Factions

Version

This article has been verified for the current PC version (3.2) 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 +40%
•  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 require the empire to have established communications with a certain number of empires.

Faction	Ethic	Issue		DLC	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Imperialist	Militarist	Strong Diplomacy			None	Belligerent or  Supremacist diplomatic stance  policy	+10	0
		Weak Diplomacy				Cooperative diplomatic stance  policy	0	-10
		Aggressive Diplomacy	1		None	Unrestricted Wars or Liberation Wars War Philosophy  policy	0	–30
		Conquest			None	Conquered a planet within the last 10 years	+10	0
		Local Rivalry	3		Less than 2 rivals	1 rival	+5	–5
		Neighborhood Rivalries			Fulfilled	2 rivals	+10	0
		Galactic Nemeses				3+ rivals	+15
		Imperial Hegemony	3		None	Having a subject or being the president of a  Hegemony Federation	+5	0
		Subject State			Being a subject	Being a subject	0	–25
		Fanatic Purifiers			Fulfilled	Fanatic Purifiers civic	+10	0
		Leviathan Slayer			Contact with a Guardian or fulfilled	Killed a Guardian within the last 20 years	+10	0
		Military Requisition of Artifacts			Arcane Deciphering technology	Find Military Applications temporary empire modifier from the Find Military Applications Minor Artifact action	+5	0
		Waste of Artifacts				Find Peaceful Applications temporary empire modifier from the Find Peaceful Applications Minor Artifact action	0	–5
Faction	Ethic	Issue		DLC	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Progressive	Egalitarian	Anti-Autocratic			None	Dictatorial or  Imperial authority	+10	–15
		Cooperative Diplomacy			None	Cooperative diplomatic stance  policy	+5	0
		Free Movement			Encountered another species	Prohibited Resettlement  policy No Migration Controls rights for every free 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
Faction	Ethic	Issue		DLC	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Prosperity	Pacifist	Solid Liquidity			At least 3 colonies	At least 5000 energy credits	+10	0
		Defensive Stance	1		None	Defensive Wars War Philosophy  policy	+10	–10
		Keep the Peace			None	Not at war	+5	–10
		Nonviolence	3		None	Not attacking or joining an aggressor empire in war for 20 years	0	–30
		Mercantile Diplomacy			Fulfilled	Mercantile diplomatic stance  policy	+10	0
		Aggressive Diplomacy			Unfulfilled	Belligerent or diplomatic stance  policy	0	–10
		Embetterment of Society			Arcane Deciphering technology	Find Peaceful Applications Minor Artifact action modifier	+5	0
		Waste of Artifacts				Find Military Applications Minor Artifact action modifier	0	–5
Faction	Ethic	Issue		DLC	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Technologist	Materialist	Cooperative Diplomacy			Fulfilled	Cooperative diplomatic stance  policy	+5	0
		AI Allowed			None	Outlawed Robotic Workers policy Outlawed Artificial Intelligence  policy	+10	–30
		Bleeding Edge	1		None	No Default Empire has a Superior or Overwhelming relative technology level	+10	–20
		Science Without Borders	4		Inward Perfection civic	3+ Research Agreements or member of a  Research Cooperative federation	+10	0
		Synth Envy			50+ years have passed  Synthetic Evolution ascension perk Contact with an empire that has  Mechanical or  Cybernetic  Pops	Any  Pop has the  Mechanical or  Cybernetic trait	0	–10
		Secret Knowledge			None	One of the following temporary empire modifiers: Precursor Data Cache fallen empire gift Curator Insight  Curator enclave purchase	+10	0
		Knowledge of the Past			Arcane Deciphering technology	One of the following temporary empire modifiers from using the Reverse-Engineer Arcane Technology minor artifact action: Arcane Insights (5 years) Arcane Deciphering Cooldown (2 years)	+5	0
		Precursor Secrets			Fulfilled	Completed a Precursor secrets special project	+5	0
Faction	Ethic	Issue		DLC	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Totalitarian	Authoritarian	Autocracy			Democratic authority	Imperial or  Dictatorial authority	+10	0
		Anti-Democratic			Imperial or  Dictatorial authority	Democratic authority	0	–25
		Stratified Society			None	One of the following: Every species has Stratified Economy or Academic Privilege Living Standards Any species is enslaved or being purged  Slaver Guilds civic	+10	–20
		Elitism			Selected Lineages technology	Selected Lineages or Capacity Boosters Leader Enhancement Policy	+5	–5
		Extranational Authority	3		None	Having a Subject	+10	0
		Underling			Being a subject	Being a subject	0	–10
Faction	Ethic	Issue		DLC	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Traditionalist	Spiritualist	Life Organic			None	Outlawed Robotic Workers  policy	0	–5
		No Synth Rights			Positronic AI technology	Outlawed Artificial Intelligence  policy	0	–10
		Profane Machines				Citizen Rights Artificial Intelligence  policy		–20
		Pious Polity			None	Spiritualist or  Fanatic Spiritualist empire Ethic	+5	–5
		Unhallowed Ground			Has surveyed a  Tomb World  Post-Apocalyptic origin Did not accept the Worm’s offer  Memorialists civic	No Tomb World within borders is colonized or being terraformed	0	–5
		Hallowed World			Has surveyed a  Gaia World  Consecrated Worlds ascension perk	Consecrate a  Gaia World	+5	0
		Homogeneity			At least 10% of all  Pops in the empire are  Spiritualist	At least 25% of all  pops in the empire are  Spiritualist	+10	0
		Embattled Minority			Less than 25% of all  Pops in the empire are  Spiritualist	At least 10% of all  pops in the empire are  Spiritualist	0	–10
		Psionic Pursuit			At least one  ascension perk or ascension perk slot	Mind over Matter ascension perk	+10	0
		The Flesh is Strong			The Flesh is Weak ascension perk	Completing the The Flesh is Weak special project	0	–30
		Shrouded Boon			Fulfilled	Positive outcome when using the Shroud	+5	0
		Shrouded Blight				Negative outcome when using the Shroud	–5
		Comfort in the Past			Fulfilled	Proclaim Religious Revelation temporary empire modifier (10 years) from the Proclaim Religious Revelation minor artifact action	+5	0
Faction	Ethic	Issue		DLC	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Xenoist	Xenophile	Cooperative Diplomacy			Fulfilled	Cooperative diplomatic stance  policy	+10	0
		Indirect Xenology			Contact with a pre-FTL civilization	Passive Studies Native Interference  policy	+10	–5
		No Species-Wide Slavery			Sapient non-robotic alien  pops in empire	Any  pop is a  slave	0	–25
		No Purges			None	Prohibited Purge  policy	0	–25
		Multicultural Society	4		Empire contains an alien  Pop without the  Mechanical,  Machine, or  Hive-Minded trait	4+ species in empire	+10	0
		All Refugees Welcome	1		None	Refugees Welcome Refugees  policy	+10	–10
		Recent Uplift			Epigenetic Triggers technology	Uplifted a species within the last 20 years	+10	0
		Recent Enlightenment			One of the following: Own an observation post Fulfilled	Enlightened a pre-FTL civilization within the last 20 years	+10	0
		Pre-Sapient Survival			Tolerated or Extermination Pre-Sapients  policy Encountered a pre-sapient species or have a non-sapient  Pop	Tolerated Pre-Sapients  policy	0	–10
		Landgrab Objections			Encountered a pre-FTL civilization	No invasion of a pre-FTL civilization within the last 20 years	0	–15
		Federated	4		None	Federation member	+20	0
		New Contact			A default or fallen empire you don't have communications with exists	Established communications with another empire within last 10 years	+5	0
		Proactive First Contact Protocols			Aggressive First Contact Protocol  policy Either no more than 75 years have passed or has started a first contact procedure within the last 20 years	Proactive First Contact Protocol  policy	+10	0
		Aggressive First Contact Protocols			Aggressive First Contact Protocol  policy Either no more than 75 years have passed or has started a first contact procedure within the last 20 years	Aggressive First Contact Protocol  policy	0	-10
		Enclaves Incorporated			Contact with an enclave	Enclave station within borders	+5	0
		Celebrate Diversity			Fulfilled	Celebrate Diversity temporary empire modifier from the Celebrate Diversity Minor Artifact action	+5	-0
		Book Burner			Unfulfilled	Proclaim Superiority temporary empire modifier from the Proclaim Superiority Minor Artifact action	0	–5
Faction	Ethic	Issue		DLC	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Supremacist	Xenophobe (main species only)	No Xeno Ruler			None	Ruler belongs to the primary species	+10	–30
		Strong Alone	1		None	Federation member	+10	–30
		Invasive Xeno Studies			Contact with a pre-FTL civilization	Unrestricted Studies Native Interference  policy	+5	–10
		Xenos Disenfranchised			Sapient non-robotic alien  pops in empire that aren't being purged	No sapient, non-robotic alien species has Full Citizenship species rights	+5	–10
		No Immigration	3		None	No Migration Agreement with any empire	0	–10
		Asserting Dominance			Contact with a default empire that you aren't in a  Federation with	At war as attacker	+10	0
		Fanatic Purifiers			Fulfilled	Fanatic Purifiers civic	+10	0
		Strong Diplomacy			Fulfilled	Belligerent or  Supremacist diplomatic stance  policy	+10	0
		Weak Diplomacy			Unfulfilled	Cooperative diplomatic stance  policy	0	-10
		Aggressive First Contact Protocols			Either no more than 75 years have passed or has started a first contact procedure within the last 20 years	Aggressive First Contact Protocol  policy	+10	-5
		Giant Massacre			Contact with a Guardian	Killed a Guardian within the last 20 years	+10	0
		Disdain of History			Fulfilled	Proclaim Superiority temporary empire modifier from the Proclaim Superiority Minor Artifact action	+5	0
		Celebrating Weakness			Unfulfilled	Celebrate Diversity temporary empire modifier from the Celebrate Diversity Minor Artifact action	0	–5
Faction	Ethic	Issue		DLC	Additional requirements to appear	Fulfillment
Isolationist	Xenophobe (alien pops or Pacifist empire only)	Isolationist Diplomacy			Corporate authority	Isolationist diplomatic stance  policy	+10	–10
		Stalwart Defense	1		Communications with a non-subject default empire	Unrestricted Wars War Philosophy  policy	0	–25
		Unwilling Aggression	3		At  War as an attacker	Not attacking or joining another empire in  War	0	–25
		Strong Alone	1		None	Federation member	0	–25
		Restricted Movement	3		None	Migration Treaty with or migration access from another empire Refugees Welcome Refugees  policy	0	–10
		Non-Aggression Pact	3		Less than 2  Non-Aggression Pacts and/or  Federation Associates	A  Non-Aggression Pact or  Federation Associate	+5	0
		Non-Aggression Covenant			Exactly 2  Non-Aggression Pacts and/or  Federation Associates	2  Non-Aggression Pacts and/or  Federation Associates	+10
		Non-Aggression Protocol			Fulfilled	3+  Non-Aggression Pacts and/or  Federation Associates	+15
		Peace	1		None	At peace for more than 9 years	+5	0
		Extended Peace	1		At peace for more than 9 years	At peace for more than 24 years	+10	0
		Peace Everlasting	1		At peace for more than 24 years	At peace for more than 49 years	+15	0
		Cautious First Contact Protocols			Either no more than 75 years have passed or has started a first contact procedure within the last 20 years	Proactive First Contact Protocol  policy	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 monthly income less than 1	+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	One of the following:  Climate Control Network technology and a Massive Glacier blocker on any planet  Xeno-Hydraulic Mastery technology and a Noxious Swamp blocker on any planet Control Earth and don't have 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	Autonomous Ship Intellects technology 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	Member of a  Federation or the  Galactic Community	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.

References

Game concepts