Best and Worst Traits, Civics, Ethics in 2.2 (and subsequent patches)?

[Armed Avacado]

Citizen Service is still awful even after the 2.2 changes. For it to be something that I would take (and I sooooo want to for that starship trooper feel) soldiers need to give 3 unity per job, making the unity output equal to cultural workers. This would make soldier spam viable. And effectively exchange cultural sites for fortresses for citizen service empires. Cultural sites would still be used situationally by citizen service empires if social research need boosted rather than fleet cap boosted.

You're asking for too much. Even Police State, which gives +1 Unity to enforcers, puts enforcers on par with entertainers but still not as good as culture workers. You want a job that provides more unity than entertainers, as much as culture workers, doesn't require consumer goods, in a building that's not planet-unique? Keep in mind the society research culture workers get is a pittance; they're much less efficient than science workers. They're main contribution is the unity, and your vision of soldiers would equal the main purpose of culture workers in addition to the main contributions of soldiers?

Soldier spam, or at least a moderated amount, is still useful imho. Their fleet capacity is very valuable now that raw population gives neither fleet capacity nor starbase capacity. The stronghold comes with its own housing, making them useful to plant in a smaller, resource-gathering world where housing and jobs are somewhat equal, there's no housing to support specialist jobs, and you want to save your districts for resources. Plus their full potential can be quickly accessed, requiring only one pop while other buildings need two plus consumer goods. Good for newer colonies.

My current game is not even Militarist and I have a good 5 or so strongholds, when most of my worlds have less than four building slots.

civics that add pop jobs to your capital

You do realize that none of these actually add jobs, do you? They replace an administrator job with a different kind of ruler job. A science director, for example, provides a good hunk of research and some amenities. An administrator provides a good hunk of unity and more amenities than the science director. There is a trade-off involved.

Just making sure you knew... If not, sorry to burst your bubble.

 

[Barcode180]

I also think that Egalitarian and Materialist ethics have shrunk in viability. If you combine the two you can get +10% specialist output which Materialist empires benefit from producing a slightly better amount of exotic gases and consumer goods for their scientists. You could try for Shared Burden and drop the idea of Technocracy altogether in order to decrease the upkeep for your scientists by 0.1 units, add the environmentalist civic and conservative trait to minimize consumer goods to your pops in order to pull most of your consumer goods into research. That might work. Pick the communal trait too as it's beneficial for the types of planets you'd want to develop as it lets you fill your housing districts with more pops. For 80 pops for all buildings that's more than a city district you don't have to build.

The other route is to go for a standard boring scientist maximizing strategy with technocracy, mechanist, ingenious or rapid breeders, intelligent and try to maximize output with less pop jobs and therefore slightly less material consumption but I think this far less effective than the starve the pops of consumer goods strategy.

For militarist you gotta get a lot of minerals for your alloy factories and egalitarian isn't very useful for the alloy yields as you only get 2 alloys for 10 minerals. So I would rather go with authoritarian ethics and mining guilds. That gives you a yield of approx. 10 minerals per mining tile so for every mining tile you have you can support 1 alloy factory. For your second civic you got a lot of options since none of the following picks benefit you much more than the others: Slaver Guilds, Distinguished Admiralty, Nationalistic Zeal. Here I would argue that the most effective pick for a militarist faction are the Industrious and Ingenious traits since you'll be focusing your efforts on supporting your fleets and starbases. Avoid picking Solitary as a negative trait though as it forces you to build more housing districts and you can't afford that! In fact you would do better to try and squeeze communal in there.

If you are trying to get the max research per pop you might to want to go with egalitarian because scientists are also specialists so the science output should be increased by 10% in addition to you going materialist for the 5% boost to science as well. On top of that if you combine those with technocracy and life seeded you can do a tall science empire that really lacks for none of the resources and produces an insane amount of science. I have a run I've done with this and it seems to be one of the better empires, but its all preference I guess.

 

[w1zard9169]

You're asking for too much. Even Police State, which gives +1 Unity to enforcers, puts enforcers on par with entertainers but still not as good as culture workers. You want a job that provides more unity than entertainers, as much as culture workers, doesn't require consumer goods, in a building that's not planet-unique? Keep in mind the society research culture workers get is a pittance; they're much less efficient than science workers. They're main contribution is the unity, and your vision of soldiers would equal the main purpose of culture workers in addition to the main contributions of soldiers?

Soldier spam, or at least a moderated amount, is still useful imho. Their fleet capacity is very valuable now that raw population gives neither fleet capacity nor starbase capacity. The stronghold comes with its own housing, making them useful to plant in a smaller, resource-gathering world where housing and jobs are somewhat equal, there's no housing to support specialist jobs, and you want to save your districts for resources. Plus their full potential can be quickly accessed, requiring only one pop while other buildings need two plus consumer goods. Good for newer colonies.

Then maybe more unity to soldiers is the wrong way to go about it, but +1 unity on soldiers is not worth wasting a civic slot on IMO.

It could be neat if it worked more like Exalted Priesthood or Technocracy.
It's already got the "Soldiers produce +1 Unity" bit, instead of just an outright boost to fleet cap, you could instead replace some of the capital building's administrators with some form of "Veteran" job, which is like a cross between an administrator and a soldier.

Oh, I like this... how about replace an administrator job with a "commissar" or "political officer" job that gives +5 stability and +2 unity and spawns a defensive army.

Citizen service requires democracy or oligarchy, which is difficult for authoritarians (unhappy faction) and impossible for fanatic authoritarians. The civic would be a way of getting that tasty +5 stability bonus for democratic/oligarchic governments.

 

[wingren013]

I'd rather see a non unity based bonus for citizen service. Everything doesn't need to be a unity source.

 

[Wolfgang I]

It feels like some empire types which can't use migration from AI empires are a bit weak right now in SP. I only tried Inward Perfection and Fanatic Purifier which have okish pop growth in the early game but seem rather slow mid/late game. At least that it is what I think when I see some of the pop growth speeds that are possible with immigration and the one xenophile game I tried. It gets even worse for those civics once the refugess come into play like when the Khan gets going.

Corvee system seems interesting now but Nomadic is partially broken and does not give the resettlement cost modifer.
I only checked early game numbers but stacking both you gain quite a lot of pop growth out of thin air though.

Post-Apocalyptic seems rather good now at a first glance. It gives tomb worth habitability now which grants 60 base habitability on all base world types.
Tomb world habitabillity might not be as good as it used to as the maluses you get from low habitabillity worlds seem less harsh now but it might still be worthwhile if you are playing a single species empire.
Far better in the early game than wasting 4 trait points on Extremly-Adaptive. You can't remove it late game of course when every empire can get tomb world habitabillity so it might not be that imbalanced.

Adaptive and Extremly-Adaptive seem way too expensive now that all pops grow at the same speed even if a planet has 0 habitability.

The only serious game I tried was a 2225/50 crisis game with no AI empires though because playing with AI empires seemed pretty pointless with the state the game is in and that game bugged out in the mid-game because my pops started self-purging. Lolsob...

 

[GAGA Extrem]

A quick comment on some things mentioned here:
(1) Efficient Bureaucracy is actually pretty good. Fun fact: It used to be +30, and was OP as hell. It has become less important as the penalties for exceeding the admin cap were reduced to 0.5 unity and 0.3 tech (down from 1.0 unity and 0.5 tech respectively), but it still provides a solid cost reduction of 10% for traditions and 6.6% for techs. It's a pretty neat choice as a 3rd pick for the mid game and can later be swapped out for something else.

(2) Meritocracy is probably a bit weak. Leader pool size really is just a marginal bigger chance to not having to gamble for more leaders, after all.

(3) Same goes for Warrior Culture. I'll lobby to replace the upkeep reduction with some sort of effect to Strongholds & Forts (maybe an extra job and housing?).

(4) Technocracy comes at a cost: Science Directors produce no unity and provide significantly less amenities than administrators. It's not hugely important past the early game, but still something to keep in mind. A bit of a balancing factor for all that nice and cheap extra science.

(5)

Agrarian Idyll is one of those civics that was pretty worthless. [...]

Good Sir, that is madness. Agrarian Idyll was one of the most overpowered and insane civics in the game and only remotely acceptable because of its Fanatic Pacifist prerequisite. That being said - yes, I'd actually agree that it is one of the best civics in 2.2 as well.

(6) Merchant Guilds is actually pretty darn good. I'd say, it is probably one of the best administrator replacers and also a solid 3rd civic pick for several reasons: (I) Thanks to the +2 unity modifier, you only lose a marginal amount of unity in the early game. (II) It replaces 0/1/2/3 (instead of 0/1/1/2) admin jobs on the buildings (just like Exalted Priesthood). (III) You can get the Galactic Stock Exchange to get another 2 Merchants per planet (and that building itself is incredibly powerful). Although a thing to keep in mind is that you still need to collect the TV, so it is probably better suited for a tall approach.

(7) Believe it or not, but Mining guilds is probably EVEN STRONGER than it used to be. You get a base +1 income from miners (including special resource miners, btw!), so a +25% base yield increase. However, that +1 is then subject to all the other regular modifiers. Madness.

- - - - -

In terms of ethics, Xenophile has gotten A LOT stronger with 2.2. Getting extra trade value is very powerful and since all agreements now cost diplomatic influence, the cost reduction starts to truly shine. The new migration mechanic also makes migration pacts more powerful for the player (since they tend to have better planetary conditions than the AI) and the addition of Xeno-Compatibility allows for some impressive growth benefits with extra spicy gene benefits (+1 trait point, +1 max traits). Lastely, Federations are probably even more powerful than before, even with the new federation tax (free pacts with members, no federation fleet upgrade, every member can contribute to the fleet).

I actually think Xenophobe got better as well - at bit less good for conquest, but inherent pop growth is really, really powerful.

Egalitarian and Authoritarian are both great to bolster the economy - specialist output is a premium effect and the stratified economy saves a ton of consumer goods on top of the extra resource modifier.

Spiritualist is... actually something I haven't touched in forever. I'd argue the edict cost is a bit "meh", but the extra unity + temples are nothing to sneeze at.

Pacifist is probably a bit weaker in terms of its economy effects, but the extra admin cap is incredibly powerful throughout the game (-5%/-10% trad cost, -3.3%-6.6% tech cost). The related civics are still among the most powerful options in the game.

I'd say the weakest / least interesting ethic right now is actually Materialist. The robot upkeep cost reduction is pretty good for synth ascension, but the research speed bonus is a bit bland and less useful early on, since scientists take longer to get. However, it does have some pretty good civic choices to make up for that.

 

[Siri]

A quick comment on some things mentioned here:
(1) Efficient Bureaucracy is actually pretty good. Fun fact: It used to be +30, and was OP as hell. It has become less important as the penalties for exceeding the admin cap were reduced to 0.5 unity and 0.3 tech (down from 1.0 unity and 0.5 tech respectively), but it still provides a solid cost reduction of 10% for traditions and 6.6% for techs. It's a pretty neat choice as a 3rd pick for the mid game and can later be swapped out for something else.

(2) Meritocracy is probably a bit weak. Leader pool size really is just a marginal bigger chance to not having to gamble for more leaders, after all.

(3) Same goes for Warrior Culture. I'll lobby to replace the upkeep reduction with some sort of effect to Strongholds & Forts (maybe an extra job and housing?).

(4) Technocracy comes at a cost: Science Directors produce no unity and provide significantly less amenities than administrators. It's not hugely important past the early game, but still something to keep in mind. A bit of a balancing factor for all that nice and cheap extra science.

(5)

Good Sir, that is madness. Agrarian Idyll was one of the most overpowered and insane civics in the game and only remotely acceptable because of its Fanatic Pacifist prerequisite. That being said - yes, I'd actually agree that it is one of the best civics in 2.2 as well.

(6) Merchant Guilds is actually pretty darn good. I'd say, it is probably one of the best administrator replacers and also a solid 3rd civic pick for several reasons: (I) Thanks to the +2 unity modifier, you only lose a marginal amount of unity in the early game. (II) It replaces 0/1/2/3 (instead of 0/1/1/2) admin jobs on the buildings (just like Exalted Priesthood). (III) You can get the Galactic Stock Exchange to get another 2 Merchants per planet (and that building itself is incredibly powerful). Although a thing to keep in mind is that you still need to collect the TV, so it is probably better suited for a tall approach.

(7) Believe it or not, but Mining guilds is probably EVEN STRONGER than it used to be. You get a base +1 income from miners (including special resource miners, btw!), so a +25% base yield increase. However, that +1 is then subject to all the other regular modifiers. Madness.

- - - - -

In terms of ethics, Xenophile has gotten A LOT stronger with 2.2. Getting extra trade value is very powerful and since all agreements now cost diplomatic influence, the cost reduction starts to truly shine. The new migration mechanic also makes migration pacts more powerful for the player (since they tend to have better planetary conditions than the AI) and the addition of Xeno-Compatibility allows for some impressive growth benefits with extra spicy gene benefits (+1 trait point, +1 max traits). Lastely, Federations are probably even more powerful than before, even with the new federation tax (free pacts with members, no federation fleet upgrade, every member can contribute to the fleet).

I actually think Xenophobe got better as well - at bit less good for conquest, but inherent pop growth is really, really powerful.

Egalitarian and Authoritarian are both great to bolster the economy - specialist output is a premium effect and the stratified economy saves a ton of consumer goods on top of the extra resource modifier.

Spiritualist is... actually something I haven't touched in forever. I'd argue the edict cost is a bit "meh", but the extra unity + temples are nothing to sneeze at.

Pacifist is probably a bit weaker in terms of its economy effects, but the extra admin cap is incredibly powerful throughout the game (-5%/-10% trad cost, -3.3%-6.6% tech cost). The related civics are still among the most powerful options in the game.

I'd say the weakest / least interesting ethic right now is actually Materialist. The robot upkeep cost reduction is pretty good for synth ascension, but the research speed bonus is a bit bland and less useful early on, since scientists take longer to get. However, it does have some pretty good civic choices to make up for that.

I think your fanatic pacifist mindset overvalues admin cap a whole lot. It's good for a very specific play style but makes such a tiny difference if you're playing something where you're going over the cap a lot already anyway. Lowering the tech cost penalty by 6.6% from 400% to 393.4% is pretty terrible. I think Admin Cap would be a lot more interesting if the penalties were based on the percentage you exceeded your cap by rather than exact values. I also think you should have kept the higher penalty values.

 

[klingonadmiral]

In terms of ethics, Xenophile has gotten A LOT stronger with 2.2. Getting extra trade value is very powerful and since all agreements now cost diplomatic influence, the cost reduction starts to truly shine. The new migration mechanic also makes migration pacts more powerful for the player (since they tend to have better planetary conditions than the AI) and the addition of Xeno-Compatibility allows for some impressive growth benefits with extra spicy gene benefits (+1 trait point, +1 max traits).

The only problem I have with that (as someone who loves playing Fanatic Xenophile right now and regard Xeno-Compatibility as one of the strongest ascension perks in the game through it's growth speed boost alone) is that it largely invalidates the ascension paths. Genemodding is pretty bad if your planets have enough species to have the demographics diagram run out of colors and you have no ability to control population growth, while Synthetic Ascension completely invalidates biologial pop growth. Which leaves Psionic Ascension, but only fools deal with the Ruinous Powers.

Considering that megastructures, who were kind of a soft ascension path of their own, have also been heavily nerfed; with habitats now being borderline useless, ring worlds being glorified farms, the science nexus being kind of bad now considering the sheer amount of science a dedicated tech world can generate and the Galactic Assembly being a thing before Diplomacy has been reworked; I'm nowadays in the situation that I just don't know what to fill my slots with. Technological Ascendancy, Mastery of Nature, Executive Vigor, Xeno-Compatability and Ecumenopolis are a given, but that leaves 3 slots up for debate.

You also forgot to mention the second bonus of Xenophile, increased trade value. You'll swim in money as a xenophile, which you can spend on campaigns, enclaves, marauders and of course most importantly CaravanCoinz.

 

[Siri]

the science nexus being kind of bad now considering the sheer amount of science a dedicated tech world can generate

It's buffed up in the beta patch, more science (300 each for the final version) and 5/10/15% increased research speed. It's pretty nice actually.

You also forgot to mention the second bonus of Xenophile, increased trade value. You'll swim in money as a xenophile, which you can spend on campaigns, enclaves, marauders and of course most importantly CaravanCoinz.

In the part you quoted. Second sentence, first 7 words.

 

[klingonadmiral]

In the part you quoted. Second sentence, first 7 words.

I shouldn't post when I'm tired.

It's buffed up in the beta patch, more science (300 each for the final version) and 5/10/15% increased research speed. It's pretty nice actually.

Sure, but a tech world generates science in the high 100s to over 1k in each category. It also costs 45k alloys, which is like 40 battleships or so. Research worlds cost only basic minerals and some strategic resources upkeep.

 

[Siri]

Sure, but a tech world generates science in the high 100s to over 1k in each category. It also costs 45k alloys, which is like 40 battleships or so. Research worlds cost only basic minerals and some strategic resources upkeep.

Not going to argue it's the best thing ever, but I found it worth building after the decompressor and two ring world segments finished. The coordination centre is better but not something I need until it's time for fallen empires/crisis, which may or may not be before I start thinking about the nexus. It's more about the % bonus though, not the static science.

 

[EvilKnievel82]

I feel like syncretic evolution + authoritarian + both species being rapid breeders and then enslaving the servant species just gives the most bang for the buck. Because pop growth and high basic resource production is extremely strong early on.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

I think your fanatic pacifist mindset overvalues admin cap a whole lot. It's good for a very specific play style but makes such a tiny difference if you're playing something where you're going over the cap a lot already anyway. Lowering the tech cost penalty by 6.6% from 400% to 393.4% is pretty terrible. I think Admin Cap would be a lot more interesting if the penalties were based on the percentage you exceeded your cap by rather than exact values. I also think you should have kept the higher penalty values.

I am not sure if I am overestimating the impact of cap. I do agree that it is hard to determine the actual impact on the game, but I definitely had games where I cared less about it and the result was significantly slower unity and tech progression. And there are A LOT of powerful economy techs in the game that will greatly help with early and mid game snowballing. Although I'd argue the impact on traditions might be even more important.

The only problem I have with that (as someone who loves playing Fanatic Xenophile right now and regard Xeno-Compatibility as one of the strongest ascension perks in the game through it's growth speed boost alone) is that it largely invalidates the ascension paths. Genemodding is pretty bad if your planets have enough species to have the demographics diagram run out of colors and you have no ability to control population growth, while Synthetic Ascension completely invalidates biologial pop growth. Which leaves Psionic Ascension, but only fools deal with the Ruinous Powers.

Considering that megastructures, who were kind of a soft ascension path of their own, have also been heavily nerfed; with habitats now being borderline useless, ring worlds being glorified farms, the science nexus being kind of bad now considering the sheer amount of science a dedicated tech world can generate and the Galactic Assembly being a thing before Diplomacy has been reworked; I'm nowadays in the situation that I just don't know what to fill my slots with. Technological Ascendancy, Mastery of Nature, Executive Vigor, Xeno-Compatability and Ecumenopolis are a given, but that leaves 3 slots up for debate. [...]

I am pretty sure you can gene mod xenos (or at least half breeds?) back into a single template of your liking. If anything, Gene Ascension should work really well with crossbreeding once you get unwanted bad traits out of the gene pool. Actually, maybe I should try that in a Fanatic Xenophile game later today. Hm.

Also, Megastructures have not gotten worse - I'd actually say the perk is SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful, even though some options have become more niche. Yes, you don't want to spam Habitats anymore, but the extra building slots are still great. Ringworlds cannot mine anymore, but they provide an incredible amount of sustainable living space with the option for impressive E production and TV as a way to side-step the lack of M generation. The Science Nexus does grant +15% Research Speed nowadays, which is pretty absurd (in retrospect, maybe I should have suggested +3% per tier instead...) - and you do not have to pay CGs or admin cap for its own base science production. The Strategic Coordination center provides insane benefits and the Matter Decompressor is the most overpowered thing in the game by a long mile.

 

[ffsffs1]

Going from the admin cap to 20 over the admin cap hurts more than going from 400 over the cap to 420 over the cap. In both cases you end up with a 6% increase to the base tech cost, or alternatively an additional 600 research points on a base 10000 tech. The difference is 600 points represents a lot less in terms of monthly research for a 420 over the cap empire than a 20 over the cap empire. Same thing is true for traditions.

 

[r3xm0rt1s]

Slaver guilds may not be as convenient as caste system used to be. But keeping 40% of population productive in workers despite specialist vacancies eases the economic damage of poorly timed construction. They make more stuff too and don't eat all my consumer goods. Now if only the rate was adjusted on individual planet level, based on the relative number of jobs slaves can do vs those they cannot, with everybody unemployed automatically and immediately enslaved as a servant.

Nobles keep stability high for cheap, or rather keep stability high while most other pops are kept cheap. That's their function and they do it very well. Aristocratic elite is a top tier pick.

If only I could use agrarian idyll with them. It would be so thematically appropriate with landowning nobility overseeing vast plantations worked by slaves of their own species. I don't do xenos.

Technocracy is nice too, but sadly psychic ascension inevitably drags people to spiritualist ethics, even if they are cyborgs (requires mods to combine ascensions) and natural scientists. Might as well save myself the pain and play spiritualist empires.

Admin cap from ascension perks or civics is bad. Just keep reseaching that repeatable technology. Once you have blobbed sufficiently to not be easily overwhelmed, pace expansion with your ability to administrate it. Go over (but not too much) your admin cap in the early game and fix it later. It's always funny to see next level of repeatable technology to take less time to research than the previous.

 

[Aquilegia]

A quick comment on some things mentioned here:
(1) Efficient Bureaucracy is actually pretty good. Fun fact: It used to be +30, and was OP as hell. It has become less important as the penalties for exceeding the admin cap were reduced to 0.5 unity and 0.3 tech (down from 1.0 unity and 0.5 tech respectively), but it still provides a solid cost reduction of 10% for traditions and 6.6% for techs. It's a pretty neat choice as a 3rd pick for the mid game and can later be swapped out for something else.

(2) Meritocracy is probably a bit weak. Leader pool size really is just a marginal bigger chance to not having to gamble for more leaders, after all.

(3) Same goes for Warrior Culture. I'll lobby to replace the upkeep reduction with some sort of effect to Strongholds & Forts (maybe an extra job and housing?).

(4) Technocracy comes at a cost: Science Directors produce no unity and provide significantly less amenities than administrators. It's not hugely important past the early game, but still something to keep in mind. A bit of a balancing factor for all that nice and cheap extra science.

(5)

Good Sir, that is madness. Agrarian Idyll was one of the most overpowered and insane civics in the game and only remotely acceptable because of its Fanatic Pacifist prerequisite. That being said - yes, I'd actually agree that it is one of the best civics in 2.2 as well.

(6) Merchant Guilds is actually pretty darn good. I'd say, it is probably one of the best administrator replacers and also a solid 3rd civic pick for several reasons: (I) Thanks to the +2 unity modifier, you only lose a marginal amount of unity in the early game. (II) It replaces 0/1/2/3 (instead of 0/1/1/2) admin jobs on the buildings (just like Exalted Priesthood). (III) You can get the Galactic Stock Exchange to get another 2 Merchants per planet (and that building itself is incredibly powerful). Although a thing to keep in mind is that you still need to collect the TV, so it is probably better suited for a tall approach.

(7) Believe it or not, but Mining guilds is probably EVEN STRONGER than it used to be. You get a base +1 income from miners (including special resource miners, btw!), so a +25% base yield increase. However, that +1 is then subject to all the other regular modifiers. Madness.

- - - - -

In terms of ethics, Xenophile has gotten A LOT stronger with 2.2. Getting extra trade value is very powerful and since all agreements now cost diplomatic influence, the cost reduction starts to truly shine. The new migration mechanic also makes migration pacts more powerful for the player (since they tend to have better planetary conditions than the AI) and the addition of Xeno-Compatibility allows for some impressive growth benefits with extra spicy gene benefits (+1 trait point, +1 max traits). Lastely, Federations are probably even more powerful than before, even with the new federation tax (free pacts with members, no federation fleet upgrade, every member can contribute to the fleet).

I actually think Xenophobe got better as well - at bit less good for conquest, but inherent pop growth is really, really powerful.

Egalitarian and Authoritarian are both great to bolster the economy - specialist output is a premium effect and the stratified economy saves a ton of consumer goods on top of the extra resource modifier.

Spiritualist is... actually something I haven't touched in forever. I'd argue the edict cost is a bit "meh", but the extra unity + temples are nothing to sneeze at.

Pacifist is probably a bit weaker in terms of its economy effects, but the extra admin cap is incredibly powerful throughout the game (-5%/-10% trad cost, -3.3%-6.6% tech cost). The related civics are still among the most powerful options in the game.

I'd say the weakest / least interesting ethic right now is actually Materialist. The robot upkeep cost reduction is pretty good for synth ascension, but the research speed bonus is a bit bland and less useful early on, since scientists take longer to get. However, it does have some pretty good civic choices to make up for that.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...f-ascension-perk.1137965/page-2#post-24966571 <- Net effects of +30 admin cap perk for different values of being over the admin cap.

I think you're highly overvaluating the +admin cap effects. Its use is 0 if you're still under admin cap, maximally +5% trad/+3% science/+10% leader per 10 admin cap in the short time you'd be exactly in that sweet spot (where the +admin cap effect is exactly equal to the amount you're currently over cap) and then quickly dropping in value again. As a civic/tech it has some use since it at least can be swapped out, but even that can be costly.

Only if you're artificially staying close to the admin cap at all times it would count as 'powerful', since then it's actually a significant boost in size of your empire.

If you're growing normally, it gets even worse if you take into account one important effect. At the start you only grow slowly, because system-claiming speed is slow (influence gain grows during the game), and net district building speed is slow (only a few planets, with low grow speed). While during the mid-late game, your grow speed increases massively, since you're constantly building more and more districts, from more grow-speed per planet and more planets overall.

The net result of this is that you spend a lot of time in the early game where the perk has no use (you're below admin cap anyway), and then the time in the late-early/mid game where the perk has maximal use, that already short window in time with maximal use is even reduced because of the larger grow speed.

 

[BroAdso]

It's been mentioned briefly, but Post-Apocalyptic is a really strong choice in 2.2, particularly when combined with an aggressive Authoritarian approach. Being able to colonize much more widely means more POP growth, which is the ultimate goal of any empire in the early and mid game. A stratified economy means that the 60% habitability planets you find won't be TOO expensive to settle, either.

When you bring the slave market, the option to uplift or conquer primitives, or opportunistic early wars in, Post-Apocalyptic can be combined very effectively with a large-scale slave economy, where appropriate slaves to a world's climate type make up most of the world's population while your race and/or its chosen uplifted servants (probably at 70% habitability on every world from techs at this point) only has to occupy key specialist roles.

I usually don't play 'bad guys,' but my most successful game on the test branch has been a post-apocalyptic, police state, militarist, spiritualist slave empire. The wide array of slave worlds under my control are enough to support two (almost three!) ecumenopli at late game.

 

[Monkbel]

Efficient Bureaucracy: Admin Cap +20. Completely inconsequential even to tall gameplay styles.

+20 admin cap is huge. I am playing megacorp in 2240, and my total admin cap is 100. I am creeping above it at 105 and penalties are harsh. Without bureaucracy I would have had 80 cap and it would be crushing.

Great bonus.

 

[Kent_Lang]

I mean, it's effectively a cheap social welfare which also dramatically lowers the cost of your high strata pops. It actually really benefits you if you focus on getting a lot of leaders and specialists, and has a lot of synergy with byzantine bureaucracy.

It's true that it has synergy with Byzantine Bureaucracy as the benefits is a total of 0.6 civ goods saved on the ruler pops but the thing is that you never really have that many in your empire even with things like Byzantine Bureaucracy. Most planets has under half a dozen ruler pops and let me remind you that it forces you to pay 0.4 civ goods for your worker pops which is in most cases what you're going to have a lot of in your empire. The 0.1 you save on specialists aren't that great either as for the 40 specialists that you have on most specialist heavy planets during the mid-game only saves you 4 total civ goods per planet so you gotta be going for some sort of civ goods saving builds with environmentalist civic and conservative trait to take full advantage of that with an exact 0.32 cost per pop so that civ goods usage is reduced across the board in your empire for usage in other things such as maxing science. This means that a single consumer goods factory can produce goods for a total of 27,5 pops not adjusted for habitability and other modifiers.

Ironically the reduced civ goods requirements is more useful for huge expansion pushes than other living standards as your younger colonies will have a greater leader to worker/specialist ratio on them than your older planets.

Personally I don't think happiness is that important anymore as the new political power system means that the most important is who you keep happy, not that everybody in your empire is happy (the SB civic only gives +5% happiness across all pops after all). The Shared Burdens civic gives every pop 1 political power which means that the stability on your planet will largely be dependent on the strata that's the largest. Sometimes it's going to be workers and sometimes specialists.

It's actually even better than that, because 2.2 has made migration very easy and consistent. Just find a species who can live on the planet you want to colonize and make a treaty with them. They will inevitably rush to your gaia world and then you can use them to colonise more planets. It's an interesting playstyle because your primary species will often end up a minority.

Also, it turns ringworlds into ka-ching worlds.

Sorry, that was bad.. I'll go now.

Not a bad idea! Also love the pun!

 

[evilcat]

+20 admin cap is huge. I am playing megacorp in 2240, and my total admin cap is 100. I am creeping above it at 105 and penalties are harsh. Without bureaucracy I would have had 80 cap and it would be crushing.

Great bonus.

With Buerocracy it is important to stay on endge. If you are below admin cap there is no benefit for you. If you are 400 above cap, buerocracy will not help you much. But if you are around 100 then this last 20 may be critical.