Summary
Despite being real-time and turn-based, respectively,StellarisandCivilizationare franchises with a lot in common. Starting from humble beginnings, players gradually build their Civilization into a great empire. It’s not just borders that change, either, and both games give players opportunities to shape their people’s cultures over hundreds or thousands of years. In some ways,Stellarisalmost feels like it could have been a sequel toCivilization, showing a successful civ branching out into the wider galaxy.
Most of these similarities are becauseStellarisandCivilizationare 4X games, a genre thatCivplayed a significant role in shaping. However, whileStellarisstands onCivilization’s shoulders, it also introduces plenty of its own ideas. Firaxis should pay attention since some of these features could make great additions toCivilization 7.
Civilization 7 Could Learn from Stellaris' Pops and Factions
StellarisandCivilization 6represent an empire’s inhabitants as pops and Citizens, respectively. Each Citizen or pop represents a segment of the population rather than an individual. WhileCiv 6Citizens essentially fill the role of generic worker units in other strategy games,Stellarispops have a lot more demographic information. This includes their species, job, social class, political leanings, and more. Each pop has an individual happiness rating, contributing to a planet’s average happiness. They will also join political Factions matching their ideology and sometimes even immigrate to other empires.
Species don’t apply toCivilization 7, but culture could.Civ 6sort of models culture through the City Loyalty mechanicbut could expand it by tracking the cultures of individual Citizens. This would allowCivilization 7to represent large, multi-ethnic empires more accurately, rather than portraying them as the monocultures they appear to be in previousCivgames.
Meanwhile, giving citizens different ideologies and social classes and letting them form and join Stellaris-inspired factions would create a new layer of politics inCivilization 7. It would provide players with a new system to navigate and create opportunities to manipulate the internal politics of rival nations.
Stellaris Takes an Interesting Approach to Government and Ideology
Speaking of politics,Stellaris’ governments are much more fleshed out thanin Civilization.Civilization 6has 13 forms of Governmentwith the Gathering Storm DLC. Each is a broad archetype representative of powerful states in their corresponding Era. Meanwhile,Stellarissplits government into three variables: Ethics, Authority, and Civics, corresponding to ideology, distribution of power, and ingrained institutions. The latter are distinct from policies, which are much easier to change.
Stellaris’ system still has limitations, such as not distinguishing between a state’s official ideology and its leaders’ behavior. It’s also debatable how capableStellaris’ Ethics is at representing the idiosyncrasies of real-life political philosophies.
However,Civilizationshouldn’t dismissStellaris’ three-tiered approach to government systems out of hand.Firaxis could improveCivilization 7by creating a similar system that gives governments variable Philosophies, Authorities, and Institutions. The first would represent the state’s official ideology and from where it draws legitimacy. Authority determines whether power is held by many, few, or one, with Institutions covering everything else. This would open the door for political systems that aren’t present in theCivilizationgames.
Stellaris’ Vassals and Federations Are a Great Fit for Civ 7
WhileCiv 6only lets players become the suzerain of city-states,Stellarisallows sufficiently powerful empires to vassalize weaker ones through various means.Civilization 4had a similar vassalage system, potentially opening the door for vassals to return inCivilization 7. If so, Firaxis may want toexamineStellaris’ Overlord DLC, which expanded the system by introducing a more comprehensive range of vassal-suzerain relationships.
Federations are another important feature inStellaris' diplomacy, showcasing multilateral agreements between two or more at least nominally equal partners and representing much closer relationships than a regular alliance or trade agreement. Examples of Federation types include Martial Alliances, Galactic Unions, and Hegemonies, corresponding to real-world associations like NATO, the EU, and the Warsaw Pact. Therefore, it’s easy to see how such a system would benefitCivilization 7from both a strategic and historical simulation perspective.
