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Economy
Version

This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only.

In Stellaris, the economy is based on the production and consumption of resources and services either from a specific planet or throughout the empire. It relies heavily on Pops working on different
Jobs, or mining stations built over various celestial bodies.
Resources can vary from fairly common food crops to very rare substances such as
dark matter and also physical
minerals to "produce" knowledge, such as
research.
In that way, resources are very important and ought to be quickly scouted, exploited, and developed.
There are three kinds of resources: Material, Abstract and Strategic.
All material resources and strategic resources (except Trade Value) must be stocked. All empires have a 15000 basic storage capacity for each resource except
energy, which has a 50000 basic storage capacity. An empire can build Resource Silos buildings on colonized planets and starbases to expand their stockpile capacity. Any produced resources that cannot be stockpiled are simply wasted.
Contents
Material resources[edit]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 2.8. |
Material resources are the most straightforward and important type as they provide the means to expand both geographically, developmentally and technologically. They are gathered and stockpiled on a monthly basis, but not necessarily on the same day. While they all have a stockpile, how that stockpile and the excess is used varies fundamentally between each resource.
Basic[edit]
Basic resources are directly gathered from celestial bodies or resource districts.
Advanced[edit]
Advanced resources are resources that are produced by refining them from cruder raw minerals.
Trade value[edit]
While not technically a type of resource, trade value is an important part of an empire's economy.
Abstract resources[edit]
Abstract Resources represent non-physical assets that an empire has access to. They are mostly concepts that represent complex sociopolitical activity within the empire's leadership and population.
Resource | Major uses | Major source | Description & notes |
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Other common sources of Monthly Influence
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Influence (![]()
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Unity (![]()
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Physics / Society / Engineering Research (![]()
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Strategic resources[edit]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 2.8. |
Strategic resources are special rare resources required to both build and maintain advanced buildings and ship components. They are much harder to obtain than the common basic resources and are therefore also much more highly valued. Strategic resources can be obtained by either extracting them from natural deposits or manufacturing them synthetically. Natural strategic resource deposits are always visible but requires specific technology to exploit. Synthetic versions are produced from
minerals, albeit at a steep price. All strategic resources can also be manufactured from Dimensional Fabricator buildings.
Shortages[edit]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 2.8. |
If an empire's stored stockpile for a certain resource drops to 0 with negative income, a resource shortage will occur. Resource shortages should be avoided at all costs as they impart massive penalties.
The Market can be utilized to overcome a short term deficit but this isn't a long term solution, because the resources you buy from the market will become more and more expensive and what you sell will become cheaper and cheaper overtime.
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References[edit]
Governance | Empire • Ethics • Government • Civics • Policies • Edicts • Leader • Factions • Population • Species rights • Economy • Technology • Traditions • Crime |
Exploration | Exploration • Map • Species • Anomaly • Events • FTL • Fallen empire • Pre-FTL species • Precursors • Spaceborne aliens |
Colonization | Colonization • Celestial body • Planetary features • Planetary management • Districts • Buildings • Ship • Starbase • Megastructures |
Diplomacy | Diplomacy • Trade • Subject empire • Federations • Galactic community • AI personalities |
Warfare | Warfare • Space warfare • Land warfare • Ship designer |
Others | Traits • Terraforming • Pop modification • Slavery • Crisis • Preset empires • AI players • Easter eggs |