Hi everyone,
Today I'm turning things over to Atmaz to share some information about Ideologies in regular empires. (We'll talk about gestalt empires in another dev diary, we didn't forget about them!)
Here we go!
Introduction
Hey folks.
I'm Gary Morris (Atmaz), DLC Director for the Willpower expansion from Abrakam Entertainment.
Since the release of Shadows of the Shroud, our team has been hard at work shaping the hearts, minds, and assorted cognitive organs of Stellaris' inhabitants. The end result is perhaps the most deeply integrated system we've developed for the game yet: Ideologies.
I'd go so far as to call it our most ambitious project to date, and there's a lot to talk about. So… let's get into it.
What are Ideologies?
I could explain it all in dry, mechanical terms… but where's the fun in that? I think the best way to understand something is through a story, and Stellaris has no shortage of those.
Meet: The Blorg Cooperative
Hey, nice view.
A Blorg species from yet another timeline. In this case, we're going to play as a Fanatic Xenophile, Pacifist variant of their breed. You'll notice they have one of the Willpower Civics that happens to be only available to Fanatic or Absolute Xenophiles, Open Stars Sovereignty. We'll get to what that is in a bit.
(Note, this is not a new pre-scripted empire, though Willpower has some of those too.)
Fanatic Factions
A faction… but Fanatic
Factions have arisen!
One of the first differences you'll notice in Willpower are the existence of Fanatic Factions. These Faction types have both increased resource output and unmet demand disapproval rate, so you'll probably want to keep them happy. Since we started with a Fanatic Ethic, its associated faction (the Alien Aid Group) is already fanaticized, but it is possible for Factions to fanaticize in other ways if they have high support and approval rating for a long time.
Once a Fanatic faction exists, stronger convictions may begin to take hold…
The Rise of an Ideology
Uh oh…
It seems the Blorg are ready for us to adopt an official Ideology. The Alien Aid Group has prompted us to adopt their Xenophilic principles on a societal scale.
Doing this isn't free, and has a monthly upkeep of Influence to maintain, but it's your choice in the end. You can always do this from the Manage Faction menu, if you meet the requirements and have better timing in mind for this.
Advocate for the Alien Aid Group, or the AAG as we call them.
The Birth of Blorg Multiculturalism
Our Ideology now has a visible footprint on the galaxy, seen here easily in the new Ideology Map Mode. Ideologies grow and spread from sources of populations such as colonies, and the intensity of their spread depends on a lot of things like Unity production, Amenities, Trade, and all kinds of other modifiers distributed throughout Stellaris's various systems. Basically, the more happy and productive Ideological followers you have, the faster and farther it will spread.
Here we are spreading our perfect belief system into the space of the Reyennan Regime, which will now be experiencing some Xenophilic Ethics attraction and the emergence of a new faction supporting Blorg Multiculturalism. This area covered by our Ideology, called Ideological Reach, also reduces Claim and Starbase Influence cost for systems outside of our borders, as well as reducing Starbase upkeep. You can feel safe within the shadow cast by our new flag. Speaking of…
The flag of friendship.
Each Ideology is assigned its own flag, with a set of unique emblems for each Ethic type. You can also rename it to anything you like, in this case I am staying with one of the randomly generated possibilities for Xenophilic Ideologies.
Tenets
So other than converting others to our Ethic and claim/starbase discounts, what are we getting from all of this?
Well first of all, by forming an ideology we have become an Ideological Authority which comes with some inherent bonuses. We'll stay the authority as long as no other empire adopts our Ideology and reaches a higher strength level and diplomatic weight.
The perks of authority.
One of the clearest advantages in having an Ideology are in benefiting from Ideological Tenets, which only the Ideology Authority can codify. To do this, we'll need to gain some Ideological Strength. Let's see how we're doing there.
The Ideology Tab
Looks like we haven't encountered any other Ideologies yet, and that lit up hexagon means we can codify our first Tenet. Let's do that.
What values are best for making friends?
There are a wide variety of Tenets to choose from, and most are locked to particular Ethics. Certain Civics and Origins can generate their own as well, but our Blorg here happen to have these to choose from. If we don't like our options, we could always Reformulate them, which costs some Influence and time. In this case, I think Pluralism would go nicely with our Open Stars Sovereignty Civic.
Note that you normally get access to three Tenets in total, and each slot scales upward in Intensity. Meaning I could adopt a low level of Pluralism here, or save it for my third slot and have the modifiers scale accordingly. Not ALL modifiers scale this way, but most do. Regardless, what you see is what you get.
Open Stars Sovereignty
Come on in! Free hugs, we promise.
The Immigration Bureau, for these Blorg, is the ultimate friendship machine. You'll need to establish these on systems bordering foreign empires, but doing so will accumulate a diverse population on all your planets. Blorg like that sort of thing.
The Reyenne have come to visit.
Gaining Followers
While converting Pops happens naturally under our Ideological Reach, what we really like is when an entire empire adopts our Ideology. As the current Authority this will increase our bonus modifiers, but it's also an easy way to maintain positive relations. Empires sharing the same Ideology as you generally view you more favorably. Let's see if the Reyennans are ready yet.
Inviting Reyennans to the Biggest Group Hug. Friendship is Mandatory Diplomacy.
Looks like the Reyennans want to be on the right side of history. Given time, they might have adopted it on their own, but we'll push them along a little faster this way.
Note that there are far more aggressive forms of forcing someone to adopt your Ideology, but surely not many Stellaris players will want to engage with those.
Our friendly ideas transcend empire borders.
Now that the Reyennans have adopted our Ideology, they too are now spreading its message across the stars. The bigger it gets, the happier we both are.
Ideological Momentum
Unrest, you say? Let's not have that.
Things seem to be going well so far, but one thing we'll want to keep an eye on is our Ideological Momentum. This tracks how well our Ideological Strength has been doing recently, and if this dips into the negative we risk negative modifiers or even worse: Ideological Revolts. These are like normal revolts, but may result in the generation of an opposing Ideology or the secession of several colonies at once. Surely we'll be fine!
…and there we have it, the story of the rise of Blorg Multiculturalism. This is only the beginning, however… we'll eventually encounter other Ideologies, and to win them over we might need some more powerful tools.
Wait, what's a "Xenophobe?"
More to Come
We've only covered the basics here today, and there's a lot more to talk about. We hope you like this initial look at what Ideologies offer, and we'll stick around to answer any questions you might have.
YouTuber War 3
For those of you who may have missed it, Stellaris YouTuber War 3 premiered this week on YouTube! Featuring a cast of your favorite Stellaris Content Creators - alongside some of our very own Developers - YouTuber War 3 is a strong continuation of a Stellaris classic.
Join us on discord to watch the premiere of Episode 2, followed by a Q&A with some of the creators who participated!
Thanks for reading, and see you around!
