LogFAQs > #896173446

The Stellaris 2.0 Patch(Cherryh) and accompanying Apocalypse expansion go live in a week(2/22).

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-105-2-0-cherryh-patch-notes.1069794/
Patch notes are out, but I'll summarize for those looking for brevity.

-Apocalypse features, among other things, Colossi(ships that can destroy planets), Titans(massive flagships), and Marauders. Marauders will raid your borders, but can also be hired as mercenaries, and may also coalesce behind a Great Khan around mid-game.

-Cherryh Features.
*All empires use hyperlanes. Natural wormholes exist and can be stabilized to allow for point-to-point travel. Ancient gateways also exist, and new ones may be built(eventually). Jump Drives now allow you to "jump" to a nearby system without needing a hyperlane link, and can also bypass FTL inhibitors(but only a single jump).
*Systems are now exclusively claimed by building star bases in them and/or colonizing a planet. All military ship construction is done by star bases, which may be upgraded with a number of different modules with defensive, constructive, and economic benefits. Upgraded star bases cost maintenance and you can only have so many, but level 0 star bases do not count against the cap.
*Max fleet size is now capped
*Defensive armies are no longer a thing, and are instead generated by buildings(including government buildings). Assault transport fleets can now be automated to follow military fleets and invade planets automatically if the odds of success are good.
*Expanded tech tree, new civics, new ascension perks

In fact, I'll list the new civics, because they're cool:
Life-Seeded: Your species starts with a Size-25 Gaia world as their homeworld, but is poorly adapted to live on less ideal planets.
Survivor: Your species survived nuclear armageddon. Your home world is a Tomb World and your species can settle Tomb Worlds comfortably.
Barbaric Despoilers: When your fleets bombard enemy planets, they can steal pops.(There's also an Ascension Perk that does this. Barbaric Despoilers are barred from taking it, for obvious reasons).

For better or worse, Stellaris 2.0 figures to be a much different beast. I, personally, am optimistic. I'm familiar with the lead desginer's work. Martin "Wiz" Anward made a lot of great mods in his day, and presided over the fantastic Art of War expansion for EU4, but it may not be to everyone's liking.