches.Earlier this week, we released the 4.3.3 update, with the following changes:4.3.3 ‘Cetus’ Release NotesImprovementAdded Naval Capacity and Command Limit sliders to Advanced Galaxy Settings.These range from x0.5 to x5.0 and are multiplicative with all other modifiers in the game. (Warning: Increasing Naval Capacity will have late-game performance and balance implications. Chan |
| Stellaris Dev Diary #414 - Spinning a Web of Hope | 2026-04-01 | by Eladrin (Warning: Spiders)HI everyone! We’re posting today’s dev diary a day early because of the holiday on Friday and for no other reason.The Stellaris Base Game, With a Family of Spiders Living In ItA few weeks ago we announced that Utopia, Synthetic Dawn, the Humanoids Species Pack, and most of the Galaxy Edition upgrade pack were being rolled into the base game. This includes the arachnid portrait previously exclusive to Galaxy Edition:Thanks to the responses to the announcement, a critical issue was discovered. With all of the portraits available in Stellaris, it would be difficult to impossible to ensure a proper arachnotopia (at l |
| Stellaris 4.3.3 patch released (checksum 456f) | 2026-03-31 | by PDX-LokeHello, Another week, another collection of Stellaris improvements ready for release. The team has made progress in a number of important areas so be sure to check out the contents of this one. Stellaris 4.3.3 should now be available on all platforms. Please find the changelog below. 4.3.3 ‘Cetus’ Release NotesImprovementAdded Naval Capacity and Command Limit sliders to Advanced Galaxy Settings.These range from x0.5 to x5.0 and are multiplicative with all other modifiers in the game. (Warning: Increasing Naval Capacity will have late-game performance and balance implications. Changing Command Limit will have balance implications.) |
| Stellaris Dev Diary #413 - 4.3 ‘Cetus’ Has Released, What’s Next? | 2026-03-26 | by EladrinHello everyone! The 4.3 ‘Cetus’ update is live after months of Open Beta feedback. That said, the work doesn’t stop at release and there’s still a lot to do.4.3 Updates So FarOverall, the 4.3 release is pretty stable. The lengthy Open Beta process let us avoid many of the major issues that often follow a release, so the post-release support has largely been continued bugfixing and some balance adjustments. 4.3.1 was released as a quick hotfix to stop the Resume button from breaking 4.2 Ironman saves - attempting to quick-load a save from a previous major version will now divert you to the main menu and give a Version Mismatch error, |
| Stellaris 4.3.2 patch released (checksum 171a) | 2026-03-24 | by PDX-LokeHello everyone,A minor patch is ready for release, fixing a few issues.4.3.2 should now be available for download via Steam, GOG, and MS Store.Please find the change log below:Stellaris 4.3.2 patch notesImprovementFleets are now willing to fight further from the center of the system. Especially noticeable if fighting stationary targets at the edge of the systemBalanceThe Grand Fleet achievement now needs 500 fleet size instead of 120Halved the Empire Size penalty from colonies for WildernessReduced the Empire Size penalty from colonies for Sovereign Guardianship civics by 25%Ritualistic Implants now also give a bonus to Artisan J |
| 4.3.2 Open Beta is now on stellaris_test [checksum 171a] | 2026-03-20 | Hello everyone! A small number of changes have just been pushed to the stellaris_test beta branch on Steam. 4.3.2 Open Beta Release NotesImprovementFleets are now willing to fight further from the center of the system. Especially noticeable if fighting stationary targets at the edge of the systemBalanceHalved the Empire Size penalty from colonies for WildernessReduced the Empire Size penalty from colonies for Sovereign Guardianship civics by 25%BugfixThe Aberrant Dimensional Portal glows with an orange lightThe Vehement Dimensional Portal glows with a green lightRenamed the Infernal species to Thermophile while in gameFixes bug when AI gen |
| The Paradox Steam Spring sale has begun! | 2026-03-19 | The Paradox Steam Spring Sale has begun!Stellaris is now 75% off, with additional discounts on selected DLC.Expand beyond your homeworld and shape the fate of the galaxy.Explore the sale here: https://pdxint.at/47UqQ5l |
| Stellaris 4.3.1 hotfix release (checksum f646) | 2026-03-19 | Hello, A hotfix patch has been readied, aiming to fix a few issues plus add a clarifying step for players looking to resume their pre patch save games. 4.3.1 should now be available via Steam and GOG, with MS Store following as soon as possible. Please find the change log below.4.3.1 Hotfix Patch NotesImprovementThe Resume button on the launcher will no longer load incompatible saves, potentially ruining them. It will instead send you to the Main Menu.Updated save compatibility to show the incompatible save icon for all pre-4.3 save games.BugfixAvian portrait granted by Paradox Account log in has returned.Stability and PerformanceFixed co |
| Utopian Abundance: An Update on the Stellaris Base Game | 2026-03-19 | Hi all!For the past nine years, every time a new player asked “what’s the first DLC I should buy for Stellaris”, you all pretty much unanimously said “Utopia”.Honestly, we agree.As part of the Stellaris 10 Year Anniversary celebrations, we are going to give EVERY Stellaris PC player the Utopia and Synthetic Dawn DLCs, and the Humanoids Species Pack. This will grant everyone access to Hive Mind empires, Gestalt Machine Intelligences, the humanoid portraits, civics, and shipsets, and all the other features from these three DLCs.We’re going to roll all three of these, plus most of the elements of the Galaxy Edition upgrade into the base game. (T |
| Stellaris 4.3 'Cetus' is now available! | 2026-03-17 | The Stellaris 4.3 “Cetus” update is now available!Internally referred to as “The Reckoning”, the “Cetus” patch boasts an impressive list of balance changes, fixes and performance improvements, while cutting back on the supercharged navies and economies that were introduced with Stellaris 4.0.Cetus Design Goals and Philosophy4.3 “Cetus” is not looking to re-create the economic and power balance of 3.x, but rather we’re establishing a new baseline of where the 4.x economy should be. The smaller economies and navies in 4.3 “Cetus” will reinvigorate early-game and mid-game challenges, adding more incentive to do things like Pacify Space Fauna, w |
| Stellaris Dev Diary #412 - 4.3.0 ‘Cetus’ Preliminary Release Notes | 2026-03-11 | by EladrinTomorrow's Dev Diary has so many patch notes that we're publishing it today so that you can read them all. The release candidate is not yet live; tune back in tomorrow morning for access. -- LadyDz.It’s time. The Stellaris 4.3.0 ‘Cetus’ update is targeted for release next Tuesday, on the 17th of March.Many thanks to everyone who helped us throughout the Open Beta. While there are some things that didn’t get into 4.3.0, we’re going to continue working on them for the future - whether that be in a post-release 4.3 patch, in 4.4, 4.5, or beyond.4.3.0 ‘Cetus’ includes massive rebalancing of ships and the economy, and significant work on |
| Stellaris 4.3 "Cetus" Open Beta Updated (2026-03-06) | 2026-03-06 | Read this post on the Paradox forums! | Dev replies here!Hello everyone! We have another Open Beta update today. The Open Beta has successfully uncovered enough issues with the Factions and Ethics experiment that we've decided to remove it to let it cook some more, with a plan to release it in a future update. (Likely looking like a 4.5 timeframe so we can continue working on it through the summer.) This update will once again break save game compatibility. We are putting up a new cetus_open_beta_broken_factions branch with the previous build if you wish to continue your games. The main Open Beta branch should once again be compatible with sa |
| Stellaris 4.3 "Cetus" Open Beta Updated (2026-03-04) | 2026-03-04 | Hello Stellaris Community! We're here a day early with our weekly Open Beta update! This update breaks save game compatibility. There is a "cetus_open_beta_rollback" branch available on Steam so that you can continue your pre-existing save games before moving on to this new version. The rollback version will remain on this version for the rest of the open beta, as we do not expect save breaking updates at this stage. Where previously each Pop Group would be further subdivided by Ethic and Faction, which could result in extremely large numbers of Pop Groups in the late game (especially if playing xeno-friendly builds). In this new version of t |
| Capture the Stars: Stellaris + Metaleks Collab | 2026-03-04 | Deck your room with discoveries from across the galaxy.Explore the world of Stellaris beyond the screen with premium metal & paper posters made in collaboration with Metaleks!Check them out here: https://pdxint.at/4rGFvcf |
| Stellaris 4.3 "Cetus" Open Beta Updated (2026-02-26) | 2026-02-27 | Hello Stellaris Community! We're back updating the "Cetus" Open Beta again, with more balance changes based on your feedback as well as more bug fixes and performance improvements. Please note: Next week's Open Beta update will contain a save breaking change to pop groups. There will be a rollback branch available for those who want to continue your saves from this version. 4.3 ‘Cetus’ Open Beta Patch Notes 2026-02-26ImprovementRenamed Mercantile and Unyielding traditions to Commerce and Fortification to match the naming structure of all other traditions.BalanceMore Mutagenic Spa balance:Mutagenic Spas now only grant Substance Abuser to th |