Ruling A Galactic Society Isn't Easy

Traditions have incredibly powerful effects in Stellaris, they grant huge bonuses to research, production, growth, and military. But the order you unlock these bonuses can spell conquest or disaster for your galactic ambitions. If you’ve ever wondered what the best traditions to choose are then look no further, we have the answers.

Here are the 5 best traditions, those filthy Xenos won't know what’s coming.

Starting with...

5. Discovery 

You have encountered the great Blorg Collective, resistance is futile, and we will be friends.

Discovery is a top first pick in most strategies. It’s all about research and exploration, having a boost to science in the early game can be a ginormous boon to your species. You can’t claim territory until you’ve surveyed it, and this lets you know what’s out there faster than your competitors. The research bonuses are mild at first, giving you a little boost to the next tech you need but scaling up to be massive in the late game.

Choose discovery if you want to either boost your research capabilities early on or give yourself a leg up when exploring the galaxy,  enabling you to colonize the juiciest territories for yourself.

Why is the Discovery tradition great? 

• Faster research and quicker exploration right from the get-go are great for the majority of early game strategies
• The Discovery tree has awesome early game bonuses and effects that scale well into the late game

What do you get for completing the Discovery tradition?

• 25% Bonus to surveying speed lets you discover the best uncharted territory near your starting planet
•  +1 Extra research alternatives mean you get access to more powerful tech even faster 
• +20% Extra research production from stations and starbase buildings – which scales as your empire grows! 
•  +20% Cheaper researcher upkeep
• +2 Researcher level caps, for the ultimate mad scientists 
• Unlocks the researcher subsidies edict
• Finishing effect grants a 10% boost to research speed 

4. Expansion 

"We have more friends, and now we need more space" - Great Blorg Friendship Consortium

In Stellaris, your most valuable resource is your population. A larger population means more workers, a larger workforce means more output and a stronger economy. What good are factories and ships if you don’t have enough people to run them?

Expansion is another solid early game pick, bonuses to your colonies' population growth speed, and gaining an extra pop each time you settle in a new world is not to be taken lightly. Pick expansion if you want to develop your colonies quickly and gain more territory for your empire at a faster rate. 

Why is the Expansion tradition great? 

• Bonuses to pop growth speed and colony development lets you build more colonies, much faster
• Cheaper starbases mean you can go for a land grab at a cheaper cost
• More population earlier on makes a huge difference in the early game

What do you get for completing the Expansion tradition? 

• 25% Increase in colony development speed right off the bat 
• -10%  in starbase influence cost, good in the early game because influence is hard to come by
• +1 extra pop on new colonies, giving them a great starting advantage 
• -25% Empire Sprawl from systems and colonies under your control, letting you control more territory without it negatively impacting you 
• -20% starbase upkeep 
• +10% Pop growth speed (assembly speed if machine intelligence), quicker growth means more pops in the long run 
• Finishing effect includes: +1 habitable zones for everyone apart from void dwellers, -20% habitat build cost if a void dweller

3. Prosperity 

The Blorg Collective didn't realize friends were so expensive...

Prosperity is all about enhancing your economy, before version 3.1 Prosperity was generally considered a weak tradition tree, but not so anymore. Recent revamps have turned this into a solid top 5 pick. Your economy is the lifeblood of your empire, it also gives you the resources to develop, expand, research new technologies, and maintain a more powerful military. Anything you can do to enhance your economy is always a good move.

Generally speaking, prosperity is not usually picked first, but it should be one of the first 3 or 4 trees you spec into as the bonuses it gives to your economy are insane. It’s an easy way of beefing up your economy, and it’d be foolhardy not to take advantage of that.

Pick Prosperity to strengthen your economy and squeeze more production out of your pops. 

Why is the Prosperity tradition great? 

• Direct bonuses to your worker output are the strongest bonuses in the game currently, prosperity hands you this buff on a silver platter
• This tradition is full of output bonuses and cost reductions, making everything cheaper and upping its production

What do you get for completing the Prosperity tradition? 

• +20% Mining station output as an initial effect 
• -10% Building and district upkeep
• -10% building and district build cost AND a +25% increase to planet build speed
• +5% Specialist worker/complex drone output 
• 1-5 Clerks (amount of clerks depends upon building) or +5% monthly energy credits for Gestalt Consciousness 
• 1-5 extra housing (+1 for a district, +3 for an arcology, +5 for a city segment only if you’re NOT a void dweller) or +1 habitat building slot if you are a void dweller 
• The finishing effect is +5% resources from jobs and a +5 bonus to planet stability

2. Unyielding

The Blorg Collective doesn't need you to "liberate" its friends! They're perfectly happy!

Unyielding is devoted to all things defense and starbases. A somewhat recently introduced tradition tree, it can radically alter how quickly you can build defenses. Depending upon the situation you are in, unyielding can be a good early pick. If you’re playing as a relatively pacifist empire but are surrounded by devouring swarms or fanatical purifiers you’ll need to grab this sooner rather than later, or your unlucky space friends might find themselves becoming lunch

Unyielding is fantastic for shoring up your defenses once you’ve expanded, especially if you’re playing it slow and turtling up. This tradition can give you the time you need to snowball out of control. If you’re surrounded by hostile neighbors it can dissuade them from making a move in the early game. 

Why is the Unyielding tradition great? 

• Bonuses to starbase capacity and upgrade time allow you to shore up any choke points in your empire 
• Ship bonuses and resistance bonuses give you the advantage in a defensive war, allowing you to outlast the enemy or replace your ships faster than an aggressor can reinforce their fleets 

What do you get for completing the Unyielding tradition? 

• +2 Starbase capacity and 50% starbase upgrade speed as an adoption effect
• +25% Defense Army Health and +3 unity per stronghold
• +33% To starbase and defense platform health, +33% to starbase and defense platform damage
• -25% Orbital bombardment received, -25% war exhaustion gain, and +25% influence cost on the owned system (making your territory more expensive to claim as a war goal) 
• An extra +2 to starbase capacity (total of 4 extra starbases!), -50% to starbase upgrade cost, +4 hostile operation difficulty cost for sabotage starbase
• +15% to your ships when they’re within your borders, a whopping +33% to ship build speed when in a defensive war
• As a finisher effect, you get +50% defense platform cap  and -20% starbase upkeep

Supremacy

"Sometimes people don't want to be friends, but that's why we have guns". - Blorg intergalactic policy

As general Kenobi once famously quipped, a good defense is often a swift and decisive offense. Supremacy is all about enhancing your empire's military prowess. Even the most peaceful of pacifists need a strong military to deter aggressors and defend their homes. Some empire types won’t stop attacking you no matter what, so you’ll need a strong fleet to do some “aggressive negotiations”.

Supremacy enhances your fleet's strength and gives you bigger fleets, plus better armies. The bonuses are too good to pass up. Regardless of your strategy, you’ll need to take this tradition sooner or later, if you want to start wars early on, supremacy is an easy first pick to jump-start your military and start kicking some xeno behinds.

Even the most peaceful races will need to take this tradition at some point, or the more aggressive empires will chew them up. 

Why is the Supremacy tradition great? 

• Bonuses to your ships and armies give you the edge you need to win wars or prevent yourself from losing territory and colonies to aggressive neighbors
• The finishing effects of supremacy give big bonuses to fleet strength 
• You can build bigger fleets, more quickly, which means you can eliminate rivals and control more space faster 
• Also scales with civics and tech, taking this in the early game as a fanatic purifier will make your fleets nigh on unstoppable

What do you get for completing the Supremacy tradition? 

• +20% Bonus to naval capacity and army damage on adoption 
• -10% Ship build cost and +25% ship build speed
• -10% Ship upkeep and +20% naval capacity
• +10% Ship fire rate and +20%, fleet command limit, and +20% orbital bombardment damage
• +20 Fleet command limit and +2 admiral level cap
• +20% Damage against starbases
• The finishing effect unlocks war doctrines (doctrines you can select which give permanent bonuses to your fleets) and also unlocks the supremacy diplomatic stance

End Of The Road

That’s the end of our guide on the top 5 traditions you can pick in Stellaris. There are other traditions available but they just aren’t as strong as the above, or they only shine in very niche strategies. However, Stellaris is a complex game, with many moving pieces.

Below are some other fantastic tips and guides to help you conquer the galaxy. 

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