Highlights
- Playing as preset empires in
Stellaris
can save time and offer unique special events for players. - Handpicked empires like Ix’Idar and Certeran Covenant are powerful and well-suited for specific strategies.
- Lokken Mechanists and Blooms of Gaea offer strong tech advancements and efficient playstyles for new players.
Due to the enormity of customization and choices during the creation of a custom empire in Stellaris, a player may opt to play as one of the preset empires instead of handcrafting their own to save time and stress. There is also the possibility that playing as one of these preset empires can spawn a rare special event that only a preset empire can witness.
Stellaris: 10 Best Mods
Players can enhance and customize their Stellaris experience with these popular mods.
It comes as no surprise when people want to play some of these preset empires in Stellaris, although some of them might not be powerful enough to single-handedly win the game. However, there are a number of handpicked empires that have a combination of ethics, civics, and species traits powerful enough to win the game.
7 Ix’Idar Star Collective
A Great Introduction To Hive Mind Empires
- Origin: Prosperous Unification
- Government: Hive Mind, Natural Neural Network, Pooled Knowledge
- Ethics: Gestalt Consciousness
- Species: Ix’Idar (Hive-Minded, Rapid Breeders, Strong, Fleeting)
Hive Mind empires can be tricky to play for newer players, as they require a strong understanding of the game’s basic mechanics. Moreover, Hive Mind empires use resources differently than normal empires, a prominent example being that Ix’Idar Star Collective’s native populace does not require Consumer Goods as one of their species’ upkeep.
Stellaris: 13 Things To Optimize During Early Game
When starting a new game of Stellaris, there are a few things that players will want to optimize in the early stages.
Therefore, playing a Hive Mind empire with their basic ethics and simple yet strong civics is preferable for players who are not well-versed in Stellaris yet, and want to try a preset Hive Mind empire at first. Ix’Idar Star Collective offers quite a flexible approach while teaching new players the mechanic of being a Hive Mind, with all of its intricacies, in a more peaceful playthrough.
6 Certeran Covenant
A Huge Potential For Psionic Ascension
- Origin: Riftworld
- Government: Democratic, Dimensional Worship, Ascensionists
- Ethics: Fanatic Spiritualist, Xenophile
- Species: Glebsig (Intelligent, Natural Physicists, Weak)
Psionic Ascension requires a specific set of civics and ethics in order to be viable for players of Stellaris, as the galaxy can be unforgiving enough to crush any sub-optimal empires swiftly with the amount of hostile empires and entities out there. A good starting point for any new players that want to try out the Psionic path in Stellaris can try pursuing it with the Certeran Covenant preset, as the empire is optimally built for both Astral Rift exploration and pursuing The Shroud.
Stellaris: How to Form a Shroud Covenant
Forming a Covenant with one of the unknowable entities of the Shroud can be a path to success in Stellaris, but angering one can be a disaster.
The Dimensional Worship and Ascensionists civics will allow the empire to rapidly gain traditions from a huge amount of unity gained monthly. Moreover, they can also thrive technologically thanks to their Natural Physicists trait, making them quite powerful as far as preset empires go.
5 Lokken Mechanists
Capable Of Rapid Technological Advancement
- Origin: Mechanist
- Government: Democratic, Technocracy, Meritocracy
- Ethics: Fanatic Materialist, Egalitarian
- Species: Lok (Natural Engineers, Talented, Quick Learners, Slow Breeders)
Technological advances are always powerful in 4X strategy games, and Stellaris is no exception. Having rapid technological advancement can translate to being dominant in the galaxy, and it is achievable while playing as the Lokken Mechanists. With their Mechanist origin and Fanatic Materialist ethic, the Lokken Mechanists are capable of gaining quick technological advancement with their numerous bonuses for tech resources.
Stellaris: 10 Best Rare Technologies To Rush, Ranked
Players should try to rush the following technologies in Stellaris as quickly as possible.
Although the Lok species is hindered with the Slow Breeders trait, it can be circumvented quickly if they manage to focus on Biology technology and gaining trait points to gene-edit their species. Although it is a preset empire, Lokken Mechanists can be said to be nearly as powerful as a custom empire.
4 Blooms Of Gaea
Maximize The Power Of Catalytic Processing
- Origin: Fruitful Partnership
- Government: Democratic, Environmentalist, Catalytic Processing
- Ethics: Fanatic Egalitarian, Pacifist
- Species: Homo Plantae (Radiotrophic, Conservationist, Agrarian, Slow Learners, Slow Breeders)
Catalytic Processing has been the best civic in the game since release due to its advantages in generating alloys from food instead of minerals, enabling an empire to build the strongest ship design possible. This can prove to be useful, as the minerals can be used for essential buildings that can help a planet to be as productive as possible. Playing as the Blooms of Gaea will enable such a playstyle, as this preset empire has Catalytic Processing as one of their civics.
Its ethics in being a pacifist and egalitarian will also help in managing their empire efficiently while also being sufficiently prepared for any attack from nearby hostile empires. Playing as the Blooms of Gaea can help prepare a new player to have a passive playstyle that focuses inward, instead of focusing their attention toward invading weak neighboring empires.
3 XT-489 Eliminator
A Strong Template Of A Genocidal Empire
- Origin: Prosperous Unification
- Government: Machine Intelligence, Determined Exterminator, Warbots
- Ethics: Gestalt Consciousness
- Species: XT-489 (Machine, Power Drills, Mass-Produced, Uncanny, Bulky)
For players who are particularly interested in the military aspects of Stellaris and care less about its diplomatic side, playing as the XT-489 Eliminator will serve as an interesting starting point, as the empire is a Determined Exterminator bent on the annihilation of all other species in the galaxy. Being a Determined Exterminator, or a Fanatic Purifier, has its own merits, as it allows the empire to have huge bonus modifiers in return for not being able to have a friendly relationship with any other empires in the galaxy.
Moreover, the XT-489 have optimal choices of species traits, well-tailored for wars against others. A player that wants to have a bit of fun deleting the entire galaxy should be interested enough to give XT-489 Eliminator a try in their new games.
2 Commonwealth Of Man
A Warmongering Path For Humanity
- Origin: Lost Colony
- Government: Dictatorial, Nationalistic Zeal, Distinguished Admiralty
- Ethics: Fanatic Militarist, Xenophobe
- Species: Human (Adaptive, Nomadic, Wasteful)
Usually, the human is portrayed as benevolent, while also being particularly open to interaction with other species in the galaxy. However, playing as the Commonwealth of Man in Stellaris will subvert that trope, as the empire is more focused on being militaristic without any love to any xenos in the galaxy, characterized by their Xenophobe ethic.
The combination of its government civics and its ethics enable the Commonwealth Of Man to be one of the strongest preset empires in Stellaris. Their well-balanced empire suits a player that wants to play as a preset while also having fun without caring about any efficiency, as the empire’s combination of traits and civics will take care of it in most situations.
1 United Nations Of Earth
A Great Starter Empire For Anyone
- Origin: Prosperous Unification
- Government: Democratic, Beacon of Liberty, Idealistic Foundation
- Ethics: Fanatic Egalitarian, Xenophile
- Species: Human (Adaptive, Nomadic, Wasteful)
The trope of humanity banding together as a united front on Earth to journey beyond the solar system has been quite widespread, and Stellaris does it best by having the United Nations of Earth as one of the playable preset empires. The United Nations Of Earth is very popular among veterans and newcomers of Stellaris alike due to its simplicity and potential to interact with all mechanics in the game, be it diplomacy, military, and even exploration of the unique systems in the galaxy, as it is encouraged by the empire’s Xenophile ethic.
Moreover, the civic combination of both Beacon of Liberty and Idealistic Foundation enables the empire to be flexible in its gameplay, as they can interact with other empires to build a Federation. United Nations Of Earth is the perfect textbook preset empire for any newcomer that wants to try out Stellaris.
Stellaris
- Released
- May 9, 2016
- Genre(s)
- 4X , Grand Strategy
