These can even unlock new megastructures like ring worlds or Dyson structures to enhance the population bonuses or power output for your empire. What's more, fully completing a Tradition tree gives a significant boost with an Ascension Perk, giving your empire a status boost. Keeping your people happy and your government running boosts the new resource, Unity, which can be redeemed in one of seven Tradition trees, all of which strengthen your civilization. That may sound extreme, but that's because there's a new focus on civics in Utopia: More political factions and causes arise, forcing you to appease their interests to ensure your society works. For example, if you gain a new alien planet (whether by conquest or border expansion) with an alien species different from yours, you can now decide things like whether you're going to grant them full citizenship, enslave them, or purge them outright. This expansion adds more complexity to the deep strategy game, making it a richer, more challenging, and more partisan universe than before. The choice is up to you, but will your choices lead your people to a utopia among the stars? Show more

If that's not appealing, you can always play as a hive mind and simply bend the population to your will outright. There's also a hefty focus on political adjustments and tweaks, such as setting the rights of cultures and species within your borders and dealing with the ethics of rival factions within your government. Utopia also includes things like Megastructures, gigantic solar system-changing platforms like the ability to create ring worlds, which can provide loads of space for your population. Traditions are societal goals that provide boosts to your planets and allow you to gain massive advances in tech for your species. The expansion brings in a number of updates, such as a new resource called Unity (based on governing and monuments to your culture), which can be spent on acquiring Traditions.

STELLARIS: UTOPIA is the first expansion pack for Stellaris, a space-faring game where players take command of a species as it tries to expand its control of the galaxy.

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