Factions

Version

This article is considered accurate for the current version (2.5) of the game.

Just like Ethics shift will never be one-sided in individualist empires, factions will always form.

In order to represent the struggles an empire will face in attempting to maintain control over a diverse population, Stellaris includes a system where units of an empire's population can support factions. Factions represent political parties and are the main determinant of pop happiness. They are disabled for Gestalt Consciousness empires. A faction's name is randomized but can be manually changed at any point.

Faction Properties

Factions screen

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 an also 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 as well and not enslaved, purger or suffering 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. Every Ethic has at least one Faction.

The tooltip separates between Citizen and non-Citizen (Residency) 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.

Faction Influence Gain can be improved by the following:

• Egalitarian adds +25%
• Fanatic Egalitarian adds +50%
• Parliamentary System adds +25%

Leader

Every Faction has a Leader. That one will be drawn randomly from the Leaders already hired or hire-able in the empire, but often 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 and the Factions Ethics will also increase.

Actions

Actions the player can do to deal with the Faction:

• Embrace Faction allows an empire to change their 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 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

For any of the Terms used, please see Game Terms.

• Guiding Ethics: The Primary Ethics of the Faction. A Faction can have only one Guiding Ethics.
• Attraction: How attractive the Faction is to join (as opposed to an equally eligible Faction). Base values are: 100. x1.25 if Leader is Ruler. x0.75 if no Leader. Only Additional cases and exceptions will be listed below.
• Leader: How the weighting for choosing the Faction Leader works. The base value is 100 with an Exclusion for Event Leaders

Imperialist

Imperialist Factions desire dominance over other Empires. They like Rivalries and conquering other Empires, and dislike relying on others.

• Guiding Ethics: Militarist
• Additional Supporter Requirements: none
• Attraction: default; x1.25 with Citizenship Rights
• Leader: default

Issue	Requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Aggressive Diplomacy	Communications with an independent Default Empire	Unrestricted Wars or Liberation Wars War Philosophy Policy	0	–30
Conquest	None	Conquering a planet (remains fulfilled for 10 years)	+10	0
Fanatic Purifiers	None	Fanatic Purifiers civic	+10	0
Local Rivalry	3+ Communications, <2 Rivals, not Fanatic Purifiers	1 Rival	+5	-5
Neighborhood Rivalries	3+ Communications, <3 Rivals, not Fanatic Purifiers	2 Rivals	+10	0
Galactic Nemeses	Not Fanatic Purifiers	3+ Rivals	+15	0
Imperial Hegemony	3+ Communications, not Fanatic Purifiers	Having a Subject	+5	0
Subject State	None	Being a Subject	0	-25
Leviathan Slayer	None	Killed a Leviathan (remains fulfilled for 20 years)	+10	0
Military Requisition of Artifacts	None	Find Military Applications Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0
Waste of Artifacts	None	Find Peaceful Applications Minor Artifact action modifier	0	–5

Summary: Imperialist factions function as a Militarist path that requires frequent warfare, as well as rivalries and subjects in order to please. With 2.2 Rivalries were drastically buffed, both in effect how to aquire them. They go from -5 to +15, but Fanatic Purifier just replaces the Rivalry possibilities with a flat +10. Federations and Liberation Warfare are no longer a hinderance for this faction like they used to be, but being a subject is not a possibility. Being an Overlord and Killing a Leviathan are the only ways to get the persistent +20 bonuses Reaching even consistent 60% is problematic without vassal and Rival, with 80% being impossible

Isolationist

Isolationist Factions desire isolation, seeking to have as few dealings with other Empires as possible - save for Non-Aggression Pacts. They dislike wars of aggression as well as being seen as an easy target.

• Guiding Ethics: Xenophobe
• Additional Supporter Requirements: Pop is either Xeno or Empire is Pacifist
• Attraction: default; x1.5 if Xenophobe. x0.25 if Militarist
• Leader: default

Issue	Communications	Fulfillment
Stalwart Defense	Communications with an independent Default Empire	Liberation Wars or Defensive Wars War Philosophy Policy	0	–25
Unwilling Aggression	3+ Communications	Not attacking or joining another empire in war	0	–25
Strong Alone	1+ Communications	Not being in a Federation	0	–25
Restricted Movement	3+ Communications	No Migration Agreement or Refugees Welcome Refugees Policy	0	–10
Non-Aggression Pact	3+ Communications, <2 Non-Aggression Pacts	1 Non-Aggression Pact	+5	0
Non-Aggression Covenant	3+ Communications, <3 Non-Aggression Pacts	2 Non-Aggression Pacts	+10	0
Non-Aggression Protocol	None	3+ Non-Aggression Pacts	+15	0
Peace	1+ Communications	At peace for 10-24 years	+5	0
Extended Peace	1+ Communications	At peace for 25-49 years	+10	0
Peace Everlasting	1+ Communications	At peace for 50+ years	+15	0

Summary: The Pacifist Xenophobe Faction can frequently be more pacifist than Pacifist factions itself. If the Empire is not Pacifist, only Xenophobe Xenos can join this Faction - the primary species is excluded. Any primary species Xenophobes will instead join the aggressive Xenophobe (Supremacist) faction. This can cause conflicts between both factions unless the empire enslaves or purges all Xenos. If the empire is pacifist, this is the only Xenophobe faction regardless of species.

2.2 Buffed the Non Agression Pacts no longer requiring a Neighbour to be the target and allowing them to go form +5 to +15. But in turn they now cost influence. Being at peace can stack up to +30. And unlike the Pacifist Ethics Attraction, it is years since gamestart count. While the faction has no penalty for a Liberation war policy or Defensive Pacts, the Faction is unhappy the moment it actually comes up (other than self defense).

Usually the Faction with start at +5 from Years of Peace, requiring only 20 more peaceyears or 1 NAP to reach 60%. The factions can reach 80% from the Peacetime alone and reach a potential 95% approval. On the flip side only 1 policy and being at war make it hit 0%, with being attacked resetting the Peacetime Bonus entirely.

Progressive

Progressive Factions desire non-discrimination within existing social structures and dislike non-representative forms of government.

• Guiding Ethics: Egalitarian
• Additional Supporter Requirements: none
• Attraction: 150 Base. x1.25 if Leader is Ruler. x0.75 if no Leader. x0.25 if not Owner Species
• Leader: 100 Base. x0 for Ruler Class Leaders in Imperial Authority empire

Issue	Requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Anti-Autocratic	None	Not Dictatorial or Imperial Authority	+10	–15
Free Movement	Encountered another species	Prohibited Resettlement Policy and No Migration Controls rights for every species	+10	–10
Reproductive Freedom	None	Prohibited Population Controls Policy	+5	–20
Anti-Stratification	None	No species has the Stratified Economy Living Standard rights	0	–25
Born Equal	Selected Lineages technology	Natural Selection Leader Enhancement Policy	+5	–5

Summary: Reaching 70% the moment it spawns is trivial, with 80% possible after a while. However it has a lot of issues it can hit 0% with in non-Egalitarian Societies.

Prosperity

Prosperity Factions desire economics growth and the acquisition of resources. They like energy credits and strategic resources, and they dislike armed conflicts that disrupt internal development.

• Guiding Ethics: Pacifist
• Additional Supporter Requirements: non-Fanatic Pacifist only
• Attraction: Default. x1.5 if either Pacifist. x1.25 if not Owner Species
• Leader: 100 Base. x0 for Admirals and Generals

Issue	Requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Solid Liquidity	Any Colony	At least 5000 Energy	+10	0
Defensive Stance	Communications with an independent Default Empire	Defensive Wars War Philosophy Policy	+10	-10
Keep the Peace	None	Not at war	+5	–10
Nonviolence	3+ Communications	Not attacking or joining an aggressor empire in war for 20 years	0	–30
Embetterment of Society	None	Find Peaceful Applications Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0
Waste of Artifacts	None	Find Military Applications Minor Artifact action modifier	0	–5

Summary: The pacifist faction might also be called the Economic Faction, as that is a large part of it's goals. +65 is doable from Start, with 75% reachable via liquidity.

Supremacist

Supremacist Factions wish for their Empire's founding species to dominate. They want policies that benefit their own species and disadvantages_[sic] other species.

• Guiding Ethics: Xenophobe
• Additional Supporter Requirements: Empire not Pacifist. Primary Species only
• Attraction: default
• Leader: 100 Base. x0.5 if Scientist. x0 if Xeno. x0 if buildable Robot Pop.

Issue	Requirements to appear	Fulfillment
No Xeno Ruler	Not Fanatic Purifiers	Ruler belongs to the primary species	+10	–30
Strong Alone	Communications with an independent Default Empire	Not being in a Federation	+10	–30
Invasive Xeno Studies	Encountered a pre-FTL civilization, not Fanatic Purifiers	Unrestricted Studies Native Interference Policy	+5	–10
Xenos Disenfranchised	Alien Pops in empire, not Fanatic Purifiers	No alien species has Full Citizenship Species Rights	+5	–10
No Immigration	3+ Communications, not Fanatic Purifiers	No Migration Agreement with any empire	0	–10
Asserting Dominance	Not Fanatic Purifiers	At war as attacker	+10	0
Fanatic Purifiers	None	Fanatic Purifiers civic	+10	0
Giant Massacre	None	Killed a Leviathan (remains fulfilled for 20 years)	+10	0
Disdain of History	None	Proclaim Superiority Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0
Celebrating Weakness	None	Celebrate Diversity Minor Artifact action modifier	0	–5

Summary: The aggressive Xenophobe Faction manifests itself in two ways: If you are a Fanatic Purifier or if you are not. If the empire is a Pacifist this Faction will not spawn - instead, all Xenophobic pops including the primary species will join the Isolationist Faction. In non-Pacifist empires, Xenophobic pops will be split between Supremacist (Owner Species) and Isolationist (Xeno) Factions which can cause considerable issues.

Most issues are unavailable to Fanatic Purifiers, who start with 60 or 70% and can reach 80% with Leviathans.

Non-Purifiers easily start at 60-70%, with 100% being possible during warfare.

Technologist

Technologist Factions desire an Empire-wide embrace of scientific progress and the fruits of technological advancement. They dislike politically-motivated bans on certain avenues of research, as well as being outpaced by other Empires.

• Guiding Ethics: Materialist
• Additional Supporter Requirements: not Spiritualist. Either Materialist or Robot Pop
• Attraction: 150 Base. x1.25 if Leader is Ruler. x0.75 if no Leader. x2 if Robot Pop
• Leader: default

Issue	Requirements to appear	Fulfillment
AI Allowed	None	Not having Outlawed Artificial Intelligence Policy	+10	–30
Bleeding Edge	Communications with an independent Default Empire	No Default Empire has Superior or Overwhelming Technology Level	+10	–20
Science Without Borders	None	3+ Research Agreements	+10	0
Synth Envy	Communications with an Empire with Mechanical or Cybernetic Pops, not having the Synthetic Evolution Ascension Perk	Any Pop has the Mechanical or Cybernetic traits in the empire	0	–10
Secret Knowledge	None	Precursor Data Cache or Curator Insight empire modifier	+10	0
Knowledge of the Past	None	Arcane Insights or Arcane Deciphering Cooldown empire modifier	+5	0
Precursor Secrets	None	Completed a non-DLC precursor secrets special project	+5	0

Summary: Robot Pops of any Ethic except Spiritualism can join this Faction which puts this Faction into direct competition with almost every other Faction in an empire with Free Robotic Pops.

Starting at 60% is trivial, for all but Spiritualist Empires. If you do not actually have robots, 60% can be hard to maintain however. Science without Borders is surprisingly hard to maintain, relegating it more towards Xenophile Materialists. A total of 90% is possible, but 70% seems more likely

Totalitarian

Totalitarian Factions desire strictly stratified societies led by an_[sic] single strongman or authoritative cabal.

• Guiding Ethics: Authoritarian
• Additional Supporter Requirements: none
• Attraction: 150 base. x1.25 if Leader is Ruler. x0.75 if no Leader. x0.25 if Xeno
• Leader: 100 Base

Issue	Requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Autocracy	None	Imperial or Dictatorial Authority	+10	0
Anti-Democratic	None	Not Democratic Authority	0	-25
Stratified Society	None	Any species has Stratified Economy, Academic Privilege, Slaves, Servitude or Undesirables rights	+10	–20
Elitism	Selected Lineages technology	Selected Lineages or Capacity Boosters Leader Enhancement Policy	+5	–5
Extranational Authority	3+ Communications	Having a Subject	+10	0
Underling	None	Being a Subject	0	–10

Summary: 2.2 modified Authoritarian away from Caste slavery to Stratified Economy, which does help a lot to differentiate it from Xenophobia on Progressive issues.

70% is doable of the Start. 85% eventually. Oligarchies can at least reach 60%-75%. A Xeno/Robot slave using democracy can still reach 45%.

Traditionalist

Traditionalist Factions desire a return to traditional values that may or may not have existed at some point before the Empire took to the stars. They like austerity and dislike certain technological advancements and non-spiritualist values.

• Guiding Ethics: Spiritualist
• Additional Supporter Requirements: Not a Robot Pop
• Attraction: 150 Base. x1.25 if Ruler is Leader. x0.75 if no Leader.
• Leader: 100 Base. x0 if Robot Pop

Issue	Requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Life Organic	None	Outlawed Robotic Workers Policy	0	–5
No Synth Rights	Positronic AI technology	Servitude Artificial Intelligence Policy	0	–10
Profane Machines	Positronic AI technology	Citizen Rights Artificial Intelligence Policy	0	–20
Pious Polity	None	Spiritualist or Fanatic Spiritualist empire Ethic	+5	–5
Unhallowed Ground	Not Post-Apocalyptic, did not end the Horizon Signal event chain by accepting the Worm's offer	No Tomb World within borders is colonized or being terraformed	0	–5
Hallowed World	None	Consecrate a Gaia World	+5	0
Psionic Pursuit	None	Mind over Matter Ascension Perk	+10	0
The Flesh is Strong	None	The Flesh is Weak Ascension Perk	0	–30
Homogeneity	None	At least 25% of all Pops in the empire are Spiritualist	+10	0
Embattled Minority	None	Less than 10% of all Pops in the empire are Spiritualist	0	–10
Shrouded Boon	None	Positive outcome when using the Shroud	+5	0
Shrouded Blight	None	Negative outcome when using the Shroud	0	–5
Comfort in the Past	None	Proclaim Religious Revelation Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0

Summary:

• Being a Spiritualist empire with at least 25% of pops having the Spiritualist ethic grants a flat +15 happiness bonus.
• Spiritualists dislike Robots of any kind, even more so if AI is allowed. Spiritualist Robot pops are barred from this Faction and the Materialist Faction equally, making them factionless. Of course they will just drift towards Materialism.
• Finding a Gaia World to declare holy is not easy. Terraforming one might be easier. But if a Spiritualist Fallen Empire is around, the chances and the effect go up drastically and hallowing one of its holy worlds will noticeably improve relations with it. However, the bonus is capped at +20 for players without the or DLC.
• Since the bonus from adopting Mind over Matter is greater than the penalty from a negative Shroud outcome, adopting the Psionic ascension path is the best choice for empires with large Spiritualist Factions.
• Choosing Post-Apocalyptic or the right Worm Ending allows Spiritualist Empires to derive some use from Tomb Worlds without penalty to Happiness. However conquering them is still an issue.

Xenoist

Xenoist Factions desire for greater value to be put on alien life and culture. They like diverse populations and interacting with other species. They dislike species-wide Slavery and Purges.

• Guiding Ethics: Xenophile
• Additional Supporter Requirements: none
• Attraction: 150 Base. x1.25 if Leader is Ruler. x0.75 if no Leader. x2 if Xeno
• Leader: 100 Base. x0.5 if Scientist. x2 if Xeno

Issue	Requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Indirect Xenology	Encountered a pre-FTL civilization	Passive Studies Native Interference Policy	+10	–5
No Species-Wide Slavery	Alien Pops in empire	Any alien species has the Slaves citizenship rights	0	–25
No Purges	None	Not Prohibited Purge Policy	0	–25
Multicultural Society	4+ Communications	4+ species in empire	+10	0
All Refugees Welcome	Communications with a Default Empire	Refugees Welcome Refugees Policy	+10	–10
Recent Uplift	None	Uplifting a species (remains fulfilled for 20 years)	+10	0
Recent Enlightenment	None	Recently enlightned a pre-FTL civilization	+10	0
Pre-Sapient Survival	Encountered a pre-sapient species	Protected or Tolerated Pre-Sapients policy	0	–10
Landgrab Objections	Encountered a pre-FTL civilization	Never invaded a pre-FTL civilization	0	–15
Federated	4+ Communications	Federation Member	+20	0
New Contact	None	Established communications with another empire (remains fulfilled for 10 years)	+5	0
Celebrate Diversity	None	Celebrate Diversity Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0
Book Burner	None	Proclaim Superiority Minor Artifact action modifier	0	–5
Enclaves Incorporated	None	Enclave station within borders	+5	0

Summary:

Even reaching 60% requires at least contact with another Empire/finding a Primitive, which makes it difficult to make this faction happy early game. However persistent 100% percent or more are possible mid to lategame.

References

Game concepts