I mostly play as United Earth and always form the United Federation of Planets. One key aspect of the early game for United Earth is that there really is no need to take any territory - you will end up owning it all anyway! I focus on defence (in case some unexpected threat shows up) and diplomacy, rather than expansion. Through diplomacy you can quickly "defeat" the Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites - everything that they own will become yours, so it would be crazy to fight them over it. Sometimes you will get unlucky and some of these Federation Founders will end up add odds with each-other, but rarely will it be bad enough to prevent you from forming the UFP, so you can always sort it out afterwards. For example, if the Andorians Rival the Vulcans, you may not be able to get them into an Alliance (which is a precursor to forming the Federation) but once you do form the UFP with, say, the Vulcans and Tellarites, that rivalry will be meaningless as you can simply absorb the Andorians later via the Federation Accession process.

Another option, perhaps for later in the game, is to shift your Ethics away from Pacifism. I almost always do this and it will free you up to play more aggressively, while still being the "good guys".

In short, you don't need to conquer anything through force of arms (though it will sometimes be expedient to do so) as United Earth as you will become the UFP and can conquer the whole galaxy through diplomacy (bar a few exceptions). The great lie... we come in peace.

There is also a short guide to founding and managing the United Federation of Planets on the wiki here:
https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Star_Trek_New_Civilisations/Empires/United_Earth#Description

Thank you, I will read the guide!

But, you mentioned I will form "The alliance" and the UFP, so can you tell me should I not focus on diplomacy unity? and what about all the little federations they start?

The Tellarites invited me to a federation. should I join? should I create my own for this to happen? The guide suggests that the more that join the better. The Kzinti seem problematic.

EDIT: It doesn't matter anyway, Archer left for the Expanse, found the Xindi but I had not upgraded my fleet since the start of the game (no need) and their second attack ended earth.

SECOND EDIT: Second playthrough, focus on alliances - can't seem to get the vulcans to let the tellarites or andorians to ever join. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I've got improve relations on all three.

It sounds like you're on the right track for sure!

It doesn't matter who forms the initial Alliance (in this mod the term Alliance refers to a Stellaris Federation, to avoid confusion with the actual United Federation of Planets), your goal in the early years will be to get into an Alliance with as many of the Federation Founders as possible. As you have experienced, it's not always possible to get them all in but it is generally possible to get 2 of them if you hard focus diplomacy.

There are a few extra steps you can take to nudge things in the right direction.

Consider taking the "Peace in Our Time" Ascension Perk - this will improve relations between whichever empires you have assigned Envoys to (i.e. it will make the Vulcans and Andorians like eachother a bit more).

One of your most powerful weapons is the Envoy. Assign an Envoy to improve relations with anyone that could be a threat, like the Kzinti, to appease them until you're ready to deal with them - you might even be able to befriend them, I usually do! If you're short on Envoys, change your Trade Policy to get an extra one and/or one of your Civics to Diplomatic Corps to get two more. You will also get one from the Diplomacy Traditions, which you should take.

Don't worry too much about other Alliances that may form, once you have formed the United Federation of Planets you can actually just join those other Alliances and then absorb all of the members... Resistance is futile.

I was blown away by this mechanic. So I have a "Federation" (Alliance) where I am not the President, that acts as sort of a waiting room. Iit buffs me as well, but that is just so I can go to the council chambers, and then invite other members and eventually when I add the very last race I can add- I will have to leave one in there with me to keep the buffs?

Last night, I was pleasantly surprised I had to decide how hard I wanted to work to get the Houses of Betazed to join the federation and thats where I called it a night. Still a long way from eventually bordering Romulans and Klingons.


So more questions (sorry)

1. What exactly will "Establish a neutral zone" do? Is it going to cede over some of my territory to a fictional empire to create a buffer?

2. How do I actually go to war though to expand at all. Is there a way I can goad people into attacking me so I can claim their territory/as part of a liberation war? I am trying to think about some of the empires on the fringes of space that I need to consider will never want to join the alliance.

3. Can I vassalize small empires without a problem and then integrate them that way while I am integrating these others? There was a tiny fractional one system empire, that seemed like I could vassalize soon.

4. The member nations keep their home world but it is in my territory, so does that give me any real bonus, do they contribute?

5. Does the AI actually play the federation this way? It seems like it wouldn't know how to do all of these things and make this happen. What is your experience with the UFP in other games where you play as rival empires?

6. Do other empires use these "Alliance" mechanics, and if so, can they build an alliance fleet? I could not.

7. Is there a Galactic Community as well?

It was like you said - a very rocky (but most likely following the timeline somewhat canon) beginning where andorians and tellarites had their differnences, and vulcans kept shooting down my invites of other races to our federation. I felt exactly like it was where it should be terms of that start.

One thing that I'd suggest is joining the Discord server to discuss these topics with the community.

1. That's exactly right - it can be powerful if you need to create a safety buffer with a belligerent empire, but use it with care.

2. I'm not 100% on this as I never play (or at least never keep) Pacifist Ethics. I think Pacifist prevents any wars of aggression and prevents you from making any claims. If you want to eat away at other empires through warfare I think you have to drop Pacifist but someone might correct me there!

3. Absolutely - exactly the same as vanilla, you will be able to make Protectorates out of small, weak empires. You can use Favours to make this happen faster, too. You integrate them later if you want. That's all unchanged in the mod.

4. They do pay taxes, yes. It's not as 'powerful' as simply gaining full control of their home world via conquest or integration.

5. Yes the AI will play the UFP the same way! It's quite random, a lot of dice rolls going on, so you will sometimes see a superpower UFP, other times it will be a weird alternative reality version without the Vulcans, say. That kind of thing.

6. Yes the AI will form it's own Alliances, but no, there is no Alliance fleet mechanic.

7. There is a Galactic Community - but let me know what you think about it the Trek setting once you experience it!

Thank you!

This message board isn't the community? I don't understand what would be different on discord. I've never used that.

I am glad to hear I am not the only one basically obsessed by this mod.

The Xindi events were awesome. I was just hoping that Archer would get the option to romance T'pol or something, lol.

I am tempted to start over completely, with Klingons just to see how conquest goes against the federation.

It's definitely worth playing all of the major empires a few times to get a feel for how they work - the Borg in particular are quire different, as you might expect! I've also had some great games playing as minor empires like the Son'a and Xindi.

Originally posted by Ulthar:

This message board isn't the community? I don't understand what would be different on discord. I've never used that.

Id argue it a small part of it. The difference is the speed of response. The community tends to be fast regardless but in the discord its lightening fast and multiple devs are always around. This forum thread was actually linked in the discord as kinda a "hey anybody?"

Originally posted by Ulthar:

I am glad to hear I am not the only one basically obsessed by this mod.

Its THE Star Trek mod imho. The institution mechanic is amazing.

Originally posted by Ulthar:

I am tempted to start over completely, with Klingons just to see how conquest goes against the federation.

So oddly enough they are wiped out in my game. The Romulans attacked me (Im federation) but I took them to a stalemate. Peaced, then they nearly got wiped themselves by the Borg, but they rebounded and got to a stalemate with them.