Spiritualist Materialists: The Machine Cult

1-26-2023: Butlerian Crusaders get new "Butlerian Compliance" wargoal to force their policies on others for 20 years. Their policies also apply automatically and indefinitely to all their subjects.

12-17-2022: Removed percussive maintenance, which has found a new home as a species trait in "Not Just for Humans" https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2614898097

12-15-2022: Adjusted Ascension Paths per Orion update

4-13-2022: Fixed aforementioned 3.3.4 issues, some cosmetic fixes to a few buildings and a policy.

3.3.4 known issues brought to my attention:
1) Using this mod with other mods that also overwrite civic and ethic files may spawn Despicable Neutrals.
2) Politician jobs and ruler pops may not spawn, and capital buildings may produce Enforcers only.

I thank you, users, for informing me of this, and am working to have this fixed. Without your help, the issues would’ve persisted longer. Please report any other bugs in the code.

2-23-2022: "Tech Ritual" campaign edicts now have Alloys upkeep based on default Edict cost

This mod allows you to be both Spiritualist and Materialist, offering new Spiritualist civics that boost your Priests in various ways. In addition this mod adds powerful campaign edicts to boost your technology. Will you wed spirituality and science as a Machine Cult, or crush all intelligent machines as a Butlerian Crusader?

Spiritualist empires who are also xenophilic and/or egalitarian can use Full AI Rights.

Ethics and Civics patch: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2625800368

Vanilla civics balance patch: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2657401844

Possible cosmetic error: Due to my 00_ethics overwrite, Materialist ethics in empire creation menu may fail to show select ring. This is purely cosmetic and will not affect your ability to select and use the Materialist ethics.

11-23-2021: I will be moving all "Mentat" content to my Dune-relevant mod, The Zro Must Flow: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2614895897

Powerful new Machine Cult civic: High Priests now speed up research by 5% each. Priests double as researchers. Comes in Hivemind and Machine Cult equivalents.

Research Directors also give 5% research if you have tech "Rituals of Technology" and are NOT a Machine Cult. Had to balance this somehow. Gestalts can build "Knowledge Processor" to similar effect if they are gestalt Machine Cults and/or have Rituals of Technology.

New Adeptus Mechanicus inspired techs: Servitors, maintenance rituals, and more.

New AI Policy: False AI Ban. It only looks like you forbid artificial intelligence. Butlerian Crusaders can’t take this.

Yep, that is my fursona Nyota as a Tech Priest.

Changes to Ascension Perks
Butlerian Crusaders can’t take cybernetic Ascension as robots and cyborgs are Undesirable to them.
Permits multiple Paths, for while I was there I saw that your empires would never be so closed minded again. After all, you can use only one AP overwrite at a time.
Waives most constraints on who can get what path, except 1) Machine Intelligences require Rogue Servitor or Driven Assimilator to take either Flesh is Weak or Engineered Evolution, 2) Mechanical empires can’t get Synthetic Evolution as they’re already that way, 3) Hiveminds must have Machine Introspection to use Flesh is Weak and Synthetic Evolution.

Compatibility
Overwrites files: Ruler jobs, Specialist Jobs, Gestalt jobs, ethics, Ascension Perks, AI policy, Traditionalist faction, Technologist faction, Progressive faction. May be incompatible with other mods that also overwrite these same files.
Recommended to load below any mod that affects interface, else the Materialist may not show selected in the empire menu. Potentially incompatible with UI mods. Use together at your own risk.

Estimated Rating: PEGI 7
Humor: This mod adds G-rated sci-fi jokes within Stellaris’ existing brand of humor. In catering to a wide audience I consciously avoided content that may offend some players; I apologize for the lack of cyberdongs but deem bread baking machines alone OK. You are entitled to edgy jokes elsewhere just as I am entitled to offer a comfortable experience to all audiences.
Pop culture references should be enjoyable even to those who somehow don’t know the works in question.
A few dialogues indirectly criticize “Karens” in a semi-fantasy way, e.g putting essential oils on one’s spaceship or asserting that other’s choice to use technology violates one’s religious freedom.
Notable Civics
Machine Cult
A holy faith that reveres science and technology. Priests double as researchers, seeking cosmic truth in holy temples where servers hum and energy fields crackle over clanking motors and bubbling bioreactors. High Priests directly aid tech development, speeding research speed by 5% each. Comes in “Machine Introspection” and “Techno-Morality Subroutines” for hiveminds and machine intelligences, respectively.

Butlerian Crusaders
Sworn enemy of the Machine Cult. Seek the complete destruction of all computers and AI, sparing only those they need in war.
BCs are a galactic threat, and as such anyone can use Casus Belli “Containment” against them. BCs can still engage in normal diplomacy.
Mutually adversarial to Machine Cult and its Gestalt analogues.