The Usefulness of the Divine Enforcer or "God Ray"

[Starcomet]

So does it cause a planet to defect to you after the war ends since they are all spiritualist or does it still remain in the enemies territory? I heard you still need to land pops on the planet to claim it, but if that is true then what use is it? If the system defects to you that is great, but if it remains in the territory it would just cause a faction head ache.

I know with colossus you can use a CB to go to war with a rival, but using this weapon defensively would have what purpose?

 

[Peko?]

I haven't tried it but I don't think the planet will defect to you or it would say that in the description.
Assuming that's true it's rather situational, if you're declared on by someone with a lot of robots it could be devastating, otherwise it's mostly messing a bit with their factions. But it feels much more like an offensive weapon than a defensive weapon or deterrence.

 

[Foefaller]

Other than Machine Empires, where it's basically a Neutron Sweeper (which IIRC does not work on robots) IMO it's more about maintaining empire cohesion: blast a planet with it and they will all become spiritualist, which will move them all into the Spiritualist faction which (hopefully) will be a lot happier than whatever faction they were a part of.

Might use it on a planet you've just invaded where the pop ethos are very different from yours, or a planet far on your borders that have started to form troublesome factions to keep everyone drinking the same kool-aid.

Considering how much of a pain in the rear factions not of your empire's ethos can be, a giant Ethics reset button is something that a lot of people might find useful.

 

[ShoGuL]

This is what it is for:
Step 1: Pick Colossus perk and build a God Ray
Step 2: Declare new Total War wargoal on your neighbor
Step 3(or 4): Fire God Ray on planet
Step 4(or 3): Conquer planet with troops

You now have a new planet with 100% Spiritual, happy pops ready to be immediately useful in your empire.


If the God Ray was actually faster to use, it would be a great tool for your total warring. As it is, it takes something like 3 years to fire and you can only have one.. eh, maybe against fanatic materialists who will hate your take over or something, but for most cases it seems too slow to be really useful.

Edit: It just occurred to me that you can probably use the god ray on your own planets. Is that true? if so, it's a great tool. The spiritual faction is super easy to keep happy, getting rid of dissidents is great. 10/10 would god ray again.

 

[Starcomet]

I read this can also be used against synthetics and hive minded to obliterate them as well. It is nice to use it after a war is over to completely convert the population, but there will be a happiness malus for using on your own people. But if it takes 3 years to fire, it would be useless in war since WE would accrue before it would fire.

 

[JeremytheJedi]

So is there a trick to getting the Divine Enforcer? I've played an authoritarian spiritualist empire for... 600 years and the only research I've received for my Colossus is the World Cracker and the Global Pacifier. Neutron Sweep and this Divine Enforcer haven't come about.

 

[Starcomet]

It should appear as a research option for regular spiritualist. I do not think it is a fanatic spiritualist weapon only.

 

[Defiler99]

I believe you have to have chosen the Psionic ascension path for it to unlock. It should then be one of the options you can initially research along with the Colossus tech.

 

[JeremytheJedi]

Ahh that is good to know... Well shucks. Thanks for the info.

 

[RabbaDooDabba]

You do not have to go fully psionic, though. Just Mind over Matter is enough.

 

[wolkenwand]

Beside destroy robot and keeping the structures intact, You can also blast your own planets to make your pops go spiritualist.

 

[The Founder]

So is there a trick to getting the Divine Enforcer? I've played an authoritarian spiritualist empire for... 600 years and the only research I've received for my Colossus is the World Cracker and the Global Pacifier. Neutron Sweep and this Divine Enforcer haven't come about.

This is what the gamefiles say:

tech_pk_godray = {
    area = society
    cost = @tier5cost3
    tier = 5
    is_rare = yes
    is_reverse_engineerable = no
    category = { psionics }
    prerequisites = { "tech_colossus" }
    ai_update_type = military
    weight = @tier5weight3
    
    potential = {
        host_has_dlc = "Apocalypse"
        has_country_flag = colossus_project
        is_spiritualist = yes
        OR = {
            AND = {
                NOT = { host_has_dlc = "Utopia" }
                has_technology = tech_telepathy
            }
            AND = {
                host_has_dlc = "Utopia"
                has_ascension_perk = ap_mind_over_matter
            }
        }
    }
    
    weight_modifier = {
        factor = 0.50
        modifier = {
            factor = 0.20
            NOR = {
                research_leader = {
                    area = society
                    has_trait = "leader_trait_maniacal"
                }
                research_leader = {
                    area = society
                    has_trait = "leader_trait_curator"
                }
                research_leader = {
                    area = society
                    has_trait = "leader_trait_expertise_psionics"
                }
            }           
        }
    }
    
    ai_weight = {
        factor = 0.25
        modifier = {
            factor = 1.25
            has_ethic = ethic_spiritualist
        }
        modifier = {
            factor = 1.5
            has_ethic = ethic_fanatic_spiritualist
        }
    }
}

The requirements vary if you got Utopia or not.

Note that there is another check if you are allowed to install and use it, so you can not really get around it.

 

[Losttruppen]

I wish this was what the orbital mind-control laser became, and was usable by all standard empires to increase all governing ethics attraction, as aside from the few niche applications highlighted above I already have enough spiritualist attraction from temples and faction mandates.

 

[The Bored Chairman]

Honestly, I only ever use it when I get trashy Xenophobe pops (though with the rework, it's not as painfully stubborn as it used to be, since your pops can hop to any planet, which means you're more likely to get xeno citizens sharing the planet with your species).

Pre-Megacorp, if you had a planet with just your pops on it, there was a good chance a lot of them would defect to the Xenophobe ethos, even if you were Fanatic Xenophile. What's worse, the draw would often come from Xenophobic conquered pops (which made conquering Xenophobic empires a huge pain). But the Divine Enforcer gave you a way to deal with it (that wasn't complete trash, like suppressing the Xenophobe faction, which only drained Influence). Nowadays, I feel like the only use it'll get is to purge robots/synths. Realistically, the Colossus is only good for dealing with FE/AE planets, since ground battles are just extremely costly and their pops usually aren't worth conquering. The real benefit from the Colossus is the Total War Casus Belli. You don't even have to use it, just pretend you want to wipe out your enemies and start grabbing systems, Influence-free and fully converted at no extra charge.

 

[Inquizitor]

I haven't tried it but I don't think the planet will defect to you or it would say that in the description.
Assuming that's true it's rather situational, if you're declared on by someone with a lot of robots it could be devastating, otherwise it's mostly messing a bit with their factions. But it feels much more like an offensive weapon than a defensive weapon or deterrence.

All if the collosus projects are highly situational aside from maybe the assimilation cloud which almost is almost too good and arguably one of tue defining goals of playing assimilatora post apocalypse.

The Colossus project pick is more for fun than function.

 

[Sigma 582]

Step 3(or 4): Fire God Ray on planet
Step 4(or 3): Conquer planet with troops

You now have a new planet with 100% Spiritual, happy pops ready to be immediately useful in your empire.

Apart from "Recently conquered" and "Enforced belief" maluses to happiness - together they give like -60 happiness for 10 years. Of course high faction approval can somewhat make up for that.

 

[The Founder]

Apart from "Recently conquered" and "Enforced belief" maluses to happiness - together they give like -60 happiness for 10 years. Of course high faction approval can somewhat make up for that.

I am 50% sure "Enforced Believe" only applies if you use it on a planet you already own before the firing.

 

[Incompetent]

It could be pretty fun to use as a Subversive Cult. Use the WOLOLO ray on as many planets as you can, then after the war is over, plonk branch offices there for huge profits.