Stellaris, the sci-fi grand-strategy from masters of the genre Paradox Interactive, is a sprawling sandbox of alien overlords, strange anomalies, and galaxy-ending threats. In order to survive the race to dominance in Stellaris, players must use every resource at their disposal.
One of the most important resources that players will need to handle is Influence, which measures the political power and diplomatic clout of their government. Influence is required for everything from claiming neutral systems to proposing resolutions in the Galactic Senate, but finding ways to boost an Empire's income can be difficult.
How to Raise Influence Income in Stellaris
By design, the player's Influence income is one of the hardest scores to raise in Stellaris. All Empires start with a base Influence production of 3, though this can be boosted by certain Ethics during Stellaris' Empire creation:
- +0.5 for the Authoritarian Ethic
- +1 for the Fanatic Authoritarian Ethic
- +1 for Gestalt Consciousness (Requires Utopia or Synthetic Dawn DLCs)
Beyond these Ethics, which can be hard or impossible to change once the game has started, there are only two other ways to consistently increase Influence income in Stellaris.
Declare Rivalry
The first method is by declaring a Rivalry with another Empire, which requires either Terrible Relations, an existing Rivalry from the target, an Envoy assigned to Harm Relations, or for either Empire to be using the Supremacist Diplomatic Stance Policy. Players can only declare three Rivalries at once, but for each one they'll gain, +0.5 Influence income, as well as closed borders, reduced costs for War Claims, a large Opinion penalty, and the Animosity Casus Belli.
Power Projection
The other way to consistently raise Influence income in Stellaris is by generating more Power Projection. The Power Projection score is a measure of the size of an Empire's fleet compared to the size of their Empire in Systems, Colonies, Districts, and Population. A large Empire with a very small fleet will get no Influence bonus at all from Power Projection, while a small Empire with a huge fleet will get the maximum bonus of +2 Influence per month.
How to Use Influence in Stellaris
Although there are few ways to earn bonus Influence, there are many ways to spend it. In Stellaris' early game, players will mostly save their Influence for constructing Outposts in unclaimed Star Systems, joining the race to claim as large a territory as possible before hitting the borders of other Empires. Players must also pay a small amount of Influence each month as upkeep for any diplomatic pacts they've signed, or a lump sum to propose new Resolutions in the Galactic Senate.
For more warlike Empires in Stellaris, Influence is vital to claim Systems under the control of their neighbors, allowing those Systems to be captured after a successful war. It's also used to modify Subject Agreements with Vassals and Subjects, allowing an overlord Empire to squeeze more resources out of their subordinates. Finally, Influence is used as a currency for a wide range of projects in the Empire, from Special Events and Planetary Decisions to Habitats and Megastructures.
Stellaris is currently available on PC, macOS, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.