AltHistoria Plays Stellaris - Step 2: Government

[Krall]

Alright, so after step 1 we've decided that our empire is Fanatical Collectivist and Materialist, which leaves us with two government options, as follows:


Despotic Hegemony
This government is a materialistic form of autocracy, where citizens are viewed as little more than cogs in the state machinery. Efficiency and technological progress are valued above all things.
+5% Research Speed
+10% Survey Speed
Leaders can build an Elite Assault Army (i.e. one per leader, but we retain the Elite Assault Armies built by previous leaders and thus accumulate more over time)

Despotic Empire
This government is a relatively pure form of autocracy, with an absolute ruler that governs the state with an iron gripping appendage.
-15% Building Cost
+10% Slave Mineral Output
+10% Slave Food Output
Leaders can build an oversized military station (again, one per leader, but retaining the ones from previous leaders)


Both solid choices - research speed and building cost bonuses are both excellent. I'm not sure how useful the special army and military stations are, but they're cool nonetheless! As these are both autocracies our leaders will rule for life, and will be succeeded by a pre-determined heir upon death. That offers a lot less flexibility and control over our leadership than democracies and oligarcies, but it does mean we don't have to spend Influence to influence elections, or deal with leaders our empire's already got assigned to other tasks being elected (it's incredibly annoying when your genius +10% research speed scientist turns out to be extremely electable).

Also note that this means we can personally rename the ruler and heir titles for our empire. The defaults for Despotic Hegemony are "Overlord" and "Deputy Overlord", and for Despotic Empire they're "Emperor/Empress" and "Crown Prince/Crown Princess". Whether we do rename them and what we rename them to is up to you, and if you'd like to start suggesting ruler and/or heir titles now, please feel free to do so!

[MinnesotaNationalist]

I kind of want to know what species we are before I suggest what the ruler titles should be (unless we're sticking with the weird bird creatures)

[Krall]

Jun 13, 2016 4:22:29 GMT MinnesotaNationalist said:

I kind of want to know what species we are before I suggest what the ruler titles should be (unless we're sticking with the weird bird creatures)

That's fair enough. I think after we've decided our government we'll have a good enough basis to discuss and develop the general concept behind our empire - unless people would rather do Portraits and Genetic Traits before working out what the heck would've happened to make this monstrosity.

[whiteshore]

Voted Despotic Hegemony. Pseudo-Soviet Union IN SPACE here we come!

[Krall]

Jun 14, 2016 14:01:08 GMT whiteshore said:

Voted Despotic Hegemony. Pseudo-Soviet Union IN SPACE here we come!

I was interpreting Fanatical Collectivist and Materialist as evil Vulcans, which I guess isn't mutually intelligible with being the Pseudo-Soviet Union IN SPACE.

[Krall]

I think there's about 12 hours left in the poll, but it looks like Despotic Hegemony is gonna win.

[Krall]

Despotic Hegemony it is! At some point we need to talk about the backstory/concept behind our species, if only for roleplaying purposes. I'd say we know enough to do that now, but other people might want to choose our species portrait and genetic traits first - I'll post in the main thread asking what people want to do next.