This is my 2nd match playing Lemurists and, once again, the Militants have taken over 2/3rds of my Senate after just one defensive war. I started out next to the Cravers and had to quickly churn out a dozen or so ships to repel their war of aggression, and by the end the Pacifists were the minority. I'm finding it extremely tough to defend my borders and keep the Pacifists in power. I think the number of events that contribute to the Militarist party have to be reduced.

• Attacks on enemy fleets in your territory shouldn't promote Militarism (or at least promote it much less); self-defense doesn't translate to aggression.
• There should be buildable defensive stations that either promote Pacifism or don't contribute to Militarism. I want to defend my borders without empowering the warhawks, and immobile defenses are perfect for dissuading violence.
• Reduce the Militarism point gains overall. While I struggle to get the other parties (Pacifism, Industrialism, Science) in the Senate, Militarism takes the majority and stays in it naturally.

On one side it is perfectly plausible that your pop went for militarism. They don't want to be eaten by the Cravers. Another player would perhaps be glad to have some military options so fast to respond in time. I think it is a delicate balance how fast a change in political view should happen. It sounds like your whole empire was threatened by the Cravers and not only some colonies. I guess there is a difference if just a part of your empire is under threat and that local population will increase in militarist support or if all of your empire is under threat. If it is early game than probably your whole empire is under threat and in that case a shift to a military opinion isn't that bad to defend your people.

That said I like your second idea. Defensive structures could increase pacifist support and offensive structures and ships militarist support. But I don't know how many military structures are in the game.

MikeLemmer wrote:

This is my 2nd match playing Lemurists

OMG! Space Lemurs confirmed as next faction!

Anyways, I see no problem with Militarists gaining power during times of conflict. It makes perfect sense and besides, those war time laws will be very beneficial.

I think that's more a result of the current early access AI, which invariably declares war against you after a certain number of turns (not that many either). That empowers the militarists more than it would in a 'normal' game.

UndeadPuppy wrote:

MikeLemmer wrote:

This is my 2nd match playing Lemurists

OMG! Space Lemurs confirmed as next faction!

Anyways, I see no problem with Militarists gaining power during times of conflict. It makes perfect sense and besides, those war time laws will be very beneficial.

Perhaps. It's just with the races currently in the game, I'm constantly in one conflict or another. If it's not the Cravers, it's the Vodyani. This causes the Militarists to gain a foothold and keep it, especially since it seems like the Pacifists' big buffs (trade, peace treaties, etc) are deep in T2 techs I can't spare if I have to keep my military research on the cutting edge.