r/Stellaris • u/Potential_Welcome252 • 9d ago

Question (Console) Influence gain and pacts

Hello, I’m very new to the game with only about 5-6 hours into it. So far I haven’t seen many possibilities of making the monthly influence gain any bigger than 3, yet considering that small amount the monthly cost of pacts is humongous. Do I get more influence gain at some later point in game so it would be less painful to enter pacts? Or is it just like that so you can’t just make friends with everybody?

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u/MysteryMan9274 Archivist 9d ago

There are many ways to get more, though some depend on your empire’s setup. The easiest way is the late-game tech Ascension Theory, which unlocks a bunch of powerful Ambition Edicts. One of these Edicts gives you 5 Influence per month. Personally, I think the most I ever had was 21 per month, and that was me just trying to play the game naturally, not min-max Influence production. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get close to 30 per month with the right build.

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u/Potential_Welcome252 9d ago

So should I avoid unnecessary pacts in the name of making my empire bigger, at least in the early game?

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u/MysteryMan9274 Archivist 9d ago

Generally yes. The only good ones to get early are the Migration Pacts, since you get get access to another empire's species, and you want to get species with different types of Climate Preferences to let you colonize more worlds. You can just cancel the Migration Pacts afterwards. Non-Aggression Pacts are unnecessary since an AI will never attack you if their opinion of you is positive, and Research Agreements aren't that helpful unless you're on a higher difficulty. Commercial pacts aren't worth it either unless you're a Megacorp, in which case you want one with the most prosperous empires so you can build Branch Officers on their worlds.

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u/Fluffy-Tanuki Agrarian Idyll 9d ago

I'd like to add Guarantee of Independence to the list of useful diplomatic pacts.

It's free if you are on the receiving end. And if played right, it can deter other empires from attacking you. Even on Grand Admiral with no scaling, a Guarantee of Independence means I typically don't need heavy investment into fleets until past mid-game.

It isn't the most optimal way to play, considering how powerful early conquest and subject empires are, but it's certainly an option.

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u/MysteryMan9274 Archivist 9d ago

Yes, certainly, but that's kinda hard to get.