Factions

Version

This article has been verified for the current PC version (3.1) of the game.

Factions screen

Factions represent political parties and have a potentially high impact on Pop Happiness. There is at least one Faction for each ethic and each Pop is usually likely to join the Faction matching its ethic. Factions are not present in Gestalt Consciousness empires. A faction's name is randomized but can be manually changed at any point.

Faction Properties

Every faction has all of these properties. Approval and size/support are usually the most important figures to keep in mind.

Spawn Limitations

Factions can only spawn after at least 10 years have passed and there are at least 5 pops capable of supporting it. There is also a 180-day lockout between Factions spawning. While many also require having met another species, this is not a universal rule.

Very rarely a Faction might despawn if it loses all its members. If this happens the Faction can form again under a new name later.

Approval

Approval is derived from its issues, with a major modification if the Faction is suppressed, supported or a factions Ethic was recently Embraced. Faction Approval adds a Happiness modifier to all Pops who support the faction:

Approval	Pop Happiness
0-19%	-40%
20-39%	-10%
40-59%	0
60-79%	+5%
80-100%	+10%

Support

A pop can only support a faction if it's sentient, has Full Citizenship or Residence rights and does not suffer from Stellar Culture Shock. A pop can only support one Faction. As a Pop has to have the fitting Ethics to support a Faction, Ethics attraction plays a major role in Faction strength and distribution. Both systems interact to a degree, with many issues aiming to create (or curb) conflicting Attractions.

The tooltip separates between Citizen and non-Citizen (Residence) pops. Currently all pops count the same regardless of Political Power and if they have Citizen Rights.

It is ideal if happy Factions have a lot of support and unhappy ones as little as possible. Depending on the Support, an unhappy Faction will be listed as White, Yellow or Red in the outliner.

Pops with the Nerve Stapled trait cannot join Factions.

Issues

Issues directly translate to happiness: the more issues that are Fulfilled, the happier the Faction. By their nature opposing Ethic Factions have opposing issues, making it impossible to make all Factions happy. An issue can be either fulfilled or not fulfilled. In either case, it might produce a happiness penalty (red), a happiness bonus (green) or be neutral (yellow). Many issues have requirements before they can appear, making it sometimes hard to know what will please a faction before unlocking the proper Options.

As they can only have two states, issues come in a few common shapes that can each only have two of the above states:

Positive issues will be green if fulfilled, yellow if not fulfilled.
Negative issues will be red if not fulfilled, yellow if fulfilled.
Extreme issues will be red if not fulfilled, green if fulfilled.
Timed issues belong into one of the above, but rely on having a timed country flag.
Stacking issues are a set of Positive issues. There are 2 or more "levels" to fulfilling these issues. Usually, the higher level is the same basic mechanic/check, but with a higher threshold. Fulfilling one level will unlock the next one (i.e., being 10, 20 and 50 years at peace; having 1, 3 or 5 Non-Aggression Pacts with neighbors). The levels will usually provide +2%, +3% and +5% happiness which will stack for a total of +5% or +10%. However, sometimes unrelated issues share these numbers too.

Effects

All Factions produce Influence for the empire. The higher the Faction Approval and Support the more Influence will be produced. All Factions produce in total 2 Influence baseline, which can be increased to 3 with The Living State Technology. This value is then multiplied by Faction Approval and Support, resulting in the total yield.

For example:

If all Factions in an empire have 100% Approval, they produce Influence +2 in total.
If a Faction has 50% Approval and 50% Support while another Faction has 100% Approval and 50% Support, they produce Influence +1.5 in total.

Faction Influence Gain can be improved by the following:

Egalitarian adds +25%
Fanatic Egalitarian adds +50%
Parliamentary System adds +25%
Oligarchic adds +15%

Leader

Every Faction has a Leader. That one will be drawn randomly from the empire's hired leaders, while some factions with weighting towards certain leader classes and towards/against Xenos. Rulers can become the Leaders of Faction or already be before they become Ruler. If the Ruler of the Empire is also the Leader of a Faction, the Attraction for the faction's Ethics will also increase by +25%.

If the leader is killed or fired, a new faction leader will be drawn randomly from the empire's hired leaders. If no existing leaders are capable to, the faction will remain leaderless for the rest of the game.

Actions

Actions the player can do to deal with the Faction:

Embrace Faction allows an empire to shift its Ethics one step towards that Faction's Ethics. It costs 500 influence, has a 20-year lockout and requires at least 20% Faction support. It will make this Faction Happy (+10%) but all others Unhappy (-20%). The faction with the lowest attraction in your empire will have its Ethics regress a step.
Suppression allows an empire to reduce the attraction of the Faction's Ethic, which can - in the long run - eliminate the Faction. But its main use is to limit the Faction Support. Suppressing a faction gives -75% Ethic Attraction for the chosen ethic, as well as adding -20% Faction approval, and costs -1 Influence per month.
Support allows an empire to increase the attraction of the Faction's Ethic. This can be used both to promote the governing ethics or to prepare for an ethics switch. Supporting a faction gives +100% Ethic Attraction for the chosen ethic but costs -2 Influence per month.

Factions

There are 10 Factions present in Stellaris, one for each ethic except Xenophobe, and Egalitarian which both have two. Many Faction issues are not present if the empire has the Fanatic Purifiers civic or requires the empire to have established communications with a certain number of empires.

Faction	Ethic	Issue	Communications	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Imperialist	Militarist	Strong Diplomacy	0	None	Belligerent or Supremacist Diplomatic Stance Policy	+10	0
		Weak Diplomacy	0	None	Not Cooperative Diplomatic Stance Policy	0	-10
		Aggressive Diplomacy	1	None	Unrestricted Wars or Liberation Wars War Philosophy Policy	0	–30
		Conquest	0	None	Conquered a planet within the last 10 years	+10	0
		Local Rivalry	3	Below 2 Rivals	1 Rival	+5	–5
		Neighborhood Rivalries	3	Below 3 Rivals	2 Rivals	+10	0
		Galactic Nemeses	3	None	3+ Rivals	+15	0
		Imperial Hegemony	3	None	Having a Subject or being the president of a Hegemony Federation	+5	0
		Subject State	0	None	Being a Subject	–25	0
		Fanatic Purifiers	0	None	Fanatic Purifiers civic	+10	0
		Leviathan Slayer	0	None	Killed a Leviathan within the last 20 years	+10	0
		Military Requisition of Artifacts	0	None	Find Military Applications Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0
		Waste of Artifacts	0	None	Find Peaceful Applications Minor Artifact action modifier	–5	0
Progressive	Egalitarian	Anti-Autocratic	0	None	Not Dictatorial or Imperial Authority	+10	–15
		Cooperative Diplomacy	0	None	Cooperative Diplomatic Stance Policy	+5	0
		Free Movement	0	Encountered another species	Prohibited Resettlement Policy No Migration Controls rights for every free species	+10	–10
		Reproductive Freedom	0	None	Prohibited Population Controls Policy	+5	–20
		Anti-Stratification	0	None	No species has the Stratified Economy Living Standard rights	0	–25
		Born Equal	0	Selected Lineages technology	Natural Selection Leader Enhancement Policy	+5	–5
Prosperity	Pacifist	Solid Liquidity	0	Any Colony	At least 5000 Energy	+10	0
		Mercantile Diplomacy	0	None	Mercantile Diplomatic Stance Policy	+10	0
		Aggressive Diplomacy	0	None	Diplomatic Stance Policy is not Belligerent or Supremacist	0	–10
		Defensive Stance	1	None	Defensive Wars War Philosophy Policy	+10	–10
		Keep the Peace	0	None	Not at war	+5	–10
		Nonviolence	3	None	Not attacking or joining an aggressor empire in war for 20 years	0	–30
		Embetterment of Society	0	None	Find Peaceful Applications Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0
		Waste of Artifacts	0	None	Find Military Applications Minor Artifact action modifier	0	–5
Technologist	Materialist	Cooperative Diplomacy	0	None	Cooperative Diplomatic Stance Policy	+5	0
		AI Allowed	0	None	Having Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Workers Policies not be Outlawed	+10	–30
		Bleeding Edge	1	None	No Default Empire has Superior or Overwhelming Technology Level	+10	–20
		Science Without Borders	0	None	3+ Research Agreements or Research Cooperative	+10	0
		Synth Envy	0	Encountered Mechanical or Cybernetic Pops Not having the Synthetic Evolution Ascension Perk	Any Pop has the Mechanical or Cybernetic traits	0	–10
		Secret Knowledge	0	None	Precursor Data Cache or Curator Insight empire modifier	+10	0
		Knowledge of the Past	0	None	Arcane Insights or Arcane Deciphering Cooldown empire modifier	+5	0
		Precursor Secrets	0	None	Completed a non-DLC precursor secrets special project	+5	0
Totalitarian	Authoritarian	Autocracy	0	None	Imperial or Dictatorial Authority	+10	0
		Anti-Democratic	0	None	Not Democratic Authority	0	–25
		Stratified Society	0	None	Every species has Stratified Economy or Academic Privilege standards Any species is enslaved or purged	+10	–20
		Elitism	0	Selected Lineages technology	Selected Lineages or Capacity Boosters Leader Enhancement Policy	+5	–5
		Extranational Authority	3	None	Having a Subject	+10	0
		Underling	0	None	Being a Subject	–10	0
Traditionalist	Spiritualist	Life Organic	0	None	Outlawed Robotic Workers Policy	0	–5
		No Synth Rights	0	Positronic AI technology	Servitude Artificial Intelligence Policy	0	–10
		Profane Machines	0	Positronic AI technology	Citizen Rights Artificial Intelligence Policy	0	–20
		Pious Polity	0	None	Spiritualist or Fanatic Spiritualist empire Ethic	+5	–5
		Unhallowed Ground	0	Not Post-Apocalyptic origin Did not accept the Worm's offer	No Tomb World within borders is colonized or being terraformed	0	–5
		Hallowed World	0	None	Consecrate a Gaia World	+5	0
		Psionic Pursuit	0	None	Mind over Matter Ascension Perk	+10	0
		The Flesh is Strong	0	None	The Flesh is Weak Ascension Perk	–30	0
		Homogeneity	0	None	At least 25% of all Pops in the empire are Spiritualist	+10	0
		Embattled Minority	0	None	Less than 10% of all Pops in the empire are Spiritualist	0	–10
		Shrouded Boon	0	None	Positive outcome when using the Shroud	+5	0
		Shrouded Blight	0	None	Negative outcome when using the Shroud	0	–5
		Comfort in the Past	0	None	Proclaim Religious Revelation Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0
Xenoist	Xenophile	Cooperative Diplomacy	0	None	Cooperative Diplomatic Stance Policy	+5	0
		Indirect Xenology	0	Encountered a pre-FTL civilization	Passive Studies Native Interference Policy	+10	–5
		All Refugees Welcome	1	None	Refugees Welcome Refugees Policy	+10	–10
		Pre-Sapient Survival	0	Encountered a pre-sapient species	Protected or Tolerated Pre-Sapients policy	0	–10
		No Purges	0	None	Not Prohibited Purge Policy	0	–25
		No Species-Wide Slavery	0	Alien Pops in empire	Any alien species has the Slaves citizenship rights	0	–25
		Multicultural Society	4	None	4+ species in empire	+10	0
		Recent Uplift	0	None	Uplifted a species within the last 20 years	+10	0
		Recent Enlightenment	0	None	Recently enlightened a pre-FTL civilization	+10	0
		Landgrab Objections	0	Encountered a pre-FTL civilization	No invasion of pre-FTL civilization within the last 20 years	0	–15
		Federated	4	None	Federation Member	+20	0
		New Contact	0	None	Established communications with another empire within last 10 years	+5	0
		Celebrate Diversity	0	None	Celebrate Diversity Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0
		Book Burner	0	None	Proclaim Superiority Minor Artifact action modifier	0	–5
		Enclaves Incorporated	0	None	Enclave station within borders	+5	0
		Proactive First Contact Protocols	0	none	Proactive First Contact Protocol	+10	-10
Supremacist	Xenophobe (main species only)	Strong Diplomacy	0	None	Belligerent or Supremacist Diplomatic Stance Policy	+10	0
		Weak Diplomacy	0	None	Not Cooperative Diplomatic Stance Policy	0	-10
		Invasive Xeno Studies	0	Encountered a pre-FTL civilization	Unrestricted Studies Native Interference Policy	+5	–10
		Xenos Disenfranchised	0	Alien Pops in empire	No alien species has Full Citizenship Species Rights	+5	–10
		No Xeno Ruler	0	None	Ruler belongs to the primary species	+10	–30
		Strong Alone	1	None	Not being in a Federation	+10	–30
		No Immigration	3	None	No Migration Agreement with any empire	0	–10
		Asserting Dominance	0	None	At war as attacker	+10	0
		Fanatic Purifiers	0	None	Fanatic Purifiers civic	+10	0
		Giant Massacre	0	None	Killed a Leviathan within the last 20 years	+10	0
		Disdain of History	0	None	Proclaim Superiority Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0
		Celebrating Weakness	0	None	Celebrate Diversity Minor Artifact action modifier	0	–5
		Aggressive First Contact Protocols	0	None	Aggressive First Contact Protocols	+10	-5
Isolationist	Xenophobe (alien pops or Pacifist empire only)	Isolationist Diplomacy	0	None	Isolationist Diplomatic Stance Policy	+10	–10
		Stalwart Defense	1	None	Liberation Wars or Defensive Wars War Philosophy Policy	0	–25
		Restricted Movement	3	None	No Migration Agreement or Refugees Welcome Refugees Policy	0	–10
		Unwilling Aggression	3	None	Not attacking or joining another empire in war	0	–25
		Strong Alone	1	None	Not being in a Federation	0	–25
		Non-Aggression Pact	3	Below 2 Non-Aggression Pacts	1 Non-Aggression Pact	+5	0
		Non-Aggression Covenant	3	Below 3 Non-Aggression Pacts	2 Non-Aggression Pacts	+10	0
		Non-Aggression Protocol	3	None	3+ Non-Aggression Pacts	+15	0
		Peace	1	None	At peace for 10-24 years	+5	0
		Extended Peace	1	None	At peace for 25-49 years	+10	0
		Peace Everlasting	1	None	At peace for 50+ years	+15	0
		Cautious First Contact Protocols	0	None	Not Cautious First Contact Protocol	0	-10

Manifesti

Manifesti is a 10th Faction type that can appear during the Rise of the Manifesti event chain. Pops that have Egalitarian, Pacifist or Xenophile ethic can join it. If the Faction approval falls below 35% for an extended period of time the Faction will disband and will not appear again. They have 5 odd issues:

Issue	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment			Description
Gallery of the Retina	None	Consumer Goods deficit	+5	-10	It will please the [faction name] to keep Consumer Goods production in deficit, keeping our citizens free of what they call 'the Ready-Made Scourge'.
Heads in the Clouds	None	Every scientist leading research has the Carefree or Roamer trait	+10	-10	The [faction name] assert that technology research* should be entrusted only to a visionary council of carefree roamers.*
Alluvio-Liberalism	Atmospheric Filtering technology Void Dwellers origin	Massive Glacier or Noxious Swamp blocker on any planet If controlling Earth cleared the Great Pacific Garbage Patch blocker	+10	-10	It will please the [faction name] to see unrestricted movement of water in all its forms as glaciers, swamps and oceans.
Personal Autonomy for Munitions	Extended Combat Algorithms technology Allowed Robotic Workers policy	Any ship with a Sapient Combat Computer component Slave armies Undead armies	+20	-20	The [faction name] are keen for military vessels to be granted sapience, and thus liberty of choice in the manner of their deployment.
Silent Partner	Encountered another empire	Envoy assigned to Federation or Galactic Community	+5	-5	It will please the [faction name] to wield political or diplomatic power and refuse to deploy it, engaging in staring contests instead of sending envoys.