Membership in the Galactic Community







The event chain that initially attempts to form the Galactic Community begins once a non-genocial and non-gestalt empire has encountered at least half the galaxy, and at least three non-genocial empires agree to form the Community. If it fails to form, there will be additional opportunities later.

You are given a choice whether or not you wish to join the Community. (This is also the case for empires that were not part of the initial founding but gain communications with a galactic community member.)











As noted, you cannot rejoin for a period of twenty years, during which you have reduced Diplomatic Weight and an opinion penalty with Galactic Community Members.

You can leave at any time by paying an Influence cost that scales with your Empire Sprawl.As noted, you cannot rejoin for a period of twenty years, during which you have reduced Diplomatic Weight and an opinion penalty with Galactic Community Members.

It depends on what Resolutions have passed. Usually, no.



If you let the militarists get out of hand, Preemptive War might be on the table.



Galactic Community members get opinion bonuses with each other, and look down on empires that refuse to be members. There is no penalty in the other direction, but since relations combine the opinions the empires have of each other, it’s still relevant.



There is no physical center for the Galactic Community.



Newcomers to an established galaxy have it rough. They’re likely to retain fairly low Diplomatic Weight, but they can still be of use to the bigger empires since anyone can propose resolutions if they have the Influence.



All three of these can freely join the Galactic Community.



The Isolationist Diplomatic Stance has a massive penalty to your Diplomatic Weight. Inward Perfectionists also have 2 fewer Envoys than normal empires. If they choose to join the Galactic Community, they will gain the benefits of being members, but are likely to have little say in what is passed.



No. You can make remaining in it unbearable, but we wanted to avoid situations where empires (especially player empires) would be expelled against their will.



Yes.



Not specifically, but they do have the advantage that certain resolutions will have less of an effect on them, but also the same disadvantage. For example, trade related resolutions will still carry their negative modifiers despite not providing them any benefit, but similarly a resolution that has happiness penalties will not harm them.



Gestalts do tend to have lower Diplomatic Weight than most standard empires due to (intentional) subtleties of the system. (Happy pops provide more Diplomatic Weight than unhappy ones, for instance, which works to the advantage of certain empire types, but to the detriment of most gestalts other than Rogue Servitors.)

The Structure of the Galactic Community

The Galactic Community does not have explicit levels, but as more resolutions pass (and more extreme resolutions pass), they will have greater impact on the galaxy. There is definitely a shift if the Council is formed, as well as if they're granted additional powers.



The Galactic Community currently does not compete with the Federations system.



Subjects are generally free to vote as they wish. Empires do consider their opinion of who proposed a resolution, however, so your subjects are loyal they will take that into account. Subjects will, however, act to support their overlord for a Council Position as long as they don’t hate them.



Not at this time.



Each envoy sent to represent your interests in the Galactic Community increases your Diplomatic Weight by 10%.



Indirectly. Your Diplomatic Stance can modify faction opinion, and resolutions can alter ethic attraction. We experimented with having factions outraged for a time by different resolutions passing, but it felt negative when things were out of your control. Some resolutions can make certain policies or actions illegal, which could also indirectly annoy or please factions.



None currently do, but this is within the scope of things a mod could do.

Resolutions

We currently have them broken into five major categories - Commerce and Industry, Politics and Culture, Environment and Technology, Defense and War, and Galactic Priorities.



These major categories are further broken down into a total of fourteen subcategories - Galactic Commerce and Industrial Development, The Greater Good and Galactic Reforms, Ecological Protection and Unchained Knowledge, Mutual Defense and Rules of War, four Sanction subcategories, Galactic Foci, and Denouncements.



The eight main subcategories each have a chain of five resolutions in them that go from extremely minor effects but escalate to galaxy changing. There are three tiers of each type of sanction. Galactic Reforms and Galactic Foci have many potential resolutions within them. Denouncements varies based on what else has been passed.



Certain ethics (and civics) will certainly be attracted to different resolutions. Egalitarians may wish to push resolutions from The Greater Good, but so might Rogue Servitors. (They really do want the best for all of the organics!)



We experimented with having the Rules of War resolution line ban different ship types, but decided to instead have them ban actions - the Reverence for Life resolution, for example, makes it illegal to use World Crackers. (Using one in defiance of the resolution will place your empire in breach of galactic law for ten years.) It’s totally possible to do this, though.



You can repeal resolutions. The process is the same as passing it. Note that since most resolutions are in chains, you need to repeal from the top down.



Yes, but some are targeted at a specific empire.



Not at this time.



We do not have an intervention resolution for this sort of thing, but it would be possible to make. The wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly though, so it would most likely require a Council Member to push it to the top of the queue as an Emergency Measure, otherwise the war would probably resolve itself before reaching the Senate floor.



Indirectly for the most part. The Rules of War resolutions do directly increase pacifist ethics attraction, but most of them do not explicitly do so. Most of the resolutions encourage acting in certain ways.



The system behind pops changing ethics has been updated, and your empire is more likely to see a much wider spread of beliefs.



Advanced Xenostudies in the Unchained Knowledge line bans outlawing AI, and the Universal Prosperity Mandate from The Greater Good line outlaws destroying free will by assimilating sapient organics into a gestalt empire. These can cause difficulties to certain empires, such as Driven Assimilators.



Genocidal empires cannot become members of the Galactic Community, and while the Mutual Defense line of resolutions can grant additional CB’s against them, everyone already has Containment against them.



Yes. Reverence for Life in the Rules of War bans purging other than displacement, and the Greater Good line of resolutions places progressively stricter restrictions on living standards and slavery before banning it outright.



Not exactly. The Universal Prosperity Mandate does attempt to tackle wealth inequality by reducing everyone’s resource storage capacity.



As noted earlier we chose to ban the act of using most Colossus weapons rather than owning specifically owning a Colossus. The Global Pacifier is always permitted.



The Independent Tribunals resolution in the Rules of War bans aggressive bombardment types.



We do not currently have any resolutions that explicitly cover this.



You could outlaw the Unrestricted Wars war philosophy by passing the Last Resort Doctrine.



Oh yes. Make sure your Consumer Goods production is up to snuff before passing the Universal Prosperity Mandate, and that you’re not egalitarian before passing Ethical Guideline Refactoring.



Yes. Members of the Galactic Community are free to vote as they wish, though AIs are more likely to vote for things proposed by empires they like.



No, though The Enemy of My Enemy in the Mutual Defense line grants a “Counterattack” CB against certain empires that are attacking a Community member in an offensive war.



Most resolutions are there at all times, but you have to progress through the chains one at a time. (Resolutions that don’t currently apply aren’t shown, for example you can’t give the Galactic Council veto power if it doesn’t exist.)



Resolutions have positive and negative modifiers that are forced upon you by being members in the Galactic Community. They may also have additional conditions listed which you may freely ignore, but will place you in breach of galactic law. For example, Advanced Xenostudies bans the “Artificial Intelligence Outlawed” and “Passive Native Studies” policies.



A simple majority (by Diplomatic Weight) of empires that are voting passes a resolution that is on the floor.



Each empire can have one resolution at a time in the proposal queue. Proposing a resolution costs varying amounts of Influence - higher tier resolutions cost significantly more. While resolutions are in the proposal queue, empires can choose to support or oppose it (or abstain) if they like. When the Senate is ready to go into session, the resolution with the highest support will move to the floor, where it will be voted on for several years. (Empires that supported or opposed it in the queue will have their vote pre-cast, but empires can change their vote once every 120 days.)



Certain resolutions will not be available unless they make sense. You cannot declare the Prethoryn Scourge to be the Galactic Focus until they exist, for instance, nor can you modify Council powers if it doesn’t exist.



When a resolution proposal moves to the Senate floor, it is debated for 1800 days. At the end of this period, it will become Galactic Law if the votes in favor of it exceed the votes against. (Empires may abstain from the process.)



After this, the Senate goes into recess for 720 days.



While the Senate is in recess, Council Members may call an Emergency Session, forcing a proposal to the floor early. (Each Council Member can only do so once every ten years.)







The Universal Prosperity Mandate in The Greater Good outlaws all living standards (for free-willed organics) other than Shared Burdens, Utopian Abundance, Chemical Bliss, or Mandatory Pampering. It also cuts resource storage capacity in order to reduce wealth inequality.



Extradimensional Experimentation in Unchained Knowledge unlocks a planetary decision that consumes Zro to fund extradimensional research at Advanced Research Complexes. It has some fancy red text.







Absolutely nothing bad will happen, I promise.



The Renegade Containment Doctrine in Mutual Defense holds that the benefits of membership in the Galactic Community are self-evident, and as such refusal to be a member clearly indicates ill intent. Members are authorized to preempt any nefarious acts with force before non-members enact their plots. (Through the “Preemptive War” total war CB.)





All of the fifth tier resolutions are pretty extreme, but let’s highlight these three. All resolutions also come with a handful of modifiers.The Universal Prosperity Mandate in The Greater Good outlaws all living standards (for free-willed organics) other than Shared Burdens, Utopian Abundance, Chemical Bliss, or Mandatory Pampering. It also cuts resource storage capacity in order to reduce wealth inequality.Extradimensional Experimentation in Unchained Knowledge unlocks a planetary decision that consumes Zro to fund extradimensional research at Advanced Research Complexes. It has some fancy red text.Absolutely nothing bad will happen, IThe Renegade Containment Doctrine in Mutual Defense holds that the benefits of membership in the Galactic Community are self-evident, and as such refusal to be a member clearly indicates ill intent. Members are authorized to preempt any nefarious acts with force before non-members enact their plots. (Through the “Preemptive War” total war CB.)

As noted above, dangerous research is actively encouraged by the Unchained Knowledge line of resolutions.



Mentioned earlier, but in one of the multiplayer games we forced through an earlier version of the Universal Prosperity Mandate. One of the conspirators involved didn’t have enough consumer goods production to support Utopian Abundance. Hilarity ensued.



Yes. Empires that voted with you will get an opinion bonus, while your opponents will get an opinion penalty. The empire that proposed the resolution will be especially grateful if you push it to the floor via declaring it an Emergency Measure, and will likewise be incensed should you Veto their proposal.







One example of “additional effects” would be in Underdeveloped System Utilization from the Galactic Commerce line.



Resolutions can easily apply modifiers to all community members, but can also be easily checked for elsewhere in script.One example of “additional effects” would be in Underdeveloped System Utilization from the Galactic Commerce line.

The modifiers listed are the cumulative modifiers for the entire Galactic Commerce resolution line to this point.

Extremely. Resolutions are implemented in script, so modders should be able to go wild.



The AI takes all of the above into account, as well as their opinion of the empire that proposed the resolution. Generally civics have the largest effect, followed by ethics and AI personality. Empires with Egalitarian friendly civics (and Rogue Servitors!) are likely to support Greater Good resolutions, while slavers are likely to oppose them.



You can see what empires are likely to support a resolution before proposing it.



In a few cases, ascension perks are represented as well. A Defender of the Galaxy will be eager to rally the community against a crisis, for instance.



There is an Ecological Protection resolution line, and the Demobilization Initiative in the Rules of War can outlaw Militarized Economies.



A cynical leader might push for the harshest environmental resolutions in order to cripple galactic alloy production, or to make the creation of Machine or Hive Worlds against galactic law.



We don’t currently have a resolution chain that does this, but it would likely be possible for a mod to do so. (This sort of resolution would cause problems for most gestalt empires, however, so it would either have to be high in the line or have some other means of compliance.)

Violating Galactic Law and other Antisocial Behavior

Yes. The resolutions aren’t ever just a simple “Policy X is banned”, however. They all come with a number of other effects.



Nothing. The Galactic Community is a blank slate when initially formed. Similarly, unless Sanctions are passed, being in breach of galactic law isn’t that big a deal. (Other than having a negative opinion modifier with community members that are in compliance.)



Economic Sanctions increase your Market Fee, Administrative Sanctions affect Administrative Capacity, Research Sanctions affect Research Speed, and Military Sanctions affect Naval Capacity. All four also reduce the amount of Diplomatic Weight you receive from their associated field. Being in breach of galactic law can also render you vulnerable to denouncement, or if the Castigation Proclamation has been passed, valid for Humiliation wargoals.



See previous answer.



The galactic market is tied to the Community, so you won’t have access to that, and if the Community is feeling particularly militaristic they may end up with new CBs targeting non-members.



Some acts can be banned by resolutions. Performing those acts causes your empire to be in breach of galactic law for ten years. (Such as terraforming a planet into something other than a Gaia world if the Environmental Control Board has been passed.)



We do have two resolutions that deal with primitives, but neither bans aggressive acts against them.



Gestalts can be affected by the various sanctions. See above.



Research Sanctions apply a penalty to Research Speed. The sanctioned empires are expected to permit regular inspections of their research facilities to ensure that they are in compliance with galactic requirements.



It depends. If there are no sanction resolutions passed that apply penalties to empires in breach of galactic law, you receive a strongly worded letter, and all compliant empires in the Galactic Community have an opinion penalty with you while you remain the breach of galactic law. If there are sanction resolutions passed, they come into effect and you suffer the consequences.



If the ethics of the galaxy as a whole conflict harshly with your own, certain blocs may enact resolutions that do not agree with you. Staying out of the Galactic Community will prevent those resolutions from affecting you.



The community is unlikely to affect you much unless they are strongly militarist and become aggressive to non-community members.



The community is not a defensive pact, though some empires may take advantage of the state of war.



There’s a symbol on them in the community.



In general, no, but it depends on what resolutions have passed. The Enemy of My Enemy will grant a “Counterattack” CB against empires that are attacking a Community member in an offensive war.



They will typically try to comply, but it is not an overwhelming desire.



It’s certainly possible to negatively affect other empires through strategic use of the resolution process and by targeting your rivals for denouncement, but direct empire vs. empire espionage and sabotage is not part of this DLC.



Resolutions go into effect immediately when passed, so you may wish to align yourself with the requirements just before it becomes law.



Denouncements must follow the normal proposal procedure, however, so unless a Council Member wants to push it forward as an Emergency Measure you should have ample time to address your failings before it goes to the floor for debate.









While sanctions are passive, such a thing does exist in the Castigation Proclamation of the Mutual Defense line.

We feel that it’s unlikely that the second player will be able to exert enough influence on the Galactic Community to accomplish this by themselves. There are too many actors involved to be able to trivially overwhelm their opinions.



No. The passive effects of passed resolutions apply to all Galactic Community members. You can push to repeal the Charter of Worker’s Rights though.











Egalitarian empires will almost certainly oppose this measure, and if it passes, they will have to decide whether they’re content being in breach of galactic law, want to push to repeal it, or if they want to embrace a faction and cease their freedom-loving ways to achieve compliance. (The egalitarians can get their revenge by passing the Universal Prosperity Mandate.) There are resolutions that ban or require certain policies, but they do not grant the ability to bypass restrictions. Ethical Guideline Refactoring, for example, requires that empires use the most powerful leader enhancement policy they possess. We have a warning on it that egalitarian empires may be unable to meet this requirement.Egalitarian empires will almost certainly oppose this measure, and if it passes, they will have to decide whether they’re content being in breach of galactic law, want to push to repeal it, or if they want to embrace a faction and cease their freedom-loving ways to achieve compliance. (The egalitarians can get their revenge by passing the Universal Prosperity Mandate.)

The Galactic Council

Council members have a 20% bonus to Diplomatic Weight, and their own place of honor in the Galactic Community UI.



There is a ten year cooldown on Emergency Measures. They can also only be used when there is not a resolution already being debated on the floor.



Council members are chosen once every twenty years. A notification will let you know 180 days before the selection occurs.



There are no specific obligations or positions. Using your Emergency Measure and Veto Powers (if they are enabled) judiciously may be important or appreciated by other empires.



Council members remain in their own federations. They may freely attack each other. (In fact, they are likely to try to use resolutions as weapons against one another.)



No. The Council initially starts with three members when formed, and resolutions can increase or decrease this number.



Yes, you can reduce this number to one. (I am the Senate!)

If the Council exists, they can declare proposed resolutions to be Emergency Measures and skip the queue while the Senate is in recess.



Councillors can propose resolutions to denounce empires (though this power can be stripped from them). Sanctions beyond the first tier must also be proposed by a Council member.



Individually. Any council member can veto a resolution (if the power is unlocked) at an influence cost, and with a cooldown.

Threats, Crises, Enclaves, and Things With Fleets Larger Than Ours

The community can choose to issue resolutions related to the War in Heaven. They may side with one of the powers (making it against galactic law to side with the other), or denounce both sides.



The community will enter “crisis fighting mode” if any of these are declared a Galactic Focus, with behavior they feel is appropriate (including opening borders). Note that unless the crisis has demonstrated itself an extreme threat, empires that are not directly threatened will probably dismiss it as a hoax.



The major and minor crises and the awakened empires of the War in Heaven can currently be declared as Galactic Foci. Genocidal empires are not supported as Foci at this time.



Minimally, though the Advanced Xenostudies resolution in Unchained Knowledge improves the Art College, Curator Think Tank, and Trader Proxy Office.



There theoretically shouldn’t be any issues. You can only have one Galactic Focus active at a time though, so if they’re occurring simultaneously you may end up with erratic results.



Galactic Foci are primarily dealing with the various crises, but forming the Galactic Market is also classified as a Focus. Doing things like banning slavery is handled through passing resolutions.



They normally will not. They’re above the petty bickering of the child races. If a faction breaks off from them (a rebel faction, for instance), all bets are off. They will enjoy flexing their mighty technological diplo-muscles.



Similarly, the Great Khan will remain outside, but the diadochi states might choose to join the Galactic Community.

Favors

Calling in favors in the Galactic Community has an Influence cost which acts as a regulating measure. Generally, it’s possible to use favors to swing a close vote one way or another, but the costs for the sort of behavior described here would be astronomical.



Influence cannot be directly traded.



Favors can be gained from events or through trade deals.

Other Topics I Couldn't Categorize Easily

In this example the Community will continue functioning as normal. As the most powerful empire in the galaxy you are likely to be a Council member and have a large amount of sway through your Diplomatic Weight.







Most of them are informative events to inform you about new edicts or planetary decisions that have been unlocked by resolutions.

The Interstellar Assembly can grant extra envoys, which can then be sent as additional representatives.







The galactic market is now formed through a resolution in the Community. Only community members may take part in the market. If the market leader leaves the community, the bidding process will be started again for a new leader.

Literally Unplayable typo has been fixed.

While it’s intentional that being the highest trade value empire doesn’t automatically make you the market leader, some adjustments have been made to give more suitable locations a boost in the selection process.



As noted above, if the market leader leaves the community, the market leader election chain will be triggered again.



Not directly.



We attempted to have a strong theme for each of the resolution categories, and then tried to create a progression from an entirely reasonable and moderate starting resolutions to some pretty dystopian finishers.



A good series of resolutions should have controversial elements to ensure that there’s reason for opposition and to add a bit of “spice” to the game. It ideally should be able to be used as an indirect weapon against some empire types.



We took some inspiration from actual legislation for the feel of the names of some resolutions - we imagined the media conglomerates of the galaxy condemning the opposition with “How could you oppose ‘Building a Better Tomorrow’? YOU MONSTERS.”



We greatly look forward to see what the modding community comes up with.



Some resolution lines ban more things than others. The Rules of War and Greater Good lines, for example, focus primarily on restricting certain behavior. Rules of War includes things like banning most forms of purging, bombardment stances, war philosophies, and even militarized economies in the last tier. The Greater Good focuses on progressively improved living standards and outlawing different forms of slavery. Scattered throughout this Q&A are more galactic law tidbits.



The diplomacy traditions will apply only to influence upkeep, so will not affect the cost to propose Resolutions or other diplomatic actions. The Xenophile and Fanatic Xenophile ethics have their bonus changed to increase Diplomatic Weight instead of modifying diplomatic influence costs.



The formation of the Galactic Market is handled as a Galactic Focus. At this time we have not created any Foci related to economic interventions, but this is within the scope of what it supports.



Multiple competing power blocs that are using the resolutions to attempt to indirectly cripple each other.



It’s a tool in your toolbox that you can try to use to twist the galaxy in certain ways. We’re hoping for entertaining emergent stories to come out of it.



There are numerous ways to increase your Diplomatic Weight. Xenophile ethics now grant a bonus rather than reducing diplomatic influence costs. Non-machine empires have a civic available to them that grants additional Diplomatic Weight and additional envoys, which can be sent to the Galactic Community to increase Diplomatic Weight. Diplomatic Stance has a massive effect. There’s also a new building that can be built on your capital world that grants additional envoys.



Controlling the resolutions that pass also has a major impact, since almost all resolutions affect the Diplomatic Weight calculation in some way. If Industrial Development resolutions pass, for instance, the Diplomatic Weight contribution from Economy increases.



As noted previously, there are typically many actors in the Galactic Community, which generally makes it possible to find allies for resolutions you wish to pass. It’s important to pick and choose when you want to call in favors to pass a critical resolution that will have the most impact to help you win the next resolution cycle.

Hello again!As part of our Q&A series , this week we're going through the questions you've asked about the Galactic Community. As expected, there were a lot of them, so we condensed a few similar questions together.While some of the Diplomacy related questions are answered here, we're compiling questions for the next Q&A in this thread