Stellaris Ring World Ultimate Guide

Vuk Radulovic
Ring World section from Stellaris, printscreen
Stellaris Ring World megastructure is one of the most powerful structures in the game. However, building it is not easy and it will require a lot of planning and the cost will be high. The cheaper alternative to Ring Worlds can be Habitats which are fairly easily accessible and can be built in the early-mid game. Be it as it may, we decided to analyze how to build a Ring World and how to utilize it in the best possible way. Without further ado, check out our guide on Ring Worlds in Stellaris.

How to get a Ring World?

Stellaris Ring World printscreen from the game
Photo Credits: Paradox Interactive, Stellaris

There are three possible ways in which you can get your hands on a Ring World. Basically, you can either conquer one, build it from scratch or repair a shattered Ring World. That is of course unless you have a Shattered Ring Origin, in which case you only need to repair the one which you start with after clearing the blockage.

1. Conquering another civilization Ring World

Well, the obviously easiest solution to obtain a Ring World is to simply – conquer one. The Ring Worlds will be heavily defended that’s for sure, but providing that you have enough fleet power and have optimized your ship design, this can be a viable way to go. After you get it into your empire you can simply relocate pops and rework it so that it suits your needs the most.

2. Restoring a Ruined Ring segment

The second method to get the Ring World in your empire is to repair a broken one. The only tech requirement for this is Mega-Engineering. Since this is a tier 5 rare tech, you need to go down the Battleship tech lane and once you get the Battleship tech, try to build as many Citadels and Starholds as you can because each one increases your chance of getting this rare tech. Once you research the tech, simply pay the cost of mere 10 000 Alloys for a Ring World segment that you wish to repair and you will be able to colonize it after it’s done. That is of course, if you have a Ring World segment in your empire. If not, then take a look at how to build it from the ground up.

3. Building it from scratch

The third option is the most tedious and resource-depleting one – in order to build a Ringworld from scratch, the first thing you need to do is to acquire rare tech Ring World. The first step you should take is to get another megastructure built or restored. So now things are getting pretty complicated as you can see, because in order to do that, you need Mega-Engineering tier 5 rare tech. After you repair or build another megastructure, take Galactic Wonders as your next Ascension Perk. You will then be able to research the Ring World tech, and once you do, you will be able to build one. So, to sum it up, in order to build a Ring World from scratch, you need to:

  • Research Mega-Engineering
  • Repair or build a Megastructure of any kind
  • Take Galactic Wonders Ascension Perk
  • Research Ring World tech

Note that you can only build a Ring World in a star system without any habitable planets and once you start building it, all other planets, moons, and space objects will be consumed by it. You also can’t build it around a black hole or in systems with multiple stars. Since you probably won’t be using the Ring World for defense, try to put it in the most secure location possible, ideally somewhere between the choke point towards your home system (so that you can easily defend it should the enemy advance towards it).

Let’s see the three phases of building the Ring World section:

  • Phase 1: Build a Ring World Site (5000 alloys, 300 influence) Effect: None
  • Phase 2: Upgrade the Ring World Frame (10 000 Alloys); Effects: None
  • Phase 3: Complete the Ring World Section (10 000 Alloys); Effect: +1 Habitable segment

As you can see, in total, building the Ring World section will cost 25 000 Alloys and 300 influence. That’s just the base cost for owning one quadrant, after that, you can upgrade 3 more until you have completed the entire Ring World with 4 fully upgraded sections in it.

Shattered Ring Origin Explained

Shattered Ring World Origin printscreen
Photo Credits: Paradox Interactive, Stellaris

As we mentioned earlier, there is another way to get your hands on the Ring World – and that’s by taking the Shattered Ring Origin. Once you start the game, you will get your ruined Ring World with additional mining options in your home system. However, this comes with a hefty price – you won’t be able to colonize other worlds so easily as you will have no preference when it comes to planetary types. Furthermore, in order to restore your home world (Ruined Ring World), you will still need to research Mega-Engineering which, as you know, comes later on. This origin will provide you with the Ruined Ring World but not the technology needed to restore it – that’s why many players feel that it was nerfed too heavily.

If you however still choose to go for this origin, the first thing you will need to do is to clear the blockage on the shattered ringworld. It is not recommendable to do it immediately as the price will be too high, try to decrease it first(perhaps with the Bulldozer leader trait). Once you clear the tiles, you will be able to build special districts that are a bit different than regular planetary ones – for example, the mining district workers will yield +2 minerals and +1 alloy instead of regular +4 minerals. This all sounds very good but the real question is – can you get it early on? Because if you have this origin, you will be crippled when it comes to colonizing other planets so repair of the ruined Ring World is your primary concern.

Specializing Your Ring World

Ring World printscreen
Photo Credits: Paradox Interactive, Stellaris

Once you have built the Ring World, now it’s time to put it to proper use. The first thing you need to decide is what you will specialize it for – it’s much more efficient and much, much more useful to have a specialized Ring World in terms of resource output than to just use it a bit for everything. What you need to do first is to select a designation for your Stellaris Ring World Segment. In that way, you will also determine for what your Ring World will be used. The following colony designations will be available to you:

  • Ring World: Immigration +20%, resources from jobs +5%
  • Research Ring World: Engineering, Physics, Society research +15%
  • Agriculture Ring World: Food from Farmers +25%
  • Commercial Ring World: Trade Value +20%
  • Bureaucratic Center: Administrative capacity from Bureaucrats +2, Bureaucrats upkeep reduction -20%, Pop Ethics shift chance reduced -20%

As we mentioned earlier, it is not a good idea to go down all-around Ring World or at least it’s not optimal in most scenarios. The problem is that if you manage to rush the Ring World tactics you will need Research to advance in the game or you will need Trade Value to boost your economy. On the other hand, if you already have Research and Trade Value set to optimal output, and are not in the early/ early-mid game but in later stages, then why build the Ring World in the first place? There are far more feasible projects that are less costly for late stages such as Gateways for movability or specialized Habitats if you need a small resource burst.

Specializing your Ring World in bureaucracy doesn’t make any sense at all – the galaxy is simply not big enough for this kind of bureaucratic center.

Specializing in the industry is also not a good option – simply because Ecumenopolis districts are better. When we compare Ecumenopolis industrial districts (+6 Metallurgist/Artisan jobs for 1 Volatile Mote) and the Industrial Ring World Segment (+10 Metallurgist/Artisan jobs for 2 Volatile Mots) you can see the obvious difference – Ecumenopolis industrial districts are 20% more cost efficient than ones in the Ring World.

Now that we saw what not to do with Ring World specialization, let’s see what are some of the best ways to utilize the segments.

Research Ring World – endless research

By far, the best way to use Ring World is to specialize it in research. Ideally, this works best if you can rush Ring World and build it early on. That’s when the bonuses really kick in. The main reason is that Research Districts on a Ring World are simply better than ones on a regular planet – on a Ring World research district, you get 10 researcher jobs for 2 gas upkeep whereas on regular worlds you get 6 researcher jobs for the same price of 2 Exotic Gas upkeep.

Furthermore, you can stack up to 10 research districts on a ringworld segment meaning that it can have up to 100 research jobs available. Not only that, but you can also build Research Institutes and Research Labs to boost your research output even more. The main downside of this is obviously the price in terms of Exotic Gases – you will need to have a strong economic output of those in order to support this massive research boost that you are aiming for.

Commercial Ring World – god of galactic trade

Besides research, Ring Worlds are best if used for trade. The reason is that the districts which can be built on it are simply better than the ones on regular planets – for fewer Crystals you get more merchants and the difference is around 15% if you have the Mercantile tradition (which is a must in this scenario). Not only that, but you can also stack regular Commercial Megaplexes on it as well, increasing your Trade Value even further. Doing this will provide you with massive energy, unity, and consumer goods output.

Agriculture Ring World – only if needed

As we spoke earlier, the stage of the game in which you actually finish the Ring World, or at least a segment of it, determines its usability and effectiveness. When it comes to Agriculture Ring Worlds, unless you went for Catalytic processing civic and/or cloning vats tactics, you won’t actually have a need for this massive food output. However, in case you need it, Ring Worlds can be turned into enormous food-processing facilities.

Same as with researcher jobs, you will be able to stack up to 100 farmer jobs on 10 farming districts in each quadrant of a Ring World for the upkeep of 2 volatile motes per district. Obviously, if you put a Food-Processing facility in the Agriculture Ring World quadrant, the food output will stack and you will have pretty much endless amounts of food to produce.

Final thoughts on Stellaris Ring Worlds

Halo game ringworld
Photo Credits: Microsoft, Halo

To sum it up, as you can see, Ring Worlds can be quite useful when it comes to Trade Value and especially Research output. The output is simply higher considering the cost when we compare Ring World Districts to regular planetary ones. However, Ecumenopolis is still a better option if you are in need of an Alloy output boost. Building Stellaris Ring World does come with a hefty price, especially if you don’t have a ruined Ring World that you can fix in your empire and/or Shattered Ring origin. The main question is of course, how fast you can get your hands on a Ring World – that’s where the true potential of these Stellaris megastructures lies. The faster you get it – the more advantages of Stellaris Ring World you will be able to exploit.

On a side note, it’s really fun to build them and they contribute to the overall Stellaris gameplay experience since Ring Worlds are actually a reference to a famous novel by Larry Niven – and on a personal note, the whole game is a love letter to fantasy and science fiction in general.

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