The next major update, v1.1, I intend to make for the mod is to introduce the potential for planets to be destroyed after a certain time when they become unstable, adds devastation to planets as an effects for hollow planets, and conversions from Planetoid to "Very Tiny" Barren Planets.
Presently, there are plans to use "Colossal Subterranean Caverns", however this will not be worked until after v1.1

I had a new idea that might be possible if you guys would like it.
A new tier of cavern, thats even rarer than the Colossal caverns, that allows the planet to be turned from for example pc_barren, into a pc_hollow_barren.
the special effects are

• Lowers all energy upkeep on planet by x% or y% or z%, a choice from you guys - 25, 50 or 75 for x, y or z
  
• Either removes all generator_districts, or replaces the generator_districts with another district type, that lowers the energy upkeep of the planet, limited to a set amount maxing out at 75% and generates a very small amount of energy in return
  
• the previous 2 link into this one as the center of the planet is a black hole, one that maintains the gravity and generates power for the planet itself.
  
• Since all planet classes will have a variant, perhaps certain buffs for energy/minerals/food production on certain planets, and nerfs for others
  
• When the planet is converted into it's hollow variant, it cannot be expanded anymore and loses all of the deposits it gained from being prospected, but can be terraformed

I've seen a concept of such a structure from the Isaac Arthur Youtube channel, that's where i got the inspiration for this idea from

Another idea that I have been simmering on for a couple days, was a submod, containing the ability to upscale planets further, to perhaps 200, the category called Exa/Zetta/Yotta Colossal, and add 2 new grades for deposit discoveries, Chaotic - yielding 15+ and Infinity - yielding 15+ deposits, though Infinity becomes a selection of what you want while Chaotic is a random selection of the rarest strategic resources being found more often. however these grades are Ultra hard to get. This adds another 1 or 2 Tradition trees and more Ascension perks that adds potential for uplifting planets, and rarity chances to occur. The trouble is as a requirement, is insanely colossal amounts of resources, not just millions, but possible hundreds of millions, maybe billions. - For that another submod for condensing materials for example: 1M Minerals = 1,000,000 | 1 (Condensed) Minerals = 1,000,000, and acts like 1 item instead of 1 million. the condensing itself is a toggle-able modifier through its own mod menu

For Lithoids and Machines probably a way to boost the output of things like their Miners and Industry. as they would be better equipped to dealing with the hostile conditions that can come from being in a planets interior than other organic empires. Maybe one of the traditions can give access to technology that lets you create your own artificial gas giants for purposes like gas giant habitats or Gigastructures' Yggdrasil Orchid Complex. Perhaps there could also be some more synergy with Gigastructures in allowing one to Upsize an Attack Moon into a Behemoth Planetcraft. The Last Idea I have is for a Colossus weapon that not only allows for near instant terraforming of a world, but also allows you set its size and even give it special modifiers using a system akin to the upgrade system for Asteroid Artillery, and if you have Guilli's Planet Modifiers installed, or another similar mod, then you can choose from those modifiers as well, though only if your empire can support the costs.

Awesome! Thanks man :D

you are welcome

I will say, I do like the idea for Gas Giant habitats. The idea for the Colossus weapon, I'm gonna need some time with but that's a very interesting terraforming concept and method, though I feel like that would be super-late game as that would be potentially OP.
I have every intention to make this mod compatible with Gigastructures, most definitely influence some if not most of the costs for upscaling planets, relative to amounts of Planetary Mass so to make farming it a little less easier and more costly

If you have any more ideas as time passes that you would like to see in the mod, I'll do what I can to make it so :)

I would 100% push for more synergy with Gigastructures, there are some interesting and blatantly needed options here.

Not too fussed with the prospecting side of things although it does look like good flavor.
What's really got me interested is the ability to change the size of a planet little by little. Everything else out there either maxes size out or removes the planet completely.
And many times it's been a case of having a near perfect star system for production projects only to find I can't build a structure because a planet is one or two sizes too small or too large.

When I'm eating stars to fuel the works of my empire, putting two rocks together to make a bigger rock makes perfect sense.. Gigs already has a planetary mass resource so balancing shouldn't be an issue. There's only so much mass to go around after all and the player already has a way to acquire planetary mass, being able to 'terraform' with it would make for a good peaceful use.

Wouldn't go overboard with plant size, Although we like big numbers I do believe some mods can let us be too hyper efficient. We all know AI struggles to do the same, so I do suggest having the max available world size be a one time configurable thing at game start as well.

Originally posted by Jinx:

I would 100% push for more synergy with Gigastructures, there are some interesting and blatantly needed options here.

I totally agree, in conjunction with Gigastructures, both this mod and Giga would be an incredible match! Of course there will be certain measures to balance both but i look forward to making Gigastructures and CE work with one-another!

Originally posted by Jinx:

What's really got me interested is the ability to change the size of a planet little by little. Everything else out there either maxes size out or removes the planet completely.
And many times it's been a case of having a near perfect star system for production projects only to find I can't build a structure because a planet is one or two sizes too small or too large.

Indeed, having the ability to upscale planets is fantastic, so long it isn't too OP and preferably isn't instantly maxed out. Like with Ultimate Technologies, a great mod i like it, however its planetary upscaling is not only cheap, but feels a little unrealistic for what it does and also enables one to get to size 25 too quickly i feel. having options of sizes to choose from indeed makes deciding the size for planets much more streamlined

Originally posted by Jinx:

Wouldn't go overboard with plant size, Although we like big numbers I do believe some mods can let us be too hyper efficient. We all know AI struggles to do the same, so I do suggest having the max available world size be a one time configurable thing at game start as well.

I may actually consider doing that, however first I must continue to learn and grow my palette for what I can do. I haven't yet delved into creating separate UI's like Giga has. When I do, i think it'll be a 2.0 addition possibly. But for the start menu having a configurable option for planet sizes, I'll see what I can do. It's a good idea

Originally posted by Jinx:

When I'm eating stars to fuel the works of my empire, putting two rocks together to make a bigger rock makes perfect sense.. Gigs already has a planetary mass resource so balancing shouldn't be an issue. There's only so much mass to go around after all and the player already has a way to acquire planetary mass, being able to 'terraform' with it would make for a good peaceful use.

Using Planetary Mass with terraformation? Hmm, I'll need to give that some thought. It sounds promising and I like the idea, as an addendum to using only energy, using energy, minerals, food, alloys and with Giga, Planetary Mass, would make terraforming a little more realistic and balanced. I mean transforming a Barren into a Tropical, you wouldn't just use energy to "magically" generate the biology of the planet, unless your tech is hyper-advanced, so using food in that manner would be a huge thing imo.

Thanks for your ideas jinx! I look forward to adding them to the mod!

Always got some ideas laying around for concepts like this, been playing modded stellaris too long.
I'm glad to have given you some inspiration and ideas, If you ever feel you want to brainstorm ideas or need a quick second outside opinion.. Feel free to reach out

I look forward to seeing how this mod develops

Does anyone here know if the planet-size for Giga's Birch World is actually infinitely expansive or is stuck to 25?

Originally posted by Kxawzìtan:

Does anyone here know if the planet-size for Giga's Birch World is actually infinitely expansive or is stuck to 25?

The Birch world starts at size one and increases with every built district.
What's actually going on behind the scenes however.. No clue

the birchworld is not capt in districts but the amount of pops your empire has
i never went over 800-1000 on a birchworld so reaching 25-birchdistricts would nead an reali long save to get to 2500 pops in the empire but as long there arepops it schuld generate jobs that make the districts as far as i understand

Originally posted by Kxawzìtan:

Does anyone here know if the planet-size for Giga's Birch World is actually infinitely expansive or is stuck to 25?

The Birchworld works as following: there are two base districts both have a limit of one built each and you start with one district slot. The first base district provides a special ruler job, wich provides a specialist job, wich provides an extra district slot and worker jobs wich provide amenities and housing. The second base district provides a second ruler job, wich provides a specialist job, wich provides worker jobs, wich provide energy, dark matter and minerals. Both ruler jobs have population caps the first one 100 and the second one at 50 wich then provide an extra specialist job wich cascades into the extra worker jobs. The extra district slots you can stuff with either with a ringworld style district (research, food, unity) or a eucomopolis style district ( alloys, goods, rare resources, trade). So Unlimited as long you can stuff it with pops.

Originally posted by benhek:

Originally posted by Kxawzìtan:

Does anyone here know if the planet-size for Giga's Birch World is actually infinitely expansive or is stuck to 25?

The Birchworld works as following: there are two base districts both have a limit of one built each and you start with one district slot. The first base district provides a special ruler job, wich provides a specialist job, wich provides an extra district slot and worker jobs wich provide amenities and housing. The second base district provides a second ruler job, wich provides a specialist job, wich provides worker jobs, wich provide energy, dark matter and minerals. Both ruler jobs have population caps the first one 100 and the second one at 50 wich then provide an extra specialist job wich cascades into the extra worker jobs. The extra district slots you can stuff with either with a ringworld style district (research, food, unity) or a eucomopolis style district ( alloys, goods, rare resources, trade). So Unlimited as long you can stuff it with pops.

Very nice!
Thank you for the explanation, has me considering adding more size categories for birchworlds in the submod for when they go above my current limit of 75, though it'll mostly be for show but i think that might be an awesome addition when viewing the birchworld and its sheer current-size