Hello! I’m Apollo here with another Stellaris build! This build is based around one of the new origins that comes with Overlord, Teachers of the shroud.
 
 
Eventually, I’ll make a video on this build, when or If I do, It will be posted here:
 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa46MrUOQloDDKsvpIoZx1g – [youtube.com] 
 
 

Introduction

With the new DLC for Stellaris, Overlord added 5 new origins. Today, we’ll talk about 1, teachers of the shroud. Teachers of the Shroud is an unexpectedly amazing Origin. It’s basically like starting with Mind over matter, some leaders are psychic and your pops get the Psionic trait.
 
 
Teachers of the shroud itself does not give much more than PU. But what makes it better than PU is the leaders. The leaders themselves add a lot of different buffs but what we focus on is the ships and research buffs. The Psionic trait gives 10% damage and 15% evasion for ships, for research It’s just a flat 10%. Governors are also noteworthy but only give 5 stability and 10% unity from jobs
 
 
But the final, truly powerful thing about teachers of the shroud is Psi corps. Psi corps are only unlock-able when you have a level 3 capital so you will need to research that tech but when you do. You get 10% everything for the rest of the game, nearly 30 unity if you have shroud teachings and 0 crime if there’s a criminal syndicate.
 
 
Combined with Masterful crafters and a few other good bonuses, this build gets powerful. Allright enough rambling, onto the build!
 
 
 

The Build

 
 
The build is in line with most Bio empire builds, masterful crafters, and meritocracy. There’s no other better civics for normal empires.
 
 
Traits:
 
 
Latent Psionic.
 
 
While not the main part of teachers of the shroud, the research, and EC output is really helpful. The main part of this trait is the leaders, leaders get really good bonuses if they are psychic.
 
 
Aquatic:
 
 
Pretty much every empire that can, should take aquatic, the habitability on your GH’s, the housing for pop growth, the Basic resource output. Everything is definitely worth the deficit in non-wet worlds.
 
 
Intelligent:
 
 
Research plays a massive role in any Stellaris run, even more so with this build as we want to rush psi corps.
 
 
Rapid Breeders:
 
 
Rapid breeders are a must with every build, 10% gives us about 4 pops by year 30, and each pop we make comes about 1 – 2 months earlier meaning they work for that additional amount of time.
 
 
Unruly:
 
 
while empire size can be a big problem, pops don’t affect empire size nearly as much as other contributors. As so, it’s definitely worth the 10% research we get from intelligent.
 
 
Any -1 trait:
 
 
Anything goes, the only 2 I wouldn’t go to are decadent and quarrelsome.
 
 
Name and class
 
 
Can’t go anything else other than ocean World
 
 
Sol system. The size of your capital doesn’t matter for most of the game, and since we won’t get ecumenopolis until our 4th or 5th AP, your capital won’t be a suitable Ecu by then, so speed running colonies is much better
 
 
Government and ethics
 
 
Ethics:
 
 
Spiritualist
 
 
This is required for Teachers of the shroud, but the temples are much better than Offices and the unity and amenities are very good, even in non-Teacher builds, 1 point in spiritualist is worth it.
 
 
Militarist
 
 
for distinguished admiralty, your leaders can be pretty insane. Also, this enables no retreat so if you happen to get an Unyielding Psionic level 3 admiral, your ships get so many buffs from just an admiral, along with no retreat and possibly cruisers, your fleet power to alloy ratio goes up massively, and since we aren’t Gestalt, It’s hard to get more than ~13k alloys by year 27
 
 
Xenophobe
 
 
It might seem a bit thin only to go for Xenophobe because of the pop growth, but just like rapid breeders 10% pop growth means a lot more than just 4 more pops by year 30. It also means more immigration to colonies which we want, and quicker pops that will work for a few months than they would otherwise have.
 
 
Oligarchy
 
 
Your only other option is democratic so this is better for the faction unity gain.
 
 
Civics:
 
 
Masterful crafters
 
 
The best civic for normal empires by far, extra CGs, trade, building slots, and a little bit of research go very far with this build.
 
 
Meritocracy
 
 
10% research 10% alloys 10% cgs, very powerful and simple.
 
 
 

Speedrun Colony ships

Speedrunning Colony ships is to grow your colonies as quickly as possible, so of course, we want to survey and build colony ships and colonize them as quickly as possible. Let’s start with the first month.
 
 
1/1/00
 
Start by stripping your ships, and disband them once they are done downgrading. Dismantle your crew quarters. Make sure you have the least amount of clerks employed in your capital. Change your species policy to social welfare. Change your policy to Civilian economy, Outlaw Robotic workers, and prohibit population controls NOT the resetting policy
 
 
If you have any psychic scientists, swap them with your science ship scientist. This way the survey speed is much faster, Using the sol system preset, we can see exactly where our GHs are at the start of the game, the closest trinary star system and binary star system will most likely contain your GHs. These systems will always be named Alpha Centauri and Sirius.
 
 

 

 
 
Technology:
 
 
– Quantum theory
 
– Administrative AI
 
– Field Modulation
 
 
– Hydroponics Farming
 
– Biodiversity studies
 
– Planetary Unification
 
 
– Nano-mechanics
 
– Geothermal Fracking
 
– Zero-g refineries
 
 
1/2/00
 
Sell 50 alloys, buy 100 CGs and make a colony ship also get the edict veneration of saints, and sell 4 CGs a month.
 
 
1/3/00
 
Setup an auto-purchase of 42 minerals a month.
 
 
1/6/00
 
Sell 25 alloys, buy 100 minerals and make a research lab. Cancel selling 4 CGs and buy 20 CGs a month.
 
 
________________________________________________________________
 
A few notes:
 
 
Use the CGs you buy to get luxuries distributed and the CGs for the 2nd colony ship, once you have that, cancel the auto-buy.
 
 
Once both colonies have finished colonizing, swap your diplomatic stance to isolationist.
 
 
Once you’ve finished building research labs on the initial open building slots you want to save EC and get shroud teachings for unity and amenities.
 
 
 

Technology

Technology is supremely important in any PDX game, effecting everything about an empire or nation. In Stellaris, technology is the number 1 aspect you need to consider. Technology enhances everything and we want specific technologies by year 27 so we can get good ships.
 
 
A Technique called Tech B-lining is used to minimize the amount of available techs to be picked so that the rare techs we want will be picked more frequently. This way technology is more consistently efficient.
 
 
In a bad tech roll you can get 3 techs you don’t want or need. You might think that researching the cheapest one is the best one. But there are some other things. First tech tiers.
 
 
For those who don’t know, tech tiers are hidden variables that effect what techs can be rolled. A different tier is unlocked by research 6 tech from the previous tier, this way, that useless tech roll from earlier might be wasting even more time by researching a tech from tier 1, not progressing you at all.
 
 
The second is what technologies it unlocks, if a tech unlocks techs we don’t want in the future we don’t want to research if obviously. Researching the least amount of technologies that unlock little to no techs will keep the tech pool uncluttered so that we can get the techs we want.
 
 
Okay, now onto the techs we don’t ever want to research.
 
 
Colonization techs
 
Robot techs
 
Point defense or flak
 
Station Research improvements.
 
Code breaking or Encryption techs.
 
Genome mapping is a bit weird since it’s obviously a useful technology but if you want to rush psi corps, Genome mapping unlocks a lot of techs we won’t ever use. but it’s okay to research it.
 
Replicator Kiosks
 
Assembly patterns
 
Weather control systems
 
Afterburners
 
Missile techs
 
Strike craft Techs
 
Star holds
 
 
By not researching a large portion of largely useless technologies, the techs we want will pop up way more often because there’s nothing else for the game to pick. Technology can be the difference between Cruisers and corvettes.
 
 
 

Unity And Traditions

 
 
Since we get a lot of Unity throughout the game, traditions are easy. A simple path to follow every game. I don’t need to type out the path so I’ll just move on to APs. Once you are done with Supremacy, finish discovery for the 10% research speed.
 
 
Ascension Perks:
 
 
Executive Vigor
 
 
This is the difference between capacity and mining subsidies and not, Basically 50% worker pop output.
 
 
Grasp The Void
 
 
After your first war, you’ll have a lot of basic resources from the subject, and you’ll make a lot of alloys, with all of the build costs, you need a lot of naval capacity. This does just that, giving lots and lots of naval capacity so by year 50 you can get 100k fleet power.
 
 
Transcendence
 
 
The shroud can be powerful and the Psionic trait and Psionic leaders are very useful, with the shroud you can also get your level 3 combat computers and long-range jump drives by around year 60 depending on your luck with the shroud.
 
 
 

Capital

In any game your capital is all-powerful, at the start, everything is on your capital. In this game, our capital will mainly provide our minerals and technology or energy and technology. Depending on what your colony’s districts can provide.
 
 
Like every build, you will max your capital as quick as you can, lots of research labs and mining districts. Note: AS SOON AS YOU GET LEVEL 3 CAPITAL BUILDING, GET PSI CORPS.
 
 
Build order:
 
 
Research lab x3
 
Teachers of the shroud
 
Sprawling slums
 
Research labs and City districts x3
 
Upgrade capital
 
Psi corps
 
Replace both temples with Labs
 
 
Make mining or generator districts based on the number of opposite jobs that are on your 3rd capital, or if you have clerks.
 
 
Destroy districts if there are no jobs that are being worked there, this really only applies to farmers but also other districts because eventually, your capital will only have miners or technicians.
 
 
Early on, right before you are about to finish your first research lab, unemploy your enforcer so it won’t be worked after it’s finished.
 
 
 

Colonies

Colonies are just as important as your capital, they will provide a massive amount of alloys and CGs. This is also where I will discuss stocking CGs.
 
 
Your first colony will be pure Industry, swapping to alloys only when we have enough CGs, your second colony will have 2 CG jobs but that is it, Providing mostly basic resources based on the available districts.
 
 
Colony 1
 
 
Your first colony as said before will only be Industry. So you’ll just build industrial districts and with the open slots from masterful crafters, make some luxury residences for free amenities. You will have to move pops from other planets to get the alloys you need, the base goal is 15k by year 27.
 
 
You also want to rush mega forges as this will basically give a 33% alloy output. Use any special planetary features, if not space resources if not rush chemical plants and build them on the second colony.
 
 
Colony 2
 
 
Your second colony will provide a small amount of CG and EC or minerals depending on the districts the planet provides.
 
 
Start by building Civilian industries. These 2 pops will always be working those 2 artificer jobs for the entire game, this way we can swap to Alloys super early on, we will only make like 60 p/m in year 14 but that is still 13 years before our deadline.
 
 
This planet will also be used for any synthetic strategic resources you need, by year 30 you want market access to all 3, so you can at least buy the resources for the edicts.
 
 
CG stacking
 
 
We will stack about 6k CGs from the start of the game to around year 13 – 14, just whenever we get 6k. This way, only a very small portion of our industrial economy is CGs, so we can make even more alloys.
 
 
Make sure to use Planetary designations and Economic policy depending on which part of the build you are in.
 
 
 

Leaders

Now, Leaders aren’t too important in many builds. Obviously, in this build, they play more of a part, but in general, It’s important to know a few things about leaders.
 
 
Leaders can be very useful and important, their initial traits can shape games. Traits are rolled each time the leader pool is rolled, every year in the beginning the leader pool is re-rolled and new leaders show up.
 
 
The traits themselves are what we look for, even more so for psychics. There’s a 20% chance that a leader will be a psychic, let’s look over why we want psychic leaders.
 
 
Governors
 
 
5% stability
 
10% unity from jobs.
 
 
For governors, there are 2 traits we want, architectural interest and intellectual. Arch will save a lot of minerals and Intellectual will give lots of research. On top of getting these traits we also want psychics, now you can see why this is hard. At the start there are 6 traits so It’s a 1 in 6 chance we get the trait we want, it’s also a 20% chance to get a psychic.
 
 
Not every game you’ll get the leaders you want, but in some games you can keep looking for them. What I do is just look for psychics as it’s more likely and better than the others, and keep looking throughout the game. If I happen to find a psychic Arch leader, cool!
 
 
Let’s look over the other psychic boosts.
 
 
Scientists
 
 
10% research speed
 
25% survey speed
 
10% research speed for psionic technologies.
 
+1 archaeological skill
 
 
For scientists, it’s the only spark of genius and maniacal we want for the research speed. But here psychic is definitely better, so do the same thing with Governors, get psychic leaders and throughout the game look each year for psychic spark of genius or maniacal leaders.
 
 
Admirals
 
 
10% ship weapons damage
 
15% evasion
 
 
For admirals, it’s different, In Most games, we want to get distinguished admiralty but we need a tier 3 tech for that. So we have a tight time searching for good leaders if we want the +2 admiral levels.
 
Coincidentally, sometimes we finish supremacy a few years earlier. Instead of saving for more traditions, keep rolling for psychic leaders, the best is probably aggressive, but if you plan to go no retreat, go for unyielding.
 
 
Generals don’t matter, unless someone went undead armies, you won’t need to invest anymore than 1k minerals in armies.
 
 
 

War >:)

So, you have now learned how to do technology, economy, and unity. Now It’s time for war.
 
Hopefully the economy you have learned got you up to 15k alloys by year 27. Also, make sure you have about 6 shipyards and get fleet supremacy edict when you are building your ships for that ship experience.
 
 

 
 
Ship design.
 
 
Ship design is very important. This goes hand in hand with technology so depending on your tech rolls. Your design can lack some things. But this is a good template for better or worse tech levels.
 
 
Starting with weapons. The large kinetic weapon, rapid deployment, and a cautious admiral ensure we will get the alpha strike. This significantly increases win rates and is always a priority.
 
To offset our massive kinetic imbalance, we have a medium plasma weapon. This will destroy cruisers and stations alike. Massive damage to armor and hull goes hand in hand with massive damage to shields with our kinetic weapon.
 
 
Next is utility. Reactor level will depend on your tech rolls and shield level. You don’t want a lot of excess power. If you have enough excess power to lower the level of your reactor. Doing so, dramatically reduces cost. Your hyperdrive and engine will stay at level 1. Mainly to save power but also gives us some tech since we won’t have to worry about it. Sensors will always be at the top level. The tracking works well with large and medium weapon sizes. Now, depending on what kind of ship you will be fighting, like destroyers or cruisers. Your combat computer will be on tracking since we might be fighting destroyers with about 35% evasion, 20% tracking goes very far.
 
 
Last but not least, protection. Shields will always be the highest and with level 2 reactor boosters level 3 all around is amazing. Shields are cheap and will recover HP in combat and outside of it. The armor is expensive and doesn’t recover HP. Rather you need to go to the nearest station. This is also why we have a kinetic majority. Most players will go for lots of shields. Most of the time you’d go for reactor boosters but sometimes, like when you get T4 reactors. You can go for auxiliary fire control.
 
 
 

The End

And that is it, everyone! Masterful Psychics! A very powerful build, in my experience It’s not too difficult to execute, but I do have 2100 hours so I might have some habits. If you have any problems, feel free to comment as I will try to respond as quickly as I can.
 
 
I know I didn’t make a video on Here be Servitors, but I’ll do my best to make one for this build. When or if I do, it will be posted here:
 
 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa46MrUOQloDDKsvpIoZx1g – [youtube.com] 
 
 
I hope you conquer many galaxies with this build. I’ve been Apollo, and goodbye!
 
 

 
 
This is all about Stellaris – Best Builds in Game + Unity And Traditions; I hope you enjoy reading the Guide! If you feel like we should add more information or we forget/mistake, please let us know via commenting below, and thanks! See you soon!