Government

Version

This article has been verified for the current PC version (3.10) of the game.

Every empire has a **government** that provides different benefits. The name of a government is automatically determined according to its Ethics, Authority, and Civics. The government can be reformed once every 20 years at the cost of 10  Unity per each point of  Empire Size.

## Authority

An empire's authority decides how long the Ruler council position lasts, how it can be changed, what its effects are and what other bonuses the empire receives. Authority can be changed by reforming the government unless the empire has the  Under One Rule origin.

## Council

Each empire has a council where leaders can be appointed to give empire-wide bonuses that scale with the level of the leader. Each position can be renamed by clicking on its name.

* Ruler is the only council position where the councilor cannot be freely replaced. What its effects are, how it is chosen, and how often it is replaced depends on the empire's authority.
* Minister of Defense must be a  Commander and each skill level adds **−2%**  Upkeep to armies, ships and starbases. If the position is empty or not part of the council, the empire has a **−25%** penalty to  Naval Capacity.
* Head of Research must be a  Scientist and each skill level adds **+2%**  Research Speed. If the position is empty or not part of the council, the empire has a **−25%** penalty to  Research Speed.
* Minister of State must be a  Official and each skill level adds **+2%** to envoy improve and harm relations, first contact speed and infiltration speed. If the position is empty or not part of the council, the empire has a **−25%** penalty to  Diplomatic Weight. This position is not available to empires with the  Inward Perfection or  Fanatic Purifiers civic.
* If the  Galactic Paragons DLC is installed the empire can unlock two additional council positions with the Expand The Council agenda. They can be used for civic or enclave positions. Empires with the  Inward Perfection or  Fanatic Purifiers civic start with their council position unlocked.

Already unlocked council positions can be reselected either by reforming the government or by launching the Reorganize Council agenda. The starting council positions can be replaced by civic or enclave positions but this does not remove the penalty from not having a councilor assigned to them.

### Civic positions

Each civic enables a unique position to be added to the council. To use these positions, the empire must either expand the council or form a new one.

### Enclave positions

Enclave positions are only available if the empire recruited an enclave paragon and only the said paragon can have the position. To use these positions, the empire must either expand the council or form a new one.

* **−2%** Researcher Upkeep
* **−1%** Market Fee
* **+10%** Resources Gained from Scavenging Debris
* **+1%** Monthly Unity
* **−2%** Shroud Delve Cost

### Nodes

 Gestalt Consciousness empires use 4 permanent nodes instead of a council. The nodes level up together with the ruler and can have their own traits.

## Agendas

Agendas represent the current goals of the government. Each agenda has a weaker continuous effect and a far more powerful launch effect which takes time to prepare and once ready lasts for 10 years, or 12.5 if the empire has the  Immutable Directives tradition. Agendas can be changed at any point, but if they are not ready for launch, all progress is lost when changed. After its duration is complete, the same agenda cannot be selected again for 30 years.

Agendas cost 7000 progress points to launch, and the cost is increased by 0.1% for each point of  Empire Size above 100. Each councilor provides 10 + level points of progress each month. Agendas can be launched by paying  Unity equal to the amount of progress left.

The council also has a  Council Legitimacy rating based on the total Faction Approval within the empire. Each point below 50% decreases monthly agenda progress by **−1%** and each point above 50% increases progress by **+0.5%**.

### Ethic agendas

The following agendas are only available to empires with the required ethics.

### Ascension perk agendas

The following agendas are unlocked by the ascension perk with the same name. They unlock technologies relevant to the ascension path in order as permanent research options with 25% progress. They cost half as much to launch as regular agendas. Once all relevant technologies have been researched, the agenda disappears. If the last technology is researched while the agenda is preparing launching, it grants a large amount of research from the same field instead.

2. Gene Tailoring
3. Glandular Acclimation
4. Targeted Gene Expressions
 **Mind over Matter** | 1. Psionic Theory
2. Telepathy
 **Synthetic Evolution** | 1. Powered Exoskeletons
2. Robotic Workers
3. Droids
4. Administrative AI
5. Self-Aware Logic
6. Positronic AI
7. Synthetics
8. Synthetic Personality Matrix

2. Integrated Cybernetics
3. Gene Tailoring
 **Organo-Machine Interfacing** | 1. Powered Exoskeletons
2. Integrated Cybernetics
3. Gene Tailoring
 **Synthetic Age** | 1. Improved Servomotors
2. Machine Template System
3. Binary Motivators
4. Nanite Assemblers
5. Mega-Assembly Systems

Empires with the  Teachers of the Shroud origin can use the *Mind over Matter* agenda without taking the ascension perk.

### Node reset agendas

The following agendas reset one of the nodes used by  Gestalt Consciousness empires. While the agenda is active the node gains **+50%** more experience but when the agenda is launched the node loses all traits and is reset at level 1. More advanced culling/reformatting technologies reset the node to a higher starting level.

## Elections

Elections come in two kinds: Democratic and Oligarchic. The election cycle lasts 3 months and all empire leaders take part. The current ruler stays in office until the replacement is decided (if applicable). The cost of influencing elections is reduced by **−75%** by the  Shadow Council civic.

* In Oligarchic elections a random leader is chosen as the next ruler. The empire can pay an amount of  Unity determined by empire size to change the winner.
* In Democratic elections each leader has a Support which is equal to the power of the faction that shares its ethic. The leader with the highest Support becomes the next ruler. Support is also increased the following ways:
	+ **+20%** if the leader class is favored by the government type
	+ **+20%** if the leader has a veteran class focused on the council
	+ **+10%** if the leader is the current ruler
	+ **+5%** if the leader is already part of the empire council
	+ **+5%** per councilor trait
	+ **+2%** per skill level
	+ **−20%** if the leader has a veteran class not focused on the council
	+ **−20%** if the leader is near the end of its lifespan
	+ The empire can pay an amount of  Unity determined by empire size to increase support by **+5** each time

## Government type

Aside from naming the default  Ruler council position and deciding the first AI message when establishing communications, government types also decide which leader classes will have increased support during democratic elections.

The rules are not dissimilar from an AI Personality: Certain requirements must be met and every value has a weight – which can be modified by certain factors – with the highest weighted option being used.

### Unplayable governments

The following government types are not available to player empires.