Editing Stellaris (section)

== Empires ==

What can tickle /tg/ and /v/ 's fancy is the remarkable variety in playable empires.  You're not stuck with cultures that are balanced to the point of homogeneity, instead you have a 4X game where strategies for one type of culture could have no bearing what-so-ever on another. There are MANY categories of governments and species, and you can mix-and-match their attributes.  The most outstanding divide is probably between the types of sentience your culture can have: Autonomous or Gestalt.

'''Autonomous Empires''' (Basically folks like us) have rulers, populations with jobs (or quasi-jobs like "slave" and "criminal"), and civic features determining the style of government and typical social methods and values. An different variant of Autonomous Empire is the '''[[Cyberpunk|Megacorporation]]/[[Shadowrun|Criminal Syndicate]]/[[Ecclesiarchy|MegaChurch]]/[[Orzhov Syndicate|Subversive Cult]]''': a giant business corporation in shape of a government.  Megacorps are penalized for growing too quickly, but get lots of income when allying with other empires. Building unique corporation structures helping the host empire giving jobs and non-money resources per franchise [[Cleric|just like a support class in a RPG game]], and [[Warlock|debuffs to enemy empires per criminal building]]. A fast-food chain feeds the host country with new farmer jobs and gives cheap food to the Corporation stores, and Disneyland-expy Amusement Megaplexes instantly generate money for the Corporation and gives "Amenity" to host planet. Mercenary Office provides both sides with cheaper and better soldiers, Private Military Industries gives the host clerk jobs and the corporation military alloys and so on. Criminal Empires can secretly build galactic meth labs, seedy nightclubs and stolen ship-breaking workshops weakening the unwilling host empire and enriching itself.

'''Gestalt-Consciousness Empires''' don't have individual citizens, so things like "government" or "society" are, well, alien to them. Corporations can't go win-win, on the upside, criminal enterprises can't sell meth to your drones.

* '''[[Xeelee Sequence#Squeem|Hivemind]]''': [[Modron|drones following drones]] like synapse carriers toting biological antenna.  They don't get the concept of "people who aren't us/me" and wind up dead if their planet is conquered, or kill every not-us/me when conquering a planet ("those were ''people''? We/I had no idea.") if callous, drive the conquered pops away in refugee ships if a bit more considerate, and can assimilate/integrate them biologically if having the tech. They have magnificent unity, they're hard-working, and the centralized mental control helps with the rapid reproduction strategies, and a unified front(though they still get "criminals" in shape of "Rogue drones" if synapse control is shaky. On the downside, everyone who isn't that Hivemind finds them weird and creepy, damaging their diplomacy.  They can still trade and communicate with neutral parties across the galaxy, and even join Federations if they act ''really nice''. They use very little consumer goods because they already know what I/we look like naked.

*'''Mechanical Empire''':  robots running forgeworlds and never not online, using (except for assimilators) no food and almost no consumer goods, but will literally starve to death without consuming energy credits, and uses alloys for making <s>even more war machines</s> innocent beautiful children.  Like a Hivemind they have trouble being diplomatic with anyone who isn't already connected to their One And Only Network. These have FOUR sub-variants as well, one of which is a lot nastier than the others:
** '''[[Mirrordin|Machine Intelligence]]:''' The vanilla baseline for Machine Empires. 100% habitability on all planets for their robot pops makes expansion easy, if you can get past the issue of having much more severe empire size penalties.
** '''[[Ironkin|Rogue Servitors]]:''' WALL-E's robots on an empire-wide scale, or a somewhat darker take on the Minds of [[The Culture]]; they keep their biologicals living in automated luxury, providing for all their needs and satisfying their desires, and relieving them of the difficulties and stress of actually ''running'' the empire. One of those rare examples of Grimbright, depending on how you interpret their lore. Difficult to play next to the others due to the need for consumer goods and food (normally not a concern to a Machine Empire) and the inability to get rid of organic pops by any means, but awesome nonetheless.
** '''[[Phyrexia|Driven Assimilators]]:''' The local Borg expies, and one of the most hilariously broken empires in a player's hands. They automatically convert non-civ populations into cyborgs that serve their empire, gaining unity and massively expanding their workforce in the process; this lets them snowball ''incredibly'' fast if they win their first war. Playing one of these as a conquering empire in a multiplayer game makes you [[That Guy]] by default. While they can be negotiated with,  they won't hesitate to gank you if they can't expand further without going through your territory. Seriously, the superweapon type they get ''automatically conquers'' a planet and makes everyone planetside into the Borg no matter how fortified, talk about a fucking "I WIN" button insta-converting a 5000 Defense force Garrisoned Cadia-expy with enough industry and guns to arm the galaxy twice over.
  
But of course, you want to play the Imperium of Man and purge xenos.

'''Genocidal Empires''' are factions automatically hostile to everyone, their absence of any trade or negotiation compensated with ''extreme'' bonuses to combat and unity. For Genocidal Empires, exterminating a foreign population will give bonuses in social and/or genetic unity of the race because DEUS VULT, and OMNOMNOM bonus socio/genetic research points in case of [[Tyranid|Devourers]].
* '''[[Imperium of Man|Fanatic Purifiers]]''': Take the Imperium of Man, turn its genocidal tendencies up to eleven, and remove any and all potential of interacting with xenos that doesn't involve killing them. These assholes cannot engage in diplomacy with anyone or anything that isn't their own species (ex.: the Lost Colony origin), but get hefty bonuses to ship-building, weapon fire rates, and army damage. Any xenos in their borders are automatically fatally purged. Prone to arising from primitive civs who are aggressively studied, but also very prone to getting their shit stomped when they piss off the local Fallen Empire by colonising their borders and refusing to back down.  Kill them on sight.
* '''[[Necron|Determined Exterminators]]''': Skynet in Space. Essentially Fanatic Purifiers as machines; they hate anything organic, but are willing to negotiate with other machines and species that go through Synthetic Ascension. Rogue Servitors hate their guts, and ''will'' go to war with them if they get too close. Get the same fire rate and military bonuses as FPs, but with the same bonuses as a regular Machine Empire.  Kill them on sight.
* '''[[Tyranid|Devouring Swarm]]/[[C'tan|Terravores]]:''': Not-[[Tyranids]]. They're a biological hive mind who are out to eat the rest of the universe; they also have a Lithoid (living rock dudes) version known as Terravores, who can eat part of a controlled planet for a large chunk of minerals/alloys. You know the drill - fire rate bonuses, lots of unity, research bonuses through genocide, snowballing, blah blah blah, yakkity-schmakkity. Kill them on sight.

One could argue the Imperium Of Man is -not- a Genocidal Empire [[Crunch|by civic]], since historically it has negotiated, traded and briefly allied with xenos.  That's fine; one can still purge xenos in billions as a non-Genocidal empire, and eat the massive penalties in diplomacy, and displacing/enslaving whatever you want and call yourself the Imperium of Man.  A "true" Genocidal empire will suffer not the xeno to live, nor waste time talking to one. Yet we all know Inquisitors and Eldar have an "Accord of Isha", and Rogue Traders exist.

Autonomous Empires' citizens, populations, slaves etc have political views which culminate into choosing certain '''civics''': core tenets of government and lifestyle.  An Autonomous Empire gets an 8-pointed star describing four political axes in their government, Gestalts get playstyles. As citizens' and the gameplay's results make your citizens change beliefs, so can the governments change.

* Pacifism vs Militarism = Tau vs Imperium of Man. Militarists attack first (extra firepower for ships and armies), pacifists tell everyone to stay in line and fight defensively, "liberating" conquered star nations and are more stable and easier expanding. Seeing post apocalyptic worlds and tragedies across the empire can turn citizens to pacifism over time, and painful defeats or easy triumphs can trigger the opposite.
* Materialism vs Spiritualism = Leagues of Votann vs Craftworld Eldar. Materialists get more research and lean toward robots, spiritualists get more Unity and lean toward psionics. Events ranging from robot rebellions, discoveries that allude to gods' monuments and experiences across the game will shift your population's beliefs in either accordingly.
* Egalitarian vs Authoritarian = Greece vs Rome. First one has more educated citizen output, the latter has more worker/slave output. Obviously, non-full citizen species in the empire (Residents with no votes and slaves), or prospering merchants will prefer the former, while the slaveholding ruling class' citizens, privileged nobles and sufferers from crime will prefer the latter over time.
* Xenophilia vs Xenophobia = Mass Effect vs Imperium of Man. Note that Tau can be counted in the middle as they -can- purge xenos species if they really find it against the Greater Good. Xenophiles usually get a late-game Unity unlock called [[Extra Heresy|"Xeno-Compatibility"]] boosting migration, sex tourism and happiness, and get more trade and have more diplomatic envoys. Xenophobe populations grow faster and can expand cheaper. A certain way to boost xenophobia is to keep [[Drow|ugly species as slaves]], [[Age of Strife|suffer under alien slavery/]][[Xeelee Sequence|oppression for a long time]]. For xenophilia, having attractive xenos as fellow citizens, staying in an egalitarian federation etc works. And [[Illiyan Nastase|Xeno-Compatibility]] is exactly what you think.

Civics depend on government political views or gameplay styles as Gestalt, each have bonuses and some have maluses, like a warrior culture or exalted priesthood where different jobs get bonuses or modifiers. A warrior society has entertainers double as virtual duelists, consuming military alloys as upkeep but adding not just amenities but also other bonuses. Technocracy makes every first population of ruling class (Administrator Job) in a planet a Science Director giving bonuses, Exalted Priesthood makes it "High Priest" with similar bonuses, and Merchant Guilds makes the Administrator job into Merchants. Distinguished Admiralty lets you field more ships before penalties kick in, and so on. You choose two at the start of the game, then a third as you develop more societal technology.

Then there are '''Fallen Empires''': Hyper-advanced NPC empires that are ''extremely'' powerful with all technologies researched and possess godlike buildings, yet [[Eldar|unable to replicate their arcane infrastructure]]. They come in five flavours: 

'''[[Ecclesiarchy|Holy Guardians]]''': A spartan religious order, though not racist, looks down on all non-spiritual empires and will go BUGFUCK mad if you colonize a world considered holy to their empire (though they are kind enough to mark them as forbidden and give you once chance to fuck off if you ignore it). When awakened, they become '''Doctrinal Enforcers''', forcing EVERY empire to change their government to a fanatically spiritualistic theocracy, outlaw AI, and pay tribute to them. Refuse and die. Barely a tick above [[That Guy|Militant Isolationists]], not even other religious empires like their endless vigil over dead rocks.

'''[[This Guy|Enigmatic Observers]]''': A mix between [[Nobledark Imperium]] and [[Slann]]. Overall good guys, but they get mad at anyone doing slavery or legalized genocide, and will ask for some species from your empire to "preserve" in a high-tech reservation/zoo/museum. When awakened, they become '''Benevolent Interventionists''', forcing everyone to [[Lawful Good|ban declaring wars, slavery and genocide and live in a peaceful galaxy]]. And they defend their surrendered vassals with extreme firepower if someone attacks them.

'''[[That Guy|Militant Isolationists]]''': Total dicks living in luxury of their [[Magical Realm]]. Their planets are of two species, the ruling caste, and a lobotomized, genetically made beautiful slave species used in "[[/d/|private functions]]" at homes. Colonize their neighbouring systems and [[RAGE|they'll give you one chance to fuck off before they awaken and automatically declare war]]. When awakened, they become '''Jingoistic Reclaimers''', basically conquering the galaxy and forcing everyone to be vassals of their empire (who pay tribute but can also conquer each other because [[That Guy]] doesn't care).

'''[[Adeptus Mechanicus|Keepers of Knowledge]]''': Galactic nerds who hoard all the science and don't give up much. They usually ask for your best scientists to work as archivists for them, and give technology they won't miss in return. Pretty much harmless when awakened, they become '''Watchful Regulators''' who force everyone to give up a third of their research rate(for oversight) and avoid researching paths marked as "dangerous" such as [[Men of Iron|Synthetics]], Warp Drives and sentient ship AI. They're the only FE to have planet destroying Colossi by default and the heaviest fleets that can eat X3 strength endgame crises, so do not piss them off.

'''[[Xeelee Sequence|Ancient Caretakers]]''': A machine fallen empire guarding quiet tombs of trillions of all races of xenos, mistaking them for sleeping refugees. They have no diplomatic views on anyone and keep to themselves, claiming to be a protection protocol for some ancient war. They sometimes give inoculations to biological races, and help them randomly. When Contingency hits, they have a chance of waking up as '''Final Defense Protocol''' and explaining everything (tl;dr: they were made to try and save people from the not-Reapers) before deciding to assault the Contingency in an apocalyptic attack. There is also a 33% chance the Contingency will corrupt their code, and make them '''Rampaging Custodians''', [[Rape|dooming the galaxy to a two-prong endgame crisis]].