Pre-FTL species

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This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only.

Humanoid civilization in Early Space Age

There are two types of species that did not achieve FTL in the game: pre-FTL civilizations and pre-sapient species. They can be made plentiful or outright disabled via the galaxy generation options.

Pre-FTL civilizations are civilizations that have yet to develop the technology necessary for interstellar space travel. They advance through multiple ages as their history is written and can become full-fledged interstellar empires if they are technologically enlightened by another spacefaring empire or left alone enough to develop on their own. Pre-FTL civilizations have a 3% chance to spawn in each habitable system, modified by the Pre-FTL Civilizations and Pre-Sapient Species game setting.

Pre-sapient species are species with intelligence beyond animals but which did not achieve sapience yet. It will take millions of years for them to become sapient, but spacefaring empires can accelerate this process, turning the pre-sapients into productive galactic citizens within the span of just a few decades. Pre-sapient have a 5% chance to spawn on each habitable planet, modified by the Pre-FTL Civilizations and Pre-Sapient Species game setting.

Pre-FTL civilizations

Pre-FTL civilizations exist in various ages of development they slowly go through, visible after an observation post has been constructed. They usually have the Developing Nation origin, but also have a 5% chance to have a regular origin as long as the required DLC is installed

Pre-FTL civilizations can always be invaded and conquered as long as their system has been claimed and the Pre-FTL Interference policy is set to Aggressive Interference. Pre-FTL civilizations have no means to resist a technologically superior invader, although Post-Atomic civilizations can be harder to conquer early game. Conquered worlds will get the Stellar Culture Shock modifier for 10 years, which locks out the former primitive pops from using colony ships, being resettled, joining Factions or being released as a Vassal. It also brings −20%  Stability, −33% Resources from Jobs, and −50%  Empire Sprawl from Pops.

A Nanobot Diffuser can be used on a primitive world instead of conquest but will generate a temporary −40  Opinion from every other empire.

Age	Buildings	Pops	Armies	Government	Awareness chance		Description
					Increase	Decrease
Stone Age	1 Crude Huts	4	No army	Tribal Society	1%	90%	This civilization is currently in the equivalent of a Stone Age. They have mastered fire and developed a rudimentary spoken language, but we have yet to see any evidence of metallurgy or written communication.
Bronze Age	1 Stone Palaces 1 Primitive Dwellings	8	3 primitive armies	Tribal Society	1%	90%	This civilization is currently in the equivalent of a Bronze Age. Primitive metalworking and the first written languages have appeared, while cities and larger communities are taking shape.
Iron Age	1 Stone Palaces 1 Primitive Dwellings	9	3 primitive armies	Feudal Realms	1%	90%	This civilization is currently in the equivalent of an Iron Age. They have spread across most of their homeworld, while iron smelting and forging techniques have enabled them to forge crude but effective tools and weaponry.
Late Medieval Age	1 Stone Palaces 2 Primitive Dwellings	10	3 primitive armies	Feudal Realms	5%	75%	This civilization is currently experiencing the equivalent of a Late Medieval Age. They have a firm grasp of metallurgy, and the invention of the printing press has started to benefit the spread of knowledge.
Renaissance Age	1 Stone Palaces 2 Primitive Dwellings	12	3 primitive armies	Feudal Realms	5%	75%	This civilization is currently experiencing the equivalent of a Renaissance Age. Scientific knowledge is increasing at a rapid rate, and the invention of gunpowder has revolutionized warfare.
Steam Age	1 Stone Palaces 1 Urban Dwellings 1 Primitive Factory 1 Primitive Mine	16	3 primitive armies	Feudal Realms	15%	50%	This civilization is currently in the equivalent of a Steam Age. The invention of the steam engine has had far-reaching effects on their society and they stand on the cusp of an industrial revolution.
Industrial Age	1 Regional Capitals 1 Urban Dwellings 1 Primitive Factory 1 Primitive Mine 1 Primitive Power Plant 1 Primitive Farms if not  Lithoid	22	6 industrial armies	Fragmented Nation States	15%	50%	This civilization has advanced into the equivalent of an early Industrial Age. Electricity and internal combustion engines are gradually coming into widespread use, while urbanization increases at a rapid pace.
Machine Age	1 Regional Capitals 1 Urban Dwellings 1 Primitive Factory 1 Primitive Mine 1 Primitive Power Plant 1 Primitive Farms if not  Lithoid	24	6 industrial armies	Fragmented Nation States	75%	25%	This civilization has advanced into the equivalent of a Machine Age, considered a later part of the Industrial Age. Their factories are mass-producing goods and vehicles, and air travel is becoming commonplace.
Atomic Age	1 Regional Capitals 1 Urban Dwellings 1 Primitive Factory 1 Primitive Mine 1 Primitive Power Plant 1 Primitive Farms if not  Lithoid	26	6 post-atomic armies	Fragmented Nation States	75%	25%	This civilization has advanced into the equivalent of an Atomic Age. They have harnessed the power of the atom, but not yet made it into space. Nuclear weapons may be prolific, and could result in a sudden extinction event.
Early Space Age	1 Regional Capitals 1 Urban Dwellings 1 Primitive Factory 1 Primitive Mine 1 Primitive Power Plant 1 Primitive Farms if not  Lithoid	28	6 post-atomic armies	Fragmented Nation States	75%	25%	This civilization has entered an Early Space Age. Primitive satellites are orbiting their homeworld, and the first manned space missions have been concluded in low orbit. They will soon be ready to leave their world.

Awareness

Awareness is a measure of how aware a pre-FTL civilization is that alien life exists and goes from 0 to 100. It determines how many years Stellar Culture Shock lasts if an empire reveals its presence and, if  First Contact DLC is installed, whether an Observation Post constructed above the pre-FTL civilization will produce Observation Insights.

Awareness	Culture shock duration	Observation insights progress	Description
Completely Unaware	50		This civilization is not aware of interstellar life.
Low Awareness	30		Lacking evidence of interstellar life, this civilization still believes it may be alone in the universe.
Partially Aware	15		This civilization is partially aware of the existence of life in the galaxy. Something is out there, but what?
High Awareness	5		This civilization is aware that the galaxy is full of life; but who are these creatures, and what do they want?
Fully Aware	0		Fully aware of interstellar life, this civilization understands it belongs to a galactic community.

Awareness has a chance to decrease each year by 1 as long as it is above 10. It also has a chance to increase whenever unnatural things happen in the same star system. The chance for Awareness to increase or decrease depends on the civilization's age.

• +1 each time an uncloaked ship enters the system or decloaks (6 months cooldown)
• +1 each time a starbase or station is constructed
• +2 each time an uncloaked science ship surveys the planet
• +2 each time an uncloaked fleet uses emergency retreat
• +5 each time an asteroid or ship is destroyed or disengaged
• +5 each time a planet is colonized
• +5 each time a megastructure is built or upgraded
• +20 each time a planet is terraformed
• +20 each time a planet is destroyed
• +20 each time a neighbor system is destroyed
• +2 each year as long as an uncloaked Observation Post is present
• +2 each year as long as a planet is colonized

Awareness can also be manually increased or decreased via espionage.

Age advancement

Humanoid civilization advancing through the ages

Pre-FTL civilizations will advance through ages as their history is written. Having an Observation Post built will notify its empire of every age advancement and let it check progress towards the next age by hovering over the age in the diplomacy screen. Depending on the current age and  Awareness, it takes the following amount of years to progress to the next age:

	Unaware	Low	Partial	High	Aware
Stone Age - Late Medieval Age	160	120	80	70	60
Renaissance Age - Machine Age	80	70	60	50	40
Atomic Age - FTL Discovery	40	36	32	29	26

Early Space Age civilizations that don't have an Observation Post built in orbit will eventually develop basic hyperdrives, turning them into a normal empire. If a Starbase was built around the star the new empire will ask the owner for control of it. Should the request be accepted they will be granted control of the Starbase and all colonized planets in the system and gain a temporary +100  Opinion towards the former owner. If the request is refused the civilization will be annexed. Annexing the civilization will cost 200  Influence if  Xenophile or  Fanatic Xenophile while granting it control of the system will cost 200  Influence if  Xenophobe or  Fanatic Xenophobe. Genocidal empires only have the option to annex the civilization.

There is no catch-up mechanism for these empires. Unless they advance very early in the game, they will likely be quickly conquered or turned into a  Protectorate.

Nuclear war

Every 50 years there is a chance for any pre-FTL civilization that reached at least Atomic Age to start a nuclear war. The chances are the following:

• 49.6% chance nothing happens. This outcome is twice more common if the pre-FTL civilization is  Pacifist or  Fanatic Pacifist.
• 49.6% chance planet becomes a Tomb World with the Metal Boneyards planetary feature and the pre-FTL civilization reverts to Stone Age. Only 2  Pops will survive.
• 0.4% chance the planet becomes a Toxic World with a deposit of 3  Society and the pre-FTL civilization is destroyed. This outcome is twice more likely if the pre-FTL civilization is  Militarist or  Fanatic Militarist. If the  Toxoids DLC is installed the planet will gain the Toxic Terraforming Candidate modifier.
• 0.4% chance the planet becomes a Tomb World with the Metal Boneyards planetary feature and the pre-FTL civilization is destroyed. This outcome is twice more likely if the pre-FTL civilization is  Militarist or  Fanatic Militarist.

The pre-FTL civilizations in the Sanctuary and Federation's End systems cannot start a nuclear war.

Asteroids

Very rarely an asteroid might be on a collision course with a planet inhabited by a pre-FTL civilization. Destroying the asteroid will grant 150-2000  Minerals and add 5  Awareness to the pre-FTL civilization. If the Non-interference Act resolution has been passed the empire will be in breach of galactic law for 10 years. If the asteroid isn't destroyed before it hits the planet one of the following will happen:

• 74% chance the pre-FTL civilization reverts to Stone Age and only 2  Pops survive.
• 24% chance the Observation Post is destroyed and the pre-FTL civilization gains 5  Awareness. If the Non-interference Act resolution has been passed the empire will be in breach of galactic law for 10 years.
• 2% chance the pre-FTL civilization gains 10  Awareness and progresses through the ages faster. This can only happen if the pre-FTL civilization reached Atomic Age or Early Space Age.

Observation posts

Observation Posts are stations that can be constructed above the homeworld of a pre-FTL civilization. Having an Observation Post enables diplomacy and espionage of the pre-FTL civilization and will notify the empire of any age advancements.

If the civilization is not aware of aliens the Observation Post will be able to conduct Passive or Aggressive observation and produce resources that scale with the  Infiltration level on the pre-FTL civilization. Both types of observation can trigger various events. If  First Contact DLC is installed and at least one Observation Post is built over the homeworld of a pre-FTL civilization that isn't aware of aliens the empire will gain the Observation Insights situation.

Any Observation Post will slowly increase the  Awareness of the pre-FTL civilization. Observation Posts can cloak if the required technology has been researched, canceling this effect.

Observation	Base effects	Unchained Knowledge Resolution 3 bonus	Galactic Commerce Resolution 3 bonus	Exploitation Act Resolution bonus	Required Pre-FTL Interference policy
Passive Observation	+4-12 Society Research +0.5 Observation Insights Progress	+2-6 Society Research	+1-3 Consumer Goods	+2-6 Engineering Research +2-6 Physics Research	Non-Interference Subtle Interference Active Interference
Aggressive Observation	+5-15 Society Research +1 Observation Insights Progress	+3-9 Society Research	+4-12 Consumer Goods	+2-10 Engineering Research +2-10 Physics Research	Active Interference Aggressive Interference

Diplomacy

Aside from improving and harming relations, regular diplomacy actions and agreements are not available with pre-FTL civilizations. However there is a small number of agreements available only towards pre-FTL civilizations:

• Reveal Our Presence is the only option if the pre-FTL civilization hasn't been made aware of alien life. It will make the civilization aware and enable diplomacy but will also cause Stellar Culture Shock for a number of years.
• Offer Societal Guidance costs 0.1  Influence and 5  Unity each month and will slowly shift the pre-FTL civilization's ethics to match the empire's.
• Provide Technology costs 0.1  Influence and 5  Research each month and causes the pre-FTL civilization to advance through the ages 3 times faster, or 4.5 times faster if the Equal Standing Act resolution has been passed. This option is only available if the Pre-FTL Enlightenment policy is set to Allowed. If the agreement is active when the pre-FTL civilization discovers FTL it will become a subject of the empire owning the Observation Post and gain a temporary +100  Opinion with it.
• Form Commercial Agreement costs 0.1  Influence and 5  Minerals each month and produces 0.5-4.5  Trade Value depending on the pre-FTL civilization's age. If the Equal Standing Act resolution has been passed and the planet contains planetary features that produce advanced resources those will be obtained as well. The agreement also enables empires with  Corporate authority to open branch offices on the pre-FTL civilization's planet if the the civilization reached Atomic Age or Early Space Age. This option is only available if the  First Contact DLC is installed.

Pre-sapient species

As opposed to primitives, planets of pre-sapient species can be colonized. The pre-sapient pops do not require either Housing or Amenities. The Pre-Sapients policy determines their status, and if set to Protected enables the construction of Alien Zoo buildings on worlds that contain pre-sapient pops. Unlike sapient species, pre-sapients can be purged without diplomatic repercussions.

Terraforming a planet will cause the death of any pre-sapient pops on the planet.

Sapient pops can be turned pre-sapient with the Devolving Beam colossus weapon.

Uplifting

For pre-sapient species the option to create templates is replaced with the option to Uplift them. The planet must be colonized and within the player empire's borders. Uplifting a species requires the  Epigenetic Triggers technology and costs 3000  Society Research. Uplifted species become part of the empire that uplifted them and get a +10%  happiness bonus when inhabiting that empire's planets due to getting the  Uplifted trait. Finishing an uplift also grants 50  influence.

When an uplift is complete, the pre-sapient species receive the default species rights according to the host empire, even if it is displacement from their own home. Most uplift processes tend to be rocky (70% chance of -5% planet mineral output).

Unlike pre-FTL civilizations, pre-sapients will never advance to sapients on their own in-game.

References

Game concepts