diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c16d3da..f6ace3a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@ images/
 *.cfg
 latest-stage3.txt
 portage-snapshot.tar.bz2
-stage3-*-latest.tar.bz2
-stage3-*.tar.bz2
+stage3-*-latest.tar.xz
+stage3-*.tar.xz
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 852ff42..3e3a370 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -132,22 +132,22 @@ $(PREPROOT): $(STAGE3) $(PORTAGE_DIR) $(CHROOT)/etc/fstab $(etc_portage) $(porta
 	COPY -L /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf
 	touch $(PREPROOT)
 
-stage3-$(VA_ARCH).tar.bz2:
+stage3-$(VA_ARCH).tar.xz:
 	@print You do not have a stage3 tarball. Consider \"make sync_stage3\"
 	@exit 1
 
 sync_stage3:
-	fetch-stage3 --specialty=systemd --outfile=stage3-$(VA_ARCH).tar.bz2 $(VA_ARCH)
+	fetch-stage3 --systemd --outfile=stage3-$(VA_ARCH).tar.xz $(VA_ARCH)
 
 
-$(STAGE3): stage3-$(VA_ARCH).tar.bz2 configs/stage3-tarball-excludes
+$(STAGE3): stage3-$(VA_ARCH).tar.xz configs/stage3-tarball-excludes
 	mkdir -p $(CHROOT)
 ifdef stage4-exists
 	@print Using stage4 tarball: `basename $(STAGE4_TARBALL)`
 	tar xpf "$(STAGE4_TARBALL)" -C $(CHROOT)
 else
 	@print Using stage3 tarball
-	tar xpf stage3-$(VA_ARCH).tar.bz2 -C $(CHROOT) --exclude-from=configs/stage3-tarball-excludes
+	tar xpf stage3-$(VA_ARCH).tar.xz -C $(CHROOT) --exclude-from=configs/stage3-tarball-excludes
 endif
 	rm -f $(CHROOT)/etc/localtime
 	touch $(STAGE3)
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ $(VMDK_IMAGE): $(RAW_IMAGE)
 
 vmdk: $(VMDK_IMAGE)
 
-$(STAGE4_TARBALL): $(PORTAGE_DIR) stage3-$(VA_ARCH).tar.bz2 appliances/$(APPLIANCE) configs/rsync-excludes
+$(STAGE4_TARBALL): $(PORTAGE_DIR) stage3-$(VA_ARCH).tar.xz appliances/$(APPLIANCE) configs/rsync-excludes
 	$(MAKE) $(STAGE3)
 	$(MAKE) $(PREPROOT)
 	$(MAKE) $(SOFTWARE)
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ realclean: clean
 
 distclean: 
 	rm -f -- *.qcow *.img *.vmdk
-	rm -f stage3-*.tar.bz2
+	rm -f stage3-*.tar.xz
 	rm -f portage-snapshot.tar.bz2
 
 appliance-list:
diff --git a/scripts/fetch-stage3 b/scripts/fetch-stage3
index 3ce9059..68803cd 100755
--- a/scripts/fetch-stage3
+++ b/scripts/fetch-stage3
@@ -9,9 +9,10 @@ import sys
 from collections import namedtuple
 
 MIRROR = 'http://gentoo.osuosl.org/'
-Stage3 = namedtuple('Stage3', 'url cpu specialty minimal nomultilib size')
+Stage3 = namedtuple('Stage3', 'url cpu specialty minimal nomultilib systemd size')
 MINIMAL = re.compile(r'[\+-]minimal-')
 NOMULTILIB = re.compile(r'[\+-]nomultilib-')
+SYSTEMD = re.compile(r'[\+-]systemd-')
 
 
 def parse_args():
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ def parse_args():
     parser.add_argument('--cpu', type=str, default=None)
     parser.add_argument('--specialty', type=str, default=None)
     parser.add_argument('--no-multilib', action='store_true', default=False)
+    parser.add_argument('--systemd', action='store_true', default=False)
     parser.add_argument('--minimal', action='store_true', default=False)
     parser.add_argument('--outfile', type=str, default=None)
     parser.add_argument('arch', type=str)
@@ -53,12 +55,15 @@ def get_manifest(arch, mirror=MIRROR):
         cpu = rest.split('-', 2)[1]
         nomultilib = 'nomultilib-' in rest
         nomultilib = bool(NOMULTILIB.search(rest))
+        systemd = 'systemd-' in rest
+        systemd = bool(SYSTEMD.search(rest))
         minimal = bool(MINIMAL.search(rest))
 
         stage3 = Stage3(
             cpu=cpu,
             minimal=minimal,
             nomultilib=nomultilib,
+            systemd=systemd,
             size=size,
             specialty=specialty,
             url=base_url + filename,
@@ -94,6 +99,7 @@ def main():
         if not all([
             args.minimal == item.minimal,
             args.no_multilib == item.nomultilib,
+            args.systemd == item.systemd,
             args.specialty == item.specialty,
         ]):
             continue