Stellaris: How to Build an Orbital Ring (2024)

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  • How to Build an Orbital Ring in Stellaris

  • How to Use Orbital Rings in Stellaris

Stellaris, the hit sci-fi grand strategy from Paradox Interactive, is a game of galactic politics, exploration, and conquest. Players will face constant challenges, and even a pacifist Empire in Stellaris will have to join the race to improve their planets, their technology, and their production to stay safe from potentially-hostile neighbors.

One of the best ways to boost an Empire's resource output is the new Orbital Ring from Stellaris' Overlord DLC, a construction that's halfway between a Station and a Megastructure. Unlike most Stations, Orbital Rings don't take up the player's Station cap, and they also cost significantly fewer Alloys to build than other Megastructures. Building an Orbital Ring can be a powerful tool in Stellaris' mid-game, particularly if it's constructed around a highly-specialized planet.

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How to Build an Orbital Ring in Stellaris

Stellaris: How to Build an Orbital Ring (1)

Before players can build their first Orbital Ring Megastructure in Stellaris, they'll first need to discover and research the Orbital Rings tech. Due to Stellaris' semi-random tech choices, players will need to research Starhold, Ceramo-Metal Infrastructure, and Galactic Administration first. With the Orbital Rings tech completed, players will be able to build their first Orbital Ring by selecting a Construction Ship and right-clicking on the planet of their choice.

Although Orbital Rings cost less than most Megastructures in Stellaris and aren't restricted by the Station cap, players should still choose carefully when picking their first planet to receive one. Building a Tier 1 Orbital Ring costs 1000 Alloys and 50 Influence, and players can later upgrade the Rings to Tier 2 and Tier 3 once they have the Star Fortress and Citadel techs respectively. However, these upgrades also require the planet to have a Tier 2 or 3 Capital building, which means Orbital Rings are most effective around planets that are already heavily-developed.

How to Use Orbital Rings in Stellaris

Stellaris: How to Build an Orbital Ring (2)

Players can build a variety of Modules and Buildings in their Orbital Rings, granting both additional defenses and powerful bonuses for the planet below:

Modules

  • Habitation Module - Although they require the Anti-Gravity Engineering tech, Habitation Modules add an extra District to the planet, making them one of the most impactful Orbital Ring constructions. Because of their strength, Habitation Modules cost both additional Alloys and 25 of Stellaris' all-important Influence.
  • Orbital Shipyard - Allows the Orbital Ring to produce ships like any other Station Shipyard.
  • Orbital Anchorage - Increases the player's Naval Capacity like any other Station Anchorage.
  • Planetary Defense Guns, Batteries, and Hangars - Increases the Orbital Ring's Hull, Armor, and Defense Platform cap, and adds extra weapons, missiles, or strike-craft respectively.

Buildings

Upgrading an Orbital Ring to Tier 2 will unlock the first Building slot, allowing players to construct specialized Buildings that further boost their planet's output. These benefits can be huge for a highly-specialized planet, provided players have unlocked the correct technology.

  • Climate Optimization Stations (Requires Advanced Food Processing)
    • +2 Food from each Farmer.
  • Low Gravity Mega-Refiners (Requires Advanced Mineral Purification)
    • +2 Minerals from each Miner.
  • Stratospheric Ionization Elements (Requires Planetary Power Grid)
    • +2 Energy Credits from each Technician.
  • The Giga-Mall (Requires Interstellar Economics)
    • +1 Amenities from each Clerk and +5% Trade Value
  • Alloy Processing Facilities (Requires Nano-Separators)
    • +1 Alloy and -2 Minerals from each Metallurgist, the penalty is -3 Food instead if the player has the Catalytic Processing Civic in Stellaris.
  • Orbital Logistics Systems (Requires Replicator Kiosks)
    • +1 Consumer Good and -1 Minerals from each Artisan.
  • Orbital Filing System (Requires Effective Bureaucracy)
    • +1 Unity from each Administrator, Manager, Priest, or Telepath.
  • Synaptic Relays (Requires Clustered Synapses)
    • +1 Amenities from Synapse Drones for Hive Mind Empires in Stellaris.
  • Orbital Maintenance Drops (Requires Resource Processing Algorithms)
    • +1 Amenities from Maintenance Drones for Machine Intelligence Empires
  • Noble Estates
    • +2 Noble jobs and +2 Housing for Empires with the Aristocratic Elite Civic.
  • Orbital Psi-Corp
    • +2 Telepath jobs and +5 Stability for Empires with the Psi-Corp Tradition in Stellaris.
  • Orbital Shield Generator (Requires Planetary Shields)
    • +25% Shield HP for the Orbital Ring and its Defense Platforms.
  • Orbital Stock Exchange (Requires Galactic Markets)
    • +2 Merchant jobs and +20% Trade Value.
  • Orbital Slave Processing Hub (Requires Neural Implants)
    • +5% resources from Slaves, -25% Slaves political power, -50% Automatic Resettlement chance for Empires that allow Slavery.
  • Orbital Embassy Complex (Requires Xeno-Relations)
    • +2 Envoys, only available if the Orbital Ring is built around the Empire's capital.

Stellaris is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: Stellaris: How To Defeat The Voidspawn

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Stellaris: How to Build an Orbital Ring (2024)

FAQs

Can Orbital Rings be built around habitats Stellaris? ›

As far as I know Orbital Rings are supposed to fall under the same rules as habitats in that you can build either around a planet. Might be they got flagged as Megastructure somehow. As long as the planet is colonised, or currently being colonised, you should be able to build a ring around it.

Are Orbital Rings worth it? ›

Orbital Rings only raise the output of Factory Worlds by 25% (from base 8 to base 10 CG's/Artisan, as you should always have max level Replicators on any Factory World...) These worlds should get rings last, if ever (another Orbital Habitat in a strategic location may be better). Orbital rings are virtually mandatory.

What are the benefits of the ring world Stellaris? ›

However, the ringworld allows you to pack in more pops with less research/unity penalty, plus the ability to build a spaceport. Habitats, on the other hand, have their set buildings, which provide huge boons to energy and research, but not so much when it comes to minerals.

Why can't I build an orbital ring? ›

Before players can build their first Orbital Ring Megastructure in Stellaris, they'll first need to discover and research the Orbital Rings tech. Due to Stellaris' semi-random tech choices, players will need to research Starhold, Ceramo-Metal Infrastructure, and Galactic Administration first.

Is an orbital ring possible? ›

You can, with some caveats, of course. Again, assuming that the material that you are going to use is light and the height of the support beams of said ring will reach above the atmosphere and into space where there is no gravity, then, again, yes. You can build an orbital ring around the Earth.

Can you build multiple Ring Worlds in Stellaris? ›

Yes you can built more ring worlds at the same time. Each fill in project counts as 1. You can multiplex these, until you hit your maximum number.

Can you repair the shattered ring world Stellaris? ›

"The Shattered Ring World can be repaired, unlocking special Ring World Segment Districts." That's the only part which talks about repairs. It seems pretty clear it's only talking about the main segment, which can be repaired in order to make it a "Ring World Segment" instead of a "Shattered Ring World Segment".

Can you destroy orbital habitat Stellaris? ›

Habitat Central Complexes can be ruined by a colossus or crises. If ruined, all orbitals are destroyed.

How much would an orbital ring cost? ›

If built by launching the necessary materials from Earth, the cost for the system estimated by Birch in 1980s money was around $31 billion (for a "bootstrap" system intended to expand to 1000 times its initial size over the following year, which would otherwise cost 31 trillion dollars) if launched using Shuttle- ...

Would it be bad if Earth had rings? ›

Rings around the Earth would pose challenges to our current satellite infrastructure. They could interfere with satellite trajectories, telecommunications, and space exploration missions. The presence of a dense ring could also present navigational hazards for space missions leaving or entering Earth's atmosphere.

Which planet has the best ring system? ›

No other planet in our solar system has rings as splendid as Saturn's. They are so expansive and bright that they were discovered as soon as humans began pointing telescopes at the night sky.

Which tradition is best Stellaris? ›

  1. 1 Domination. Subjugate The Neighbors And Make Them Grateful For It. ...
  2. 2 Enmity. Oppose The Entire Galaxy And Gain Benefits From It. ...
  3. 3 Mercantile. Peacefully Grow By Trading With The Galaxy. ...
  4. 4 Synchronicity. Hive Mind Empire's Special And Strong Tradition. ...
  5. 5 Unyielding. ...
  6. 6 Discovery. ...
  7. 7 Supremacy. ...
  8. 8 Prosperity.
Jun 14, 2024

What is the end goal of Stellaris? ›

Players take the role of a single FTL-capable civilization, referred to as an empire, with the goal of exploring and claiming systems, colonizing habitable planets, and expanding their economy to outcompete rival civilizations progressively encountered through first contact events.

How useful are hyper relays Stellaris? ›

Hyper Relays are built in connected systems and cut out the in-system travel time, vastly reducing total travel time. hyper relays are described as an early game tech by the devs in comparison to e.g. gate networks. it essentially lets you pave roads to move faster along certain routes.

How do you start orbital bombardment Stellaris? ›

Before sending in your ground troops, most planets will need to be softened up with an orbital bombardment. This is done by moving one or more fleets to orbit the target planet. The ships will continuously degrade the planet's defenses over time as long as they remain in orbit and are not interrupted by combat.

How are space rings formed? ›

There are three ways that thicker planetary rings have been proposed to have formed: from material originating from the protoplanetary disk that was within the Roche limit of the planet and thus could not coalesce to form moons, from the debris of a moon that was disrupted by a large impact, or from the debris of a ...

How do you add orbital deposit Stellaris? ›

Go to the system view and select a planet.
  1. Use console command: effect add_deposit=d "deposit name"
  2. like this: :
  3. effect add_deposit=d_geothermal_vent.
  4. effect add_deposit=d_rich_mountain.
  5. effect add_deposit=d_tropical_island.

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