When asked to write a guide on how to build megastructures in Stellaris, I got very excited. Megastructures are my favorite mechanic, and they are game-changing assets for your empire.

Megastructures are very much a late-game goal and will require a huge investment of time, resources, and research. This investment will pay itself back several times before your playthrough is over.

Recommended Read: How to Claim a System in Stellaris

I should mention before starting that many of these Megastructures require DLC to unlock. If you are a base game player, these Megastructures will be unavailable to your empire.

You build megastructures in Stellaris by researching the megastructure you wish to build. After unlocking it, you use a construction ship to build the structure. If you are lucky enough to find a ruined mega structure, you can repair it for a much cheaper cost.

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How to Build Megastructures in Stellaris

There are two ways to construct a megastructure in Stellaris at the moment.

The first is the old-fashioned way; researching and constructing it yourself from scratch. The second is to get lucky and find a ruined megastructure in a system that you can put within your borders.

Building from scratch is the only reliable way to get the megastructures you want. it is also a much more enjoyable and rewarding method.

There are three phases to building your first megastructure. The first of which is unlocking the Mega-Engineering research project.

The second is to research the specific megastructure you want. Finally, is paying for and building the Megastructure.

Step 1 Unlocking Mega-Engineering Research Project

Mega-Engineering is a rare technology in Stellaris. This means the chance of getting it as a research option is very low.

Not only that, it will not appear until you have unlocked; Zero Point Power, Citadels, and Battleships. Which are all late-game technologies.

By far, the best way to boost your chances of unlocking rare technologies, such as Mega-Engineering, is the Technological Ascendency Ascension Perk.

Not only does it improve research speed, but it also improves the chances of unlocking rare tech by 50 percent.

Stage 2 Unlocking the Megastructure you Want

After completing Mega-Engineering, you will need to complete a structure-specific research project.

The projects you will get as potential research options are as follows:

• Habitat. A mini planet that can be built in space. All species have a base of 70 percent habitability on habitats.
• Gateways. These allow instant travel between any other gateway in the galaxy, an excellent way to speed up long journeys.
• Science Nexus. A multi-stage construction that provides significant boons to research.
• Sentry Array. A large sensor that, when fully upgraded, will allow you to see the entire galaxy.
• Mega Art Installation. A place of culture that gives buffs to amenities production and provides Unity.
• Strategic Coordination Center. The more this is upgraded, the bigger boons it provides to the potential size of your fleets.
• Interstellar Assembly. Provides Envoys, improved relations with other empires, and diplomatic weight.
• Mega Shipyard. Has the power to build fleets in no time at all. Provides ship build speed boons for all your other shipyards and bonus starting experience.
• Quantum Catapult. Allows you to shoot your fleets instantly across the galaxy.

There are three other megastructures that need the Galactic Wonders Ascension Perk to unlock. These are:

• Dyson Sphere. A large sphere, built around a star allowing you to harness all the energy it produces. This provides a massive bonus to energy credit production.
• Matter Decompressor. This structure is built around black holes and extracts the compressed matter within. The amount of minerals this produces is enough for any empire.
• Ring World. This is a ring built around a star. Each segment of the ringworld provides the equivalent of a size ten planet. 4 segments can be built, providing a 40-size planet split into 4. All species have 100 percent habitability on Ring Worlds.

Step 3 Building Your Megastructure

Every Megastructure in the game, except for hyper relays, is built in stages. The first stage involves sending a construction ship to the building location.

The construction ship will then begin work on the building site of the megastructure. The building site does not provide any benefits to the empire yet.

Once the construction site is complete, you can select it to upgrade it to the next stage. Once completed, congratulations, you have built the first stage of your megastructure.

The structure will then start to provide its benefits to your empire. The further you upgrade the structure, the greater the rewards.

Ruined megastructures found in the galaxy are the same as the construction sites. After unlocking Mega-Engineering, you will be able to repair ruined structures. This is often a faster and cheaper method, but you have to get lucky.

You can build as many faster-than-light megastructures and orbital station structures as you like. Multi-stage structures like Dyson Spheres or Ring Worlds, one per empire.

Building a megastructure is a monumental effort, and this puts a strain on your empire’s logistics. That is why only one megastructure can be built or upgraded at a time.

Some of the projects can take 10 years to complete, so it is best to start early and plan accordingly.

Optimising Megastructure Construction

There are four ways to build megastructures in the game.

The value these bonuses provide cannot be understated. The benefits of these colossal projects far outweigh their cost. The bonuses are as follows:

• Living Metal mega-Contruction Edict. If you have access to the ultra-rare resource Living Metal you will unlock this edict. It provides a 50 percent build speed bonus to mega structures.
• Architectural Renaissance Edict. After unlocking the Mega Engineering technology, you gain access to this edict. It provides a 50 percent bonus to megastructure build speed, a 100 percent buff to planetary build speed, and a plus one to megastructure build capacity.
• Master Builders Ascension Perk. After unlocking Mega-Engineering, you get the opportunity to adopt this ascension perk. This perk provides a 50 percent megastructure build speed bonus and a plus one to building capacity.
• Isolated Contingency Core Relic. This is by far the most rewarding and most difficult to acquire. Obtained by defeating the contingency end-game crisis, which is no small feat. This provides a passive bonus to your empire of 100 percent mechanical pop build speed and, more importantly, allows you to build two of every multi-stage megastructure. Yes, that means you could have two Dyson Spheres for a whopping 8000 energy credits per month. Finally, you can pay to activate a triumph bonus of 300 percent megastructure build speed for 10 years.

As you can see, building megastructures is actually a very straightforward process.

The real problem is finding the correct locations and resources to pay for the structures. The effort required to build them is worth it because if you don’t build them, your rivals will.

This is everything you need to know about building megastructures in Stellaris.

If you have any questions or comments on this guide, please let us know in the comments section. Have fun building.