Empire
An Empire is a group of planets and star systems that are ruled by the same government and controlled by a single player (or AI). Empires may have a variety of governments such as a democracy, oligarchism, despotism or imperial rule.
Ethics are the most defining features of a space empire; they affect the behavior of AI empires, likely technologies, available policies and edicts, valid government types, the opinions of other empires, and - perhaps most importantly - provide the fuel for internal strife in large and diverse empires. Civics are the second-most defining features of a space empire; they affect the finer details of the empire's internal structure as well as having certain effects on the empire's behavior.
It should be noted that the name of the player empire and its government structure can always be changed in the government window.
Contents
Origin
The Origin represents the background of a species before it unified itself into an empire. In games with randomly generated AI empire most Origins are unique, meaning only one empire with that origin can be generated.
Origin | Homeworld effects | Empire effects | Requirements | Unique | DLC |
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None | ![]() ![]() |
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None | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Gain a temporary Fallen Empire fleet every 20 years if losing a war against a Superior empire Creates a 1-system Fallen Empire if the game was started with none |
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Unplayable origins
The following origins have no effects and are not available to player empires.
Capital
The capital is the ruling seat of an empire as well as the final destination for all its trade routes. An empire's capital can be moved once every 10 years for a cost of 250 influence if the empire is at peace. An empire's capital planet and system are marked by gold star corners on the system and galaxy maps.
The capital has its own world designation with the following effects.
Authority | Effects |
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Empire sprawl
Empire Sprawl is a measure of an empire's expansion. Empire Sprawl is increased by 5 for each colony, 1 for each system, 1 for each district, 0.5 for each pop and 2 for each owned Branch Office. Empire Sprawl can be affected by the following:
Source | Effect |
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-33% Empire Sprawl from systems |
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-25% Empire Sprawl from branch offices |
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-25% Empire Sprawl from districts |
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-10% Empire Sprawl from districts |
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-25% Empire Sprawl from systems and colonies |
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+10% Empire Sprawl from systems |
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+25% Empire Sprawl total |
Administrative capacity
Administrative Capacity represents the bureaucratic assets available to administrate the empire.
An empire's base Administrative Capacity is 30, which can be affected by the following:
Penalties
Each point the Empire Sprawl exceeds the Administrative Capacity will impart the following penalties:
- +0.4% Tech cost
- +0.6% Tradition adoption cost
- +1% Campaign (Subset of Edicts) cost
The penalties can be affected by the following authorities:
Authority | Effect |
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+50% |
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+100% |
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-25% |
Sector systems
Sectors are administrative regions within an empire. Every empire will start with a core sector, named after the homeworld and extending up to four hyperlanes away from the capital. Any colonized planet more than four hyperlanes away from another sector capital can be selected to become the sector capital of a new sector, with the planet becoming marked by blue star corners on the system and galaxy maps. The new sector will extend up to four hyperlanes away from the sector capital. Wormholes and Gateways are not counted for this calculation. Each sector can have a Governor assigned to it.
All sectors, including the core sector, can be given a Sector Focus. Choosing a Sector Focus will make the sector develop itself automatically towards a given direction as long as it has resources, reducing micromanagement.
Energy credits and minerals can be added to a Shared Stockpile for all Sectors to use or given manually to each Sector. Resources transferred to sectors will be converted into a wildcard resource at a 1:1 ratio and it can be spent on planetary construction as though it were energy credits or minerals. Shared and Sector stockpiles are limited to the amount of energy credits you may store. Beyond that, it is wasted.
Relative power
Relative Power is a measure of how much empires are ahead of one another in terms of resource production, fleet power or researched technologies. A Relative Power of Superior/Inferior means that an empire has 50% more (1.5x) resource production, fleet power or researched technologies and a Relative Power of Overwhelming/Pathetic means that an empire has 150% more (2.5x) resource production, fleet power or researched technologies.
Relative Power is split into three categories: Fleet Power, Economic Power and Technology Level.
Fleet Power: The combined fleet power of every owned fleet.
- +1 per 1 Fleet Power
Economic Power: A weighted sum of all monthly income, including income from trade agreements. Monthly spending is not part of this score. The various resources are weighted the same as their base market price (base energy price for 1 unit):
- +1 per
basic resources
- +2 per
Consumer Goods
- +4 per
Alloys
- +10 per
advanced resources
- +20 per
strategic resources
Technology Level: 200 + the combined base Tech Cost of all researched technologies, divided by 100. Repeatables only count 0.33x as much as regular technologies.
- +200 Base Technology Level
- +0.01 per 1 base
Tech Cost of all researched technologies, including repeatable technologies
The formula to calculate the overall power of an empire is:
Victory score
Victory score tallies an empire's total accomplishment. The empire that has the highest score when the Victory Year arrives is declared winner. The Victory Year is configurable and can be disabled altogether. An empire will always declare victory, if it's the only one that can do so. All players may continue the game session normally even after an empire declares victory and the victory is, in practical terms, of little concern.
The Victory Window shows a total score for each empire and its ranking, as well as a breakdown by category. The categories are as follows:
Economic Strength: +1 per 1 Economic Power based on Relative Power OR +5000 if the Empire has no economy.
Technology Level: +0.25 per 1 Technology Level based on Relative Power
Number of Systems: +10 per system
Number of Colonies: +50 per colony
Number of Pops: +2 per pop, regardless of type
Subject Empires: +50% of a subject empire's score is given to the overlord
Federation: +10% of each other federation member's score is shared by all federation members
Crisis Ships Killed: +10 per crisis ship destroyed
Relics Collected: Each Relic grants a large amount of score. The score of each Relic is shown on the Relics page.
Empire modifiers
Empire Modifiers are gained through a variety of actions such as event choices or diplomacy with enclaves. They affect the entire empire and as such bring large benefits or penalties.
Permanent modifiers
Permanent Empire Modifiers are always positive and last the entire game. They can only be gained through events.
Renewable modifiers
Renewable Empire Modifiers are always positive and last as long as an empire can afford their upkeep costs.
Unique empires
The following empires can appear during the game as a result of certain events:
References
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 |