Hello! Welcome to another EMEX devlog. Today, we’re looking at the changes to the civics already in the mod.

I’m not going to be going through every single change, a lot of them have gotten somewhat small changes or minor additions, but a few have gotten a bit of a larger overhaul. At this point, pretty much every single civic in the mod will have some sort of effect, rather than simply adding modifiers.

As always, not everything is final and numbers are subject to change!

NOTE! EMEX v2.0 is being developed for Stellaris 3.14 currently since I have not had time to update it to 4.0. So, some effects shown below will change before release to work properly for Stellaris 4.0.

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Summary of Changes

Here is a list of new additions for civics, as of now. A few more are likely to be added before release.

The list below does not show changes to modifiers for each civic, just large additions/changes.

Click to view summary (as of now)!

Free Markets
– Begin with the Galactic Markets tech
– Begin with the Numistic Data Modelling tech available to research
– Can use the Free Markets trade policy, acting as a better version of the default trade policy

Industrial Capitalism
– Can build the Urban Smelteries building, adding Industrial Smelter jobs
– Industrial Smelters turn Alloys/CGs into Trade Value, depending on colony designation

Architectural Mastery
– Can build the Cultural Wonder building
– Cultural Wonders have differing modifiers depending on ethics
– Each ethic has 2 potential modifiers for the building

Personal Arms
– Can recruit Civilian Forces armies

Multiculturalism
– Begin with several sub-species of your main species with slightly different traits
– Species has the Genetic Diversity trait

Peaceful Society
– Has the Idyllic Life modifier, gaining stronger bonuses for every 5 years of peacetime
– Entering a war will reset the Idyllic Life modifier
– Pirates are 50% less likely to appear

Propagandist State
– Ruler has the Our Guiding Star trait, its modifiers increasing every 10 years
– Upon ruler death, the new ruler gets the same trait, with reset modifiers

Patrol Agency
– Can set the Trade Protection Policy

Darwinist Principles
– Leaders can gain traits to increase the production of basic resources on their homeworld

Warmongers
– Every 5 years of peace, the Itch for War modifier gains stronger penalties
– When at war, gain the To Arms! modifier instead

Propagation Pheromones
– Ruler has the Royal Mandibular trait
– Spawning Pools create Nursing Drone jobs instead of Spawning Drones
– Nursing Drones turn Exotic Gases into stability and colony development speed

Voidswarm
– Begin with Space Torpedos and Frigates techs
– Begin with the Ion Thrusters tech available to research
– Starting fleet has 5 frigates instead of 3 corvettes

Monolithic Overmind
– Start with fewer districts, buildings and Pops
– Pops have Influence upkeep
– Can build the Overmind Relegator building, creating Overmind Drone jobs
– Overmind Drones use Energy to reduce the Influence upkeep of Pops, but also reduce job production on their world slightly
– Leaders can gain the Overmind trait
– Can set the Growth Limits policy
– Can use the Selective Culling decision

Carnivorous Instincts
– Planets have the Carnivorous Drones modifier with penalties
– Having plenty of Agri-Drones will reduce the penalties of Carnivorous drones, and can even result in positive modifiers
– Begin with the Eco-Simulation tech
– For lithoids, all mentions of food are replaced with minerals, and miners in place of farmers

Venator Hive
– Start with up to 3 extra starbases
– Commanders begin with the Predator trait

Stalwart Apiary
– Access to the Defense Level policy
– Can enact the Fortify World decision

Imperialist Ambitions
– Start with up to 3 extra starbases

Construction Corporation
– Can build the Cultural Wonder building
– Cultural Wonders have differing modifiers depending on ethics
– Each ethic has 2 potential modifiers for the building
– Can build the Development Bureau building, creating Assembling Freelancer jobs
– Assembling Freelancers increase build speed of buildings, districts and megastructures
– Can research an upgrade for the Development Bureau building
– Can use the Offer Construction Services trade action, providing the recipient with increased build speed scaling with your Assembling Freelancer jobs, at the cost of reducing your build speed (10 years)

Entertainment Enterprise
– Begin with the Hyper-Entertainment Forum tech
– Colonies have the Entertainment Enterprise modifier, boosting job production and Pop growth speed scaling with number of Amenities

Travel Agency
– Begin with the Resort Worlds tech
– Each Migration Treaty increases Branch Office buildings output
– Having Migration Treaties allows for Pops from other empires to sometimes move to your colonies

Overseer Protocol
– The Maintenance Outpost can now also be built in starbases, in addition to Orbital Rings
– Can enact the Stalwart Security agenda

Competitive Growth
– Can use the Request Takeover decision on worlds with a foreign Branch Office; if accepted by the recipient MegaCorp, they will transfer ownership of the Branch Office at a cost (depending on planet trade value)
– Can use the Forceful Takeover decision to seize control of Branch Offices (requires your armies in orbit)
– The Forceful Takeover decision can result in the target Branch Office owner declaring war
– Commercial Pacts produce unity

Technocorp
– City Districts create Research Subject jobs
– Research Subjects produce Research at the cost of Unity, and have a chance of dying

Consumer Streamlining
– Can build the Urban Smelteries building, adding Industrial Smelter jobs
– Industrial Smelters turn ONLY CGs into Trade Value, depending on colony designation

Titan of Industry
– Can build the Urban Smelteries building, adding Industrial Smelter jobs
– Industrial Smelters turn ONLY Alloys into Trade Value, depending on colony designation

Cooperative Upbringings
– Factions also produce Trade Value
– Can enact the Parliamentary Tithes edict, replacing Unity from factions with Energy

War Factories
– Can use the Offer War Support trade action, increasing the build speed of ships and starbases for the recipient, scaling with the number of Metallurgists you have, at the cost of reduced Alloys production and ship build speed for you (10 years)

I’m going to go over some of these changes in more depth below. Like I said, not every single detail for each civic above can be shown, it’s not really feasible. So you’ll have to have a look on release!

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Architectural Mastery

Previously known as Masters of Architecture, this civic did have unique effects in the form of a unique deposit on your homeworld, though this was pretty simplistic.

While I still want some civics to be smaller ones that can be added/removed as the player chooses, this could be better.

Now, this civic provides a new building:

Upon construction of the Cultural Wonder, it gains a unique modifier. Each ethic adds 2 potential modifiers to the pool of available modifiers, and a random one is selected when built.

To prevent the player from destroying and rebuilding the building until they get the modifier they want, the modifier given to the first Cultural Wonder is the one that will be applied to all Cultural Wonders built on that planet, though there is a planetary capacity of 1.

Here are some modifiers available. Again, keep in mind these were designed for 3.14, so have not be updated to Stellaris 4.0 yet.

Click to view all potential modifiers for the Cultural Wonder building

Militarist
1. Alloys from Soldiers: +1
+1 Soldier per 5 Pops
2. Resources from Metallurgists: +10%

Pacifist
1. Pop Growth Speed: +10%
2. Resources from Artisans: +10%

Materialist
1. Upkeep of Researchers: -10%
2. Max Non-Artificial Districts: +2

Spiritualist
1. +1 Priest per 4 Pops
2. Stability: +20%

Egalitarian
1. +1 Bureaucrat per 4 Pops
2. Upkeep of Jobs: -10%

Authoritarian
1. Upkeep of Districts: -30%
Upkeep of Buildings: -30%
2. Pop Amenities Usage: -30%

Xenophobe
1. Governing Ethics Attraction: +35%
2. Exotic Gases from Rulers: +0.1

Xenophile
1. Crime: -25%
Upkeep of Enforcers: -75%
2. Unity from Jobs: +10%

Default:
1. Pop Happiness: +10%

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Darwinist Principles

Previously known as Social Darwinism, this civic has had an almost complete overhaul in terms of its modifiers, and it’s gained a new main effect.

Leaders have a chance of starting with a Supervisor trait, as below. Their homeworld gains a boost to a specific job. Jobs affected are Farmers, Miners, and Technicians.

The traits can also be upgraded to tier 2. However, this will result in a slight increase to the leader’s upkeep.

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Multiculturalism

A relatively underwhelming civic previously, this civic has been expanded to also include the literal genetic diversity within your starting species. Beforehand, most of this civic only really worked once you’ve made contact with another empire.

Your starting species, and all sub-species you begin with, have the Genetic Diversity trait. While relatively minor, the differences between your people allow for improved habitability.

Lastly, here’s an example of the starting Species screen when this civic is selected. Some sub-species have a larger number of Pops to start with, but the numbers are mostly randomised. You can have 3-5 different sub-species.

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Propagation Pheromones

Previously, this civic was pretty boring. It didn’t give any unique effects, only simple modifiers affecting Pop growth and colony development.

Now, Spawning Pools work slightly differently. In fact, rather than the civic being about a generic “growth-focused Hive”, they specifically use a special pheromone to help in the development of the Hive.

These pheromones (in the form of Exotic Gases) are produced from Pop Assembly jobs, such as Spawning Drones. Plus, your ruler has a trait to help improve the Exotic Gases production of Pop Assembly jobs, which can be levelled up to tier 3.

These Exotic Gases are of course useful for buildings and ship components later on in the game for anything that uses them as upkeep, but, they can be used by Nursing Drones.

As they’re created from Spawning Pools, which have a planetary cap of 1, you won’t have many of them usually, which is the reason for their relatively high outputs.

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Carnivorous Instincts

Previously called Nourishment Focus, this is another civic that has been remade to focus on something that’s less generic than “hungry”. Now, this civic both encourages food production and kind of requires it for positive bonuses to be present.

To satiate your devouring drones, you need enough Agri-Drones to feed your drones. Otherwise, they will resort to cannibalism. Below is the default game-start position with this civic (of course, depending on your number of Agri-Drones and Pops on your capital).

Roughly, 1 Agri-Drone will sustain 5 Pops; for calculations however, you have one Agri-Drone for “free”. So, if you have, say 50 Pops, you’ll need 9 Agri-Drones. The reason for this is because having 0 Agri-Drones would cause problems for the ratio calculations affecting the modifier.

While it’s relatively easy to deal with the penalties, you have to be careful not to let your drones starve too much.

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Monolithic Overmind

Previously called Total Control, this civic may have seen the biggest glow-up. It was another pretty basic and generic civic, adding some Influence and “control” to the Hive Mind. Now, it’s possibly one of the most game-changing civics.

Here’s a summary: you have a lot fewer Pops, however, each produce a lot more in their jobs to make up for it. But, each Pop now has an upkeep of Influence.

So now, your Influence acts as a limiting factor to your population growth. In fact, to help you control your population to prevent a low income of Influence, you have a new policy and decision.

Your Influence income will change throughout the game, and though you’ll have a limited number of potential sources of Influence, it can happen. So, your policy options use your current Influence income to check when to prevent pop growth.

Higher limits actually provides additional bonuses to your ruler to make up for the very-limited population that comes with a high limit.

When your growth policy triggers, you will gain a modifier that prevents pop growth and assembly, though Pops will not be killed/purged; to do so, you must use the Selective Culling decision.

Obviously, this will have to be adjusted for Stellaris 4.0, but I’m still looking for a more intuitive/clear way of doing this, as removing a specific number of Pops, such as 34, you’d need to trigger this event quite a few times.

But! Realistically, you’re going to want more Pops as you expand, otherwise your colonies will be severely limited. So, to alleviate this, you have two options: a new building and leader trait.

A maximum of 3 of these Overmind Regulators means that you can achieve a maximum of -75% Pop Influence upkeep, but -90% Job Production. This seems pretty severe, but remember that the civic adds a +75% Job Production modifier too!

The leader trait, however, does not have this downside, though of course it does increase leader upkeep and requires the leader to act as a governor of a planet/sector.

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And that’s it! Thanks for reading, it was a somewhat longer one. Also, apologies for the slight delay, I wanted to get this devlog out on the 10th, but I was away from my PC until today.

Almost all of these civics are fully implemented, though balancing tests and checks haven’t been done yet, and of course we need to update to 4.0, which will definitely introduce some difficulties for civics like Monolithic Overmind.

Also, I released a version of Empires Expanded for Stellaris 3.14, since I’ve gotten a few requests for it. I cannot guarantee that I’ll maintain this version for a long time, nor that it will get updates to the mod, since the difference between 4.0 and 3.14 is so huge, I’d need to make a lot of changes to any updates.

See you guys in the next devlog! Expect it late May, though the topic of the next devlog is currently being worked on still!

-MadeinCanada