Wild Space

tldr; adds uncolonisable space to make the galaxy feel bigger and allow more movement and exploration. If you like the mod, make sure to rate it!

• Sensor rework (Nebulae, Wild Space and Wormholes block sensors. Late game techs to counteract this).
• Tweaks to hyperlane graphics, which should now be more visible in the Core.
• Changes to Wild Space graphics to increase variety and reduce luminosity.
  Incorporate Bigger Galaxies
• Tweaks to galaxy generation
• Fully integrated compatibility with Gigastructures galactic core
• Added Mod Menu on game start
• Integrated Nicer Nebulae mod & general graphical tweaks
• Black Holes & other "exotic" stars in Core Wild Space
• Wormholes linking core wild space to other patches around the map.

The purpose of this mod is to make galactic geography matter. It currently does three things:

• adds “wild space” systems that cannot be colonised, which fill most nebulae and the galactic core;
• adds differential hyperlane density between "wild" and "normal" space;
• links areas of wild space to the core via wormhole; and
• adds new galaxy maps that dramatically increases the proportion of systems that are within a nebula.

By doing so it prevents the entire map from being locked down by empire borders by the end of the early game, increasing maneuverability and extending the exploration phase of the game. It also reduces the number of habitable planets and should increase performance (whilst not changing the density of planets as determined by standard settings).

Vanilla friendly and should be compatible all mods that don’t effect galaxy generation. Real Space 3.6 and Gigastructures compatibility is built in. Details, quibbles and caveats below.

For a full description of the various submods see pinned description.

• Very highly recommended Slightly More Celestial Objects and compatibility patch
• A galaxy texture mod, this mod’s graphics are designed to fit best with Pinwheel Galaxy Purple
• Real Space

Adds systems without any central star which I’ve called “wild space”. Stellaris will only allow you to build a starbase on top of a star. Removing that star makes the system un-colonisable and permanently neutral. ‘Wild space’ systems have some relatively violent nebula visuals. If you have Annatar’s absolutely beautiful Real Space mod activated the in system effects will be a mix of his and Vanilla. If not, the visuals will be entirely based on Vanilla nebula effects.

These systems should fill most of the space within any nebulae that are generated except for: the areas immediately surrounding empires; Fallen empires; marauders; special systems etc. They’ll also fill the core and parts of the galactic rim.

That means that large tracts of space will remain traversable and impossible to lock down throughout the game. The size of those zones is determined principally by the size of the nebula and the number and positioning of empires. On the standard Vanilla galaxy sizes the nebulae are very small. On the maps added by this mod the size of those nebulae are massively increased and wild space will fill an appreciable proportion of the map.

The exact scale of wild space on the "Wild Space" maps is random. The systems will / should not spawn within two jumps of any empire homeworld. So if you play with high numbers of empires, and particularly if these empires are spread relatively evenly, the amount of wild space will fall significantly.

Vanilla Stellaris exploration ends when all of the systems are gobbled up. This tends to happen quickly. Preventing this from happening naturally increases the length of the exploration phase and makes it much, much harder for you to be shut out of other areas of the map.

I’ve also changed a few standard Vanilla systems to only appear in a nebula and have added a few special systems as ‘islands’ that should only appear in the middle of wild space. These systems are colonisable and tend to either be rich or include rewards.

Graphically, the systems are probably a little bit more demanding than Vanilla nebulae. Low graphics version available from mod menu.

Otherwise, it shouldn’t have any impact on game speed. Given that it will reduce the amount of colonisable space and planets at any given galaxy size it may have a mildly positive impact. Again, no promises.

Overwrites:

• marauders initialisers and the home systems for ameoba, tiyanki and privateers. These are now far more likely to be found inside nebulae than elsewhere;
• crisis 1 (Prethoryn) and crisis 2 (Unbidden) events. Necessary to avoid potential bug when spawning in wild space systems. As such this will be incompatible with mods changing those crises. Currently looking for a less invasive solution.

Load order: below Real Space / anything modifying crisis events is the only thing that should matter. Even if you don’t do that you should only get marauders in the wrong place and Real Space textures for the nebulae on the galaxy map (which are too bright when they’re as big as they are here).