A few questions about Federations

[Baldeagle91]

Tbh my main complaint is the "taking equal turns at ruling" idea. It just seems really silly to me.

I would of thought a standard ideal would of been 1 vote per faction. Influence and relation loss (to other factions in the federation) used to bypass your predicted vote, similar to your races own election.

 

[Yenzen]

We don't see players complaining about "kicking the AI's ass" via backdoor stuff aka CK II or paradox's other games. It should also make players think twice before entering into a federation noticeably bigger than themselves, without other support. And if you make it extremely hard for the player to achieve there wouldn't be any problem at all.

CK2 is an entirely different genre. You can go from count to emperor of half of Europe and back again in a short time. It won't be anything like that in Stellaris and like in EU4, anti-blobbing is an important concern.

If you want a federation where you're always in control, as Russia with the USSR, you should use vassals as others have said. Federations are not what most people want them to be, and they're not designed to, they're a group of equals-by-statue and hence each member has an equal right to the leadership. Alliances are far better for those who do not want to give up control, and vassals for those who want subjects they can eventually integrate.

Not to mention that people would riot when their faction is integrated in one war as their federation mate is leader and integrates the other 7 members instantly and wars you for refusal.

Federations are not just another blobbing mechanism, it's not a way to gain (permanent) hard power or to work towards a unified empire, it is not for everyone and it is not for every situation. If made possible to integrate into one faction, it will eventually be too much of a no-brainer mechanism of extreme protection and eventual expansion by unification.

A democratic indirect democracy with many species and sectors is a federation unto itself, after all.

 

[Baldeagle91]

CK2 is an entirely different genre. You can go from count to emperor of half of Europe and back again in a short time. It won't be anything like that in Stellaris and like in EU4, anti-blobbing is an important concern.

If you want a federation where you're always in control, as Russia with the USSR, you should use vassals as others have said. Federations are not what most people want them to be, and they're not designed to, they're a group of equals-by-statue and hence each member has an equal right to the leadership. Alliances are far better for those who do not want to give up control, and vassals for those who want subjects they can eventually integrate.

Not to mention that people would riot when their faction is integrated in one war as their federation mate is leader and integrates the other 7 members instantly and wars you for refusal.

Federations are not just another blobbing mechanism, it's not a way to gain (permanent) hard power or to work towards a unified empire, it is not for everyone and it is not for every situation. If made possible to integrate into one faction, it will eventually be too much of a no-brainer mechanism of extreme protection and eventual expansion by unification.

A democratic indirect democracy with many species and sectors is a federation unto itself, after all.

But it's not especially democratic seeing it's an auto rotate on leadership as far as we are aware atm.

My main problem with the federation mechanic is realistically it has no real bonus over a bog standard alliance. Okay it can have extra ships via the federation fleet, but when your homeworlds are burning due to the AI not helping because it's off doing it's own thing.... yeah real useful.

And I'm not on about one faction instantly absorbing the other members. It's about having a federation act as an actual federation.... instead of an alliance with a dumb almost roulette like mechanic for deciding who leads the federation. Never mind the "we suggested the federation thus we get to rule it for the first 10 years" thing. Federations needs risks and bonuses unique to their formation, partially based on reality, gameplay features, fun and balance.

I personally want to see federations strain under their own size, especially if many of the members don't get along with each other.

 

[Miidguard]

I agree with Baldeagle91, If i chose to play a militarist xenophobe and a pacifist xenophile get add to the federation but another member, when it their turn to run why would my people be happy and want to follow the polices they set. I'm not saying there should be mechanics to eat the other members of the federation, it would just be nice if there are other things we can do than wait for our turn. Such as disable the current leader causing them to resign or force change polices to be more agreeable. They may well be this in the game and they just haven't showcased it.
But as they have been shown so far I personally don't see the point for a player to form or be apart of one, they would work well for the AI to keep the player's expansion in check.

 

[TheDungen]

I'm hoping federations gets updated with some more options in a future DLC. Things like term of office (lifetime, 10 20 30... so on) rotating or election (with elections have people voting for people they like, people with similar ethoses, being less inclined to viote for someone who has recently been in office, and people with skilled leaders), oh and the ability to centralise the federation to a full on "empire" under certain conditions.

Perhaps even a progression towards centrlaisation.

First you have rotating leadership (the chairman of the european council for an example works like this), then you have one vote per empire (the system used by the european council), then voting per population via diminished returns (the system the EU use for the parliament). Full on voting and then full centralisation.
Also there could be this thing especially during the one vote per empire deal where the federation council may ask a member state to make one of their zones an independent empire under the federation (especially if there's one member who's a lot more powerful than the rest).