Politics in Stellaris Stellaris guide, tips
Last update: 14 March 2019
This page of the Stellaris guide will tell you more about policies and unique aspects of each of them.
Which policies are available depends on the level of technological development stemming out from chosen ethics and political system. Each change of policy must last 10 years, and you cannot introduce changes in the policy during that period of time. Think twice before changing the policy, since radical changes can block certain actions for a long time.
- Wartime economy
- Slavery
- Purge
- Orbital bombardment
- Researching Primitive Races
- Enlightment of Primitives
- Migration
- Resettling
- Voting Rights
- Leadership
- First contact protocol
- Artificial intelligence
Wartime economy
Name | Description |
Passive | The economy is robust and isn't influenced by war. |
Semi-passive | Defensive wars Army production efficiency increased by 30% when a losing defensive war (-100) Offensive wars Army production decrease by 30% if winning an offensive war (100) |
Dynamic | Defensive wars Army production efficiency increased by 45% when losing a defensive war (-100) Offensive wars Army production decrease by 45% if winning an offensive war (100) |
Notes: Change of wartime economy should always happen if you are losing the war. It gives you the opportunity to utilize your assets better, in order to hold onto your resources that allow to hold the defense. If you are definitely winning a war, you will receive pretty big penalties for production that can hamper your offensive.
Slavery
Name | Description |
Abolished | You cannot enslave any population |
Aliens only | Can enslave every race, except the leading race of the empire. The system has to have Xenophobic, or Fanatically Xenophobic ethics. |
Allowed | Can enslave any population. |
Notes: Enslaved populations should inhabit planets that are oriented towards economic development. They are best fitted for physical labor, so erecting research stations will not yield any spectacular discoveries. In most cases you're only able to enslave a population within you leading race. Enslaving alien populations is only possible if your society is characterized by xenophobia. Remember, that the tolerance for slavery is an important indicator. Slavery can make your society very unhappy.
Purge
Name | Description |
Forbidden | Purge is out of the question. |
Aliens only | Can control only alien races. The system has to have either Xenophobic, Fanatically Xenophobic, Collectivistic or Fanatically Collectivistic ethics. |
Allowed | Can exterminate every population. The system has to have either Collectivistic or Fanatically Collectivistic ethics. |
Notes: Purges can be useful if a given society is diverged, or belongs to a different race.
Orbital bombardment
Name | Description |
Light | Your units are concerned with destroying marked strategic targets, trying to spare as many civilians as they can. |
Limited | Allows using all the equipment, except the heaviest. Destroys the infrastructure, but spares most civilians. |
Full | Allows using full firepower, who cares about civilians. |
Notes: The policy in this aspect means only setting the maximal value: setting the Orbital Bombardment policy to Full doesn't mean that you have to ravage every planet - it can still be adjusted on individual ships, if you want to keep the infrastructure untouched. The bigger the maximal value, the faster you can tear down a planet's defenses, and order ground forces to attack.
Researching Primitive Races
Name | Description |
Passive observation | Observation stations can perform passive research. |
Active research | Observation stations can abduct primitive aliens and do all kinds of tests but cannot raid alien worlds. |
Unlimited | Observation stations can abduct primitive aliens and do all kinds of tests. Alien worlds can be raided. |
Notes: If your mission is to achieve total domination in the Galaxy, then is there a point in to limit the research on alien primitives? If they're unable to fight back, they're pretty much doomed anyway.
Enlightment of Primitives
Name | Description |
Forbidden | Primitive races cannot be enlightened. |
Allowed | You can share technological achievements with primitive aliens. |
Notes: Enlightening primitive races can provide additional profit in case of enslaving them. Otherwise, there's little gain here.
Migration
Name | Description |
Forbidden | Populations cannot migrate freely. |
Only main races | Only the main race can migrate freely. |
Free | Every citizen of the empire is free to travel. |
Notes: At the beginning of the game, the best idea is to have full control over who inhabits which planet. It's good to have it under control if the infrastructure of planets isn't on uniform level, which creates the risk of populations moving from a highly advanced planet, leaving sophisticated buildings, which cease to generate bonuses. It's best to use migration only after developing the planets of the main sector - the effects of migration won't be so severe then.
Resettling
Name | Description |
Forbidden | Free populations cannot be forced to resettlement |
Allowed | Populations can be resettled freely |
Notes: This concerns only free populations - slaves can be moved without any restrictions. How useful the resettlement is going to be, depends on the specific objectives you want to achieve.
Voting Rights
Name | Description |
Forbidden | Succession is guaranteed by the heir |
Elitism | Only a handful of most prominent citizens have the right to vote |
Main species only | Only your primary, most advanced species, can vote. |
Free for all | Every free race in your empire can vote |
Notes: Depending on your political system, different parts of society will have the right to vote. In case of democracy, you can decide to give voting rights to all species. In case of social divergence, it's best to leave the right to vote to the faction which supports your rule.
Leadership
In most systems, the leaders will come from a privileged group, which rules the empire. This ensures that you have a way of directly meeting the candidates before the elections. You're not going to have any influence over this, but it doesn't matter a whole lot during the game.
First contact protocol
Name | Description |
Peaceful | Offensive actions can only be taken in response to attack by aliens. |
Aggressive | Allows attacking neutral races. |
Notes: Neutral races shouldn't pose a huge threat - they can provide good experience for the leader, at the same time. It's worth to rid your territory of them, so your map is more uniform.
Artificial intelligence
Name | Description |
Forbidden | Robots cannot be constructed. Every population of mechs has to be disassembled. |
Service | Mechs can be used instead of slaves and can serve the primary race |
Notes: Using robots can be an important aspect of the empire. The costs of their maintenance are pretty high, but you have the guarantee that the robots will always obey and stay happy. Robots can inhabit population slots on planets where you want them to work.