The ever expanding beta 4.whatever beta patch just released patch notes that include some really minor things (all saved games will be broken) and some “risky” changes allowing pop groups to have mixed ethics. However, the most significant and worst change that Stellaris has ever contemplated is also included. I have confirmed this on both the official forums the official patch notes posted on reddit.

What are we even talking about here? What is the secret naming convention that is being being violated? Most games are trying to introduce flavor and create good naming conventions. To move from a tradition where being unyielding can describe both the spirit of the people (mechanically with the resistance is futile upgrade) the empire (Bulwark of Harmony and Never Surrender) in addition to the defense platforms. Stellaris is a game that is constantly in flux mechanically and changing the name of Unyielding is the opposite of an improvement. Unyielding is one of the most evocative tradition names in Stellaris and it’s malleable is a benefit to changing the mechanics.

I’m less bothered by the change of Mercantile to Commerce. It doesn’t feel like it’s needed and Mercantile’s naming convention feels like something borrowed from a historical paradox game. Mercantile is literally defined as anything relating to merchants or trading while commerce is defined as the activity of buying or selling on a larger scale. Mercantile actually describes the boosts to both your traders and global ability to buy and sell resources better than Commerce but neither one provides the sauce, the seasoning, the flavor, or the sizzle.

Stellaris has always been both in mechanical flux and a chimera of desires. I love the game because we can get the world of Alien interacting with the Dune universe all while Turtles who love robots and live in the desert are pompus purists. It seems like a small thing but any reduction in the flavor text makes creating your own headcannon for the galaxy a little bit harder. On the fantastic 3MA panel to first discuss the game Rowan Kaiser pointed out that the AI in the game literally gave no pushback and all of the game decisions required the player to have a story or headcannon. While the game may have added a bunch of amusements and distractions the current state of the AI isn’t that far off. Those of us with over 4000 hours in the game know this and still play anyway. We love being able to create a new galaxy, explore a fun combination, and get that first jolt of “these dickheads are slugs people” when a new empire that was aggressive in first contact shows up. Sure, we overlook that the AI loves to submit to our empire and that every conquest of a colony is the start of a massive public works project to educate the citizens that the old regime had no idea what the fuck they were doing.

Flavor and character are introduced in Stellaris in many ways. Some are limited, like first contacts, Archeology, or Astral events. It’s fun, and a good thing, to read the sea shanty, or chase the Baol or Zroni looking for stuff. However, after the 10th time it becomes something that you’re just clicking through. A second is the way the toybox spills out into the universe. Sometimes you’re journey is blocked by fallen empires or threatened by a genocidal empire. Sometimes your first contact is your bestie for life and sometimes you see a fanatical ethic opposed to yours and it’s on sight. I cannot explain to you the joy I feel discovering 7 tomb worlds as jellyfish people knowing they will all be oceans. A third way is jus the joy that you get for activating certain abilities and moving through the mechanics of making the numbers go up. Mega-engineering isn’t a fun mechanic because it has flavor or style, it’s because you’re going to upgrade a bunch of stuff. “Destroyer” or “Cruiser” as an unlock isn’t much fun but mechanically these let you reconstitute your fleets. Sometimes these upgrades can be evocative like Hydrocentric.

Unyielding falls into the category of things you want to pick because they sound cool. There are many picks and abilities that you just want to play because they sound cool. Stellaris is littered with names like “Strong on our Own”, “Superstitious Beliefs” that just make you want to explore them and try the mechanics out. Unyielding, no matter the efficacy of the mechanics, has always been a strong contender with an evocative flavor. Through human history fortifications have been considered essential in defense or mocked depending on the changes to technology. Nobody has ever wanted to fight against somebody with an unyielding spirit.

Does this put even more cool things in Stellaris at risk? Are we going to wholesale convert the other traditions based on what they impact in the game? Why shouldn’t Aptitude be renamed Leaders, Statecraft to Ruling Council, Politics to Galactic Council, Enmity to Rivals, Supremacy to Fleets, or Subterfuge to System That Isn’t Implemented?

I’m really OK with a lot of things in Stellaris not being for me personally but being for somebody. I live under the assumption that somebody is tickled pink by the dumb looking grand archive megastructure. There must be somebody that looks at the post-aquatics character models and thinks “I enjoy this on my screen”. In a world as strange and diverse as I accept that people want an origin with a story like Treasure Hunters or Under One Rule. What I can’t accept is that people want a change made to something that adds depth and flavor to the game this late in the development cycle.