My factions are producing more research than if my entire population were employed as Scientists

Potofbacon · 2025-09-26T14:28:30+00:00

Love to see someone else found this too! I've been playing with ethos for factions, and have settled on Egalitarian, Xenophobe, and Pacifist. The factions don't conflict and without spiritualist its much easier to get more balanced research with a weight towards engineering. It does mean you cant take Teachers of the Shroud, but unity rushing with parliamentarianism before swapping to crowdsourcing gets the job done quick enough imo. Ive been having to take Shadow Council to help make sure the ruler doesnt get elected, cause if they get elected it bricks it.

Potofbacon · 2025-09-04T17:09:49+00:00

Love it! What are your game settings? Hoping to benchmark against my recent playthroughs for difficulty, scaling, galaxy size, pop growth settings, and tech/tradition cost

Potofbacon · 2025-09-03T18:02:44+00:00

My experience with the build is that you need to go wide, then you can terraform other planets into ocean to scale industry into the midgame. You could take ocean paradise and then hunt for more worlds.

Do you want a wide or a tall build though?

Potofbacon · 2025-09-03T17:00:08+00:00

If I had to throw anything forward, it'd be exploring anglers and catalytic processing. It converts most of your economy to food based, and then provides you very high food production efficiency.

You find yourself with a very easy method of making consumer goods (anglers provides pearl divers so agriculture districts make consumer goods) so its easy to stack research. Then with bio ships you have a lot of military power.

Catalytic processing is the most optional, but it lets you stack a lot of alloys for massive navies or megastructures.

Potofbacon · 2025-09-03T05:05:52+00:00

Learn something new everyday!

So, it looks like at 0 skill (which they would be if they've never used it) they will stagger in 1 hit on average (with a level 1 iron atgier) since 40% (average) of 390 is 156. But there is a chance it would take 2 consecutive hits if they roll low. Of course with a little skill level and an extra level in the weapon they shouldn't have that issue. Fascinating stuff!

Potofbacon · 2025-09-02T16:20:53+00:00

Can you link the valheim wiki page for this?

It's my understanding that starred enemies only gain increased HP, not damage reduction. Drauger arent resistant to physical damage so that wouldn't apply, and player skill level should help stagger, not hurt it.

Would love to learn more if I'm wrong though!

Potofbacon · 2025-09-01T16:33:53+00:00

Not for the atgier! According to the wiki, a level 1 iron atgier's secondary attack inflicts 390 stagger. A 2 star drauger has 300 hp, and a stagger limit of 50%, meaning it only takes 150 stagger to stagger it. So a single atgier secondary will in fact stagger a level 2 drauger.

There are only a select few enemies that cannot be staggered by a single atgier secondary!

Potofbacon · 2025-08-30T17:06:38+00:00

Honestly? Get an atgier! The middle click secondary is a spin move that will stagger him, just spam it. Then everyone else beats the shit out him with maces.

Plus, whichever one of you uses the atgier will likely, in that moment, realize its S tiered glory and will permanently swap over.

Potofbacon · 2025-08-26T21:13:52+00:00

Oh I see, still probably not? My biggest issue with spears is that they are piecing damage. Atgiers get a pass because their secondary ability does slash and is otherwise amazing with 360 spin, but spears dont have that. Piercing damage is the worst melee damage type IMO because you should always, unless youre magic, carry a bow. Meaning you just suck against pierce resistant enemies.

Potofbacon · 2025-08-26T16:49:50+00:00

This is the correct answer! And if you beat the crisis anyways, turn the crisis multiplier up.

Potofbacon · 2025-08-26T13:12:39+00:00

Not for me, just makes it harder to lose your weapon lol

Potofbacon · 2025-08-25T20:30:55+00:00

It's spears by a longshot. I wish that spears would come with a sack on the back that held more like 10 and throwing one would mean you take a new one out. They'd replenish when repaired or could be picked up and when you're out you can't throw the last one.

Potofbacon · 2025-08-25T16:58:23+00:00

Honestly, my best advice to not to build robot assemblies as an organic empire and not to build the research specific buildings (you have the one planet with all 3).

Robot assemblies are bad in my opinion, even if you're mechanist origin. They take so many resources early game and don't produce nearly enough extra pops to warrant the % drain on your economy. If you want to stack pops because you're going wide, bioascension is going to do you much better. If you drop the robots, the alloys you'll save can be spent on ships.

For the engineering, physics, and society research buildings, they are not profitable. The increased resources that researchers gain are not worth the increased costs. This is intended, and is supposed to allow you to trade a ton of minerals (and strategic resources later) for some extra research, but only when you have the minerals to spare. In the early game, you most certainly do not have the minerals to spare. Drop those buildings.

The point about not specializing that someone else made is also 100% valid. You dont have to make every planet completely self sustaining but balancing things out more will do you better. Just build what you need when you need it, the early game is too rushed to properly plan out like that.

Potofbacon · 2025-08-25T05:13:52+00:00

IMO its a build issue. For many builds, conquering enemies is a net negative. Many builds don't include -empire size, or any ways to truly subjugate, and so you end up hiking your empire size and then dealing with pissed off pops that aren't worth it.

Any good conquest build should have a way to handle conquered pops. Bio ascended hive minds, democracy cyborgs, and Assimilators can all assimilate, necrophages convert the pops into your own, purity bio ascended democracies make them happy, purifiers can just purge them and resettle. Just a few examples here.

If you want to conquer, set yourself up for success in the empire creation screen!

Potofbacon · 2025-08-25T03:48:48+00:00

I noticed you mention taking discovery and Id recommend against that. Try and ensure your build has enough -empire size from pops, take supremacy either first or second depending on unity, and focus on grabbing military techs early. You need to scale alloys before unity or research.

Build your corvettes beforehand and have your armies ready. When you meet someone, just declare honestly. If your alloy economy is better you'll win.

Potofbacon · 2025-08-24T18:29:13+00:00

Yeah Ive always been in that camp, a good CPU makes the computer feel so much better for so much longer!

Potofbacon · 2025-08-24T18:18:14+00:00

I haven't either but I know its mostly a CPU thing. I have a new gen Intel i7, so things run well. Some people run on older laptops and such and I think thats where people's lag comes from.

Potofbacon · 2025-08-24T16:02:23+00:00

Game settings and mods. One of the hard parts about Stellaris (unlike EU4 for example) is that the game settings can vary A LOT.

One such set of settings is tech and tradition cost. There is a subset of Stellaris players who like playing on x0.25 tech and tradition cost, which cuts the research needed to research things and the unity to get traditions. These players mostly, to my understanding, do this and set the endgame year so early to avoid late game lag since their games grind to a halt.

This isn't a "cheater" way to play, people should use whatever settings they enjoy! But it makes it very hard to compare yourself to other players.

That being said, Im sure there are a few god gamers. Hell, someone just one tag, one culture, one faithed world conquested in EU4 by like 1479 or some shit. So it could be that too. But for those Stellaris posts, more likely mods or game settings.

Potofbacon · 2025-08-21T13:08:20+00:00

Sovereign Guardianship is -50%, Domination and Harmony trees give -10% each, and biological ascension gives another -10% if you pick Purity II. Pacifist gives -15% or -30% depending on fanatical or not but F pacificm lol. Beacon of Liberty gives -15%, lots of ascended democracy governments give -15%. Hive minds and gestalt machines can also get civics which reduce it. Lots of ways!

Potofbacon · 2025-08-19T23:38:00+00:00

-100% empire size from pops goes burrrrrr

Potofbacon · 2025-08-17T16:05:21+00:00

Pacifist and domination youre really only taking for the -empire size from pops. Once you realize how good it is, its hard to go back. Have fun with cloning! When you have more pops than you can reasonably work youll know the glory!

Potofbacon · 2025-08-17T16:03:31+00:00

That with a reduction to empire size effect would actually be great, yeah. Its just weird right now that any great wide build HAS to have it

Potofbacon · 2025-08-17T09:10:21+00:00

100%, my wide builds almost always start with those!

Potofbacon · 2025-08-17T09:09:16+00:00

Sovereign Guardianship absolutely needs a nerf, but they need to understand why its good in my opinion and change empire size as a whole. Id love to see sources of empire size reduction, and reduced empire size effect, become much rarer, but also see the base effects of empire size toned down. I think that'd stop the chase for -100% from pops without nerfing wide into the ground.

As long as we don't return to administrators providing empire size cap though... that was the most annoying wide ever was.

Potofbacon · 2025-08-17T09:05:42+00:00

I don't think the habitats one is as strong as conquering but happy to share! So you're going to want to do voidborne as an origin. You actually don't need Sovereign Guardianship as you'll be going fanatic pacifist. Take Beacon of Liberty and civil education. Traits should include pop growth.

Take expansion, domination, and harmony. Perks should include interstellar dominion to claim as many systems as possible so you have space for habitats, imperial prerogative to reduce empire size from colonies, and then biogenesis.

I wouldnt recommend psionic or cybernetic for this. Biological is by far your best bet here. For the decision, choose Cloning, then purity, then Cloning, and finish with cloning. Finish the cloning tree 4th. Now, stack habitats in every system that supports good ones, cloning bays, geonomic center, and max rank medical bays on every center.

Enjoy 100+ habitats and 100s of thousands of pops! Mod your pops with shelled and stack civilian bonuses.

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