After having a MP game grind to a halt after the host wanted xenocompatibility on for their empire’s roleplay. After we yelled at him to genemod all his hybrid species into one, the performance actually recovered… a bit. Xenocompatibility, never again.
I was thinking about a build and I wanted to search for Montu's Ascension perk video to see what he has to say about Hydrocentric. Opened youtube, on the front page, this video, uploaded 37 minutes ago. Thanks Montu - you always have my back!
Well i can tell you he is not right one of things why is bcs this per is literaly better mastery of nature but is on f when mn is on c... alos this two can create a mega size planets, work op if you not like play on more that 0,5 worlds
I think he is right but I picked it nevertheless, because I felt like an aquatic only race flooding the whole galaxy would be a nice playthrough@@Darlf_Sevil
@gergelykocsis5657 Mhm, he put it in F because he said you should get a secondary species but it doesn't account for purist xenophobe empires that don't want those secondary species
Also if you happen to get the rubricator relic this perk goes to A tier at least. I also keep the relic world there a relic world because the faculty of archeostudies do not give you the minor artifacts per month on an ecu. Turn it into a pure research/CG world and ecu other planets.
@@Sepaedius I'd also say it's B tier. It can be S-tier under the right circumstances (early relic world, rubricator, good research output to get to archeo-weapons early), but for most empires it's literally mid.
Man Executive vigor really needs some kind of buff. Like a percentage increase to edict instead of +100. Something that helps it counter the edict cost from empire size would be great.
Given how long Montu has called Aquatic an overpowered trait which he hates, I somehow suspect that his F rating for Hydrocentric may be a tactical move to make less people play Aquatic. ^^
@@MontuPlays Terraforming all planets to ocean is not that much of an investment by mid-game or sooner. And if you go genetic, then changing your entire multi-species populace to aquatic also works quite well. However, I don't play multiplayer and I always think that your tier lists are more MP-centric, rather than for strict single player gamers. :)
If you combine all the things that can give you free districts on planets you get a size 43 ecu. This includes Hydrocentric, mastery of nature, Expansion, orbital rings. I might be missing a few things but it's nuts.
@@ronabitz5156 The rate's pretty low, at something like 1/6th the rate of Toxic Terraforming candidates. It's useful knowledge to have in your back pocket though, on the offchance you find a perfect chokepoint that you can add an extra Orbital Ring to.
17:15 Montu: "If only we could retrofit our reanimated leviathans with brand new tachyon lances" Dr. Evil: "I want sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads"
One trick I use EVERY time I get synthetic ascension is to build colony ships just before I finish the project that turns my pops into synths. If a colony ship is building or queued up while you finish the project the pops in the ship will remain as the organic version of those pops. Than colonise those pops and transfer them to your other worlds. You will get the pop growth of your original species AS WELL AS the synthic pop growth. Fastest pop growth in the game.
@@caelestigladiiyes tested it 2 days ago. Just make sure the colony ships are building or in a que. If they are already byilt/settling worlds when you complete the project they will become synths.
Make 3-4 vassals, wait for 20-30 game years, integrate one by one. "Steal" their pops except rulers and mechanists (pops on robotic factories), make new vassals when done. Make sure sectore has minerals!
There is a unique thing about the colossus that you didn’t mention in your video. You see, if certain resolutions are passed in the galactic community, it will make all but one of the W class weapons illegal to use. W is the unique weapon type of the Colossus, much like the titans with T slots. The global pacifier is not illegal to use even after these resolutions are passed. It may not be the best weapon to choose, but it can bypass galactic community laws. Edit: I looked it up more. The rules of war vote at level 3 (independent tribunals) bans all use of everything but the global pacifier. If you want to avoid this, either keep it at level 1 or 2 if you are fine with no world cracker.
World Cracker is almost entirely for rp reasons (unleash your inner Galactic Empire). The others all have much more use -Pacifier can turn fortress worlds into society research -Sweeper can wipe a planet clean of pops, saving lag and opening you to take the planet while it still retains it's infrastructure -Devolver turns pops into pre-sapiants to be put in zoos -Enforcer can make everyone into spiritualists, thus more likely to rebel against non-spiritualist empires -Nanobeam can instantly assimilate large numbers of pops if you don't want to wait for that
Your tier lists are always great but this one I was particularly impressed by how often you added helpful caveats without doing too much or making the video feel too long (like how hives can use grasp the void better or how toxic god origin gives extra utility to consecrate worlds). Very helpful and good to know I can stop taking extra edict funds
Ok thats a REALLY fun RP idea, makes the "All great works require sacrifice, the rest of the galaxy may not understand, but they will *comply.*" text make more sense
Lol I have an entire build centered on the Xeno-Compatibility Perk. While mostly for role playing reasons I still found a way to make it useful because it allowed me to create a super species with both Cybernetics and Psionics, as well as several Genetic Ascension traits. It was pretty hilarious. Especially since I also maxed out population growth just so that I could sacrifice any combination of traits I didn’t like using the Death Cult Civic.
If I had to guess I'd say genetic, few AI empires pick it, in my runs anyways. Also Erudite is compatible with psionic and cybernetic which other empires do pick.
Would be nice to mention the DLC you need to get those S-tier perks. Without Utopia, Megacorp or Synthetic dawn you have only Transcendent Learning option left, and even that have been nerfed (though remained pretty powerful). Also would be nice to have tooltip on screen during your thoughts about the perk, instead of watching unrelated DLC reels. Other then that - extremely helpful video, thank you for making it =)
I'd say grasp the void is simply better than galactic force projection. GFP gives +80 fleet capacity but 5 extra anchorage star fortresses will give you +180 naval capacity, plus you can put hydroponics bays on them too. The +20 command limit is negligible IMO.
Consider the destiny trait that gives 50% command limit. You can get a fleet up over 500 command cap and pushing it that extra little bit might be worth it depending on your config
I appreciate you giving a nod of recognition to how others might play on some of your takes such as Intersteller dominion. Only note I want to give is on Universal Transactions, again it depends on your playstyle but it is possible to have enough Pacts that it will cut into your influence heavily which makes it more drawn out to get branches out or fail to beat another megacorp to a branch rush on different empires. Again definitely depends on players map size, # of AI, # of planets(I know you hardcore players like your .25 habitable setting...), etc... I think I'd still put it in the C Tier just because of the opportunity cost against other options in the current game patch. However I haven't played a real megacorp run in the paragons era... This has also made me curious how the upcoming diplomacy changes will affect AI megacorp.
I'd say archeo study deserves a little bit more love as not only it boosts ancient refinery's production, but the main thing for me - if used on menace ships it doesn't spend artifacts at all and doesn't cost any to sustain which is pretty neat
The crisis perk is so overwhelmingly powerful that I believe nothing should be evaluated through the lens of combining it with crisis perk, since everything is broken with it.
Grasp the Void is definitely one of my favorites that’s considered on the lower end, but I play Gestalt a lot compared to my friends, so I usually get a bit more use out of it (especially since I naturally play rather peaceful compared to, well, most players.
I believe that the main benefit of Universal transactions is the ability to get branch offices before your rivals rather than getting a free office out of six.
Detox is more of a how many toxic candidate worlds you have question. And you really can get quite a few in some cases. I've had a few as 4 and as many as 20+ in a wide empire. Meaning that once I got the right perks I could add more large planets than the next biggest empire had in total planets just by taking that perk.
Generalized tier lists like this always sell certain things short. Take Archaeoengineers for example, just sticking that on a random build probably won't help, but if you build around it (maxing out on Archaeostudy councilors, Shoulders of Giants+Baol for max archaeology sites) it becomes game changing.
Stacking mastery of nature with an orbital ring on an econopulis is busted though. You can get so many alloys and even more trade, it's really strong. And I think mastery of nature gets better over time, because after the first 200 years there are often not many things you can spend influence and energy on. I would rate it B Tier
I feel the various terraforming perks (arc project, hive and machine world, detox) should be rolled into World Shaper, maybe with some tech requirements. Planet types available based on what kind of empire you are.
Re: Executive Vigor. I'm glad you explained the bit with Galactic Paragons, so those of us without that DLC might consider it higher. I understand to make a list like this you kinda need to assume everyone has all the DLC or you'd drive yourself mad, though.
I think Synthetics Path got quite a buff in 3.9. It was one of the worst ascension path for bio-empire in 3.6~3.8, but now, since every other paths got delayed to 4th tradition and you can grab Ascension tech through agenda, Synth path seems quite strong.
Wenn man pops von Nachbarn stiehlt, aber nicht die Pöaneten haben will, kann man sie auch erobern, alle bis auf einen umsiedeln und die fast lernen Planeten verschenken.
I recommend trying pure Archo-tech once... just once. So you can experience why you never will touch it again.... I might be a little bitter over the Artifact cost for any quantity of ships, still.
Needs some pressure with Become the Crisis. Some sort of risk of becoming Stagnant if you don't keep up / finish the projects to advance tiers in a certain amount of time.
Become the crisis: Pros : You basically get a free powerup on all fronts with literally no effort, are basically unstopabble in wars and you get resources by simply existing. Cons : Some species *may* not like dying. They tend to form alliances to stop that.
My last few games I've always taken Transcendent Learning first, yes, hands down. Thumbs up for a great video. Your rankings feel spot on. Resonates perfectly with my playstyle
I like your tier lists, especially how they change with subsequent patches. Do you plan another videos about ship design (with archaeotechnologies taken into account)? Especially about fleet compositions. The previous ones were great, but now thibgs changed so much
I know this will sound totally bonkers, but would you consider making a tier list for the various Stellaris versions? Starting from 1.0 and ending at 3.9, there would be a bazillion things to talk or rant about for the game as it evolved...
Would a follow up video be worthwhile to grade each pick based on the order in which they might be chosen? What are the top 3 traditions for the first pick, the second pick and so forth? And the same for Ascensions. It's easy to get lost in the permutations. I've experimented with not taking some of the typical first and second picks, as they can be off-set by augmenting other tactics. (?)
Whenever Montuwu makes one of these ascension/tradition tier lists, I think of that meme with the daughter trying to explain something to her mom and the mom just sits there on the couch, thoroughly unimpressed. :D Montu: "See? This is why this ascension perk is the best, and why you should always take it!" Me, a roleplayer: "Whut? Whatcha sayin'? I can't hear u over the sea shanty the fish people are singing as I Increase the size of my capital to 33, and pickling my enemies in salty brine!"
Got the secret shoutout :) I always listen to F-tier, A+S tier. B+C tier - the "mid" I skip through a lot, because I am most interseted in the worst and the best and not in the mid-range stuff. Oh, and I really need to upgrade my worlds next playthrough. I never bothered with Economoplis worlds or whatever.
I think you undersell Lord of War a bit. While yes, one mercenary enclave capacity isn't much in itself, the real kicker is the increased dividends frequency. The ascension perk is the single largest bonus to dividend frequency, and when you build for enclave capacity (with megacorp mercenary civics,) you can rake in a stupid amount of research, alloys, credits, and free ships. It's honestly nuts.
Detox could be fixed by giving it an associated quest. Every time you detox a planet you have a chance of finding some ancient ruins or incredible encounter that starts a quest chain that ends with a big reward. Otherwise, because of the rarity of toxed planets, it's never going to be worth it.
Consolidating all the terraforming perks into 1 perk is how you fix that. World shaper should unlock Gaia, toxic, Hydrocentric(if main species is aquatic), hive, machine, and ecu for their respective factions. Making it one perk means it's a no brainer to pick and gives players choice. Why should we have to pick 3 different perks with we want Ecu, detox and hydro to maximize our planet's and number of potentially large Ecu?
I liked consecrated worlds back when u could do it on an inhabited planet. it would be nice if that came back and u just can only build temples and nothing else
I am curious where Xeno-Compatability would rank if you could take it for the immigration pull and pop growth speed and only remove the hybrid species being formed.
Lord of War was quite nice for a megacorp I played where I had as many mercenary fleets as possible to give me as many resources as possible, but I'd strictly keep it to that specific type of empire.
With more and more cool ones coming into the game but the limit of only 8 perk slots per game remaining untouched, I feel so tempted to just install one of those mods that lets you pick more for my next game. I’m tired of having to choose between ringworlds, colossi, defender of the galaxy and the ability to terraform Venus after finishing psi/gene/cyborg ascension because I already took the science and archaeotech ones in the opening.
I've always picked Mastery of Nature 1st or 2nd for the additional districts plus the bonus of removing blockers cheaper. I didn't realize it was seen as a bad move
One of my favorite combos for APs is Become the Crisis + Archaeo-Engineers. You get the +33% Archaeo-weapon damage for your Ancient Nano-Missile Swarms, and then you slap those on a bunch of Menacing ships to never pay the Minor Artifact cost. Just do't go past Crisis Level 4 unless you're armed to the gills.
Interstellar Dominion should give you Hyperdrive Cooldown reduction or something else themed around also crossing your larger empire, etc. Edit: Just combine Interstellar Dominion and Grasp the Void.
Has anyone else noticed that AI empires seem to never pick the galactic wonders ascension perk? I always end up with the dyson sphere and matter decompressor and my economy always just dominates every other empire obssessed with building those somewhat useless science nexuses...
Lords of war main power is not +1 enclave, but time reduction for payouts. Turns 20 years of waiting into 5 - huge for merc enclaves build (and +1 is one of few sources of max cap). Merc fleets are good thing to have since they need no upkeep to just exist- and ready to fight and die for you the day you pay. Btw if your enclave's fleet is hired you get payouts more often, and even more if it is not you who is hiring them. After all it is what is said in the description - it is not about war, it is about profit (and merc mech armies, we all love mechs).
Something to note about mechromancy: it is totally useless on determined exterminator currently. Forced extermination prevents reanimation processing. It is a bug one way or another - AP should be disabled for exterminators or it's effect should become possible to use.
Are you out of your mind? Lord of War is grand for running popless production for any militarist empire, it's like a Dyson Sphere and Matter Decompressor combined that also cranks out battleships.
Tbh I rarely go for arcologies and swarm worlds Most of the time they feel overkill and I'm doing just fine without them For the same reason I also often do not get the perk for dyson spheres and blackhole drills
"the main bonus here is that free commercial packs unless you have basically the entire galaxy as your commercial trading partners and require commercial packs with all of them you're really not going to be suffering that much for influence making this generally quite unnecessary", yeah actually I got into this exact scenario once, I ran a commercial pact with everyone on a 15? Player galaxy and I built a lot of branch offices, so it was like a b-tier bonus definitely to me imo
5 starbases from Grasp the void gives you like well over double the naval cap of galactic fleet projection. Is the extra 20 fleet cap actually at all impactful?
I think it may be possible for empires that start as machine intelligences to get ecumenopolis and machine worlds by taking the machine world perk, becoming rogue servitors via the galactic community, and taking the arcology project perk
I find that Hydrocentric is a great perk if you're xenophobic and isolationist. Especially if you have a reasonable amount of territory. Detox I disagree with your reasoning on - I encounter an absolute ton of these worlds, the popups are kinda annoying telling me I can do so if I get the perk.
Hydrocentric does have a decent niche case now if you are rocking the Sovereign Guardianship civic since you want a handful of large planets with that build.
IMO Hydrocentric should increase the recourses aquatic species get from Specialist and Ruler jobs. I also think they should change the numbers on the flood habitat decision since they massively decreased the base heapability of habitats in 3.9.
I have to say, it made me quite sad you had consecrate worlds in F tier. I often have play throughs where I have a worlds I just can't use or don't want to use yet so it's a great pick for me. Similarly, if I'm going to be playing an aquatic empire or empire with the knights of the toxic god origin I honestly believe those perks are worth taking. Mostly so that I can use the colossus weapons freely and just recolonize the worlds I dropped into oblivion later. Maybe I just play more for fun than efficiency though. Also, I really wish they would nerf crisis by forcing you to go into the next stage eventually or be reduced to a worse version of perk called the lesser crisis, or at least include that sort of nerf in the setting. If feels like its just too easy of a choice to just take it and get to stage 4 and stop. If you take that perk you should be put on a timer to actually get the job done instead of just getting mineral ships and some of the most destructively powerful war time benefits in the game forever. If you were forced to say, reach stage 5 and make an enemy of the galaxy within 30 to 40 years suddenly that's less an instant pick. Alternatively, in line with the focus on leaders you end up you have until the end of your current leader life span to actually get the job done. For hive minds suddenly they get a 50 year limit to the current leader because of some strange illness or virus that is taking them over. So, basically it's a 'buff' where future power the leader could one day have it calling to them, improving their potential as an individual and allowing them to guide an endless number of masses towards their dream, but a nerf in the fact it's forcing you to move quickly and not just stall. I'd imagine if the leader dies before you finish, you would get an event chain to either drop it or have the new leader rapidly 'evolve' using whatever previous leader built. During which time all crisis related bonuses are reduced, you can't continue the construction of the main mega structure, and other empires are more likely to attack for sensing weakness.
F Tier is pretty accurate. Interstellar Dominion--- is actuallly good in a few situation outside of big maps, even on small maps but that depends on several play styles and what you expect to be do in the game your playing. Without preplanned involvement or knowing if you need this for what your doing, it is better to avoid it and take something else. Early game rush grab builds/military take over is one such reason this is good for. Mastery of Nature- Good only if you have like know you will have 20 plus planets, and are not involved in the Galactic senate that much (using that influence you would of spent on the planets, and you do this pretty early on.) Normal play setting (the default ones) I can see this Ascension perk being good, on occasions. However I felt planets were too common, and I lower that down when I play. I still have taken this a few times, and about 1 out of 4 times, regretted it. Still if on lower settings, and only feeling bad about it a quarter of the time, this is not a bad perk, it just needs more (or cut the cost of the planet effect in half.) That or allow random positive effects to generate permanently on the planet after use. Universal Transactions--First I believe this is Mega Corp only, second, that Influence cost removed is actually really really good, and you only need about 5 or more trading partners to make that worth it completely. This perk is Underrated here but not by much, mainly due to the fact only Mega Corps can get this. (maybe Merchant guilds civic allows it, not sure) What it does need is a flat bonus to Trading power on all planets, (aka empire wide bonus). This would make more sense with where it is going, and make it more useful and worth when you have less trading partners. Grasp the Void-- only useful if your stuck in a small area and you want to compete with a larger empire to get out that you CANT befriend or wont befriend. It could be useful in some late game situations, but usually that is just touch up on starbase points for an extra fleet or so, and to cover up some gaps in defense points that are still somewhat avoidable by enemies anyways but forces them to do jumps. Basically a Win more button, Winning more safely in those late game situations. Lord of War-- would be really good, if it wasn't so dam hard to setup one without crippling your fleet power early on. let alone setting up two. The fleet power bonus to diplomatic Weight is actually really strong on its own....but that alone is not really worth a slot especially when you dont control ship designs, the cost of ships is not really an issue. Shared Destiny is a better pick overall with similar benefits, without giving up a fleet to setup. (2 Envoy's = 20% Dip Weight basically) Archaeo-Engineers-- is actually better then you say, though for different reasons then you may expect. The trick that makes the deal is with Archo Shields and armor (shield hardness mostly). You can make some pretty hardy ships with this and with Low minor artifact costs to be reasonable. However, you need to have a certain amount of minor artifact income to make this worth while. So only do this if you have access to such an amount (this is based on map size, and how much you really want to use that tech). Worst case you make one super fleet, with the cool tech and have a few none Archo fleets to engage first/support it. Really its not that bad of a perk. Especially if your a tech rush empire with enough artifact income. Enigmatic Engineering-- Only useful if A: you pick it early, B: you are super tech rush, C: You really have a plan with whatever weird build you have. This falls off late game but is a cool perk to annoy empires trying to farm your tech rush empires for science. Galactic Force projection-- *This is bad*, has always been bad, and its very very rarely will work well early game, but even then you wasted a slot to beat ONE empire likely maybe two, vassalizing them is a Half victory in this case for several reasons. Unfortunately any buffs to this that increase Navy cap by a % would be broken good at the amount you would need to be to make it worth as a Ascension Perk, and Any buff to fleet command is well not really that good at all even tripling this would not really change your fleet power much, all it would do is make it so you need less admirals....which is a double sided sword for again several reasons. Against human opponents this perk is even worse. Seriously the only thing that would be buff-able is making it have upkeep cost reductions (which we see the dev's are basically removing these, put in a hard cap guys or something geez not that hard to balance cost reductions. Hard caps are good things sometimes, like dodging and tracking system right now.) One vision--AGREE AGREE AGREE Cant agree enough with you man, this has so many hidden benefits too, though dont take early if your planning on etho's switching your empire as part of your plan/game. Take it a little after that. Defenders of the Galaxy--was a meh pick before, did not see some of the buff/changes that show here, and knowing that, this is actually a REALLY good pick if your playing the GOOD guys of the Galaxy, or at least Posing as such. Shared Destiny-- This used to be really bad, Now it is good for runs in general, but a absolute need if your getting lots of subjects! (two envoy's are basically 20% Dip Weight at least in worse case in galactic senate, ) The rest of your A Tier is pretty spot on. Quick S Tier comments since I do agree in all but one on this list being S Tier Synthetic upgrade---First, unless you want to play into this for story/lore reason of your empire, just start off as Machine empire from the get go. Really this is not as good as people say, overrated perk. . I guess its a way to have a Machine empire that co-exists with biologicals, since your not a single mind. Still I find its more of a dipping your foot in the pool of machines strength but having all the same issues machines have with less benefits. NOT saying its a bad perk but a lower S Tier at best Archology project--"BAD" this one is a waste/bad For Several Reasons, mostly due to the fact you don't need it if you find a relic world or one already by another that you take. YOU REALLY ONLY NEED ONE OF THESE WORLDS, maybe two if you can afford the upkeep of special resources. You will never really fill this up with pops unless you resettle by force, so you really don't need more then one, habitat spam and ring-worlds are so much better, and the perk for ring-worlds gives two other very strong Mega structures. Simple, you don't have one, spam habitats and ring-worlds, if you do have one in the empire you don't need another anyways, so you don't need this perk. In the systems the habitats are bad in, you build ring-worlds if you can. F TIER FOR THIS ONE! No even at stronger difficulties, you don't need these, Galactic wonders alone is better for this then 5 of these planets. Hive and Machine Worlds are super great, and way too good for dozens of reasons. If you have the empire to actually take those perks DO SO!!!! Become the Crisis-- A little too powerful, and very annoying cause I see 2-5 AI empires take this all the time.....its annoying how often I see this. Its a boring win strategy in solo games, and in multiplayer you just made enemies with all your friends, and will either just win, or lose very quickly. While in games with 3 or more AI empires as this, it either makes it impossible to stop all of them, or causes chaos in the Senate and AI empires go all weird bonkers forcing wars with all at the same time. While a Real Crisis then takes over the galaxy as the other Empires are distracted. Like literally, if a AI rushes this and is a strong type of empire already fleet wise, your SOLO game is OVER, you may just not know it yet. Seriously Cap the Number of AI that can take this based on map size, and # of starting empires, and make it so fighting one of these guys does not count as acts to fulfill another empires Become Crisis stuff. Transcendent Learning---Oh how the FORGOTTEN perk of Uselessness has RISEN! I found this perk before the leader rework and buff of it, was one of the worst, pointless, and awful perks to ever exist. That I honestly forget about it even these days despite the buff that made it actually worthwhile. Yes, as a one of three first picks/choice you really cant go wrong with this perk. However, I would put this lower S or even High A Tier for a few reasons still, Mainly for certain builds being still slightly stronger, with having a perk slot limit something has to go, and this one sometimes does need to go for those builds. If the Exp gain was 50% or more, I would rethink this opinion.
Didn't skip... Maybe sweated a little when S-tier did contain the majority of my picks. On the plus side, I had time this last weekend to experiment with the habitat changes and must admit, it is nice. Being so much easier to scale up my habitats when I need to without spending forever researching the upgrade techs is such a relief.
MontUwU: "I have released another tier list!"
Custodian Team: "I'm about to ruin this man's whole career."
Well, it's good actually. Constant change means more stable material for making video
Why do you think the patch version is mentioned in the video title? :D
Actually they are providing career security... Community is likely willing to watch a new tier list each update it is.
"great feedback, time to fuck up your meta"
Im starting to believe that ascetion perk tierlist/origin tierlist is just something you do whenever you have a litte too much free time.
I believe most of the lag caused by xeno compatability was fixed in 3.4. I still never pick it though 🙂
What lies, clearly an alien infiltrator!
Say no, xenos go!
@@MontuPlays But the +1 trait and +1 trait point for hybrid species then...
@@ScorpioneOrzionand add this cool relic who give one more gen... them replace evry spicies on your one and you have ultimate hybrid
@@ScorpioneOrziona small price to pay for a clean galaxy!
After having a MP game grind to a halt after the host wanted xenocompatibility on for their empire’s roleplay.
After we yelled at him to genemod all his hybrid species into one, the performance actually recovered… a bit.
Xenocompatibility, never again.
I was thinking about a build and I wanted to search for Montu's Ascension perk video to see what he has to say about Hydrocentric. Opened youtube, on the front page, this video, uploaded 37 minutes ago. Thanks Montu - you always have my back!
Well i can tell you he is not right one of things why is bcs this per is literaly better mastery of nature but is on f when mn is on c... alos this two can create a mega size planets, work op if you not like play on more that 0,5 worlds
I think he is right but I picked it nevertheless, because I felt like an aquatic only race flooding the whole galaxy would be a nice playthrough@@Darlf_Sevil
@gergelykocsis5657 Mhm, he put it in F because he said you should get a secondary species but it doesn't account for purist xenophobe empires that don't want those secondary species
Caveat for the archaeo-engineers: if you pick the crisis ascension your crisis ships don’t cost minor artifacts.
Also if you happen to get the rubricator relic this perk goes to A tier at least. I also keep the relic world there a relic world because the faculty of archeostudies do not give you the minor artifacts per month on an ecu. Turn it into a pure research/CG world and ecu other planets.
@@MasterElements It really needs to be in the B-tier tbh
@@Sepaedius I'd also say it's B tier. It can be S-tier under the right circumstances (early relic world, rubricator, good research output to get to archeo-weapons early), but for most empires it's literally mid.
Yes, there is nice synergy there
Man Executive vigor really needs some kind of buff. Like a percentage increase to edict instead of +100. Something that helps it counter the edict cost from empire size would be great.
Stellaris is full of features that are legacies of previous builds. They made sense at the time but subsequent updates nerfed them into the ground.
Given how long Montu has called Aquatic an overpowered trait which he hates, I somehow suspect that his F rating for Hydrocentric may be a tactical move to make less people play Aquatic. ^^
I... er... do not recall.
@@MontuPlays
Suuuurrreeee... 😉
It's really the only reason that Hydrocentric is labeled as F-tier. For Aquatics, it's pretty necessary imo.
@@mattseman5682 honestly, I'd switch out of aquatic by midgame/ bring in a new non-aquatic species to do everything
@@MontuPlays Terraforming all planets to ocean is not that much of an investment by mid-game or sooner. And if you go genetic, then changing your entire multi-species populace to aquatic also works quite well. However, I don't play multiplayer and I always think that your tier lists are more MP-centric, rather than for strict single player gamers. :)
I feel personally attacked with the hydrocentric lol. Picking ocean paradise and hydro so I can get a size 33 ecumenopolis is my jam
He calls aquatic crap and gave Mastery of Nature a C. Aquatic is straight up better than mastery of nature.
With the ability to terraform frozen world makes me wonder how many frozen worlds in the average empire of a given system count.
If you combine all the things that can give you free districts on planets you get a size 43 ecu. This includes Hydrocentric, mastery of nature, Expansion, orbital rings. I might be missing a few things but it's nuts.
@@ronabitz5156 The rate's pretty low, at something like 1/6th the rate of Toxic Terraforming candidates. It's useful knowledge to have in your back pocket though, on the offchance you find a perfect chokepoint that you can add an extra Orbital Ring to.
@@MasterElementsadd rimg distric and exspansion +1 bonus xd
I just want to sidenote that Acherotech perk is probably at least A tier when you have Zroni storm caster.
17:15
Montu: "If only we could retrofit our reanimated leviathans with brand new tachyon lances"
Dr. Evil: "I want sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads"
One trick I use EVERY time I get synthetic ascension is to build colony ships just before I finish the project that turns my pops into synths. If a colony ship is building or queued up while you finish the project the pops in the ship will remain as the organic version of those pops. Than colonise those pops and transfer them to your other worlds. You will get the pop growth of your original species AS WELL AS the synthic pop growth. Fastest pop growth in the game.
This still works?
@@caelestigladiiyes tested it 2 days ago. Just make sure the colony ships are building or in a que. If they are already byilt/settling worlds when you complete the project they will become synths.
Make 3-4 vassals, wait for 20-30 game years, integrate one by one. "Steal" their pops except rulers and mechanists (pops on robotic factories), make new vassals when done. Make sure sectore has minerals!
There is a unique thing about the colossus that you didn’t mention in your video. You see, if certain resolutions are passed in the galactic community, it will make all but one of the W class weapons illegal to use. W is the unique weapon type of the Colossus, much like the titans with T slots. The global pacifier is not illegal to use even after these resolutions are passed. It may not be the best weapon to choose, but it can bypass galactic community laws.
Edit: I looked it up more. The rules of war vote at level 3 (independent tribunals) bans all use of everything but the global pacifier. If you want to avoid this, either keep it at level 1 or 2 if you are fine with no world cracker.
I like to do this, and then give me constitutional immunity when I have enough diplomatic weight, so I can be the only empire with a colossus
World Cracker is almost entirely for rp reasons (unleash your inner Galactic Empire). The others all have much more use
-Pacifier can turn fortress worlds into society research
-Sweeper can wipe a planet clean of pops, saving lag and opening you to take the planet while it still retains it's infrastructure
-Devolver turns pops into pre-sapiants to be put in zoos
-Enforcer can make everyone into spiritualists, thus more likely to rebel against non-spiritualist empires
-Nanobeam can instantly assimilate large numbers of pops if you don't want to wait for that
By that point in the game I am done micromanaging my pops and planets anyways. So, just turning the enemy into society research is fine by me.
nuh uh. they cant sanction you if you blow them up first
@@enderman_of_d00m24World cracker can turn planets into mineral production so maybe not entirely useless?
Your tier lists are always great but this one I was particularly impressed by how often you added helpful caveats without doing too much or making the video feel too long (like how hives can use grasp the void better or how toxic god origin gives extra utility to consecrate worlds). Very helpful and good to know I can stop taking extra edict funds
I use BtC to beat 25x crises. I make sure to collect all species, so everyone ascends, and the crisis dies.
I ain't exactly a bad guy but I ain't exactly a good guy
That’s actually such an interesting lore idea!!!
Ok thats a REALLY fun RP idea, makes the "All great works require sacrifice, the rest of the galaxy may not understand, but they will *comply.*" text make more sense
So you embark on the Great Journey...
Lol I have an entire build centered on the Xeno-Compatibility Perk. While mostly for role playing reasons I still found a way to make it useful because it allowed me to create a super species with both Cybernetics and Psionics, as well as several Genetic Ascension traits. It was pretty hilarious. Especially since I also maxed out population growth just so that I could sacrifice any combination of traits I didn’t like using the Death Cult Civic.
i think i am going to steal that. which of the trees did you do yourself and which did you gain from other empires?
If I had to guess I'd say genetic, few AI empires pick it, in my runs anyways. Also Erudite is compatible with psionic and cybernetic which other empires do pick.
Would be nice to mention the DLC you need to get those S-tier perks.
Without Utopia, Megacorp or Synthetic dawn you have only Transcendent Learning option left, and even that have been nerfed (though remained pretty powerful).
Also would be nice to have tooltip on screen during your thoughts about the perk, instead of watching unrelated DLC reels.
Other then that - extremely helpful video, thank you for making it =)
Montu only made this list a month ago and he already needs to make another one lmao
4.0 will ruin this.
It do be like that
Oh no, he'll have to make his 10th video on this same topic! And I can't wait.
Paradox already finishing last testing of complete acsension rework
Wait. Why? Will there be rework?
3.10
I feel so vindicated that I take Transcendent Learning followed by One Vision for my default opening.
I'd say grasp the void is simply better than galactic force projection. GFP gives +80 fleet capacity but 5 extra anchorage star fortresses will give you +180 naval capacity, plus you can put hydroponics bays on them too. The +20 command limit is negligible IMO.
Consider alloy cost tho
@@andreydovbysh7789 If naval cap is an issue by the 3rd ascension perk then one clearly has a lot of alloys to spend.
Consider the destiny trait that gives 50% command limit. You can get a fleet up over 500 command cap and pushing it that extra little bit might be worth it depending on your config
@@onionman8160 still, time and alloy cost make it not so one-sided
I appreciate you giving a nod of recognition to how others might play on some of your takes such as Intersteller dominion. Only note I want to give is on Universal Transactions, again it depends on your playstyle but it is possible to have enough Pacts that it will cut into your influence heavily which makes it more drawn out to get branches out or fail to beat another megacorp to a branch rush on different empires. Again definitely depends on players map size, # of AI, # of planets(I know you hardcore players like your .25 habitable setting...), etc... I think I'd still put it in the C Tier just because of the opportunity cost against other options in the current game patch. However I haven't played a real megacorp run in the paragons era...
This has also made me curious how the upcoming diplomacy changes will affect AI megacorp.
I'd say archeo study deserves a little bit more love as not only it boosts ancient refinery's production, but the main thing for me - if used on menace ships it doesn't spend artifacts at all and doesn't cost any to sustain which is pretty neat
The crisis perk is so overwhelmingly powerful that I believe nothing should be evaluated through the lens of combining it with crisis perk, since everything is broken with it.
Habitat spam is gone
Build a habitat in ebery system you have
Make it make sense montu
Give them some time. They start notificing xD
Grasp the Void is definitely one of my favorites that’s considered on the lower end, but I play Gestalt a lot compared to my friends, so I usually get a bit more use out of it (especially since I naturally play rather peaceful compared to, well, most players.
Everytime Montu post a tier list, a member of the custodian team gets their ~~wings~~ code cleanup list.
I believe that the main benefit of Universal transactions is the ability to get branch offices before your rivals rather than getting a free office out of six.
Detox is more of a how many toxic candidate worlds you have question. And you really can get quite a few in some cases. I've had a few as 4 and as many as 20+ in a wide empire. Meaning that once I got the right perks I could add more large planets than the next biggest empire had in total planets just by taking that perk.
Made it to the secret call out - still confused exactly what to reference when I get to it though. And thanks for the updated video based off of 3.9.
Generalized tier lists like this always sell certain things short. Take Archaeoengineers for example, just sticking that on a random build probably won't help, but if you build around it (maxing out on Archaeostudy councilors, Shoulders of Giants+Baol for max archaeology sites) it becomes game changing.
Thank you for the special congrats and the secret call out. Love your vids Montu!
Still watching at the call-out, Montu, as always! I enjoy the prerogative of being able to do so. :)
Stacking mastery of nature with an orbital ring on an econopulis is busted though. You can get so many alloys and even more trade, it's really strong. And I think mastery of nature gets better over time, because after the first 200 years there are often not many things you can spend influence and energy on. I would rate it B Tier
I feel the various terraforming perks (arc project, hive and machine world, detox) should be rolled into World Shaper, maybe with some tech requirements. Planet types available based on what kind of empire you are.
22:30 Secret callout :)
Re: Executive Vigor. I'm glad you explained the bit with Galactic Paragons, so those of us without that DLC might consider it higher. I understand to make a list like this you kinda need to assume everyone has all the DLC or you'd drive yourself mad, though.
I think Synthetics Path got quite a buff in 3.9. It was one of the worst ascension path for bio-empire in 3.6~3.8, but now, since every other paths got delayed to 4th tradition and you can grab Ascension tech through agenda, Synth path seems quite strong.
Wenn man pops von Nachbarn stiehlt, aber nicht die Pöaneten haben will, kann man sie auch erobern, alle bis auf einen umsiedeln und die fast lernen Planeten verschenken.
I feel like Transcendent learning has been nerfed since this. Experience gain has dropped and only scientist capacity now.
I recommend trying pure Archo-tech once... just once.
So you can experience why you never will touch it again....
I might be a little bitter over the Artifact cost for any quantity of ships, still.
Just become the crisis and enjoy that Menacing ships don't use special resources, so you can cram as many nano missiles on them as you want.
Executive vigor used to be so so powerfull when we had a limited amount of edicts and this perk gave you +2
Now its niche and acceptable at best...
"Greed is eternal!"
I will always love Universal Transactions, especially paired qith Marketplace of Ideas for Unity
Thank you for updating these tier lists as the game evolves :)
Needs some pressure with Become the Crisis. Some sort of risk of becoming Stagnant if you don't keep up / finish the projects to advance tiers in a certain amount of time.
Become the crisis:
Pros : You basically get a free powerup on all fronts with literally no effort, are basically unstopabble in wars and you get resources by simply existing.
Cons : Some species *may* not like dying. They tend to form alliances to stop that.
My last few games I've always taken Transcendent Learning first, yes, hands down. Thumbs up for a great video. Your rankings feel spot on. Resonates perfectly with my playstyle
Sovereign Guardian greatly increases the value of Hydrocentric's increase planetary sea decision.
Concentrate World's comboned with world shapers is kinda good as you can build your own holy worlds. Good for early game unity building.
I like your tier lists, especially how they change with subsequent patches.
Do you plan another videos about ship design (with archaeotechnologies taken into account)? Especially about fleet compositions. The previous ones were great, but now thibgs changed so much
I love how the Xeno compatibility review was just Warhammer 40k montage
"He who allows the Alien to live shares in its crime of existence"
I just wanna say, I'm coming back to stellaris after a break and your tier list videos really helped me!
A lot of the lowe perks don't even need a rework, just increase their numbers. +8 starbases. +3 max districts. Etc
Transcendent Learning now gives +2 scientist capacity and +25% all leaders experience gain. RIP was fun while it lasted
Still probably A or B tier
We may need an update on this one, seeing how some ascension perks have changed around
Thanks for the list
I hope it helps!
I know this will sound totally bonkers, but would you consider making a tier list for the various Stellaris versions? Starting from 1.0 and ending at 3.9, there would be a bazillion things to talk or rant about for the game as it evolved...
The only time I never took Arcology project was when I ended up with 4 relic worlds through events and conquest.
Didn't skipped :) PS : RIP transcendent learning.
Would a follow up video be worthwhile to grade each pick based on the order in which they might be chosen? What are the top 3 traditions for the first pick, the second pick and so forth? And the same for Ascensions. It's easy to get lost in the permutations. I've experimented with not taking some of the typical first and second picks, as they can be off-set by augmenting other tactics. (?)
Hydrocentric is amazing because you get to drown the AI and occupy their planets with no issues
When is the update to add more galaxy shapes coming?
Whenever Montuwu makes one of these ascension/tradition tier lists, I think of that meme with the daughter trying to explain something to her mom and the mom just sits there on the couch, thoroughly unimpressed. :D
Montu: "See? This is why this ascension perk is the best, and why you should always take it!"
Me, a roleplayer: "Whut? Whatcha sayin'? I can't hear u over the sea shanty the fish people are singing as I Increase the size of my capital to 33, and pickling my enemies in salty brine!"
Got the secret shoutout :)
I always listen to F-tier, A+S tier.
B+C tier - the "mid" I skip through a lot, because I am most interseted in the worst and the best and not in the mid-range stuff.
Oh, and I really need to upgrade my worlds next playthrough. I never bothered with Economoplis worlds or whatever.
I think you undersell Lord of War a bit. While yes, one mercenary enclave capacity isn't much in itself, the real kicker is the increased dividends frequency. The ascension perk is the single largest bonus to dividend frequency, and when you build for enclave capacity (with megacorp mercenary civics,) you can rake in a stupid amount of research, alloys, credits, and free ships. It's honestly nuts.
Agreed, the dividends are amazing.
Detox could be fixed by giving it an associated quest. Every time you detox a planet you have a chance of finding some ancient ruins or incredible encounter that starts a quest chain that ends with a big reward.
Otherwise, because of the rarity of toxed planets, it's never going to be worth it.
Consolidating all the terraforming perks into 1 perk is how you fix that. World shaper should unlock Gaia, toxic, Hydrocentric(if main species is aquatic), hive, machine, and ecu for their respective factions. Making it one perk means it's a no brainer to pick and gives players choice. Why should we have to pick 3 different perks with we want Ecu, detox and hydro to maximize our planet's and number of potentially large Ecu?
i always take enigmatic engineering to avoid the chances of giving other empires, especially the ai, assistance on researching better ship components
I liked consecrated worlds back when u could do it on an inhabited planet. it would be nice if that came back and u just can only build temples and nothing else
Disagree with the Archeo Tech perk, it’s highly underrated given it makes the Archeo Refinery produce 5 gas, crystal, and motes.
I normally p1 interstellar dominion. Not always, but I play pn largest galaxy size.
It is really fun colonizing any system for 11 influence
yes, its excelent for conquering empires with right civics and agendas
@@radeksilar543 Montu is a known ID hater though.
Still close to same tier in 3.10? i saw trascenden learning got worse
Looks like Transcendent Learning got hit hard with the nerf bat since this video. :(
Leviathan with frikken Lazer beams on their head!
I am curious where Xeno-Compatability would rank if you could take it for the immigration pull and pop growth speed and only remove the hybrid species being formed.
Lord of War was quite nice for a megacorp I played where I had as many mercenary fleets as possible to give me as many resources as possible, but I'd strictly keep it to that specific type of empire.
With more and more cool ones coming into the game but the limit of only 8 perk slots per game remaining untouched, I feel so tempted to just install one of those mods that lets you pick more for my next game. I’m tired of having to choose between ringworlds, colossi, defender of the galaxy and the ability to terraform Venus after finishing psi/gene/cyborg ascension because I already took the science and archaeotech ones in the opening.
I've always picked Mastery of Nature 1st or 2nd for the additional districts plus the bonus of removing blockers cheaper. I didn't realize it was seen as a bad move
One of my favorite combos for APs is Become the Crisis + Archaeo-Engineers. You get the +33% Archaeo-weapon damage for your Ancient Nano-Missile Swarms, and then you slap those on a bunch of Menacing ships to never pay the Minor Artifact cost. Just do't go past Crisis Level 4 unless you're armed to the gills.
Interstellar Dominion should give you Hyperdrive Cooldown reduction or something else themed around also crossing your larger empire, etc.
Edit: Just combine Interstellar Dominion and Grasp the Void.
I agree there are a bunch of perks they can consolidate.
Has anyone else noticed that AI empires seem to never pick the galactic wonders ascension perk?
I always end up with the dyson sphere and matter decompressor and my economy always just dominates every other empire obssessed with building those somewhat useless science nexuses...
Montu: as you do get more menace and go higher and higher, you simply become... 28:46
Me: The Phantom Menace
the perk which reduce influence is really good at the beginning because it increase speed of exapansion or put down branch office
Lords of war main power is not +1 enclave, but time reduction for payouts. Turns 20 years of waiting into 5 - huge for merc enclaves build (and +1 is one of few sources of max cap). Merc fleets are good thing to have since they need no upkeep to just exist- and ready to fight and die for you the day you pay. Btw if your enclave's fleet is hired you get payouts more often, and even more if it is not you who is hiring them. After all it is what is said in the description - it is not about war, it is about profit (and merc mech armies, we all love mechs).
I like call to actions reminding me to dislike stuff for begging, it really helps me out
Something to note about mechromancy: it is totally useless on determined exterminator currently. Forced extermination prevents reanimation processing. It is a bug one way or another - AP should be disabled for exterminators or it's effect should become possible to use.
They must have fixed it. I’m using right now as a Driven Exterm. It’s pretty much the foundation of my economy
Are you out of your mind? Lord of War is grand for running popless production for any militarist empire, it's like a Dyson Sphere and Matter Decompressor combined that also cranks out battleships.
Tbh I rarely go for arcologies and swarm worlds
Most of the time they feel overkill and I'm doing just fine without them
For the same reason I also often do not get the perk for dyson spheres and blackhole drills
"the main bonus here is that free commercial packs unless you have basically the entire galaxy as your commercial trading
partners and require commercial packs with all of them you're really not going to be suffering that much for influence
making this generally quite unnecessary", yeah actually I got into this exact scenario once, I ran a commercial pact with everyone on a 15? Player galaxy and I built a lot of branch offices, so it was like a b-tier bonus definitely to me imo
5 starbases from Grasp the void gives you like well over double the naval cap of galactic fleet projection. Is the extra 20 fleet cap actually at all impactful?
I think it may be possible for empires that start as machine intelligences to get ecumenopolis and machine worlds by taking the machine world perk, becoming rogue servitors via the galactic community, and taking the arcology project perk
Thank you for redoing an old tier list!!!
Amazing guide! Thank you for your work! ❤
I find that Hydrocentric is a great perk if you're xenophobic and isolationist. Especially if you have a reasonable amount of territory. Detox I disagree with your reasoning on - I encounter an absolute ton of these worlds, the popups are kinda annoying telling me I can do so if I get the perk.
Hydrocentric does have a decent niche case now if you are rocking the Sovereign Guardianship civic since you want a handful of large planets with that build.
still watching Montu! You cant scare me like that in the middle of a video!!! DDD:
IMO Hydrocentric should increase the recourses aquatic species get from Specialist and Ruler jobs. I also think they should change the numbers on the flood habitat decision since they massively decreased the base heapability of habitats in 3.9.
I have to say, it made me quite sad you had consecrate worlds in F tier. I often have play throughs where I have a worlds I just can't use or don't want to use yet so it's a great pick for me. Similarly, if I'm going to be playing an aquatic empire or empire with the knights of the toxic god origin I honestly believe those perks are worth taking. Mostly so that I can use the colossus weapons freely and just recolonize the worlds I dropped into oblivion later. Maybe I just play more for fun than efficiency though.
Also, I really wish they would nerf crisis by forcing you to go into the next stage eventually or be reduced to a worse version of perk called the lesser crisis, or at least include that sort of nerf in the setting. If feels like its just too easy of a choice to just take it and get to stage 4 and stop. If you take that perk you should be put on a timer to actually get the job done instead of just getting mineral ships and some of the most destructively powerful war time benefits in the game forever. If you were forced to say, reach stage 5 and make an enemy of the galaxy within 30 to 40 years suddenly that's less an instant pick. Alternatively, in line with the focus on leaders you end up you have until the end of your current leader life span to actually get the job done. For hive minds suddenly they get a 50 year limit to the current leader because of some strange illness or virus that is taking them over. So, basically it's a 'buff' where future power the leader could one day have it calling to them, improving their potential as an individual and allowing them to guide an endless number of masses towards their dream, but a nerf in the fact it's forcing you to move quickly and not just stall. I'd imagine if the leader dies before you finish, you would get an event chain to either drop it or have the new leader rapidly 'evolve' using whatever previous leader built. During which time all crisis related bonuses are reduced, you can't continue the construction of the main mega structure, and other empires are more likely to attack for sensing weakness.
F Tier is pretty accurate.
Interstellar Dominion--- is actuallly good in a few situation outside of big maps, even on small maps but that depends on several play styles and what you expect to be do in the game your playing. Without preplanned involvement or knowing if you need this for what your doing, it is better to avoid it and take something else. Early game rush grab builds/military take over is one such reason this is good for.
Mastery of Nature- Good only if you have like know you will have 20 plus planets, and are not involved in the Galactic senate that much (using that influence you would of spent on the planets, and you do this pretty early on.)
Normal play setting (the default ones) I can see this Ascension perk being good, on occasions. However I felt planets were too common, and I lower that down when I play. I still have taken this a few times, and about 1 out of 4 times, regretted it. Still if on lower settings, and only feeling bad about it a quarter of the time, this is not a bad perk, it just needs more (or cut the cost of the planet effect in half.) That or allow random positive effects to generate permanently on the planet after use.
Universal Transactions--First I believe this is Mega Corp only, second, that Influence cost removed is actually really really good, and you only need about 5 or more trading partners to make that worth it completely.
This perk is Underrated here but not by much, mainly due to the fact only Mega Corps can get this.
(maybe Merchant guilds civic allows it, not sure)
What it does need is a flat bonus to Trading power on all planets, (aka empire wide bonus). This would make more sense with where it is going, and make it more useful and worth when you have less trading partners.
Grasp the Void-- only useful if your stuck in a small area and you want to compete with a larger empire to get out that you CANT befriend or wont befriend. It could be useful in some late game situations, but usually that is just touch up on starbase points for an extra fleet or so, and to cover up some gaps in defense points that are still somewhat avoidable by enemies anyways but forces them to do jumps. Basically a Win more button, Winning more safely in those late game situations.
Lord of War-- would be really good, if it wasn't so dam hard to setup one without crippling your fleet power early on. let alone setting up two. The fleet power bonus to diplomatic Weight is actually really strong on its own....but that alone is not really worth a slot especially when you dont control ship designs, the cost of ships is not really an issue. Shared Destiny is a better pick overall with similar benefits, without giving up a fleet to setup. (2 Envoy's = 20% Dip Weight basically)
Archaeo-Engineers-- is actually better then you say, though for different reasons then you may expect. The trick that makes the deal is with Archo Shields and armor (shield hardness mostly). You can make some pretty hardy ships with this and with Low minor artifact costs to be reasonable. However, you need to have a certain amount of minor artifact income to make this worth while. So only do this if you have access to such an amount (this is based on map size, and how much you really want to use that tech). Worst case you make one super fleet, with the cool tech and have a few none Archo fleets to engage first/support it. Really its not that bad of a perk. Especially if your a tech rush empire with enough artifact income.
Enigmatic Engineering-- Only useful if A: you pick it early, B: you are super tech rush, C: You really have a plan with whatever weird build you have. This falls off late game but is a cool perk to annoy empires trying to farm your tech rush empires for science.
Galactic Force projection-- *This is bad*, has always been bad, and its very very rarely will work well early game, but even then you wasted a slot to beat ONE empire likely maybe two, vassalizing them is a Half victory in this case for several reasons.
Unfortunately any buffs to this that increase Navy cap by a % would be broken good at the amount you would need to be to make it worth as a Ascension Perk, and Any buff to fleet command is well not really that good at all even tripling this would not really change your fleet power much, all it would do is make it so you need less admirals....which is a double sided sword for again several reasons. Against human opponents this perk is even worse. Seriously the only thing that would be buff-able is making it have upkeep cost reductions
(which we see the dev's are basically removing these, put in a hard cap guys or something geez not that hard to balance cost reductions. Hard caps are good things sometimes, like dodging and tracking system right now.)
One vision--AGREE AGREE AGREE Cant agree enough with you man, this has so many hidden benefits too, though dont take early if your planning on etho's switching your empire as part of your plan/game. Take it a little after that.
Defenders of the Galaxy--was a meh pick before, did not see some of the buff/changes that show here, and knowing that, this is actually a REALLY good pick if your playing the GOOD guys of the Galaxy, or at least Posing as such.
Shared Destiny-- This used to be really bad, Now it is good for runs in general, but a absolute need if your getting lots of subjects!
(two envoy's are basically 20% Dip Weight at least in worse case in galactic senate, )
The rest of your A Tier is pretty spot on.
Quick S Tier comments since I do agree in all but one on this list being S Tier
Synthetic upgrade---First, unless you want to play into this for story/lore reason of your empire, just start off as Machine empire from the get go. Really this is not as good as people say, overrated perk. . I guess its a way to have a Machine empire that co-exists with biologicals, since your not a single mind. Still I find its more of a dipping your foot in the pool of machines strength but having all the same issues machines have with less benefits.
NOT saying its a bad perk but a lower S Tier at best
Archology project--"BAD" this one is a waste/bad For Several Reasons, mostly due to the fact you don't need it if you find a relic world or one already by another that you take. YOU REALLY ONLY NEED ONE OF THESE WORLDS, maybe two if you can afford the upkeep of special resources. You will never really fill this up with pops unless you resettle by force, so you really don't need more then one, habitat spam and ring-worlds are so much better, and the perk for ring-worlds gives two other very strong Mega structures. Simple, you don't have one, spam habitats and ring-worlds, if you do have one in the empire you don't need another anyways, so you don't need this perk. In the systems the habitats are bad in, you build ring-worlds if you can.
F TIER FOR THIS ONE! No even at stronger difficulties, you don't need these, Galactic wonders alone is better for this then 5 of these planets.
Hive and Machine Worlds are super great, and way too good for dozens of reasons. If you have the empire to actually take those perks DO SO!!!!
Become the Crisis-- A little too powerful, and very annoying cause I see 2-5 AI empires take this all the time.....its annoying how often I see this. Its a boring win strategy in solo games, and in multiplayer you just made enemies with all your friends, and will either just win, or lose very quickly.
While in games with 3 or more AI empires as this, it either makes it impossible to stop all of them, or causes chaos in the Senate and AI empires go all weird bonkers forcing wars with all at the same time. While a Real Crisis then takes over the galaxy as the other Empires are distracted.
Like literally, if a AI rushes this and is a strong type of empire already fleet wise, your SOLO game is OVER, you may just not know it yet. Seriously Cap the Number of AI that can take this based on map size, and # of starting empires, and make it so fighting one of these guys does not count as acts to fulfill another empires Become Crisis stuff.
Transcendent Learning---Oh how the FORGOTTEN perk of Uselessness has RISEN! I found this perk before the leader rework and buff of it, was one of the worst, pointless, and awful perks to ever exist. That I honestly forget about it even these days despite the buff that made it actually worthwhile. Yes, as a one of three first picks/choice you really cant go wrong with this perk.
However, I would put this lower S or even High A Tier for a few reasons still, Mainly for certain builds being still slightly stronger, with having a perk slot limit something has to go, and this one sometimes does need to go for those builds. If the Exp gain was 50% or more, I would rethink this opinion.
Mechromancy is S-tier (and probably first pick if you do early war) if you play as Driven Exterminator. It gives you a huge pop increase.
Interstellar dominion is usually the second perk I take. But then, I always play on the largest galaxy size!
I do too but I also play with mods that allow for an ascension path further down the line to allow me for almost instantaneous movement.
I took Hydrocentric with my Ocean Paradise + Angler + Catalytic Processing empire and I was swimming in resources.
Can’t wait to try that build, sounds fun!
Didn't skip... Maybe sweated a little when S-tier did contain the majority of my picks. On the plus side, I had time this last weekend to experiment with the habitat changes and must admit, it is nice. Being so much easier to scale up my habitats when I need to without spending forever researching the upgrade techs is such a relief.