The Cepheus update will bring the Overlord expansion to Stellaris, with the expansion, in turn, introducing the Scholarium as the final Specialists empire.
The Scholarium is the last of the Specialists coming in Overlord. Dedicated to the advancement of science, the Scholarium relies on their overlord to defend them from enemies.
As with the other specialist empires, the penalties and benefits both grow as they tier up.
Where the Prospectorium could discover valuable deposits in their space, the Scholarium instead finds opportunities to learn., while the advisor perk, as expected, improves the overlord’s scientific research, with the current number being at 10% improvement.
And like the others, they have a Hyper Relay Network effect at Tier 1, while at Tier 2, the Scholarium also gains a set of special traits for their leaders, and the ability to trade their Scientists to their overlord.
Paradox Interactive
Finally, at Tier 3 the Scholarium gains an advanced variant of the Science Ship, the Arctrellis. Like the Prospectorium’s Bulwark's Battlewright, it provides an aura in combat, but this time the scientists aboard the ship can cripple opposing ships piloted by AI, whether they be machine intelligence, sapient combat computers, or even the Contingency.
It should be noted that as a Scholarium, the military penalties make it difficult to free yourself from under your overlord’s control. You may need some powerful friends to help you out.
