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Stellaris Dev Diary #201: Galactic Imperium

Hello everyone!

Last week we talked about how the Galactic Community can elect a Custodian to unite them against an ongoing crisis, and this week we aim to continue that story.

The Unbidden invaded the galaxy, and in order to defeat the crisis you needed to ask for additional powers, and the length of the war underlined the need for more permanent powers. Those powers were very nice to have, and they are powers that you may not want to give up so easily.

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Remember that time when you needed to make your custodianship perpetual? Those were the days.

It would be better if you could find a more permanent and legitimate solution. Besides… wouldn’t the galaxy be safer under your leadership anyway?

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When a Custodianship is granted on a perpetual term limit, the Custodian can propose a resolution for the creation of a Galactic Imperium.

Proclaim the Galactic Imperium
Citizens of the galaxy! On this day we make history as we transition into a new, and brighter future! Under this New Order, our ideals and rights will be protected. We hold these rights to be self-evident and we will defend them by force of arms. No star shall be lost to the enemies of our Community and together we will repel all attacks from within or without. Let our enemies learn to fear us: those who challenge our resolve will be crushed.
– High Chancellor Nilapatep, during the proclamation of the Galactic Imperium


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Long live the Imperium!

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Long live the Emperor!

When the Galactic Imperium is created, all federations that were previously in the Galactic Community will be disbanded.

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There is a New Order in town.

The Galactic Imperium cannot be proclaimed during a War in Heaven.

Galactic Imperium
Once created, the Galactic Community ceases to exist and turns into the Galactic Imperium instead. Some things will be familiar, and some things will be entirely different.

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Will the Imperial Senate Comfort the Fallen?

The Galactic Emperor will gain access to a number of new resolutions, and a number of resolutions that are similar to those that were available to the Custodian.

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There is much work to be done in the Galactic Imperium.

The Galactic Emperor retains the powers available to the Custodian, e.g. such as Conclude Session and Freeze Resolution. They will also have a permanent Intel bonus against members, and gain an additional bonus to Diplomatic Weight.

Your Ethics will shift towards Fanatic Authoritarian, shift your Authority to Imperial, and you will get a new government form. Your Civics that are incompatible with your new position will be removed and you will gain a new unique Civic.

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The emperor will gain a new unique Civic that doesn’t occupy a Civic slot.

Hive Minds, Machine Intelligences and Megacorps are not blocked from proclaiming the Galactic Imperium, and have their own slight twist on it.

A Megacorp that forms the Galactic Imperium gains access to regular civics as well as corporate civics.

Imperial Armada
If there was a Galactic Defense Force during the previous Custodianship, it will be converted into the Imperial Armada instead.

Imperial Authority
The power that the Emperor holds over the Galactic Imperium is reflected in Imperial Authority. Depending on the strength of the Imperial Authority, different things can happen.

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Members of the Galactic Imperium can choose to Strengthen or to Undermine Imperial Authority.

The Galactic Emperor gains access to a new Operation – Target Seditionists – which will prevent the target from undermining Imperial Authority with their envoys for a certain amount of time.

Those opposing the lawfulness of this New Order will also gain their own tools. The Weaken Imperial Authority Operation will do exactly what it promises. Should Imperial Authority fall below 50, they also gain access to the Spark Rebellion Operation, which will also do exactly what you would expect.

Rebellion
The rebels have chosen to light the flame, and the galaxy is in turmoil once again.

Those who refuse to join the rebels will join a loyalist federation instead, and a war will be declared that pits these two federations against each other. All rebel empires will leave the Imperium for the duration of this war.

If the Rebels win the war, the Imperium is dismantled and reverts back into the Galactic Community. All Rebels will rejoin the Community, Council members lose their seats, and all Loyalists get a temporary debuff to their diplomatic weight for a few years, meaning their influence in the reborn Galactic Community will be limited to begin with. The former Emperor will get even greater diplomatic weight penalties which will also last longer.

If the Loyalists win, the Rebels are all forced back into the Galactic Imperium and they get temporary debuff which lowers their diplomatic weight for a few years. In addition, Imperial Authority is greatly increased.

Regardless of who wins, the Rebel and Loyalist federations are disbanded.

If the war ends in a Status Quo/White Peace, the Rebels secede from the Imperium, and their Federation stays intact.

A Galaxy on Fire
With Nemesis we wanted to focus on the things that can go wrong, we wanted to focus on disruption and chaos. With one crisis defeated, the next crisis might be just around the corner, and it will be up to you to navigate the delicate balance of the galaxy.

Will you light the flame, or will you restore the balance?

Who will be your Nemesis?
 
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I'm not exactly happy about the fact that the nation is forcefully made Imperial. What if I want to achieve absolute dominance as a CEO of a Megacorp? No love for the Galactic CEO?
MegaCorps can still become the ruler of the Imperium, and they retain the ability to construct branch offices. In fact, they get a unique "Imperial Concession Port" branch office building.
 
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Do you have any plans to create a special planetary class? A subdivision from the Ecomenopolis. Like a throneworld?
No special planet class, but the ruler of the Imperium does get access to the Imperial Palace, another tier of capital building that can only be built on their capital world, to reflect the fact that they're essentially ruling the galaxy from there. (Hives and Machines get their own version of this building)
 
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View attachment 682857

You forgot the closing quotation marks. LITERALLY UNPLAYABLE.
This has been fixed. ;)

I really like this new feature. However, as a player who usually plays with egalitarian empires, ¿Is there an option to go the other way and turn the galaxy into one big republic?
That is more or less the Custodian, where you can act as a benevolent defender of the Community. But declaring yourself the ruler of the galaxy is a fairly authoritarian thing to do.
 
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What happens if you crack the homeworld of the galactic emperor? Surely the emperor would die and it would lead to a collapse or power vacume in the galaxy?
The Emperor's clone would The Emperor would flee to a provisional capital or something, same as any other ruler. If their entire country is destroyed, however, the Imperium would revert back to the Community.
 
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I'm not exactly happy about the fact that the nation is forcefully made Imperial. What if I want to achieve absolute dominance as a CEO of a Megacorp? No love for the Galactic CEO?

MegaCorps can still become the ruler of the Imperium, and they retain the ability to construct branch offices. In fact, they get a unique "Imperial Concession Port" branch office building.

To add to the above, how's this screenshot:
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(And yes, that's a mix of the civics Imperial Cult alongside Gospel of the Masses)
 
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As has already been noted - it would be nice if there was a way to make galaxy-spanning federation out of the GC on the other side of this. Moreover - in the case of a White Peace after a Galactic Civil War, the Alliance to restore the Galactic Community is left with a federation, with none of the powers of a Galactic Community. This seems rather ... underwhelming, and makes them the losing side even in a technical White Peace scenario :/

Any plans in the future to address this?
Outsiders have a war goal to dissolve the Imperium and restore the Community, which puts them at war with the entire Imperium. In most cases this would be fairly suicidal, but if your rebel federation has managed to white peace their way out of the Imperium, they can still build up their forces and declare war again at a later date to get the Community back.
 
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Everyone suggesting you just leave the Community before it's transformed into the Imperium seems to be forgetting this tidbit from last week...
Prematurely End Session: A Custodian can end the current session after half of its voting period, which will pass or reject the resolution being voted on depending on the voting situation at the time.
 
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It would be nice with two options here, so you can say "Hell no!" already at the beginning of the imperial reign.


Can you reveal what the mechanics are behind some of the Imperial Institutions are? I would particularly like to know what the Imperial Charter are.
Assuming you're not a MegaCorp as the Emperor, you can bestow an Imperial Charter upon a MegaCorp member of the Imperium. This gives them access to the Imperial Concession Port branch office building. For every such building your loyal Imperial MegaCorp builds, you get a small energy credit bonus... and those buildings significantly increase the value of the entire branch office for the MegaCorp.

If you're a MegaCorp as the Emperor, you can build Concession Ports yourself so there's no need for Imperial Charters.
 
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If it's not mandatory to be an Imperial Authoritarian to maintain the Galactic Empire, then why make it mandatory to switch to that authority and ethic in the first place? I mean, it would be nice to offer it to the player as an option, but making it mandatory messes up several playstyles.

Like has been already mentioned, the action of taking such power is intrinsically incredibly authoritarian.
 
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I do think Galactic Community members should be given a choice on whether to stay or leave this newly formed Galactic Imperium. We get that choice when passing Galactic Resolutions that our empire will be in immediate breach of. This would also make some interesting gameplay. You can form a Galactic Imperium but have half the galaxy refuse to join it. So, the next step is both securing your new empire and conquering the egalitarian rabble who refused to join it.

We had it like that initially, but changed it because it seriously reduced the severity of the situation. It's potentially more interesting if you have to deal with it.
 
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You said previously that one cannot be in the galactic community after progressing a certain amount through the new crisis... tree?
As myself and others were hoping to maintain custodian powers and the perks from becoming the crisis.

Is it possible to become the galactic emperor and become the crisis without having to leave at a certain?

I'm assuming no, like last week?
You cannot nominate yourself for the Custodianship if you are a Crisis.
 
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Should the government type be changed strictly to Imperial? Dictatorship and Oligarchy might suit the new imperium just as well, I think.

There's nothing stopping a player from reforming their government (by spending the 250 influence) to change authorities, provided they meet the ethic requirements for the authority they're changing to.
 
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From an RP perspective - this is perfect. In an ideal world, this would be a great feature.
But, all my games are pretty much over way before this would even have a chance to happen. Typically, if players don't move the end game crisis date earlier, their game will be technically won before the crisis even happens. Even if you do move the end date closer, the crisis itself tends to be the final enemy, and while fighting it, all other AI empires are pathetically weak anyway. How would they even rebel after this point? You need all the stars in the multiverse to align perfectly for those new end game mechanics to happen as envisioned. In real situation, you will end up as the top one empire and defacto the Crisis and Galactic Imperium all in one, before all those new mechanics have a chance to fire. What's the point of playing if all the galaxy united can't win against you, and that is even before the crisis happens. And then, this mechanics is supposed to happen after the Crisis and Custodian mechanics? Unless you are bringing some MAJOR changes to how AI plays, it's easy to guess the outcome and how often we will see this happen.
 
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We will vote in democracy way to make an iperium... at least in sw Palpatine was hiding that...
Anyway...
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Will there be a more pacifist, and diplomatic way to unite against the crisis? I dont know.... maybe MERGING FEDERATIONS?
Again, the "nicer" way of uniting against the crisis would be as the Custodian. They have resolutions to help with this and they can form the Galactic Defense Force. They don't have to proclaim the Imperium.
 
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