Factions in Stellaris Stellaris guide, tips
Last update: 14 March 2019
No matter how hard you try to keep your populations loyal, after a short time some internal divisions will be unavoidable. The factions tab can be accessed through the empire panel. Here you will find all the splits in your society, along with the information what was the reason for the separatistic behavior.
1. Here you can see the bar depicting the current support for the faction. Upon achieving full support, the number of population of your empire listed next to the bar will join the faction.
Notes: The support bars for each faction will be listed in the factions tab. There you can, and should, keep an eye on its status. Within this panel, you can also see on which system is the rebellious faction stationed.
2. The faction's demands that have to be fulfilled for it to stop criticizing your politics. In most cases planets or sectors demand either autonomy or independence. Factions which were part of another nation will usually demand you to return them to the their previous rulers.
Notes: If you submit to the demands of a faction, the newly formed states or sectors will usually become your vassals, but you will no longer have direct control over them. It is better to prevent such behavior, especially in sectors. Locate the faction's homeworld and exclude the planet from the sector. This should limit their demand to a smaller patch of the galaxy, and will allow you easier control of their actions.
3. In this part of the tab you'll see what behavior can be expected from the members of the faction depending on its current support.
Notes: The negative actions stemming from growing support will, in most cases, be limited to the destruction of buildings, which were built on the tiles populated by members of the faction. If the faction reaches maximum support, you have to be ready to deal with an open military conflict.
4. Here you can see how big a part of your population belongs to the separatist faction. You can also use some special actions that will neutralize the faction's actions.
Notes: This screen will allow you to easily assess the size of the threat. If the faction gained maximum support among ten out of two hundred PoPs belonging to your empire then it is not really a serious threat. If the percentage of the faction's supporters becomes too big, however, you will have to take all necessary steps to limit the separatists' influence.
Interacting with factions
Yield to their demands
This means granting independence to the particular part of the galaxy controlled by the faction.
Notes: You can try out this option and see what happens. What is certain however, is that you shouldn't easily give up parts of your empire without a fight, especially the parts in which you have invested a lot of time and resources. Even if the new state will be your vassal it is not going to reward you for the work and resources that had been poured into the development of their planet, or sector.
Suppress media
Restricts access to the separatist's media channels, which translates to a drop in support for the faction.
Cost: 400 Energy credits, 50 Influence points
Notes: The best possible solution in reducing the influence of a faction. Costing a relatively small amount of influence points, it allows you to reduce the faction's support by 10% at a time. Thanks to the low influence cost, you afford it quite often as long as you have well-supplied power plants.
Bribe leaders
Immediate 10% drop in support for the faction
Cost: 200 Energy credits, 200 Influence points
Notes: Expensive but equally effective a solution as media suppression. You can pick this one only if you're suffering from a severe shortage of energy credits. Not the best idea by the creators of the game. Given the cost in influence points, there is a very small chance for this solution to be viable.