Why does everyone hate me?

[The Silent Assassin]

I've had this game in my library for like years and I've only now just started trying it out. I made nice with the alien race right next to my spawn, but literally every other race I've encountered has immediately been hostile to me. I'm literally trying to do a diplomatic human faction for my first campaign, and everyone wants to go to war with me except the dudes I befriended. And the faction I made an alliance with is literally labeled as "Honor bound warriors who like to bully weaker factions into submission". And yet they took a liking to me for some reason despite the fact I don't have much of a military at all. Then I find like 3 more factions who are apparently pacifist but declare me their rivals after only a month of contact. I just don't understand this game. The only time it made sense for a faction to hate me on sight is when I found this race of robot spider things who apparently killed their creators thousands of years ago.

[utilityguy]

The game is designed to favor spawning empires that are not compatible with the starting civics of your Player Government. So that's likely why everyone hates you from the get-go.

If you're playing the United nations, and you're surrounded by xenophobic slaving despots, you're likely gonna have to switch to liberation wars and do some aggressive friend making.

[The Silent Assassin]

Originally posted by utilityguy:

The game is designed to favor spawning empires that are not compatible with the starting civics of your Player Government. So that's likely why everyone hates you from the get-go.

If you're playing the United nations, and you're surrounded by xenophobic slaving despots, you're likely gonna have to switch to liberation wars and do some aggressive friend making.

Are Liberation Wars an actual thing in this game or was that just a metaphor for "kick their ass until they apologize"?

[HappySack]

What are your empire ethics? because if you picked xenophobe and didn't see this coming then I don't know what to tell you.

[Ryika]

Originally posted by utilityguy:

The game is designed to favor spawning empires that are not compatible with the starting civics of your Player Government.

That's not true.

[climbingeastofwinter]

Originally posted by The Silent Assassin:

Originally posted by utilityguy:

The game is designed to favor spawning empires that are not compatible with the starting civics of your Player Government. So that's likely why everyone hates you from the get-go.

If you're playing the United nations, and you're surrounded by xenophobic slaving despots, you're likely gonna have to switch to liberation wars and do some aggressive friend making.

Are Liberation Wars an actual thing in this game or was that just a metaphor for "kick their ass until they apologize"?

Press F6 to access your Policies frame, go down the list to 'War Philosophy', toggle 'Liberation Wars' assuming you aren't fanatic pacifist or one of the other excluded groups. This should unlock 'Impose Ideology' as Casus Belli and allow you to spread your ethics through war.

[PlutonArioch]

Originally posted by The Silent Assassin:

Are Liberation Wars an actual thing in this game or was that just a metaphor for "kick their ass until they apologize"?

Yes they are a thing. To enable them you have to change your war policy to "liberation wars only" which as it says limits your wars to liberation wars, or or in other words, you can only declare a war with the wargoal "Impose Ideology", which if you win forces your enemy to adopt your government ethics, and in a status quo the enemies territory gets split between those systems you (fully) occupied and those you did not occupy. The occupied territories will then form a new nation with your ethics. The newly "liberated" nations are going to start out very friendly with you.
So its american style liberation: wage war as if for conquest, then install a puppet government instead of keeping the territory.

Any policy change locks that policy for change for the next 10 years. So if you do that you can not change it back before ten years have passed. Bt if you try to be diplomatic, that should not be a problem.

[The Silent Assassin]

Originally posted by HappySack:

What are your empire ethics? because if you picked xenophobe and didn't see this coming then I don't know what to tell you.

Whatever the default human one is. Not the second one, that one is the military/xenophobe one I think. Whatever the first one that's called the "Nations of Earth" or something (I can't launch the game at the moment so I honestly can't remember what it's called)

[steventirey]

Originally posted by The Silent Assassin:

Originally posted by HappySack:

What are your empire ethics? because if you picked xenophobe and didn't see this coming then I don't know what to tell you.

Whatever the default human one is. Not the second one, that one is the military/xenophobe one I think. Whatever the first one that's called the "Nations of Earth" or something (I can't launch the game at the moment so I honestly can't remember what it's called)

United Nations of Earth. Xenophile and Fanatic Egalitarian.

There are multiple reasons species might hate or dislike you. Having closed borders with them hurts relations. The default diplomatic stance is Expansionist, which will cause issues if you share a border with someone. Having a small fleet is also a problem - you want as big and powerful a fleet as possible. Even if playing a diplomatic pacifist. Actions taken during the First Contact stage will also effect empire relations.

And some species will simply hate you regardless of how diplomatic you are.

[AurumHawke]

Since you probably don't have enough intel for their opinion list, use the by-opinion map mode to find out your empire's opinion of them.
Democracy Fanatic-Egalitarian has negatives based on Authority differences.

If you happen to have a Defense Pact, be careful of your ally's rivalries.

[mansman]

The update also increased the general aggressiveness of AI empires. The AI seems to much more interested in seeing your empire fall lately. The AI has also been improved to manage their economy a lot better, especially in the early game. They start churning out fleets very quickly which is likely more than you can which increases the chance they war dec you. I had to abandon a game because my two neighbors just keep trading war decs against me. The first war was in the first 15 years :(

[MP]

Nobody likes assassins. Try renaming yourself to TheSilentIceCreamVendor, OP.

[The Silent Assassin]

Originally posted by MihaP:

Nobody likes assassins. Try renaming yourself to TheSilentIceCreamVendor, OP.

But my prices are so affordable though :(