｢Stellaris｣ Diplomacy with Xenos - In a Nutshell [9/10]

[@Stefan_Anon]

Like if you want to see a full breakdown of all the federations and their mechanics. Also, the audio quality will return to normal after this video. I had a slight recording issue in conjunction with being sick while recording this.

[@aramilek]

Great idea, but what I would really love to see is multiplayer guide. How to set up game and rules to have most fun experience, what is the meta, what to ban, what to play, how to manage bigger empire without a pause etc etc Great videos, keep doing good work

[@lykuscerebros9480]

Would love to. Your input on which federation types you would recommend would be really nice. I always felt like the trade league was really good early on and am not sure if the others will keep up later given that I feel like they get better boni.

[@1Flyffer1]

@@aramilek in Stefan's discord we hold regular mp games. shattered ring, scion, and both the federation starts are banned. and taking out other players in the first 30 years in frowned upon.

[@Amyante]

Can confirm that vanilla only has Galactic Union available. And seriously, your advice to stay away from one was on point. You could spend a bunch of time getting an Empire to like you, but i haven't figured out a way to get accepting new members off Unanimous and there's always that one single planet nobody getting in the way and voting it down no matter what. Can recommend trading for favors though, you can have up to 10 on any Empire, and you can spend each (or all of them) for +5 acceptance apiece on a decision. Gave a neighboring Empire some free resources so they liked me a bunch, and then used that and the favors to become my vassal. In terms of territory they were larger than i was, but i had a massive tech edge and that made my fleets much stronger too. Then some time later i integrated them. Conquered a good chunk of the galaxy without firing a shot :P

[@1Flyffer1]

migration treaties can be used for building colony ships with their pops. You can cancel the migration treaty immediately after you start construction on the colony ship to not spend the influence or lose pops from migrating to their empire.

[@arrathot2069]

Or get as many migration treaties as U can and colonize everything, then take the machine ascention and You`re op with so many planets and pops

[@somedudeok1451]

You will only lose more pops than you gain, if you are doing something wrong and end up with a higher emigration push than them. As long as your planets are happy and stable, you should benefit more from the migration treaty than them and so it would be foolish to not exchange influence for pop growth. After all, if there was an edict that cost influence and gave you +10% pop growth, you'd activate it as often as possible.

[@KairuinKorea]

How I ran the 25 gaia world start lol. It's fun.

[@R3GARnator]

See "Every Stellaris run in a Nutshell" for a proper guide to diplomacy.

[@CalmSmilingMan]

Aliens can't never be as good as humankind. The most delightful species you will ever find. So step aside you starslime get ready for you worst! We know you want to beat us, enslave us, broadbeat us. Unless we got you first.

[@ron.-_-]

LETS BE XENOPHOBIC!

[@qwertyuiop5530]

@@CalmSmilingMan There is: "WE ARE ready for your worst"

[@rodi8266]

The only diplomacy I do is tricking empires into being my vassal so I can later integrate and PURGE. The Sheep enter the Wolf's den willingly.

[@perfectlybalancedasallthin9319]

That "Operation Barbarossa" bit made me chuckle. Though, I think it's not entirely comparable. In Stellaris you get a 10-year truce, which is a lot of time to prepare. Meanwhile, the Nazis just straight up ignored it then immediately attacked the Soviets.

[@RogerValor]

although before 2.6 you could break a NAP with a rivalry without truce; it was also possible via insults. I have not tried it in 2.6.x yet. If it is finally impossible without truce, I think NAP has become actually finally useful in multiplayer, so a bit contradicting stefan there. and even if rivalry does not give you the truce yet, it needs negative relations now, so you would definitely see it coming.

[@1Flyffer1]

there are a few ways to get in a war with someone you have a truce with

[@Kaiser282]

@@SamN234 take diplomatic ideas. You'll be breaking treaties left and right.

[@TheReaper569]

So what is op barbarossa in Stellaris context

[@ComradeHellas]

and got their ass whooped

[@mortache]

Diplomacy is pretty weak in this game. Doing anything drains influence, which already is a very limited resource at the start

[@mislavkrznaric1635]

In my opinion, there should be ways to generate influence if you achieve something noteworthy with another empire. Maybe having close to max opinion from them could net an extra 0.5 per turn, or convincing the to accept a specific pact Edit: just as a way to make pacifism or diplomacy focus sound interesting and rewarding

[@moekitsune]

@@mislavkrznaric1635 that's interesting, could also throw in some other options to use that influence on

[@RobBCactive]

That's not TRUE!! Fanatic xenophile and Megacorps can do stuff for free or near enough to it. Factions generate influence, so doing diplo deals can be profitable in influence terms. If you only play in militaristic fashion, you miss huge parts of the game, which allow more subtle strategy.

[@RobBCactive]

@@mislavkrznaric1635 that's what factions allow, research agreements for example can build approval. Also the artists, allow exchange of energy for influence in the long run

[@zwojack7285]

So far I only checked out the standard federation, which to me is boring, and the trade federation, which is awesome as an trade heavy Megacorp. By now playing one I go for a federation first as such an empire. The federal trade policy is incredibly strong and the +5% trade value etc is so great. After 30 years I dont have a single technician job in my empire anymore which also allows me to ignore any research for those jobs.

[@gabrieljoseozanan6989]

Try the Hegemon start, ideally as a militarist empire. It is pretty amazing as well, first thing you should do is expand a lot and cripple your starting allies, making you the perma ruler. Once you get a decent fleet going, you start to claim close systems and then turning them into vassals/tributaries, which forces them into your hegemony in a crippled state, increasing both your power and your fleet size!

[@Bluelyre]

*laughs in inward perfection*

[@KaiTheKool]

Great timing, I just founded my first federation today in my current UNE playthrough.

[@StarBoundFables]

Awesome video! Thanks, Stefan. This serious is fantastic 😄 I recently joined my very 1st Galactic Union, playing as the Custodians ATM. These vids are super helpful, & I'm glad that Stellaris' game launcher linked me directly to them 🙏🏽

[@NalyKalZul]

you forgot the fact that for forming the federation, you can use favors to jump ahead with the rep needs.

[@SkullMaster1993]

I like your min-maxing style but you should remember that not everyone plays like that. I say this because you said "you should never play a pacifist empire" and even though that advice may be good for someone trying to win, a pacifist empire offers a completely different play experience for a casual player and should not be overlooked. Just my opinion, don't know why that bothered me so much, the isolation we've all been experiencing these days made me more short-tempered than usual i guess.

[@tempestmars123]

SkullMaster1993 Agree with you. Also, the AI is so bad at warfare that I feel waging wars is just cheating.

[@karniggl4539]

Yea, in general, your type of empire doesnt matter. As a good player you can always beat the game even on the hardest settings. This however is supposed to be a guide for new players I guess, so he is giving advice on how to be as powerful as possible if you dont yet know what youre doing :)

[@alphacentauri1760]

You always want to purge all aliens in the Galaxy and then use pop control on yourself. The dev have said that pops is the major source of late game lag.

[@alphacentauri1760]

There's only one way to contain the late game lag, so there's only one correct way to play this game.

[@prinstyrio0]

I agree, you can still win the game without ever waging war if you're clever enough, particularly now with federation update. But I always felt that Stellaris is about the experience, not the end goal, atleast not until it actually has a way to record your games.

[@olegoleg258]

Migration treaties are extremely usefull to pull pops from enemies empires if you've got good migration pulls. For that you can distribute luxury goods, have a resort world etc. Etc. Some accension perks add that too, at least with mods for sure, and so do some traditions-albeit again, with mods usually. I managed to pull 16 pop growth from their planets because their pops hate them

[@MiguelAbd]

Dude, this series has been great. Truly, thanks for it!!

[@Nivek57]

Im new to stellaris and watching these videos to learn how to play. The operation barbarossa line killed me. Calling it that is so good.

[@malcontent1119]

I think it's worth mentioning that when attempting to form vassals/subjects/federations or whatever, you can make trade deals for favors. 1 Favor = 5 acceptance points to any deals you attempt and can be used to rush subjugation and such.

[@principleshipcoleoid8095]

I use migration treaties for Psionic Cyborg Erudite pops.

[@Regunes]

Diplomacy... like Skipper said "a friend is but an ennemy that hasn't attacked you yet"

[@gabrieljoseozanan6989]

I rather like better the saying "A friend is those you subjugated into your hegemony and now will fight your wars at your command"

[@wadeegroot]

Envoys only add a maximum of 200 Opinion. Having multiple Envoys on one Empire will simply make you reach the threshold of +200/-200 faster. They're still very strong mind you, but not as strong as you make them out to be.

[@tenacity25]

As soon as you said "Operation Barbarossa" I knew exactly what you were talking about. Being an avid hoi4, stellaris, and civ player with a lot of WW2 history knowledge kinda helps. Lol

[@thoshi3501]

Or being European x)

[@JP282516]

Just be allied (e.g. Federation) with another player who doesn't have non-aggression signed with said player, and have the other player declare war. Vote yes, and you have just circumvented the non-aggression pact.

[@furiousone942]

I've been playing HOI off and on since the original.

[@Charcu2]

So operation Barbarossa was the tactic used by Nazi Germany to defeat Russia during WWII, the main goals of it were to secure oil (resources) and surround then conquer Stalingrad and Moscow through blitzkrieg and pinzer tactics. It failed for many reasons. I know what it is but I fail to get how it relates to make defensive pacts worthless in multilayer, people rarely go for those anyway

[@Sorain1]

He's referring to assuring someone you will not attack them... then attacking them anyway. Stalin refused to believe it until Germany had taken huge swathes of land because he (I can't believe it either.) _trusted_ Hitler. Stalin's later paranoia is generally thought to stem from that event, but if he'd taken the time to actually read Hitler's statements, he would have realized that the Nazi party despised his own party. Socialists don't get along...

[@ЛеонидСемёнов-у4ь]

​@@Sorain1 Stalin never trusted Hitler. It was obvious to everyone nazi's will attack Soviet Union, the whole point of NAP was to better prepare for war. You guys in the West should stop beliving any stupid propaganda piece you came across in the internet. And you implying that nazi's were socialist clearly indicates that you are of special breed of intellectuals(google privatization you moron).

[@Alttoviulu92]

@@ЛеонидСемёнов-у4ь So it is list time. Stalin himself: - agrees to a pact with Hitler in which armed forces from both nations partition Poland, ✓ - asks to join the Axis for mutual interests in 1940, (revealed after the Soviet dissolution) ✓ - continues to trade with Germans until German forces cross the border, ✓ - forces limits on full mobilization which his army leadership asks for, ✓ - refuses to believe British intelligence which had revealed the attack plans of Barbarossa, ✓ So Citizen Joseph agreed, asked for friendship, traded blindly, refused his advisors (believing war is not coming yet) and finally mistrusted Hitler's enemies "because they are onto no good". Stalin did trust Hitler. Not if it might mean ill for the Soviets or his life, but he did trust him.

[@dylanpresidafonseca2545]

@@Alttoviulu92 they were both planning to betray each other.

[@dylanpresidafonseca2545]

@@Alttoviulu92 also the Nazis lost the socialist aspect in all but name when they got rid of the strasser guy.

[@salmanniazi1719]

Stefan, could you do a guide for xenophobic slavers, particularly the early game.

[@stoopidapples1596]

I second this. I have no idea how slaves work.

[@fyr3st0rm65]

Yeah, it doesn't take too much imagination to figure out what 'Operation Barbarossa' might entail.

[@Khunvyel]

Tip: In the policies, go for expansionist the moment you start a new game. Keep that for as long as possible until you border with an empire, then you switch to something else (maybe cooperative, even if you plan to eradicate them) to not basically invite them early on to hateful relationships and make them wage war against you sooner than later, if they are stronger for some reason than you. which can just as well be because you don't value fleet that much and want to put the resources into tech and economy first, which is a valid strategy. That way you keep the relations kinda at balance, allowing you to not lose influence to pacts you actually don't want to make. Despite usually being one of the players myself that wants to "keep my species clean", Stellaris is the first game (after Master of Orion 2) where it is actually worthwhile to integrate other species. With micromanaging you can spread them around to put them to best job use, gaining additional benefits, as their traits will benefit you there. And with extra trait points researched you can specialize these species even further to get more out of your pops than usual. Plus, exactly what you said, habitation preference. Granted, is obsolete the moment you can just terraform gaia worlds before you colonize, but still. As for Federations: they're often a pain in the butt because often time I find it next to impossible to invite more than one empire as the other will simply vote against me. Also, new players, take note that he talks with the Federations DLC in mind. You can form Federations in vanilla, but you have less options to go for.

[@ntenzz1808]

this is benefit for my future different style of my play. subscribed.

[@alexanderormwiklund]

How to exploit the xenos seems like the xenophobe title for this

[@alphacentauri1760]

They don't have to be the xenos. You can relase a sector and form a Fed with that sector. They will be defenseless against you so you'll always be the president. They will also have the same civics as you so no worries about cohesion.

[@alexanderormwiklund]

@@alphacentauri1760 if they aren't us they're xenos

[@alphacentauri1760]

@@alexanderormwiklund They are released by your empires so they'll be of the same race. I'm kinda racist on this one.

[@unclekanethetiberiummain1994]

@@alphacentauri1760 Same race. Different ideas. Still xenos.

[@alphacentauri1760]

@@unclekanethetiberiummain1994 Ah yes. I remember. You need to purge all xenos and release your pop as a new empire. They you use Colossus on them. Repeat. Reduce galactic pop to somewhere around 200. Performance problem solved.

[@xBeddha]

7:11 - the "special" federation types are dlc-exclusive. i formed a federation yesterday and galactic union was the only option (didn't even show the other buttons)

[@Brandon-hn5jx]

Also, on top of that, you must have the appropriate ethics or civics. Ie. Trade unions are only available to mega corps or a particular civic, I can't remember which

[@jamescindric5056]

You forgot about Megacorps building branch offices through commercial pacts.

[@Stefan_Anon]

That's quite simple to figure out, and I would have had to explain branch offices. I have to keep these vids short.

[@sephikong8323]

"Through commercial pact" I can hear the criminal syndicate laugh in the background

[@alphacentauri1760]

Megacorps is worthless because you are going to purge all those filthy xenos sooner or later.

[@und3adcrows727]

I never understood the desire to play an aggressive empire. It's boring after the first couple successes.

[@CalmSmilingMan]

The only useful diplomacy is the "Bitch, better have my money" policy.

[@MrDoze14]

You can also use favours from the trade menu to more easily create a federation with someone if their opinion for the federation is -50 or less.

[@donjulioanejo]

Operation Barbarossa? Does that mean go to war, drown in a river, and get pickled in a barrel on the way home before you even get to war?

[@anthonyfrost1123]

I played a few games before getting the Federations expansion.... Galactic Union is the default option for you and the only option for you if you don't have the expansion

[@filipprochazka4961]

I tend to solo play as a free haven + engineered evolution "we're nice guys (or else)". That way, if I have a massive immigration pull (which I usually end up having), I am using the "other" populations as additional population growth source. And when they show up, I change their genetic make up to make them "one of us". That way, there's plenty of us, and while we look very much different, we are, in essence, all the same. But better. (I'm starting to sound like Khan Noonien Singh...)

[@MrMarinus18]

5:55 What is migration pull? I thought it meant how likely the pops of empires you had migration treaties with are to settle with you. So if you have a higher migration pull than the empire you're signing with a migration treaty is a net positive in pops.

[@insertmoneyhere]

with 3.4~ overlord anything changed.. peacefull xenophile is the strongest combinations..

[@sethierot7067]

Haha lost a war yesterday by waiting behind my Starfort, So i am eager to see that next Video too xD

[@Koellenburg]

How will "Guarantee of Independance" protect me from war? The way i see it i will guarantee their independance, and help em if somebody attacks them. But they still can attack me.

[@linkbro4374]

It will make them like you, so they won't attack you, I think

[@crocworks]

Watching despite only having played Dedicated Exterminator games...

[@ed-gaming9786]

Who would win? A armada of battleships, Titans, and juggernauts or a charismatic xeno

[@nicholaschandler3383]

Could you make a video on Pop ethics and attraction? The mechanics are confusing and hard to manage.

[@xXtylermhigginsXx]

i have over 2200 hours and i mostly only play tall science empires or pacifist empires and just win through score. one of my best games was as a xenophobic isolationist. if you can become powerful enough the AI will just ask for you to take them on as vassals or tributaries without fighting a single war.. easiest way to win for sure.

[@zottunkaido1551]

keep it up! great info!

[@goncalooliveira7010]

Can someone explain me how do you get so many planets. I usually get like 2-3 with 80% habitability and like 2 more with 50-60%. Then the rest is usually 20% and they are not worth colonizing... right? Am i doing something wrong ? Also, late came i come across with housing and unemployment issues, i really dont understand what im doing wrong, i've watched so many guides on planet management and im actually mad at the game because i can't F***** learn it lmao Great guide tho on this federations topic ^^

[@destrucktoid7569]

You are in fact doing something wrong, you are not praying to our lord the Birb enough, it is only through being the almighty Birblord that Stefan achieves such great spawns! (you aren't doing anything wrong, Stefan just gets REAAALLYY lucky spawns, thanks of course to the will of the Holy Birb)

[@EloquentTroll]

Genetic engineering for fun and profit, make some of your snow loving pops into desert dwellers.

[@Ghostly-00]

5:20 well then.. it looks like somebody is a xenophobe lol

[@somedudeok1451]

I disagree: Migration treaties are very good, because different pops have a different specialization. If you are able to get some of their pops, you can build a more efficient economy. Plus, colonizing more types of worlds = more colonies = bigger economy. Finally, migration is a way of leeching off other empires. Every empire has emigration and those pops have to move somewhere - why would you not offer up your worlds as a destination and get a slice off that free growth pie? Especially if you can keep your planets more stable than theirs. In the end, much like in real life, immigration is a net-benefit to the nation offering a home to the immigrants. There may sometimes be a problem with diverging ethics, but a net positive is still a positive.

[@alphacentauri1760]

If you have frequently reach late game you will find that pops is the major cause of the late game lag. Having less total pops and less variety of pops in the Galaxy will reduce lags. Therefore fanatic purifier + pop control is way to go. Also if you read into the story of the contengency, you'll find out they are just trying to prevent to game from collapsing because of too much pops.

[@alphacentauri1760]

If you really like to take this seriously, in real life global warming is very similar to the late game lag crisis.

[@somedudeok1451]

@@alphacentauri1760 no

[@alphacentauri1760]

@@somedudeok1451 Environmental orgs are working on persuading people in to vegetarian diets, public transportation and less international travels. This is similar to galactic community decisions that reduce pop/fleet growth to mitigate the late game lag. In real life if no one can agree on how much amenities they're willing to sacrifice to save the earth war will break out. This is similar to containing the lag via war and purge.

[@alphacentauri1760]

@@somedudeok1451 Great powers recognize that the best way to ensure their security is to achieve hegemony now, thus eliminating any possibility of a challenge by another great power. Only a misguided state would pass up an opportunity to be the hegemon in the system because it thought it already had sufficient power to survive. Accordingly, a state's best strategy to increase its relative power to the point of achieving hegemony is to rely on offensive tactics.

[@stc2828]

But you can't start a war 10 years within breaking a nonaggression pack.

[@owlthemolfar4690]

Ordo Xenos approves this one! Thank you for the video.

[@solmyr2]

this game is broken as fuck ... year 2451 im in this federation with other 3 empires we are basically rulling the universe becouse we are the strongest but we live quite peacefully and only engage in a war or 2 from time to time. then suddently the war in heaven happens. We 4 can annihilate those 2 fallen empires if we want, but nooo our entire fuckin federation is taken over by all the empires who chose to enter the federation becouse of the fuckin event (except 2or 3 hive minded ones quite powerfull aswell) , now its also bugged becouse i was not the head of the federation , but 2 of the original members chose to left (and one of them is still the head somehow so its bugged - the event to challenge for head of federation popped up but nothing happened bcz this guy left the federation somehow but we see him as the leader) Now im in a federation with all the other fuckin empires except the original members, forced in a war vs some hive mind empire that i don't want .. Meanwhile 1 of the old members chose to declare war on a new member and we are all forced to war again vs my old friend .. ahhahaha what the fuck is this shit paradox ? meanwhile the 2 fuckin fallen empire are fighting on their own nobody gave a shit . this game is ruined , can't even leave the federation since im at war... maan fuck this shit

[@jacknrdampedersen1086]

Great video as always. I'm running low of influence all the time, what can I do about that? I can see that if I'm a member of Federation I lose even more influence.

[@StewOxThePower]

It depends of your playstyle, if you like to form a lot of defensive pact as well as migration treaties for exemple, it's more interesting to form a Fédération because you would use less influence and also gain some nice bonuses

[@Jfk2Mr]

What type of empire you play - if machines or hive, then there's only few ways to reduce influence expenses like reducing number of defensive/research agreements and non-agression pacts (in which federation can help). Normal (organic) empires have few more ways to gain influence like taking care of your factions. Non-genocidal empires can also get some influence by events if they have subscribed to art enclave.

[@akya]

I really need someone to point out which policies and sanctions I should upvote as a certain empire and which should be opposed. It's kind of a mess for me.

[@Brandon-hn5jx]

Oh man, this one game I have the habitat origin start. You start with max habitability. There is this one resolution that boosts minerals, alloy, basic worker resource pop production, and a few others but at a cost of 20% habitability. That, with the habitat origin doesn't affect me.

[@Pkroc138]

Do I need federation dlc to make a federation?

[@SenjaiYT]

Cant you also use favors to get folks in federations?

[@lykuscerebros9480]

Doesn't the federation fleet still costs alloys to build and just has no upkeep? Haven't formed a Martial Alliance so far so not sure if it might be different for them.

[@tobiasholm2717]

Build cost: Yes Maintenance: No

[@domenboh]

yes, but when are you ever going to build federation fleet, when you can have the ai do it for you?

[@lykuscerebros9480]

@@domenboh you need to enable the correct law then and also crept the ships that he is building for you. I just thought that he missed a point and wanted to make it clear for everyone.

[@fwootamala]

I''m surprised more people aren't 'Russian' to explain the Barbarossa reference.

[@RaskaTheFurry]

what about technically developing empires you want to be in federation with. that can be beneficial. I find migration treaty beneficial if you dont have robots or you dont plan to have them since they can often colonize planet types you cannot. Like if your ppl like dry climate, you cant really colonize cold climate. So you get migration treaty with who likes cold climate and now you can colonize. Worth it if you have those planets in your empire, dont gave robots and it saves you energy, because you dont have to teraform

[@htf5555]

xenos? diplomacy?

[@schadiel-ghorayeb479]

FOR THE EMPEROR

[@marcster95]

This series is super helpful for someone like me who just got the game. I was wondering if you could release kind of a summary text of the main takeaways or if someone knew of a post that had a good summary of things to remember that way I can have it next to me as I play

[@EveloGrave]

Doesnt think I should play Pacifist. I play fanatical pacifist inward perfection, crap.

[@RamilMagyerramov]

Migration treaties are bad ...unless you have Synthetic ascension and set rights of every other species to assimilation.

[@DaviASRocha]

You've never saw a Star Trek episode don't you, m8?

[@Ghostly-00]

greetings everyone mynameisstefan

[@PerfectAlibi1]

There rarely is a reason to run closed borders.

[@Draygoh]

First! Man i love your videos

[@ce017]

Why never pacifist?

[@tobiasholm2717]

*cough* Boring *cough*

[@ce017]

But I like inward imperfection. Infact the first proper empire I made that I really enjoyed was inward perfection. Still one of my faves to this day

[@alphacentauri1760]

You need to kill all xeno pops to contain the late game lag. Trust me this is a MUST.

[@ce017]

@@alphacentauri1760 hahaha fair

[@prinstyrio0]

Just play the way you want I'd say, if you enjoy it you enjoy it. I've played both militarist and pacifist, as well as different form of ethics, and there's enjoyment to have in each one if you like the empire management and aren't fully invested into the space battle simulator. Also you don't need to kill pops to avoid lag, that was true before, but even then as you kill pops your pop replaces them so it was more just a late game problem overall. It's better now in 2.6 to the point I've played a game without killing any AI empire and it runs smooth.

[@arphaxadbasilona1871]

Meh...conquering everyone is too boring...I currently play as a fanatic spiritual and fanatic pacifist empire for the challenge...Kill them with kindness and all that...

[@tri99er_]

Being subjugated is the most boring shit in the universe.

[@skygoneinc9962]

The title of this video makes me feel sick