In an effort to be a more regular writer about things I enjoy and hopefully get back to creating things that are enjoyed by others I’m going to try to write more regularly about my current special interest, Stellaris. This is a me talking about some of the fun empires I’ve had through the years.

Last time we talked about the Dick Slugs. This was a retrospective to one of my favorite empires of all times. This time we’re talking about the Jellyfish ocean people. There are three truths for the Jellyfish empire.

• First, you must use the Ocean Paradise origin. This locks you into using aquatic creatures and requires some DLC.
• Second, you need to pick the pirate names (Aquatic 2) because getting “Big Esmeralda” as your Prime Minister is INCREDIBELY fun.
• Third, you need to pick the best portrait in the game, the Jellyfish people.

More so than any other species portrait these jellyfish portray a sense of calmness, serenity, and wisdom that can only properly be reflected under the leadership of Barnacle Zamira. You’re playing a spiritual empire in touch with the ocean and advocating for the protection of Tiyanki with Peg-Leg Pete making the impassioned plea to the galactic council. Big Esmeralda is boosting the single light of science. I LOVE IT. Unlike some of the earlier portraits the Jellyfish people have a nice blue, green, and red coloration that lets them feel a bit individual and not completely palette swapped. Even better, about 30% of the time there is a graphical bug where the jellyfish look like they are jacking off when you’re part of a federation.

Designing an Empire

Even though you only need three things for the Jellyfish people I typically choose some combination of egalitarian with fanatical spiritualist or fanatical materialist. I almost always pick a parliamentary system and democratic government because why wouldn’t my jellyfish have a nice society with all of the abundance? You’re already using a tall play style for the first 30-50 years since you don’t know if you’re even going to get a planet that is suitable and unlike other starts a similar planet (jungle or continental) isn’t worth starting a colony on. This is especially true in 4.0 with the changes to growth and habitability that don’t restrict population growth to a single pop over the course of several months. The below empire has me choosing ascensionist to get the first level but I think simple choices like functional architecture or Beacon of Liberty really work well. It has been extremely hard to not pick Technocracy if I’m playing a materialist.

I’ve never enjoyed using Anglers or Catalytic Converters as civics in the game and think that I missed out on a trade focused game in 3.14. Inward Perfection is another civic that I really love most of the time but often times the ability to interact with other empires and get rivals is an important part of playing what is essentially a single planet run for the beginning of your run.

My third civic is often one that reduces the impact of population or helps with diplomacy. Before, in 3.14 it was always Masterful Crafters to get those additional city slots. If the AI was better I might feel the need to use Civic Education as I love the idea of my jellyfish loving to educate everyone.

While other aquatic species might have a harder edge and go fighting, I can’t imagine my Jellyfish doing anything that isn’t chilling, growing, and planning to distribute more water. I’ve tried some real pirate themed games with Barbaric Despoilers but the xenophobic/militaristic traits don’t fit with my image of the jellyfish people.

Species Traits And Growth

I particularly like some of the new aquatic species traits like Chromalogs or Egg Laying. Egg Laying is such a flavorful trait for my Jellyfish I can’t help but want to pick it each time. I’ve often picked non-adaptive to balance out the cost of aquatic and by getting a second downside trait (like unruly or repugnant) won’t have a huge impact in 4.0 stellaris and can be removed pretty easily later on.

Prior to Biogenesis I would psionic ascension because it just felt right. The little purple dot and ability to communicate through telepathy just felt how they would grow even if they loved science and materialism. Now, with all the changes to genetics, it’s hard not to go down the purity path for the additional traits, stronger leaders, and ability to give everyone the aquatic trait.

Sometimes it can be hard to get other species to appreciate the joys and bounty of the sea. Unlike other empires a migration treaty doesn’t help you settle more land because you’re likely going to be making any future planet an ocean world. One nice benefit is that with the new 4.0 you can “smuggle” or liberate a population that already has an ocean preference.

Ocean Paradise

Due to the limitation of Stellaris as a function game for many people I’m often using a tall build and Ocean Paradise is so much fun for a chill game. You start with 30 districts, no slums, and the ability to add 7 districts between crashing frozen asteroids into your oceans and building the ridiculous orbital ring. Having a single large planet, blasting through unity, and getting the bonus’s for being ascended early feels great. It’s extremely easy to have a very low empire sprawl and keep up with the science/technology curve.

The lack of the two additional ocean worlds is a big downside but when you randomly get a gaia world or ocean planet nearby it feels so good. You’re going to want to find a few larger planets that can be turned into ocean worlds even if you continue to grow and support an empire on a single world. It is very difficult to max out the capacity of your first planet. Even better, with the changes to 4.0, you have the ability to rush/make sure you pick up the ability to terraform planets pretty early. This makes picking traditions much easier as Hydrocentric can be unlocked as your second ascension perk giving you a very clean start to the game.

Hydrocentric is such an important part of playing jellyfish people that it shouldn’t need to be talked about but I will. You get a bonus to all of your aquatic traits, the ability to increase the planet size of ocean worlds, and cheaper terraforming into ocean worlds. The biggest and best benefit is unlocking the Deluge colossus weapon. When you’re ready to commit genocide and transform the galaxy into an ocean you can confidently power up, destroy a planet, and settle a fresh new ocean. I love using it on fallen empires so much.

While I haven’t min-maxed this start in 4.0 it feels better since population growth can be increased by dropping luxury condos and you just don’t run out of districts. There is plenty of time to build up a single planet that is urbanized underwater and just increase your production. A single planet empire under an imperial authority gets a huge bonus.

Traditions and Ascension

Traditions almost always start with Unyielding/Supremacy with bit of Discovery mixed in if I really want to see what is out there early. I think that there are powerful builds based on Mercantile and Statecraft but I used those so much in the prior versions of the game that I want to see something new. While Adaptive is not the best for min/maxing getting it to unlock terraforming to get Hydrocentric as a second pick is extremely nice. Finally, I decide between Domination/Harmony/Prosperity and have recently subbed out Politics for Diplomacy because you can unlock federations with tech.

I’ve had some thoughts on Unyielding and think it pairs particularly well with the Jellyfish people. It makes a nice first opening play since our expanding is fairly limited and growth is going to come from developing our ocean paradise. I do think that this build rewards a strong diplomatic and federation game and any of the standard picks to keep down population (harmony, domination, statecraft) are always good.

Ascension perks almost always include Hydrocentric, Master Builders, Galactic Wonders, and the Colossus project. Combined with your ascension pick and you’re left with five possible choices. I’m pretty sure the next game I play I’ll be picking Xeno-Combatibility and using xenophile instead of equalitarian to see how much population I can put on my ocean worlds. Mastery of Nature is fun for a very RP centric build and there is the potential to make the largest planet possible if you combine it with adaptation and expansion.

Final Thoughts

Nobody reads this blog so I’m safe to put up a draft and come back to it later. This is by far my favorite empire type to play and I love how many different little variations and experiments I can make. Stellaris punishes you for going wide and the slowdown in the game makes play after a certain point just not fun. My jellyfish people are fun and can be played over and over again with slight changes refreshing them. I’ve very happy that the origin wasn’t damaged in the transition to 4.0 and look forward to playing them soon.