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There are both dangers and mysteries among the stars inStellaris, and players will have to guide their Empire carefully to discover a safe path to galactic domination. While avaricious pirates and hostile neighbors provide mundane threats, the vast space-borne Guardians that players can encounter inStellarisare as strange as they are powerful.
One of themost mysterious of these Guardiansis the Infinity Machine, the only Guardian that isn’t hostile to players. Unlocking the mystery of the Infinity Machine takes time and research, but can offer the same kinds of powerful rewards that players would get from defeating another Guardian in battle.
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The Infinity Machine Event Chain in Stellaris
Payers will first encounter the Infinity Machineorbiting a massive black holeknown as Gargantua that lacks the normal Physics Research deposit, and can be claimed without antagonizing the Guardian. A short time after this first encounter, players will be given the opportunity to try and study the Machine in a Special Project, which takes a year of research with a Scientist of at least level 3.
Once this is complete, the Infinity Machine Event chain has a chance to diverge based on which ofStellaris' Ethics and Civicsthe player Empire is using. The only option for Gestalt Consciousness Empires, and a choice for Materialists as well, is to hack the Infinity Machine. This is conducted with another Project and will result in a permanent +5% Research bonus for the Empire, as well as either the Positronic AI or Zero Point Power techs.
Spiritualist Empires can instead choose to worship the Machine, granting a +5% Happiness bonus for the Empire, while Militarist Empires can choose to destroy the Machine without fighting, granting the bonuses outlined in the next section.
All non-Gestalt Empirescan instead decide to talk to the Infinity Machine, to learn its history and help it to achieve its final goal. Helping the Infinity Machine is another Special Project that takes 5 years, and can result in three different outcomes. The most likely outcome is that the project fails, in which case the Machine thanks the Empire by granting them the Positronic AI or Zero Point Power technology. Alternatively, the Project may succeed moderately which will grant the above technology but also add a +4 Research deposit to Gargantua. Finally, the Project may succeed perfectly, which does not grant techs but adds a +10 Research deposit to the black hole as well as a permanent +10% Research bonus for the Empire.
Destroying the Infinity Machine
Instead of studying the Infinity Machine, players can choose to attack it manually and try to destroy it. Like many of the other Guardians, the Infinity Machine should be beatable by any Fleet of at least 40k Power, however a smallerFleet of well-designed shipswill also be able to overcome it.
In combat the Infinity Machine is a fairly well-balanced opponent, with only one major weakness in its defenses. The Machine boasts massive Shields, but a relatively small amount of Armor and Hull. While this would normally make Strike Craft andTorpedo Frigatesan ideal counter, the Machine also boasts cutting-edge Point Defense weaponry, which can defeat even top-tier missiles. Instead, a fleet using powerful Kinetic weapons like Artillery and Autocannons will be able to quickly tear through its Shield and won’t be slowed too much by its low Armor.
When it comes to their own defenses,players will need well-rounded shipswith a slight focus on Shields. Although the majority of the Machine’s weapons are Energy and therefore deal less damage to Shields, it also boasts an Extra-Large Infinity Gun which deals bonus damage to Shields, as well as Strike Craft that can ignore them entirely. Once destroyed, players will be able to salvage the Infinity Machine for Minerals and Influence, or use it to unlock the next tier of Robot tech if they’re a non-Gestalt Empire.
Stellarisis currently available on PC, macOS, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
