Stellaris patch 3.7.4 revamps payback origin, adds nuclear close calls

pcgamesn.com:

Developer Paradox has detailed Stellaris patch 3.7.4, which is out now and makes some welcome changes and improvements to the space grand strategy game following the arrival of the Stellaris First Contact DLC earlier this month. Among the changes are some big tweaks to one of the origins added with the DLC, payback, and a chance for civilizations to have close calls when nuclear war threatens to break out.

The payback origin is one of three introduced with the expansion, and sees you starting out on a planet that has managed to hold off the invasion efforts of a hostile empire – albeit one that’s still out there waiting for you. The new update alters several aspects of this origin to adjust the behaviour of the Debt Collectors and the MSI, and should make the origin play out a little more smoothly. The MSI also get additional naval capacity and some new starting tech, making them a little stronger overall.

There’s now a chance that pre-FTl civilizations can run into a ‘close call’ when the threat of nuclear war breaking out is imminent. Starbase reactors get a nice 15% buff to their power, which should help upgraded citadels make use of more of their weapon slots. Meanwhile, Hive-Minds that have both Stargazers and Cordyceptic Drones now begin with three reanimated amoebae.

There’s also a pretty hefty range of bug fixes, such as ones causing the ‘Sabotage Starbase’ option to not actually destroy components and the Solarpunk society remaining neutral after being attacked. There will no longer be happiness penalties applied based on unemployment from living standards, which will now be determined by job strata. The AI will also now correctly create clone vats to keep its colonies alive if it’s in control of a clone army,