First post here, so let me begin by congratulating the Stellaris devs for the best strategy experience I have had in years. What really sets Stellaris apart from other strategy games is in my opinion the rich empire creation and customization, especially after Utopia and Banks. Having numerous and unique empire setups by mixing and matching all the different ethics, traits and civics really does wonders for the replayability of the game.
That being said, an empire setup I was looking forward to playing is the Fanatic Egalitarian/Militarist a.k.a. the "Democratic Crusaders", named after the A.I. personality that gets assigned to this particular ethics combination. The way I envisioned my game, my empire would strive to scour the galaxy of authoritarian regimes, whether those would abuse their own or foreign species. Any democratic non xenophobe empires would obviously not be targeted, instead the idea being a grand democratic federation of similar minded empires that would persist until the galaxy was free of dictators and tyrants, ensuring eternal democracy (and winning a federation victory). What really makes this playstyle interesting in my opinion is that you can play a militarist empire that is selective about whom to attack, instead of a stereotypical expansionist empire which views everyone as a target sooner or later, plus you can enjoy both the military and diplomatic (federation) game in the same run.
That was the idea anyway, before finding out that pops that belong to the militarist faction get a crippling -25 to their happiness should their empire join any federation, bringing approximately a third of the population in the brink of rebellion. Not only is this their single greatest gripe, but judging from the rest of this faction's issues it is evident that they are all about conquering the whole galaxy by themselves. Needless to say, this is extremely incompatible with the democratic crusaders playstyle and gets even more confusing by the fact that the aforementioned A.I. personality has an inherent +10 federation acceptance modifier.
Another playstyle that gets hit hard by this issue is the Fanatic Xenophile/Militarist empire. Think of it as the Blorg minus the repugnant trait, a playstyle that is both extremely viable and interesting. From an RP perspective, one can think of an empire that believes that every sentient life has meaning, that purges are an atrocity, and that all the different species of the galaxy should eventually learn to coexist with each other (emphasis on eventually). At the same time, it knows that it will probably have to enforce these beliefs by force of arms. After all, the great void is filled with fanatical purifiers, jingoistic precursors, and inscrutable horrors lying in wait outside the galaxy or beyond the gates of reality itself. What would be more logical than to unite the empires who not only have the same strong convictions, but also the strength and determination to see them through? Well tough luck, form something as simple as a two party federation, and be prepared to deal with the rebellion of a third of your population. Bonus points for the fact that a fanatic xenophile/militarist A.I. empire can actually get assigned the "Federation Builders" personality.
Summing up, at the moment the militarist faction seems really inconsistent with the aforementioned playstyles, mostly due to its members being hellbent on conquering the whole galaxy by themselves. If the devs' vision for the militarist faction is indeed the total subjugation of the galaxy, an alternate militarist faction could be created to cater for empires who are also egalitarian or xenophile (like in the case of the xenophobe ethic having two distinct factions depending on the rest of an empire's ethics). A simpler solution would be the removal of the "Strong Alone" (not-in-federation) issue of the militarist faction, perhaps replacing it with a desire to have the strongest fleet among the neighbouring empires, same way the technologist faction wants the empire's tech level to be at least equivalent to neighbours' one. At the very least, the crippling -25 happiness malus could be replaced with a lighter penalty, for example -10 would be more than enough.
Most of my info comes from the official wiki, so apologies if there are any inconsistencies. Thanks for reading, it would be great to hear some of the other player's or dev's opinions on this.
That being said, an empire setup I was looking forward to playing is the Fanatic Egalitarian/Militarist a.k.a. the "Democratic Crusaders", named after the A.I. personality that gets assigned to this particular ethics combination. The way I envisioned my game, my empire would strive to scour the galaxy of authoritarian regimes, whether those would abuse their own or foreign species. Any democratic non xenophobe empires would obviously not be targeted, instead the idea being a grand democratic federation of similar minded empires that would persist until the galaxy was free of dictators and tyrants, ensuring eternal democracy (and winning a federation victory). What really makes this playstyle interesting in my opinion is that you can play a militarist empire that is selective about whom to attack, instead of a stereotypical expansionist empire which views everyone as a target sooner or later, plus you can enjoy both the military and diplomatic (federation) game in the same run.
That was the idea anyway, before finding out that pops that belong to the militarist faction get a crippling -25 to their happiness should their empire join any federation, bringing approximately a third of the population in the brink of rebellion. Not only is this their single greatest gripe, but judging from the rest of this faction's issues it is evident that they are all about conquering the whole galaxy by themselves. Needless to say, this is extremely incompatible with the democratic crusaders playstyle and gets even more confusing by the fact that the aforementioned A.I. personality has an inherent +10 federation acceptance modifier.
Another playstyle that gets hit hard by this issue is the Fanatic Xenophile/Militarist empire. Think of it as the Blorg minus the repugnant trait, a playstyle that is both extremely viable and interesting. From an RP perspective, one can think of an empire that believes that every sentient life has meaning, that purges are an atrocity, and that all the different species of the galaxy should eventually learn to coexist with each other (emphasis on eventually). At the same time, it knows that it will probably have to enforce these beliefs by force of arms. After all, the great void is filled with fanatical purifiers, jingoistic precursors, and inscrutable horrors lying in wait outside the galaxy or beyond the gates of reality itself. What would be more logical than to unite the empires who not only have the same strong convictions, but also the strength and determination to see them through? Well tough luck, form something as simple as a two party federation, and be prepared to deal with the rebellion of a third of your population. Bonus points for the fact that a fanatic xenophile/militarist A.I. empire can actually get assigned the "Federation Builders" personality.
Summing up, at the moment the militarist faction seems really inconsistent with the aforementioned playstyles, mostly due to its members being hellbent on conquering the whole galaxy by themselves. If the devs' vision for the militarist faction is indeed the total subjugation of the galaxy, an alternate militarist faction could be created to cater for empires who are also egalitarian or xenophile (like in the case of the xenophobe ethic having two distinct factions depending on the rest of an empire's ethics). A simpler solution would be the removal of the "Strong Alone" (not-in-federation) issue of the militarist faction, perhaps replacing it with a desire to have the strongest fleet among the neighbouring empires, same way the technologist faction wants the empire's tech level to be at least equivalent to neighbours' one. At the very least, the crippling -25 happiness malus could be replaced with a lighter penalty, for example -10 would be more than enough.
Most of my info comes from the official wiki, so apologies if there are any inconsistencies. Thanks for reading, it would be great to hear some of the other player's or dev's opinions on this.
