While these mercenary fleets won’t count towards naval capacity, their contract will only last for 5 years, while giving your Empire a chance to renew the contract when their time is up.
These fleets come in varying sizes, technology and experience, they cannot be merged, split or disbanded, and their admiral cannot be dismissed. Once the mid-game year has been reached, the Marauder’s services will expand to hiring out entire fleets as mercenaries that you can command. Related: Stellaris: Distant Stars - The L-Gates and L-Cluster, Explained You can also hire an Admiral or General from the Marauders to command one of your fleets or armies for 2000 energy, starting with level 3 experience and coming with the Mercenary Warrior trait, which gives an Admiral 10% increase to evasion and fire rate, and a General 10% increase to army damage. The Marauders will also refuse to attack any Fallen Empire that you’ve declared a rivalry with. Keep in mind though that your rivals can do the same to you, and in cases when they are paid off by Empires, there’s no option to offer tribute to leave you alone. This can distract and significantly weaken a rival without having to get your own hands dirty. If you have a rival Empire, you can pay the Marauders to raid one of their colonies for 3000 energy credits. Related: Stellaris: Leviathans -The Guardians, Explainedĭespite their hostility, the Marauders can actually be useful for Empires willing to deal with them. The Marauders' dwellings are defended by multiple fleets with as much as 12k fleet power, and the dwellings themselves have 4k power. But they are heavily defended and can’t generally be successfully attacked until mid to late-game. This makes any fight against the Marauders increasingly difficult to repel in early years.Ī Marauder Empire can be wiped out by destroying all of the void dwellings in the 3 systems they control. A Marauder’s fleet power is determined by the number of years passing, with fleets having as much as 10k power later on. Afterward, the fleet will return to their territory but remain hostile on the way back. The fleet will then begin orbital bombardment of a colony until it reaches 15 devastation, at which point it will steal either your resources or up to 4 pops. Once arriving at your territory, it will destroy every mining and research station in your systems, as well as any starbases and ships they come across. They can also travel through wormholes if it makes the trip faster. Even if your Empire isn’t bordering with the Marauders’ territory, their fleet will pass through other Empires system as neutrals.
For Empires that refuse to pay, the raid will commence. These tributes will increase in price as the game progresses, with later prices in the range of thousands. Before they send the fleet, they will offer you the chance to pay them tribute with energy credits, minerals or food. Like typical space pirates, the Marauders will occasionally decide to send a fleet to raid an Empire’s colony world for their resources or even their populations. Related: Stellaris: Utopia - The Shroud, Explained
Their territories are open for your ships to pass through, but they are always hostile and will attack. Like pirates that can appear in an Empire's under-protected star systems, the Marauders are much more organized and powerful. Introduced as part of the Apocalypse Expansion, the Marauders are nomadic and militant clans of aliens that have rejected living on planets and instead prefer living on space stations called void dwellings. Many of the Empires that can appear in Stellaris have hugely varied beliefs, values and goals, but unlike all but the most hostile Empires that can appear, the Marauders live and breathe conflict.