Stellaris: Dev Diary #436 Explains the New Ideologies System

Paradox shared Stellaris Dev Diary #436 on October 15, 2026, and it puts a new system front and center for Stellaris: Ideologies. The diary is written by Gary Morris (Atmaz), DLC Director for the Willpower expansion from Abrakam Entertainment, and it covers how Ideologies work in regular empires.

If you like knowing how a new system fits into your empire before it lands, this one is worth a read. Below we go through Fanatic Factions, how an Ideology spreads, Tenets and the risks of Ideological Momentum, all as described in the official dev diary. Gestalt empires aren't covered here, since the team says they'll get their own dev diary.

How Ideologies Start

The walkthrough follows a Fanatic Xenophile, Pacifist Blorg empire called the Blorg Cooperative. It uses a Willpower Civic, Open Stars Sovereignty, which is only open to Fanatic or Absolute Xenophiles. This isn't a new pre-scripted empire, though the expansion does include some of those.

Everything begins with Fanatic Factions. These have both higher resource output and a higher unmet-demand disapproval rate, so you'll probably want to keep them happy. A faction can fanaticize if it has high support and approval for a long time. Once a Fanatic faction exists, it can prompt you to adopt its principles as an official Ideology for your whole society.

Adopting one isn't free, because it has a monthly upkeep of Influence. You can also do it from the Manage Faction menu if you meet the requirements and want to pick your own timing.

Spreading an Ideology

An Ideology gets a visible footprint on the galaxy through the new Ideology Map Mode. It grows and spreads from population sources such as colonies. How far it goes depends on Unity production, Amenities, Trade and other modifiers, so the more happy and productive followers you have, the faster and farther it spreads.

The area it covers is called Ideological Reach. Inside it, foreign pops can be drawn toward your Ethics and new factions can emerge. It also reduces Claim and Starbase Influence cost for systems outside your borders, and it reduces Starbase upkeep. Each Ideology has its own flag, with unique emblems for each Ethic type, and you can rename it.

When a whole empire adopts your Ideology, you get a bonus as the current Authority, and empires that share your Ideology generally view you more favorably. In the example, the Reyennan Regime adopts the Blorg ideology through diplomacy. The dev diary also notes that there are far more aggressive ways to force an Ideology on someone, without going into them.

Tenets and Ideological Momentum

Forming an Ideology makes you an Ideological Authority, and you stay one as long as no other empire adopts your Ideology and reaches a higher strength level and diplomatic weight. Only the Authority can codify Tenets, and you need to gain some Ideological Strength first.

• Slots: you normally get three Tenets, and each slot scales upward in Intensity, so a Tenet saved for your third slot gets stronger modifiers.
• Choices: most Tenets are locked to particular Ethics, while some Civics and Origins add their own. The example picks Pluralism to go with Open Stars Sovereignty.
• Reformulating: if you don't like your options, you can Reformulate them for some Influence and time.

Keep an eye on Ideological Momentum, which tracks how your Ideological Strength has been doing lately. If it goes negative, you risk negative modifiers or Ideological Revolts. Those may create an opposing Ideology or make several colonies secede at once.

The team says this is only the basics, with more to come. Paradox also mentions that Stellaris YouTuber War 3 premiered this week, with a Q&A on Discord after Episode 2. For more, see our DLC subscription pricing guide and keep the Stellaris DLC tier list handy.