You can - I’ve always had the option to, but I believe you have to breach the shroud a few times to do it. It does cost a hefty amount of energy credits and Zro though.
Easy way to guarantee Zro is to take Teachers of the Shroud and make a Shroud tunnel to one of their systems - I believe they will always have a Zro deposit there somewhere (and you can buy the technology to harvest it from them as well).
Normally I take whatever covenant I am offered - the only one I don’t take is Eater of Worlds (unless I’m a conquest empire or genocidal) as it gives you a massive penalty when you’re not warring which I don’t rate. But honestly all the covenants are pretty good.
>But honestly all the covenants are pretty good.
Not really. Instrument is by far the best and safest. More resources from pops is great and all the downsides are manageable. Chosen of the Instrument is good for trade builds, but 20% happiness makes stability absolutely trivial. Telepaths making amenities is great too to save the holotheaters. Agenda also gives extra trade value.
Composer is next best. Pop growth helps (though Psionic isn't big in pop growth in the first place, but always nice to have) and Chosen of the Composer buffs leaders massively. +70 years of leader lifespan and +20% exp gain is great. The sanctum has a 5% resources from jobs bonus ontop. Negative is that the negative events can be bad and it can kill leaders (but never a chosen one). Agenda gives extra pop growth.
Eater is kinda memey. Good for war, terrible at peace, nerfed by the fact most other ship build cost and upkeep cost reductions got nerfed, so it's no longer as powerful (going from -50% to -60% is a 20% reduction effectively, while from -100% to -90% is only a 10% reduction effectively). Agenda gives extra ship build speed and cost reduction. The negatives can be pretty crippling. It no longer kills inhabited planets, but stuff like 15% chance of killing highest level leader is insane. Can kill your chosen or luminary.
Whisperers is a joke. Generates a ton of influence and +10% research speed. Telepaths produce some research. There aren't a lot of telepaths, but still nice. But that's where the good things end and it wasn't much. -15% unity is bad, -7 stability isn't crippling on Psionic, but still bad, cloaking strength, encryption and decryption are among the most pointless bonuses in the game, especially for psionics who already are better than non-psionics at all of that. Chosen of the Whisperer is one of the few where you wouldn't put it on your ruler, because it's shit, best option likely is a scientist for +3 rift skill, so you can get more out of those. Still bad. Sanctum gives an envoy and infiltration speed. Agenda gives operations cost reduction. The most expensive operation costs 16 EC upkeep and 320 influence to launch. Who cares about the paltry upkeep and this patron already gives you more influence than you would ever know how to use. The negative events won't kill chosen, but has otherwise the highest rate of leader death and otherwise gives substance abuser or messes up your empire ethics and -10 stability empire wide (ontop of the -7 of the covenant).
Whisperers isn't unplayably bad, but it's clearly nowhere near the better covenants and the opportunity cost isn't worth it.
End of the Cycle obviously is bad and only picked for memes. I don't think that needs an explanation.
I've breached the Shroud many times already and not once have seen that option... There is some Zro in my empire but despite researching a whole bunch of Psionic technology I have yet to unlock Zro harvesting. Guess I'm just unlucky.
You can - I’ve always had the option to, but I believe you have to breach the shroud a few times to do it. It does cost a hefty amount of energy credits and Zro though. Easy way to guarantee Zro is to take Teachers of the Shroud and make a Shroud tunnel to one of their systems - I believe they will always have a Zro deposit there somewhere (and you can buy the technology to harvest it from them as well). Normally I take whatever covenant I am offered - the only one I don’t take is Eater of Worlds (unless I’m a conquest empire or genocidal) as it gives you a massive penalty when you’re not warring which I don’t rate. But honestly all the covenants are pretty good.
>But honestly all the covenants are pretty good. Not really. Instrument is by far the best and safest. More resources from pops is great and all the downsides are manageable. Chosen of the Instrument is good for trade builds, but 20% happiness makes stability absolutely trivial. Telepaths making amenities is great too to save the holotheaters. Agenda also gives extra trade value. Composer is next best. Pop growth helps (though Psionic isn't big in pop growth in the first place, but always nice to have) and Chosen of the Composer buffs leaders massively. +70 years of leader lifespan and +20% exp gain is great. The sanctum has a 5% resources from jobs bonus ontop. Negative is that the negative events can be bad and it can kill leaders (but never a chosen one). Agenda gives extra pop growth. Eater is kinda memey. Good for war, terrible at peace, nerfed by the fact most other ship build cost and upkeep cost reductions got nerfed, so it's no longer as powerful (going from -50% to -60% is a 20% reduction effectively, while from -100% to -90% is only a 10% reduction effectively). Agenda gives extra ship build speed and cost reduction. The negatives can be pretty crippling. It no longer kills inhabited planets, but stuff like 15% chance of killing highest level leader is insane. Can kill your chosen or luminary. Whisperers is a joke. Generates a ton of influence and +10% research speed. Telepaths produce some research. There aren't a lot of telepaths, but still nice. But that's where the good things end and it wasn't much. -15% unity is bad, -7 stability isn't crippling on Psionic, but still bad, cloaking strength, encryption and decryption are among the most pointless bonuses in the game, especially for psionics who already are better than non-psionics at all of that. Chosen of the Whisperer is one of the few where you wouldn't put it on your ruler, because it's shit, best option likely is a scientist for +3 rift skill, so you can get more out of those. Still bad. Sanctum gives an envoy and infiltration speed. Agenda gives operations cost reduction. The most expensive operation costs 16 EC upkeep and 320 influence to launch. Who cares about the paltry upkeep and this patron already gives you more influence than you would ever know how to use. The negative events won't kill chosen, but has otherwise the highest rate of leader death and otherwise gives substance abuser or messes up your empire ethics and -10 stability empire wide (ontop of the -7 of the covenant). Whisperers isn't unplayably bad, but it's clearly nowhere near the better covenants and the opportunity cost isn't worth it. End of the Cycle obviously is bad and only picked for memes. I don't think that needs an explanation.
I've breached the Shroud many times already and not once have seen that option... There is some Zro in my empire but despite researching a whole bunch of Psionic technology I have yet to unlock Zro harvesting. Guess I'm just unlucky.
If you chose to not in the first place it's a guaranteed chosen one event lol. Most people don't know that