Stellaris’ next major update – 3.1 ‘Lem’ – named after renowned science fiction author Stanislav Lem is available now. This patch is the first to come from the grand strategy game's new ‘custodians’ team which is concerned with smaller, more frequent updates looking at bug fixing, quality of life improvements, and adding more value to previous expansions.
That said, the 3.1 patch is unusually large, adding new content to nearly every Stellaris DLC that’s been released so far, mainly because the team has had longer to work on it. Future updates are going to be smaller and more regular, with the next custodians patch expected in around three months.
The highlights of the 3.1 update include major new content drops for the Plantoids and Humanoids expansion packs, and a rework of tradition trees so that they are no longer hardlocked. Depending on what add-ons you own, you can select which traditions you want to feature in a playthrough. There are also new trees that have been added into the Apocalypse and Nemesis expansions.
Here is a video that looks at the patch’s highlights:
Other than that, the Alpha Centauri system has had its layout changed to be more scientifically accurate, and the base game has a couple of new archaeology sites. There’s also a large, large list of fixes and balance changes, including new mod variables and scripts.
While we can expect another custodians patch before the end of the year (hopefully), there’s been no word what the other half of the Stellaris team is up to. Game designer Stephen Murray commented back in May that the team “is not done yet” with Stellaris, so we can be confident of at least one more expansion, at least.
What that might be and when it gets announced, though, is anyone’s guess. In the meantime, enjoy the new patch!