Hello everyone, and this is my first post on Paradox forum (although I'm a hardcore fan of Paradox games since EU2) 
Anyway I have a question in regards of Stellaris tech system. The idea is (rather similar to EU3) that, the larger your empire is, the more the costs of tech. Thus, expanding (colonize or conquest, doesn't matter) and trying to tech at the same time is counter productive.
So, I think I found the most efficient build to tech after a few tries. Here is what I'm doing against AI, in my last few games:
1) Take Fanatic Materialist + Collectivist/Xenophobe emprie, with Intelligent + Brilliant Physicists traits.
2) Only colonize 2 other (given during starting setup) worlds. Expand no further (maybe build some outposts in early game, only to destroy them in mid-game, we need influence to run many Edicts). I like to start as Plutocratic Oligarchy (for cheap Mineral station boost) then to switch Illuminated Technocracy in mid game.
3) Make the biggest world your capital (20+ is nice).
4) Build Research Institute + Physics Lab IV in every single slot (except one, which is used for food) in your capital. The remaining 2 worlds are used to sustain the capital only (in terms of Energy and Minerals to build a defensive fleet)
5) With 30% Assist Research + 20% Spirit of Science + 15% Brilliant Physicists + 10% Intelligent + 15% Curator boost + 15% Happiness boost + 15% Fanatic Materialist + (possibly Neutron Ore for further 15%), your capital will generate around 400-450 Physics and 100-150 other science.
6) With 30% Physics Research Grants + 5% from tech + 5% from research institute + 10% from Encourage Free Thought + 10-20% from Scientist + 10% Sentient AI + 10% Researcher agenda (there is always a dude with that agenda, you are Fanatic Materialist) = 80-90% research boost to Physics (and 50-60 to other techs).
7) You are Illuminated Technocracy so you'll draw 6 tech cards. Thus, you always draw necessary techs. Do not switch to Neural Network, because you already get 10% from Researcher agenda, so it is a better government.
8) Your empire is incredibly small so tech costs are very reasonable. You will have hard time defending yourself but you will tech so incredibly fast after early game, that you will be able to build a few Stations and an incredibly advanced albeit small fleet to defend yourself. The trick is to survive the early-mid game, sometimes I get destroyed during this period if there is a Fanatic Militant civ nearby, but once you build your tech engine and build a few stations, nobody can touch you.
9) In about 40-50 years, you will research the repeatable Physics techs (namely: Construction time, Energy production boost, Energy weapons damage/attack speed, Shields) about 10-12 times. In the meantime, you will have researched the normal biology and engineering techs. Try to research Stimulant Diet and Minerals repeatable techs 2-3 times, the rest of the technologies are immaterial.
10) Now comes the time to expand: Destroy all your research labs in capital, build economy buildings instead. Building infrastructure will take only a few days with a Builder governor (because you have so much of repeatable Construction time tech) Sack all your scientists. Destroy all your science space stations. We will not do research for the rest of the game - we already have so much tech, enough for the rest of the game.
11) Switch to Mega Corporation. With Slavery and techs, your Minerals production bonus is about 70-80%. Your energy production bonus is about 90-100% for non-slaves, around 60-70% for slaves.
12) Start expanding like crazy, conquest and colonization, doesn't matter. Enslave all other species. When you take over a world, enslave everyone, build all Infrastructure yourself (which will take around 2-3 months only) before assigning it to a sector, which is ideally governed by an Iron Fist governor for extra boost.
13) You now have incredibly advanced fleet tech (with end tier energy weaponry and shields +5-6 of each repeatable techs) and your economy is ultra efficient with around 80-90% boost to all production and building infrastructure almost instantly. After taking around 8-9 worlds (colony or conquest, doesn't matter - but usually conquest), you will become an unstoppable blob. I usually quit the game after taking over 20-30 worlds (it becomes very annoying to micromanage) - but at this point, you can declare war against 3-4 empires simultaneously without any problems. It takes about 20-30 years to blob so I manage to do so before the end game crises, most of the times.
So in the first few games this was much fun, but then I tried some other builds but they all seem so extremely inefficient compared to this build. I think the main culprit is the science system. I was wondering if this was intended and the developers are planning to change it in the future (thus making expand + tech a desirable thing rather than something to avoid), it just seems so counter-intuitive to me
Thank you for the long read
Cheers!
Anyway I have a question in regards of Stellaris tech system. The idea is (rather similar to EU3) that, the larger your empire is, the more the costs of tech. Thus, expanding (colonize or conquest, doesn't matter) and trying to tech at the same time is counter productive.
So, I think I found the most efficient build to tech after a few tries. Here is what I'm doing against AI, in my last few games:
1) Take Fanatic Materialist + Collectivist/Xenophobe emprie, with Intelligent + Brilliant Physicists traits.
2) Only colonize 2 other (given during starting setup) worlds. Expand no further (maybe build some outposts in early game, only to destroy them in mid-game, we need influence to run many Edicts). I like to start as Plutocratic Oligarchy (for cheap Mineral station boost) then to switch Illuminated Technocracy in mid game.
3) Make the biggest world your capital (20+ is nice).
4) Build Research Institute + Physics Lab IV in every single slot (except one, which is used for food) in your capital. The remaining 2 worlds are used to sustain the capital only (in terms of Energy and Minerals to build a defensive fleet)
5) With 30% Assist Research + 20% Spirit of Science + 15% Brilliant Physicists + 10% Intelligent + 15% Curator boost + 15% Happiness boost + 15% Fanatic Materialist + (possibly Neutron Ore for further 15%), your capital will generate around 400-450 Physics and 100-150 other science.
6) With 30% Physics Research Grants + 5% from tech + 5% from research institute + 10% from Encourage Free Thought + 10-20% from Scientist + 10% Sentient AI + 10% Researcher agenda (there is always a dude with that agenda, you are Fanatic Materialist) = 80-90% research boost to Physics (and 50-60 to other techs).
7) You are Illuminated Technocracy so you'll draw 6 tech cards. Thus, you always draw necessary techs. Do not switch to Neural Network, because you already get 10% from Researcher agenda, so it is a better government.
8) Your empire is incredibly small so tech costs are very reasonable. You will have hard time defending yourself but you will tech so incredibly fast after early game, that you will be able to build a few Stations and an incredibly advanced albeit small fleet to defend yourself. The trick is to survive the early-mid game, sometimes I get destroyed during this period if there is a Fanatic Militant civ nearby, but once you build your tech engine and build a few stations, nobody can touch you.
9) In about 40-50 years, you will research the repeatable Physics techs (namely: Construction time, Energy production boost, Energy weapons damage/attack speed, Shields) about 10-12 times. In the meantime, you will have researched the normal biology and engineering techs. Try to research Stimulant Diet and Minerals repeatable techs 2-3 times, the rest of the technologies are immaterial.
10) Now comes the time to expand: Destroy all your research labs in capital, build economy buildings instead. Building infrastructure will take only a few days with a Builder governor (because you have so much of repeatable Construction time tech) Sack all your scientists. Destroy all your science space stations. We will not do research for the rest of the game - we already have so much tech, enough for the rest of the game.
11) Switch to Mega Corporation. With Slavery and techs, your Minerals production bonus is about 70-80%. Your energy production bonus is about 90-100% for non-slaves, around 60-70% for slaves.
12) Start expanding like crazy, conquest and colonization, doesn't matter. Enslave all other species. When you take over a world, enslave everyone, build all Infrastructure yourself (which will take around 2-3 months only) before assigning it to a sector, which is ideally governed by an Iron Fist governor for extra boost.
13) You now have incredibly advanced fleet tech (with end tier energy weaponry and shields +5-6 of each repeatable techs) and your economy is ultra efficient with around 80-90% boost to all production and building infrastructure almost instantly. After taking around 8-9 worlds (colony or conquest, doesn't matter - but usually conquest), you will become an unstoppable blob. I usually quit the game after taking over 20-30 worlds (it becomes very annoying to micromanage) - but at this point, you can declare war against 3-4 empires simultaneously without any problems. It takes about 20-30 years to blob so I manage to do so before the end game crises, most of the times.
So in the first few games this was much fun, but then I tried some other builds but they all seem so extremely inefficient compared to this build. I think the main culprit is the science system. I was wondering if this was intended and the developers are planning to change it in the future (thus making expand + tech a desirable thing rather than something to avoid), it just seems so counter-intuitive to me
Thank you for the long read
Cheers!
Last edited:
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