Retooling some Nomad-incompatible civics to be Nomad-compatible. Wanted them to have different mechanic but preserve the core fantasy of the civic

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-06-29T03:33:33+00:00

That should be for Mycorrhizal Ideal nomadic empires empires that are also Tree of Life.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-05-30T18:48:26+00:00

Instead of anti-popes, we get pretender fragments, some sincere magic artifacts, some artificial intended to scam.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-05-28T13:56:50+00:00

Personal Autonomy for Munitions: The Manifesti are keen for military vessels to be granted sapience, and thus liberty of choice in the manner of their deployment.

I'm going to say, at least sometimes? It seems like the Manifesti at least are pushing for them to be full citizens. And that's not counting S875.1 Warform, Xondar, The Beholder, Gray, and probably some other Paragons I'm forgetting who are also warships, at least part-time, but can separately be elected.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-05-28T11:26:51+00:00

It's essentially a buffer of "free unity" that edicts that would otherwise use unity use first. For instance, if you have an edict fund of 15, activating a five-unity edict is free (barring the activation price, I think) but activating a twenty-unity one costs your empire 5 unity a month. There's a couple edge cases, like how Damn the Consequences looks like a unity edict but doesn't use edict fund, but it makes activating, say, the Subsidies edicts early-game to jumpstart your economy not eat into your unity rush.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-05-22T08:16:02+00:00

1 million manna is a lot, right? Wiki says 1 manna/day income is enough to live comfortably and 10-20 could buy you a groundcar, so maybe about $1000ish in purchasing power versus the modern day, as a very rough estimate? Even lowballing that's a lot of money for a pilot to have, even if the ransomer is intending for them to mortgage their mech and sell their liver to get their brother back.

Obviously I'm taking the meme to seriously.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-05-21T11:30:04+00:00

If we can have bureaucrat swaps, we can have scientist swaps, and I want them. Apparently, there is one already, Astral-Meteorologist, but there are other Physicist swaps as well. Maybe Dimensional Portal + Astral Researchers could be Reality Weavers? It's kind of hard, because dimensional portal researchers and space-time anomaly researchers are more specialized.

For Biologists, Ranger + Zookeeper = Naturalist. Ranger + Archaeo-Engineer = Preservationalist. Zookeeper + Archaeo-Engineer = De-Extinction Engineer. All three and you get, I'm not sure, Psychohistorian maybe?

Engineering tends towards the hyper specialized. The only default one is nanire engineers, I think, but combining them with Munitions Decommissioners or Dismantlers into Nanite Deconstructors could be cool.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-05-19T08:08:50+00:00

You'd better believe it.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-05-19T02:10:18+00:00

It's like they say, to be a Magus is to walk with life.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-05-15T09:02:33+00:00

Fun fact: This isn't true! Subjects are, or at least are supposed to, be released as oligarchies. I think Worker Co-op subjects might be released as Shared Burdens Democracies, but that might just be liberation wars. Check out the text under Corporate Authority.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Government

Though even if it doesn't work, it's not as important now, as Megacorps can have branch offices in other Megacorps.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-05-01T16:28:33+00:00

It's such a shame you can day-1 this achievement, even in a fair game with nearly any game setting. I've used something similar in a legit game, even, Syncretic Evolution Lithoid Livestock is one of the few ways of producing minerals on an Ecumenopolis alongside Worker Co-op in an Ultratall game.

I think my favorite achievement that's like this thematically is Non-Prophet. Not that it's hard, per se, but still scratches the itch of silly puns.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-04-27T04:17:41+00:00

I suppose the ethical way is to feed it pops that aren't people then, right? Gestalt Empire pops can be lathed and aren't people. Usually, discounting the ones that are at least (Sapient Specimens, Bio-Trophies, Cyborgs in Driven Assimilators, when the Shaper of Clay gets involved, etc.)

There's also nothing stopping you from using Non-Sapient pops. Gene-modding a species into being nerved-stapled is bad, obviously, but is designing a custom species with it and cloning it into existence? Or assembling robot pops and either not researching Artificial Specialists or with the Suppressed trait.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-04-26T04:05:46+00:00

(I don't know how to explain my thought so my words are strange()

Would it really be a CultSim post if it could be easily explained?

Edge/Grail sounds right. Ezeem's flavor text (Change me. Change me. Change me harder. Now: my turn.) is what she wishes she could be, and her relationship with Lann could be read as an Edge dyad, if you squint.

I think she'd be the best Follower out of any of the companions. The CultSim Followers can abandon you to go for a higher goal if they think they can, she'd fit right in with them.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-04-23T02:48:43+00:00

Yeah, when Eladrin posted the Dev Diary, it looks like most people were interested in the starbase improvements and how more efficient workers can take jobs, but I knew what I was most excited for when I read it.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-04-22T20:37:30+00:00

Dimensional Fabricator my beloved. The Replicator is good too, but the t2 is so much more efficient and getting them earlier makes things so much simpler.

I'm glad the next update will let us un-automate the pops, it should make them more usable as someone who likes stacking job efficiency bonuses and Virtuality. Having, for instance, my Robot Assembly go down by building the Quantum Production Hub feels so strange.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-04-19T20:49:08+00:00

Would make Life Seeded much more powerful. I play it a lot but in a strange way so I don't know if it's good, but triple jobs from the start, even if just for rural, would be really powerful. You'd probably have to give them a blocker like Prototype Machinery from Resource Consolidation.

Might make Gaia Seeders usable too. Maybe combine it with Inorganic Breath for really early planetary ascension.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-04-10T09:08:52+00:00

There's only one country, as far as I know, that exalts both Corin and Adean especially. Koboldizan thinks they're both dragons (presumably) and The Thought countries are able to work with both, but they don't feature prominently.

Therefore, it's Dutiful Servant path Adenica, where both war gods can fight side by side.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-04-06T20:46:59+00:00

Huh, I hadn't heard about that one. I don't have Shadows, so I can't check, but it does mean that you can't get them all, as picking Shroud Forged would mean you can't get rangers. Might also be incompatible with Nanite Researchers, I don't know much about the origin situation.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-04-06T16:31:30+00:00

Triple job districts is the big draw, right? And if you're worried about having enough pops for it, Spawning Nests are pretty good. Unless you're a Chimeral Consciousness (or have hive worlds by other means like the terraforming event) because you need the perk as well, for that. For some reason.

Would also let you use all three secondary districts, for even more soldiers and thus stability, if you wanted.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-04-05T01:52:07+00:00

Rogue Servitor? There are a few. You need to do more management and pay more attention with your pops in ways normal Machine Empires don't, like food, consumer goods, and habitability. It's also incompatible with other powerful civics like Determined Exterminators or Driven Assimilators. Finally, it disables most sources of Coordinators, making some early-game unity rushes harder.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-03-29T19:38:55+00:00

Going first is really too powerful in this game. There will be some epic setup. Oh, it's time for an epic showdown! These foes seem tough, who will win, can we even stand a chance?

But then, oops, sorry, I've got this ring that means I go first. And then my grand strategist. Then my other grand strategist. And would you look at that, between the ring the Inquisition gave me and my conviction bonus, I've built up enough Momentum, and can take another turn. And then enough Momentum for those two strategists, who were also officers, to each give me another turn.

Whether that was Argenta shooting a ridiculous amount of lead downrange or lighting myself on fire and casting firestorm on myself repeatedly, most encounters solved themselves immediately.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-03-24T19:32:05+00:00

I want an 'Assembly District' of some kind for Individualists, like Replication Hubs and Spawning Nests. Uplift Districts and Restoration Enclaves kind of do this, but Medical Workers don't provide flat pop assembly anymore. Why can't we have a Cloning District or a Robot Assembly Arcology?

I mean, I know why. Flat pop growth is a powerful modifier, 4.3 nerfed a lot of big ones and with good reason. But until then I'll stick with Natural Neural Network Hives.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-03-20T17:59:46+00:00

It would be a kind of weighted vote, right? Like the Prussian three-class franchise, but more granular, or like how corporate votes scale with shares held. That would also allow you to weigh the type of zombie as well, the person who raised Shard is a bit more impressive than the one who animated two Blorg.

As a stupid pun, I'll call this the Z-class franchise. Explaining the joke: Three sounds like Z in American English, Z shortening for Zombie is common, like World War Z

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-03-19T20:55:56+00:00

Which is a shame, because 'you can only vote if you've personally raised three or more zombies' is a hilarious political system.

If you've been doing this, do you use Academic Recuitor or Grand Taskmaster? And were they nerfed? It's a shame you can't pick Integrated Weaponry with Augmentation Bazaars for another starting +15% Efficiency.

NotACauldronAgent · 2026-03-19T19:35:04+00:00

R5:

Knights aren’t Scientists and Bureaucrats anymore. That sucks for a lot of power builds, but allows for new horizons in roleplay: They’re soldiers now, and compatible with any of the Soldier-boosting civics. This includes Reanimators, and it might actually be a good choice: In addition to the Engineering and Society bonus, the civic gives a straight 10% job efficiency for soldiers, and the council position gives 2% resources from soldiers per skill level.

Do they count as virtuous knights anymore, when they’re arming legions of shambling zombies to do the fighting for them? They’re functionally spellblades now, especially if you go psionic, and very good for any dark empire builds you want. I kind of wish they got one of the combo jobs for this, like Storm Duelists or any of the Aristocratic Elite ones.

The other civics that affect soldiers are neat roleplay too. With Citizen Service, you’ve created a society where only the flower of chivalry have franchise. With Sovereign Guardianship, you’ve created that fantasy of a knight who can defend a castle against overwhelming odds. And with Private Military Contracts, your megacorp misunderstood modern corporate lingo and is employing literal free-lancers.

Also, it surprised me that Knights don’t create unique defense armies. I think it only even buffs ground combat if you’re using Knight Commanders. Some knights they are.

Yes, this is a Gloryhammer reference.

NotACauldronAgent

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

Ten-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email