Warhammer Factions Updated for Stellaris 3.14 All DLC
Way back in February 2024 I published my take on how to implement Warhammer 40k factions in Stellaris. It is still one of my more popular articles, but many more DLC have been released since then and many changes and new features with them.
In this article we will revamp many of these Warhammer 40k factions with the new traits, civics and origins now available. If a faction from the original article is not among the following then its recipe remains unchanged.
Updated Warhammer 40k Factions for Stellaris 3.14 all DLC
Exodites
In the original Exodite recipe they were given the Life Seeded origin to crudely represent their preference for highly terraformed but wild-like Maiden worlds.
The Grand Archive DLC allows us the Primal Calling origin which can be used to represent the Exodites ability to recruit natural fauna to their cause.
Alternatively there is also now the Beastmasters civic which does similar things.
The Exodites can still create Gaia worlds to represent their Maiden Worlds through the Worldshaper Ascension Perk.
Corsairs
The Corsairs can now benefit from the Letters of Marque civic to better represent their piratical nature.
Imperium Of Mankind
The previous recipe for the IoM had the problem of how to represent the all important Emperor of Mankind. Stellaris by default has only Gestalt Consciousnesses as a way to represent practically immortal god-like rulers. Somehow that structure does not really work for the fractious humanity we are all a part of.
Now with release of the Paragons DLC we can use the Under One Rule origin to decently approximate Big E and his influence on the Imperium of Mankind in the 41st millennium, or even before back to the Crusade era.
The small catch is this origin disallows the Imperial government type necessitating we begin with the Dictatorial government type at game start. We can change later however, and this origin’s specific events encourage it, and it might said that since Big E was always meant to be a Caesarian kind of figure so this restriction is actually very appropriate.
The original civics must also be changed since they depend on an Imperial authority. Those civics can still be adopted later however after switching to an Imperial authority.
The new civics would be Philosopher King and Hyperspace Speciality. The former rather strongly, and appropriately, buffs your Luminary ruler. the latter, Hyperspace Speciality, could be said to represent the Astronomicon which is Big E’s main practical contribution to the IoM after the near mortal wound he receives at the end of the Horus Heresy.
This formulation of the Imperium of Mankind is more of a late Crusade Era IoM as opposed to the former recipe that was more 41st millennium inspired.
Adeptus Mechanicus
In my original formulation of the Adeptus Mechanicus I gave them the Post-Apocalyptic origin to reflect their tendency towards extreme environmental damage due to toxic industry and their ability to survive it through cybernetic augmentation.
Later, with the Toxoid species pack, I could give them Relentless Industrialists civic too to reflect this.
Now with the Machine Age DLC we have the extremely fitting Cybernetic Creed Origin. This origin requires a Spiritualist ethic however and that disallows Relentless Industrialists because it requires a Materialist ethic.
This origin also disallows the Permanent Employment civic which I used to represent the Admech’s use of almost undead cybernetic “servitors”.
Happily we now have Augmentation Bazaars and Antiquarian Expertise civics available to replace those civics we can no longer use if we use the Cybernetic Creed Origin.
Finally I tweaked their species traits to give them Adaptable to reflect their more-than-human ability to tolerate harsh environments.
Squats / Leagues of Votann
In the original article I gave the Squats the Prosperous Unification origin but later updated that to the better fitting Subterranean origin which is enabled by the Overlord DLC.
Tau Empire
In the Warhammer 40000 universe the Tau are very much newcomers to the galactic stage. With the advent of the First Contact DLC we get a number of origins that can help reflect this story of the plucky upstart in a galaxy of ancient perils.
In particular FTL in the Warhammer Universe is achieved through porting through an alternative universe called the Warp which is populated by Lovecraftian horrors. The young, but fast developing, Tau race as yet to discover the means of traversing this realm at the dawn of the 41st millennium.
The civic Eager Explorers and the Payback, Fear of the Dark and Broken Shackles origins help to simulate this pre-FTL stage for the Tau.
For the Tau Empire we can use the recipe provided in the previous article but with origin replaced by Payback or Fear of the Dark. Alternatively we could use the Prosperous Unification or Mechanist origin but use the Eager Explorers civic instead of Diplomatic corps. Diplomatic Corps can be taken as our 3rd civic.
Farsight Enclaves
What goes for the Tau Empire also goes for the Farsight Enclaves.
Kroot
If we give the Kroot the Broken Shackles origin there is perhaps some chance they might spawn alongside a Tau faction with the Payback Origin.
There we go, Warhammer 40000 factions updated for Stellaris 3.14.
What would you do differently?
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