update · March 21, 2025
Stellaris Phoenix Open Beta Update 3.99.3 Overhauls Habitats and Economy
The latest Stellaris open beta brings major updates to habitats, planet management, and job distributions. Habitats are now semi-functional structures tied to system resources, while pop job assignments have been shifted to prevent economic spirals.
Stellaris update 3.99.3, known as the Phoenix Open Beta, introduces extensive revisions to habitat mechanics, building layouts, and empire economies. Eladrin released this patch for players who opt into the test branch on Steam.
Habitat Overhauls and Mechanics
Habitats are semi-functional in the open beta and derive their maximum mining, generator, and science district development directly from system resources. Orbital deposits grant 1 plus half their base value rounded down in maximum district development. When a new district is completed on the central habitat complex, habitat orbitals are automatically constructed for free if they can be built. These orbitals are megastructures instead of dummy fleets, which prevents them from being attacked or attempting to flee from enemies. They also collect resources from underlying deposits and carry the same upkeep costs as mining and research stations. Habitat districts take longer to build and cost alloys. They gain 0.25 maximum districts per planet or star in the system per capital building tier. Converting MSI's ruined warship into a habitat immediately colonizes it. Void Dweller empires receive a 50 percent job bonus from habitat districts. Voidborne Ascension Perks and Void Dweller origins provide habitat district cost reductions. Void Dwellers start with civilians, and a new Hydroponics Zone is available.
Economy and Job Assignment Changes
Pops fill jobs in a breadthwise manner. Weighting still affects job preferences, but pops attempt to fill all jobs of a strata instead of exclusively targeting their preferred roles to prevent economic death spirals and land rushes. Laborer jobs are specialists that produce alloys and consumer goods. Default starting planets feature Basic Offices and Basic Research Labs alongside Basic Factories. Basic Factories provide laborer jobs and upgrade into Alloy Foundries or Civilian Industries. Basic Offices provide administrator jobs that upgrade into administrative offices or temples. Basic Research Labs provide researcher jobs that upgrade into standard research labs, though these researchers are weaker than those in version 3.14. Administrative offices provide bureaucrat jobs and no longer require a Unity Zone. Alloy Foundries provide metallurgist jobs without requiring an industry or foundry zone. Civilian Industries provide artisan jobs without needing an industry or factory zone. Research labs provide physicists, biologists, and engineers without requiring a research zone, and temples provide priest jobs without needing a unity zone.
Building and Zone Adjustments
The Early Industry Zone is replaced by the Urban Zone, which accepts all buildings. The Autochthon Monument no longer requires a unity zone, and the food processing facility provides base farmer jobs. Uncapped rural districts support correct zones, and zones display icons and auto-generated tooltips indicating their provided building slots and jobs. Capital buildings and city districts no longer state that they provide building slots. Mastercrafter civics provide extra consumer goods and trade to artisan jobs. Scaling knight jobs are handled by squires rather than the Order's Keep, preventing empires from generating thousands of knights by keeping galactic populations as livestock. The Order's Demense is converted into a unique zone for Kingdoms of the Great Khan. Base consumer goods income for empires using them increases, along with food and equivalent resource output for default countries.
Interface and Modding Additions
The update brings changes to the planetary user interface, including a new look for district boxes in the planet summary screen. Enclave interaction sound effects are removed, initial tutorial events are revamped, and the planetary automation button moves to the planet surface tab. Modding support introduces documentation for district_planet_modifier and triggered_district_planet_modifier modifiers for zones. Orbital and planet deposits support habitat_modifier, applying a static modifier to system habitats.
Why this patch matters
This open beta restructures how habitats scale and how pops fill jobs, aiming to curb economic death spirals. Because these mechanics are unpolished, expect balancing adjustments before the changes hit the live game.