Taking to the stars and starting up an empire is an ambitious goal with Stellaris giving you all the tools to get you there. The moving parts can feel overwhelming to new players, although the game's solutions make the learning curve easier. From options that will suit any player to specialized choices for those that want to dive straight into the deep end, Stellaris' strong suit is variety.
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Traits are a feature that are integral to this variety. They affect specific stats in the game, changing your playstyle and success rate in different areas. Luckily, whatever path you choose, there will be a lot of room to experiment with a wide selection of traits. A few traits have stood out among the crowd, benefitting players with helpful improvements while making the empire-building process less intimidating.
9 Rapid Breeders - The Slow Game
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A trait for those that plan, Rapid Breeders increases population growth by ten percent. Population growth won't be noticeable in the early game, slowly adding workers to each planet you control. The best thing being every sector of society is affected, from the researchers to the miners, increasing productivity while giving you more options to choose from.
The late game is where Rapid Breeders kicks into gear, like a good investment slowly maturing over time. The trait affects players differently, boosting an already thriving species or kickstarting a slow reproduction rate. While it's unavailable naturally to those slow growth populations, gene resequencing research can open the door and get the party started.
8 Traditional - Gaining More Power
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Important for players that enjoy the role-playing side of Stellaris, this trait lets you dictate what direction the civilization heads. Increasing Unity income and unlocking the traditions tree, your control over the culture gets a boost. With paths such as domination, diplomacy, and harmony, this choice changes the statistics of a species.
Traditional also brings down the construction and maintenance of buildings and events that bring people together, making expanding the species easier as time goes on.If you want to start spreading out in the early game, Traditional is the best way to counteract Unity loss and make sure you're reaping all the benefits of the path you choose.
7 Natural Engineer - The Best Gear
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A key trait for any player, no matter the species, Natural Engineer will boost engineering research by 15 percent, unlocking some of the best tech and structures in the game. The best tech for most societies will be robots, droids, and synths, increasing population output and moving the entire species along a lot faster.
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Outside of production, Natural Engineers will also give you access to Hangar Bays and Star Fortresses, giving you the best early game defense on the market. A strong defense will turn away any would-be attackers and allow the budding species a chance to get their footing. Star Fortresses will also give you access to habitats, offering more space to the rapidly expanding player.
6 Charismatic - Removing The Stressful Parts
Keeping up amenities isn't an easy or cost-efficient task. Charismatic takes the burden off your shoulders and lets you focus on more important things. Societies without Charismatic end up using building slots and paying the price in a decreased population, creating an annoying cycle that's easily fixed with this trait.
Building slots are used in production, rather than amenities, maximizing the resources and time you have. Boosting the amenities from jobs by 20 percent, entertainers will also drop down the list of priorities. Charismatic clears all the extra costs that don't give you much in return, replacing losses with profit.
5 Intelligent - Speeding Up The Process
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Instead of focusing on a specific field of research, Intelligent provides a ten percent increase spread across all research. Intelligent will help speed up progress and reduce the wait for some exciting tech but where it shines is in tandem with another trait, pumping up the numbers even more.
As you move deeper into the game, research speed will be affected as the population expands and grows, Intelligent helps keep research stable and up to date with the newest technology. Anyone new to the game can safely pick this trait without committing to one field of research, keeping things open to change once you're more comfortable.
4 Enduring - Engage In The Story
Giving all your leaders a lifespan boost of 20 years, Enduring lets you enjoy the benefits of an experienced powerhouse for a longer time. Seeing as you'll have to start over with a level one leader every time one dies, extending their lifespan is a convenient bonus that will see a more productive society with a high-level ruler.
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Enduring is also a great trait for immersion in the game, letting you get attached to the leaders without swapping out characters regularly. While this doesn't directly affect the statistics, it's easier to stay invested in the game when you get hooked into a good narrative.
3 Unruly - The Lesser Of Two Evils
Negative traits don't seem like a good thing unless it's in Unruly's case, then you'll make an exception. Increasing your population sprawl by ten percent, the effects will barely be noticeable until you have a large empire. As soon as the effect starts to make any impact, it's as simple as bringing an extra bureaucrat to get everyone in line, only needing one bureaucrat per 200 population.
Adding on to its surprisingly tame effect, Unruly is the only negative trait to give you two trait points. Trait points can apply more positive traits or change the combination of traits already there.
2 Adaptive - Opening Doors To Explore
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Increasing habitability by ten percent, this trait lets your species work and flourish in some of the more hostile environments. Not only does this broaden your horizons but leads to an identical boost in growth speed, hitting two birds with one stone. All without even mentioning the resource production available in some hostile environments, benefiting important aspects of the species.
The food and amenities will see a change too, costing less to upkeep because of the habitability. Essentially once you get off your homeworld, it's hard to find a trait that will cover more important ground than Adaptive.
1 Super Conductive - Powering The Machines
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While most of the machine empire's best traits are simply different versions of the organic species, Super Conductive is twice as effective for obvious reasons. Producing 15 percent more energy from their jobs is a better benefit when synthetic species use energy to conduct research, allowing the entire system to flow at a better pace.
Energy is the lifeblood of any machine intelligence and creating more is essential, making Super Conductive one of the most important traits in their arsenal. While other organic species may bypass this trait, every member of the machine species will be affected by your decision.
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