With Nemesis and the espionage expansion on its way, Stellaris has in my opinion almost all the things added or fixed which had still needed work. The only thing missing now is domestic politics.
Although the introduction of factions in Utopia went into the right direction, it is still pretty stale and they more or less serve only as a source of political influence. Factions should be dynamic and changing and with their own agenda to pursuit. Like in real life, factions in Stellaris should be able to either grow or shrink in size of members and influence as a result of internal or external developments. For example, a growing economy and good living standards might give rise to large factions of traders and workers, who use their newfound wealth to gain political influence in order to secure or even widen the economic opportunities. Stratified and hierarchical systems on the other hand would be dominated by small but powerful factions representing the elite who work to secure their power. Diplomatic relations or a new enemy would benefit pacifists or militarists etc. These factions should also approve or disapprove of more actions then they currently do, for example certain resolutions of the Galactic Community, edicts and so on. And therefore factions could either support or trying to block certain actions of the ruler, also in democratic empires they would send candidates to the elections. Should the empire go in a direction one or several factions disapprove of they could trigger events like protests and strikes, which the player would react to. In the worst case the members could start an uprising or even a civil war.
Since the new updates of Imperator: Rome came out, I heard a lot of good things and also read about some of the new mechanics. Even though I don't play that game myself (yet), from what I understand it seems to go into the direction I was talking about so far. For example, in one video a player described how he handed powerful government positions to influental families who in return supported his reign. These families became very powerful and later tried to use their influence to turn the republic into an oligarchy to secure their new power base. This kind of internal dynamic is something I would love to see in Stellaris as well and would fix what I consider the last weak link in that magnificient game.
PS: If someone is interested what video I was referring to, it is called "The Rebirth of Imperator: Rome" by "One Proud Bavarian" on YouTube.
Although the introduction of factions in Utopia went into the right direction, it is still pretty stale and they more or less serve only as a source of political influence. Factions should be dynamic and changing and with their own agenda to pursuit. Like in real life, factions in Stellaris should be able to either grow or shrink in size of members and influence as a result of internal or external developments. For example, a growing economy and good living standards might give rise to large factions of traders and workers, who use their newfound wealth to gain political influence in order to secure or even widen the economic opportunities. Stratified and hierarchical systems on the other hand would be dominated by small but powerful factions representing the elite who work to secure their power. Diplomatic relations or a new enemy would benefit pacifists or militarists etc. These factions should also approve or disapprove of more actions then they currently do, for example certain resolutions of the Galactic Community, edicts and so on. And therefore factions could either support or trying to block certain actions of the ruler, also in democratic empires they would send candidates to the elections. Should the empire go in a direction one or several factions disapprove of they could trigger events like protests and strikes, which the player would react to. In the worst case the members could start an uprising or even a civil war.
Since the new updates of Imperator: Rome came out, I heard a lot of good things and also read about some of the new mechanics. Even though I don't play that game myself (yet), from what I understand it seems to go into the direction I was talking about so far. For example, in one video a player described how he handed powerful government positions to influental families who in return supported his reign. These families became very powerful and later tried to use their influence to turn the republic into an oligarchy to secure their new power base. This kind of internal dynamic is something I would love to see in Stellaris as well and would fix what I consider the last weak link in that magnificient game.
PS: If someone is interested what video I was referring to, it is called "The Rebirth of Imperator: Rome" by "One Proud Bavarian" on YouTube.
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