Obviously, The Zenith of Fallen Empires is not an all-powerful creation, neither does it intend to be nor is it possible. Please note that there are limitations.



Below are known limitations of Zenith of Fallen Empires 3.0. This is what happens if you try to allow a player to play something that the game isn’t made for. This mod attempts to tie in as many existing structures as possible, but the hard-coded nature of Stellaris simply means that playing as an Ascended Empire will never be as smooth as playing as a default Empire. Working within these confines, ZoFE 3.0 nevertheless provides a ton of features which hopefully the player will find acceptable gains over potential limitations below:

• Ascended Empires cannot see themselves in Contacts list. Awakened Fallen Empires also don’t see themselves in Contacts list. This is hardcoded and nothing you can do about that.
  
  
• When Uplifting Primitives, they do not become vassals of Ascended Empires automatically. Make sure you keep an eye on it and demand them to be your subject straight after they achieved spaceflight.
  
  
• Ascended Empires cannot trade Favors. Again, hardcoded. Nothing I can do about that.
  
  
• Currently there are fringe cases of crash reports upon completing the Starbase redesign event. I can never reproduce the crash, so I am unsure what the issues might be. Most likely an unknown mod conflict. In any case just don't research the project if that happens.
  
  
• Critter weapons (Space whale weapons, Cloud Lightning etc) spawn turrets on Fallen Empire ships! Don't use them!
  
  
• Species Rights are reset upon Ascension. Currently all species rights in the empire are reset to your default species right when the country type is reset, meaning you have to redo those species rights. That is hard-coded too.
  
  
• Diplomatic options are not moddable. Meaning the 'Demand Thralldom' 'Request Signatory' etc. are there because their absence would lead to more reports. Only report issues relating to these if the subject you end up receiving is not as expected.
  

Here are some frequently asked questions regarding the creation of ZoFE 3.0, some design choices, or just questions that repeatedly come up in comments


Q) Why use a different country type?

A different country type is used to enable a different AI (Awakened Fallen Empire AI), different ship building preferences, diplomatic attitudes and actions etc otherwise not available to a normal empire. In addition, it bypasses a lot of compatibility problems while creating others (namely, now other content will have to take into account the new country type) - however, these are relatively simple to fix. If I do this the other way round these problems will be a lot more complicated for others to fix.


Q) Why not create a mod with ALL the content?

The whole idea of breaking up content into multiple mods is so you will pay $19.99 for each so people can find content they like to add on to the core experience of ZoFE, which is the Ascension itself. This also increases the compatibility of the base mod by isolating content that may cause extra issues. Trust me, it's a lot more work to break up codes into different submods than downloading the entire collection with one click.


Q) What's different with this iteration compared to 2.0?


The ascension mechanic has been reworked and further expanded upon, allowing more choices and increased compatibility with other mods. It's also released at such a time where Galactic Community is introduced in 2.6, as well as late game performance improvements, a time period in which this mod is based. As a result 2.6 patch is almost uniquely made to expand the upon the original vision of ZoFE.


Q) How do I start as a Fallen Empire?

This mod doesn't allow you to start as a Fallen Empire. It allows you to become like one, and drive their sexy ships, through playing the game.


Q) How is ZoFE balanced? What are the considerations?

ZoFE base mod is extremely strict with what content counts as 'canon' for Fallen Empires. If Fallen Empires in vanilla game has it, then the Base Mod will provide it if not something extremely close, with stats as accurate as possible. In places, the alterations would be made to enhance gameplay experience rather than purely for power. All civics, unity edicts from the Base Mod are optional for players to use to adjust their own power, as well as the relevant projects that they can choose to pursue or not at all. Looking ahead to the future, there may be submods which provide more powerful (OP) content, but ZoFE base mod will always be balanced with vanilla and what vanilla already has.


Q) Can I run this with submods from ZoFE 2.0?

Better not. It's like running Sims 3 with Sims 2 expansion packs. I won't be held responsible for bugs and issues you may encounter.


Q) How do I keep my original ship set while being ascended?

'A Question of Style' is the third project in the ZoFE chain. This project grants you the Escorts, Battlecruisers of the Fallen Empires while also changing your graphical culture.

As of Patch 3.0.3, you CAN select the option to keep your current ship set, with a disclaimer tooltip that recommends this option only if your turrets are invisible. If you somehow didn't read this disclaimer and clicked this anyway with Mammalian culture for example, then some of the components (Energy Torpedo, Explosive Torpedo) will spawn turrets on your sexy FE ships. The workaround is not to use those items.


Q) What happens if I run this mod without Apocalypse or Utopia expansion packs?

Without Apocalypse, you are unable to put a Titan Lance on Fallen Titans, as T slots are restricted to Apocalypse only. You will also not be able to get the Colossus project from 'Ambitions of Power' project, despite the text saying so.

Without Utopia, you are unable to get any megastructure techs from 'Engineering Perfection', despite the text saying so.

Otherwise Ascension mechanic is unchanged and if you want to play this mod without these expansions just be aware you won't be able to access all its features. Future submods will assume you already have these two expansions packs, and won't re-list the same requirements as base mod.




event zofe_debug.1 Change between ZoFE graphical cultures
event zofe_debug.2 Become an Ascended Empire without the AP
event lost_empire.1001 Become a Lost Empire
event lost_empire.3 Become an Ascended Empire again as a Lost Empire