The galaxy is a dangerous place in Stellaris, the hit sci-fi grand strategy from Paradox Interactive. As players guide their chosen civilization across the stars, they'll run into the many mysteries and hazards that Stellaris has to offer, from lust-inducing hallucinogenic fogs to extra-dimensional conquerors.
Each new DLC for Stellaris has made the galaxy a little bigger, and perhaps none more so than the Leviathan DLC. Leviathan added Guardians to the game, hugely powerful and universally hostile NPCs that protect some of the most valuable loot in the galaxy, including the vast and mysterious space station known as the Enigmatic Fortress.
How to Defeat the Enigmatic Fortress in Stellaris
The Enigmatic Fortress is one of the most dangerous Guardians in Stellaris, and players will need a seriously powerful Fleet to take it down. By purchasing a damage buff from a Curator Enclave, 50k Fleet strength should be enough to destroy the Fortress with minimal losses, however this number can be brought down by selecting the correct ship Modules.
The Enigmatic Fortress and its various Defense Platforms rely mostly on heavy Shields for protection, meaning that Shield-piercing weapons like Missiles, Strike Craft, or the new Torpedo Frigates are the most effective. In terms of designing their own ships' defenses, players should also use heavy Shields to counter-act the Fortress' reliance on Kinetic weaponry, which deals less damage against Shields.
How to Access the Vault of the Enigmatic Fortress
Unlike most of the Guardians in Stellaris, the rewards for beating the Enigmatic Fortress aren't received after defeating it in battle. Instead, destroying the Fortress with a Fleet will merely unlock a lengthy event chain to open up the Vault at the Fortress' core. The event chain has three stages, all of which are timed events. Picking the incorrect option or letting the timer run out will cause the Fortress to reactivate and turn hostile once again:
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First Choice
- The best choice is to cause a lower-estimate local power surge, as this will cause the Expedition to proceed for only 50 Energy Credits.
- Sending in a Demolitions Team using an Army will advance the Expedition but kill the Army.
- The higher-estimate power surge will cause the Fortress to reactivate.
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Second Choice
- The only correct choice is to rearrange the metal tori on the poles, anything else will reactivate the Fortress.
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Third Choice
- The middle Home System Research, the Black Hole Research, or supplying the Fortress with Dark Matter will all cause the event to succeed with no further issues.
- Choosing the beginning or the end Home System Research will cause the Fortress to reactivate.
- Using force is the worst possible choice, as it will destroy the Fortress and all ships and Fleets in the System, as well as turn every habitable planet into a Tomb world.
Once players have successfully completed the event chain, they'll be able to claim the rewards for defeating the Enigmatic Fortress. This consists of a large amount of Research points for all three scientific fields, as well as two unique ship Components, the Enigmatic Encoder and Enigmatic Decoder. Both Components use the Auxiliary slot, with the Encoder adding +5 Chance to Hit and +5 Tracking, while the Decoder grants +1 Disengagement Opportunities.
Stellaris is currently available on PC, macOS, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.