When I gathered my favourite Stellaris [official site] mods last month, there were just over 2,000 brimming from its Steam Workshop – an impressive number, given the game had only been out for five weeks or so at that point. Three weeks on and almost 500 have since been added to the collection, one of which just missed my roundup cut: the Stellaris Alpha Mod.

Not only does the ambitious modification add over 60 new buildings, 17 new resources and seven new edicts, among a range of other things, creator AlphaAsh has since been actively planning new features, taking suggestions from players and fixing bugs, all of which suggests the Alpha Mod will only get bigger. To infinity… and beyond etc.

Well, perhaps not infinite, but the extensive catalogue of buildings – which AlphaAsh notes is “always out-of-date” – the Stellaris Alpha Mod does add includes the likes of: Atmosphere Generators, ideal for producing and maintaining atmosphere on rocks without them; Exo Barracks and Exo Operations, sealed domes for both residential and operational purposes; Grand Citadels and Grand Retreats, huge urban military fortress and urban centres, the latter of which allows citizens to “hide themselves from the rest of the galaxy”; and Water Excavators, an industrial-scale well for mining water from below the planet’s surface.

Ice, water, biomass and natural fuels make up some of the new resources, and new spaceport models – including trade ports and border controls – are just a few of the more superficial-leaning tweaks the mod makes available. Honestly, the list is huge, so be sure to check it out in its entirety over here, with change notes located in this direction. Also, this handy FAQ answered the majority of initial queries I had – like whether or not AI has access to the new stuff – and will save you trawling through the mod’s lengthy comments section.

While I can’t be sure if it’ll appease those who’ve struggled with Stellaris’ victory conditions, the Alpha Mod adds a staggering amount of new stuff which helps improve an already spectacular game. Stellar job AlphaAsh. Sorry.

(I’m not sorry.)