Post by tenbsmith on Jul 8, 2015 8:40:00 GMT -5
This guide is a work in progress, feedback is welcome.
Politics is a unique aspect of ST4X which adds fun and depth to the game, but can be difficult to understand at first. Politics influence your economy which drives the war machine that kills the Xeno that leads to VICTORY!
Politics are more important at higher levels of difficulty.
ST4X Politics Quick Start
1) Unlock Planetary Construction I in the Technology Tree.
2) Start a Trade Meeting by going to the EMPIRE SUMMARY Screen, then clicking the NEW TREATY Button, then clicking the TRADE MEETING Bar and, finally, clicking the $ Buy Button.
Do this as soon as possible and you'll be glad you did. Read on to understand why.
____________________
The 3 Elements of ST4X Politics
1. Politics (aka Faction Politics) is the current state-of-affairs between 2 factions that influence their economies.
-Positive Politics (PP) improve economies. For example, a Trade Route increases the income generated by each Trade Point (TP) by $3/turn and by each idle CP by $2/turn.
-Negative Politics (NP) worsen the economies of the two factions involved. For example, a Trade Ban increases colony maintenance costs by 5% while decreasing the value of TP and idle CP by $4/turn.
2. Treaties: The player uses Treaties to start Positive Politics or end Negative Politics. Treaties are unlocked in the Technology Tree, the first one is Trade Meeting. Trade Meeting costs 100EP and $100 and provides a 50% chance of starting a Trade Route.
3. Espionage Points: The Espionage Points (EP) produced by your colonies each turn advance Treaties toward completion. If you increase the EP a colony produces by building Exchanges and Palaces, Treaties will be completed faster.
____________________
ST4X Politics User Interface
You initiate and monitor politics through three buttons on the left side of the Empire Summary Screen.
1--the TREATIES Button takes you to the INCOMPLETE TREATIES Screen where you can see any Treaties currently in development.
2--the NEW TREATY Button takes you to the NEW TREATY Screen where you can--duh--start a new Treaty.
3--the POLITICS Button takes you to the FACTION POLITICS Screen where you see the 0 to 3 existing Politics.
The total number of EP generated by your empire is provided at the bottom of each of these politics-related screens.
You can also start new Treaties by clicking on one of the Politics on the FACTION POLITICS Screen, which will take you to a list of all relevant unlocked Treaties.
____________________
Avoiding Negative & Maximizing Positive Politics
Negative Politics are the result of bad dice rolls, but the chances are greatly increased when power between factions is unbalanced.
For example:
Negative Politics can also be avoided by filling all 3 Politics slots with Positive Politics. And, once this is achieved, maintain them by always having a positive Treaty in development. This is most often done with Trade Meetings or Trade Summits, both of which can either start a new Trade Route or "confirm and extend" an existing one. "Confirming and extending" an existing Trade Route increases the number of turns it will last.
______________________________
Useful Tidbits
---When a faction has 2 Politics active, they do NOT stack. Rather, each colony is affected by the treaty with the faction that is nearest it (each colony is most influenced by the nearest other faction). (Cory startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/11847 )
---Having two or more Treaties in development at a time is discouraged, because the EP are allocated semi randomly. (http://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/11985 )
---A Conflict can last anywhere from a few turns to a few years. (Cory startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/11847 )
---There are two Treaties that can end a Spy Battle: One Rychart-tech that an be unlocked early, the other near the end of the tech tree.
---While balance is important and recommended, it is not required. A player (anrdaemon ) has reported maintaining three positive treaties when the stats (e.g., planets, ships, etc...) favored one faction (Cadar) at a 9:1 ratio over the other two.
---It can be tempting to base your economy primarily on Trade Points from Exchanges and other sources, building few mines. This is a mistake; income from mines is not affected by negative politics, so they provide protection against income going highly negative.
---"Trade Route duration extension applies only to Trade Routes and Trade Alliances. The Alliance agreements are harder to maintain. On higher difficulty levels, the politics between your Factions is not harder to control given equal EP -- the penalties for bad politics increase above Normal difficulty." startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/12753
---"Syndicates + Clans have a higher chance of Conflict escalation and some of them have specific ways they like to cause trouble (Steel Song likes Assassins, for example.)" startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/13668/factions#ixzz4E7FbKxPM
---You can buy a Treaty to end Negative Politics when your Treasury funds are insufficient, but the EP required to complete the treaty are doubled. In this situation, you may be tempted to purchase a more expensive Treaty with a higher chance of success, after all, it won't cost you more. Just keep in mind that doubled EP, means the treaty will take twice as long.
Politics is a unique aspect of ST4X which adds fun and depth to the game, but can be difficult to understand at first. Politics influence your economy which drives the war machine that kills the Xeno that leads to VICTORY!
Politics are more important at higher levels of difficulty.
ST4X Politics Quick Start
1) Unlock Planetary Construction I in the Technology Tree.
2) Start a Trade Meeting by going to the EMPIRE SUMMARY Screen, then clicking the NEW TREATY Button, then clicking the TRADE MEETING Bar and, finally, clicking the $ Buy Button.
Do this as soon as possible and you'll be glad you did. Read on to understand why.
____________________
The 3 Elements of ST4X Politics
1. Politics (aka Faction Politics) is the current state-of-affairs between 2 factions that influence their economies.
-Positive Politics (PP) improve economies. For example, a Trade Route increases the income generated by each Trade Point (TP) by $3/turn and by each idle CP by $2/turn.
-Negative Politics (NP) worsen the economies of the two factions involved. For example, a Trade Ban increases colony maintenance costs by 5% while decreasing the value of TP and idle CP by $4/turn.
- Each game begins with 0 Politics in place (politics didn't exist on the faction-specific hive ships).
- A maximum of 3 Politics can exist at one time, one for each pair of factions (e.g., Thulun-Cadar, Thulun-Rychart, Cadar-Rychart).
2. Treaties: The player uses Treaties to start Positive Politics or end Negative Politics. Treaties are unlocked in the Technology Tree, the first one is Trade Meeting. Trade Meeting costs 100EP and $100 and provides a 50% chance of starting a Trade Route.
- When a Treaty is completed, you are notified of success or failure on the Turn Events screen.
- When selecting between two Treaties with the same outcome, consider the cost and chance of success. For example, both Trade Meeting and Trade Summit can start a Trade Route; Trade Meeting costs less money and EP but has a lower chance of success than a Trade Summit.
- There is no way to specify the factions to which a Treaty applies. However, Treaties that end Negative Politics are always applied appropriately. For example, successful Trade Sanctions are always applied to existing Trade Embargos.
3. Espionage Points: The Espionage Points (EP) produced by your colonies each turn advance Treaties toward completion. If you increase the EP a colony produces by building Exchanges and Palaces, Treaties will be completed faster.
____________________
ST4X Politics User Interface
You initiate and monitor politics through three buttons on the left side of the Empire Summary Screen.
1--the TREATIES Button takes you to the INCOMPLETE TREATIES Screen where you can see any Treaties currently in development.
2--the NEW TREATY Button takes you to the NEW TREATY Screen where you can--duh--start a new Treaty.
3--the POLITICS Button takes you to the FACTION POLITICS Screen where you see the 0 to 3 existing Politics.
The total number of EP generated by your empire is provided at the bottom of each of these politics-related screens.
You can also start new Treaties by clicking on one of the Politics on the FACTION POLITICS Screen, which will take you to a list of all relevant unlocked Treaties.
____________________
Avoiding Negative & Maximizing Positive Politics
Negative Politics are the result of bad dice rolls, but the chances are greatly increased when power between factions is unbalanced.
For example:
- The chance of Solar Wars is increased when one faction has more Colonies, Trade Points (TP) and/or Morale than others. (Cory startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/11527 )
- The chance of Spy Battles is increased when one faction generates more EP than the others. (Cory startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/11284 )
- Imbalance in number of ships can cause Negative Politics. Loosing high-costs ships, like a Heavy Battlecruiser, can trigger a Solar War if it leaves one faction without a Heavy while the others have them. (Cory startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/12579 )
Negative Politics can also be avoided by filling all 3 Politics slots with Positive Politics. And, once this is achieved, maintain them by always having a positive Treaty in development. This is most often done with Trade Meetings or Trade Summits, both of which can either start a new Trade Route or "confirm and extend" an existing one. "Confirming and extending" an existing Trade Route increases the number of turns it will last.
______________________________
Useful Tidbits
---When a faction has 2 Politics active, they do NOT stack. Rather, each colony is affected by the treaty with the faction that is nearest it (each colony is most influenced by the nearest other faction). (Cory startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/11847 )
---Having two or more Treaties in development at a time is discouraged, because the EP are allocated semi randomly. (http://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/11985 )
---A Conflict can last anywhere from a few turns to a few years. (Cory startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/11847 )
---There are two Treaties that can end a Spy Battle: One Rychart-tech that an be unlocked early, the other near the end of the tech tree.
---While balance is important and recommended, it is not required. A player (anrdaemon ) has reported maintaining three positive treaties when the stats (e.g., planets, ships, etc...) favored one faction (Cadar) at a 9:1 ratio over the other two.
---It can be tempting to base your economy primarily on Trade Points from Exchanges and other sources, building few mines. This is a mistake; income from mines is not affected by negative politics, so they provide protection against income going highly negative.
---"Trade Route duration extension applies only to Trade Routes and Trade Alliances. The Alliance agreements are harder to maintain. On higher difficulty levels, the politics between your Factions is not harder to control given equal EP -- the penalties for bad politics increase above Normal difficulty." startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/12753
---"Syndicates + Clans have a higher chance of Conflict escalation and some of them have specific ways they like to cause trouble (Steel Song likes Assassins, for example.)" startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/13668/factions#ixzz4E7FbKxPM
---You can buy a Treaty to end Negative Politics when your Treasury funds are insufficient, but the EP required to complete the treaty are doubled. In this situation, you may be tempted to purchase a more expensive Treaty with a higher chance of success, after all, it won't cost you more. Just keep in mind that doubled EP, means the treaty will take twice as long.
