Great Federation

Currently not compatible with the 4.5 open beta.

To experience the full content of this mod, you need to subscribe to the required ethics expansion mod. The new systems are available for non-hegemonic federations with at least Medium Centralization, after changing the succession type to Elections.

Current version language support: Chinese, English (translated by Chat GTP)

In vanilla Stellaris, federations often function mainly as diplomatic bonuses, shared fleets, and a limited set of laws. Internal politics rarely become a real struggle between member states, factions, ideologies, and competing interests.

Great Federation aims to reshape this experience.

This mod adds a Federal Assembly, presidential elections, bill submission, council review, formal voting, political operations, faction alliances, and political rights for member states. A federation is no longer just a diplomatic framework. It becomes a political entity that debates, negotiates, forms coalitions, blocks proposals, and changes direction through internal politics.

The mod creates a 360-seat Federal Assembly.

Seats are not simply divided equally between member states. Instead, they are distributed according to citizen population and internal faction structures. Domestic politics now directly influence federal politics.

Different political factions compete for influence within the Assembly.

181 seats are required for a majority. Any important bill must pass this threshold.

In eligible federations, the presidency is no longer limited to simple rotation or fixed succession.

The mod introduces a new Federal Presidential Election system:

• Member states can nominate candidates;
• Eligibility depends on sovereignty, diplomatic independence, and federation rules;
• Leader skill, leader type, ethics, incumbency, and political promises affect votes;
• If no candidate wins a majority in the first round, the top two candidates enter a runoff;
• Candidates may seek support through promises, neutral-seat negotiations, faction bargaining, and coalition building.

This is not a simple random succession system. Presidential elections become major moments of federal power redistribution.

During recess periods, politically eligible member states can submit bills to the federation.

Bills do not immediately enter a final vote. They first go through Council Review. The council evaluates proposals based on the submitting state, bill type, federation situation, and member-state interests.

The president then chooses one approved bill and sends it to the Federal Assembly for a formal vote.

This creates a full political procedure:

• Members submit bills;
• The council reviews them;
• The president selects a formal proposal;
• The Assembly votes;
• Political operations shift voting positions;
• The final result determines the federation’s direction.

The mod includes bill chains for twelve political factions:

• Socialist bills
• Xenophile bills
• Ecologist bills
• Liberal bills
• Pacifist bills
• Capitalist bills
• Materialist bills
• Spiritualist bills
• Authoritarian bills
• Militarist bills
• Industrialist bills
• Xenophobe bills

Each bill set contains multiple proposals. These bills are not only numerical bonuses; they also represent long-term political directions for the federation.

For example:

• Socialist bills strengthen labor rights, redistribution, and public construction;
• Liberal bills protect sovereignty, political freedom, and limit forced integration;
• Ecologist bills promote environmental protection, restoration, and circular development;
• Xenophile bills encourage refugees, multiculturalism, and free migration;
• Pacifist bills limit militarism and strengthen internal development;
• Capitalist bills promote markets, trade, and elite-driven economies;
• Materialist bills support research, technocracy, and megastructures;
• Spiritualist bills strengthen faith, unity, and social cohesion;
• Authoritarian bills expand central administration and subject control;
• Militarist bills improve fleets, readiness, and federal defense;
• Industrialist bills enhance production, infrastructure, and heavy industry;
• Xenophobe bills reinforce border control, defense, and internal identity.

Once a bill enters the Assembly, the result is not guaranteed.

Both supporters and opponents can carry out political operations, such as:

• Winning over neutral seats;
• Influencing key factions;
• Expanding support or weakening opposition across different rounds;
• Spending political resources to change the final vote.

A bill that seems certain to pass may still be blocked. A proposal with little hope may survive through negotiation, pressure, and political investment.

AI countries also evaluate whether to intervene based on their interests, resources, bill preferences, and the current vote situation. They will not act blindly every round, but they may invest resources when the outcome matters.

The mod gives subject states clearer political distinctions:

• Independent member states have full federal political rights;
• Subjects with independent diplomacy may participate in federal politics;
• Subjects without independent diplomacy or voting rights cannot independently submit bills, conduct political operations, or run for president;
• Restricted subjects tend to follow their overlord’s position in council review;
• Gestalt empires follow special neutral rules in many political issues.

This prevents federations from becoming simple tools for overlords to manipulate subject votes. A member must have real political autonomy before it can fully participate in federal politics.

This mod is not designed to simply stack bonuses. Its goal is to make internal federal politics an actual gameplay system.

You may see:

• Presidential candidates making promises to win majority support;
• A strong bill being blocked by organized opposition;
• A member state changing the federation’s long-term direction through proposals;
• Subjects being excluded from politics due to limited autonomy;
• Ideological blocs struggling over trade, war, science, ecology, sovereignty, and migration.

A federation is a form of cooperation, but cooperation does not mean the absence of conflict.

In Great Federation, the federation becomes a living political community.

Great Federation is a free mod created and maintained as a long-term personal project.

If you enjoy this mod and want to support future updates, compatibility fixes, new federal systems, events, interfaces, English localization, AI behavior improvements, and further political content, voluntary donations are welcome.

Whether you donate or not, thank you for subscribing, playing, giving feedback, and sharing this mod.

Thank you to every player who supports Great Federation.