Hello again!
As part of our Q&A series, this week we're going through the questions you've asked about the Galactic Community. As expected, there were a lot of them, so we condensed a few similar questions together.
While some of the Diplomacy related questions are answered here, we're compiling questions for the next Q&A in this thread.
Membership in the Galactic Community
Will founding the galactic community be based on a bit more that just meeting half of the players? The real UN was very, very simply put the result of two world wars. It wouldn't make a lot of sense if there immediately was the diplomatic will to form this forum just by meeting a bunch of people.
The event chain that initially attempts to form the Galactic Community begins once a non-genocial and non-gestalt empire has encountered at least half the galaxy, and at least three non-genocial empires agree to form the Community. If it fails to form, there will be additional opportunities later.
Are we 'in' by default, or does we get a choice to join when GC is formed?
You are given a choice whether or not you wish to join the Community. (This is also the case for empires that were not part of the initial founding but gain communications with a galactic community member.)
How do we get out? / Is leaving the galactic community a permanent decision?
You can leave at any time by paying an Influence cost that scales with your Empire Sprawl.
As noted, you cannot rejoin for a period of twenty years, during which you have reduced Diplomatic Weight and an opinion penalty with Galactic Community Members.
If an empire leaves the galactic community to escape sanctions will other members get some casus belli against them?
It depends on what Resolutions have passed. Usually, no.
If you let the militarists get out of hand, Preemptive War might be on the table.
Do GC members get opinion maluses for empires that aren't part of it and vice versa?
Galactic Community members get opinion bonuses with each other, and look down on empires that refuse to be members. There is no penalty in the other direction, but since relations combine the opinions the empires have of each other, it’s still relevant.
Will it be possible to set a Federation/Galactic Community Homeworld/Capital System, where the Galactic Community is based, possibly adding bonus modifiers to things such as Unity, Influence, Trade, Production, etc?
There is no physical center for the Galactic Community.
How do primitives that become spacefaring work with the Galactic Community? Are they doomed to be third-rate powers forever, or can they use their diplomatic connections to make themselves indispensable?
Newcomers to an established galaxy have it rough. They’re likely to retain fairly low Diplomatic Weight, but they can still be of use to the bigger empires since anyone can propose resolutions if they have the Influence.
How does the community interact with empires that aren't genocidal, but still disliked, like Driven Assimilators, Criminal Syndicates, and Barbaric Despoilers? Are there certain penalties imposed on them by default, or do they have to tick off more empires first?
All three of these can freely join the Galactic Community.
How will isolationist empires be affected by the GC? / How does the Inward Perfectionist civic affect an empire in the galactic community?
The Isolationist Diplomatic Stance has a massive penalty to your Diplomatic Weight. Inward Perfectionists also have 2 fewer Envoys than normal empires. If they choose to join the Galactic Community, they will gain the benefits of being members, but are likely to have little say in what is passed.
Can we kick people out of the galactic community?
No. You can make remaining in it unbearable, but we wanted to avoid situations where empires (especially player empires) would be expelled against their will.
Do protectorates, vassal states, tributaries etc appear as a part of the Galactic community?
Yes.
Are there any unique advantages/disadvantages for Gesalt Consciousnesses to be a part of the galactic community?
Not specifically, but they do have the advantage that certain resolutions will have less of an effect on them, but also the same disadvantage. For example, trade related resolutions will still carry their negative modifiers despite not providing them any benefit, but similarly a resolution that has happiness penalties will not harm them.
Gestalts do tend to have lower Diplomatic Weight than most standard empires due to (intentional) subtleties of the system. (Happy pops provide more Diplomatic Weight than unhappy ones, for instance, which works to the advantage of certain empire types, but to the detriment of most gestalts other than Rogue Servitors.)
The Structure of the Galactic Community
Something that popped to mind: Are there multiple "levels" to a GC (beyond community -> council), determining their overall effectiveness, and influence over other Empires? Maybe even competing with a Federation at some point if they aren't well centralized?
The Galactic Community does not have explicit levels, but as more resolutions pass (and more extreme resolutions pass), they will have greater impact on the galaxy. There is definitely a shift if the Council is formed, as well as if they're granted additional powers.
The Galactic Community currently does not compete with the Federations system.
How do subjects interact with the galactic community? Do they always vote with their overlord? / How will my subjects vote?
Subjects are generally free to vote as they wish. Empires do consider their opinion of who proposed a resolution, however, so your subjects are loyal they will take that into account. Subjects will, however, act to support their overlord for a Council Position as long as they don’t hate them.
Any map-level objects or maybe non-empire entites representing galactic community/federation institutions?
Not at this time.
How effective will it be to assign envoys to the galactic community in terms of vote strength?
Each envoy sent to represent your interests in the Galactic Community increases your Diplomatic Weight by 10%.
Will the galactic community influence factions in any way? Or will laws of the galactic community influence faction behavior?
Indirectly. Your Diplomatic Stance can modify faction opinion, and resolutions can alter ethic attraction. We experimented with having factions outraged for a time by different resolutions passing, but it felt negative when things were out of your control. Some resolutions can make certain policies or actions illegal, which could also indirectly annoy or please factions.
Can laws of the galactic community influence leader agenda's and election promises?
None currently do, but this is within the scope of things a mod could do.
Resolutions
How many different categories for resolutions are there?
We currently have them broken into five major categories - Commerce and Industry, Politics and Culture, Environment and Technology, Defense and War, and Galactic Priorities.
These major categories are further broken down into a total of fourteen subcategories - Galactic Commerce and Industrial Development, The Greater Good and Galactic Reforms, Ecological Protection and Unchained Knowledge, Mutual Defense and Rules of War, four Sanction subcategories, Galactic Foci, and Denouncements.
What is the average number (if there is any variance) of choices per resolution category?
The eight main subcategories each have a chain of five resolutions in them that go from extremely minor effects but escalate to galaxy changing. There are three tiers of each type of sanction. Galactic Reforms and Galactic Foci have many potential resolutions within them. Denouncements varies based on what else has been passed.
Will some resolutions be themed for specific ethics/factions?
(Like xenophiles would want to pass resolutions enforcing free migration and accepting refugees, spiritualists would want to pass resolutions about preserving holy worlds or outlawing AI, pacifists would want to outlaw indiscriminate bombardment or aggressive wars between members, etc.?)
Certain ethics (and civics) will certainly be attracted to different resolutions. Egalitarians may wish to push resolutions from The Greater Good, but so might Rogue Servitors. (They really do want the best for all of the organics!)
Will there be laws that ban certain ship types or weapons?
We experimented with having the Rules of War resolution line ban different ship types, but decided to instead have them ban actions - the Reverence for Life resolution, for example, makes it illegal to use World Crackers. (Using one in defiance of the resolution will place your empire in breach of galactic law for ten years.) It’s totally possible to do this, though.
If a resolution is passed is it possible to recall it some point down the line? How hard is it to repeal a resolution?
You can repeal resolutions. The process is the same as passing it. Note that since most resolutions are in chains, you need to repeal from the top down.
Are all resolutions yes/no options?
Yes, but some are targeted at a specific empire.
Will there be any actual global projects, calling for participation of multiple empires and resulting in formation of map objects?
Not at this time.
If a civil war or a machine uprising breaks out (a very rare case these days) - can we play the role of Space UN and call an emergency vote to influence the outcome?
We do not have an intervention resolution for this sort of thing, but it would be possible to make. The wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly though, so it would most likely require a Council Member to push it to the top of the queue as an Emergency Measure, otherwise the war would probably resolve itself before reaching the Senate floor.
Will we be able to eventually force our ethics onto others through the use of resolutions? If so, will you do something about the "pop might switch ethic once every 50 years"? Otherwise its kind of pointless. / Are there any resolutions to cause/effect ethics drift?
Indirectly for the most part. The Rules of War resolutions do directly increase pacifist ethics attraction, but most of them do not explicitly do so. Most of the resolutions encourage acting in certain ways.
The system behind pops changing ethics has been updated, and your empire is more likely to see a much wider spread of beliefs.
Will there be galactic resolutions to ban Sapient AI and/or ban AI servitude? If the GC votes to make sapient AI illegal, does this negatively affect synthetic or machine empires? Both or just one?
Advanced Xenostudies in the Unchained Knowledge line bans outlawing AI, and the Universal Prosperity Mandate from The Greater Good line outlaws destroying free will by assimilating sapient organics into a gestalt empire. These can cause difficulties to certain empires, such as Driven Assimilators.
In addition to endgame and midgame crises, can there be resolutions against genocidal empires?
Genocidal empires cannot become members of the Galactic Community, and while the Mutual Defense line of resolutions can grant additional CB’s against them, everyone already has Containment against them.
Can there be resolutions penalizing, banning or supporting slavery? Likewise purging?
Yes. Reverence for Life in the Rules of War bans purging other than displacement, and the Greater Good line of resolutions places progressively stricter restrictions on living standards and slavery before banning it outright.
Are there resolutions to force wealth transfers from rich empires to poor empires?
Not exactly. The Universal Prosperity Mandate does attempt to tackle wealth inequality by reducing everyone’s resource storage capacity.
Are there resolutions that can ban certain technologies like Colossi? / Can you ban weapon types or fleet types (No missiles, No titans, No colossi, No orbital bombardment)
As noted earlier we chose to ban the act of using most Colossus weapons rather than owning specifically owning a Colossus. The Global Pacifier is always permitted.
The Independent Tribunals resolution in the Rules of War bans aggressive bombardment types.
Will we be able to pass anti-piracy / anti-space-monster focuses - often the AI leaves pirate bases, crystalline systems, and other "neutrals" alone for a long long time. Could we get a resolution called "Clean up your borders" or something like that? Which encourages AI to target neutral factions more.
We do not currently have any resolutions that explicitly cover this.
Can you offer protection for one weak empire?
You could outlaw the Unrestricted Wars war philosophy by passing the Last Resort Doctrine.
Is it possible for a resolution you passed to backfire on you?
Oh yes. Make sure your Consumer Goods production is up to snuff before passing the Universal Prosperity Mandate, and that you’re not egalitarian before passing Ethical Guideline Refactoring.
Is it possible to have allied AIs (ie those in your federation) vote against resolutions you want passed?
Yes. Members of the Galactic Community are free to vote as they wish, though AIs are more likely to vote for things proposed by empires they like.
Is It possible for the GC to force wars to end?
No, though The Enemy of My Enemy in the Mutual Defense line grants a “Counterattack” CB against certain empires that are attacking a Community member in an offensive war.
If we want to propose a resolution, are there "cards" or are all possible resolutions available to us at any given time?
Most resolutions are there at all times, but you have to progress through the chains one at a time. (Resolutions that don’t currently apply aren’t shown, for example you can’t give the Galactic Council veto power if it doesn’t exist.)
How do resolutions once agreed work? is it automatic or do we the player have to choose to obey. say for example if there is a resolution to reduce fleet capacity, is it optional to obey or do we get it taken away immediately?
Resolutions have positive and negative modifiers that are forced upon you by being members in the Galactic Community. They may also have additional conditions listed which you may freely ignore, but will place you in breach of galactic law. For example, Advanced Xenostudies bans the “Artificial Intelligence Outlawed” and “Passive Native Studies” policies.
Do the votes necessary to pass vary depending on the type of resolution? like 70% approval for some, 50% for others or is it strictly majority?
A simple majority (by Diplomatic Weight) of empires that are voting passes a resolution that is on the floor.
How do we create a resolution? Are some resolutions locked till a certain point in the game? Or are all resolutions available from the start of the galactic community?
Each empire can have one resolution at a time in the proposal queue. Proposing a resolution costs varying amounts of Influence - higher tier resolutions cost significantly more. While resolutions are in the proposal queue, empires can choose to support or oppose it (or abstain) if they like. When the Senate is ready to go into session, the resolution with the highest support will move to the floor, where it will be voted on for several years. (Empires that supported or opposed it in the queue will have their vote pre-cast, but empires can change their vote once every 120 days.)
Certain resolutions will not be available unless they make sense. You cannot declare the Prethoryn Scourge to be the Galactic Focus until they exist, for instance, nor can you modify Council powers if it doesn’t exist.
How often do resolutions happen? Can this be increased? / How frequently are resolutions voted on?
When a resolution proposal moves to the Senate floor, it is debated for 1800 days. At the end of this period, it will become Galactic Law if the votes in favor of it exceed the votes against. (Empires may abstain from the process.)
After this, the Senate goes into recess for 720 days.
While the Senate is in recess, Council Members may call an Emergency Session, forcing a proposal to the floor early. (Each Council Member can only do so once every ten years.)
What are the three most extreme resolutions that can be passed?
All of the fifth tier resolutions are pretty extreme, but let’s highlight these three. All resolutions also come with a handful of modifiers.
The Universal Prosperity Mandate in The Greater Good outlaws all living standards (for free-willed organics) other than Shared Burdens, Utopian Abundance, Chemical Bliss, or Mandatory Pampering. It also cuts resource storage capacity in order to reduce wealth inequality.
Extradimensional Experimentation in Unchained Knowledge unlocks a planetary decision that consumes Zro to fund extradimensional research at Advanced Research Complexes. It has some fancy red text.
Absolutely nothing bad will happen, I promise.
The Renegade Containment Doctrine in Mutual Defense holds that the benefits of membership in the Galactic Community are self-evident, and as such refusal to be a member clearly indicates ill intent. Members are authorized to preempt any nefarious acts with force before non-members enact their plots. (Through the “Preemptive War” total war CB.)
Is there any interaction between the Galactic Community and player actions that can create side-effects for the galaxy, such as L-Gate research, dangerous technology research, or pacts with Shroud entities?
As noted above, dangerous research is actively encouraged by the Unchained Knowledge line of resolutions.
Has a playtester ever gotten screwed over by a resolution they proposed?
Mentioned earlier, but in one of the multiplayer games we forced through an earlier version of the Universal Prosperity Mandate. One of the conspirators involved didn’t have enough consumer goods production to support Utopian Abundance. Hilarity ensued.
Does voting for or not voting for a particular resolution increase or decrease opinion of your empire. like if i have enough diplomatic weight to rule whatever i want but all the other members combined cant get what they want (lets say I'm an imperial despot and the rest are pacifist democracies, and i vote for yes to orbital bombings).
Yes. Empires that voted with you will get an opinion bonus, while your opponents will get an opinion penalty. The empire that proposed the resolution will be especially grateful if you push it to the floor via declaring it an Emergency Measure, and will likewise be incensed should you Veto their proposal.
In terms of Galactic Community resolutions, what kind of impact can they have beyond:
Addition / subtraction of percentage modifiers such as the Military Readiness Act shown in the dev diary;
Galactic Focus measures (the Galactic Market and Crises).
Resolutions can easily apply modifiers to all community members, but can also be easily checked for elsewhere in script.
One example of “additional effects” would be in Underdeveloped System Utilization from the Galactic Commerce line.
The modifiers listed are the cumulative modifiers for the entire Galactic Commerce resolution line to this point.
How flexible will the scope of policies and sanctions be from a modding perspective?
Extremely. Resolutions are implemented in script, so modders should be able to go wild.
How will the AI vote on resolutions? Are their voting based on their ethics, governments, technologies, maybe something else? Can I evaluate if it would be hard to pass a resolution just by the look of it?
Example: Say I want to propose a resolution about science restrictions, but the galaxy (or at least its diplomatic heavyweights) is mainly materialistic. Would such a resolution certainly require a lot of calling in favour to pass?
The AI takes all of the above into account, as well as their opinion of the empire that proposed the resolution. Generally civics have the largest effect, followed by ethics and AI personality. Empires with Egalitarian friendly civics (and Rogue Servitors!) are likely to support Greater Good resolutions, while slavers are likely to oppose them.
You can see what empires are likely to support a resolution before proposing it.
In a few cases, ascension perks are represented as well. A Defender of the Galaxy will be eager to rally the community against a crisis, for instance.
Any chance that the GC can mandate your resource production, or is it just your fleet production.
There is an Ecological Protection resolution line, and the Demobilization Initiative in the Rules of War can outlaw Militarized Economies.
A cynical leader might push for the harshest environmental resolutions in order to cripple galactic alloy production, or to make the creation of Machine or Hive Worlds against galactic law.
Can we use the GC to enforce a biodiversity requirement? Like mandating that every empire has at least 25% of its population be aliens, Or that you have less than ten percent aliens?
We don’t currently have a resolution chain that does this, but it would likely be possible for a mod to do so. (This sort of resolution would cause problems for most gestalt empires, however, so it would either have to be high in the line or have some other means of compliance.)
Violating Galactic Law and other Antisocial Behavior
Will any of the resolutions allow you to put certain policies in violation of galactic law?
Yes. The resolutions aren’t ever just a simple “Policy X is banned”, however. They all come with a number of other effects.
What are some things that are always a breach of the galactic law?
Nothing. The Galactic Community is a blank slate when initially formed. Similarly, unless Sanctions are passed, being in breach of galactic law isn’t that big a deal. (Other than having a negative opinion modifier with community members that are in compliance.)
What are the sanctions you can impose on an empire that's in breach of the galactic law? Any more unique and interesting ones that you can disclose?
Economic Sanctions increase your Market Fee, Administrative Sanctions affect Administrative Capacity, Research Sanctions affect Research Speed, and Military Sanctions affect Naval Capacity. All four also reduce the amount of Diplomatic Weight you receive from their associated field. Being in breach of galactic law can also render you vulnerable to denouncement, or if the Castigation Proclamation has been passed, valid for Humiliation wargoals.
Are sanctions a blanket debuff or do they come in particular types? ie military economic ones reduce military capacity, economic ones damage EC and/or CG and political ones reduce weight etc.
See previous answer.
What consequences are there to never join the community?
The galactic market is tied to the Community, so you won’t have access to that, and if the Community is feeling particularly militaristic they may end up with new CBs targeting non-members.
To what extend can we "sanction" other empires? Can we punish them for aggressive acts, like invading primitives? How does this work?
Some acts can be banned by resolutions. Performing those acts causes your empire to be in breach of galactic law for ten years. (Such as terraforming a planet into something other than a Gaia world if the Environmental Control Board has been passed.)
We do have two resolutions that deal with primitives, but neither bans aggressive acts against them.
What about gestalts? If sanctions are imposed against a hive mind or machine empire, what would those entail? Is it purely an economic penalty, or is it some kind of diplomatic one?
Gestalts can be affected by the various sanctions. See above.
In one of the teaser images, the Galactic Community proposal queue contains Minor and Moderate Research Sanctions. How are these going to work? Currently, there is no way for an empire to negatively affect another empire's research abilities, and it doesn't make sense to me that the Galactic Community would be able to do things that its constituent empires cannot.
Research Sanctions apply a penalty to Research Speed. The sanctioned empires are expected to permit regular inspections of their research facilities to ensure that they are in compliance with galactic requirements.
Is it possible to defy a resolution; for example a resolution prohibits you from uplifting primitives but you decide to enlighten them anyhow; what happens exactly to you (and possibly the primitives you just enlightened)?
It depends. If there are no sanction resolutions passed that apply penalties to empires in breach of galactic law, you receive a strongly worded letter, and all compliant empires in the Galactic Community have an opinion penalty with you while you remain the breach of galactic law. If there are sanction resolutions passed, they come into effect and you suffer the consequences.
Are there any good reasons not to join the GC, and how much can the GC affect an empire that isn't in it? / How will the Galactic Community mechanic affect players/empires that simply do not want to participate?
If the ethics of the galaxy as a whole conflict harshly with your own, certain blocs may enact resolutions that do not agree with you. Staying out of the Galactic Community will prevent those resolutions from affecting you.
The community is unlikely to affect you much unless they are strongly militarist and become aggressive to non-community members.
If you declare war on a GC member, will you face the entire GC in battle as a monolithic entity, or will you simply fight the empire (and its federation) that you declare war on?
The community is not a defensive pact, though some empires may take advantage of the state of war.
How do you know if an AI empire is in breach of galactic law?
There’s a symbol on them in the community.
Is there any way for the GC to interfere with an ongoing war between empires? The only way I can think to do this is a resolution that increases that conflict's War Exhaustion.
In general, no, but it depends on what resolutions have passed. The Enemy of My Enemy will grant a “Counterattack” CB against empires that are attacking a Community member in an offensive war.
Will AI always follow Galactic law, or will they ignore it if the penalties are minimal to non-existent? Even when penalties aren't minimal, will they ignore it if they are strongly against the law or in a desperate situation?
They will typically try to comply, but it is not an overwhelming desire.
With the Galactic community being expanded, will it be possible to sabotage/ Assassinate or to steal (Tech/Ships/Resources) from other members of the galactic community without having to go to war?
It’s certainly possible to negatively affect other empires through strategic use of the resolution process and by targeting your rivals for denouncement, but direct empire vs. empire espionage and sabotage is not part of this DLC.
In the Galactic Community, for Denouncements, is that say based only after say a detection function occurs I guess like a pop up window, or is it like in the Resolutions list but greyed out until say a year after a Resolution passes to prevent Denouncements anytime?
Resolutions go into effect immediately when passed, so you may wish to align yourself with the requirements just before it becomes law.
Denouncements must follow the normal proposal procedure, however, so unless a Council Member wants to push it forward as an Emergency Measure you should have ample time to address your failings before it goes to the floor for debate.
I am intrigued by the idea of sanctions. Do they consist of strongly-worded letters or could we get something like CBs for breaching galactic law?
While sanctions are passive, such a thing does exist in the Castigation Proclamation of the Mutual Defense line.
Is there going to be a way to stop shadow princes? For example a federation in MP ran by two players helping increase their diplomatic weight and only one them is in the galactic community for the sole purpose to tank it and apply as many debuffs as possible like limiting fleet size and resources income. basically allowing the other player to snowball other empires while still under the protection of a federation. I could see this having a really negative effect on gameplay.
We feel that it’s unlikely that the second player will be able to exert enough influence on the Galactic Community to accomplish this by themselves. There are too many actors involved to be able to trivially overwhelm their opinions.
For resolutions that just give passive buffs/debuffs, can you choose to not follow them and be in breach of galactic law? Say I don't want my workers getting rights, or improved trade standards.
No. The passive effects of passed resolutions apply to all Galactic Community members. You can push to repeal the Charter of Worker’s Rights though.
Do any resolutions make certain policies required? If so can one use Galactic Community compliance to bypass ethics restrictions (example, could the GC mandate synth rights, and if it did could a spiritualist nation gives syths citizen rights to be in compliance even though it goes against their eithics?)
There are resolutions that ban or require certain policies, but they do not grant the ability to bypass restrictions. Ethical Guideline Refactoring, for example, requires that empires use the most powerful leader enhancement policy they possess. We have a warning on it that egalitarian empires may be unable to meet this requirement.
Egalitarian empires will almost certainly oppose this measure, and if it passes, they will have to decide whether they’re content being in breach of galactic law, want to push to repeal it, or if they want to embrace a faction and cease their freedom-loving ways to achieve compliance. (The egalitarians can get their revenge by passing the Universal Prosperity Mandate.)
The Galactic Council
Does being on the council come with some additional perks aside from veto/emergency powers?
Council members have a 20% bonus to Diplomatic Weight, and their own place of honor in the Galactic Community UI.
How often can you declare a resolution an "emergency"? Is there something stopping you from just spamming emergency declarations?
There is a ten year cooldown on Emergency Measures. They can also only be used when there is not a resolution already being debated on the floor.
If the council is formed and an GC empire exceeds the influence of one of the council members, is that council member immediately replaced with the new empire or is there some mechanism attached?
Council members are chosen once every twenty years. A notification will let you know 180 days before the selection occurs.
Will each member of the galactic council fulfill a specific role that comes with obligations as well as bonuses?
There are no specific obligations or positions. Using your Emergency Measure and Veto Powers (if they are enabled) judiciously may be important or appreciated by other empires.
Will each council member maintain their membership in their own federations or would they have to join a new "Council Federation"? If no then how would other members react if one is attacked/at war? Can they declare war on each other?
Council members remain in their own federations. They may freely attack each other. (In fact, they are likely to try to use resolutions as weapons against one another.)
Does building the Interstellar Assembly increase the number of council members?
No. The Council initially starts with three members when formed, and resolutions can increase or decrease this number.
Yes, you can reduce this number to one. (I am the Senate!)
Does the game support "script triggered proposal that jump the normal queue of voting and happens immediately".
If the Council exists, they can declare proposed resolutions to be Emergency Measures and skip the queue while the Senate is in recess.
So the council has veto powers and can rush through some resolutions? What other special powers can they get?
Councillors can propose resolutions to denounce empires (though this power can be stripped from them). Sanctions beyond the first tier must also be proposed by a Council member.
When there are multiple members of the Galactic Council, can they all veto or call for emergency resolutions individually or is it a vote amongst the Council members?
Individually. Any council member can veto a resolution (if the power is unlocked) at an influence cost, and with a cooldown.
Threats, Crises, Enclaves, and Things With Fleets Larger Than Ours
How will Awakened Empires, the War in Heaven, and Guardians of the Galaxy interact with the Galactic Community?
The community can choose to issue resolutions related to the War in Heaven. They may side with one of the powers (making it against galactic law to side with the other), or denounce both sides.
You have mentioned that the Galactic Community can rally its members against the endgame crises (Prethoryn, Unbidden, Contingency). Will it be able to rally against other crises, like the End of the Cycle, Grey Tempest, Khan, or whatever crises you will add in the future? Will the AI empires actually coordinate their fleets with the player? / How does rallying the GC against a Crisis work? What does the resolution do?
The community will enter “crisis fighting mode” if any of these are declared a Galactic Focus, with behavior they feel is appropriate (including opening borders). Note that unless the crisis has demonstrated itself an extreme threat, empires that are not directly threatened will probably dismiss it as a hoax.
What sort of things can be declared a "threat to the galaxy"? Can I be declared a "threat to the galaxy" when playing as fanatic purifiers/swarms/exterminators? What are the mechanical consequences of declaring something a "threat to the galaxy"?
The major and minor crises and the awakened empires of the War in Heaven can currently be declared as Galactic Foci. Genocidal empires are not supported as Foci at this time.
How will other entities (Enclaves, Marauders, Caravans, etc) interact with the Galactic Community?
Minimally, though the Advanced Xenostudies resolution in Unchained Knowledge improves the Art College, Curator Think Tank, and Trader Proxy Office.
There are mods out there that let more than one crisis happen; since the GC can be rallied against a crisis how hard will it be for modders to mod it so that you can rally the GC twice or thrice?
There theoretically shouldn’t be any issues. You can only have one Galactic Focus active at a time though, so if they’re occurring simultaneously you may end up with erratic results.
Is it possible to say the focus of the galactic UN be like no slaves in the galaxy or no poor living standards? Will the focus be only military based?
Galactic Foci are primarily dealing with the various crises, but forming the Galactic Market is also classified as a Focus. Doing things like banning slavery is handled through passing resolutions.
Will Fallen or Awakened Empires ever join the Galactic Community? If yes, how will the diplomatic weight from their extreme technology advantage be handled?
They normally will not. They’re above the petty bickering of the child races. If a faction breaks off from them (a rebel faction, for instance), all bets are off. They will enjoy flexing their mighty technological diplo-muscles.
Similarly, the Great Khan will remain outside, but the diadochi states might choose to join the Galactic Community.
Favors
Will the obvious exploit regarding the mechanic to call in favors be addressed before release? (Using a tremendous number of favors to force votes to go your way.)
Calling in favors in the Galactic Community has an Influence cost which acts as a regulating measure. Generally, it’s possible to use favors to swing a close vote one way or another, but the costs for the sort of behavior described here would be astronomical.
Would it be possible to trade favours for influence in the trade screen?
Influence cannot be directly traded.
How are favors gained?
Favors can be gained from events or through trade deals.
Other Topics I Couldn't Categorize Easily
Can you collapse the galactic community? E.g. lets say I form a hegemony federation and vassalise every other empire in the galaxy. What happens to the GC? Does it just continue functioning? At this point, my Hegemony is the galactic community. It would be cool to get a little popup like "THE DEATH OF DEMOCRACY" and the GC gets dissolved (with options to reinstate it later if any nations break free of their vassal status).
In this example the Community will continue functioning as normal. As the most powerful empire in the galaxy you are likely to be a Council member and have a large amount of sway through your Diplomatic Weight.
Are there events (besides the ones mentioned: Galactic market, rallying the galaxy to handle a crisis event, creation of the Galactic security council) related to resolutions passed by the GC: i.e. Your populations don't like certain resolutions causing them to rebel?
Most of them are informative events to inform you about new edicts or planetary decisions that have been unlocked by resolutions.
Does the GC interact with the Interstellar Assembly or any other megastructures?
The Interstellar Assembly can grant extra envoys, which can then be sent as additional representatives.
What influence will the GC have over the Galactic Market? Also, what happens if you are the seat of the Galactic Market and defy the GC? Are there any new mechanics with the GM due to the GC/Federations? / Is the galactic market available to non-GC members?
The galactic market is now formed through a resolution in the Community. Only community members may take part in the market. If the market leader leaves the community, the bidding process will be started again for a new leader.
Literally Unplayable typo has been fixed.
I understand that the market will be set up via the GC in 2.6. Will we be able to also vote on _who_ gets to be market leader?
Further, an option to Re-host /reselect a host for the Gal market via resolution would be nice. Otherwise you'll get weird cases where someone was a galactic market host then you kick them out of the GC and they're still hosting the stock market for the galaxy (the same galaxy that branded them a pariah).
While it’s intentional that being the highest trade value empire doesn’t automatically make you the market leader, some adjustments have been made to give more suitable locations a boost in the selection process.
As noted above, if the market leader leaves the community, the market leader election chain will be triggered again.
Does the GC interact with any Ascension Paths?
Not directly.
What's your design process for deciding what makes for a good galactic law? What kinds of interactions are you trying to encourage?
We attempted to have a strong theme for each of the resolution categories, and then tried to create a progression from an entirely reasonable and moderate starting resolutions to some pretty dystopian finishers.
A good series of resolutions should have controversial elements to ensure that there’s reason for opposition and to add a bit of “spice” to the game. It ideally should be able to be used as an indirect weapon against some empire types.
We took some inspiration from actual legislation for the feel of the names of some resolutions - we imagined the media conglomerates of the galaxy condemning the opposition with “How could you oppose ‘Building a Better Tomorrow’? YOU MONSTERS.”
We greatly look forward to see what the modding community comes up with.
Do you have examples of other laws which can put empires in violation of galactic law?
Some resolution lines ban more things than others. The Rules of War and Greater Good lines, for example, focus primarily on restricting certain behavior. Rules of War includes things like banning most forms of purging, bombardment stances, war philosophies, and even militarized economies in the last tier. The Greater Good focuses on progressively improved living standards and outlawing different forms of slavery. Scattered throughout this Q&A are more galactic law tidbits.
How do the influence discounts from xenophiles and diplomacy traditions fit in (assuming you haven’t changed them to diplomatic weight or something)? Do fanatic xenophiles with diplomatic traditions get influence free GC diplomatic actions (such as favors and resolutions)?
The diplomacy traditions will apply only to influence upkeep, so will not affect the cost to propose Resolutions or other diplomatic actions. The Xenophile and Fanatic Xenophile ethics have their bonus changed to increase Diplomatic Weight instead of modifying diplomatic influence costs.
Can there be non-war related emergencies, such as economic interventions into failing states?
The formation of the Galactic Market is handled as a Galactic Focus. At this time we have not created any Foci related to economic interventions, but this is within the scope of what it supports.
What kind of galaxy do you find interesting in the galaxy community? / How do you want us to use the galactic community?
Multiple competing power blocs that are using the resolutions to attempt to indirectly cripple each other.
It’s a tool in your toolbox that you can try to use to twist the galaxy in certain ways. We’re hoping for entertaining emergent stories to come out of it.
What opportunities are there for empires to focus on improving diplomatic weight and specialize in a diplomatic approach, given that a non-diplomatic focus will improve diplomatic weight through the base values (fleet, pops, economy, technology)?
There are numerous ways to increase your Diplomatic Weight. Xenophile ethics now grant a bonus rather than reducing diplomatic influence costs. Non-machine empires have a civic available to them that grants additional Diplomatic Weight and additional envoys, which can be sent to the Galactic Community to increase Diplomatic Weight. Diplomatic Stance has a massive effect. There’s also a new building that can be built on your capital world that grants additional envoys.
Controlling the resolutions that pass also has a major impact, since almost all resolutions affect the Diplomatic Weight calculation in some way. If Industrial Development resolutions pass, for instance, the Diplomatic Weight contribution from Economy increases.
As noted previously, there are typically many actors in the Galactic Community, which generally makes it possible to find allies for resolutions you wish to pass. It’s important to pick and choose when you want to call in favors to pass a critical resolution that will have the most impact to help you win the next resolution cycle.
As part of our Q&A series, this week we're going through the questions you've asked about the Galactic Community. As expected, there were a lot of them, so we condensed a few similar questions together.
While some of the Diplomacy related questions are answered here, we're compiling questions for the next Q&A in this thread.
Membership in the Galactic Community
Will founding the galactic community be based on a bit more that just meeting half of the players? The real UN was very, very simply put the result of two world wars. It wouldn't make a lot of sense if there immediately was the diplomatic will to form this forum just by meeting a bunch of people.
The event chain that initially attempts to form the Galactic Community begins once a non-genocial and non-gestalt empire has encountered at least half the galaxy, and at least three non-genocial empires agree to form the Community. If it fails to form, there will be additional opportunities later.
Are we 'in' by default, or does we get a choice to join when GC is formed?
You are given a choice whether or not you wish to join the Community. (This is also the case for empires that were not part of the initial founding but gain communications with a galactic community member.)
How do we get out? / Is leaving the galactic community a permanent decision?
You can leave at any time by paying an Influence cost that scales with your Empire Sprawl.
As noted, you cannot rejoin for a period of twenty years, during which you have reduced Diplomatic Weight and an opinion penalty with Galactic Community Members.
If an empire leaves the galactic community to escape sanctions will other members get some casus belli against them?
It depends on what Resolutions have passed. Usually, no.
If you let the militarists get out of hand, Preemptive War might be on the table.
Do GC members get opinion maluses for empires that aren't part of it and vice versa?
Galactic Community members get opinion bonuses with each other, and look down on empires that refuse to be members. There is no penalty in the other direction, but since relations combine the opinions the empires have of each other, it’s still relevant.
Will it be possible to set a Federation/Galactic Community Homeworld/Capital System, where the Galactic Community is based, possibly adding bonus modifiers to things such as Unity, Influence, Trade, Production, etc?
There is no physical center for the Galactic Community.
How do primitives that become spacefaring work with the Galactic Community? Are they doomed to be third-rate powers forever, or can they use their diplomatic connections to make themselves indispensable?
Newcomers to an established galaxy have it rough. They’re likely to retain fairly low Diplomatic Weight, but they can still be of use to the bigger empires since anyone can propose resolutions if they have the Influence.
How does the community interact with empires that aren't genocidal, but still disliked, like Driven Assimilators, Criminal Syndicates, and Barbaric Despoilers? Are there certain penalties imposed on them by default, or do they have to tick off more empires first?
All three of these can freely join the Galactic Community.
How will isolationist empires be affected by the GC? / How does the Inward Perfectionist civic affect an empire in the galactic community?
The Isolationist Diplomatic Stance has a massive penalty to your Diplomatic Weight. Inward Perfectionists also have 2 fewer Envoys than normal empires. If they choose to join the Galactic Community, they will gain the benefits of being members, but are likely to have little say in what is passed.
Can we kick people out of the galactic community?
No. You can make remaining in it unbearable, but we wanted to avoid situations where empires (especially player empires) would be expelled against their will.
Do protectorates, vassal states, tributaries etc appear as a part of the Galactic community?
Yes.
Are there any unique advantages/disadvantages for Gesalt Consciousnesses to be a part of the galactic community?
Not specifically, but they do have the advantage that certain resolutions will have less of an effect on them, but also the same disadvantage. For example, trade related resolutions will still carry their negative modifiers despite not providing them any benefit, but similarly a resolution that has happiness penalties will not harm them.
Gestalts do tend to have lower Diplomatic Weight than most standard empires due to (intentional) subtleties of the system. (Happy pops provide more Diplomatic Weight than unhappy ones, for instance, which works to the advantage of certain empire types, but to the detriment of most gestalts other than Rogue Servitors.)
The Structure of the Galactic Community
Something that popped to mind: Are there multiple "levels" to a GC (beyond community -> council), determining their overall effectiveness, and influence over other Empires? Maybe even competing with a Federation at some point if they aren't well centralized?
The Galactic Community does not have explicit levels, but as more resolutions pass (and more extreme resolutions pass), they will have greater impact on the galaxy. There is definitely a shift if the Council is formed, as well as if they're granted additional powers.
The Galactic Community currently does not compete with the Federations system.
How do subjects interact with the galactic community? Do they always vote with their overlord? / How will my subjects vote?
Subjects are generally free to vote as they wish. Empires do consider their opinion of who proposed a resolution, however, so your subjects are loyal they will take that into account. Subjects will, however, act to support their overlord for a Council Position as long as they don’t hate them.
Any map-level objects or maybe non-empire entites representing galactic community/federation institutions?
Not at this time.
How effective will it be to assign envoys to the galactic community in terms of vote strength?
Each envoy sent to represent your interests in the Galactic Community increases your Diplomatic Weight by 10%.
Will the galactic community influence factions in any way? Or will laws of the galactic community influence faction behavior?
Indirectly. Your Diplomatic Stance can modify faction opinion, and resolutions can alter ethic attraction. We experimented with having factions outraged for a time by different resolutions passing, but it felt negative when things were out of your control. Some resolutions can make certain policies or actions illegal, which could also indirectly annoy or please factions.
Can laws of the galactic community influence leader agenda's and election promises?
None currently do, but this is within the scope of things a mod could do.
Resolutions
How many different categories for resolutions are there?
We currently have them broken into five major categories - Commerce and Industry, Politics and Culture, Environment and Technology, Defense and War, and Galactic Priorities.
These major categories are further broken down into a total of fourteen subcategories - Galactic Commerce and Industrial Development, The Greater Good and Galactic Reforms, Ecological Protection and Unchained Knowledge, Mutual Defense and Rules of War, four Sanction subcategories, Galactic Foci, and Denouncements.
What is the average number (if there is any variance) of choices per resolution category?
The eight main subcategories each have a chain of five resolutions in them that go from extremely minor effects but escalate to galaxy changing. There are three tiers of each type of sanction. Galactic Reforms and Galactic Foci have many potential resolutions within them. Denouncements varies based on what else has been passed.
Will some resolutions be themed for specific ethics/factions?
(Like xenophiles would want to pass resolutions enforcing free migration and accepting refugees, spiritualists would want to pass resolutions about preserving holy worlds or outlawing AI, pacifists would want to outlaw indiscriminate bombardment or aggressive wars between members, etc.?)
Certain ethics (and civics) will certainly be attracted to different resolutions. Egalitarians may wish to push resolutions from The Greater Good, but so might Rogue Servitors. (They really do want the best for all of the organics!)
Will there be laws that ban certain ship types or weapons?
We experimented with having the Rules of War resolution line ban different ship types, but decided to instead have them ban actions - the Reverence for Life resolution, for example, makes it illegal to use World Crackers. (Using one in defiance of the resolution will place your empire in breach of galactic law for ten years.) It’s totally possible to do this, though.
If a resolution is passed is it possible to recall it some point down the line? How hard is it to repeal a resolution?
You can repeal resolutions. The process is the same as passing it. Note that since most resolutions are in chains, you need to repeal from the top down.
Are all resolutions yes/no options?
Yes, but some are targeted at a specific empire.
Will there be any actual global projects, calling for participation of multiple empires and resulting in formation of map objects?
Not at this time.
If a civil war or a machine uprising breaks out (a very rare case these days) - can we play the role of Space UN and call an emergency vote to influence the outcome?
We do not have an intervention resolution for this sort of thing, but it would be possible to make. The wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly though, so it would most likely require a Council Member to push it to the top of the queue as an Emergency Measure, otherwise the war would probably resolve itself before reaching the Senate floor.
Will we be able to eventually force our ethics onto others through the use of resolutions? If so, will you do something about the "pop might switch ethic once every 50 years"? Otherwise its kind of pointless. / Are there any resolutions to cause/effect ethics drift?
Indirectly for the most part. The Rules of War resolutions do directly increase pacifist ethics attraction, but most of them do not explicitly do so. Most of the resolutions encourage acting in certain ways.
The system behind pops changing ethics has been updated, and your empire is more likely to see a much wider spread of beliefs.
Will there be galactic resolutions to ban Sapient AI and/or ban AI servitude? If the GC votes to make sapient AI illegal, does this negatively affect synthetic or machine empires? Both or just one?
Advanced Xenostudies in the Unchained Knowledge line bans outlawing AI, and the Universal Prosperity Mandate from The Greater Good line outlaws destroying free will by assimilating sapient organics into a gestalt empire. These can cause difficulties to certain empires, such as Driven Assimilators.
In addition to endgame and midgame crises, can there be resolutions against genocidal empires?
Genocidal empires cannot become members of the Galactic Community, and while the Mutual Defense line of resolutions can grant additional CB’s against them, everyone already has Containment against them.
Can there be resolutions penalizing, banning or supporting slavery? Likewise purging?
Yes. Reverence for Life in the Rules of War bans purging other than displacement, and the Greater Good line of resolutions places progressively stricter restrictions on living standards and slavery before banning it outright.
Are there resolutions to force wealth transfers from rich empires to poor empires?
Not exactly. The Universal Prosperity Mandate does attempt to tackle wealth inequality by reducing everyone’s resource storage capacity.
Are there resolutions that can ban certain technologies like Colossi? / Can you ban weapon types or fleet types (No missiles, No titans, No colossi, No orbital bombardment)
As noted earlier we chose to ban the act of using most Colossus weapons rather than owning specifically owning a Colossus. The Global Pacifier is always permitted.
The Independent Tribunals resolution in the Rules of War bans aggressive bombardment types.
Will we be able to pass anti-piracy / anti-space-monster focuses - often the AI leaves pirate bases, crystalline systems, and other "neutrals" alone for a long long time. Could we get a resolution called "Clean up your borders" or something like that? Which encourages AI to target neutral factions more.
We do not currently have any resolutions that explicitly cover this.
Can you offer protection for one weak empire?
You could outlaw the Unrestricted Wars war philosophy by passing the Last Resort Doctrine.
Is it possible for a resolution you passed to backfire on you?
Oh yes. Make sure your Consumer Goods production is up to snuff before passing the Universal Prosperity Mandate, and that you’re not egalitarian before passing Ethical Guideline Refactoring.
Is it possible to have allied AIs (ie those in your federation) vote against resolutions you want passed?
Yes. Members of the Galactic Community are free to vote as they wish, though AIs are more likely to vote for things proposed by empires they like.
Is It possible for the GC to force wars to end?
No, though The Enemy of My Enemy in the Mutual Defense line grants a “Counterattack” CB against certain empires that are attacking a Community member in an offensive war.
If we want to propose a resolution, are there "cards" or are all possible resolutions available to us at any given time?
Most resolutions are there at all times, but you have to progress through the chains one at a time. (Resolutions that don’t currently apply aren’t shown, for example you can’t give the Galactic Council veto power if it doesn’t exist.)
How do resolutions once agreed work? is it automatic or do we the player have to choose to obey. say for example if there is a resolution to reduce fleet capacity, is it optional to obey or do we get it taken away immediately?
Resolutions have positive and negative modifiers that are forced upon you by being members in the Galactic Community. They may also have additional conditions listed which you may freely ignore, but will place you in breach of galactic law. For example, Advanced Xenostudies bans the “Artificial Intelligence Outlawed” and “Passive Native Studies” policies.
Do the votes necessary to pass vary depending on the type of resolution? like 70% approval for some, 50% for others or is it strictly majority?
A simple majority (by Diplomatic Weight) of empires that are voting passes a resolution that is on the floor.
How do we create a resolution? Are some resolutions locked till a certain point in the game? Or are all resolutions available from the start of the galactic community?
Each empire can have one resolution at a time in the proposal queue. Proposing a resolution costs varying amounts of Influence - higher tier resolutions cost significantly more. While resolutions are in the proposal queue, empires can choose to support or oppose it (or abstain) if they like. When the Senate is ready to go into session, the resolution with the highest support will move to the floor, where it will be voted on for several years. (Empires that supported or opposed it in the queue will have their vote pre-cast, but empires can change their vote once every 120 days.)
Certain resolutions will not be available unless they make sense. You cannot declare the Prethoryn Scourge to be the Galactic Focus until they exist, for instance, nor can you modify Council powers if it doesn’t exist.
How often do resolutions happen? Can this be increased? / How frequently are resolutions voted on?
When a resolution proposal moves to the Senate floor, it is debated for 1800 days. At the end of this period, it will become Galactic Law if the votes in favor of it exceed the votes against. (Empires may abstain from the process.)
After this, the Senate goes into recess for 720 days.
While the Senate is in recess, Council Members may call an Emergency Session, forcing a proposal to the floor early. (Each Council Member can only do so once every ten years.)
What are the three most extreme resolutions that can be passed?
All of the fifth tier resolutions are pretty extreme, but let’s highlight these three. All resolutions also come with a handful of modifiers.
The Universal Prosperity Mandate in The Greater Good outlaws all living standards (for free-willed organics) other than Shared Burdens, Utopian Abundance, Chemical Bliss, or Mandatory Pampering. It also cuts resource storage capacity in order to reduce wealth inequality.
Extradimensional Experimentation in Unchained Knowledge unlocks a planetary decision that consumes Zro to fund extradimensional research at Advanced Research Complexes. It has some fancy red text.
Absolutely nothing bad will happen, I promise.
The Renegade Containment Doctrine in Mutual Defense holds that the benefits of membership in the Galactic Community are self-evident, and as such refusal to be a member clearly indicates ill intent. Members are authorized to preempt any nefarious acts with force before non-members enact their plots. (Through the “Preemptive War” total war CB.)
Is there any interaction between the Galactic Community and player actions that can create side-effects for the galaxy, such as L-Gate research, dangerous technology research, or pacts with Shroud entities?
As noted above, dangerous research is actively encouraged by the Unchained Knowledge line of resolutions.
Has a playtester ever gotten screwed over by a resolution they proposed?
Mentioned earlier, but in one of the multiplayer games we forced through an earlier version of the Universal Prosperity Mandate. One of the conspirators involved didn’t have enough consumer goods production to support Utopian Abundance. Hilarity ensued.
Does voting for or not voting for a particular resolution increase or decrease opinion of your empire. like if i have enough diplomatic weight to rule whatever i want but all the other members combined cant get what they want (lets say I'm an imperial despot and the rest are pacifist democracies, and i vote for yes to orbital bombings).
Yes. Empires that voted with you will get an opinion bonus, while your opponents will get an opinion penalty. The empire that proposed the resolution will be especially grateful if you push it to the floor via declaring it an Emergency Measure, and will likewise be incensed should you Veto their proposal.
In terms of Galactic Community resolutions, what kind of impact can they have beyond:
Addition / subtraction of percentage modifiers such as the Military Readiness Act shown in the dev diary;
Galactic Focus measures (the Galactic Market and Crises).
Resolutions can easily apply modifiers to all community members, but can also be easily checked for elsewhere in script.
One example of “additional effects” would be in Underdeveloped System Utilization from the Galactic Commerce line.
The modifiers listed are the cumulative modifiers for the entire Galactic Commerce resolution line to this point.
How flexible will the scope of policies and sanctions be from a modding perspective?
Extremely. Resolutions are implemented in script, so modders should be able to go wild.
How will the AI vote on resolutions? Are their voting based on their ethics, governments, technologies, maybe something else? Can I evaluate if it would be hard to pass a resolution just by the look of it?
Example: Say I want to propose a resolution about science restrictions, but the galaxy (or at least its diplomatic heavyweights) is mainly materialistic. Would such a resolution certainly require a lot of calling in favour to pass?
The AI takes all of the above into account, as well as their opinion of the empire that proposed the resolution. Generally civics have the largest effect, followed by ethics and AI personality. Empires with Egalitarian friendly civics (and Rogue Servitors!) are likely to support Greater Good resolutions, while slavers are likely to oppose them.
You can see what empires are likely to support a resolution before proposing it.
In a few cases, ascension perks are represented as well. A Defender of the Galaxy will be eager to rally the community against a crisis, for instance.
Any chance that the GC can mandate your resource production, or is it just your fleet production.
There is an Ecological Protection resolution line, and the Demobilization Initiative in the Rules of War can outlaw Militarized Economies.
A cynical leader might push for the harshest environmental resolutions in order to cripple galactic alloy production, or to make the creation of Machine or Hive Worlds against galactic law.
Can we use the GC to enforce a biodiversity requirement? Like mandating that every empire has at least 25% of its population be aliens, Or that you have less than ten percent aliens?
We don’t currently have a resolution chain that does this, but it would likely be possible for a mod to do so. (This sort of resolution would cause problems for most gestalt empires, however, so it would either have to be high in the line or have some other means of compliance.)
Violating Galactic Law and other Antisocial Behavior
Will any of the resolutions allow you to put certain policies in violation of galactic law?
Yes. The resolutions aren’t ever just a simple “Policy X is banned”, however. They all come with a number of other effects.
What are some things that are always a breach of the galactic law?
Nothing. The Galactic Community is a blank slate when initially formed. Similarly, unless Sanctions are passed, being in breach of galactic law isn’t that big a deal. (Other than having a negative opinion modifier with community members that are in compliance.)
What are the sanctions you can impose on an empire that's in breach of the galactic law? Any more unique and interesting ones that you can disclose?
Economic Sanctions increase your Market Fee, Administrative Sanctions affect Administrative Capacity, Research Sanctions affect Research Speed, and Military Sanctions affect Naval Capacity. All four also reduce the amount of Diplomatic Weight you receive from their associated field. Being in breach of galactic law can also render you vulnerable to denouncement, or if the Castigation Proclamation has been passed, valid for Humiliation wargoals.
Are sanctions a blanket debuff or do they come in particular types? ie military economic ones reduce military capacity, economic ones damage EC and/or CG and political ones reduce weight etc.
See previous answer.
What consequences are there to never join the community?
The galactic market is tied to the Community, so you won’t have access to that, and if the Community is feeling particularly militaristic they may end up with new CBs targeting non-members.
To what extend can we "sanction" other empires? Can we punish them for aggressive acts, like invading primitives? How does this work?
Some acts can be banned by resolutions. Performing those acts causes your empire to be in breach of galactic law for ten years. (Such as terraforming a planet into something other than a Gaia world if the Environmental Control Board has been passed.)
We do have two resolutions that deal with primitives, but neither bans aggressive acts against them.
What about gestalts? If sanctions are imposed against a hive mind or machine empire, what would those entail? Is it purely an economic penalty, or is it some kind of diplomatic one?
Gestalts can be affected by the various sanctions. See above.
In one of the teaser images, the Galactic Community proposal queue contains Minor and Moderate Research Sanctions. How are these going to work? Currently, there is no way for an empire to negatively affect another empire's research abilities, and it doesn't make sense to me that the Galactic Community would be able to do things that its constituent empires cannot.
Research Sanctions apply a penalty to Research Speed. The sanctioned empires are expected to permit regular inspections of their research facilities to ensure that they are in compliance with galactic requirements.
Is it possible to defy a resolution; for example a resolution prohibits you from uplifting primitives but you decide to enlighten them anyhow; what happens exactly to you (and possibly the primitives you just enlightened)?
It depends. If there are no sanction resolutions passed that apply penalties to empires in breach of galactic law, you receive a strongly worded letter, and all compliant empires in the Galactic Community have an opinion penalty with you while you remain the breach of galactic law. If there are sanction resolutions passed, they come into effect and you suffer the consequences.
Are there any good reasons not to join the GC, and how much can the GC affect an empire that isn't in it? / How will the Galactic Community mechanic affect players/empires that simply do not want to participate?
If the ethics of the galaxy as a whole conflict harshly with your own, certain blocs may enact resolutions that do not agree with you. Staying out of the Galactic Community will prevent those resolutions from affecting you.
The community is unlikely to affect you much unless they are strongly militarist and become aggressive to non-community members.
If you declare war on a GC member, will you face the entire GC in battle as a monolithic entity, or will you simply fight the empire (and its federation) that you declare war on?
The community is not a defensive pact, though some empires may take advantage of the state of war.
How do you know if an AI empire is in breach of galactic law?
There’s a symbol on them in the community.
Is there any way for the GC to interfere with an ongoing war between empires? The only way I can think to do this is a resolution that increases that conflict's War Exhaustion.
In general, no, but it depends on what resolutions have passed. The Enemy of My Enemy will grant a “Counterattack” CB against empires that are attacking a Community member in an offensive war.
Will AI always follow Galactic law, or will they ignore it if the penalties are minimal to non-existent? Even when penalties aren't minimal, will they ignore it if they are strongly against the law or in a desperate situation?
They will typically try to comply, but it is not an overwhelming desire.
With the Galactic community being expanded, will it be possible to sabotage/ Assassinate or to steal (Tech/Ships/Resources) from other members of the galactic community without having to go to war?
It’s certainly possible to negatively affect other empires through strategic use of the resolution process and by targeting your rivals for denouncement, but direct empire vs. empire espionage and sabotage is not part of this DLC.
In the Galactic Community, for Denouncements, is that say based only after say a detection function occurs I guess like a pop up window, or is it like in the Resolutions list but greyed out until say a year after a Resolution passes to prevent Denouncements anytime?
Resolutions go into effect immediately when passed, so you may wish to align yourself with the requirements just before it becomes law.
Denouncements must follow the normal proposal procedure, however, so unless a Council Member wants to push it forward as an Emergency Measure you should have ample time to address your failings before it goes to the floor for debate.
I am intrigued by the idea of sanctions. Do they consist of strongly-worded letters or could we get something like CBs for breaching galactic law?
While sanctions are passive, such a thing does exist in the Castigation Proclamation of the Mutual Defense line.
Is there going to be a way to stop shadow princes? For example a federation in MP ran by two players helping increase their diplomatic weight and only one them is in the galactic community for the sole purpose to tank it and apply as many debuffs as possible like limiting fleet size and resources income. basically allowing the other player to snowball other empires while still under the protection of a federation. I could see this having a really negative effect on gameplay.
We feel that it’s unlikely that the second player will be able to exert enough influence on the Galactic Community to accomplish this by themselves. There are too many actors involved to be able to trivially overwhelm their opinions.
For resolutions that just give passive buffs/debuffs, can you choose to not follow them and be in breach of galactic law? Say I don't want my workers getting rights, or improved trade standards.
No. The passive effects of passed resolutions apply to all Galactic Community members. You can push to repeal the Charter of Worker’s Rights though.
Do any resolutions make certain policies required? If so can one use Galactic Community compliance to bypass ethics restrictions (example, could the GC mandate synth rights, and if it did could a spiritualist nation gives syths citizen rights to be in compliance even though it goes against their eithics?)
There are resolutions that ban or require certain policies, but they do not grant the ability to bypass restrictions. Ethical Guideline Refactoring, for example, requires that empires use the most powerful leader enhancement policy they possess. We have a warning on it that egalitarian empires may be unable to meet this requirement.
Egalitarian empires will almost certainly oppose this measure, and if it passes, they will have to decide whether they’re content being in breach of galactic law, want to push to repeal it, or if they want to embrace a faction and cease their freedom-loving ways to achieve compliance. (The egalitarians can get their revenge by passing the Universal Prosperity Mandate.)
The Galactic Council
Does being on the council come with some additional perks aside from veto/emergency powers?
Council members have a 20% bonus to Diplomatic Weight, and their own place of honor in the Galactic Community UI.
How often can you declare a resolution an "emergency"? Is there something stopping you from just spamming emergency declarations?
There is a ten year cooldown on Emergency Measures. They can also only be used when there is not a resolution already being debated on the floor.
If the council is formed and an GC empire exceeds the influence of one of the council members, is that council member immediately replaced with the new empire or is there some mechanism attached?
Council members are chosen once every twenty years. A notification will let you know 180 days before the selection occurs.
Will each member of the galactic council fulfill a specific role that comes with obligations as well as bonuses?
There are no specific obligations or positions. Using your Emergency Measure and Veto Powers (if they are enabled) judiciously may be important or appreciated by other empires.
Will each council member maintain their membership in their own federations or would they have to join a new "Council Federation"? If no then how would other members react if one is attacked/at war? Can they declare war on each other?
Council members remain in their own federations. They may freely attack each other. (In fact, they are likely to try to use resolutions as weapons against one another.)
Does building the Interstellar Assembly increase the number of council members?
No. The Council initially starts with three members when formed, and resolutions can increase or decrease this number.
Yes, you can reduce this number to one. (I am the Senate!)
Does the game support "script triggered proposal that jump the normal queue of voting and happens immediately".
If the Council exists, they can declare proposed resolutions to be Emergency Measures and skip the queue while the Senate is in recess.
So the council has veto powers and can rush through some resolutions? What other special powers can they get?
Councillors can propose resolutions to denounce empires (though this power can be stripped from them). Sanctions beyond the first tier must also be proposed by a Council member.
When there are multiple members of the Galactic Council, can they all veto or call for emergency resolutions individually or is it a vote amongst the Council members?
Individually. Any council member can veto a resolution (if the power is unlocked) at an influence cost, and with a cooldown.
Threats, Crises, Enclaves, and Things With Fleets Larger Than Ours
How will Awakened Empires, the War in Heaven, and Guardians of the Galaxy interact with the Galactic Community?
The community can choose to issue resolutions related to the War in Heaven. They may side with one of the powers (making it against galactic law to side with the other), or denounce both sides.
You have mentioned that the Galactic Community can rally its members against the endgame crises (Prethoryn, Unbidden, Contingency). Will it be able to rally against other crises, like the End of the Cycle, Grey Tempest, Khan, or whatever crises you will add in the future? Will the AI empires actually coordinate their fleets with the player? / How does rallying the GC against a Crisis work? What does the resolution do?
The community will enter “crisis fighting mode” if any of these are declared a Galactic Focus, with behavior they feel is appropriate (including opening borders). Note that unless the crisis has demonstrated itself an extreme threat, empires that are not directly threatened will probably dismiss it as a hoax.
What sort of things can be declared a "threat to the galaxy"? Can I be declared a "threat to the galaxy" when playing as fanatic purifiers/swarms/exterminators? What are the mechanical consequences of declaring something a "threat to the galaxy"?
The major and minor crises and the awakened empires of the War in Heaven can currently be declared as Galactic Foci. Genocidal empires are not supported as Foci at this time.
How will other entities (Enclaves, Marauders, Caravans, etc) interact with the Galactic Community?
Minimally, though the Advanced Xenostudies resolution in Unchained Knowledge improves the Art College, Curator Think Tank, and Trader Proxy Office.
There are mods out there that let more than one crisis happen; since the GC can be rallied against a crisis how hard will it be for modders to mod it so that you can rally the GC twice or thrice?
There theoretically shouldn’t be any issues. You can only have one Galactic Focus active at a time though, so if they’re occurring simultaneously you may end up with erratic results.
Is it possible to say the focus of the galactic UN be like no slaves in the galaxy or no poor living standards? Will the focus be only military based?
Galactic Foci are primarily dealing with the various crises, but forming the Galactic Market is also classified as a Focus. Doing things like banning slavery is handled through passing resolutions.
Will Fallen or Awakened Empires ever join the Galactic Community? If yes, how will the diplomatic weight from their extreme technology advantage be handled?
They normally will not. They’re above the petty bickering of the child races. If a faction breaks off from them (a rebel faction, for instance), all bets are off. They will enjoy flexing their mighty technological diplo-muscles.
Similarly, the Great Khan will remain outside, but the diadochi states might choose to join the Galactic Community.
Favors
Will the obvious exploit regarding the mechanic to call in favors be addressed before release? (Using a tremendous number of favors to force votes to go your way.)
Calling in favors in the Galactic Community has an Influence cost which acts as a regulating measure. Generally, it’s possible to use favors to swing a close vote one way or another, but the costs for the sort of behavior described here would be astronomical.
Would it be possible to trade favours for influence in the trade screen?
Influence cannot be directly traded.
How are favors gained?
Favors can be gained from events or through trade deals.
Other Topics I Couldn't Categorize Easily
Can you collapse the galactic community? E.g. lets say I form a hegemony federation and vassalise every other empire in the galaxy. What happens to the GC? Does it just continue functioning? At this point, my Hegemony is the galactic community. It would be cool to get a little popup like "THE DEATH OF DEMOCRACY" and the GC gets dissolved (with options to reinstate it later if any nations break free of their vassal status).
In this example the Community will continue functioning as normal. As the most powerful empire in the galaxy you are likely to be a Council member and have a large amount of sway through your Diplomatic Weight.
Are there events (besides the ones mentioned: Galactic market, rallying the galaxy to handle a crisis event, creation of the Galactic security council) related to resolutions passed by the GC: i.e. Your populations don't like certain resolutions causing them to rebel?
Most of them are informative events to inform you about new edicts or planetary decisions that have been unlocked by resolutions.
Does the GC interact with the Interstellar Assembly or any other megastructures?
The Interstellar Assembly can grant extra envoys, which can then be sent as additional representatives.
What influence will the GC have over the Galactic Market? Also, what happens if you are the seat of the Galactic Market and defy the GC? Are there any new mechanics with the GM due to the GC/Federations? / Is the galactic market available to non-GC members?
The galactic market is now formed through a resolution in the Community. Only community members may take part in the market. If the market leader leaves the community, the bidding process will be started again for a new leader.
Literally Unplayable typo has been fixed.
I understand that the market will be set up via the GC in 2.6. Will we be able to also vote on _who_ gets to be market leader?
Further, an option to Re-host /reselect a host for the Gal market via resolution would be nice. Otherwise you'll get weird cases where someone was a galactic market host then you kick them out of the GC and they're still hosting the stock market for the galaxy (the same galaxy that branded them a pariah).
While it’s intentional that being the highest trade value empire doesn’t automatically make you the market leader, some adjustments have been made to give more suitable locations a boost in the selection process.
As noted above, if the market leader leaves the community, the market leader election chain will be triggered again.
Does the GC interact with any Ascension Paths?
Not directly.
What's your design process for deciding what makes for a good galactic law? What kinds of interactions are you trying to encourage?
We attempted to have a strong theme for each of the resolution categories, and then tried to create a progression from an entirely reasonable and moderate starting resolutions to some pretty dystopian finishers.
A good series of resolutions should have controversial elements to ensure that there’s reason for opposition and to add a bit of “spice” to the game. It ideally should be able to be used as an indirect weapon against some empire types.
We took some inspiration from actual legislation for the feel of the names of some resolutions - we imagined the media conglomerates of the galaxy condemning the opposition with “How could you oppose ‘Building a Better Tomorrow’? YOU MONSTERS.”
We greatly look forward to see what the modding community comes up with.
Do you have examples of other laws which can put empires in violation of galactic law?
Some resolution lines ban more things than others. The Rules of War and Greater Good lines, for example, focus primarily on restricting certain behavior. Rules of War includes things like banning most forms of purging, bombardment stances, war philosophies, and even militarized economies in the last tier. The Greater Good focuses on progressively improved living standards and outlawing different forms of slavery. Scattered throughout this Q&A are more galactic law tidbits.
How do the influence discounts from xenophiles and diplomacy traditions fit in (assuming you haven’t changed them to diplomatic weight or something)? Do fanatic xenophiles with diplomatic traditions get influence free GC diplomatic actions (such as favors and resolutions)?
The diplomacy traditions will apply only to influence upkeep, so will not affect the cost to propose Resolutions or other diplomatic actions. The Xenophile and Fanatic Xenophile ethics have their bonus changed to increase Diplomatic Weight instead of modifying diplomatic influence costs.
Can there be non-war related emergencies, such as economic interventions into failing states?
The formation of the Galactic Market is handled as a Galactic Focus. At this time we have not created any Foci related to economic interventions, but this is within the scope of what it supports.
What kind of galaxy do you find interesting in the galaxy community? / How do you want us to use the galactic community?
Multiple competing power blocs that are using the resolutions to attempt to indirectly cripple each other.
It’s a tool in your toolbox that you can try to use to twist the galaxy in certain ways. We’re hoping for entertaining emergent stories to come out of it.
What opportunities are there for empires to focus on improving diplomatic weight and specialize in a diplomatic approach, given that a non-diplomatic focus will improve diplomatic weight through the base values (fleet, pops, economy, technology)?
There are numerous ways to increase your Diplomatic Weight. Xenophile ethics now grant a bonus rather than reducing diplomatic influence costs. Non-machine empires have a civic available to them that grants additional Diplomatic Weight and additional envoys, which can be sent to the Galactic Community to increase Diplomatic Weight. Diplomatic Stance has a massive effect. There’s also a new building that can be built on your capital world that grants additional envoys.
Controlling the resolutions that pass also has a major impact, since almost all resolutions affect the Diplomatic Weight calculation in some way. If Industrial Development resolutions pass, for instance, the Diplomatic Weight contribution from Economy increases.
As noted previously, there are typically many actors in the Galactic Community, which generally makes it possible to find allies for resolutions you wish to pass. It’s important to pick and choose when you want to call in favors to pass a critical resolution that will have the most impact to help you win the next resolution cycle.
