This thread is borrowing heavily and building off of a previous thread, Leader Biographies, history & traits by Pancakelord. So probably go read that first.
Currently, leaders are five things: A type, a level, an xp bar, an age, and some traits. The only story or lore they have is that which the player head cannons for them. This is a tragic waste of potential, and why this thread is getting made.
Leader Changes
To start off, some base mechanical changes to leaders: The leader pool is much expanded, but does not fill emptied slots. You can't just constantly cycle energy for the specific traits you want; either the leader is there or it isn't. New candidates would slowly be added to the pool. A smaller number of current possible recruits and a larger population size increase the rate at which new candidates are added. There would be a slight bonus to the appearance of a species if it has no active leaders or candidates in *any* leader category, and a smaller bonus if there isn't a leader or candidate of that leader type (something like this might already exist). Candidates in the pool will gain XP at a slow rate, something like 0.5 xp per month (10% of normal xp gain). The hiring cost of leaders would be increased slightly per xp they have. Candidates would have a chance to leave the pool if they have been in it the longest, and will always leave once they hit their lifespan.
While I considered adding stats a la CKII or Imperator, I decided it was unnecessary. The main purpose of those stats is for any character to be able to play any roles, and that isn't a thing in Stellaris. Instead, there will simply be a significant increase in the number of traits (traits covered in a separate section at the end).
Every non-ruler Leader trait will have an associated Ruler trait (or possibly multiple possible), but there will also be a list of ruler only traits. Every leader would have a hidden Ruler trait, either from the list or a trait from another leader type, and it wouldn't be seen unless they are being offered as a candidate to be ruler. When an Imperial government creates an heir, an event fires where you can choose what type of leader they will be while in training. Certain civics would give bonus influence (like 25 or 50) for a specific choice:
Ethics and Satisfaction
All leaders would have two Ethic points (like old pops), and so can either be split across two non-opposed ethics or be fanatic in one. One point of the ethic is based on the ethics of the pop that generated the leaders, the other is semi-random (Deviant and conformist traits have a significant influence, general ethics attraction to a smaller degree). Leaders may shift in their ethics, this can happen by an event/anomaly/digsite, or be a chance to happen based on their traits, job, and situation (Restrained Generals become pacifist, scientists become materialist, Admirals fighting against Fanatic Purifiers become xenophobe, etc.). When this happens it would fire an alert which when clicked expands into a full event window with some flavor text and a generic image.
Factions would ONLY be able to be headed by a leader with at least 1 point of that ethic. If there is no faction leader the faction will still exist, but will not give the "existing faction" modifier to ethics attraction. Faction leadership can also change based on priority: a Fanatic leader of that ethic will take over from a split ethic leader, and a leader at least 2 level higher already in that faction will take over from an inexperienced leader (provided the lower level leader isn't more fanatic). The satisfaction of the Leader heading a faction would have a small effect on the happiness of that faction (-5 to +5). Factions do have room for more than one leader (although only 1 heads the faction), mainly for satisfaction reasons (see next paragraph). Here is a detailed breakdown of how Leaders decide which faction to join:
Leader satisfaction (or happiness, or contentment) is a measure of how much the leader enjoys working for your empire. The base happiness for a leader starts at 50 when hired (or 70 for starting leaders), and ticks towards the approval rating of the faction they are in, or towards 50 if in no faction. The farther away from the midpoint, the stronger the tick (something like -0.1 monthly for every 10 above, +0.1 monthly for every 10 below). What makes a leader satisfied depends on their traits, but it generally correlates to the bonus it gives: Expertise void craft scientists get satisfaction from researching void craft techs, roamer or meticulous scientists get satisfaction from surveying, etc. See the list of traits at the bottom for a full list of which traits grant satisfaction.
There are also generic things that will always grant satisfaction:
Leader Biographies
Let's cover how the system worked in Leader Biographies and the few changes I'm making to it. This also covers some mechanics behind the scenes for how leader work.
Leaders are generated long before they appear in the pool. They are born at the age of 0, and at that point the game caches what planet they were born on and what species they are(The Born on X to Y parents line). At the age of 5, 10, and 15 the game looks at if they planet they live on has any emigration. If it does, then there is a roll to see if the leader moves to a planet receiving immigration, adding an early life event if they do. At 20 the game checks how many available leaders there are waiting to be put I queue, and assigns a leader type based on that (trying to keep a proportional balance of the different types of leaders, with a base minimum). It also checks the planet the leader is living on, and what possible buildings/modifiers are there to pull traits from and generate life events (ie. published a revolutionary thesis at X research institute, made a small fortune on the galactic stock exchange of X, embraced egalitarian ideals during a period of unrest, etc.). Some life events would grant traits, some would give some non-trait bonus/change (like starting initial level or ethics shift), and some would be purely flavor.
Life events during game would be mostly the same, but on any event evolving that leader, there is a button at the top to say "add this to leader's timeline". Several things are always added: hiring, death, gaining traits, becoming leader, and joining/leaving a faction (all) serving in wars and capturing capitals (for generals), serving in wars, defeating the Khan/Tempest, slaying leviathans, and killing crisis objectives(for admirals), completing digsites, precursor anomalies, opening the L-Gate, and researching rare/dangerous technologies (for scientists), Being assigned to or removed from a sector(requires a year to 'stick' so won't trigger for constant shuffling), planets gaining or losing modifiers, Terraforming planets, or building megastructures within their sector (for governors). But any anomaly, technology, battle, or even building completion could be added to a leader's timeline, if you so choose.
For a battle, it might go something like this:
In 2254.3.20, Admiral X fought [A hopeless battle against/while greatly outnumbered by/the superior force of/the matched fleets of/the inferior forces of/a pathetic fleet from] the X Empire [(none)/over [planet X]/at [starbase X]] in the X system. His/her forces were [totally destroyed/utterly decimated/damaged badly/pummeled heavily/left mostly intact/dealt some losses/barely scratched/completely untouched] when he/she [was defeated by/withdrew from/pushed back/was victorious against] the [totally destroyed/utterly decimated/badly damaged/heavily pummeled/mostly intact/marginally damaged/barely scratched/completely untouched] enemy [fleet/fleets/armada] [led by admiral X/led by admirals X, Y, and Z/(none)].
The first variable is a comparison of fleet power between the two forces in the battle. Hopeless Battle is probably for 5+ to 1, Greatly outnumbered is 2+ to 1, etc. Next is the location of the battle: if a starbase is involved its name is pulled, or if it's over a planet/body the name is pulled. The system name would be a pointer rather than just a copy of the name, so that if the system is renamed you can still find the location of battles. Next up is how many losses your fleet took, whether you lost, emergency FTLed, made the enemy emergency FTL, or won; how many losses the enemy took, if they had 1, 2-3, or 4+ fleets, and the names of any enemy admirals present.
Leader Traits
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the paradox forums have a way to insert a table, so I had to use a google sheet instead. Feel free to add suggestions/corrections. I'm especially in need of scientist ruler variations, if people have ideas.
There are quite a number of traits, and going through them is going to take me a bit, so as of the moment I've only mostly completed the generic, leader, scientist, and admiral traits. Both the rest of existing traits, as well as more new traits are going to be added eventually.
One thing I did do, was make "eye for talent" and "selected lineages" add a special trait to new leaders, rather then just a flat buff to all. Didn't make much sense that your new selected lineage was buffing an 80 yo scientist. Capacity Boosters would apply to everyone though.
Currently, leaders are five things: A type, a level, an xp bar, an age, and some traits. The only story or lore they have is that which the player head cannons for them. This is a tragic waste of potential, and why this thread is getting made.
Leader Changes
To start off, some base mechanical changes to leaders: The leader pool is much expanded, but does not fill emptied slots. You can't just constantly cycle energy for the specific traits you want; either the leader is there or it isn't. New candidates would slowly be added to the pool. A smaller number of current possible recruits and a larger population size increase the rate at which new candidates are added. There would be a slight bonus to the appearance of a species if it has no active leaders or candidates in *any* leader category, and a smaller bonus if there isn't a leader or candidate of that leader type (something like this might already exist). Candidates in the pool will gain XP at a slow rate, something like 0.5 xp per month (10% of normal xp gain). The hiring cost of leaders would be increased slightly per xp they have. Candidates would have a chance to leave the pool if they have been in it the longest, and will always leave once they hit their lifespan.
While I considered adding stats a la CKII or Imperator, I decided it was unnecessary. The main purpose of those stats is for any character to be able to play any roles, and that isn't a thing in Stellaris. Instead, there will simply be a significant increase in the number of traits (traits covered in a separate section at the end).
Every non-ruler Leader trait will have an associated Ruler trait (or possibly multiple possible), but there will also be a list of ruler only traits. Every leader would have a hidden Ruler trait, either from the list or a trait from another leader type, and it wouldn't be seen unless they are being offered as a candidate to be ruler. When an Imperial government creates an heir, an event fires where you can choose what type of leader they will be while in training. Certain civics would give bonus influence (like 25 or 50) for a specific choice:
- Governor: Aristocratic Elite, Agrarian Idyll, Byzantine Bureaucracy
- Scientist: Technocracy, Mechanist
- Admiral: Distinguished Admiralty, Barbaric Despoilers
- General: Warrior Culture, Fanatical Purifiers
Ethics and Satisfaction
All leaders would have two Ethic points (like old pops), and so can either be split across two non-opposed ethics or be fanatic in one. One point of the ethic is based on the ethics of the pop that generated the leaders, the other is semi-random (Deviant and conformist traits have a significant influence, general ethics attraction to a smaller degree). Leaders may shift in their ethics, this can happen by an event/anomaly/digsite, or be a chance to happen based on their traits, job, and situation (Restrained Generals become pacifist, scientists become materialist, Admirals fighting against Fanatic Purifiers become xenophobe, etc.). When this happens it would fire an alert which when clicked expands into a full event window with some flavor text and a generic image.
Factions would ONLY be able to be headed by a leader with at least 1 point of that ethic. If there is no faction leader the faction will still exist, but will not give the "existing faction" modifier to ethics attraction. Faction leadership can also change based on priority: a Fanatic leader of that ethic will take over from a split ethic leader, and a leader at least 2 level higher already in that faction will take over from an inexperienced leader (provided the lower level leader isn't more fanatic). The satisfaction of the Leader heading a faction would have a small effect on the happiness of that faction (-5 to +5). Factions do have room for more than one leader (although only 1 heads the faction), mainly for satisfaction reasons (see next paragraph). Here is a detailed breakdown of how Leaders decide which faction to join:
- Am I a fanatic ethic? If so, join that faction OR create it if it doesn't exist.
- Do I share no ethics with the faction I'm in? If so, leave current faction.
- If I'm not heading a faction, Is there a faction of one of my ethics which I would head should I join? If so, join it and become leader.
- Am I atleast 70% satisfied and share an ethic with the governing ethics? If so, join the faction for that governing ethic (coin flip if two shared).
- Am I atleast 70% satisfied and is one of my ethics' faction is above 50% approval? If so, join highest approval faction sharing my ethic.
- Am I atleast 70% satisfied and am not the leader of my faction, which has less then 50% approval? If so, leave current faction.
- Am I under 50% satisfied and have a non-governing ethic? If so join the non governing faction(coin flip if two shared).
- Am I under 40% satisfied and have two governing ethics, and am in a governing ethic faction? If so, leave current faction.
Leader satisfaction (or happiness, or contentment) is a measure of how much the leader enjoys working for your empire. The base happiness for a leader starts at 50 when hired (or 70 for starting leaders), and ticks towards the approval rating of the faction they are in, or towards 50 if in no faction. The farther away from the midpoint, the stronger the tick (something like -0.1 monthly for every 10 above, +0.1 monthly for every 10 below). What makes a leader satisfied depends on their traits, but it generally correlates to the bonus it gives: Expertise void craft scientists get satisfaction from researching void craft techs, roamer or meticulous scientists get satisfaction from surveying, etc. See the list of traits at the bottom for a full list of which traits grant satisfaction.
There are also generic things that will always grant satisfaction:
- Scientists: Being assigned to a research devision (+0.1 monthly)
- Governors: Being assigned to the core sector (+0.2 monthly)
- Admirals/Generals: Being at war (+0.1 monthly)
- Admirals: Being in command of a full fleet (+0.1 monthly)
- Generals: Being in command of atleast 6 armies, and more then any other general (+0.1 monthly)
Leader Biographies
Let's cover how the system worked in Leader Biographies and the few changes I'm making to it. This also covers some mechanics behind the scenes for how leader work.
Leaders are generated long before they appear in the pool. They are born at the age of 0, and at that point the game caches what planet they were born on and what species they are(The Born on X to Y parents line). At the age of 5, 10, and 15 the game looks at if they planet they live on has any emigration. If it does, then there is a roll to see if the leader moves to a planet receiving immigration, adding an early life event if they do. At 20 the game checks how many available leaders there are waiting to be put I queue, and assigns a leader type based on that (trying to keep a proportional balance of the different types of leaders, with a base minimum). It also checks the planet the leader is living on, and what possible buildings/modifiers are there to pull traits from and generate life events (ie. published a revolutionary thesis at X research institute, made a small fortune on the galactic stock exchange of X, embraced egalitarian ideals during a period of unrest, etc.). Some life events would grant traits, some would give some non-trait bonus/change (like starting initial level or ethics shift), and some would be purely flavor.
Life events during game would be mostly the same, but on any event evolving that leader, there is a button at the top to say "add this to leader's timeline". Several things are always added: hiring, death, gaining traits, becoming leader, and joining/leaving a faction (all) serving in wars and capturing capitals (for generals), serving in wars, defeating the Khan/Tempest, slaying leviathans, and killing crisis objectives(for admirals), completing digsites, precursor anomalies, opening the L-Gate, and researching rare/dangerous technologies (for scientists), Being assigned to or removed from a sector(requires a year to 'stick' so won't trigger for constant shuffling), planets gaining or losing modifiers, Terraforming planets, or building megastructures within their sector (for governors). But any anomaly, technology, battle, or even building completion could be added to a leader's timeline, if you so choose.
For a battle, it might go something like this:
In 2254.3.20, Admiral X fought [A hopeless battle against/while greatly outnumbered by/the superior force of/the matched fleets of/the inferior forces of/a pathetic fleet from] the X Empire [(none)/over [planet X]/at [starbase X]] in the X system. His/her forces were [totally destroyed/utterly decimated/damaged badly/pummeled heavily/left mostly intact/dealt some losses/barely scratched/completely untouched] when he/she [was defeated by/withdrew from/pushed back/was victorious against] the [totally destroyed/utterly decimated/badly damaged/heavily pummeled/mostly intact/marginally damaged/barely scratched/completely untouched] enemy [fleet/fleets/armada] [led by admiral X/led by admirals X, Y, and Z/(none)].
The first variable is a comparison of fleet power between the two forces in the battle. Hopeless Battle is probably for 5+ to 1, Greatly outnumbered is 2+ to 1, etc. Next is the location of the battle: if a starbase is involved its name is pulled, or if it's over a planet/body the name is pulled. The system name would be a pointer rather than just a copy of the name, so that if the system is renamed you can still find the location of battles. Next up is how many losses your fleet took, whether you lost, emergency FTLed, made the enemy emergency FTL, or won; how many losses the enemy took, if they had 1, 2-3, or 4+ fleets, and the names of any enemy admirals present.
Leader Traits
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the paradox forums have a way to insert a table, so I had to use a google sheet instead. Feel free to add suggestions/corrections. I'm especially in need of scientist ruler variations, if people have ideas.
There are quite a number of traits, and going through them is going to take me a bit, so as of the moment I've only mostly completed the generic, leader, scientist, and admiral traits. Both the rest of existing traits, as well as more new traits are going to be added eventually.
One thing I did do, was make "eye for talent" and "selected lineages" add a special trait to new leaders, rather then just a flat buff to all. Didn't make much sense that your new selected lineage was buffing an 80 yo scientist. Capacity Boosters would apply to everyone though.
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