The galaxy is a big place in Stellaris, and that makes traversing it a slow process. If you want to cross the galaxy faster, you will need to unlock faster methods of travel.
There are a lot of ways to speed up ship travel in Stellaris: Wormholes, Quantum Catapults, Tactical Jumps, Gateways, and the topic of this guide; Hyper Relays.
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The game classes Hyper Relays as megastructures, and when built, they can shave years off of travel time. That is, of course, if you are willing to pay for them.
Any system you own is a worthy candidate for Hyper Relay construction. The building process requires a civilian construction ship. After the construction is finished, ships in Stellaris can use the relay to jump to any adjacent systems without having to travel to the relevant hyperlane entrance.
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How to Unlock and Use Hyper Relays in Stellaris
If you want to add a Hyper Relay network to your empire, there is one out-of-game proviso you must meet. You must own the Overlord DLC or be in a multiplayer game with somebody who does own it.
So, Hyper Relays technology needs two other things to be true before you have a chance to get it as a research project. These are the Hyperlane Breach Points tech completion and access to Rare Crystals.
Hyperlane Breach Points are a common mid-game technology, and this shouldn’t be a problem to get hold of. Rare Crystal access can be from unlocking technology or from the galactic market.
With these true, you will then need to roll Hyper Relays as a research project. The bad news is that Hyper Relays are a rare technology. Meaning if you want this early, you are going to need a bit of luck on your side.
I recommend getting the technological ascendancy ascension perk. This amazing perk improves the chances of unlocking rare technologies.
The project will become available if you play long enough, and when you finish it you can start building your network right away.
How to Build a Hyper Relay
Hyper Relays are considered Megastructures. To build them, you will need a construction ship to produce one outside the gravity well of a system that you own.
If you don’t know what a gravity well is, it is anything inside the broken circle that surrounds the outskirts of a system.
There is, of course, a cost involved, and by megastructure standards, Hyper Relays are cheap. The kicker is that Hyper Relays only get good if you have a lot of them, so this “cheap” price can compound fast.
One Hyper Relay will set your empire back: 25 Influence, 100 Rare Crystals, and 500 Alloys.
If you come across a ruined relay, or one of yours gets destroyed, you can restore it for 500 Energy, 100 Rare Crystals, and 500 Alloys.
To build, select any construction ship and select the megastructure option. On the building list menu, select Hyper Relay.
If in the galaxy map, left-click the system you want to build in, and construction work will begin in a random valid location.
You can tailor the location by zooming into the system view, where you can select the Hyper Relays exact placement.
This is a good idea for systems that contain wormholes or gateways. You will want them to be close together.
The construction process will take one year, while the restoration process only takes six months.
How Does a Hyper Relay Work
Hyper Relays are more than useless on their own. As you build more of them, their usefulness increases exponentially.
What they do, is allow ships to make hyperlane jumps to an adjacent system’s Hyper Relay. This is in lieu of your ship having to subspace travel through the system first, reach the correct hyperlane, and then jump.
Where this becomes very strong is when you can chain a long line of Hyper Relays together. Instead of wasting months of in-game time, crawling through systems at a snail’s pace.
Ships can jump into a Hyper Relay, begin charging to jump again straight away, and be on their way before you know it.
If you have a large empire and need to send ships from one side to the other, your year’s long journey will now take months.
This can provide a huge tactical advantage when defending against your enemies.
You shouldn’t rush to fill your empire with these. The best advice is a slow and steady approach. Only build them on the primary transit routes through your empire.
Building them on the fringe system that is seldom visited will probably be a waste of resources.
Don’t over-commit, and take your time populating your empire with a healthy amount of Hyper Relays.
You can view your Hyper Relay connections in the galaxy map. Hyperlane lines will appear thicker, denoting they have a connection to a working Hyper Relay.
Inactive Hyper Relay links are marked with yellow lines on the map. These routes can become inactive because of closed borders or the relay getting destroyed.
This is everything you need to know about how to use Hyper Relays in Stellaris.
If you have any questions or suggestions for this guide, please let us know in the comments section below. As always, have fun building the ultimate Hyper Relay network in Stellaris.
