Hello everyone! Todays dev diary will show you some of the improvements weve made to federations for the upcoming free update! Federation Voting Since the release of Federations and the 2.7 update weve wanted to make some improvements to how voting in federations is handled. Most of the improvements are related to UI and better feedback, but theres also been some changes to functionality. You are now able to use Favors to increase the acceptance chance for your AI-controlled federation members.
You are now able to use Favors to increase the acceptance chance for federation law proposals. Weve also changed how AI acceptance works for federation laws, so that it is more transparent and more consistent with other features in the game. We look at the AI attitude a lot more now, and it will affect which laws the AI is attracted towards. For example, militaristic empires, or those with either Honorbound Warriors or Federation Builders personalities will be more likely to accept a higher fleet contribution law. Generally speaking, the best way for you to pass new federation laws is to get the Federation Cohesion to 90 or above, and then suggest a new law change. When it comes to suggesting changed, the AI will still not attempt to suggest changes very often, unless they are the federation president.
The AI will generally not want to increase Centralization unless Cohesion is 90 or higher. Cohesion also directly affects the acceptance chance by a factor of x0.25 (100 cohesion equals +25 acceptance).
The UI for voting on war declarations has received a face-lift. Its now more clear which war goal is used, and you can see a summary of the target of the war, and which their allies are. This should hopefully make it easier for you to decide if you are in favor of the war or not.
Whenever a federation law has been voted on, you will now get a pop-up that clearly informs you on what the results of the vote were, and how your federation allies voted.
Weve also improved the feedback you get whenever your federation unlocks a new level.

Joint Operations

Something we wanted to do, but couldnt do for 2.6 due to lack of time, was to add some more flavor events to federations. We had some cool ideas for things we wanted to try, and were very happy that weve been able to add some events for the upcoming 2.7 update. Joint Operations are events to which each member of a federation can contribute, and the types of events will depend on your federation type. Research Co-operatives have the chance to engage in a joint archaeological dig across their region of federated space. Galactic Unions and Research Co-operatives alike may also find themselves dealing with strange new stellar phenomena at their federation capitals. Hegemonies will have the option of a grand project to celebrate cultural uniformity and to see whos still willing to tow the line. Military Alliances can partake in a joint training exercise, while Trade Leagues may seek to improve their collective worth through harmonized logistics. In all cases, collaboration will bolster cohesion within your federation however members may sometimes be tempted by individual gains, and further challenges may arise if the federation does not act as one.

Origins

A small change weve made, albeit probably a welcomed one, is to make it far less likely for the leader of a Common Ground or Hegemony start to be blocked off by their federation members. Its very likely that they will have at least one open hyperlane to an unexplored star system. --- Thats it for this week! Next week well be back with some more information regarding the upcoming free update!