Paradox Interactive and Abrakam have announced that Willpower, the next major expansion for sci-fi grand strategy game Stellaris, will launch on PC on November 23rd, turning the game's Ethics into Ideologies that can spread between empires.
According to a release, Willpower is part of the Season 10 Expansion Pass. Players without the Pass can pre-purchase it on its own today, for a suggested retail price of $24.99 (£20.99/€24.99). A release date trailer went out alongside the news. The expansion also arrives with the 4.6 'Corona Borealis' update, which brings various bug fixes.
Stellaris is a grand strategy game set in space: players guide a species from its first steps among the stars to a galaxy-spanning empire. Ethics are the core beliefs of an empire's people (militarist or pacifist, for example). They shape which governments and Civics a player can pick.
How Ideologies spread
In Willpower, an Ethic held with fanatic conviction can become an Ideology that crosses borders. Once it is set up, players can push it into neighbouring systems (and other empires) through Starbases, Hyper Relays plus Ideological Beacons. Foreign populations may take on those values. Some form Fanatic Factions; the release says these corrode enemies ‘from within’.
There is a catch. Players need to keep an eye on their Momentum, since factions at home may revolt if an empire strays from its own Tenets, according to the release. A relocatable Galactic Hall gives each Ideology a visible spot on the galactic map. Above a colony, it boosts local output as well as Ideological Reach; at the frontier, it carries the message into contested space. Every Ethic gets its own Hall design (the release adds that ‘there is a biological one too’).
A new way to win
The expansion adds a new Ambition, Force of Will. It offers a route to victory without conquest: get the galaxy to follow you, then defeat all the Fallen Empires. Players convert populations, pull other empires into their orbit and keep up the Momentum that fuels their Willpower.
Ideology reaches into diplomacy too. Other empires can adopt a player's doctrine, while Federation laws can set an official belief for a whole alliance. Rival doctrines can be denounced in the Galactic Community. Espionage Operations can tamper with Ideological Reach, sow doubt or stir revolt where a belief has already taken hold. If covert pressure fails, a new Casus Belli (a formal reason to go to war) lets players impose their Ideology by force. The release calls it ‘still persuasion, only with more battleships’.
New Origins and other additions
Willpower also brings three new Origins, the backstories players choose when they create an empire. Golden Generation has players educate promising students at the Golden Academy, then recruit them as the next generation of leaders. In Lost Makers, a Machine Intelligence searches the stars for its creators; their story ties into one of the galaxy's existing Precursors. Great Mosaic starts with an extra Civic. No set narrative path comes with it.
On top of that, the expansion adds new Civics, events, ideological Paragons, buildings, an inquisitor shipset, a city set and a new advisor. More details are on the official Stellaris: Willpower page.
Paradox Interactive develops and publishes strategy and management games for PC and consoles. Its portfolio includes Stellaris, Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, Cities: Skylines, Prison Architect, Age of Wonders and Victoria, as well as the Surviving games. The company also owns the World of Darkness brand catalog.
The following was sent as a press release to Inven Global.
