The Sci-fi strategy game "Stellaris" offers a lot of content for players with various features and mechanics that make the gaming experience fresh and engaging.
Players who are aiming to dominate the cosmos in this game will have to use every resource at their disposal to improve their odds. One of the most important resources in Paradox Interactive's strategy title is Influence.
Influence measures the political power and diplomatic clout of a player's government within the game itself. This is also required for everything from claiming neutral systems to proposing resolutions in the Galactic Senate.
However, actually getting more Influence in "Stellaris" can sometimes be difficult to figure out, especially for newer players. This guide helps players understand what they can do to manage this resource and make the most of their playthroughs.
How To Increase Influence
By default, Influence is one of the hardest resources in "Stellaris" to get, and all Empires begin the game with a base Influence production of three. However, players can boost this number with certain Ethics during the game's Empire creation, according to Game Rant.
The values are +0.5 for the Authoritarian Ethic, +1 for the Fanatic Authoritarian Ethic, and +1 for Gestalt Consciousness. The latter of these requires players to have the Utopia or Synthetic Dawn DLCs.
Other than the Ethics listed above, which are relatively hard to change after Empire creation, there are two other ways to consistently increase Influence in "Stellaris."
Declaring Rivalry
The first way is by declaring a Rivalry with another Empire, which requires players to have Terrible Relations, an existing Rivalry from the Target, an Envoy assigned to Harm Relations, or for either Empire to be using the Supremacist Diplomatic Stance Policy.
You can only declare a maximum of three Rivalries at once in the game, but you will gain +0.5 Influence production for each. Additionally, you get closed borders, reduced costs for War Claims, a large Opinion penalty, and the Animosity Casus Belli.
Power Projection
The second method to gain more Influence in "Stellaris" is through Power Projection, which replaces the old bonus you had from having Factions within your Empire.
One thing to note about this method is that it has a maximum cap of 2.0 units of Influence per in-game month, Fanbyte said.
The Power Projection score is a measure of the size of a particular Empire's fleet compared to the size of its Empire in Systems, Colonies, Districts, and Population.
If an Empire has a very small fleet, it will get no Influence production bonus at all. However, a small Empire with a massive fleet will gain significant Influence per in-game month.
Uses of Influence in Stellaris
After you have amassed a significant supply of Influence, you are able to spend the resource however you please. One way to use it is to declare a queued Resolution to be an Emergency Measure.
What this does is that it bumps the Resolution to the front of the queue and pulls the Senate out of recess to immediately begin debate.
Players can also use Influence to pass a Resolution granting veto power to the Council. This allows it to remove a Resolution from the queue.
Influence can also be used by the Galactic Custodian to end debate on the Senate floor if that is what a player wishes. You can do this if the current debate has reached the halfway point, and it will immediately call for a vote, according to The Gamer.
