Welcome to the Full List of Features, where I will go into depth the mechanics and functionalities of Zenith of Fallen Empires 3.0.

This guide is correct as of patch 3.4




The Zenith of Fallen Empires 3.0 Base Mod builds on the advances made in 2.0, allowing the player to eventually ascend and rival the technological prowess of the Fallen Empires at their zenith, as well as siring their own special subject types.

To ensure the mod is working, please check that the Ascension Perk 'Galactic Ascendancy' appears as one of the available Ascension Perks. The Galactic Ascendancy ascension perk is where much of this mod’s content is gated behind, and you will need to select it in order to make the most of this mod.

To activate the ‘Galactic Ascendancy’ Ascension Perk, you will need to meet the following requirements:

• Have 7 other Ascension Perks selected
  
  
• Must not be a subject
  
  
• Have researched Dark Matter Power, Ascension Theory, and Mega-engineering technologies.

Ascension Theory and Mega-engineering are vanilla late-game technologies which can already be researched normally, so let’s talk about Dark Matter Power. In vanilla, the Dark Matter Power technology is available only from defeating Fallen Empire fleets and scanning their debris. In ZoFE 3.0, there will be additional ways of acquiring this elusive technology.

First, you must have Zero Point Power and the ability to mine Dark Matter, have reached mid-game, as well as communication with a FE. An event called 'Dark Matter - Possibilities' will spawn. After this event, you have to wait for a second event, from which you can then choose 3 paths.

1) Start the Dark Matter Event chain to try to develop it yourself.

2) If you have Ancient Relics Story Packs, you can break down minor artifacts for a chance of getting the technology. This event grants access to the ‘Research Dark Matter’ artifact decision if you have the arcane deciphering technology.

3) Attack a Fallen Empire and seize it from their ship debris.

If you neighbour a Fallen/Awakened Empire, and they have open borders to you, a special project may trigger for you to ‘spy’ on their homeworld for a chance at getting the technology. This can occur from mid-game, and that you have Zero Point Power and Dark Matter Drawing researched.

Please note that AI will also be able to acquire Dark Matter Power. As you can imagine, the AI can also ascend to become Ascended Empires. They can either acquire the Perk normally once they meet all requirements, or if they already have all other requirements and that they have more than 4 planets and 80k fleetpower, they can ascend too. To prevent this, a player can attempt to subjugate their neighbours before they get to ascend, or perpetually keep them under the fleetpower limit.

Once a player select the Ascension Perk and become an Ascended Empire, a quest event chain will appear in the Situation Log, appropriately named ‘The Zenith of Fallen Empires’. It features six projects, or paths if you like, that you can choose to pursue in any order, if you choose to do so or not at all. This is to ensure maximum compatibility and flexibility within the scope of this mod. Now let’s take a look at these projects:

1) Automated Industries: Unlocks buildable FE buildings that you can find in vanilla. This includes Class-4 Singularity, Dimensional Fabricator etc. Their production stats are unchanged from vanilla. They’re also entirely automated, and spammable except the science archive. For upgraded versions of these buildings, you need the 'Automated Industries' add-on, which provide upgrades for them that requires strategic resources.
In addition, an Automated Production Center will boost automated buildings output on the planet by 10%, as well as giving you a planetary decision to increase it by a further 10%. There are also Lost Technologies versions of these buildings if you have the 'Secrets of Fallen Empires' submod.


2) Societal Ascendance: At project completion, if you have not activated the Arcology Ascension Perk (but have the Megacorp DLC), this gives you a technology which allows you to turn planets into Ecumenopolises. This means that if you want to save an ascension perk, you no longer have to pick that perk. If you already have the Arcology Ascension Perk, completing this project will grant 50k unity instead. This project also then unlocks societal buildings based on ethics which makes each Ascended Empire more distinct, and will be expanded upon in a new add-on: Societal Ascendance.

3) A Question of Style: This project concerns the ability to build the FE ship types, Escorts, Battlecruisers, and Fallen Titans, as well as the gfxculture change. Depending on your ethics, a number of designs (colour variations) will be available to you, or if you are willing to pay 100 influence, you can choose from all 16 selections. There will also be a later event to change existing star base appearances but more on that later. As of Patch 3.0.3 You may keep your current shipset (recommended only for those with invisible turrets).

4) Technological Ascendance: This project allows the player to construct buildings that produces strategic resources like Dark Matter, Living Metal, and Zro, as well as a couple of new technologies that boost encryption and decryption. The Synthetic Strategic Resources buildings will provide 5 specialist jobs each. These strategic resources will help with the upkeep costs of the Fallen Empire buildings in Automated Industries.

5) Galactic Ambitions: At project completion, if you have not activated the Colossus Ascension Perk (but have the Apocalypse DLC), this gives you its equivalent effects by starting the Colossus project. If you already have the Colossus Ascension Perk, then this project will grant you an exclusive technology, giving your Colossi an additional 100k Hull Points. This project also gives you a new Unity Ambition: Punishment Protocols, which when activated, allows an Ascended Empire to deal +33% more damage to normal empires. With the Galactic Ambitions add-on, this project also provides 2 additional Unity Ambitions as well as two further technologies with additional edicts and Ambitions.

6) Engineering Perfection: At project completion, if you have not activated the Galactic Wonders Perk (but have the Utopia DLC) , this gives you its equivalent effects by giving the research option for Ringworlds, Dyson Sphere and Matter Decompressor. Later on in this track, you will also be given the technologies to turn planets into Gaia worlds, Hive worlds, and Machine worlds, meaning you do not need to pick those Ascension Perks if you want to save those slots.

Once you completed all the projects, you will get a popup which lets you choose whether you want to commit your empire to fanaticism and lose your non fanatic ethic.

Now let’s talk AI. AI will research all projects as normal, while the player can always pick and choose to either tweak the difficulty of their game by increasing/decreasing their power or features available to them, or maybe to ensure compatibility with other mods. If you have a mod which gives you new ship classes, or if you do not want to play with FE ships for whatever reason, consider NOT to research Project 3 (The Question of Style).

As a new Ascended Empire, you will have immediate access to new civics. Unlike ZoFE 2.0 where you choose a national focus upon ascension, in ZoFE 3.0 you can freely switch in and out of each national focuses, or not at all if you wish to continue playing with your original civics pre-ascension. This also means that no civics will be removed and all new civics are optional.

In ZoFE 3.0 you will have access to 5 generic national focuses:

• Galactic Superpower: +25% Ship Weapon Damage, +25% Ship Weapon Range, +25% Naval Capacity, +25% Diplo weight from Fleet. Can use Armageddon bombardment stance, turning planets into tomb worlds.
  
  
• Beacon of Prosperity: +100% Trade Value, +100% Diplo weight from Economy
  
  
• World Architect: +25% Megastructure Build Speed, +25% Planet Build Speed, +25% Station Hull Points, +25% Ship Build Speed
  
  
• Industrial Juggernaut: +15% Alloy Production, +15% Consumer Goods, +50% weight from Economy
  
  
• Masters of Technology: +25% Research Speed. +100% Diplo weight from Tech
  
  
• Spymaster: +5 Envoys, Base Intel Encryption, Decryption
  
  
• All Seeing Eye (Hive Mind Only): +25% Ship Fire Rate, +25% Ship Hull Points
  
  
• All Seeing Machine (Machines Only): +25% Ship Fire Rate, +25% Ship Build Speed

If you have a Fanatical Ethic, you get access to a Fervor civic, named ‘Spiritualist Fervor’ for Spiritualists for example.

Spiritualist Fervor: +25% Unity

Materialist Fervor: +25% Research Speed

Xenophile Fervor: -25% Diplomacy upkeep

Xenophobe Fervor: +25% Pop Growth

Militarist Fervor: +25% Ship Fire Rate

Pacifist Fervor: +25% Ship Build Speed in defensive war

Authoritarian Fervor: -25% Pop Amenities usage

Egalitarian Fervor: +25% Specialist Produce

Ascended Mind: -25% War Exhaustion (Hive Mind Only)

Ascended Machine: -25% War Exhaustion (Machines Only)

Then there are Personality Civics, one for each fanatic ethic, none for Xenophobes or Machine/Hive Minds. You could consider using these if you have extra space:

Scripture Scholars: +25% Research production from jobs.

Fanatical Roboteers: -25% Robot upkeep, +25% Robot Resource Production, +25% Robot Assembly Speed

Fervid Xeno Collectors: +25% Planet Immigration, +25% Habitability, +25% Fire Rate, +25% Ship Build Speed. Can use Xeno Abduction bombardment stance.

Inspiring Warlords: -250% Subject Power Penalty, +25% Ship Fire Rate, +25% Ship Weapon Damage, +25% Army Damage. Gives a special buff to their subjects.

Idyllic Society: +25% Unity, +25% Happiness, +25 Defense Platform Capacity, +25% Home Territory Fire Rate

Master Race: +25% Slave Output, -25% Slave Political Power, -25% Resettlement cost

Utopian Union: -250% Subject power penalties, -25% Subject integration cost, +25% Admin Cap, +25 Planet Stability.

Since we’re talking about subjects, Ascended Empires are recommended to subjugate default empires to prevent them from Ascending, and bring them into your sphere of influence by making them your subject. In ZoFE 3.0, your subject type will depend on your Fervor civic, which in turn requires a fanatic ethic. If you do not have a fervor civic you will end up with a vassal as the default subject type. You can either subjugate them normally through war, or ask them diplomatically to be your subject. They will become a vassal, then immediately turn depending on which Fervor civic you have activated.

Spiritualist Fervor: Dominion subject type, 25% Energy and minerals tax. Shifts to Spiritualist

Materialist Fervor: Satellite subject type, 33% Research Production tax

Xenophile Fervor: Signatory subject type, No tax, cannot do diplomacy.

Xenophobe: Thrall subject type, 25% Energy and minerals, can fight each other.

Militarist: Clan Member subject type, 25% Minerals and Alloys. Inspiring Warlords civic will give them a buff

Pacifist: Demilitarized State subject type, 25% Unity and Influence. A debuff will decrease subject’s naval capacity.

Authoritarian: Puppet State subject type, 25% Minerals and unity.

Egalitarian: Union State subject type, 25% Energy and Influence. Can be integrated

Hive Mind: Symbiote subject type, 25% minerals and food.

Machine: Auxiliary subject type, 25% Energy and Minerals

Barbaric Despoilers: Satrapy subject type, 20% Minerals, 10% Energy, Naval Capacity debuff

Some subjects will join/call overlord to wars, while some will not. But listing in detail the characteristics of each subject type will make this guide unnecessarily verbose. When two Ascended Empires fight under certain war goals, they can call all their subjects to an epic war, similar to War in Heaven.

There are numerous war goals available for Ascended Empires. Claim, Colossus, Humiliate, Ideology (vs default), Subjugation (vs default), and End Threat (vs Genocidal). Default empires may also use the End Threat war goal against an Ascended Empire similar to how they fight an Awakened Fallen Empire. In addition, two new war goals are available with this mod: Banish Ascendancy and Total Annihilation, both of which are not Total Wars.

Banish Ascendancy: Requires poor or worse opinion. On accept, the defeated Ascendancy will be ‘Banished’, becoming a Lost Empire (a new country type) as well as being a subject of the victor. They don’t pay tax, but will have their civics removed and replaced with nasty debuff civics, and you will also acquire all their subjects. You may also use this against Awakened Fallen Empires.

Total Annihilation: Requires terrible opinion. Only available against Ascended Empires of the direct opposite fanatic ethic (E.g. Spiritualist vs Materialist), or against Hive Minds and Machines, or against something Genocidal. On accept, the defeated Ascendancy and its subjects will be wiped from the galaxy (mass Genocide, as if they have never existed…). On Status quo, all colonies within the opposing empire’s borders will be destroyed, bypassing Land Invasion. Other Empires will also remember you for being genocidal, so this war goal is best reserved for empires that deserve your utter hatred.

Now let’s talk about Lost Empires. Lost Empire is the second playable country type added by ZoFE, representing an Empire no longer at its prime, or ascended state. Lost Empires have started to look inward and place less focus on subjugation or total war, but rather living in the comfort of its own borders. To that end they are uniquely suited to fight defensive wars on home soil. Lost Empires are relatively safe from Ascended Empires, while default empires can attempt to dismantle their ascendancy. You will be stripped of the non-fanatic ethics, leaving only the Fanatic ethic, or if you don’t have a Fanatic ethic you will become Fanatic Xenophobes as your Empire succumbed to xenophobia. There are currently 2 ways to become a Lost Empire:

1) You are Banished by another Ascended Empire, and became their subject.

2) You renounced your Ascendancy via an Ambition, Renounce Ascendancy.

The latter option is the preferred form of a Lost Empire. In face of certain destruction or some extremely strong opposition, or you simply want to fight defensively and protect your legacy, you might want to renounce your Ascendancy, and as a result turning all your current subjects into Scions. Scions can ‘bring others into fold’ just like the vanilla origin. You will gain some locked civics that boost your defensive capabilities but take a hit to your diplomatic weight. If you wish to return later, with enough influence and unity, you can ascend again via Secret Mobilization edict, then a Unity Ambition: Reclaim Ascendancy.

If you are unfortunately banished, you will be given some civics with maluses you don’t want, bound by a harsh treaty. Your Ascendancy will be chained by your Overlord who watches your every move. However, if you mobilize secretly, use planetary decisions to produce ships instead of doing so via shipyards, and grow your navy in secret, you may yet have a chance to overthrow your Overlord when they are weak or otherwise preoccupied. Attempting to do so can be risky, as if you reclaim your Ascendancy, your Overlord will declare Total Annihilation on you and wipe you from the face of the galaxy. If you however are victorious, you will in turn Banish your Overlord and they will be forced to sign the humiliating treaty instead.

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