One of the most important aspects of running an empire in Stellaris is effectively managing your resources.
Some of the resources that need to be managed in-game are: Energy, Food, Alloys, Research, Minerals, and Influence.
Recommended Read: How to Hire Mercenaries in Stellaris
Influence is a representation of your political might in the galaxy. So what can we spend our Influence on in Stellaris?
You can spend your influence in Stellaris on building outposts, making claims on other systems, planetary management decisions, building megastructures, diplomatic pacts upkeep, modifying subject agreements, and integrating subjects.
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What to do with influence in Stellaris
Influence acquisition is mostly linear throughout a Stellaris playthrough. It enables you to do some of the coolest stuff in the game.
There are a lot of things you can do with Stellaris. These are the different things you can spend it on:
- Building Outposts
- Making Claims on Other Systems
- Planetary Management Decisions
- Building Megastructures
- Diplomatic Pacts Upkeep
- Modifying Subject Agreements
- Integrating Subjects
Building Outposts
To expand your empire, you need to take control of other star systems.
You want to do this before other empires can get their filthy alien mandibles on them. Building an outpost has a base cost of 100 alloys and 75 influence.
The further away a system is from your empire, the more influence you will need to build the outpost.
Make Claims
So those pesky aliens built an outpost before you? Do not worry. You can spend your influence to make claims on those systems which rightfully belong to you.
Claims have a base cost of 50 and are modified by: the distance between empires, if the system has a Starbase, if the system is colonized, you are already at war, and if the system belongs to a rival.
Claims allow you to go to war with other empires, and if victorious, you take all systems you have claims on.
Planetary Management Decisions
During your games, you will need to use the decision mechanic to maximize a planet’s output.
Decisions are projects your planets enact to provide a variety of modifiers.
Some but not all of these decisions require influence: Decisions that increase the size of the planet and galactic market hub nominations.
Decisions are a one-off influence cost, and the planet will begin working on it as soon as it is able.
Building Megastructures
Call me Lord Farquad if you want, but Megastructures are my favorite part of Stellaris.
Some megastructures incur an influence cost on top of a massive investment in materials.
Here is a list of all the megastructures you need to spend influence on: Gateway Construction, Hyper Relays, Orbital Habitats, Orbital Rings, Ring Worlds, Aethrophasic Engine, and Quantum Catapults.
Diplomatic Pacts Upkeep
The galaxy is wrought with danger, the savvy player will conduct diplomacy with other space-faring empires. Aliens that you are in positive relations with may agree into entering pacts.
All the pacts and treaties have a monthly influence cost attached to them, ranging from -0.25 to -1.
The agreements you can enter are: Non-Aggression Pact, Research Agreement, Commercial Pact, Migration treaty, Defensive Pact, and Form federation.
Modifying Subject Agreements
Owners of the Overlord DLC have many more options available to them when it comes to vassals. When you take on a vassal; both master and subject enter into an agreement.
This agreement is not always one way, and both parties must adhere to the terms.
Well, what if these terms don’t suit you anymore? Using influence, we can alter the terms of the deal to better suit us. If we are feeling extra nice, we can even change the terms to benefit our vassal too.
Integrating Subjects
Keeping with the Overlord DLC, another option you have is to integrate a vassal into your empire. You may need to modify your subject agreement before this is available to you.
Integrating a subject takes a long time and will cost you:- 50 + number of pops + (10 x number of planets).
You pay for this monthly in 5 influence per month chunks. When you have paid the full cost, the subject then becomes part of your empire. All their planets, fleets, artifacts, and pops are now yours to do with as you see fit.
Influence is the great enabler in Stellaris. The coolest mechanics of the game are often locked behind an influence paywall.
Some players try to hoard influence, but I like to find ways to spend mine. Don’t be afraid to splurge your influence if you need to or if you just feel like it.
That’s what to do with influence in Stellaris!
If you have any suggestions for this guide, please let us know in the comments section. Good luck with your next space empire.