So I was playing around with the idea of a militarist Syndicate that uses War to weaken enemies before infecting them, or to use the war to stop them from responding to the infection with a massive police force spam. The problem is, you cannot infect during war or during the post-war treaty period. You also cannot go to war with an empire you have already infected, you have to tear down the offices on all their worlds first.
So in other words, the tactic as I intended was a total bust.
But in doing this I stumbled on another tactic that remains interesting.
So in other words, the tactic as I intended was a total bust.
But in doing this I stumbled on another tactic that remains interesting.
- Go to war with a guy who has some primitives he's observing.
- Take control of the system(s) with the primitives and set the station to "enlighten".
- Make sure you control the system when the enlightenment completes. This puts the system in a weird limbo-state where the planet has its own government (which is your subsidiary) but the system is still owned by the enemy and occupied by you.
- Right after the enlightenment, infect the new planet with a corporate office. A just-enlightened planet will be totally unable to deal with even the base level +25 crime. If it was a higher-tech primitive world before enlightenment you'll be able to build another building as well.
- When the war ends, the new government vanishes as the system reverts to its proper owner, but your branch office remains.