stellaris [mod] [ALPHA] The Abyss Above

[ZeroOneOut]

is it still being worked on? 

[wolfbartz]

for those of us who suck at modding we beg you to keep working on this project

[E V E]

Eve Check-In

Hello! I'd apologize for being slow/life being busy again, but that'd be what? The fourth time in a row? 

What's been going on?

TL;DR - it's no secret that 4.0+ has kind of been a shitshow for Stellaris. The tweaks and re-balances surrounding population have thrown a wrench into the hyper pregnancy/egg laying/breeding fantasy elements of the game (IMO anyway), and since Lustful Void hasn't yet been updated for 4.0+ I can't do anything with that mod's sex jobs/lactation systems. Also, if that wasn't enough, shortly after the last update my PC died. I lost all of the non-uploaded mod files. Perhaps it was divine punishment for the absolutely glacial pace of updates, eh? So I gave up on the mod for a while. I didn't have any of my own documentation for how modding Stellaris works, and I didn't have the patience to relearn everything I'd done, rewrite and redraw everything I'd lost, and play the game enough to make sure it all worked.

But, it's not all bad news.

 

What's the good news?

I've been working on "HYPER Science," an add-on/submod/whatever you wanna call it for TAA. Despite some flaws, I did enjoy the Grand Archive DLC. Erotic anomalies were something I'd been interested in for a while, and it's a compact enough concept to work as a standalone release. So, what all is in it?

• ~25 Anomalies; Discover interstellar breast milk meteoroids and moons coated in mummified insect eggs.
• ~15 Specimens; Display paleo-art from a stone-age species immobilized by their breasts, and show your citizens a live stream of the giant phallus you found in deep space.
• 3 Archeological Sites; Focused on hyper pregnancy, hyper ass growth, and hyper lactation.
• Mayyyybbeeee a Precursor Chain; Centered around a creature bigger than our known universe. Depends on how hard it'd be to implement though, no promises.

Is there an ETA? Absolutely not, lmao. I've learned my lesson. Saying "Oh I'll try to finish it by [DATE]" only invites grief, suffering, and broken promises. It'll be published when it's done and ready. No alpha builds or versions where 99% of the content is missing either. I wanna release it feature complete, set it and forget it. Though I will say it's going well. I've gotten both custom anomalies and custom specimens working already.

 

What's the bad news?

I don't really have any plans to update baseline TAA at the moment. Like I said earlier, between 4.0's changes to population systems and not having access to LV's lactation/sex systems, none of what I had made for the game really works as intended anymore. The mod would need to be completely redone from scratch, and without LV as a baseline I don't really see how I can do that just yet. Losing all the stuff I had planned for 0.0.5a really was a blow to my morale too, so it's not like I even have some wonky 3.0 compatible update to push out in the meantime.

 

TAA was stupidly ambitious, hell I even said as much in the Q&A. I dreamed up a lot of crazy ideas and bold decisions for a woman who can barely read and write code. A lot of it was the worst kind of "idea woman" behavior; imagining breast growth scenarios with one hand on the keyboard and one hand in my pants. Writing out screeds of text and then never actually bothering to implement them into the game. Outlining elaborate "becoming the crisis" scenarios where you outgrow the universe while barely understanding how crisis's work mechanically.

I think, for now, it's more realistic to focus in on just a few systems at a time. To try and make self-contained mods that are easy to update and simple in scope. 

Is there a future for TAA?

Absolutely.

 

Make no mistake, "HYPER Science" is TAA. It's a module of (hopefully) something larger. Just, instead of forcing myself to go back and update all the disparate pieces of TAA, I'm trying to make new additions neater. More focused. More complete. So if I disappear for several months at a time, you're all not just left with unplayable bullshit. And I do already have other ideas for similar submods. Say what you will about Biogenesis, but I think there's some excellent erotic potential with the "Evolutionary Predator" origin. Playing as a sort of body-horror succubus/incubus, evolving more and more extreme sexual features as time goes on? Something I'm really keen on trying to implement. And while I don't own Machine Age just yet, I have been meaning to poke around with some of the cyborg/synthetic elements and incorporate them into hyper kinks.

 

TAA is my baby. It's kinda ugly, barely functional, and nowhere near the best mod out there. But it always makes me happy that I've put something out there. It's something I've crafted with my own two hands and my own dumb ass brain. And it might be silly, but as more and more mods release that embrace AI dogshit - hell, even Stellaris itself isn't above charging money for some real vibecoded trash - it makes me happy that I'm able to learn new stuff and get people off my own creative juices.

Besides, if I don't put something out there, who else will?

Conclusion

TL;DR to the TL;DR - Lost files for 0.0.5a, new submod on the way sometime, breast milk oceans likely.

So, keep an eye out for HYPER Science whenever that ends up dropping! I'm not sure whether the upload will be on this mod's page yet or if I'll make a second one, but no matter what I'll update here when it happens. I'll also try and post updates on my bsky, and if yet another PC explodes I'll be submitting my resignation from modding over there.

And thank you for the constant trickle of support! I'm sorry for doing so little, but the positive DMs and comments are why I keep coming back break-after-break.

[MasterZak]

I don't think anyone expected huge things quickly from this mod, so I hope you didn't feel pressure to deliver at any point. Lots of people start modding with just an idea and no idea how to make it, that's just what being a beginner at something is like.

 

I've never properly modded for Stellaris or other Paradox games but I've made some for other games and experienced the same overambitious ideation that I can't possibly implement all of. The issue there is that ideation is only the first stage of planning, and we need to then refine ideas based on feasibility. It's easy to forget that part when we're caught up in our own hype. We're just coming up with cooler and cooler ideas but not actually delivering any. Then when we realise we can't do most of it, we lose confidence and motivation.

 

You seem to have realised that now though, so that's good. Starting with a comparatively simple sub-mod is the best approach for a mod with such a huge scope. Honestly your first ideas sound like an overhaul on similar scale to LV.

I hope it goes well in the future and I hope you can enjoy learning as you make it. It's very satisfying to bring an idea into reality.

[wolfbartz]

I’m glad to hear you’re still working on it and apologize for any pressure my posts placed upon you. I’m sorry to hear about your computer going out, it sucks and I can easily see how it would be a huge morale problem. Keep up the good work.