Stellaris 3.3 Ascension Perks Tier List

[@sanshou4927]

One perk you missed on the Colossus Project was the "total war" wargoal. It allows you to declare war and take space without paying influence. This is great for when you are at the point in the game where you just want to burn your enemies without having to slowly take land. You don't even need to use the colossus, just have it orbiting your homeworld safe. It does also allow your enemies to total war you.

[@ShummaAwilum]

Came looking for this comment.

[@gavin7683]

there are so many ways to get total war. becoem the crisis does it and you dont even need to build a citadel, colossal ship yard then colossus. also you can do it with diplomatic power. just declare you enemy to be a crisis. and BAM free total war.

[@AK47Uprising]

Excellent point, I almost always take it.

[@cptlonesong3211]

@@gavin7683 you need a Colossal Shipyard to build a Juggernoob so

[@BlueReaper6561]

@@gavin7683 You could also just exterminate all the filthy organics

[@calmkat9032]

This actually let me understand the ending to that Doctor Who arc, I never understood the Timelords' plan and why the Doctor destroyed them, its literally just what you do in Stellaris as the crisis lol.

[@MontuPlays]

Wow! That's amazing, this is the best reception I think the intro could have had! Glad you enjoyed it

[@ennui9745]

@@MontuPlays Yeah I agree with him, that was a good reference.

[@notsm]

Ah good, I thought I was the only one who had an epiphany there.

[@james-michaelrobson287]

And your comment actually let me understand that this is Doctor Who.

[@killerlork]

@@james-michaelrobson287 lol, DW has changed a lot in 13 years

[@Unknown.NotRegistered]

Xeno-Comptability is a tragedy. That perk would be better if it just gave the bonus Perks across the board, not just Hybrid pops and allow mixed breeding to increase planetary growth rate. As it is now its a eugenics experiment gone wrong. Just all kinds of horrible magnified by CPU damage.

[@grawa4278]

They could just limit the amount of new species to be maxed at around 10 new species

[@condotiero860]

Even without the lag, you have no control over the half-breed offspring, it's totally RNG. Could be good, but its usually mediocre. You are literally better off taking genetic modification. Why roll the dice, when you can get exactly what you want?

[@calmkat9032]

I wish they just gave your empire the +1 maximum traits and trait points, then the lore could be that your empire makes a hybrid of 2 races in particular, instead of it being out of the player's control. That way, its like a differently flavored species modification project

[@NotMorchaste]

@@grawa4278 I think the solution is just to remove the hybrid species entirely. Keep the +1 trait point and +1 trait pick, and that's it. Purely mechanical, but it would work. Maybe just keep the Caravan event that can give you an hybrid specie, for flavor.

[@xakuray5522]

It should really just give you the conditionnal pop growth and the +1 trait point and slot to mess around with, and that's it. No more randomly creating random species.

[@sharksareneat8723]

Xeno-compatability is an S tier weapon if you have a good PC while other players don't. Nuke everyones PCs while you get a million micro managed bio pops with the best bio traits you can get. Xeno-compatability is a weapon that surpasses even the colossus in its deadliness 😈

[@MontuPlays]

This is pure evil... I love it

[@Leo-ok3uj]

You MONSTER

[@TheReal_birbwizard]

This is madness!

[@thoneras9611]

@@TheReal_birbwizard This is Stellaris!

[@MimicAraiun]

I know this is a joke, but doesn't making everyone else lag while you don't just cause constant desyncs?

[@joseangelquintero6022]

I use the C and F tier perks in role-playing games. The really help sell my immersion.

[@Ash-om2um]

In my opinion Colossus project should be S tier for the same reason Xeno-compatibility is F tier. Unless you have Armageddon bombardment stance, you can't effectively get rid of the extra pops in the galaxy (after you have had enough pops) to boost game speed and actually end it. It is also essential for Contingency crisis if you have set crisis on high difficulty.

[@johnuthus]

As I play Custodian empires a lot, I hate those fallen empires that purged worlds as they are in violation of section 18

[@YagabodooN]

useful for getting rid of infested worlds of the scourge too.

[@ShummaAwilum]

One of my favorite things in the game is neutron sweeping fallen empire capitals with my SS Lysol (tm) so I get an op planet without having to amass a hundred or so armies and wait a few years for the battle to finish.

[@ShadowcatAlfa]

you just need to send a few more super robots (mega warforms) lol

[@Mario-kf3ej]

nah Colossus is F tier - I play with Crisis perk 99% of time haha even if I was adamant to play without this time - and with Star Eater for free Collosus value is 0.

[@Pullapitko]

I would argue that Consecrated Worlds can situationally be extremely good. If you spawn next to a spiritualist fallen empire you have gaia worlds which you can't colonise.

[@Hy3jii]

pretty sure consecrating a Fallen Empire's holy world also grants a positive relations modifier with them and gives you some nice flavor text.

[@codesimpson6010]

@@Hy3jii It does, I was going for Deus Vult and thought converting counted. The FE let me colonize the worlds after because the consecrated worlds modifier didn't go away. Managed to get peacekeeper in the same run because of it (200 years of peace)

[@EyeOfMagnus4E201]

This works really well, and like everyone else here said, I can confirm it makes the fallen empire more favorably inclined towards you. You can’t colonize those worlds anyhow, so this is the best option you have for them (until late game, at least).

[@antonzhdanov9653]

While it gives good bonuses, still you need other ones for your early game and in late game they are pretty useless. And yes, the only beneficial way to use this perk well is consecrate same worlds fallen spiritualist guards

[@bodbyss]

Something that you didn't really discuss is that the synthetic ascension requires tier 4 engi researches to even access. This makes the synth path come online much later than the bio ascension. And that one in turn was already even slower to reach than the psy ascension. I think this is good to acknowledge.

[@MontuPlays]

I think I alluded to the tech requirements, but definitely didn't lay them all out explicitly

[@ingold1470]

It might be a problem, but you could also start with your section of the galaxy cordoned off by 2 fallen empires like I did. Comfiest mechanist game I ever had.

[@dracos369y]

@@ingold1470 hope one of them wasn't holy guardians

[@anna-flora999]

True, but the technologies you need to have already provide a lot of bonuses along the way

[@ingold1470]

@@dracos369y I think one was, but they only denounce rather than attack unless you settle one of their holy worlds.

[@Albertosn3]

One thing I feel should be mentioned that for Consecrated Worlds is that if you Consecrate a Holy World that the Spiritualist Fallen Empire also likes then you can farm reputation with them to the point where they might give you gifts every so often

[@gamgy2820]

I desagree about Universal Transactions, if you have like 10 trade pacts, this can be game changer for MegaCorp(and you need influence for branches), always take when play as MegaCorp. But with 3.3 it is less important.

[@NotMorchaste]

As a ring world megacorp enjoyer, it's usually my first pick. It helps you spam commercial pacts and branches early on every planet. Once I get a big enough territory, until I can start building habitats, it's the only thing I can really sink Influence into anyway.

[@Maty83.]

Deffo less important than before with trade feds nowadays. An effect of a trade fed getting more cohesion and you not having to pay for said fed would be amazing.

[@EyeOfMagnus4E201]

@@Maty83. That would be a good boost for an otherwise so-so ascension perk. It does seem somewhat more useful now that Overlord is out as influence is a bit tighter now.

[@colecook834]

Seriously bio ascension should allow you to transform species as well. To reduce the number of unique species

[@MontuPlays]

That would such a great inclusion. I also think it would make thematic sense

[@eycariot987]

@@MontuPlays it would. But it would diminish necroids origin

[@MinecraftConnected]

@@MontuPlays It would also fix xenocompatibility

[@MrJakeasaur98]

@@eycariot987 Not necessarily. There are ascension perks that provide same bonuses to civis/traits, like the raiding stance one, so I think it could work. If you play necrosis, you don't have to spend an ascension perk use that solution, so it serves as a viable alternative.

[@majdavlk649]

But bio is about specializing species for various jobs

[@Ravenclaw-ql6kk]

I love doing a tall build with Void Dwellers + Eternal Vigilance + Grasp the Void, so satisfying to see the massive structures in space. Solar Panels are so useful too, wish we could use them as a non-gestalt empire.

[@exteareviews7139]

Sonar Panels are too advanced for your fleshy bio scum.

[@thedarkcorrupter]

They used to be for everyone, but that was also the time where stations could be built above every colonized planet and defense stations could be built anywhere. Long long ago

[@ElysiumCreator]

Xeno-Compatability, more like micromanagement-annoyance generator

[@MontuPlays]

This... is very true

[@AnemoneMeer]

Disagree on Mastery of Nature. Yes, you could just build a habitat. Habitats cost Alloys that could go into ships. Influence is basically worthless lategame anyway and energy credits are easy to get in bulk. More importantly, it acts as a boost to your Gaia Worlds and Ecumenopoli or similar, which are vastly more productive than Habitats. Furthermore, with Ascending Worlds affecting sprawl penalties, you can make it vastly more efficient to use Mastery of Nature than to build a habitat. Mastery of Nature wants to be your sixth or seventh Ascension, taken after you have Gaia Worlds and Ecumenopoli and all of that built out. It's terrible taken early, but very powerful if taken late.

[@indrickboreale7381]

Mastery of Nature should get "Better over time"

[@codexaeterna]

Galactic Force Projection should be changed to be a percentage increase to naval cap.

[@trolly4233]

Do you know how powerful that would be?

[@reedeek1473]

@@trolly4233 you can always tweak some numbers

[@GameboyMega]

I just started up stellaris and you release this video! Gonna be helpful I'm sure! 😌

[@MontuPlays]

I hope it helps!

[@Wildwolf5910]

You have no clue man, he becomes God himself VERY quickly! Have fun with this amazing game

[@elethiomelzakalwe4453]

As of Overlord Shared Destiny is considerably more useful since it eliminates loyalty penalties for having multiple subjects.

[@DrOwn-hq9ot]

Far too many ascensions are constant values when they should be percentages

[@Hungry_God]

The thing about genetic ascention is that if you go megacorp with zombies you can get even crazier pop growth (although slightly worse).

[@OGSaltBreaker]

psst, one of the corporate death cult edicts adds another +1 pop assembly on top of that even at the minimum amount of initiates

[@Hungry_God]

@@OGSaltBreaker when I try it the edit expires eight away. I think it's bugged, may be wrong

[@OGSaltBreaker]

@@Hungry_God its not a toggle like the others. it activates a 5 year buff

[@onepangaean3018]

I mean doesn't that still have nothing on hive mind spawning pools + budding + clone vats

[@OGSaltBreaker]

@@onepangaean3018 budding stacks with the posthumous center too so adding that makes it equivalent if not slightly faster with the edict in pure assembly. might even slightly edge hive out in growth with xenophobe ethics and nutritional plenitude. dealing with the sprawl penalty from doing that certainly requires a different approach though.

[@クククビラエンジョイ者]

Xeno compatibility is extremely fun, because you can enable it in multiplayer with a friend that is new to stellaris, and u go easy on them, and let them think they will win, but everybody quits due to lag. And at that point, you reveal the true reason behind the lag: That inter species tentacle sex is immoral and bad for the galaxy as a whole.

[@tehrandomfreak]

RE consecrated worlds and eternal vigilance Specifically for void dwellers, CW isn't outright terrible. You're not going to be using planets anyway and will probably have some within your space even if you did minimal expansion. The increases to spirtualist popularity can indirectly boost your resources a bit by increasing the percentage of your population that are spiritualists, and they're pretty easy to please. EV is 'kinda' useful for voidies too; more starbases means more hydroponics, and it's possible to float your food economy entirely on hydroponics for much of the game. Doubly so if you go megacorp and take the civic that gives +4 to starbases. Both of these can compensate for voidies naturally low population and thereofore low ship capacity with more affordable starbases for anchorages, and/or more refineries if you have access to a nebula.

[@eycariot987]

Even as a void dweller it is much simpler and much more efficient to take somethere second species to colonise this worlds. You can stumble upon some utterly usless planets to use it on. But most of the time it is too niche. Paradox should buff it to give something like happiness

[@Nomadic_Gaming]

consecrated worlds is useful if you have spiritualist neighboring fallen empires consecrate their holy worlds and boom easy planets you cant use yet and itll curry favor w them too for void dwellers its ok for a spiritual megacorp btw who gain more from spiritual pops its big for the ethics attraction to try and stack that and maximize spiritualist pops and pops in branch office empires its niche but its niche uses are very good

[@Nikarus2370]

@@Nomadic_Gaming Yeah if I'm trying to go psionic (and thus am spiritualist), and I start seeing FE holy worlds around, CW can be solid. As if you get some favor with the FE so they'll trade with you... you can basically offload your economic issues onto the FE and build up like crazy.

[@Nomadic_Gaming]

@@Nikarus2370 exactly plus the potential of them not bullying you outright if they awaken later vs other empires first especially if you find zarklons head yeah having a spiritualist fallen empire as a buddy is great and w unity being s bigger thing ingame now its a solid pick and as i said 3 good top tier consecrated worlds plust spiritualist empire especially a megacorp one it can do wonders for your economy and ethics attractiveness and help magnify the effect of temples on branch offices and depending on how overlord shakes things up making other empires slowly fall into your ethics and thus more agreeable to you may make federations or even possibly taking them over via diplomatic means which right the the ai ALWAYS refuses alot easier

[@Archcowan]

Seeing this video from you gave me the spur to move forwards to 3.3 (I only started playing a few months ago and didn't want to have to unlearn everything). Thanks for your hard work!

[@Mastari]

Interested to know how you would improve all the Asc. Perks in to S tier picks? Or at least the very subpar ones in C and F tier. Maybe in another theory crafting video?

[@egesentug6439]

consacrate only works if u spawn next to holy guardian fallen empire each consecration on holy worlds give +30 relations and when you cons all 3 holy worlds it rounds up to %25 unity and %15 amenities and %25 sp ethics attraction

[@Austin555661]

Easy way to do this too Just be fanatic and take the uh Scion? Start

[@EyeOfMagnus4E201]

@@Austin555661 That would be the optimal way to do it.

[@sirensoulegaming4158]

@@Austin555661 If only Scion spawned you right next to the Fallen empire. In My experience they're on the other side of the galaxy lol

[@Jernsaxe]

I would argue that "Grasp the Void" is high A tier. It is so damn good. Once upgraded this gives you 180 naval cap, 50 food, 10.000 storage capacity (assuming you build anchorage with storage and hydro). In y30 PvP games I take Executive Vigor into Grasp the Void in any game where I don't rush psionics. Both have so much early game power that they are worth it, even though they fall off in the very late game.

[@pancakes4193]

It is also outright bonkers for Gestalt Consciousness, who can specialize their economy even further since they can just primarily rely on starbases for energy. I always take it when I play as either a Machine Intelligence or a Hive Mind.

[@thenazzarow5789]

I agree. Seeing Grasp the void and galactic force projection in the same tier hurts me. Grasp is just a straigt up upgrade to galactic force projection.

[@andrelanyak2131]

Agree

[@Jernsaxe]

@@pancakes4193 While the early energy option is indeed good it doesn't compare to how good the naval cap is. Each upgraded anchorage gives 36 cap, the same as 6 upgraded soldier jobs. So 5 Star Fortress is equal to 30 pop jobs. While that might not be a lot in the super lategame, for the first 100 years it is amazing!

[@Manoomu]

@@pancakes4193 Next time you do hive mind try the ocean paradise origin. It guarantees a nebula which means nebula refineries which means refined gas on top of the energy, food, and minerals.

[@xelion101]

I actually really like the Mastery of Nature perk. Since all of my worlds are always heavily specialized getting to add two more districts and thus more jobs that benefit from those specializations and buffing structures always seems good to me.

[@pancakes4193]

They also have good synergy with Terravores, especially with Calamitous Birth. You can get plenty of pops from the tile blockers pretty cheaply. The perk also funnily enough allows them to munch more on a planet, and it's a useful influence sink in the 3.3 meta.

[@eligoldman9200]

World shaper is really really good for xenophile because gia worlds have a higher attraction bonus to refuges and if there is a war anywhere you just get flooded with pops. If you make it a resort world you never have to worry about amenities for the rest of the game.

[@TheReal_birbwizard]

As far as defense platforms are concerned it's worth noting the 2 repeatable techs for it gives 10% more damage and 10% more hull as a opposed to 5% for one weapon type and benefits from all the other repeatables. So strictly speaking it could do more damage buts it's more of a win more strategy or a crises x25 strategy.

[@madisonhartley5707]

Worldshaper is super useful when your empire has a large mix of different species, especially if you're conquering worlds and gaining low-stability planets. It's a nice way to quickly boost stability without too much effort. (the pops are a lot happier in paradise!) Combine it with the reduced terraforming time edict and terraforming doesn't take too long. The energy cost becomes almost negligable as the game goes on so long as your economy is strong. Also, you can get it fairly early if you prioritize terraforming tech. If you go in with the idea you're grabbing worldshaper, you can also safely prioritize other techs, stat imrpovements, etc. over habitability. There are a lot of situations where it isn't a good pick, but it really comes down to the type of empire you're playing as.

[@sirensoulegaming4158]

Other things to add to this - there's a chance to roll an event when you terraform inhabited planets that make those pops "gaia trapped", whch essentially just gives them Gaia preference. Once all your planets are gaia worlds, you can gene mod this to all your other pops for an extra production bonus, Add Bio Ascension and you can genemod negative traits, you can give your pops non-adaptive - Essentially 2 free trait points. Then, Sign migration treaties with every single empire you can. Having gaia worlds, other empires pops aren't pcky about where they migrate to. Having gaia preference species, your pops are INCREDIBLY picky. it's so good xD. When other empires pops start migrating in you can give them non-adaptive too.

[@bautibunge737]

I really like insterstellar dominion for the early game, like the first or sometimes the seccond ascension perk. Its true that in mid-game and late you'll have max influence, but at the beginning when you're raceing for chokepoints its very usefull to secure vast parts of the galaxy with few chokepoints

[@Dan-zg1dq]

Big brain ascension perk in F tier, *damn*

[@EnderraphaXX]

Great video, I really enjoy rankings, specially with detailed explanations like that. And about the crisis perk, I think a video about it would be cool, I took it in once of my games until star eaters (I usually go only until lv 4 and stop there) and realized 2 strange things: The first is that the design of star eaters seems bugged and small lasers occupy the medium slots, so the base design is weaker than it looks. The other one is that I seemed to unlock loads of advanced techs like battleships and gamma lasers while having blue lasers because I focused all my planets in mineral/energy and no research for menacing spam (And I had no need for any other resource as the components cost basically 0). If this is intended then you can somehow Unity rush and have ships that are decades ahead of everyone, even more with enigmatic engineering, not even taking the star eater into account.

[@SarahSmiles_97]

Great work as always, I always enjoy listening to your tier lists! I'd love to see a video talking about shroud mechanics under the psionic ascension path.

[@tristenatorplaysgames6833]

I feel like you underated eternal vigilance being able to not have to yield a fleet for most of the game until late game is amazing not to mention it lets you play super tall and ignore most empires to attack you.

[@klop3re]

The juggernaut get the starbase bonus to

[@tristenatorplaysgames6833]

@@klop3re really? I didn’t know that I always wondered why mine had such high fleet power

[@Hawtmilk]

Nihilistic Acquisition really becomes special for rogue servitors. I almost always take it and "rescue" pops to come live in my bio-trophy worlds and I have all the unity I want as well as that nice +1% to complex drone output

[@damonedrington3453]

When he got to Eternal Vigilance I was like “Wait… you don’t set up starbases at critical chokeholds for rp purposes?”

[@luigimrlgaming9484]

No I don’t I do it for practical purposes

[@sovietunion7643]

@@luigimrlgaming9484 yeah, i don't understand why no one else does that. maybe im just a descendant of ww1 soldiers and like defense in depth. upgraded starbases at chokepoints mixed with smaller defense fleets can put a stop to crisis spreading or buy you time to regroup and plan if you are getting invaded by a superior enemy. in a perfect world yes you can just make a bigger fleet and protect yourself but what if you mess up or your fleet in the wrong place, and now the unbidden just ripped out 5 of your worlds and now you have to spend 5 years rooting them out. thats 5 years of time you (and the galaxy for that matter) might not have.

[@luigimrlgaming9484]

@@sovietunion7643 tbh in my situation it’s usually other empires as it seems that if you hit a large unbidden fleet with everything you got they just freeze and stop doing stuff I dunno why

[@luigimrlgaming9484]

@eek how do you get 200k starbase?

[@heythere2115]

I always take starbases; they are basically tanky ships that don't take up naval capacity. I make a few templates and mix them, I use mostly large platforms for the alpha strike. Sometimes I make these with no armour and shields, sometimes just tier 1. But the best weapons. I make a hanger platform(along with the Hanger Bay on the starbase), these are my second most used. Strike craft are the best PD in the game, and they kill corvettes. Never use the PD station section. My third platform I use is just a light/medium one. These do a better job at killing corvettes, annihilate destroyers and do okay against cruisers. And my forth and last design is a 2 missile and 2 torpedo platform and I will only build a max of one per station. These destroy battleships and cruisers, and tank damage for the strike craft. If you stack platform perks, you can easily get over well over 20 platforms on a station. My stations by early mid game are 20K power and my main stations are 35k power, and the enemies attacking me will have 7k fleets. Which means I only need offensive ships in my fleet(like torpedoes and heavy slots) to destroy enemy starbases. And all my platforms are full armour with one shield. However you can make them with less or no armour/shields, or with downgraded armour/shields - which makes them cheaper glass cannons. This is the same in HOI4, you have the ability to create massed cheaper weaker designs and you should play around with that. Defence platforms don't need to be tanky or expensive. 23(46 guns) heavy slot defence platforms on a station with no armour will destroy a fleet before the fleet is in range, and these are really cheap. And this is better than having 10 heavy tanky platforms that cost twice the amount and get killed due to their lower damage. People think platforms should be tanky, but if they can't kill fleets within the first few days - the station going to lose anyway. You can also make platforms with no guns, just full armour, I don't recommend them but they are really cheap and can be used as place-holders until you can afford normal platforms. You can't do this with ships, weaker ships just always lose. But platforms already have 1000 hull points at the start of the game and all platform designs can be created in the first year. You can do a lot with platforms. Even if you don't use starbase perks, you should build platforms anyway. - which is why I recommend cheap glass cannons just to max the amount. You will not believe how cheap it is. Think about it like this. A platform with no modules costs 88 alloys and gives the starbase 1000 hull points. Think of it as a starbase upgrade that says "+1000 hullpoints" and costs just 88 alloys. (however I do recommend you always put guns on platforms). By the late game you can just use the best designs because platforms peak in cost at about 380 alloys, with is nothing.

[@Jablecznik]

Hey man, great vid as always! World shaper is really underrated IMO - with the introduction of terraforming events related to gaia worlds, you can get some OP random bonuses to your planets this way. Try it out some time, you will be surprised :) The perk also synergizes quite well with the Life-seeded, Shattered Ring or Void dwellers origins for obvious reasons (habitability)

[@ashtonrene1524]

Please make a video on the Become the Crisis! I recently got back to Stellaris and you channel has been a huge help in going from 2.6 to 3.3. Thanks a bunch~

[@Charles-wu3lh]

I tend to like the early game more than the late game, so when I would set up I'd crank the tech cost and number of alien empires all the way up to max. That way I'd get more time in the corvette/destroyer era, which I found fun at the time. Crisis killed that when it came out. Crisis Aspirants aren't limited by the tech tree and it became the fastest way to get to cruisers. One day you'd be the badest MF'r in the galaxy with phat stacks of corvettes, the next you're getting "existentially expelled" by a fleet of Menacing Cruisers backed up by a Star-Eater ...now I'm wondering if maybe that is still the case. A spiritualist doomsday-cult unity rush should be able to get to Crisis in a hurry. Quick enough that they may be able to end they universe before any of the filthy xeno's even get battleships.

[@evanstrong6239]

Montu could you do a tier list of the regular biological empire civics? And amazing video as always ALL HAIL MONTU

[@MontuPlays]

I was about to link you to the video... and then I realised I havent released it (yet). Don't worry! You'll see it soon

[@evanstrong6239]

@@MontuPlays Haha thanks! You really are good at interacting with your audience and followers thank you

[@MannBilimoria]

Great video! I almost agree with most of the list here. The thing i love about this game the most is just how much freedom it gives you. Except for some shitty perks like the Leader cap, a lot of B or C tier perks let you play the game differently. I like that they dont force you down a rabbit hole of just choosing some ascencion perks to stay alive and instead give you multiple options to achieve the same thing. Some perks are stronger than the other methods available, but atleast there are multiple methods available so you can pick and pace your game yourself!

[@timothypeterson4781]

I'd definitely agree with the others saying Grasp the Void is higher. It's so versatile it's almost never a bad choice. Naval capacity, trade, storage, or just being a very irritating roadblock for the enemy to invade (you know, until the end game.)

[@harlequingnoll5]

When I tried xenocom I ended up with so many choices the icons merged together and I never knew which species was going on a colony ship

[@twister4839]

Please tell us more about “become a crisis” ascension perk!

[@justinthompson6364]

One of the big reasons _I_ like colossus project is for the total war wargoal, though maybe that's not as important anymore with the influence changes? Having to claim empires system by system used to get pretty expensive, especially when you could be spending that influence on megastructures instead.

[@comedyshortsgamer5688]

Nihlistic aquisition is god tier if pulled of correctly and is 100% necessary for a tall empire. I often find that many of my planets late game have few pops due to slowed pop growth, so the solition is to centralize your pops on fewer worlds such as ecuemenopli and use the world asc

[@blahmaster6k]

Imo it's still better to just conquer the planets. It's good if you don't have the ability to claim every planet but other than that it's just worse than conquest.

[@hellwraith13]

The F Tier should be called the "On The Surface it looks good" tier :P

[@ARC1701A]

I wish different star classes generated different energy yields from Dyson spheres. A pulsar should generate more than a dead red. There are also some dead red giants that are actually bigger than the Dyson, and it looks weird with it partly in and out of the star.

[@nikbrown3978]

Thank you for making these premier Stellaris tier lists 🙂

[@markbehringer2021]

That’s a shame about xeno-compatibility, I often take it and find it extremely powerful. I haven’t experienced any problems personally but my PC is a bit of beast. The only one of these I hard disagree on is world shaper- I take it all the time. if you are a Xenophile empire, having perfect habitability on all planets for all species is huge! It also reduces the micro burden, and the happiness and output bonus, as well as extra planet capacity, are a solid buff! And I usually find that by the mid game, I am swimming in energy credits anyway.

[@skullaveraz]

Wondering what your CPU is? I'm having severe lag late game (xeno on, medium galaxy) even with a decent rig

[@markbehringer2021]

@@skullaveraz I have an 8700k

[@skullaveraz]

@@markbehringer2021 lol I have the same CPU but I can't run on fastest speed late game for some reason. Did you overclock by any chance? Also, completely agree with you on World Shaper. It's probably best if you're playing wide and for if you take over the L-cluster. Though it can be a tad less useful if you're playing tall, or maybe if you happen to get the Last Baol relic though

[@markbehringer2021]

@@skullaveraz no I am running stock frequency! How’s your CPU cooler? Could it maybe be thermal throttling? just thinking of ideas.

[@Mrbush9001]

Consecrated worlds can be pretty useful if you border a spiritualist fe, as it allows you to get some use out of those tempting Gaia worlds and also gives you an opinion bonus to the fe

[@bohba13]

okay. the scean where that intro was from, one of the best doctor who specials of all time.

[@paulroberts5622]

That intro fitted so well 👍👍

[@chattychatotchannel]

I think the naval cap ascension perk is even less relevant when you consider the one that lets you build multiple megastructures at once and faster which means you can build one of those command centre megastructures and get loads of bonuses

[@julthefool150]

Generally speaking yes, but unless you mod stellaris you can only build one strategy mega structure and thats it. But since you can also spam starbases and thus increase naval cap the naval cap asc perk is indeed useless

[@Normalizer-xs3sj]

What about consecrated worlds for void dwellers?

[@fredhurst2528]

I like the ratings as viewed for usefulness in powering up. I think a lot of the lower rated ones are more appropriate for RP playthroughs.

[@MrMarinus18]

5:45 Maybe a good thing to make that one more viable is to add the feature of the at war mod. Where defense platform are not destroyed but are disabled at 1hp. Sort of like starbases and generate their health. Maybe though since it's an ascension perk they don't regenerate when under the control of another empire unless they themselves have eternal vigilance. If it's under control of another empire that doesn't it will just stay disabled at 1hp. If the war ends and they get to keep the territory all the disabled defense platforms would self-destruct. It would keep defense platforms somewhat viable even late game. Sure they can't stop fleets but since they essentially replace themselves for free they can really add to attrition.

[@nathaniverson9159]

You forgot to mention that synthetic ascension overrides special biological traits, like clone warrior ascendant or void dweller. Clones should take psy ascension, as the psionic trait stacks with their special trait, and void dwellers should take bio ascension to specialize the pops on each habitat.

[@thorzap1374]

Worth pointing out that if you Consecrate one of a Spiritualist Fallen Empire's holy worlds you get a decent reputation bonus with that fallen empire. Could be useful if you happen to be playing a Spiritualist empire and spawn near one such holy world but otherwise it's only really useful in the early game if you find a world you can't colonize for whatever reason.

[@MontuPlays]

Im failry confident if you consecrate any world, and turn it into aholy world you get a +30 bonus to relations with the spiritualist fallen empire

[@thorzap1374]

@@MontuPlays You'd know better than I would, thought there was an extra bonus for consecrating the same worlds as the spiritualist fallen empire but I'm probably mistaken

[@j.scottwigginsjr.3946]

Do you think Galatic Force Projection could be higher if it granted a percentage based increase? For example, plus 5% Naval Capacity and plus 10% fleet command limit or something along tose lines

[@swolecanadian4018]

Especially considering the focus is on the Galactic Scale, +20 fleet command limit is much less than the average 10% by the late game

[@AGrumpyPanda]

It needs an update to reflect the current game, back in the day (and I mean REALLY back in the day) it was a top tier pick for supertall and one planet builds, but now it barely gives you anything.

[@AK47Uprising]

I personally like grasp the void as I usually rely on starbases for border defense until I get to cruisers and I can’t do it nearly as fast as you lol. Plus I can use them for hydroponics bays, solar panels arrays, or anchorages to get a better amount of naval capacity than force projection. I like it because it’s versatile. I’d put it in B myself but I get your reasoning because you’re really playing on another level than I am. Agree with the rest of the list though.

[@nerif6776]

Why exactly u need cruisers?

[@nwahally]

"Stellaris Tier list? Count me in." *The Master stares at me* "You had my attention, now you have my curiosity."

[@TheSpectralFX]

@montu Plays, My dude, plan for Aquatic biological, devouring swarm hivemind that takes the Hydrocentric perk and then the colossus perk to instantly terraform enemy planets and colonize them. take the new ocean paradise start, also take the catalystic foundry perk (whatever the one that replaces mineral with food). Combine all that with nihilistic aquisition and you just slowly but surely eat the entire galactic pop. Finally you go the megastructures route after all that and you'll end up with the ability to snowball into an end game where you are just having alloys out of your ears and just not enough build capacity to ever outrun your alloy production... you'll either crash your energy credits from too much fleet or just, literally, not have enough queue capacity to build more ringworlds. Its quite crazy!

[@dangerface300]

Also worth knowing about Consecrated Worlds is that some very feasible edge cases can result in game breaking bugs. colonizing a consecrated world results in a planet that is no longer consecrated, but still counts toward your consecration cap, while leaving that world will prevent you from consecrating it ever again, you can never colonize it ever again and it counts toward your consecration cap.

[@peterknutsen3070]

6:30 with Wormholes, it is also often too difficult to defend all entrances to your territory, and unless there are Bastion Starbases at every single entrance, it's a bit pointless. Also, I highly recommend the mod Perked Up Perks. It really boosts some weak Perks, such ad Transcendent Learning.

[@thalgrond]

Consecrated Worlds actually gets better as the game goes on. It's not good to get it early, but by the late game, when you might have 30 or 40 inhabited planets in your empire (plus habitats if you're playing tall) a single colony - especially a new colony - isn't going to be producing anything even close to 8% of your unity. It's become more valuable in 3.3, as well, since it doesn't count as a colony and has no population contributing towards empire size. Additionally, that boost to amenities - small though it may be - is more important than you might expect. It allows for more of your pops to be focusing on research rather than serving as priests or entertainers, so it's useful as a way of keeping your advancement point production fairly versatile. If I'm playing a theocratic empire, I will sometimes take it - not early on, but towards the mid-game when I have my economy set up and really start to orient my whole empire towards research and unity production. I also just like it from an RP stance, since it seems like it's evidence of your empire's religious practices being influenced by that of the Spiritualist fallen empires, which just feels very appropriate. I won't claim it's anywhere close to a top-tier perk, but it's not entirely useless.

[@QuestionableObject]

Perks like COnsecrated worlds that're mostly flavour are one of the reasons I want more perk slots, there's so much competition for space in the slots that it just comes down to what unlocks the most content/advantage for me rather than what actually fits for my empire.

[@Yellow13Firestorm]

one fun thing with the colossus is that it can become heavy mining equipment. when you crack a planet, there's a chance it can drop some mineral deposits in space. i once had a 20 unit mineral deposit from a planet that i could not make habitable.

[@evenmoor]

Consecrated Worlds does have a niche use if you have the spiritualist fallen empire in the game - normally you can't colonize their holy worlds without ticking them off anyway (unless you have the Head of Zarqlan artifact), and consecrating the holy worlds also gives you a rep bonus with them, if I remember correctly.

[@jasonquigley2633]

Something you missed : you can also consecrate non-habitable worlds, so with some rerolling you can get 3 venerable worlds for an 18 % bonus to unity.

[@Flugzeugdreger]

Interstellar Dominion is very strong in early game, provided you're playing a land grab strategy (that's why it's represented by a tentacle alien in my opinion). I usually take it for precisely that reason, but I suck at playing tall so that's probably a bad statregy compared to the meta.

[@ingold1470]

Consecrating worlds gets better the more planets there are in the galaxy. Missing out on 3 planets for a global bonus to the other 50 is pretty nice, and the micro will be so annoying by that point that you'll hate yourself for colonising those worlds anyway.

[@willferrous8677]

also having the religious fallen empire liking you can be useful.

[@alexanderschweinehunde167]

I think you can still colonize consecrated worlds without losing the buff…at least you could in the previous version

[@tolgahanguney4770]

I usually pick collossus project for the total war casus belli, as it allows me to mobilize better and just rush the enemy down.

[@MontuPlays]

Be careful though, a door opens both ways

[@AnemoneMeer]

Also Disagree on Galactic Force Projection. Not that it gets worse as the game goes on (Oh god it's so bad later), but rather I think you undersell Galactic Force Projection's applicability in an early game rush build. You can get up to 3 trees done very early if you unity rush, and another 80 ships can easily set your fleet to approaching twice the size of your rivals. For a Fanatic Militarist setup, those ships will be able to keep up on weapons techs due to tech weighting and just plain better stats, and for Fanatical Purifiers, it's extremely valuable. Beyond that though, it's also valuable to Megacorps because of their difficulties getting the kind of empire scale they need to get extra starbases for extra fleet capacity early. It's useful to take as a result to avoid being a soft target.

[@N1ghthavvk]

I'd never pick something boring (i.e. number increases without cool features) like Executive Vigor or Technological Ascendency, no matter how great they are at catapulting myself forwards. But that's just my bias. If I'd stay inside the view point of looking at it from a min-max perspective, I'd still argue a few points though: * Executive Vigor may be good for ten to twenty ingame years, but +100 Edict Fund is basically useless after 2275. Therefore it doesn't belong in S-tier. At most I'd say it is A-tier, a situational pick if you really need that boost from two Edicts *now*. It was S-tier when it gave you +2 Edict Capacity last patch. * Colossus Project is S-tier for non-genocidal empires as it gives the best war goal which allows you to instantly capitalize on your gains. Also it is incredible when fighting a highly pushed crisis. * Defender of the Galaxy isn't as good as many think it is. +50% damage is nothing more than 10 repeatables for your weapons. That's definitely not worth an ascension perk, if you've developed a good tech production. B-tier at best. * Similarly, Galactic Contender is even worse. And Diplomatic Weight can easily be achieved just building more ships. C-tier at best. * Hydrocentric is really bad too. It gives access to a slightly better Neutron Bombardment Colossus weapon, increases some boni from Aquatic by +15% instead of +10%. Additionally it allows you to increase Planet Size by 3 (similar to Mastery of Nature). It is C-tier, with a slight upside the longer the game goes. * Nihilistic Acquisition is useless. Conquering Empires gives you access to their pops anyways, and if you can bombard their planet for this long, you've won the war anyways. F-tier. * Enigmatic Engineering is similarly useless. It gives you what exactly? Encryption? That's... cool. F-tier. It doesn't matter if the AI has access to your ship technology, because it won't use it well anyways. * Voidborne is A-tier at least. It is the only perk that gives you access to more building slots (i.e. everything you need) in the end game. This allows you to optimize Habitat spam even more. And building housing on Habitats is very strong too (adds some pop-growth or allows you to squeeze every last pop of efficiency out of a fully populated one). The rest I more or less agree with! Good video

[@gavin7683]

its brave coming out with a tier list right after the announcement of an update and dlc that wil change and add perks

[@Hlevi87]

There is one excellent use for World Shaper: if you play with assimilators and choose Nihilistic aquisition as a means of growing your pops, than having gaia worlds all accross your board is plain brilliant (that's the only time I used it, though)

[@YagabodooN]

I always take synthetic age as machine empire because it really rewards you for micromanaging specialized robots for specific planets/jobs. The more you work with it, the more useful it is.

[@ShneekeyTheLost]

I would say that Synthetic Age is more effective for people who just want a 'do everything' pop than those who micromanage specialist pops for various tasks. For example, you could have, say, three different variant chassis one with a bonus to energy one with a bonus to minerals and one with a bonus to research and they all cost effectively the same. Trying to do all that in a single pop, however, is going to get prohibitively expensive.

[@YagabodooN]

@@ShneekeyTheLost there is definitely a case for just going with efficient processors and mass produced and leaving that for the whole game. Decent at everything and less micro.

[@ShneekeyTheLost]

@@YagabodooN Done that before. Repurposed Hardware is a free point because the -25% xp gains is meaningless long-term since your leaders are effectively immortal (barring self-termination of some description). I've also been known to use Luxurious as a two point disadvantage to get myself started, and get rid of it once I get the two mod points. In 3.3, Streamlined Protocols are kinda necessary.

[@renaldoawesomesauce1654]

Consecrated worlds you can pick worlds that aren't habitable :) I just take it and use it on non habitable worlds for the venerated status. Three venerated planets give a sick 18% unity, 9% amenities, and 18% spiritualist attraction. This is almost twice as strong as One Vision!

[@renaldoawesomesauce1654]

@Tim Onk nono I mean you can take non habitable worlds and make them conscecrated and get the "venerated" effect at a 20% chance. So take a toxic planet and reap the rewards without using it on a planet you can colonize. Three toxic planets that are venerated will surpass One Vision in output in the long run. It's just going to run some influence (which is definitely something to consider.)

[@renaldoawesomesauce1654]

@Tim Onk nono I mean you can take non habitable worlds and make them conscecrated and get the "venerated" effect at a 20% chance. So take a toxic planet and reap the rewards without using it on a planet you can colonize. Three toxic planets that are venerated will surpass One Vision in output in the long run. It's just going to run some unity (which is definitely something to consider.)

[@clasy01]

I can wholeheartedly agree on why Dyson spheres are brilliant, they have pulled me out of crippling energy credit debt many times.

[@Billob850]

I see a Montu upload, I click. All your vids are masterpieces my guy.

[@qwertystania]

I've always thought that Mastery of Nature and World Shaper should be merged into one perk. There is a lot of synergy with the perks, both thematically as well as mechanically, and combine they would be a stronger, though not overpowered, perk.

[@toxicalyss]

Eternal Vigilance really helped a lot with my turtling as an isolationist RP. It was that same starbase that help defeated Shard the Ether Drake, Priktiti's Star Eater and the Reckoning...

[@code25010]

Eternal Vigilance might rank up depending on how the overlord changes play out.

[@johnw3216]

Great vid. Would personally love a become the crisis video!

[@MontuPlays]

Its my latest video! You can find it on the channel page

[@johnw3216]

@@MontuPlays Oh, sorry for my blindness! Thank you for the Stellaris content!

[@azamirazathoth6197]

I love these videos, thank you for the content.

[@DrewPicklesTheDark]

You know what I would like to see for world shaper? The ability to edit planetary features. It sucks when you find a world with like +X% minerals, but can only hold 2 mining districts.

[@crocworks]

I feel Galactic Force Projection would only be used for the Fleet Command Limit. If you're hurting for Naval Capacity, you could instead take Grasp the Void and just spam Anchorages/Naval Logistics offices instead.

[@CraverYT]

GFP has a very niche use - it can be used as part of a "timing attack". It allows you to spike your power (probably right at 2030), use that power spike to win your first war, and go on to snowball harder than the person you beat. For that purpose it is superior to GtV because you get your 80 naval cap *immediately*; you don't have to spend the time & alloys to build & upgrade 5 starbases & fill them with anchorages. If I'm *not* doing a timing attack, I'm taking GtV.

[@rwp0079]

About the usefulness of the colossus, last time I bothered having one around for the crisis it was vs the Scourge and the game didn't allow me to use it. Like it couldn't be used on infested planets. Has this been changed, was I just bugged?

[@altejoh]

Sounds like a bug since that is one of the better uses for it?

[@davidshea6272]

The neutron pulse and the world cracker should both work on infested worlds, but I think there is a bug that if you wipe out the Scourge in space the invasion is 'defeated' and you can't deal with any worlds half way through being colonised into infested planets.

[@rwp0079]

@@davidshea6272 Ah yeah, I think that is what happened, I remember I had wiped out their fleets and was just mopping up at that point.

[@lordtaitos4212]

I entirely disagree with you having executive vigor in S tier. Its just totally useless once you have a populous empire, and you should have a populous empire very early on. I have some disagreements about the rest (enigmatic engineering in particular), but I also know that my focus is very different to most players. I think synthetic ascension is massively overrated, but I am also rarely having to fight tooth and nail for resources by the time I get it. I do like the explanations, and most of the perks I understand, even if I disagree.

[@sirensoulegaming4158]

Yeah, I have disagreements too and also think Synth ascension is overrated. Feels like all the Stellaris meta tryhards love to talk about how all of their early snowballing is so important, and how bonuses that you can access early, alongside war bonuses that let you get stuff off other empires to jump up your stats, for whatever reason all of that goes out of the window with Synth ascension, which has a rather hefty tech requirement (Synth leaders, Synthetics, Positronic AI). You could beeline for a lot of these techs, but doing so is heavily economy focused and leaves your navy comparitively quite fragile. Meanwhile, Psionic Ascension is out here with barely any tech requirements, gives you psionic leaders that give your fleets bonuses that are just better than what others can get, and if you're getting Military techs while that Empire next to you wants synth... well you can just have a field day with them. Montu is observing these perks in a vacuum, rather than how some of them can be comboes together. World Shaper by itself is not SUPER amazing (although it's better than Montu gives it credit for), but combine it with Bio Ascension and suddenly it becomes much better. Colonize a bunch of planets before terraforming them into gaia worlds (it's important you colonize them first) - terraform them. Fish for the event that creates gaia trapped pops. With Bio Ascension, Spread this gaia preference trait to the rest of your empire (once all the planets are gaia worlds), and add Non-Adaptvie on top - this is 2 free trait points. Finally, sign migration treaties with every single empire you can. Your planets are Gaia worlds, so they're maximum habitability for every species in the game, meaning they're all attracting immigration from every other empire. Meanwhile, your speces won't migrate out, being gaia preference - they'll migrate to other empires ecumenopolises or Gaia worlds if they have them, but only a few worlds is attracting pull.

[@lichking3711]

I find imperial prerogative useful for machines as a later game perk because it will counter the debuff from machine intelligence that adds 50% to each colony. Yeah it's not noticeable in the early game too much but my friend had a lot of habitats, which still count as colonies, and choosing this perk dropped his empire size 10% (from 502 to 442), which is a noticeable tech cost decrease. It can stack with the courier network in Expansion and then it's actually somewhat decent. I agree that Hive Minds benefit far more from this though, I could get 0 empire size from colonies if combined with divided attention civic. Nihilistic aquisition is very useful to necrophages or devouring swarms bc it will allow you to bomb and empty colonies you are otherwise unable to take for whatever reasons.

[@tredausmaxima]

The Galactic Contender can also be useful for the War in Heaven event. Maybe the exception is the Ancient Caretakers since they can't awaken by any cause other than the Contingency Crisis, and higher chances are they'll awaken to fight the Contingency, of which, when victorious, they'll shutdown a few years later, leaving there ringworlds free for anyone to take

[@ihateyankees3655]

Rolling the Zroni as your precursor empire unlocks psionic theory. In single player it's worth save scumming until you get them if you want to really rush psionics.

[@Gwynbleidd93]

Imperial Prerogative - quite good once you hit the habitat tech, and, by extension, a must for Void Dwellers. Nihilistic Acquisition - Works quite well with Become the Crisis, allowing you to both get the pops off a planet AND feed the system to the Aetherophasic Engine, though at this stage of the game you might not need the extra pops anymore. Synth Ascensions - People overestimate the value of Synth ascension A LOT. Yes, it gives the highest pop growth bonuses, but at the same time, to do so it takes away pops from your economy both in the form of extra roboticist jobs you will be running and the extra metallurgist jobs that you will have to have just for the roboticist upkeep. I've done some math and while the outcome is of course going to depend on the particular situation your empire is in at the time, even at the best possible reasonable assumptions it still takes at least 30 years for the roboticists to pay for themselves, only after that amount of time can you say you being better off then you were 30 years ago pops-wise. Also, the extra productivity bonus from the perk only applies to synths and even as a synth ascended empire, you still want to have organics to utilize the natural growth queue, so essentialy half of your empire is not even getting the extra +10% productivity. Psi Ascension - With the latest buffs, I believe this is the strongest ascension currently, for the following reasons: 1. You can still utilize synths and synth leaders if you are not overly spiritualist. Most of the time they are better than any organic leader simply through the being able to stay at lvl 10 almost forever - especially for admirals, who don't generate much xp passively. 2. Between synth passive bonuses, a synth ruler, a Chosen One governor, Psi Ops buildings, extra happiness (so stability) from psionic trait and a Shroud pact (Instrument of Desire), you get some absurd bonuses to productivity, the highest of all the ascensions, while also not discriminating in who gets them (synths vs organics), unlike the other ascensions and you get them the earliest of all ascensions. 3. No micromanagement needed. 4. Psionic research gives reduction in empire size from pops, which means cheaper tech and unity purchases. 5. The psi shields work as a fleet strength multiplier, allowing you to field better fleets at the same cost, which in turn helps you grow your pops amount through the fastest known method - conquest. For best results, combine with AI computers. Also, the shields make conquering a Fallen Empire easier. 6. Works wonders with Become the Crisis, since psionic assimilation of new pops gives you progress points towards the next crisis tier. 7. The Shroud, while rng, is a really powerful bonus. Arcology Project - For a long time this was not actually worth it, since your metallurgists on Ecumenopolis require strategic resorces, so their output per pop is lower than on a normal planet when those costs are counted in. HOWEVER this changed with 3.3. simply due to how powerful ascending a planet can be on an Ecumenopolis (unlike many other planets). A fully ascended Foundry or Industrial Ecu gets -70% upkeep on their respective jobs, which means they now only take 1.8 minerals instead of the default 6, and metallurgists can even push it to -90% woth the Industrial Development (Galactic Community resolution). Yes, you can do this on a regular planet too, but you would have to do it to 3 planets to affect the same amount of jobs as on an Ecu and ascending is quite expensive. Also, the regular Ecu designation makes for a great trade (via districts) + research (via buildings) worlds when ascended due to both the trade bonuses and building upkeep reduction (less gases needed). EDIT: Minor spelling edits

[@MontuPlays]

So on the Synth ascesion from, the total bonus your robots will be getting in a synth ascended empire is +25% not +10%! So it is very good on a pop efficieny front. I agree that Psi ascension is very powerful but not that it is #1

[@Gwynbleidd93]

@@MontuPlays yes, but 15 out of that 25% anyone can get, so the only thing synth ascension gives you over a bog standard empire just with synths and a synth ruler is +10%. +15% anyone can get + Psi bonuses without locking up pops into roboticists and metallurgists (and miners) I still believe are much stronger.

[@p-47thunderbolt57]

Consecrated Worlds is actually pretty good for Aquatic species, given the habitability issues. Pop it on a couple less than habitable worlds for a net bonus and minimal opportunity cost, at least until you want to terraform them.

[@alexandercaires5921]

Crisis video please? Something I noticed during my current Ironman game and your video is that in my modded stellaris games; I had additional ascension perk slots that let me pick many of the F and C tier list perks. I found that most of them are pretty good in the early and mid game stages. However; because vanilla is limited to eight perks these rather lackluster options get drowned out by obvious better choices. Paradox either needs to add another row of ascension perks to make the F and C tiers usable as is or buff them heavily to make them at least viable.

[@Peoples_Republic_of_Cotati]

I would like a tier list of Galactic Community Laws.

[@darcraven01]

With orbital rings, eternal vigilance has become a bit more useful. If you colonize multiple worlds in your bourder chokepoints and throw the rings on them you get increased defence platforms over what the citadel can hold.

[@digitaljungle7154]

Grasp the void is essential when playing tall. Those extra starbases are essential for boosting your naval capacity when you don't have a lot of space.

[@atraxisdarkstar]

Interstellar Dominion is one I frequently take when my (usually relatively peaceful) civ happens upon a sudden sector of unclaimed space, or a chunk of space between myself and another civ that is chock-full of habitable planets or Archeological dig sites. The massive gains to the size and potency of my civ seem more than worth it. I'd never taken the edict perk in past versions, though I can see the appeal of it now. I also very rarely take the Arcology perk, since usually by the time I unlock it, I have two slots left and Arcology, Megastructures, Colossus and maybe Synthetic Ascension available. I suppose if you're all synthetics, being able to slam down Arcologies would be really useful. But I kind of find like with Terraforming, by the time you can do that, you probably don't really need to anymore