Welcome to the wonderful world of Stellaris mods. If you thought navigating through all of the Crusader Kings 3 mods was easy, or that the 4,000 or so EU4 mods wasn’t daunting enough, then we’ve got a bigger challenge for you. Stellaris, Paradox’s grand strategy 4X adventure boasts an entire galaxy of over 22,000 modifications. This game seems to lend itself more to user-generated content than its predecessors, both of which are double Stellaris’ age but with far smaller mods scene.
Properly charting a course to the brightest of these luminaries while avoiding wasting one’s time on buggy or bland black holes is essential for anyone wanting to truly expand their Stellaris experience. As we’ve done in other mod recommendations, the mods are generally divided into categories. In this case, we’ve looked at total conversion mods, mechanics mods, ‘immersion’ mods and finally cosmetics.
As usual, most mod choices are subjective so take this guide more as a means of how to search for mods rather than strictly which mods to get although we’ve done our best to look into what some of the current favourites are.
These are the best Stellaris mods:
Let’s take a quick survey of key sectors within the Stellaris mod galaxy.
Perhaps the most premier (and by far one of the most popular) mods today is this meticulous and immaculate total conversion of the Star Trek universe into Stellaris. Star Trek: New Horizons contains everything from graphics modifications to a deeply accurate Star Trek galaxy. An entire armada of true-to-canon ships is reproduced complete with modified components to match.
We can’t have a Star Trek mod without throwing some love to Star Wars as well. SW Fallen Republic is an excellent total conversion mod that’s “lore accurate” (although, I don’t know as of what point) and features over 1,300 accurate star systems, over 40 playable factions and 140 ship types from the Star Wars universe.
Billing itself as an ‘unofficial expansion’ to Stellaris, this mod seeks to enhance the in-game universe to a whole different level. AlphaMod adds New buildings, mechanics, ship types, components, resources, policies, government types etc. are presented for the player. This is the one stop shop if one wants to remain in the Stellaris universe but not at the base ‘vanilla’ experience.
One of the reasons I play space 4X-style games is for the spaceships. I love building them, and I love sending them into battle. If you are like me and also a fan of the space war, then Amazing Space Battles is probably the mod we’ve been looking for.
Replacing the previous events based mod – Dynamic Political Events – this new mod serves a similar purpose, but is currently the favourite among the Stellaris community. It adds new anomalies and events to help spice up the mid-game, which is still lacking even after the Nemesis expansion.
From the mind that brought you ‘Alphamod’ comes a quaint little mod that completely spruces up interactions with primitive worlds. From appearing as overbearing gods or faithful guardians, to even sending down mysterious monoliths to guide the flowering ethos of a new civilization (cue Strauss), the Gods & Guardians mod is a perfect little addition to help a player have a bit more fun with this sandbox of a strategy game. Will you institute a Prime Directive or enslave the lesser races? This mod allows you to decide complete with interesting events to guide you.
Our resident strategy expert Joe is a passionate fan of the Halo universe, and you may have heard him talk about a particular mod for space RTS/4X hybrid Sins of a Solar Empire. Titled Sins of the Prophets, it’s an overhaul mod that adds a Halo universe sheen to the game, and the development team behind that mod have created something similar for Stellaris.
Sometimes what you need is not integrating grandiose change to the mechanics but a simple improvement when it comes to the interface, and UI Overhaul 1080p Plus does exactly that. If you’re running at a higher resolution, this will give you a better, clearer custom ship designer, larger outliner, and using it won’t block achievements. There’s even a version of the mod for the non-Steam version of Stellaris.
A prime example of cosmetic mods taking on a life of their own. Planetary Diversity seeds the galaxy with thirty new types of planets also brings about sweeping game mechanic changes that touches on other mod genres. This is one visual enhancement that also fundamentally changes how the game is played making this a tour de force of a mod.
“They should have sent a poet.” Beautiful is too paltry of a word to describe the experience of this mod which adds actual images of space to enhance one’s visual experience. Compatible with any other mod, this is a must have to enjoy and is better experienced visually than reading an insufficient description of the experience of this mod. May not be compatible with the latest version.
From Mass Effect to Dune to Total Annihilation to Half-Life to Star Trek and Star Wars; fictional, historical, and original emblems are now available for your empire. Ironman and multiplayer compatible, this allows a player to add that extra edge of individuality to their game. Grab it here.
For those new to modding, changing the base game has never been easier thanks to the Steam Workshop: simply subscribe to the mod you want and it will automatically be downloaded into the Stellaris launcher.
