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Stellaris Dev Diary #414 - Spinning a Web of Hope

by Eladrin(Warning: Spiders)HI everyone!We’re posting today’s dev diary a day early because of the holiday on Friday and for no other reason.The Stellaris Base Game, With a Family of Spiders Living In ItA few weeks ago we announced that Utopia, Synthetic Dawn, the Humanoids Species Pack, and most of the Galaxy Edition upgrade pack were being rolled into the base game. This includes the arachnid portrait previously exclusive to Galaxy Edition:Thanks to the responses to the announcement, a critical issue was discovered. With all of the portraits available in Stellaris, it would be difficult to impossible to ensure a proper arachnotopia (at least, without widespread purging). All empires deserve a big beautiful galaxy full of nothing but spiders.We thought about it, and decided that it was indeed something we should support.Announcing Arachnophilia ModeWe’re adding a new entry to Accessibility settings for Portrait Substitutions.You can correct this grievous error by enabling Arachnophilia Mode:We can spin a web of hope, here in my ArachnotopiaArachnophilia Mode will replace all portraits we deemed insufficiently spider-like with more appropriate artwork. If a spider-like portrait exists within their phenotype, the substitutions are picked from there. Otherwise they’ll pick from the larger pool of spider-like portraits. Thermophiles use Lithoid spiders, and Machines all use the optimal Necroid Machine form.Yes, the Krijdex Wardenship intentionally doesn’t change. In Arachnophilia Mode, our headcanon is that the suit is piloted by thousands of spiders.A small icon will appear over the portrait in Empire Creation, Empire Selection, and certain other UIs where you can select between portraits, such as advanced gene-modding.The Portrait Substitution setting swaps these portraits out on your client, but despite your proper arachnid appearance, deep down inside your true shame remains. Events, such as Infestation, will know if you are truly a spider or just look like one on the outside. Since this portrait substitution system only applies locally, in multiplayer other players will likewise see your true self unless they also turn Arachnophilia Mode on.The system can be enabled or disabled at any time, in case you suddenly realize you have an insufficient number of legs.Wrap tycoons, fatcats, politicians, inside silk cocoonsThis system is still being worked on, but will hopefully be in when the Utopian Abundance release arrives on May 11th. As it’s a work-in-progress change and is still going through internal review, the final version may differ slightly from what I have described in this dev diary.

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Apr 1, 2026 - 19:02

Stellaris Dev Diary #414 - Spinning a Web of Hope

by Eladrin

(Warning: Spiders)

HI everyone!

We’re posting today’s dev diary a day early because of the holiday on Friday and for no other reason.

The Stellaris Base Game, With a Family of Spiders Living In It

A few weeks ago we announced that Utopia, Synthetic Dawn, the Humanoids Species Pack, and most of the Galaxy Edition upgrade pack were being rolled into the base game. This includes the arachnid portrait previously exclusive to Galaxy Edition:

Thanks to the responses to the announcement, a critical issue was discovered. With all of the portraits available in Stellaris, it would be difficult to impossible to ensure a proper arachnotopia (at least, without widespread purging). All empires deserve a big beautiful galaxy full of nothing but spiders.

We thought about it, and decided that it was indeed something we should support.

Announcing Arachnophilia Mode

We’re adding a new entry to Accessibility settings for Portrait Substitutions.

You can correct this grievous error by enabling Arachnophilia Mode:

We can spin a web of hope, here in my Arachnotopia

Arachnophilia Mode will replace all portraits we deemed insufficiently spider-like with more appropriate artwork. If a spider-like portrait exists within their phenotype, the substitutions are picked from there. Otherwise they’ll pick from the larger pool of spider-like portraits. Thermophiles use Lithoid spiders, and Machines all use the optimal Necroid Machine form.

Yes, the Krijdex Wardenship intentionally doesn’t change. In Arachnophilia Mode, our headcanon is that the suit is piloted by thousands of spiders.

A small icon will appear over the portrait in Empire Creation, Empire Selection, and certain other UIs where you can select between portraits, such as advanced gene-modding.

The Portrait Substitution setting swaps these portraits out on your client, but despite your proper arachnid appearance, deep down inside your true shame remains. Events, such as Infestation, will know if you are truly a spider or just look like one on the outside. Since this portrait substitution system only applies locally, in multiplayer other players will likewise see your true self unless they also turn Arachnophilia Mode on.

The system can be enabled or disabled at any time, in case you suddenly realize you have an insufficient number of legs.

Wrap tycoons, fatcats, politicians, inside silk cocoons

This system is still being worked on, but will hopefully be in when the Utopian Abundance release arrives on May 11th. As it’s a work-in-progress change and is still going through internal review, the final version may differ slightly from what I have described in this dev diary.

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