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Stellaris Dev Diary #29 - Pop Factions & Elections

Greetings fellow Spacers!

Today’s dev diary is about Pop Factions and Elections, which might sound like two wildly different topics, but they actually have some common ground. Let’s start with the Pop Factions. Now, as you know, each individual unit of population (a.k.a. “Pop”), has its own race, ethos and possibly even genetic differences compared to its species of origin. People who live far from the capital world of an empire - especially those who live in Administrative Sectors - tend to diverge in their Ethics over time. When you combine this with alien immigration and the conquest of alien worlds, you will soon have to deal with a potentially explosive mix of cultural diversity. As your empire grows, it will get harder and harder to keep everyone happy and your core group of loyalists might eventually find itself a minority. Discontent can manifest in two ways; the happiness of an individual Pop, and the growth of “Factions”, a type of political movement.

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Unhappy Pops will tend to join or start the most appropriate Faction, depending on the reasons for their discontent. The most basic (and probably most dangerous) type of Faction is the Separatists, who desire independence. There are actually three Separatist variations; some want freedom for a single planet, some want their Sector to secede, and some are integrated aliens who seek the restoration of their lost empire. Another important Faction is the Democracy Faction, whose member Pops might prefer a change of Government Form, or just the right to vote (for example in the case of alien Pops who are denied the vote through a Policy.) There are other Factions as well, but one thing they all have in common is that you can actually deal with them before things get violent. This is an important use for Influence (and sometimes Energy Credits.) For example, you could bribe the Faction leader to prevent a revolt for a time, or you could grant a Separatist Faction limited independence as a vassal state. There are different potential actions depending on which type of Faction it is.

This brings us to Elections and how they tie into the overall scheme. All of the Democratic Government Forms in the game have Elections, though the terms might vary. One difference between the various forms of democracy is which leader characters are the most valid and supported candidates for the chief executive office. In a Military Republic, for example, your Admirals and Generals tend to win the elections. However, all of the Faction leaders are also valid candidates; even the ones who seek independence for their species. If a Faction leader wins an election, that does not mean that their demands are immediately met, however. Instead, what happens is that the Faction becomes passive and will not revolt, which is great for you. Unfortunately, it also increases the attraction of the Faction, which means that it is likely to get far more member Pops…

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Does the player have any direct control over Election outcomes? Yes, you can spend Influence in order to campaign for the candidate of your choice, but it’s not a sure thing, and the cost can be prohibitive if the candidate enjoys little popular support.

The main point of the Faction system is that big empires should become unstable and challenging to keep together. You should see a lot of dynamism in the galaxy, with many big empires descending into civil wars and breaking up. Of course, a lot of this depends on your choice of Ethics and general play style (using slavery and purges, etc), which trades internal stability for increased external pressure…

That’s all for now folks! Stay tuned for next week...
 
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How easy is it to peacefully change the empire ethics?
 
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Very interesting. Too bad there is no repressive way to deal with factions, in KGB / Gestapo fashion.
 
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Very interesting. Too bad there is no repressive way to deal with factions, in KGB / Gestapo fashion.

I could be mis-remembering, but I'm pretty sure you can assassinate faction leaders.
 
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yes looks sooooo good and can we purge pops?
Lol, check the stickied thread containing all the Dev Diaries. There's a whole dev diary about Purge (to appease all the W40k and genocide fetishists).
 
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Will ethics divergence of pops be influenced by in game factors or is it random?

For example, will pops living close to a hostile alien border (and getting frequently raided) become more xenophobic and militaristic over time? Or pop's living in an energy credit rich region becoming more materialistic over time?

It would be interesting to see a direct correlation between the situation of pops and how their ethics diverge, rather than just random divergence.
 
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yes looks sooooo good and can we purge pops?
Yes there is literally a button entitled "Purge" which costs some influence, and resources/military presence, but eliminates that entire unit of pop.
 
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So much potential in this game... Really exciting to play it!
 
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Cool dev diary! What I'm wondering is if individualist empires will be more difficult to keep together than collectivist empires. There's more ethics diversion that comes with individualist ethos which in theory means more factions due to differing ethos. Do individualists have mechanics to keep a very diverse empire stable other than getting a faction leader elected? Or is it just a lot harder to manage such an empire?
 
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Does the lenght of term change the influence cost for supporting a candidate? It would make sense that it's cheaper to choose a leader who will rule for 4 years than the one who will rule for 10 years (like the loss of reepublican tradition in EU4).
 
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yes looks sooooo good and can we purge pops?
You can also purge the pops in the faction...

Why is everybody so fixated on genocide, mass murder, purging, and oppression? I mean it's cool that it is in the game, which makes it feel realistic given all the atrocities from human history, but hell it sounds like half the people here are gonna spend their free time with virtual genocide come 9th of may, which I find.. weird?
 
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Why is everybody so fixated on genocide, mass murder, purging, and oppression? I mean it's cool that it is in the game, which makes it feel realistic given all the atrocities from human history, but hell it sounds like half the people here are gonna spend their free time with virtual genocide come 9th of may, which I find.. weird?

Most people are going to play human so... it just make perfect sense. You know destroying stuff you can't understand, xenophobia etc...
 
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