Imperium of Man build

[Dakka]

Ok, so I've been waiting to purge Heresy for quite some time (mostly for some more stuff to be added to Stellaris to deepen it a bit from the launch experience), and myself am fairly newish (52 hours) to Stellaris. Utopia has been looking like it will fill that void for me, so my question: best way to represent the Imperium of Man?
I'm talking about the grimdark 40k version as opposed to it's noblebright 30k rendition. The emperor is dead(ish), etc.
So ethics:
Militaristic
Spiritualist
Xenophobic

What about government? It seems Bureaucratic Despotism is absent from the government forms I don't feel a god-emperor would be appropriate as the Emperor isn't really performing the actual ruling at this point.

Warp drives for FTL? What about weapons? Tech steering? Etc.
Help a noob live his dream of crushing all the foul Xenos

 

[Pooks1]

It's a bit difficult to say since we don't have the full civics list yet so I can't recommend anything. As for the government type I think the oligarchic form of government would suit you. FTL- warp drive, mass drivers for starting weapons, other than that there isn't much to say at this point.

 

[henzington]

Would make an argument for fanatic purifier.

 

[Vahouth]

Would make an argument for fanatic purifier.

I'm not so sure about that. I mean, sure, they're full on purge the heretic/xeno etc, but still the Imperium is tolerant of abhumans like ogryns, halflings, etc.
Also there are many examples of diplomacy and/or alliances between the Imperium and the Eldar or the Tau, something a fanatic purifier would never do.

 

[Blodo]

I'm not so sure about that. I mean, sure, they're full on purge the heretic/xeno etc, but still the Imperium is tolerant of abhumans like ogryns, halflings, etc.
Also there are many examples of diplomacy and/or alliances between the Imperium and the Eldar or the Tau, something a fanatic purifier would never do.

The abhumans are all derived from humans, means in Stellaris terms Imperium of Man would follow the genetic ascension path (quite obviously since it leads to gene warriors/space marines). Then you can genemod humans into ogryns and halflings yourself.

Diplomacy between the Imperium and other races though, pretty much nonexistant. Officially they were always at war with them, the only thing that ever took place were either cease fires after a conflict (Damocles Crusade), or a short "alliance of convenience" which basically meant there was something else much worse that needed to be killed first. In Stellaris terms basically means "we wont declare war on you right now, because your neighbour that you're at war with needs to be taken out first". Or better yet, feigns and deception to get your enemies to fight one another, like when the Eldar tried to stop Hive Fleet Leviathan by burning Imperial worlds which got 40 Space Marine chapters to respond, at which point they left and let the Imperium fight the Tyranids head on.

I'm definitely in the fanatic purifier camp for this.

 

[Vahouth]

The abhumans are all derived from humans, means in Stellaris terms Imperium of Man would follow the genetic ascension path (quite obviously since it leads to gene warriors/space marines). Then you can genemod humans into ogryns and halflings yourself.

Diplomacy between the Imperium and other races though, pretty much nonexistant. Officially they were always at war with them, the only thing that ever took place were either cease fires after a conflict (Damocles Crusade), or a short "alliance of convenience" which basically meant there was something else much worse that needed to be killed first. In Stellaris terms basically means "we wont declare war on you right now, because your neighbour that you're at war with needs to be taken out first". Or better yet, feigns and deception to get your enemies to fight one another, like when the Eldar tried to stop Hive Fleet Leviathan by burning Imperial worlds which got 40 Space Marine chapters to respond, at which point they left and let the Imperium fight the Tyranids head on.

I'm definitely in the fanatic purifier camp for this.

Fair enough.
I'd definitely go for the psy ascension path later on though.

 

[The Founder]

Ok, so I've been waiting to purge Heresy for quite some time (mostly for some more stuff to be added to Stellaris to deepen it a bit from the launch experience), and myself am fairly newish (52 hours) to Stellaris. Utopia has been looking like it will fill that void for me, so my question: best way to represent the Imperium of Man?

I made a Steam guide on how to do "Imitation Empires". I delved into the Warhammer 40k Setting in Particular:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=689073779

The big issues here is the Ethic Shift brought on by the Setting itself and that the Imperium of Man is actually more then 1 Faction (I count 4 Army Factions alone).

 

[TestosteroneLol]

Some combination of xenophobia, militarism, authoritarianism and spiritualism. And either an imperial or oligarchic system of government. There's an argument for fanatic purifier but also whatever the trait equivalent of hegemonic imperialists is (where because of your xenophobia you exterminate the alien, the mutant, the heretic anyway).

 

[Slynx]

in 1.4 it's definitely Transcendent Empire as a government. God-Emperor leader after all.

 

[Caspoi]

Modern day imperium would probably be fanatical xenophobe spiritualist, remember exactly how much they hate aliens and also take into consideration the fact that while we mostly see their armies the general imperium does not seem "that" militaristic (and most of the existing militarism can easily come from their xenophobia) and even the imperial forces seem fairly defensive, all the while there is a great amount of worship for the God-Emperor of Mankind.

 

[sdeezie]

One great thing about Utopia is that you'll be able to spend influence to change your empire ethos, so, you can go through "phases" with your Imperium.

I intend to do something like this with the Commonwealth of Man: shifting between Fanatical Xenophobe and Fanatical Militarist to unlock Fanatical Purger when needed, depending on my neighbors.

 

[Mitchz95]

I'd guess Collectivist/Spiritualist/Xenophobic. Militarism is kinda the unspoken result of that combo.

 

[Kopesh]

The Imperium of Man is ruled by the High Lords of Terra. They justify their rule as being divinely inspired by the Emperor. The High Lords are the highest ranking members of the different organisations that make up the Imperium. The Emperor is currently a corpse. His soul may still cling to his body, but he does not rule the Imperium in any real sense.

I made my version of the Imperium into a Theocratic Oligarchy. You could also argue that Military Junta would fit. Given that the Imperium have no single leader at the top, no version of monarchy/dictatorship would fit.

 

[nestorius]

I wouldnt say they are fanatical anything. They interact at times with xenos and in stellaris would even be forced to at times trade. I think the ethos setup is about right with spiritulist, militarist and xenophobe. Regarding who rules well overall I think it would be very difficult to decide I guess military junta would probably be closest or the theocratic oligarchy then again even despotic empire or military dictatorship would be good after all lords of terra are usually for life.

I would name the ruler regent or something like that specifically regarding the ethos

collectivism - guess the standard type could be applied definitely the empire is more collectivist just not fully so.
Xenophobe - Here I would argue it can go to fanatic but the empire also has several factions elements that are a little bit more understanding then kill on sight still the aim should eventually be purge the alien
militarist - again I would go for militarist but bot fanantic fanatic is more for some empires like klingons or something similar I would just say its a little too extreme here
spiritulist - there is enormous difference here yes you have the extreme factions but overall people are a bit less extreme in their religions plus you have factions like astartes that dont believe the emperor is a god. Spiritualist empires are already quite religious even materialist empires can have some religion.

 

[tobias.mb]

The biggest problem of a WH40K setting is probably, that the empire is not really one coherent entity.
The government as a whole should probably be a spiritualist oligarchy. The high-lords of terra are the top of the empire and justify their rule through the god-emperor, who isn't capable of doing it (or anything at all) himself.
But different organisations in the empire have really different ethos.
All of them would probably be spiritualist, but apart from the adeptus sororitas, fan. spiritualist doesn't seem to fit.
The adeptus astartes seem to be fan. mil.
And the imperial army leans more towards collectivist.
Then there is the adeptus mechanicus, which should probably be fan. materialist.
Next is the Inquisition, who is either fan. spiritualist or fan. xenophobe depending on what they hunt (heretics or xenos).

As an empire wide ethos I'd probably go with spiritualist, xenophobe, collectivist. I think collectivist fits rather well, since the empire doesn't seem to give two shits about individuals and prioritise keeping up production etc.
Militarist definitly fits all the military orders, but the empire as a whole doesn't really seem to go to war just because they like fighting, but rather because they feel like that's their only choice if they want to survive.

Even ascension paths are completely all over the place. The emperor himself definitly went through both biological and psionic ascension leaning more towards psionic I think. His Space Marines are the product of biological ascension, though there are also psionic humans, so humanity has also taken the first step towards psionic ascension as well.
The adeptus mechanicus are using mechanical implants which would suggest a synth ascension path in Stellaris.

 

[Secret Master]

Question:

Given how populations are treated on various hive worlds, would collectivist make sense in terms of having the option to enslave your own people?

Obviously, the empire would just purge xenos, but there are plenty of worlds that might fit some of the new slavery models coming out.

 

[The Founder]

Question:

Given how populations are treated on various hive worlds, would collectivist make sense in terms of having the option to enslave your own people?

Obviously, the empire would just purge xenos, but there are plenty of worlds that might fit some of the new slavery models coming out.

Oh, most definitely a level of Collectivist for Slavery and low Living Standarts.
And slave armies. The Imperial Guard struck me as a slave army first and foremost.
I actually mentioned both parts in my guide.

 

[Caspoi]

Well, more like harsh conscription cannon fodder, only the convicts really come close to a proper slave army.

 

[Kopesh]

Slave armies would represent the Penal Legions. Normal armies and garrisons would represent the Imperial Guard and Planetary Defence Forces respectively. Having Collectivist is justifiable as the individual is not valued in the Imperium, and almost the whole workforce is made up of indentured servants, serfs and slaves.

 

[The Founder]

Well, more like harsh conscription cannon fodder, only the convicts really come close to a proper slave army.

If the average Citizen are Slaves (by name or not), then people joining the army to "escape thier lot in life" would make sense as justification for Slave Armies.
It also helps that Comissar squads are attachments mostly there for unreliable (low morale) armies.

It is a toss-up between Slave Army and regular assault army. But I feel like Slave Army captures it a bit better.