Military Republic vs Military Junta vs Military Dictatorship

[Wolf]

I want one of these but don't know which one. For roleplaying purposes, I want either the Republic or Junta because they are more democratic than dictatorship but leaning more towards Junta because 50 yr elections sound easier to manager/better than 10 yr elections...but the Dictatorship skills seem more useful than the other two because I plan on being military-heavy (ship building, etc.).

This is my first playthrough so I have no idea what I'm talking about either. Also, it doesn't seem like there are any disadvantages for choosing a dictatorship as in other races looking down on you (judging from the empire creation screen), but once in game, can I expect more pacifist nations to dislike me, and more military nations to like me more?

Any advice would be welcomed.

Thx

[Stelar Seven]

The disadvantage, for me at least, in the military dictatorship is that the populations you conquer quickly get upset and start rioting. The solution seems to be collectivism, so you can purge the dissidents, or have policies that let you calm them, but a lot of that seems to require research.

The short story is while it is possible to win by conquest, absorbing conquests takes a while. Energy, minerals and influence are all choke points to watch out for.

[KalkiKrosah]

Apostate is correct in that they will rebel but there are other ways of handling the situation than just purging everything. When I take it over I spam armies on the planet. I will spam build 12 "home grown" armies and then land 12 off planet armies giving me 24 armies. Now they will rebel but when they do you will be ready and the rebellion will be quelled. The populations will lose their "recently conquered" debuff and will be less likely to rebel in the future. That's not to say they will never rebel again later but that -25% happiness debuff won't be around so it will be easier to manage. This is the "complicated" way of handling things.

Apostate mentioned the easier way (purge any Xeno populations) which is less micromanagement but purging makes you enemies with nearly all alien races so be careful when doing this because they will inevitably group up and collectively come to kick your ass.

[KalkiKrosah]

As far as Military republic vs Military Junta vs Military Dictatorship go... I prefer dictatorship.

Ship cost reduction when combined with naval capacity buffs mean you can ship spam your enemies. Increased rivalry gains means you get more influence from calling out rivals and influence allows you to either colonize planets, build frontier outposts or hire new leaders which is all very helpful. If you are a Xenophobe then this is the ethic for you. This is the aggressive version of military ethics.

Junta is second best for me. Ship upkeep is the big seller. You can maintain a standing fleet a whole lot easier which dissuades others from attacking you. The upgrade cost reduction allows you keep your fleet up to date when research yields stronger weaponry and defenses. And Admiral skills is just a slight advantage for the early game. This one works well with individualist types. It's the passive option for being a military ethics empire.

Military republic isn't useful with what it gives. Army damage and army upkeep is pointless in that armies really aren't hard to manufacture (60 minerals a pop) and you can ultimately win invasions just by brining more armies than the other guy. They also don't take a whole lot to maintain either. 3 armies costs 1 energy credit. Load up a planet with 12 armies (the max) and thats 4 energy credits. -20% on their upkeep is saving you a fraction of an energy credit per planet. Military station build cost and upkeep are useful though. If you use them. They are stationary power houses and are great at protecting your planets and stations. If you call a war and someone early on you can essentially bait them into invading your borders only to have them suicide on your defense station while your fleet is free to invade their stations and planets freely. It has its uses but it requires proper planning and even then it falls off late game. But since you elect a new leader frequently you can gain influence by meeting election goals and probably would work alright with a Xenophile ethic. This one is definitely the defensive version of the three.

[Wolf]

Kalk and Apostate, thank you very much for your advice. I am leaning towards dictatorship or junta...

[Salvo Wolf]

Republic because im a Starship Troopers geek... No not the crappy movies, the actual book :P

[INSANIAC]

I've never really liked playing any of the goverment types that allowed voting because it often gets in the way of my playstyle but this is what I can share from my own experience in the game. Single unelected ruler structures are the easiest to maintain and often give the best in game bonuses, but, the trade off as previously mentioned by someone else is that other races who become part of your empire down the line will find you oppressive and become unhappy. Unhappiness can be a real killer as it can drastically reduce that pop's resource output, so you'd have two options; 1) try to make them happier by adjusting your policies and building suitable structures to remove any negative effects. 2) use collectivism to simply purge all problem Xenos and maintain minimal or singular species in your empire.
The first option can cause issues with your primary species if you bend to the wants and needs of others too much and Purging can upset other people whom are opposed to genocie and purge policies in general. To decide what's best is really down to your own player prefference.

[Wolf]

Thx guys, appreciate the feedback

[Yang]

Xenophile goes well with militarist, get the visitor centre tech. Basically building this gives xenophile pops +3 happiness for every other species on the planet, +2 to neutral pops, and +1 for xenophobic pops (any xenophobia is negated). Basically the more species you have in your empire, the more happiness you have. Thus, xenophile actually goes better with militarist than xenophobe, considering that fighting wars will bring many species under your dominion.

As for the original q choose republic, democracy gives you cheap influence and I think you get war happiness which is good.