Megacorp Civic Ideas (20)

[Lazy Name]

Part 1 | Part 2

Some of my proposed Megacorp civics, both more standard minor civics and more complex ones. Credit to @Tamwin5 for some of the edits.

Minor Civics

Spoiler: Minor Civics

Corporate Heir (Edited)

This Megacorperation is run by a single family, which goes to great lengths to perfect their offspring and further their legacy.​

Increased Ruler experience gain and increased Ruler level cap. Uses Imperial leader system.​

Employee Benefits (Edited)

This Megacorperation has built up a reputation for its lavish benefits, which does wonders for raising employee satisfaction.​

All free pops have increased Consumer Goods upkeep, and must use Social Welfare or higher Living Standards. Amenities output increased. For every X pops creates the "Paid Leave" job, which produces Amenities, Unity and Trade Value.​

Eccentric Founder (Edited)

This Megacorperation is centered around the vision of its unusual and charismatic founder, whos legacy continues to steer it into the future.​

The first ruler starts with a slightly higher level and has the Charismatic trait. They will have the unique "Build Legacy" Agenda, which increases stability, resources from jobs, and monthly Influence. Uses Dictatorial leader system. Could also work as an origin.​

Prestigious Reputation (Edited)

This Megacorperation enjoys a reputation for prestige and greatness, and is able to pick from the cream of the crop across the galaxy to serve in their workforce.​

Has reduced migration pull. For every Migration Pact active, receives a small boost to specialist output. Increased opinion with other empires. Cannot be Xenophobic.​

Worker Cooperative (Edited)

This Megacorperation is jointly owned and run by its members, each of whom is simultaneously employee, owner and consumer.​

Must be Egalitarian. Can use the Shared Burdens living standard. Must use either Shared Burdens, Utopian Abundance, or Chemical Bliss, and uses the Democratic leader system. Increased happiness, and decreased pop demotion time.​

Major Civics

Spoiler: Major Civics

Capitalist Saviors

Having risen to the occasion when their local governments could not, this Megacorperation will always be there for you in your time of need. They make sure of it.​

Can create Protectorates. Protectorates of this empire give them 25% of their energy output, and at less than 50% Technological Level difference will turn into a Subsidiary. Any subject empire that is or was once a protectorate has significantly increased loyalty with this Megacorp.​

Joint Venture (Edited)

Being composed of multiple formerly independent companies, this Megacorperation knows the benefits of cooperation quite well. With meticulous coordination, they and their partners will access greater markets then either of them could've reached alone.​

Is capable of signing a unique pact, a "Cross Promotion Agreement," with other Megacorps. Empires under a Cross Promotion Agreement have less effective Branch Offices, but gain the equivalent of half of their partners Branch Office output (e.g. Branch offices only access 40% of a planets Trade Value, but if your partner creates a Branch office you also access 20% of that planets Trade Value). Cannot be Xenophobic.​

Insurance Group (Edited)

This Megacorperation is skilled at convincing others of the dangers of the galaxy. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone on your side, just in case?​

Using "Guarantee Independence" on an empire this Megacorp has a commercial pact with increases the percentage of Trade Value this Megacorp gets. This Megacorp can guarantee the independence of up to 5 empires. Greatly reduced Influence cost for using Guarantee Independence.​

Offworld Mining Company (Edited)

This Megacorperation originated from a mining company which gained a complete monopoly over the market for natural resources, eventually taking control over the rest of society as well.​

Branch Offices access a smaller percentage of a host worlds trade value, but also provide this Megacorp with a percentage of the host planets minerals output. Minerals from Miners and Private Mining Consortiums is increased.​

Mercenary Establishment

This Megacorperation specializes in loaning out its fleets, willing to battle anyone for the right price.​

Must be some degree of Militarist. Commercial pacts with this Megacorp force it to join the other empire in all wars. The other empire pays the Megacorp a percentage of their energy as long as the commercial pact is active. Empires with neutral attitude are willing to create commercial pacts if they are at war, but are less willing when they are at peace and may break off commercial pacts then.​

 

[GOLANX]

While I wouldn't use Shared burden 1:1 with a Megacorp I do really like the idea of there being a really big farmer's coop controlling an entire planet.
Perhaps you could call it Galactic Syndicate or some-such. Space Syndicalism sounds amusing and it'd be interesting to explore that lore using megacorp mechanics.

I think @Tamwin5 did a great job suggesting ways to further improve your ideas.

Worker Coops do exist in the real world and are basically Shared Burdens companies, without a CEO the workers get together to make all of the decisions, as each worker has equal say they get equal pay for their labors just like shared Burdens. Look up Professor Richard Wolf if you want to learn more.

 

[Talanic]

How about a cyberpunk dystopia?

All pops are indentured servants. Generates "runner" jobs. Runners at least believe that they are working to overthrow the corrupt system, but the system knows and has both budgeted for them and arranged to supply them with gear. Runners are specialists who produce trade value and unity but also decrease stability if they outnumber the enforcers.

 

[zZander56]

It would be good to see a civic tied to materialism, as well as egalitarianism.

 

[zZander56]

Maybe some sort of Shadow Council civic would be neat. A Megacorporation that exists under a government that is technically still in control. It could give bonuses to branch offices, and perhaps codebreaking as well.

 

[LeifNepstad]

Worker Coops do exist in the real world and are basically Shared Burdens companies, without a CEO the workers get together to make all of the decisions, as each worker has equal say they get equal pay for their labors just like shared Burdens. Look up Professor Richard Wolf if you want to learn more.

I reckon megacorps need more egalitarian civics and worker-organized farm coop space empire sounds interesting.
I love Dr. Wolf - Reading Capital with David Harvey was also quite illustrative.

 

[zZander56]

I reckon megacorps need more egalitarian civics and worker-organized farm coop space empire sounds interesting.
I love Dr. Wolf - Reading Capital with David Harvey was also quite illustrative.

A super free market or anti-trust Megacorp would be interesting. Instead of having a centralized plutocratic oligarchy, the empire would be ran by many separate businesses specialized in their own sector. I'm not sure how this would be reflected in terms mechanics, though.

 

[LeifNepstad]

For the super-xenophiles I'd give them a bonus to boosting relations with other species types (bonus to all but humanoids if you're humanoid etc).

For the granola-capitalists I'd reduce the consumer good upkeep slightly for otherwise expensive pops (but not as much as shared burden). This is for the society that really loves the wealthy and powerful but also really cares about sustainability for those who can afford it. Regular workers need their beer and potatoes to get through the work-week but those in the upper-strata can afford completely bio-regenerated cruelty-free synth-steak with slug-veal.

^Those may be clumsy attempts but I maintain that megacorps need more egalitarian or xenophilic civics.

 

[GOLANX]

For the super-xenophiles I'd give them a bonus to boosting relations with other species types (bonus to all but humanoids if you're humanoid etc).

For the granola-capitalists I'd reduce the consumer good upkeep slightly for otherwise expensive pops (but not as much as shared burden). This is for the society that really loves the wealthy and powerful but also really cares about sustainability for those who can afford it. Regular workers need their beer and potatoes to get through the work-week but those in the upper-strata can afford completely bio-regenerated cruelty-free synth-steak with slug-veal.

^Those may be clumsy attempts but I maintain that megacorps need more egalitarian or xenophilic civics.

This thread is about concrete suggestions for megacorp civics, super xenophiles doesn't describe a specific buff, public relations specialist already exists.
Why would granola Capitalist want to reduce their pay? It would be interesting to see a conscientious upper class and a poor underclass that can't afford to be conscientious represented in a civic but how would that translate into concrete effects?

Is it possible to be a megacorp and still granola Capitalist, as a corporation that has taken over the role of the state you can't really consider your state to be normal capitalist.

 

[Lazy Name]

megacorps need more egalitarian or xenophilic civics.

What would you think of a charity-themed Megacorp civic? For example, their branch office buildings could be replaced with charity equivalents that don't directly benefit the Megacorp, but instead increase the host empires empires opinion of the Megacorp (e.g. public academies instead of private research enterprises, food banks instead of fast food chains, etc). Trade Value from branch offices would then scale with the host empires opinion, to represent donations from approving pops. Could be named "Charitable Foundations" or something.

 

[Reedstilt]

@Lazy Name: I really like a lot of these. I'm especially a fan of anything that emphasizes that the MegaCorp is a corporation providing certain goods and services. Things like Offworld Mining Company and Pharmaceutical Consortium.

I do wonder if Insurance Group, as is, shouldn't be folded into Mercenary Establishment. It seems like the Mercenaries have a merged Guarantee Independence+Commercial Pact (you get dragged into their wars, but not the other way around), which is similar to the Insurance Group's "Gain trade value from Guaranteeing Independence."

It seems like Mercenaries can handle the military aspects of the "Insurance Group," so maybe make the Insurance Group handle more civilian oriented things. Not sure how that might manifest just yet though.

Maybe some sort of Shadow Council civic would be neat. A Megacorporation that exists under a government that is technically still in control. It could give bonuses to branch offices, and perhaps codebreaking as well.

To go even crazier with this idea. I'm not at all certain of the details of this one, since the idea just came to me, so feel free to suggest alternatives.

Corporate Lobbyists: You may spend Favors to influence foreign elections where you have Branch Offices, and you gain Influence if you support a winning candidate. You can construct Political Think Tanks in Branch Offices, which increase Ethics attraction toward your governing ethics (+10% for basic Ethics, +20% for Fanatic Ethics) and Ethics Shift chance.

I originally considered Energy Credits for this, but using Favors allows you to roll up the other civilization with a cargo ship full of whatever your MegaCorp is mass producing and win them over. I'm thinking a minimum of 5 Favors to influence the election, +1 for each of their planets that doesn't have one of your Branch Offices to a maximum of +5.

 

[Lazy Name]

I do wonder if Insurance Group, as is, shouldn't be folded into Mercenary Establishment. It seems like the Mercenaries have a merged Guarantee Independence+Commercial Pact (you get dragged into their wars, but not the other way around), which is similar to the Insurance Group's "Gain trade value from Guaranteeing Independence."

I feel like the main difference is that Mercenaries will also join offensive wars, but cost more to maintain Commercial Pacts with. You wouldn't want to stay in a Commercial Pact with a Mercenary Establishment while at peace unless you were planning to attack someone, but there's no reason to ever turn down an Insurance groups Guarantee Independence. As such, Mercenaries would desire for there to be more war in the galaxy to have more opportunities to create Commercial Pacts, while conversely Insurance Groups would want to maintain peace so that they could gain the benefits without actually having to waste their resources fighting other peoples wars. Not sure how it would work in practice, but that's the idea.

 

[GOLANX]

I feel like the main difference is that Mercenaries will also join offensive wars, but cost more to maintain Commercial Pacts with. You wouldn't want to stay in a Commercial Pact with a Mercenary Establishment while at peace unless you were planning to attack someone, but there's no reason to ever turn down an Insurance groups Guarantee Independence. As such, Mercenaries would desire for there to be more war in the galaxy to have more opportunities to create Commercial Pacts, while conversely Insurance Groups would want to maintain peace so that they could gain the benefits without actually having to waste their resources fighting other peoples wars. Not sure how it would work in practice, but that's the idea.

In practice is the problem though, AIs that like you will want to have a commercial pact with you reguardless and their desire to join in such a pact is largely based on whether they liked you already. I don't think there is a true way to be a mercenary free of loyalties without taking a wrecking ball to the entire opinion system.

 

[Lazy Name]

In practice is the problem though, AIs that like you will want to have a commercial pact with you reguardless and their desire to join in such a pact is largely based on whether they liked you already. I don't think there is a true way to be a mercenary free of loyalties without taking a wrecking ball to the entire opinion system.

It should be possible to change the acceptance factors for Commercial Pacts with Mercenary Megacorps, to reduce the impact positive opinion has. If an empires acceptance of mercenary Commercial Pacts were instead mainly based on Relative Power and whether they're currently at war, and such pacts had no trust growth and no opinion penalty for breaking them, I think it could maybe work as intended. If that couldn't be done with regular Commercial Pacts, this civic could always just use a unique "Mercenary Agreement" pact that would replace Commercial Pacts.

 

[Pillage]

Most of these are pretty okay, but some are particularly messy, bad, or good, so I'll focus on those.

Corporate Heir
Worker Cooperative
Both of these would work well as new corporate authorities, with Corporate Heir (or Family Business as an authority) being on the Authoritarian side and using the Imperial leader selection, while Worker Cooperative is on the Egalitarian side and using the Democratic leader selection. These aren't unique ideas by any means, infact I've seen mods made about them, but that doesn't make the ideas any less good.

Mercenary Establishment
I don't think this needs to be a civic in it of itself. This can already be done with other players by offering defensive pacts and accepting war invitations for a price, with the megacorp being able to refuse or break the defensive pact if the client can't/won't pay up.

Employee Benefits
This can be done by giving your pops Social Welfare/Utopian Abundance. Pops under those living standards don't gain happiness decreases, and will actual produce unity (as well as research if Utopian Abundance) when unemployed. Overall this one is just redundant.

Eccentric Founder
This one is pretty bad, and if implemented would be better as an origin.

 

[zZander56]

Corporate Heir
Worker Cooperative
Both of these would work well as new corporate authorities, with Corporate Heir (or Family Business as an authority) being on the Authoritarian side and using the Imperial leader selection, while Worker Cooperative is on the Egalitarian side and using the Democratic leader selection. These aren't unique ideas by any means, infact I've seen mods made about them, but that doesn't make the ideas any less good.

I agree, but I also think this would spam the government customization UI a little too much. Megacorps are already a niche, while a cooperative would be a niche of a niche with little actual differences. It'd be nice to see another way of going about this.

 

[zZander56]

It would be interesting to see a "Decentralized Enterprise" civic for corps. The civic could buff branch office production, as well as building slots, while severely increasing admin cap penalties/limiters. This would encourage a small core to an empire that increasingly exists within the borders of other empires more than their own.

 

[Lazy Name]

Mercenary Establishment
I don't think this needs to be a civic in it of itself. This can already be done with other players by offering defensive pacts and accepting war invitations for a price, with the megacorp being able to refuse or break the defensive pact if the client can't/won't pay up.

I was thinking more in terms of single player when I was making the civic. While I do agree there would be value in having an equivalent for all empires, such as a way to include pacts in trade deals or use resources to directly increase acceptance, I still feel there's a place for a mercenary-focused civic to roleplay the whole "loyalty-free corporation that encourages war for their own profit" trope. A larger focus on monetary short-term pacts that don't require good relations and build no trust for the "loyalty-free" part, and requiring war to form commercial pacts and create Branch Offices to incentivize the "encourages war for their own profit" part.

Employee Benefits
This can be done by giving your pops Social Welfare/Utopian Abundance. Pops under those living standards don't gain happiness decreases, and will actual produce unity (as well as research if Utopian Abundance) when unemployed. Overall this one is just redundant.

I can see why it might feel redundant. What would you think if "Paid Leave" was instead a unique job created for every X pops, that produced amenities, trade value and unity? Specifically representing regular employees taking a break and spending their money, rather then being full-time unemployed.

Eccentric Founder
This one is pretty bad, and if implemented would be better as an origin.

Yeah, I agree that that one would be better off as an origin.

It would be interesting to see a "Decentralized Enterprise" civic for corps. The civic could buff branch office production, as well as building slots, while severely increasing admin cap penalties/limiters. This would encourage a small core to an empire that increasingly exists within the borders of other empires more than their own.

Perhaps that could be merged with the current Franchising civic? Seems like they have similar flavor.