Stellaris: Pacifist Mega Corporation

[R3YNO]

Hey all,

So Im trying to learn and figure out how to play Stellaris. In other games I tend to want to play as pacifist and non aggressive play styles. So I've played several games with my friends and I don't think Im doing particularly well with them. So my question is, kind of two parts:
1. Can you viably play the game as a pacifist?
2. What kind of perks or strategies do I implement to be able to accomplish this?

 

[AndrewT]

Not a forum problem, so moved.

 

[Defiler99]

(Edit: I spaced out on the "Megacorp" part of your question.. Some of the below applies only to normal empires, but most of it is generic.)

Definitely. Pacifists are maybe a little weaker in 2.2 than they were in previous versions, but it's still totally viable.
The primary pitfall to avoid is being boxed-in by neighbors, as you won't be able to simply go to war over the systems in question.
IMO it therefore makes sense to pick a setup that can expand quickly, such as the combination of Xenophobe (less influence required to build a starbase) and Egalitarian (more influence to work with).

As a pacifist, you'll want to pay close attention to your neighbors and their relationships with other empires. Give them gifts to keep them friendly, and you can avoid needing to maintain a full-sized fleet. Consumer goods make pretty good gifts, and you'll probably have a surplus of them.

Taking it to the max means taking the Inward Perfection civic, which is very strong. Now that you can 'win' the game via points, it's even a viable victory strategy.
I don't always do it this way, but picking Voidborne to get habitats early on makes sense in particular for pacifists. Just make sure you managed to expand enough to get a good supply of minerals, before being boxed-in by other empires.
Mid-game, you should be extremely strong, and you'll find other empires giving you gifts and/or asking to become your vassal.

 

[Razor Feather]

Another strong alternative to inward perfection for a pacifist playstyle is to play as a megacorp and expand your economy throughout the game primarily through branch offices. Going fanatic xenophile makes maintaining diplomatic relations free, and over time with careful use of bribes and rivalries you can get most of the map to have commercial pacts with you. Then its just a matter of setting up branch offices on all of their worlds and raking in the free money. Even fanatic xenophobes will agree to a commercial pact with enough nudging.

Late game I can manage about 5k a month purely from branch offices on a large map, and the distributed nature of your economy means that there is some incentive to act as a peacekeeper of sorts to prevent war from damaging planets and therefore profits if you want to be an interventionist.

Megastructures are also a really useful tool for a pacifist playthrough since they give very large bonuses that are particularly effective when the empire building them is small. Just be sure to grab at least one black hole system early on to have a space to build the matter decompressor for its 1000 free minerals a month, since that allows rampant economopoli and habitat construction without running out of minerals to support consumer good and alloy production.

 

[Matoro_TBS]

When you're playing small - as it is recommended for megacorps since they have higher administrative penalties - your aim is megastructures.

The early game: claim nice area of space with easily defensible hyperlane chokepoints. Scout your neighbors and try to find friends. Get commercial pacts and defensive allies. If you have hostile neighbors, fortify your borders. Do everything you can to maximize your pop growth: set food policy to max, use pop growth planetary decision. You'll need every pop.
After the empty space has been conquered and you are hopefully middle of nice galactic community with allies your goal will be to expand upwards - that is, within your own borders.
You'll need megastructures for that.
Since you are small, you have lesser penalties to science and traditions. You'll need to get some key engineering techs - highest reactor and starbase techs - so priorize those. You need them to take ascension perk Voidborne - and after that Master Builders and Galactic Wonders. Arcology Project is pretty good too. Don't waste ascension perks, you can always postpone picking a perk until you get the tech needed to unlock it.
It requires a little of good luck and pretty good plan, but yiu can become insane powerhouse with just few megastructures and a city-world.

 

[fodazd]

My personal opinion: It is definitely viable to play a megacorp that is "pacifist" in the sense that it doesn't aggressively expand. However, I would advise against picking the pacifist ethic, since it's really, really weak right now. Pick authoritarian, xenophile, materialist or spiritualist (with gospel of the masses) instead.

 

[Slynx]

1. Can you viably play the game as a pacifist?

yes you can. but you must understand that "playing a pacifist" doesn't mean "don't build fleets". it means "not engage in warfare if possible". but you still must have the strongest fleet in the galaxy(or you'll be a target for beating)

2. What kind of perks or strategies do I implement to be able to accomplish this?

honestly anything works. but since you want specifically pacifist ethics why not to use something pacifist exclusive. like inward perfection or other civics.

perks...there are no pacifist specific perks. but in 2.2 growth is a king. so taking rapid breeders is preferable.

strategies: you can give resources to other empires to improve relationship. non aggression pacts or other deals can secure a "friendship" for a long time. otherwise they may want to lay claims on you, which will worsen relationship.
you can force ideology wars to split empires into smaller pieces through status quo. and if you vassalize someone - you can later integrate them into your empire.

ps: if you'll want to achieve total peace - consider taking a colossus as an ascension perk(global pacifier is a great). there will be no wars of there will not be anyone alive except you.

 

[Slynx]

oh, btw...
if you want to play small you may want to get yourself an ecumenopolis asap. to counter overcrouding. which works best with some form of slavery.
so either you go with authoritarians (and you'll be able to forcefully resettle pops from conquered\integrated planets to your worlds, which will decrease the empire sprawl(if you'll resettle the last pop the planet will be gone. so -2+ sprawl)and it's actually easier to defend, cuz you'll be small enough. but you'll need food. so some farm worlds are a must.

or you can go egalitarian-xenophobe route (utopian unemployed will be useful to generate science, and xeno-slaves can be set to forced labor to generate food and minerals). but in this route it's advised to take raiding bombardment(cuz you will not be able to resettle) and not take any planets from enemies at all

as for megacorp part - you preferably must open office on every single available planets. so buying a commercial pact asap is a top priority. also I don't like dealing with piracy. so I usually only generate trade within 6 tiles from my capitol. so single spaceport could gather it all. (and I don't build spaceports in the systems with planets\trade that is far away). yes. it may be suboptimal, but my systems usually generate 2-10k trade each (through trade habotats and ecumenopolices). more then enough for me.

 

[R3YNO]

Thanks all for the tips. Current game I'm starting to snowball pretty hard. I think part of my issues before is playing with non-AI players whose goals aren't as predictable. Still no antigravity research but I have plenty of resources to work with now.
If it was my other games I would be crushed and watching the office by now.

 

[mrbtings]

or try this bahrokeness....pacifist raiders