Another Monday is here and that means another deluge of information from Paradox about their upcoming space-strategy game, Stellaris. This week, we’ll get educated about civilizations just like us (the types without Faster Than Light technology). These civilizations fall into two distinct categories: Pre-industrial and industrial. Within the two types of categories you also have a delineation between the various technological advancements, including the “mechanical” age and the “Post-Atomic” age. This will change the way that you interact with the sad little civilization.
Depending on how you want to interact with your new pets *ahem* specimens, your Civ will have some interesting options on how you want to play it. From aggressive abductions to passive observation, there are many ways to recreate those Trekkie-esque federations.
So, you wanna play it peaceful and follow a pseudo “prime-directive”? Fine. Passive Observation is your best choice. In Passive mode, your observation apparatus will do its best to stay out of contact reach with the hapless inhabitants of the planet. You are most likely looking to protect the civilization on the planet, for whatever reason, and will make sure that said species has no outside interference.
If you’d rather go in guns blazing, bringing your own version of “rights” and “freedoms” to the unenlightened rabble, Aggressive Observation will be your favorite route.
“Aggressive Observation mission calls for regular abductions from among the primitive population” says Goosecreature, lead scripter on Stellaris. “The objective is typically to acquire genetic samples and to surgically attach implants on promising test subjects, among other naughty things. This provides more research data than what a more passive approach would, but it also tends to rile up the primitives a bit.”
Obviously, you could just invade the planet directly but there are issues are, namely other advanced civilizations that don’t agree with your war-mongering tactics. Just try and stop me!
That leaves two distinct forms of interaction with pre-FTL civs: Technological Enlightenment and Covert Infiltration.
Tech Enlightenment is for the Pope Francis in us all. Instead of watching a civilization wallow in their own primordial stew, you will instead invest heavily in their technological advancement. This will take a serious amount of your resources and time, but the rewards can be worth it. Can anyone say protectorate? That’s right. Once you’ve advanced them far enough to move through the cosmos at FTL speeds, they will swear fealty to you as a peaceful co-opted civilization.
Lastly, Covert Infiltration will have you installing your despotic reptilian humanoids to the highest positions of power in the government and work force.
“Essentially, agents that have been surgically altered to resemble individuals from a primitive species are sent to infiltrate their society” Goosecreature says. “Political and military leaders are gradually replaced, until a point is reached where the primitives can be made to willingly accept an offer of annexation. This spares the need of a messy ground invasion, but more importantly, the primitives will be more positively inclined towards their new overlords, since they are living under the illusion that they accepted their rule willingly.”
Just brilliant.
How are you going to direct the lives of those less fortunate than you in Stellaris? Let us know in the comments below.
