I didn't get to try much of the shroudwalkers stuff as of now for the exact reasons Nerisande said : influence is dreadfully hard to get when playing any kind of non-sluggish empire, once you get experienced enough.
I actually NEVER build habitats (just once since 2.0, when void dwellers came out) and very rarely restore Ecumenopleis (and never take the perk), because I feel it's a huge waste of influence. It gives very little buffs compared to getting numerous planets through expansion or claims, even though I often play with few habitable worlds (0.5 or 0.25 most of the time).
Interstellar Dominion, on the opposite, is an absolute necessity and is always the first or second AP I take (depending on how fast I get the first AP). And even with such cost reductions, I'm forced to play xenophobe, authoritarian, fanatic militarist with lots of empires or genocidal.
Adding to that, GC and favors has never ever been something to be considered and, now that it costs influence, espionnage is the same.
Research agreements and trade pacts are something I do mainly for my dominant factions and sometimes for what they offer me, when they are particularly good.
Elections are never an option to spend influence on either.
Sure, most megastructure no longers cost influence, and that's a huge relief, but now there's hyper relays and orbital rings that cost even more, relatively.
Influence is the only resource in the whole game that never adapts to fit different paces of gameplay and can't be tinkered with, even in galaxy generation.
