How Influence is going to work in the game
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Your influence represents how much sway you have in the United Planets. It also determines how much impact your culture has on other civilizations. The higher your influence, the more star systems near you likely to ask to become part of your civilization.
Influence works as follows:
Each star system has an inate amount of influence. A typical star system has no influence at all on its own. But those with good base planets may have an influence rating of 2 to 3 points. Once in a great while, a star system may have been home to the precursors (an ancient race that once controlled the galaxy thousands of years ago) and those star systems are much higher in prestige to control and therefore provide much more influence.
This base influence in a star system can be modified through the building of wonders and planetary improvements. They are also modified by your civilization’s influence ability which you gain through the research of certain technologies.
Your influence is calculated each turn and builds up until the United Planets Security Council is in session at which point you can use it to vote for a particular policy. You can also trade influence like a form of currency in the diplomacy dialog.
Influence also works on other star systems directly. A given sector has 8 sectors that are adjacent to it. Your influence on a particular star system is therefore based on who controls the adjacent star systems.
For example:
Your civilization’s influence per turn is 10 and so is the Drengin’s.
Let’s say the Drengin Colony Sander II has 2 sectors adjacent that are owned by the Drengin and 2 that are owned by you.
Influence on Sander II is therefore:
Drengin Influence: 10 X 2 + 10 (for the sector it is in) = 30.
Your influence on Sander II: 10 X 2 = 20
However, if you are pursuing the cultural domination victory, you can do something about this. You can build star bases in those adjacent sectors and even in the sector Sander II is in (though it’s risky to build in a foreign controlled sector). These star bases can be upgraded by docking a constructor with them to be trade centers (and can keep being upgraded with more constructors). Trade centers increase the local influence of your civilization.
So let’s say you have built two star bases and upgraded both of them to be trade centers which increase your local influence by 50%.
Now your influence is: (10 + 10X50% + 10 + 10X50%) = 30.
Now your influence is 30. Build a third star base that you upgrade to a trade center in that actual sector and your influence is dramatically increased further and eventually, if the Drengin don’t take measures, Sander II will join your civilization.
The counter to this of course is to build up your local planetary influence plus build trade centers to counteract your trade centers. But unless they are pursuing the same strategy as you are, they are likely to have to fight back through a different path (like attacking your star bases or trying to get the United Planets to outlaw building star bases in foreign controlled sectors).
Influence works as follows:
Each star system has an inate amount of influence. A typical star system has no influence at all on its own. But those with good base planets may have an influence rating of 2 to 3 points. Once in a great while, a star system may have been home to the precursors (an ancient race that once controlled the galaxy thousands of years ago) and those star systems are much higher in prestige to control and therefore provide much more influence.
This base influence in a star system can be modified through the building of wonders and planetary improvements. They are also modified by your civilization’s influence ability which you gain through the research of certain technologies.
Your influence is calculated each turn and builds up until the United Planets Security Council is in session at which point you can use it to vote for a particular policy. You can also trade influence like a form of currency in the diplomacy dialog.
Influence also works on other star systems directly. A given sector has 8 sectors that are adjacent to it. Your influence on a particular star system is therefore based on who controls the adjacent star systems.
For example:
Your civilization’s influence per turn is 10 and so is the Drengin’s.
Let’s say the Drengin Colony Sander II has 2 sectors adjacent that are owned by the Drengin and 2 that are owned by you.
Influence on Sander II is therefore:
Drengin Influence: 10 X 2 + 10 (for the sector it is in) = 30.
Your influence on Sander II: 10 X 2 = 20
However, if you are pursuing the cultural domination victory, you can do something about this. You can build star bases in those adjacent sectors and even in the sector Sander II is in (though it’s risky to build in a foreign controlled sector). These star bases can be upgraded by docking a constructor with them to be trade centers (and can keep being upgraded with more constructors). Trade centers increase the local influence of your civilization.
So let’s say you have built two star bases and upgraded both of them to be trade centers which increase your local influence by 50%.
Now your influence is: (10 + 10X50% + 10 + 10X50%) = 30.
Now your influence is 30. Build a third star base that you upgrade to a trade center in that actual sector and your influence is dramatically increased further and eventually, if the Drengin don’t take measures, Sander II will join your civilization.
The counter to this of course is to build up your local planetary influence plus build trade centers to counteract your trade centers. But unless they are pursuing the same strategy as you are, they are likely to have to fight back through a different path (like attacking your star bases or trying to get the United Planets to outlaw building star bases in foreign controlled sectors).
