Use of the shroud?

[Malaficus Shaikan]

In my current game i am visiting the shroud but it seems to be a wasted effort.
The "rewards" are so laughtable there not worth the risk.

Compaire to synth(mass immortality and production bonuses) or genetic modification(creating perfect spieces)

Why would anyone use the shroud outside of roleplaying or being a masochist?

[Dakota]

Spiritualists also get some other bonuses such as being psychics which boosts all of their leaders and provides some extra buildings and other stuff. The shroud is a gamble but generally in your favor, can get some bonus fleets that can be powerful early on but useless late game, can get a chosen one leader who is really good at stuff but is still just one guy, there's a bunch of little bonuses you can get for your faction but yet also potentially debuffs if you are unlucky, you can even steal tech from fallen empires, or fail and have them hate you. I don't know the exact math on all of it and its still a risk, I just prefer doing the other ascension routes generally but have played around a little with spiritualist ascension.

[Madcain]

its been a while, but when i last played that path it gave me some nice rewards.

like the psionic jump drive

some kind of archon that won my wars on its own in the early game.

but the jump drive alone was what made it worth it

[HugsAndSnuggles]

Best ship modules, obviously. Psi is the only path that give buffs to fleets, making it the best choice for game focused on warfare. Production bonuses are additive, making them increasingly useless as the game progresses.

[Champin Playr]

It can give you massive bonuses to Energy, Research, Ships speed, attack speed etc. Also, you can get awesome techs and mighty Avatar at your disposal. Oh, yea, and you can also get God Emperor. Shroud is very fun thing

[peterebbesen]

PSI leaders are great at all roles and PSI pops are nicely productive, but you can get that, and get it better, with other ascensions.

The main difference being that unlike the other ascensions you don't need to engage in an expensive project to transform your existing main race POPs - just pick the ascension perks and you are good to go.

Where PSI stands out is that the major part of its power relies on gambling. Gambling where the odds are stacked in your favour, but gambling.

Fortunately, while sometimes the gamble of piercing the shroud doesn't work out or has mild detrimental effects, and while most of the times when it does work out "all" you get is a mediocre empire wide bonus (which incidentally is nothing to scoff at), you have to be really, really, unlucky to not also get some of the powerful shroud rewards so long as you are persistent.

And the powerful shroud rewards are so very, very, powerful.

A shroud avatar can be extremely powerful if you get in the early game (but is outclassed by mid-/late game fleets), but the other great rewards are always highly valuable. You can get the best shields or the best jump drives, a leader can gain immortality (and rule the empire as your Chosen One god emperor if you so desire), or you can form a covenant with one of the major powers of the shroud providing you truly outrageous empire-wide rewards in return for letting it meddle a bit with your empire. Don't be scared away by the names of these powers, they mean well. Mostly.

(Or in the case of the extremely rare opportunity of forming a covenant with the End of the Cycle, meddle rather a lot if you don't hurry up, but don't say you weren't warned in that case. The game explicitly warns you not to form a covenant, but it is the only way to face the most deadly endgame crisis in the game, so go ahead and sign...)

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by peterebbesen:

snip

I disagree.
The rewards are lack cluster and the cost is way higher.
1000 energie every time you want to talk to the shoud, getting your population kidnaped(or a leader) on a fail, psionic sheilds and jump drives arent that much better then there materialst counter part(they are but not by much)
I havent gotten a shroud avatar yet.

Genetic's can give you the best pop's in the game with no downside's(long live, hyper breeding researchers for example)
Synthetic's got good stats and allow you to get rid of the food resourse requirment.

In comparision gambling with the lives of my subjects for minnor upgrade's that have the same result as synth by default seem rather..... expensive.

[Spirit]

the shroud is usefull ... i got psionic shields and precognition interfaces from there
another bonus to be a psionic is that the contingency is unable to infiltrate your society for sabotage actions

[peterebbesen]

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

Originally posted by peterebbesen:

snip

I disagree.
The rewards are lack cluster and the cost is way higher.
1000 energie every time you want to talk to the shoud, getting your population kidnaped(or a leader) on a fail, psionic sheilds and jump drives arent that much better then there materialst counter part(they are but not by much)
I havent gotten a shroud avatar yet.

Genetic's can give you the best pop's in the game with no downside's(long live, hyper breeding researchers for example)
Synthetic's got good stats and allow you to get rid of the food resourse requirment.

In comparision gambling with the lives of my subjects for minnor upgrade's that have the same result as synth by default seem rather..... expensive.

I'm surprised by your "I disagree" statement as you don't actually seem to disagree with anything I wrote.

For anybody who wants certainty of power (after an upgrade process), psionics is clearly the wrong ascension to pursue, which is why I stated up front that it was a gamble.

Psionics are for when you are willing to gamble with the shroud, for when you want the power of the psionic trait up front without the fuss of having to invest in a project to convert your race like the other ascensions, and for roleplaying. It is not for the timid or those that want guarantees of.

And as noted, rewards can be anything from a curse to a minor boon that doesn't aid you much to a useful strong boon that's just what your empire needs all the way up to the exceptionally rarely seen +100% minerals, energy, food, unity, research speed, fleet cap you gain from forming a covenant with the End of the Cycle. (At which point you'd better win the game within 50 years, for there will be a reckoning..)

And you might get PSI jump drives early in the game, much earlier than you can research the inferior normal version, or you might get it late in the game where it will be an upgrade to your jump drive, but won't have the same impact as getting it early, or you might never get it at all.

Likewise with the PSI shields or precognitive interface, and likewise with the Covenant option.

So I can certainly understand a conservative playing style that prefers not to make any unnecessary gambles and concludes that the guaranteed outcome ascension paths are preferable.

But don't deny the power of the boons.

Like wars? +40% sublight speed, +50% shield hit points, +20% weapon damage, +20% fire rate, and +30% evasion are all regular shroud bonuses. (As is -30% ship upkeep)

Peaceful development? +25% happiness, +20% research speed, +50% governing ethics attraction, +30% monthly unity, +40 years increased lifespan for all leaders.

Unpredictable, certainly, and often the ones you are offered are not the ones that would be most useful to you, but not lackluster.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by peterebbesen:

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

I disagree.
The rewards are lack cluster and the cost is way higher.
1000 energie every time you want to talk to the shoud, getting your population kidnaped(or a leader) on a fail, psionic sheilds and jump drives arent that much better then there materialst counter part(they are but not by much)
I havent gotten a shroud avatar yet.

Genetic's can give you the best pop's in the game with no downside's(long live, hyper breeding researchers for example)
Synthetic's got good stats and allow you to get rid of the food resourse requirment.

In comparision gambling with the lives of my subjects for minnor upgrade's that have the same result as synth by default seem rather..... expensive.

I'm surprised by your "I disagree" statement as you don't actually seem to disagree with anything I wrote.

For anybody who wants certainty of power (after an upgrade process), psionics is clearly the wrong ascension to pursue, which is why I stated up front that it was a gamble.

Psionics are for when you are willing to gamble with the shroud, for when you want the power of the psionic trait up front without the fuss of having to invest in a project to convert your race like the other ascensions, and for roleplaying. It is not for the timid or those that want guarantees of.

And as noted, rewards can be anything from a curse to a minor boon that doesn't aid you much to a useful strong boon that's just what your empire needs all the way up to the exceptionally rarely seen +100% minerals, energy, food, unity, research speed, fleet cap you gain from forming a covenant with the End of the Cycle. (At which point you'd better win the game within 50 years, for there will be a reckoning..)

And you might get PSI jump drives early in the game, much earlier than you can research the inferior normal version, or you might get it late in the game where it will be an upgrade to your jump drive, but won't have the same impact as getting it early, or you might never get it at all.

Likewise with the PSI shields or precognitive interface, and likewise with the Covenant option.

So I can certainly understand a conservative playing style that prefers not to make any unnecessary gambles and concludes that the guaranteed outcome ascension paths are preferable.

But don't deny the power of the boons.

Like wars? +40% sublight speed, +50% shield hit points, +20% weapon damage, +20% fire rate, and +30% evasion are all regular shroud bonuses. (As is -30% ship upkeep)

Peaceful development? +25% happiness, +20% research speed, +50% governing ethics attraction, +30% monthly unity, +40 years increased lifespan for all leaders.

Unpredictable, certainly, and often the ones you are offered are not the ones that would be most useful to you, but not lackluster.

Sorry i misread your post then.

[Boonj]

When I got the ascension perk i didn't have the building, so had to exit, but now i have the building i can't find how to get the pop up again... Anyone able to advise please?

[OuchThatHurt]

psi shield Jump drive and troopers can be real fun but honestly ....Synth or Engineering organics always feels better later in the game.

Now the worm in waiting that can be a really powerful quest line if you got a home system with a lot of crap planets ......they can all become habitible ;)