Stellaris has been going strong for years, but with each new expansion, there’s a whole new set of mechanics that you’ll have to adapt to.
Quantum Catapults were added to the game in the Overlord DLC, but what are they and how do you use them?
Stellaris Quantum Catapult Uses
Quantum Catapults use the power of a star to fling your fleets across the vast emptiness of space, but not just any star will do. The Catapults can only be built in systems with a Neutron or Pulsar star. They, unlike many other Megastructures, can only be built around the star itself.
In many ways, this makes them less useful than the more traditional end-game Gateway network. They take longer for the fleet to arrive at its destination as the fleet enters a missing state until it emerges into real space. Quantum Catapults also suffer from a lack of accuracy, with the fleet essentially being shotgunned across the galaxy.
However, the Catapult has one overriding benefit. It allows fleets to be sent far beyond your borders or into systems where you may not have built an expensive Gateway. In short, you only need one Catapult. Before you can build one though, you need to complete both the Quantum Catapult and Mega Engineering research projects.
If you start your game with a Slingshot to the Stars empire, you will have a dormant Catapult in the home system. Restoring this grants Quantum Catapult research, but you will still need to research Mega Engineering to improve it. If you don’t start with the dormant Catapult but come across one later in your game, you can also restore it, but remember that this requires the Mega Engineering tech.
Improving the Quantum Catapult will confer benefits to Missing in Action time, range, and accuracy. But it should be noted that at higher tiers, constructed Catapults are better than those that have been restored, having a -25%/-50% windup time at stages 2 and 3.
Once you have the Quantum Catapult online, using it is easy. Simply move a fleet into the system with the Catapult - anywhere will do - and click the Catapult Fleet icon in the Fleet Manager window.
This produces a targeting cursor which you can use to designate a target for your fleet. If the target is valid it will turn green, and then you just click and keep your fingers crossed that they appear in the correct place.
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