How does Claiming Territory work??

[ʋǟɛʟօʀ]

Hi guys. For the very life of me I can not seem to work out to how to claim conquered systems! In my first game I had occupied every enemy world but I accidentally clicked Surrender instead of Achieve War Goals or Settle Status Quo, and it ruined my entire game as I was playing on Ironman mode.

Now I've come to my second game and another successful war campaign, but at no point before or during the war was I able to Claim any worlds. I have read a bunch of threads on Steam, Paradox forums and Reddit about claiming worlds in wartime, and most say that it's cheaper/better to claim the worlds you want before you go to war, and that you can only claim worlds you occupy. But none of them I found say anything about how to claim worlds in the first place, leaving me wondering if it's so stupidly obvious that nobody needed to explain it, or if there's a bug in my game?

I'm too scared to pull the trigger on my Status Quo demand because I'm playing on Ironman once again and if I don't get any worlds because I haven't claimed them yet I'll be crushed. Please halp!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2805894497

[IPWIW]

so what happen to the "make claim" button in diplomacy screen?

[Elitewrecker PT]

Go to the diplomacy window of an empire you want to claim systems of.
Click make claims.
Select the system(s) you want to claim.
Pay the cost.
Occupy those systems completely.
Go for status quo or full victory.
If status quo, make sure the enemy isn't occupying any system they have claimed either.

[MP]

The screenshot is of a Surrender, though, not of Status Quo popup. Hover over there and see what it says.

[Half Phased]

There’s 2 way to make claims.

Firstly, on the diplomacy screen with another empire there is the “manage claims” button. This will take you to the galaxy map, there’s a new box on the screen that will list each system you have claims on, and a “make claims” button at the bottom. Each system will have a hexagon next to it. Green symbolizes that you have the influence to claim it, blue symbolises that you already have a claim on it (or will do once you hit the make claims button) and grey means that you cannot afford to make a claim.

This method is useful as it only show claims on that particular empire, meaning less information cluttering your the list.

The second method is to go the bar on the left hand side of the screen and click on the claims button. This will bring up the same claims list as above and the same hexagons on the galaxy map, but for all empires at once. This method is best for plotting total galactic domination and/or the butchering of an entire federation at once.

Edit: there is a 3rd way. In every system controlled by another empire, in the system view there’s a little button with a “+” to the left of the empire flag at the bottom middle of the screen. This will place a claim on the system as well. By far the most micro intensive way.

[PlutonArioch]

On the left side of your screen you have a bunch of menus. One of them is the "Claims" menu, which you can open at any time to make claims wherever you want. (Its the third up from the bottom)
Another option is to click on "Make Claim" in the diplomacy screen when talking to the empire you want to make claims on.

You can make claims at any time, including while you are at war, but claims cost twice as much while you are in an offensive war against the target (A war where you are the attacker).

[MetaliCator]

Didn't you make this thread, not to long ago?

Originally posted by Vaelor:

Note to Self: "Surrender" does not mean "Demand Surrender"!

If memory serves me correctly, because it's been some time since I've done actual war to a galactic scale, or any war in general, the enemy will contact you and surrender through comms, or there is a button for it that shows up in the diplomacy section, when the enemy knows they can't do anything to win this war.

The other way to do it is by destroying the star bases one by one, this way you are forcing the enemy into a corner, and also reducing the number of systems they own, that forces them to try to negotiate or surrender faster.

Again, it's been a long time since I did war, I'm more into claiming systems now through diplomacy, which is corrupt as f..., which makes me love it.

Try taking out their star bases, bombarding planets, and if you want to become the absolute most evil person in the galaxy, annihilate their planets completely. I don't think you can claim a system by simply winning fights from ships VS ships, that would be kind of stupid... because in theory all you are doing is taking out a few ships, you are not putting them at a disadvantage by taking out key/strategic resources for the empire to function, so as long as they are able to function, they will keep coming at you.

I could be very wrong, again, it's been a long time, if I am wrong, then please, someone correct me.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Warfare

[ʋǟɛʟօʀ]

Okay so based on everything I've read here and everywhere else, either I'm doing something tragically wrong or there's a nasty bug in my game. My claims dialog, both before any warfare and after I've conquered enemy worlds, always shows up blank for me? In my first game I was a Pacifist race so that may have been why, but in this game I am the Lokken Mechanists and definitely not a Pacifist. Any ideas anybody?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2806207773

Originally posted by MihaP:

The screenshot is of a Surrender, though, not of Status Quo popup. Hover over there and see what it says.

Yes, sorry, that first screenshot was just to indicate the connection to my previous thread about stupidly hitting Surrender previously instead of Settle Status Quo, lol. =)

[PlutonArioch]

Originally posted by Vaelor:

My claims dialog, both before any warfare and after I've conquered enemy worlds, always shows up blank for me?

Its a list of the claims you have, so before you make any, it is empty. While the menu is open, you can click on systems (owned by someone else) to add them to the list, then confirm and pay the price for the claims you want to make. Then they will stay in the list and you can conquer those systems.

[ʋǟɛʟօʀ]

Originally posted by PlutonArioch:

Its a list of the claims you have, so before you make any, it is empty. While the menu is open, you can click on systems (owned by someone else) to add them to the list, then confirm and pay the price for the claims you want to make. Then they will stay in the list and you can conquer those systems.

AHA!! That's what I couldn't figure out!! Tried as you explained and it worked just fine!! So now, assuming I click Settle Status Quo and not Surrender, those systems I've conquered and claimed will be added to my territory, yes? Finally I can expand!! =D

[Mennan]

Originally posted by Vaelor:

Originally posted by PlutonArioch:

Its a list of the claims you have, so before you make any, it is empty. While the menu is open, you can click on systems (owned by someone else) to add them to the list, then confirm and pay the price for the claims you want to make. Then they will stay in the list and you can conquer those systems.

AHA!! That's what I couldn't figure out!! Tried as you explained and it worked just fine!! So now, assuming I click Settle Status Quo and not Surrender, those systems I've conquered and claimed will be added to my territory, yes? Finally I can expand!! =D

Yes, however any system they conquered and claimed would become theirs in a status quo agreement. So be sure to go back through your territory and make sure nothing is currently conquered.

Usually if your winning a war its a good idea to just keep taking control of their systems and claiming more and more systems as you get the influence to do so. Unless you really don't want those systems or don't want to waste any more time in the war.

[ʋǟɛʟօʀ]

Originally posted by Mennan:

Usually if your winning a war its a good idea to just keep taking control of their systems and claiming more and more systems as you get the influence to do so. Unless you really don't want those systems or don't want to waste any more time in the war.

Yeah, makes sense. In my particular case I'd backed the enemies to the rear half of their territories but the fleets they were holding in reserve were way more powerful than mine, and one of my enemies was starting to sneak into my borders, so I judged it best to clean up the stragglers, accept a Status Quo, take as many systems as I had the Influence for, and fall back to regroup and rebuild...

[Elitewrecker PT]

Originally posted by Vaelor:

Originally posted by PlutonArioch:

Its a list of the claims you have, so before you make any, it is empty. While the menu is open, you can click on systems (owned by someone else) to add them to the list, then confirm and pay the price for the claims you want to make. Then they will stay in the list and you can conquer those systems.

AHA!! That's what I couldn't figure out!! Tried as you explained and it worked just fine!! So now, assuming I click Settle Status Quo and not Surrender, those systems I've conquered and claimed will be added to my territory, yes? Finally I can expand!! =D

I gave a step by step in the second reply...

[ʋǟɛʟօʀ]

Originally posted by Elitewrecker PT:

I gave a step by step in the second reply...

I didn't understand the part where you said "Select the system(s) you want to claim.". I opened the Claims dialog as you said, but there was nothing listed in the window and the Make Claims button was greyed out. It wasn't until PlutonArioch explained it slightly differently that I twigged. I'd be happy to mark your earlier post as the answer instead if you like? =)

[Elitewrecker PT]

Well, I was expecting you'd notice the graphical change in the systems and therefore click/select them.

[ʋǟɛʟօʀ]

I can only assume that the previous times that I opened the Claims window, I didn't have my view centered on enemy territory and hence never noticed the little plusses and highlights on claimable worlds? Who knows. Anyways thanks for your advice even if I didn't immediately understand it! =)