Federation
- This article is about the "Federations" mechanics. For the DLC, see Federations (DLC).
Federations are groups of empires that band together for mutual benefit. A federation is a more involved version of a Defense Pact with its own set of laws, rules, and perks. Diplomatic relations inside of a federation become more favorable: members do not generate border friction amongst themselves, build trust with each other to a cap of +100 and share 10% of their victory score with each other. Players can set a name for their federation at creation or leave it random; the name can be changed at any time. If the union map view is toggled on, all federation members share the same color.
A federation can only be created by one of four ways: an empire that adopts the The Federation tradition from the Diplomacy tree may create a Federation with another empire, an empire that has an origin that starts them in a federation, a revolt against the
Galactic Imperium, or during the late game "War in Heaven," the strongest empire in the galaxy will get an event to create a League of Non Aligned powers, even if that strongest empire doesn't have
The Federation. Empires with the
Barbaric Despoilers civic can only create a Martial Alliance or Hegemony federation. An invited empire must have a positive acceptance score with an existing federation member for said member to vote for their addition. Hovering over the diplomatic choice will show which empires agree and disagree.
Members of a federation have their energy output reduced by −15%. This tax doesn't apply to
energy generated from trade.
When a member leaves or is kicked from a federation it gains a Truce with the federation.
Leaving a federation will grant a decaying −200 opinion with all federation members.
Federation types[edit | edit source]
The federation type determines what perks the federation provides at each level. The federation type can be changed at any time with a vote by clicking on the federation type icon. Changing the federation type, however, resets the federation level to 1.
The Galactic Union federation type is available by default, and all other federation types require the Federations DLC as well as meeting an additional ethic, authority, civic, or completed tradition tree requirement.
Type | Level 1 perks | Level 2 perks | Level 3 perks | Level 4 perks | Level 5 perks | Requirements |
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![]() Galactic Union |
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![]() Trade League |
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![]() Martial Alliance |
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![]() Research Cooperative |
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![]() Hegemony |
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Joint operations[edit | edit source]
Once 60 years pass, if a federation has reached at least level 2 and is at peace, its president may be offered the choice to start a joint project with the other federation members. The joint project lasts 10 years and requires each member to individually complete a special project. If not even a single member completes it, the joint project fails and the federation gains −50 cohesion.
Space Cloud[edit | edit source]
Galactic Union and
Research Cooperative federations have the objective of studying a space aurora. Each member will be given a special project above its capital starbase that requires a science ship with a level 2 or higher scientist and requires 200
physics research. Completing the special projects brings a choice, but its effects are purely visual. The project is complete after 3 years, or when every member finishes the special project.
Logistics Remodelling[edit | edit source]
Trade League federations have the objective of creating a shipping standard. Within two years, each member must generate at least
50 trade value in an owned system. Members that fail gain
−10% trade value until the project is complete. Members that succeed gain
+5% consumer goods and
−10% trade value, or only −5% if the system's Starbase has an
Offworld Trading Company building, and are issued a special project on the system's Starbase that requires a construction ship. Once each member completes the special project, all modifiers are removed and the project is completed.
Federation Monument[edit | edit source]
Hegemony federations have the objective of building a monument. Members that agree gain a temporary
+30 opinion with the president, while those that refuse gain
−50 opinion with the president. If more than half of the members disagree, the federation loses
100 cohesion and the president loses
50 influence. If at least half of the members agree, all members that agreed are issued a special project above the president's capital which requires a construction ship and takes a year to complete, while the president is issued a special project to give members +35% attraction towards the president's ethics which requires a science ship and takes 6 months to complete. Any member that finishes the special project gains a temporary
+50 opinion with the president. Once all member special projects are completed, the project is completed.
Joint Military Exercises[edit | edit source]
Martial Alliance federations have a federation-wide fleet exercise as their objective. Members that agree gain a temporary
+50 opinion with the president while those that refuse gain
−50 opinion with the president. If more than half of the members disagree, the federation loses
100 cohesion and the president loses
50 influence. If at least half of the members agree, the president and all members that agreed are given a location in the Situation Log which they must reach with a fleet of at least 15 ships. Once each member reaches the location, a hostile fleet of 5-9 ships appears and must be defeated within 30 days. Once the fleet is defeated, the project is completed.
Federation Cohesion[edit | edit source]
Cohesion is a measure of how unified a federation is and ranges from +100 to −100. It has the following effects:
- Each 10 points of cohesion above 0 adds +1 XP per month to a federation, up to +10 at
+100 cohesion.
- Each 10 points of cohesion below 0 adds −1 XP per month to a federation, up to −10 at
−100 cohesion.
- Each 4 points of cohesion above 0 adds +1 acceptance for changing federation laws.
- Each 4 points of cohesion below 0 adds −1 acceptance for changing federation laws.
- Cohesion below 90 reduces the acceptance for increasing the Centralization Law by −50.
The following incur immediate cohesion changes:
- −100 whenever a member joins or leaves the federation, including when an empire
integrates a subject that was also a member.
- −50 whenever the federation type changes
- −10 whenever the federation Centralization Law changes
- −5 whenever any other federation law changes
- −10 whenever a failed vote occurs
The following incur monthly cohesion changes:
- +1 for each envoy assigned to the federation
- −0.25 for each member of the federation
- −0.15 multiplied by the number of different ethics, minus 3 (moderate and fanatic ethics of the same type will count as different ethics)
- −0.5 for each opposed ethics (Two opposing fanatics, or any combination with only a single fanatic will only count for one set of opposed ethics. Normal and fanatic on one side, and fanatic or normal and fanatic on the other will count for two.)
If a federation loses the experience required for a level and fails to raise it above the required limit within 90 days, the federation level will downgrade and remove all perks from the previously held level. Each level requires the following amount of experience:
Level | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Total XP | 1200 | 3600 | 8400 | 18000 |
XP from previous level | 1200 | 2400 | 4800 | 9600 |
A federation's experience is capped at 18000, meaning that at level 5 any negative Cohesion will downgrade the federation level.
Federation Fleet[edit | edit source]
Federations that have their Fleet Contribution law set to anything other than None feature a joint fleet, controlled by the current federation president, in addition to the forces of the separate member empires. Federation fleets cost no maintenance and use the federation fleet capacity, which every member contributes to based on the Fleet Contribution law, up to 600. The fleets cannot exceed this cap. The Entente Coordination tradition doubles the naval capacity contribution of the members that adopt it while not reducing their own further. Federation fleets do not have a command limit.
The president designs the federation fleet ships via a special ship designer available in the federation menu and may use any technology available to any member empire. Regular ship designs cannot be used to build federation ships. The president's empire is responsible for commanding the federation fleets. Federation law determines whether any member of the federation or only the president's empire can build ships for the federation fleet. Any AI federation member's research of a component-unlocking technology will auto-update the default federation designs, but not any player-created ones, adding theirs to the list instead. Since their designs are considered newer, if you update your federation fleets at this time, your fleet will become their design, which can be undesirable.
If a federation is disbanded, so is the federation fleet.
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Available only with the Apocalypse DLC enabled. |
The federation fleet has its own Titan limit, which does not affect the number of Titans its members can construct individually.
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Available only with the Federations DLC enabled. |
The federation can include one Juggernaut regardless of whether any member empire has one of their own.
Federation laws[edit | edit source]
Federation laws dictate how the federation operates and customize certain aspects of a federation. Any federation member can propose a law change. Hovering over any law will list the federation members that will support or oppose it. A failed vote adds −10 cohesion.
Federation Centralization[edit | edit source]
Federation Centralization determines what Federation laws are available and is limited by the current federation level. Raising centralization will incur increasingly higher costs to cohesion. Enacting any option adds −10 cohesion.
Fleet Contribution[edit | edit source]
The Fleet Contribution law determines how much naval capacity is transferred from federation members to the federation fleet. The availability of this law is heavily affected by the federation type. Enacting any option other than None adds
−5 cohesion.
Federation Fleet Construction[edit | edit source]
The Federation Fleet Construction law determines who can build ships for the federation fleet.
Option | Effects | Required Centralization |
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Everyone | All members can build ships for the federation fleet | Minimal |
Only Leader | Only the federation president can build ships for the federation fleet | Low |
Succession Type[edit | edit source]
The Succession Type law determines how the next federation president is chosen once their term is up. Enacting any option other than Rotation adds −5 cohesion.
Succession Power[edit | edit source]
If the Succession Type law is set to Strongest, then this law will define what criteria is used to determine which empire is "the strongest". This category is not visible with any other succession type. Enacting any option adds −5 cohesion.
Option | Effects | DLC |
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Economy | Chooses the president based on economic power | |
Diplomatic Weight | Chooses the president based on diplomatic weight | |
Technology | Chooses the president based on technology level | ![]() |
Fleets | Chooses the president based on fleet power | ![]() |
Challenges[edit | edit source]
If the Succession Type law is set to Challenge, then this law will define what the challenge for the choosing the next president will be. This category is not visible with any other succession type. Empires that do not meet the challenge requirements will be forced to drop out from the competition.
Challenge | Description | Empire drops out if | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Arena Combat | The rulers of all federation members fight in an arena battle, and the winner becomes president while all losers are killed. Each ruler has a chance to win based on a variety of factors.
Winning Odds above 60 and below 500 is counted as 60, namely |
Empire is a ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Psionic Battle | The psionic Pops of all federation members fight in an arena. Before the fight, each empire will be offered to pay ![]() |
Empires without Pops with the ![]() ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Golden Rule | A bid value is determined based on the federation president's stored ![]()
Each member is offered the chance to pay and place a bid or drop out. If multiple members placed a bid, then the offer is given again to those members. Bidding continues until all but one empire have dropped out. This remaining empire then becomes the new president and will also gain the option to invest the bids placed by all members, distribute them, or appropriate them.
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Empire refuses to pay or can't afford to place a bid | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thesis Defense | Each member empires assembles a team consisting of up to five recruited scientists. Each scientist leading a research area will always join if present. Each team has a chance to win based on the traits of each team member. Each odds adjustment is applied or not based on the number of team members that meet its condition.
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Empire does not have at least three scientists |
Succession Term[edit | edit source]
The Succession Term law determines the length of the federation president's term and thus how often the president changes. This law cannot be changed if any federation member is at war.
Option | Effects |
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10 Years | Succession happens every 10 years |
20 Years | Succession happens every 20 years |
30 Years | Succession happens every 30 years |
40 Years | Succession happens every 40 years |
Status Change | Succession happens when a member surpasses the president by 25% Only available with Strongest succession |
Other federation laws[edit | edit source]
Without the Federations DLC, the following categories only have a single available option. Enacting any option, except in the Can Subjects Join category, adds
−5 cohesion.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Currently bugged, as this also requires completing the
Mercantile tradition tree and is not sufficient on its own.
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 • Intelligence |
Warfare | Warfare • Space warfare • Land warfare • Ship designer |
Others | Traits • Terraforming • Pop modification • Slavery • Crisis • Preset empires • AI players • Easter eggs |