Stellaris - Ascension Perks Tier List (2.7)

[@stephenmcorby]

"Therefore Eternal Vigilance gets a solid D"... Ease up there ASpec, lets keep this PG.

[@teshafox8238]

i don't get it

[@Scornbrand]

@@teshafox8238 it gets a Richard

[@MrHighRaw]

You might not but my wife does!

[@SupremeRTS]

@@teshafox8238 cause you still a virgin

[@lekanske3816]

@@SupremeRTS He just doesn't have the eternal vigilance ascension perk, don't blame him

[@karlthebarbarian9875]

You forgot to mention that if you consecrate a Fallen Empire Holy World, they instantly become friendly and will start gifting you ships and that is fairly useful in early game.

[@A_Spec]

Very situational, they need to be nearby and have access to the planets.

[@sovereign1160]

I had no idea that was a thing and I've played this game for years.

[@tomlynmathewsjr7514]

@@sovereign1160 It's hilarious. Consecrate a world, and then laugh when you get Zarqlaan's (????? how do I spell this again?????) head.

[@karlthebarbarian9875]

@@A_Spec Fair enough, though it is fairly entertaining when Our Lord RNGesus blesses you with the rare opportunity to utilize it.

[@syrusalder7795]

i feel like if eternal vigilance made starbases cheaper and faster to build, or even gave you access to a final, superior tier of starbase then it'd be worth picking, but as it is right now it feels like one of the worst ascension perks out there

[@jerrycoolmanio1]

A new level of star base would be a great way to make it feel unique as well, rather than just a generic stat-booster.

[@NonbinaryCargoShorts]

If Starbases weren't hot garbage past the midgame it would help a lot too.

[@raynparnell8697]

but it sure does help your juggernaut via dmg and hull

[@syrusalder7795]

@@NonbinaryCargoShorts haha barely inconveniencing speedbump go bang

[@TheArklyte]

Still pointless. Add support module slots or give FTL inhibitor and targeting computer for free and without taking slots. So far habitats are better at stopping the enemy.

[@wilhelm__3713]

"I dont feel that starbases are really worth while when it comes to the defensive part of the game" Me whos entire survival for 99% of games is based off of starbase chokepoints because I can never outbuild ai fleetpower

[@theimpressionist1445]

I'm with you on that, I love my chokepoints...

[@fuggenell]

I was thinking the same thing

[@A_Spec]

Maybe, but you shouldn't have more than three chokes.

[@Toltex]

For the early game strong starbases are MVP. In end game the time and resources it takes to build starbases that are even comparable to fleets just isn't worth it. You're so much better off having strong fleets and gateways. I think if Eternal Vigilance had build speed changes and a unique module or building - the endor/deathstar scenario would be super cool.

[@theimpressionist1445]

@@A_Spec Choke me Daddy ASpec

[@notme3937]

Aspec: “technology growth wins the game” Naked corvette: “you’ve already forgotten about me 😢”

[@A_Spec]

Naked Corvettes; never forgetti

[@VVopal]

@@A_Spec I mean they are as slippery as spaghetti

[@RobBCactive]

But they aren't v. fast or that evasive early game. I keep a single sloth type to do piracy suppression, which doesn't auto- update. If they are in combat, they just act as a brief distraction even if I update the shields/armour as their evasion isn't high enough so the medium range weapons can hit them frequently, the battle AI should actually ignore them and target the ships that do real damage not the antiques.

[@gamesandglory1648]

what about a fleet of 300 advanced corvettes

[@salter1630]

need high tech to make the naked corvette faster, duh

[@FARBerserker]

Consecrated Worlds cheat. Be fanatic spiritualist Scion. You get the fanatic spiritualist fallen empire as your sugar daddy. You get to actually settle those worlds no trouble. And you can make them so so happy with consecrating the small little gaia worlds of theirs.

[@adherry8142]

When I played my inward perfection spirtualist, shoudl I get to that question I would take one vision still. Yes, you get more out with 3 gaia worlds, but on the other hand one vision gives more amenities if you dont have enough amenities. And if you dont have 1-2m unity banked in 2400 you do spiritualist wrong so they are not the most neccessary perks imho (ok I get a ton of stab and happyness regardless as pacifist)

[@TheArklyte]

But then you lose an ability to force awaken your "sugar daddy" and get early War in Heaven.

[@ariantes221]

Except you usually don't start anywhere near your sugar daddy as scion.

[@e1123581321345589144]

@@ariantes221 happened to me once, but only once. Consecrating their holy worlds gave a nice boost to diplomacy.

[@SaturnsMysteriousEye]

Nihilistic Aquisition could be extremely powerful with one simple change: Allow raiding to completely depopulate planets.

[@sovereign1160]

Make it allow unlimited and/or unique requests from the Marauder species or a nihilistic acquisition casus belli that forces a one-way migration treaty on an empire. Basically force them to contribute to your empire's population growth. Maybe make that replace the tribute type vassal.

[@Zlorfikable]

I dont know why, maybe its bugged but I have very regularly taken every single pop off planets. Maybe it only applies to primitives, idk. But I have definitely drained plenty of planets completely dry.

[@ncc1709]

i do find it useful early game due to the no cost moving of pop's. trying to move 30 pop's early game is usually way more energy than i have

[@mbchudno]

wasting few thousands of credits you can replenish vs 1 of 8 available trait slots....

[@jarradscarborough7915]

or if raiding planets also gave resources, think of it as a viking style raid where people are just another type of loot

[@Lathland]

I was honestly surprised by how much I agree with almost every pick here! The only two I don't quite agree with Is firstly Executive vigor - With that I would still only bump It up to C, and that's just because I find almost every empire I've played since the change has really worked with and wanted more of the edicts active and I found It so consistently.. okay/good Secondly transcendence being moved from B -> A just because of how insane the covenants can be, though I fully understand why you would put It in B since yeah the random nature of It can be horrible at times. So only a few minor changes If I were to make my own list! Great job, was a fun watch! :D

[@A_Spec]

Cheers bud, the Psionic ascension does make sense if you have the Zroni precursor due to the crazy bonuses it gives to RNG manipulation. Still, end of cycle still has a tiny chance of triggering.

[@Regunes]

why would you rate Synth ascension below bio ascension tho...

[@BloodRider1914]

@@Regunes Bio is more versatile and allows you to really micro your empire up. Synth is far from terrible though

[@Maciej_von_Usedom]

@@BloodRider1914 Bio has the bonus of being availaible earlier, but synths are awesome, if only just because all the worlds where you have maxed out capital and a building will pump out a pop every 10 months or so. Your clone vats can go suck an alien cockroach

[@bmobmo6438]

@@BloodRider1914 Synth still beats bio because it's pop growth is a lot faster. It doesn't even come close, by the time a max pop growth bio planet grows a pop, a maxed synth planet is 2/3rds of the way to it's second. I don't care if you can micro your way to 10-15% more output per pop, I can beat that just by brute force with 66% more pops.

[@blazikem]

I've got an idea on how they could buff the weaker ascension perks: Instead of giving them an additional modifier, give them say, a unique building or small megastructure. Gigastructural Engineering did something like this to the fleet projection ascension perk, giving it a unique admiralty megastructure that increases fleet capacity and admiral command limit. I feel like for Imperial Prerogative, it could unlock the next bureaucratic building to be researched, as well as add a third upgrade option for more jobs and maybe a planet wide bonus.

[@SuperExodian]

yes please, give me ridiculous administrative planets that administrate for an entire galaxy spanning empire.

[@blazikem]

there's so much untapped potential!

[@glenmcgillivray4707]

I think it needs governmental orbital management facilities, sacrifices happyness, adds admin cap. And the Administrative ringworld. Has city districts and Admin districts. Each district gives 2% empire wide resource output. And 5 districts per ringworld segment. Global 40% after building the entire thing.

[@sovereign1160]

@@SuperExodian Executive vigor can give a unique modifier to your homeworld that increases administration by 100% or something like that. It makes the center of your empire feel like a true executive center.

[@Santisima_Trinidad]

For eternal vigilance, you could get a unique megastructure which replaces the starbase in the system, along with a moon (just because) and gives you an ultrastarbase, which has 6 of all the buildings and all of the modules, along with a metric ton of health and defense platforms. At the very least this could give you a starbase which protects all of the trade, and gives you a sizeable chunk of fleet capacity and shipyards.

[@rognd8090]

Would be cool to "Grasp the Void " allow you to build "fortress" like you could very very long ago

[@adamwirtz6462]

I played on the PS4 version of the game and was so sad when the update hit. I loved fortresses man

[@wesleyeberly228]

Rick K defense platforms but bigger and built anywhere in owned territory except too close to other platforms

[@bromosome8049]

That's such a good idea

[@artruisjoew5473]

@@wesleyeberly228 or even better, it allows you to build actual fortress habitats - on top of the normal fortress buildings, each fortress building should also provide a size 8 slot (like the upgraded space stations have slots for defense platforms) to the habitat that count as part of the habitat, not as an individual unit, and the only way to “kill” it would be to destroy the actual fortress on the habitat. This would turn the fortress station into an actual formidable fortress.

[@HydratedBeans]

I miss fortress flowers.

[@brightlord5256]

ASpec: you dont really need the colossus proj.. Me:EXTERMINATUS FOUL XENO

[@uteriel282]

as an advocate for the total extermination of all bio mass i fully agree with this notion.

[@orctrihar]

Truly a B, for the fun : ABSOLUTLY YES But you can totally be more "efficient" but.. what the point of playing a game if you don't have fun ?

[@dodojesus4529]

@@orctrihar also the causus beli is really good Edit: a thing i need to add is that driven assimilator colossus needs to be atleast a tier above the other ones for being able to instantly and fully integrate any and all planets into your empire.

[@gamesandglory1648]

get ACOT it adds exterminatus bombing stance.

[@EricTheRedWiseman]

Me as a Kriegsman Empire: *extremely heavy breathing*

[@Yzarro]

Aspec, this video is great, but I think one of us must not know what "de facto" means.

[@arwenrosefall8081]

"De facto" “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means”

[@dreadpenguinlord340]

Inconceivable!

[@Skiddla]

@@dreadpenguinlord340 community channnnnel

[@alganhar1]

Outside Law and Government the phrase is commonly misused... now you know how Scientists feel when they see Theory misued and abused......

[@chaddon7685]

@@alganhar1 But it's just a theory! They still aren't sure... Hahaha. To be fair, it's science's fault. It should be smart enough to know people are too stupid to have a word with multiple meanings.

[@schroecat1]

@@chaddon7685 Oh man, don't get me started on how much that phrase triggers me...

[@BloodRider1914]

While not as sexy as the other acsension paths, the biological path is pretty much a default pick

[@PerfectAlibi1]

It's too much genemodding, I wish you could automate that... :(

[@exantiuse497]

It should have an "assimilate" option like the robot one, you'd choose a template and automatically apply all the traits to anyone entering your empire. Would reduce the micromanagement by a lot

[@friedipar]

For me, it's a must on Slaving empires! Nerve stapled, Delicious and erudite mix extremly well with livestock and indentured servitude

[@crazymelon5]

@@friedipar +1 to that! Indentured servitude + slave output technocracies are OP as of right now, you can just stack slave output bonuses which far surpass everything else in my experience. Just have a couple slave tech worlds and you will have all the research you will ever need. And that is without the biological ascension traits, with those that just makes this that much more stronger.

[@mister_dadstersays_hi7372]

I'm a robit main but I do get gene moding if I go slaver empire

[@Ugh-Fudge_Bwana]

Just flat out remove "grasp the void" as an ascension perk. Don't bother reworking it, add it as a rare tech and remove the perk requirement.

[@Sukharno2121]

or just raise the limit of the repeatable tech for the same effect

[@candlestyx8517]

I'm with ASpec, slap it and Eternal Vigilance into one package.

[@badjuju2721]

@@candlestyx8517 Its still wouldnt be a great perk, it needs a SERIOUS rework to be valid for playing with

[@candlestyx8517]

@@badjuju2721 Or expand station options to make starbase capacity worth it

[@FloatingDutchman]

You know how you can't build megastructures when there are habitable planets in the system? The collosus can help with that.

[@exantiuse497]

Can you build a ring world/dyson sphere if there's a shielded planet, though? Or does it need to be planet cracker?

[@sirmathias8852]

@@exantiuse497 well if there is a habitable planet in your way, just remove it ...

[@davecrupel2817]

😂

[@nathanschroeder4871]

@@exantiuse497 dyson sphere turns the planet barren and the ringworld cannibalizes the planet for materials

[@exantiuse497]

@@nathanschroeder4871 That doesn't answer the question. I asked if the game counts the shielded planet as habitable and prevents building the megastructures. Probably not, but you never know

[@ManyATrueNerd]

But Grasp The Void literally gives you more anchorage slots (and thus fleet capacity) than Galactic Force Projection. Leave Grasp The Void alone you big bully :(

[@A_Spec]

No :(

[@A_Spec]

Also, you don't get that till you get Star Fortress instead of the instant bonus.

[@ManyATrueNerd]

@@A_Spec True, but to me, if the choice is 80 fleet now, or the capacity to have hundreds of fleet by the mid/late-game, that's the superior option - you get more fleet capacity, and the option to use those bases for whatever else you want too. I just feel like that makes Grasp The Void better than Galactic Force Projection.

[@A_Spec]

Like I said in the video; a lot of the perks haven't been updated to conform to new mechanics. Which is what I'll make a mod for in a livestream or seperate video.

[@jwfcp]

GTV has a special place in my heart when playing a wide, wide trade oriented empire in a huge galaxy.

[@brodaviing6617]

>when you know exactly what every icon is and what the bonuses are so you skip towards the end of the video to see how he made the list and pretty much agree. **picks transcendence perk every time anyway**

[@MrAustyn88]

Nothing better than getting The Chosen One/God Emperor and Psionic Shields before mid game. Feels so cool doing spiritualist playthrough. Whole civilization of Jedi's led by an actual God

[@brodaviing6617]

@@MrAustyn88 pretty much, altough I gotta admit I've begun to appreciate gene mastery too. there's something satisfying about having nerve stapled brute slave armies fighting your ground wars, you know...?

[@suvetum6763]

Xeno-compatibility is a D because of The lag it causes with pops, ever since the option to disable it appeared my games got a lot faster

[@troysdownfall6547]

also a pain to manage species if you're going for oppressive ethics

[@dinamosflams]

It's F because It is xenophilic propaganda Disgusting

[@lekarzplagi6982]

BURN THE HERETIC. KILL THE MUTANT. PURGE THE UNCLEAN.

[@МиколайДроздов-т6ю]

@@dinamosflams no u

[@JeerHiAm]

I think for raiding to be good they need to add a system like CK2 pagans. You should be able to set your fleet to raid and steal pops without going to war. The target would get a notification and could move their fleet to intercept. I think that maybe when you raid it shouldn't be pops anyway and make it so that you would steal whatever the planet produces. The longer you are in orbit the more you get. The last idea is to add like a condottieri system from EU4 where people could pay you to raid their enemies. You would get paid, and keep the loot while the employer gets to hurt their rival. making it kinda like a player space hoard without the Great Khan.

[@Zlorfikable]

Endless Space had a feature where your fleets could orbit a system (in stellaris would be a planet) and leech science and/or money off of them. I think your approach could be something in this direction and i would totally like that. In addition, you should get all the trade value that routes through the system you are in. That way, it is viable throughout the whole game. You can locate a planet with a great production of whatever resource you need most and/or a place with insane trade value throughput (i.e capital) and leech it off.

[@yolomcswagerton3837]

I really like the idea of essentially getting to become a marauder empire, has great rp potential and would be a fun way to play. I'd like to rp as a mercenary or actual pirate empire, but I do like the ability to straight up abduct people and build a slave empire, which is why I think they should just add a "raid" stance where you leech a percentage or even all of the resources from a planet and then an "abduct" stance that allows me to kidnap all the sub-human xeno scum and put them in forced labor camps until I can genetically engineer them into the perfect unthinking and productive slave force.

[@whoisheiforgothisname2103]

@@yolomcswagerton3837 Abducting xenos and putting them in forced labor camps? You are a disgusting human being. I like how your think.

[@pierre-andrelecomte9384]

concerning "grasp the void" the repeatable tech for more starbase has a limit, i dont remember how much but i remember that in huge galaxy i felt it wasnt enough but yea even then still not great

[@ThaPinkGuy]

All limited repeatable techs go to 5, this includes building speed, naval cap, fleet cap and building cost.

[@taelim6599]

@@ThaPinkGuy Some do. Some, such as damage, armor, and shields, go up forever. Keep in mind that fallen empires start with 10 of every repeatable, not 5.

[@dsch772]

There was a time they removed spaceport cap increase from owned systems, and that was the only time Grasp The Void was actually useful, because however enormous your empire is, the spaceport cap is always fixed. Now that they brought back the additional spaceport cap, it's completely useless again.

[@gamesandglory1648]

@@ThaPinkGuy That is a lie I had like 50 of the life extension one

[@ThaPinkGuy]

@@gamesandglory1648 Life extension isn't a limited repeatable tech. Life extension does not have a limit; however, the ones I mentioned do have a limit. If you're going to accuse me of lying, at least understand what I say first. Encase you don't, here is what I mean; limited means that there is a maximum number of times you can research it and unlimited means there is not a maximum number of times you can research it.

[@xeanderman6688]

+2 Edict capacity is good for Gestalts, since they cannot swap to Dictatorial/Imperial

[@exantiuse497]

I agree. It's effectively a +10% to minerals and energy, or minerals and food etc, not mindblowing but most of the rest of the "tier 0" perks (the ones that don't require any prior perks) are so bad that +10% energy and minerals is great by comparison. I'd put it in B tier, sometimes useful, definitely not as bad as something like eternal vigilance or shared destiny

[@adherry8142]

TBF, for non Dictatorials I would rank it higher. Going over edict cap is expensive in terms of extra admins you need, so being able to have more subsidies running is always good. Dictatorials is the question which subsidies you wanna run in the end.

[@Brandon-hn5jx]

I like it as well. Sure, I'm not min/max heavy, but I still believe the +2 edict capacity is still pretty good. You are guaranteed to be running the one that boosts pop growth, but this perk allows you so much more flexibility

[@TrueChaoSclx]

Especially as a machine empire where the penalty is so hefty

[@TheArklyte]

How to buff this ascension perk straight to S tier - get back the timing part of the edicts too and make it double the term instead of 50%. You can have more edicts and they run for longer then of empires without it. Effectively you're already comparable to an ascension path.

[@muga1701]

As a fan of playing with Driven Assimilators, a Colossus with assimilation beam makes my job a hella lot easier

[@adherry8142]

I remember doing that once. I snowballed a bit due to having a bad start AI next to me and then just on, when I got the Colossus I just snowballed because I could skip this whole invasion business.

[@sovereign1160]

Resistance is futile

[@kylepessell1350]

I remember playing a Driven Assimilator game where I coincidently spawned next to not one but two other Driven Assimilators. Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to form a Federation with but we did have a three-way defensive pact. I eventually absorbed them when they got badly beaten by our neighbors so I made them protectorates. I proceeded to snowball out of control once I captured and assimilated the home planet of the empire south of us and spent the next 30 years conquering half the known galaxy with multiple fleets rivaling the forces of Fallen Empires well before late game.

[@muga1701]

@@kylepessell1350You gotta love the robots efficiency. It may be hard to start, but once you get a solid foothold, assimilators are unstoppable.

[@Dragito5555555555555]

Colossus should be higher just for the sweet satisfaction of cracking the homeworld of some species that has been a really large thorn in your side. Also clearing out all the habitats that the ai sometimes likes to build (yes I know it’s an emotional argument no I don’t care yes it feels good to crack a world)

[@shorewall]

I play pacifist, solely because I hate taking worlds during wars. (Also to tame Space Amoebas. :D) So the Colossus has that appeal for me. But I still can't bear to crack a planet, wasting all it's potential! :D

[@pewdiepiesubber7879]

@@shorewall you can neutron sweep it to keep the planet, and there's a couple other beams as well :)

[@jaxonpecora4391]

Should be higher for the anti lag purposes

[@TheArklyte]

I'm more surprised that there is no beam to 1)hack all robot pops on the planet thus making them synths and forcing AI rebellion on the enemy; 2)using same tech as spiritualist beam, but for the opposite purpose - proving that all religious revelations are just a trickery and lies; 2)there is no assimilation beam for normal hiveminds once they get tech to convert other species and there isn't a neural disruptor kind of beam to force hive minded pops to become normal ones; 4)there is no assimilation beam for highest tear of ascension paths ie you can't force psionic awakening or conversion to synths on the planet despite assimilation beam and spiritualist collosus doing basically exactly that for their empires.

[@alphacentauri1760]

It has a very special use, which is pop control in late game. If your late game tag is 2300 the performance will be horrible. However if you can reduce the galactic pop to ~500 performance won't be an issue.

[@adherry8142]

Dyson Sphere giving you unlimited energy.....that thing does not even pay for my fleet while its docked.

[@exantiuse497]

Wait until the AI builds one, then take it. Problem solved

[@syrusalder7795]

@@exantiuse497 and then grab the ruined dyson, and voila, 15k energy a month

[@natanoj16]

@Stinkmeaner you can't by default

[@JainZar1]

@adherry Just build two then. 😉

[@adherry8142]

@Stinkmeaner only if you capture one or have a ruined one. Otherwise base game says not to all megastructures but ringworld when you wanna build 2

[@kiro1469]

I feel that if transcendent learning gave a leader trait, it would be a lot better, and would fit the theme, think like how psychic and erudite work. Here is my ideas: Leader: +5% Output from jobs, +5% Research output (Stacks, so you have +10) Governor: -15% Building and District Cost, +5 Stability Researcher: +10% Research speed, what more could you want? Admiral: +10% Evasion, +10% Sublight Speed, +5% Tracking/Chance To Hit General: -10% Army Collateral Damage, +10% Army Morale, +15% army disengagement chance Tell me any other ideas for ways to make this stronger, or if it is TOO op.

[@Sukharno2121]

you could also work using a variation of the philosopher king civic - but neutralizing the chance of leaders getting negative traits or raising chances of getting better traits

[@kiro1469]

@@Sukharno2121 How do you choose what is a good trait? Do they just get more positives? Do they get stuff like aggressive over trickster? I honestly just think it is kinda weird to make it give "Better traits" over a unique, and to be honest - negatives are kinda rare to begin with, and a lot are not that bad - IE substance abuser and stubborn - make little difference.

[@Sukharno2121]

@@kiro1469 It would be more random and clearly a nerfed version of your proposition , but it also would require less reworking. Alternative - maintain block negative traits, but change increased chance of positives to guaranteed positives every x levels?

[@tylerlambert8400]

Cant be bonuses that strong, would be way too much

[@kiro1469]

@@tylerlambert8400 Do you have a suggestion on a nerf to my idea?

[@mealyaUrtem]

About Eternal vigilance, I think that currently it is C tier very situational but very useful when you play with a pacifist/inward perfection empire. The point is simple, you don't want to loose any territory so Eternal vigilance is here to help you making your choke points impenetrable before late game. By having defence platforms which have L slots and a decent fleet to protect them you can easily outmatch a bigger fleet, combine with a fleet focussed on disengagement chances... You will be very very hard to get. Even a stronger empire will not risk a combat in this situation if there is a fortress (or a citadel if you are quick) with all de defences bonus that stacks on the platforms and the defensive fleet.

[@anthonypelchat]

Synthetic Evolution has some amazingly fast growth speed. I was seeing roughly 10 growth per month. Not sure why that high, but seeing 7.6 per month now. That is very good. However, it get's better. You can still grow non-robotic pops as well at around the same speed and then have them be assimilated. Actually having problems in my current game as I have nearly 3000 pops in the year 2404. Already have 3 Ecumenopolis filled and building 5 more.

[@Maciej_von_Usedom]

IIRC robot builiding + maxed out capital + some bonus gives a full grown pop every 10 months. Those fleshy xenos ain't got nothing on that

[@fangslash]

Synthetic evolution gives your admin roboticist job. combined with the fact you can still grow organic pop, you essentially doubled your pop growth, and this is why this perk is completely broken in terms of power. and also why this tier list is trash. it missed so many of the ”hidden" benefits (for example psionic leaders gets huge reasearch and combat bonus) and have no idea how additive bonus works (technological transcendency)

[@faelarheal-leaf8157]

I have a ironman save with a Machine empire that went wide, I had over 5000 pops by the year 2350, so many planets colonized I straight up automated every single planet, I didn't even trouble with making habitats. My pops where growing so much that whenever I would finish a ring world and instantly fill it up with all the unemployment I had, every planet I had had over 12 robot pop growth a month, meaning I got a new pop on every planet every 8 months, seeing how I had over 50 planets I grew 6 new pops every single month. Synthetic evolution and machine empires are so broken that most people just ban them outright and they're the only source of threat I get whenever I'm playing against maximum difficulty AI

[@hiwhatsyourface]

I really like Colossus Project because I'm too lazy to conquer and then manage the planets afterward. It's so much easier to just blow them up and move on

[@modernmusty]

It's not so much laziness for me as it is a lack of necessity. I almost always play a determined exterminator machine empire, and by the time I'm conquering the galaxy I'm likely approaching end-game already. At that point it's going to take too long to get new (or captured) colonies off the ground because I'll have to start from scratch as far as population is concerned. Better to just destroy (or neutron bathe) the planets and forget about them.

[@SuperWhygee]

1) The only reason you shouldn't build an Ecumenopolis, the only scenario when it's not a good idea, is when you already have all your planets converted to Ecumenopolis (lols aside, keep at least one agri-world mmk?). It's also why the First League precursor chain is the best and Kleptomaniac Rats are your friends. 2) Psionic evolution path gives access to the best shields, best computers, the best ship drive, best leader perks and the best defense against at least 1 crisis. Plus it opens the possibility of wiping out the galaxy, so that's nice.

[@PerfectAlibi1]

Transcendent learning, the +2 level cap is absolutely pointless. It will not make a difference. You can get +3 level cap on every leader that matters just from traditions!

[@Brandon-hn5jx]

Yeah, I wish it was something like double the effects of leader level or increase the learning speed by like 200%, just so you can get those max levels when It'd matter

[@PerfectAlibi1]

Maybe even extra levels or specialities on new leaders.

[@radordekeche947]

And then +2 from a late-game policy. It's good at the start, faster leader gain and higher max, but late-game it isn't that useful.

[@TheArklyte]

It would have been great if instead it was affecting the probability of getting new perks on said leaders and even forcing them to get first new one right from adoption.

[@sovereign1160]

if there were no cap on level cap, then it could be a useful bit extra, at least enough to not make it useless, but the hard cap of 10 is easily achievable without this perk, rendering the perk useless. Hell, just have the perk also remove the hard cap on leader level, now that would at least add some value.

[@jakehunter52]

Thanks for putting together this video, especially for perks I don't normally consider, but I have some grade A beef with you regarding your grading: Appreciation and Depreciation over time 1) It's because you don't have much influence early game that makes Interstellar Dominion is crazy powerful, it makes an expansion rush possible to capture those critical systems (resources, habitable planets, chokepoints, megastructures, etc). Its return doesn't diminish much over time or even for tall empires either because it also affects claim cost, so if you didn't get that key system first, you can then take it a lot more cheaply. 2) You really should question Tech Ascendancy, its B tier at best because of the opportunity costs. To get the best value, you take it first or second generally but this can set your empire back by running afoul expansionist needs (Interstellar Dominion), playing tall (Voidborn) or getting an early start on an Ascension path. And it becomes less significant over time, because of the other ways to get that percentage boost or even the ease of creating raw research output thanks to the abundance of relic worlds. Its just so much nicer being able to have that extra slot at the end game to pick something situation dependent, be it Galatic Contender, World Shaper, or Colossus Project. 3) Mind over Matter is on the weaker side but Transcendence is certainly better than B for the simple fact that it's what allows you to get the highest tier components pretty consistently by the end game: Psi Jump Drive, Precognitive computers, and Psionic Shields. When you reach that command limit cap, ship quality then becomes a major factor in who wins in any given engagement, giving psychic empires an edge. Cheers.

[@ZockenmitLukas]

As someone, who usually plays wide rather than tall, I actually like Interstellar Dominion. With some other modifiers (Expansionist trait, Reach to the stars tradition) you can get down to about 37 Influence cost for a starbase next to your border instead of the 75 influence cost without any modifiers. That gives you the opportunity to expand quite fast and block your neighbours in order to keep their territories small and forcing them into playing tall.

[@Zouron]

There were a few I ranked higher (or lower) but pretty much spot on as well as some awesome insights. I would love to see a video that deals with Ascension Perk combos and what they accomplish.

[@A_Spec]

In the works

[@beelzebub4634]

Do anyone know about that one solar system that has like 12 blackholes?

[@lokki9203]

Great wound? Theres a lot of dark matter in that system.

[@beelzebub4634]

@@lokki9203 ok thanks, the only thing tho is that it is outside of the fallen empire

[@All_Mighty672]

With giga engineering that system is a gold mine.

[@food7479]

@@lokki9203 I only see 12 Penrose spheres.

[@hyperionplays026]

It’s either the grave wound or great wound system

[@ShneekeyTheLost]

I would VERY STRONGLY disagree with your placement of Executive Vigor. I would easily put it as one of the most powerful of the entry-tier picks. Here's why: The edict capacity is for the *permanent, always on* edicts at the top of the edict list, with the gavel icon. Yes, permanent and always in effect. It's a one-time use of Influence for a buff that lasts until you spend more influence to turn it off. As such, your argument that 'you only have the influence for this in the late game' is entirely false, as it is a one-time cost that's little more than the cost of claiming three or four systems. Furthermore, this benefits those setups that lack edict capacity even more strongly, such as Hive Mind or Collective Consciousness, where you go from 1 edict to 3, tripling the number of edicts you can get. And you can do things like Research Subsidies for a permanent 10% boost to your research speed... which alone puts it in the same tier bracket as the perk which does exclusively that. Combo that with the edict that brings in more energy credits to pay for the increased energy credit cost of research, and you now have your cake and eat it too. Finish off with Forge Subsidies for even more alloy production, and you've got a perk granting you perhaps more bonuses and benefits than any other starting perk offered! In short, I strongly suggest you consider the implications at being able to run two more what are essentially permanent increases to things like Research Speed, Energy Credits, Alloy Production, and more... simultaneously. And it is flexible enough that you can shift the benefits around where needed, although at an Influence cost.

[@candlestyx8517]

I have to agree with you on every point you've made, Executive Vigor is easily an S tier perk in my book, before Federations it was a D. The -20% edict cost was very weak because in the late game you had troubles finding things to spend influence on.

[@Kryto_Gaming]

I 100% agree with everything you've said. Those are more or less my exact reasons too. Executive Vigor is easily S tier even when you're not comparing it to all the other Tier 0 Perks. When you're comparing it to T0 perks it's unrivaled.

[@candlestyx8517]

@@Kryto_Gaming This is just proof that Aspec doesnt know everything about Stellaris like he thinks he does. He makes very informative vids, but many of them are just an opinion piece unbacked by theorycraft.

[@Kryto_Gaming]

@@candlestyx8517 He does seem to come off as simply not knowing what things do. Like he mentioned Executive Vigor in the context of saving influence. Like... what the hell was that? Was he implying that you should be turning Edicts on and off? Does he not know the value of additional permanent Edicts? Then there's the question of if he knows that Research Subsidies are a thing etc. I'm most shocked by his analysis of Synth vs Biological Ascension though. I think when he mentioned staying at Flesh is Weak my jaw dropped. It made it seem as if he doesn't know how easy it is to get/keep biological while going full synth, or doesn't know the sheer insane assembly speed full Synths get.

[@HoHhoch]

@@Kryto_Gaming It still doesn't put in the same tier as technological ascendency, which besides the 10% tech boost, increases the chance of a rare tech by 50%. THAT is what's huge. It allows you to much more reliably go fishing for rare techs when you have the correct scientist at the head of research.

[@MofuggerX]

There is only one SS tier Ascension Perk and it is called “Sub To ASpec”.

[@soulcleave2386]

"my lord why would you kill the pops?" 1. because F the xenos,. thats why 2. its the only ship that can fight end game lag. once you have 100+ planets, do oyu REALLY need/want more?

[@perverse_ince]

I actually think Executive Vigor is B to A tier. Having a planet full of bureaucrats is not viable in the beginning and after Technological Ascendancy, is there really good second pick in the early game? Having Nutritional Plenitude and Research Subsidies is a must for me and Increased Alloy and Energy Production is also very beneficial. "Fleet Supremacy" and "Fortify the Border" are also excellent Emergency Edicts. Even in the late game; Do you really want to waste your precious pops and resources on Bureaucrat Planets?

[@mealyaUrtem]

Not on Bureaucrat Planets but on Bureaucrat Habitats Yes !

[@SkeIIum]

Yea, intersteller dominion is far worse than Executive Vigor.

[@nischaanonbracke7420]

@@SkeIIum it ain't that bad if you play fanatic purifier though with interstellar dominion and the expansion tradition it will only cost 36-37 influence per station allowing you to expand very rapidly to amass enough resources to set up your army. Really helps to speed things up early game.

[@oshoarora6337]

Best second ascension perk is The flesh is weak

[@elisirfly]

I guess it's worth it if you play as Gestalt/Megacorp or Democratic/Oligarchic but thats still not that great imo. While being a dictatorship/imperial it's a waste of a perk though - Plentitude, Research and Alloy edicts are pretty much the only 3 worthwhile influence edicts as of 2.7. Energy edict is the worst one of all I believe (20% bonus out of 4 energy production base per pop job = 0,8 bonus - 0,5 edict upkeep = 0,3 energy bonus per pop job) so it's just awful. Going 125% sprawl penalty is not that bad. Especially earlygame you can neglect Empire Sprawl for a pretty long time and only start caring about it when it's above 50 points above your starting limit - it's penalties are just negligible. Midgame and lategame empire sprawl has to be more carefully menaged though as penalties get harsher the fewer points you're above the limit I believe. Remember also that you can just leave the slot open till you research the required tech for Tier I synth/bio/psi ascension - those all can be picked for a second perk.

[@KUN5T0PAB13B0Mb]

Big thank you to Aspec, you explained this game so I could play it since the tutorial is useless. Now it's one of my favorite games thanks to you! Enjoy your content!!

[@A_Spec]

You're welcome, keep enjoying

[@FARBerserker]

Egineered Evolution is also the only ascension path open to hive minds, so keep that in mind as well . .

[@tomlynmathewsjr7514]

I really feel like they should be able to dip into the other paths, so we could choose to be either the Zerg (Psionic) or the Borg (Cybernetic)

[@anthonypelchat]

Nihilistic Acquisition is situationally great. Great for exterminators and Assilmilators classes, due to spreading the pops out automatically. Also good to weaken Fallen Empires or other dug in worlds without blasting away all of their pops. You can steal down to 2 pops, causing their Fortresses to be disabled, eliminating most of their army quickly. It's also great for conquering, but not wanting to have planets all over the place. You can more easily fill up those Ring Worlds and Ecumenopolis by just stealing pops from empires before bring them in as a Tributary or Vassal.

[@anthonypelchat]

@Davethespacemonkey lol. I haven't done Devouring swarm, but I did play FP while minimizing sectors. Not exactly Y'all, but close. I hate having too many sectors. And I hate trying to fix captured planets other than FE capitals. It really helps with FEs. They typically have around 3500 army strength, which normally requires closer to 4500 to beat. Bombing for years to weaken them costs pops. Capturing instead not only greatly weakens their army, easily under 500, but also builds up your other planets. I pick it for all conquer playthroughs.

[@sonicrulez987]

In My experience, Nihilistic Acquisition is pretty okay if you're playing Voidborne/all habitats. Conquering a planet can sometimes be more cumbersome than desired, especially if playing tall. It's much easier, in that case, to just suck up as many primitives/soon-to-be-slaves as needed to fill your labor costs.

[@theatheistpaladin]

For galactic force projection: Change to percentage increase instead of flat, and you get a building to build elite troops or ships at additional cost.

[@filippodsiado8240]

"You have to be extrymly Lucky to get it" Looks at my 5 f#%%ing games in a row as materialsts with mind over matter..... yeah

[@syrusalder7795]

to be fair, you either need to get the zroni (which are rare enough as it is) or get lucky through random events so that the tech weight means you can actually get telepathy, otherwise youll never end up getting mind over matter as a materialist

[@natanoj16]

@@syrusalder7795 I have a game with Zroni, the ocean of consciousness and one more event that gave me access. I was fanatic Materialists

[@JainZar1]

@@syrusalder7795 You can also simply take over a few Psionic Pops, you should be able to research it then.

[@badjuju2721]

@@JainZar1 i always make a religious empire built for psionics just to take them over and use their abilities for my own gain

[@TheArklyte]

To be fair, after all the expansions there's like 4-5 events right now that lead to psionics one way or another plus 2-3 other possibilities to get psionic species or scientist with trait. Luck isn't much of a factor when majority of events are stricly benefitial and each expansion adds more of them.

[@djbrouwer7712]

The Colossus is also good for reducing end game lag.

[@scrubzero1735]

Owning a colossus allows you to total war other empires and I feel like that gets completely overlooked because ideally when I’m winning a war I want to be able to quickly go into another one

[@N0TYALC]

When your kid hears the term “de facto”, and is eager to use it without really knowing what it means 😂

[@Longmanrus]

Colossus is "SSS+" tier - that only thing can vaporize you fps lags little bit (by vaporizing enemy pops)

[@elisirfly]

27:55 You ask why would you ever pick Nihilistic Aquisition. Let me answer. Getting their planets require Claims for quite a lot of influence and to raid you only need one colony claimed to start an indefinitely long war to raid and bleed them out. You get what matters - Slaves. You leave behind what doesn't - their awful colonies with all their nasty upkeep and empire sprawl and essentially create nice buffer zones for yourself that are no longer a threat after you bleed them out. And most importantly Ecumenopoli need quite a lot of "Indentured Servitude Social Welfare Population Controlled" Xeno Slaves to fill those Metalurgist job slots somehow... This perk also is nice for getting Bio-Trophies as RS. And I disagree with you saying Despoilers are just awful but maybe that's a personal bias - While Despoilation CB is trash the best approach to raiding is like I said before - one colony claim is enough to raid them good. Despoilers also got buffed by gaining the "special" diplomacy tradition tree variation being Adaptability I believe and it's pretty nice (only Purifiers and Inward Perfectionists had it before). As a cherry on top when you're done farming pops with raiding you can Ascend your Chosen One as an Immortal God Emperor and erase that "permanent" civic for good going into lategame.

[@Cephalos666]

I consider Nihilistic Aquisition to be outright overpowered. Let's say I... aquire 80% of my neighbour's pops, it snowballs my economical growth beyond their capablility to match me. Basically in every game I've taken NA I was galactic superpower in 2300... it's so good.

[@GentlesirGibbles]

@@Cephalos666 Raiding bombardment stance in general gets too much of a bad rap. It's one of the easier ways to get 100 pops before 2230, and reserves the large amount of influencing to capture the area. I think the people that give the raiding stance a bad name are ones that are fairly unlikely to engage in early wars. prntscr.com/tpcsws

[@tomasjavorsky5323]

Last time I was this early, the Xenos were still alive.

[@ExodusArk]

Now we can't have that

[@SupremeRTS]

Being able to bang xenos should be F tier. Who wants to bang something that's getting purged?

[@heomji7216]

Play Mass Effect, you'll understand how good it is, even if the xeno in question is masked almost everytime.

[@mister_dadstersays_hi7372]

A yes a fanatical purifier like me knows the only way is the the IMPERIAL WAY

[@JainZar1]

@@heomji7216 Blue Infobrokers are better, plus I'd also like to have kids some day and dying from eating the wrong chocolate doesn't seem worth it to me.

[@heomji7216]

@@JainZar1 Well, she told me her system has adapted in the third game. I guess it's because of banging this much... making double meanings with everything she said... you know, it warms the atmosphere a little... Anyway I prefer a girl that is beautiful without need to show her face, and there is always adoption for kids.

[@ddavis5708]

@@JainZar1 A quarian is more human like than an asari, even more so as the asari are space eldritch monsters.

[@Hisu0]

1:23 - end of intro 2:18 - Eternal Vigilance 5:00 - Executive Vigour 5:42 - Imperial Prerogative 6:41 - Interstellar Dominion 8:40 - Mastery of Nature 10:18 - One Vision 11:22 - Shared Destiny 12:04 - Technological Ascendancy 14:04 - Transcendent Learning 15:01 - Grasp the Void 16:35 - World Shaper 18:01 - Galactic Contender & Defender of the Galaxy 19:01 - Galactic Force Projection 20:48 - Galactic Wonders 22:13 - Master Builders 23:43 - Voidborne 24:56 - Enigmatic Engineering 27:04 - Colossus Project 28:33 - Nihilistic Acquisition 29:25 - Arcology Project 31:25 - Xeno-Compatibility 34:36 - Consecrated Worlds 35:54 - Hive Worlds & Machine Worlds 36:52 - Synthetic Age 37:27 - Universal Transactions 38:54 - Engineered Evolution 39:42 - Evolutionary Mastery 40:46 - Mind over Matter 41:50 - Transcendence 43:10 - Flesh is Weak 43:48 - Synthetic Evolution

[@GalileoAV]

One Vision is definitely B tier to me, because it really fits a wide playstyle with democracy. Makes integrating new expansion easier, and early to mid game unity buffing to get other perk picks sooner. D, for "Don't". C, for "Cituational". B, for "Better" A, for "Awesome" S, for "Stellaris"

[@mealyaUrtem]

The thing with Mind over Matter / Transcendence is that if you are doing the right things you will ascend way more earlier than the other empires, then the randomness of the shroud will by compensated. But yeah... without the Zroni archive... This path is currently less powerfull if you really have not luck.

[@Animefan1803]

One day i hope ASpec makes a video about the Lots of traditions mod. Cause damn if that isn´t a bloody fine mod for everyone that needs more ascention flavors.

[@syrusalder7795]

i like traditional trees tbh, even if it is op as hell since the ai doesnt know how to handle it and doesnt use it because of that

[@Animefan1803]

@@syrusalder7795 Traditional trees? Haven´t played with that one so far. But Lots of Traditions is hella fun. Especially when mixed with a few mods that rebalance the less powerful empire types.

[@OzixiThrill]

@@Animefan1803 It seems to be a mod that merges Expanded Traditions and Plentiful traditions into one. It's basically Lots of Traditions, except it drops Additional traditions (the one that hasn't been updated for like 2 years) and merges everything into a handful of big tradition trees. Adds a few behavioural rules to the tree as well to replace way you get the adoption and finisher bonuses.

[@Animefan1803]

@@OzixiThrill I´m actually quite confused right now. I use the !Lots Of Traditions - Only PT & EST mod. Including Plentiful Traditions 2.7.2 Ain´t that the same? Or have i missed an awesome traditions mod?

[@OzixiThrill]

@@Animefan1803 Yes and no. !Lots of Traditions - Only PT&EST just merges the two sets of traditions, while Tradition Trees seems to not only merge the two tradition mods, but also add in some small changes. It's better if I just link it, I think... steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1703333167

[@incarceros]

Baffled by the focus on Interstellar Dominion's claim cost reduction during war, instead of it as an early game pick to ease up on the influence bottleneck for expanding into empty space. It's a lifesaver for getting you to chokepoints and precious systems ASAP, and establishing your expanse of territory before wars really come into it. Does Aspec play on really crowded galaxies all the time or something?

[@tortiecatman]

Interstellar Dominion is almost always my first choice. Spam science ships to find the good systems and choke points and expand into them. Influence is always tight in the early game especially if you have some treaties to keep the neighbors friendly.

[@TOONYBOY]

Just droppi g by to say I'm really hyped for Distant Stars on Console. Don't know when we're getting it but it should be soon.

[@badjuju2721]

me to my dude, I've always wanted distant stars because of the L-gates and extra-galactic cluster...

[@TOONYBOY]

@@badjuju2721 I'm just saying that you could make a proper Mass Effect mod with Distant stars, with events and everything. Normal gateways could be reskimmed to look like the Mass Effect relays and named as such and the L-gates would be the Omega relays with the hidden realm being the home of the Reapers, the new Endgame Crisis. You could totally make the whole trilogy work, especially with Federations and specific game settings in mind

[@TOONYBOY]

@@badjuju2721 I'm just saying that you could make a proper Mass Effect mod with Distant stars, with events and everything. Normal gateways could be reskimmed to look like the Mass Effect relays and named as such and the L-gates would be the Omega relays with the hidden realm being the home of the Reapers, the new Endgame Crisis. You could totally make the whole trilogy work, especially with Federations and specific game settings in mind

[@TheHeavenlyGoddess]

The mind over matter and transcendence I would consider them to be better than B, I use them quite extensively but then to be fair one of my favorite empires is a gospel of the masses church, so going psionic with all the focus on spiritualization can be quite handy, and the fact you can get the psionic shields and the psi jump drive and psicomputer I find the bonuses they get to be better when it comes to your leaders when compared to the materialist one, but I honestly feel both the spiritualist and materialist path tend to be very situational, although I've been so unlucky having myself spawn beside the spiritualist fallen empire that never loves my materialist play..... Although when you find the head of zarkon relic as a machine ascended species and have them calling you the chosen one.. god I love how funny stellaris can be. Very good breakdown overall, I agree with most of the choices.

[@mister_dadstersays_hi7372]

Xeno compatibility is an my favorite meme ascension perk (It's a meme guys have you read it's description)

[@guardianofthetoasters2323]

26:10 "Pops! Why would you waste it??" Me who uses determine exterminator ai: Precisely! Organics is organics that's a big nono.

[@RoverStorm]

I should point out you can take Synthetic Evolution WITHOUT completing the project, so you get your bio cyborgs AND the synthetic upgrades without being forced to turn bio pops into robo pops. I think it correctly belongs in A tier though.

[@mealyaUrtem]

About Eternal vigilance possibly moded, with a citadel there are only 1 G slot and 12 M slots if you don't count Missile Batteries, Gun Batteries and Hangars. To be viable in the late game this ascension perk needs to add at least two X slots on a citadel and make the citadel to have something like 100% of L slots and keep the M, G or H slots for the Batteries or Hangars. In the best world possible, stations needs also P slots because of missiles and strike craft but I'm surely dreaming...

[@carloshernaiz322]

Me: plays stellaris as a materialist. I research psionics. I get a good patron. I get psi shields. I get an avatar. Ladies and gentleman that was my first time playing with psionics.

[@matthewhannigan1916]

I personally like taking Interstellar Dominion if only for the convenience; it reduces downtime caused by not having enough influence when expanding, and I don't know how worth it that is but it just feels good

[@cp1cupcake]

I hate the genetic ascension if i am playing an empire which ends up with a ton of species. i have having to micomanage all the species.

[@demonfreeman3018]

And the robots all turn into the same species which is so much easier :D

[@demonfreeman3018]

Kai Houston I do work and Stellaris in the background, probably not the best habits

[@SgtCookie111]

I've always felt that Galactic Force Projection should do three (Technically four) additional things, all of them percentage based: 1. Reduce ship build costs and ship upkeep costs by 33% percent. 2. Increase ship build speed by 25% 3. Increase your _total_ fleet cap by 50%. The greatest war machine the galaxy has ever seen. Go forth and conquer.

[@candlestyx8517]

Give us the ability to build an additional 5 titans as well

[@kaiserslavaniaashur1623]

Must haves for me is “Galactic wonders” “Archolgy project”

[@Crippy320]

I agree with the psionics being B apart from one scenario - If you have the Zroni precursors then I would say it's an S. With them you can have 3 shroud bonuses active at once as well as each shroud encounter has a higher chance of giving you something good, plus the benefit of getting like 15+ zero a month at the start of the game

[@roblaquiere8220]

Yeah i rolled zroni on a psionic play through and it was fantastic. +38 zro per month at year 2220 is insane! (I imagine I high rolled like every zroni colony for resoures).

[@crome2021]

Wow literally perfect timing because I’m just about to pick my 2nd ascension perk

[@benarchard8186]

One simple fix for Grasp The Void may be to reduce the cost of forward expansion beyond your established borders. In a recent video on how to play tall you skipped a few systems to grab a black hole for a future matter decompressor site, and that had with it an associated cost of a few hundred extra influence because the system wasn't connected to one of your borders. If Grasp The Void halved (or even quartered) the rate at which the influence cost grew for every additional system beyond your border then it would make for a very powerful early game forward settling perk. It might allow you to push your borders out further to important systems before other empires claimed them, or allow you to set up pockets of your empire elsewhere in the galaxy around key resources or wormhole/jump gates. I think that most of the other C/D tier ones would benefit from follow on actions that the player can take. The ones that you rate really highly are the ones which give active bonuses such as being able to terraform a planet into something very powerfully tailored to your race, or being able to apply unique gene modifications. The ones you rate much lower have boring passive abilities that you can get elsewhere through other mechanics and so don't seem worth the investment. I think that if each of them came with a unique building, or decision, or action of some sort then choosing an ascension perk would become a lot more about choosing the things you are going to be focusing on for the next however many years it takes until you finish the next unity tree. Grasp The Void, Interstellar Dominion, and Eternal Vigilance (probably three of the worst offenders on there), could all do with unique starbase buildings. One vision would benefit from a unique unity building, which you then have to make room for and decide where to prioritize in your build queue. Nihilistic Acquisition might go well with being able to build buildings in other empires in the same way that corps and particularly criminal corps do. I think a building that increased and piracy in another empires space and even siphoned trade value off of said piracy might make that a much more interest one. Plus it would distribute some of the mechanics that are only available to corporations. On the opposite side of that Shared Destiny would also work well with a set of unique buildings that can only be build on the planets of subject empires. That would actually encourage playing as a tall overlord rather than going wide and integrating. Eternal Vigilance should allow you to blockade systems. One of the things that makes starbase fortifications useless is that you can just bypass them by staying out of range, which makes them really bad for blocking off jump gate systems. Mastery of Nature, while it does give you a follow on decision (i.e. increase the number of districts) could benefit from more decisions such as being able to construct some of the planetary modifiers that you find at random on some worlds, or even to have a few unique ones. Finally, I don't know what to do with Galactic Force Projection. It's probably never been selected by anyone ever, but at least make it percentage based so it scales into the late game.

[@acheron16]

I agree with most picks with exceptions: - Mastery of Nature is more valuable the less planets/smaller galaxy you play with. Making your planet more valuable, especially the tiny ones is pretty valuable. I'd rate it at least B - Technological Ascendancy is very overrated IMO. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it just bumps rare tech chance from 1% to 1.5%, which is negigible at best. The extra research is what makes the perk to me. I would give it an A at most. - World Shaper I personally rate higher simply because I give more value to perks that unlock things for me and unless you roll the Ba'ol this is the only way to get Gaia worlds, as they are better than you give credit to. I completely disagree with C, would be A to me. - Once again, Colossus Project unlocks something you can't get in any other way, so I instantly rate it higher. Why would you want to kill pops? To make sure the other empires don't get them, especially once your planets start getting crowded. It's also a great way to combat late-game lag. And it's a good way to get a Total War Casus Beli without using the same old empire ethics/traits. I rate it a minimum of A, S if you like playing Determined Exterminator. - Arcology Project balances between A and S for me. Usually, the game gives you 1 to 2 Relic Worlds which are usually more than enough for most people, making Arcology Project redundant. But then again, it unlocks something, which instantly bumps it for me. It's an S alright - Xeno-compatibility is F tier. Yeah yeah, crossbreed with xenos is disgusting and whatnot, but the performance hit to the game is unbearable (part of why Colossi are good, they solve this problem). F tier.

[@sovereign1160]

I think what makes Tech Ascend S rank is that it's universally valuable. Every single empire benefits from it, I pick it first in every game.

[@AnemoneMeer]

Tech ascend works differently than you think. The game uses tech weighting over % chance of appearing. Each tech has a score and the game will essentially stack all the scores for all the techs atop eachother then roll a number between 1 and the total tech weight. Simplifying how it works, but you'd get the same result. What tech ascend does is give all rare techs 50% more weight and thus you can land on them more frequently. Additionally, it's multiplicative with the other tech weight bonuses. Mega-engineering is weight 5. Weight 100 with a mega structure in your borders (and the correct overall tech level to research it), and weight 150 with tech ascend. That impact is massive, as because it's multiplicative with existing bonuses, it results in things like mandatory ascension techs achieving the same level of rarity as a basic ship component tech.

[@acheron16]

@@AnemoneMeer I've never felt it impacted much. Rare techs for me are a matter of time and outside of Mega-engineering, few are that important.

[@AnemoneMeer]

@@acheron16 It's not something you take for an immediate impact, but rather something that makes you better and better as the game goes on. Tech wins wars, builds mega structures, and improves pops. More tech means you are better at all of these. Tech ascend gets you psionics sooner, synths sooner, and just generally makes you better at whatever you were doing.

[@mandingo4222]

Okay, let me do the math for you on synth vs bio ascension Synth pop growth: 3.0 (bio pops) + 8.0 (robot pops with 4 roboticists) Bio pop growth: 7.0 (if you stack all the bonuses optimally) + 2.0 (from 1 roboticists) So base synth (no bonuses!) Pop growth is >20% higher than bio pop growth with optimal bonuses. In order to make up for this, you'd expect bio pops to have >20% more efficient pops. Bio pop efficiency: 20% research + 15% on chosen type, 15% on basic resources and 5% on all resources. Synth pop efficiency: 10% research + 15% on chosen type, 15% on basic resources and 25% on all resources. So synthetics have more efficient pops for everything except research and trade. Reality is that synths generally will have +16 combined pop growth after bonuses are taken into account meaning their economy will be growing at DOUBLE the rate a bio ascension will be. Let's not forget that cyborgs are op so synths have a stronger early game too yeah? Bio has a very minor research advantage (not really because synths have more pops) and gene warriors come late game. Synth ascension is the meta in online multiplayer for a reason

[@Kryto_Gaming]

Nice to see someone present the math! I had the same exact reaction as you.

[@Maydnight]

yeah but if with federation and the galactic community. A bio that take controle of the galactic community could just nerf a synth to the ground and buff themself to the heaven. You could leave the community but in that case you will no longer have all the buff of the community. And even if it's easly fix in mid game, robot cost alloy wich mean you could be rush by a bio since you will have less alloy and with ship quantity is often better than quality. I don't know if it could work but i know that happines does affact diplomatic weight and robot are considere to be at 50%

[@DougieMonster31]

You missed out the parts where psionics makes you immune to infiltration from the contingency crisis and give excellent leader bonus's and you omitted the ship tech psionic items too.

[@exantiuse497]

Immunity to contingency infiltration is such a minor bonus, it literally only comes into effect in less than 1/3 games (less than 1/3 because if you go psionics your end-game crisis is likely the Unbidden). And he did address the special ship parts, he said they're stuff you might get from the Shroud but you also might not, it's random, which is why he ranked it lower than the other two since they have guaranteed good results and don't have to risk getting cursed to get the good stuff

[@DougieMonster31]

@@exantiuse497 Regardless it is still a bonus that was not mentioned, which was the whole point that you brushed aside.

[@Toltex]

I think you're undervaluing Awakened. The Psionic trait on the leaders is really strong plus it gives you access to T6 techs. I have one big problem with Synthetic Evolution - You can't stop the pop growth of synthetic pops like you can robots and bio. It always leads to a micromanagement clusterfuck.

[@MrDax13]

Psi Jump Drives also a thing.

[@adherry8142]

And Psi shields, and precogs. They cost a rare resource but compared to dark matter their cost is laughable. Oh my fleet upgrades would be 2.5k dark matter and.....200 zro

[@southwind1457]

I don’t fully agree with the placement of World Shaper. Gaia worlds give all pops working on them and 10% production from all jobs, which roughly is equivalent to +18 stability. The terraforming cost doesn’t matter at the time you can get the ascension perk. It certainly isn’t the best ascension perk, but it’s certainly higher than C teir

[@CornBredCrusader]

Idk, certain ascension perks that you listed as D tier can be very strong, its just that usually they have a timer on how long they remain strong, whereas the S tier ones are S tier from the moment you pick them and remain so for the entire game. ie. Galatic force projection can be insanely powerful with a supremacy opening since it allows you to field more ships and not hit your cap. So while someone might FP technologic ascendancy and try to get ahead in tech, it will take 40-50 years before this really becomes apparent, by that point you will have taken them over. Same goes for getting an early imperial prerogative or executive vigor to "flatten" the ballooning curve of admin cap if your eco cannot support endless bureaucracy. They becomes way less useful over time, but you have to use that powerspike you gave yourself to do something, otherwise you should just have always gone for the end game S tier perks

[@Moowell2]

I would argue that Synthetic Evolution is S tier because of the bonuses being machines give. To start, you get a 100% reduction in food upkeep. This means you no longer have to waste districts and buildings on food, so you can turn that around into improving your tech or economy. This also means that you can ignore food in the tech tree and focus on what's important. If you do decide to keep your food production going, you can trade it wholesale to other empires for more necessary goods or simply as bribes. Additionally, habitability becomes 100% on all planets, so happiness/stability goes up across the empire, and thus economy and research goes up across the empire, not even mentioning the basically uninhabitable worlds that are now inhabitable. You don't even have to set up a separate species traits loadout for each planet type. Terraforming costs drop to zero, saving energy for more important projects. Pops can work both specialist and worker jobs, meaning no unemployment as long as jobs are available. Pops migrating from other empires can be assimilated by default on arrival, rather than needing to spend time modifying their genes. It may not have clone vats, and it may not have advanced traits, but it is not inferior to Evolutionary Mastery.

[@Mamorufumio]

16:00 to be fair with planetary diverity unique worlds world shaper becames a valueble choice.

[@RoverStorm]

To defend Enigmatic Engineering in MP, it has a situation where it is considered extremely critical: making sure nobody else gets Crystal-Forged Plating. Most battles past early game are max-range battleships with Arc Emitters and Cloud Lightning, for the "Alpha Strike" strategy, and it ignores armor AND shields, so ONLY hull technology helps. Crystal-Infused anyone can get via researching Crystaline Entities, but Crystal-Forged Plating is only found from the Crystal Nidus: so the only way someone gets it off of the one who got it is via salvage. Hence, Enigmatic Engineering.

[@liamgibson6949]

Aspec: Why would you blow up the pops? Me: heheh Colossus go brrrrrr

[@BobSmith-cg2ek]

Aspec: Why would you blow up the pops? Me: Remove lag, win games

[@Solemgoodbye]

I am going to have to disagree with you on Interstellar Dominion, along with expansion it severely speeds up early game expansion, giving you the ability to cap archeology sites, anomalies, and valuable resources while you have few pops. In my mind, it is an auto first pick. The early game economic and territorial boost it gives you is simply too strong to pass up.

[@NalyKalZul]

i don't know about the +2 edict cap executive edict being D tier, it niche but its very powerfull in said niche. you say its d tier overall. but on a voidborne origins + transcendent empire, it one of the tallest stacking buffs you can plop down. though to be fair you do need to get the to the hub system, hopefully to be found early to get the surveyor, if there a only a perk to make artifact usage more interesting/cheaper.

[@anormos7270]

Will you make new Tier Lists for Nemesis next month ?

[@TESI303]

Synthetic Evolution - I would rank it much lower imo. What's the point of turning your pops to robots, if you could have started playing as robots in the first place? Apart from RP, it has little to no value.

[@N3LI415]

yeah i don't get it either, it forces you to change up your whole economy too which is more trouble than it's worth

[@ben5056]

EgE massive pop growth and increased output not enough for you?

[@roblaquiere8220]

Synthetic evolution is unique because you can be a machine empire that is not a hivemind. Non-hiveminded machine empires are fantastic. All the benefits of robotic outputs and biological type governments rolled into one. Immortal leaders, access to biological only techs, different edicts, allowed to pick arcology project. A synthetically ascended biological empire is outright superior to an empire that was originally a machine hivemind.

[@ben5056]

Man WithCubes they are also affected by happiness, makes it a lot easier to get the 30% production boost from stability.

[@1018102m82]

The synthetics got extra production bonus from robot technologies, leader traits and stability bonus which machine empires can't. Furthermore, synthetics got way faster pop grow. Not only they can assimilate other races into main race's synthetic, they got 2 robotist per capital building. They also grow organic pop if you know the trick to keep them.

[@clusterfuck7375]

Me seeing that ascending beyond the frailty of mortal flesh is A tier: Oh i will hold this grudge for longer than you will live flesh thing and then we will see if i am not worthy of an S.

[@d.o.islife8244]

You good?

[@GlizzyGoblin757]

this is way too long to be funny

[@TouHuskyYang]

Returning from 1.6 and I'm totally lost.. 200 hours down the drain .

[@TouHuskyYang]

What I'm not a traitor I'm not gonna go and watch some other KZbin guy video this aspec guy telling the truth that ascension perk where they give you 10% bonus is legit research blue lasers fast af and killed those mushroom looking aliens in like first 10 years and I only play this game after 7 shots of whisky during covid again it's 10000% the best thing I've ever decided to do.

[@TouHuskyYang]

At this point in just trying to kill time I never can finish this game anyways my pc crashes like after first 200 years and it's fun just to mess around but honestly who ever actually beats this game you need a fast as p.c it's fun to suck at this game build some random race get drunk on the side curse at fallen empires then and then get killed it's the best thing I found during Covid lockdown.

[@uteriel282]

@@TouHuskyYang as long as you dont lay with 100 empires in a giant galaxy youre fine with a slightly below mid-tier pc.

[@smile-tl9in]

Interstellar dominion is good early game where expansion is important and you don't have that much influence. Wide empire would also love it

[@Sukharno2121]

it also helps covering the low influence in early game (that 20% cut can mean that you save 5 months[15 influence] per system with a 3 influence gain) and even lets you use influence for other things. i go for expansion tradition + ID start in pretty much all my games - save up influence until i can get the -30% (75 base cost drops to 52, 7 months-ish influence saved per system) and with two or three construction ships spend the accumulated influence getting extra systems. each influence point is so much more valuable than the meager extra energy and minerals you would get. you could miss some early science exploitation, but once your construction starts you end up with better gains per turn than if you expanded normally.

[@stahl1624]

"You only have 8 slots" *Cough* Mods *Cough*

[@sirmathias8852]

You only have unlimited slots ...

[@gamesandglory1648]

@@sirmathias8852 only 108

[@geofff.3343]

Transcendent Learning is only worth it if you totally spec into increasing the leader level cap and exp gain (along with increasing lifespan) I played one such game and the leaders by the end game were absolute units. Leaders lasting forever, having bonuses that blow everyone else's out of the water. It's super situational though and I would generally rank it low myself.

[@mitchellnelson6862]

We need more perks and slots

[@exantiuse497]

There's a mod for that

[@MarcEricLaneGlobal]

You missed something about Interstellar Dominion - if you play as a Hive Mind and get it as your first perk, along with the Expansion traditions, you will expand significantly faster than any other species in the game, as the influence cost for new starbases becomes ridiculously low.

[@UnifiedCake]

pretty much everything he says is excluding early game contexts, which is most of the fun of the ascension perks that he just labels as "not worth an ascension slot". clicked off the video once i realized that.

[@Brandon-hn5jx]

I'm surprised by the rankings for the ascension perks. My favorite path is easily the genetic ascension path. I'm pretty hostile towards robots and spiritualists. And I got here with 0 views, so that was cool

[@rayra2772]

Trascendence also makes leaders better (researchers specifically get a 10% more to research speed), and you still can modify the habitability of your species so they have high habitability everywhere. The lack of reliable pop growth bonuses can be solved via conquest. And aside from that it can give you random bonuses via the Shroud, that range from decent to awesome. Is it really worse than Synthetic Ascension in a warmonguering enviroment?

[@1Maklak]

I mostly agree; I want my Ascension Perks to change the game, not add a 20% bonus to something useful; that's technology's job. Interstellar Dominion would be somewhat useful early to mid game, but after that the way to grow is not by winning a few systems at a time between 10 year truces, it's better to subjugate a vassal, then integrate them. Still, Influence is the one resource that doesn't scale with empire size and you'll likely be building Outposts throughout the game, so this perk is useful. Mastery of Nature is I think on par with Voidborne. It gives me 2 extra Districts per planet and I'm always running out of room. I'd rather have larger planets, then a swarm of small Habitats. Habitats are just bigger mining stations anyway. World shaper would be solid choice for a species with low habitability trait or for an Empire with a mix of species. I'd say it's almost on par with Hive/Machine worlds, but not as good as Arcology. 100% fixed Habitability, 10% Happiness (and thus more Stability) and 10% output from Jobs on ALL planets is good. Arcology Project is great for the Ecumenopolis and is even better with two large planets, one for civilian industry and one for alloys. It would be even better if it had a bureaucracy District (like Trantor from Foundation and some planets in WH40k). Having Research Districts would just be OP. Having size 10 Districts dedicated to alloys or goods is also a very efficient use of rare resources. Galactic Wonders is the best perk for the long game. Ring Worlds make great Research planets and maybe Agri-worlds. I think Master Builders (+1 Megastructure and faster building Megastructures) is overrated, because a Unity Edict does the same.

[@redman457]

I think a good buff for The Flesh is Weak, and Mind over Matter, could be taken together, but you loss out on Transcendence and Synthetic Evolution. So your empire would have a wide pops that fill in all most any job. Also i like the verity in my empires.

[@cp1cupcake]

You don't need Transcendent Learning for most if not all level 10 leaders. When you stack the +2 to a given leader from the related tradition, the global +2 from the discovery tradition, and the 'better but more expensive leaders' (i cant remember the name, egalitarians don't like it) then you can get to 10.

[@LowbrowDeluxe]

Transcendant learning is a very effective first pick for rushing, as is Galactic Dominion. Grasp the Void gives more naval cap than Galactic Force Projection, and is relevant as a mid-game stopgap for pacifists who got boxed in and need as much extra cap as they can get to turtle.

[@Majber]

Can you please do Traits and Civics Tier list?

[@faelarheal-leaf8157]

There's already a really comprehensive video on both of those things Here's a playlist with tier lists for Civics, Traits and even Origins: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mH_HeaZqgadkotk Hope this helps and have fun gaming