Yeah that doesn't make sense, in Stellaris the spiritualist empires often end up being Fanatic Purifiers which leads to them committing the biggest genocides. Materialist empires aren't better per se but definitely aren't as predisposed to genocide.
Libs don't know what materialism mean. For them it's just fancy word for greed. Hell, in Poland i had to explain what it is even to
some people with higher education.
yeah i've seen so many threads in the paradox forums of people trying to explain that it doesn't mean that Madonna song or the Ferengi but is actually a philosophical outlook on how the universe works lol
Yeah, so that axis in Stellaris should be materialist-idealist but after the absolute shitshow with collectivism-individualism and its subsequent renaming to authoritarianism-egalitarianism no wonder PDX didn't even tried.
There is somewhat of a case to be made for Materialist, considering Cosmogenesis and the Synaptic Lathe. But obviously not every materialist empire goes into that. To be a fanatic purifier, you need to be Fanatically Xenophobic and either Militarist or Spiritualist. I'd expect Xenophobic empires to not care (or care significantly less), but the other two ethics are a little more debatably nebulous as to how much they'd care.
yeah my playthroughs are often pretty limited in scope because i can't stomach playing evil imperialists for long before i burn out
i typically always play as Fanatic Egalitarian Materialists (or some close variation). basically the Culture. once i get powerful enough I start aggressively liberating the galaxy
My most recent game was a Hive Mind. I think I assimilated some 75% of the galaxy, getting right to the endgame crisis before the most recent update dropped. I've kind of lost interest in the save, partially because I played with Gigastructural Engineering and that updated with Machine Age as I was playing, so the save file is a little borked. Looking forward to playing with the Cosmic Storms and the upcoming Grand Archive, though.
I think I crushed two Fanatic Purifiers and assimilated the Great Khan, so you're welcome, the rest of the galaxy.
i love Stellaris but god i wish i could run large galaxies with lots of empires into the late game without the sluggishness.
also i've never tried a Hive Mind. i need to RP hard to keep my interest and it seems difficult since your empire is basically just you
i really want to try Machine Age because i love the idea of non-Gesalt sapient machine empires. i'll probably scoop up the new DLCs on sale eventually and give it another run when i get the craving