Emperor of the Fading Suns: Sects Guide

Each Sect in Emperor of the Fading Suns provides three distinct layers of mechanical bonuses, depending on where they are active in your empire:

• Galaxy Bonuses: These are only active if the sect controls Holy Terra. When active, they apply empire-wide to all planets, structures, and units, granting powerful strategic advantages.
• Planetary Bonuses: These are triggered when a Church of a specific sect is built on a planet. These bonuses modify production, structure performance, loyalty, and more—affecting only the planet they’re built on.
• Individual Unit Bonuses: Every unit has a Sect affiliation. Their Sect determines unique bonuses to stats like healing, armor, upkeep, experience, movement, and more. These apply regardless of location or nearby structures.

These bonuses stack and can heavily influence tech, economy, combat, and governance. Min-maxing these bonuses can be crucial to winning in the harder difficulties against AI and particularly in PBEM games against real human opponents.

Playstyle: Play as a staunch defender of tradition and hierarchy, upholding the Pancreator’s law through ritual and bureaucracy. Orthodox characters resist reform and value the Church’s central authority above all.

• +10% Food, Energy, Metal, Trace (Planet)
• +5 Loyalty (Planet, Unit)
• +10% Tax Rate (Planet)
• +5% Technology, Lab, and Proscribed Maintenance (Galaxy/Planet)
• +1 Spotting (Unit)
• +5% Armor, +5% Psy Defense (Unit)
• +5% Change Sect (Conversion Influence)

Gameplay:
Pick Orthodox for economic stability and loyalty across populous planets. Strong early-game for building tax and resource bases, and ideal for conservative empire expansion with low rebellion risk.

Galaxy Bonus:
Gain control of Holy Terra if you need reliable tech infrastructure across your empire. The 5% increase in tech/lab/proscribed maintenance is offset by the loyalty and tax power of a unified Orthodox structure—perfect for income-focused empires.

Playstyle: Play as a benevolent healer or humble monk seeking to mend the galaxy’s wounds. You protect the weak, soothe the sick, and advocate peace—even under tyrannical rulers.

• +10 City Healing, +4 Unit Healing (Galaxy)
• -10 Plague Chance (All Levels)
• +10% Healing Rate (Planet, Unit, Individual)
• +20% Armor (Unit)
• +1 Camouflage, +10% Psy Defense (Unit)
• +4% Loyalty Conversion (Planet)
• +5% Exotica, Gems (Planet)

Gameplay:
Use for high-density urban planets, plague-ridden zones, or worlds recovering from war. Their healing bonuses make them a great long-game investment in population and sustainability.

Galaxy Bonus:
Seize Holy Terra if your empire is facing constant attrition or plague threats. The healing rate and -10 plague chance galaxy-wide ensure recovery between wars and defense against pandemics.

Playstyle: Play as a mystic, doomsayer, or visionary walking the line between prophet and madman. You seek hidden knowledge, cosmic truth, and eschatological revelations.

• +5% Research Rate (Galaxy, Planet)
• -5% Tech and Lab Maintenance
• +5% Biochems, Wetware, Exotica, Gems (Planet)
• +10 Ruin Discovery (Unit, Planet)
• +50% Psy Defense (Unit)
• +2 Agility, +2 Camouflage, +1 Spotting (Unit)

Gameplay:
Choose for research-heavy, psychic-defensive empires. Especially effective when paired with ruin-rich planets or high Psy enemy factions.

Galaxy Bonus:
Capture Holy Terra when you want a tech surge—+5% research across the galaxy and reduced lab/tech maintenance makes this ideal for mid-to-late game tech races. Pair with wetware/biochem planets for optimal synergy.

Playstyle: Play as a populist or rebel theologian leading a breakaway movement from the Church’s oppressive hierarchy. You speak to the people’s inner flame, not the Patriarch’s decrees.

• +5% Production, +10% Research Rate (Galaxy, Planet)
• -10% Tech and Lab Maintenance
• -5% Unit Upkeep
• +5% Electronics, Ceramsteel, Monopols, Gems, Singularities (Planet)
• +5% Change Sect (Conversion Influence)
• +1 Spotting, +1 Agility, +1 Camouflage (Unit)

Gameplay:
Perfect for frontier colonies or rogue state builds. Their upkeep and maintenance reductions make them excellent for sprawling, resource-squeezed empires.

Galaxy Bonus:
Go for Holy Terra to enable a hyper-efficient empire: +5% production, +10% research, and -10% lab/tech upkeep. A dream setup for streamlined empires with wide holdings and thin margins.

Playstyle: Play as an unyielding inquisitor or firebrand prophet. Your righteous fury drives you to root out impurity, no matter the cost. Burn heresy. Uplift the faithful.

• +10% Food (Planet), +10 Loyalty (Planet, Unit)
• +20 Rebellion Resistance, +20 Routing Resistance (Unit, Planet)
• +10% Experience Gain (Unit, Planet)
• -10% Research Rate, +10% Tech and Lab Maintenance
• +2 Spotting, +2 Camouflage, +1 Agility (Unit)
• +2 Accuracy / +25% Psy Strength, +1 Accuracy / +10% Close Combat (Unit)

Gameplay:
Crush rebellion, enforce loyalty, and create XP-fueled elite armies. Best used post-conquest or in volatile sectors where unrest and heresy are rampant

Galaxy Bonus:
Use Holy Terra when you need an empire-wide clampdown: +3 Heretical Index pushes conversion pressure, and strong bonuses to loyalty and suppression keep vast conquests from revolting.

Playstyle: Play as a soldier-monk, devoted to the sacred discipline of battle. You wage holy war not for glory, but for righteous order.

• +15 Loyalty (Planet, Unit), +15 XP Gain (Unit, Planet)
• +5% Attack Strength (Unit)
• +25% Close Combat Attack Strength
• +1 Accuracy (Unit)
• Moderate Healing (+5), Moderate Armor (+5)
• +10% Technology/Lab Maintenance• +25% Unit Upkeep

Gameplay:
Deploy for elite military dominance and loyalty reinforcement. Ideal when building highly trained troops and holding strategic planets by force.

Galaxy Bonus:
Control Holy Terra if you need an XP-accelerated, loyalty-driven military machine. The +15% XP and loyalty synergize with aggressive conquest or prolonged crusades.

Playstyle: Play as a wandering mystic or desert ascetic, eschewing power for enlightenment. You follow an inner path and serve others quietly—yet profoundly.

• +10% Production (Galaxy), +5% Planetary Production
• -10% Upkeep (Unit)
• +15 Move Points (Unit)
• +3 Camouflage (Unit), +2 Agility
• -5% Lab and Tech Maintenance

Gameplay :
Use for efficient production, cheap maintenance, and stealth mobility. Excellent for logistics support, scouts, and resource-rich but militarily quiet regions.

Galaxy Bonus:
Seize Holy Terra for a full +10% production empire-wide, and reduced upkeep and lab costs. This combo makes large empires sustainable without military overreach.

Conversion affects units and cities passively over time based on total influence on the planet.

• Build cathedrals early to claim religious control of key planets.
• Make use of planetary and unit bonuses, have dedicated “sect planets” to maximize your overall strategy.
• Deploy clergy strategically for conversion and income.
• Align with the Patriarch’s sect (or vice versa) for long-term stability.
• Use diplomacy to pressure enemies into losing spiritual territory.
• Avoid lab overuse to prevent Inquisitor attacks or excommunication.

The Patriarch’s sect — the dominant sect in the Church — isn’t chosen at random. It’s determined by the flock share of each sect across all inhabited planets. If your sect becomes dominant in the Known Worlds, your faction gains spiritual and political power when the next Patriarch is chosen.

Each planet tracks how much of its population follows each sect. This is called the flock value.

These values are used to determine which sect becomes the next Patriarch

How You Influence It

To push your sect toward becoming the Patriarch’s:

• Convert more units and cities on as many planets as possible.
• Build cathedrals of your sect on high-population worlds.
• Deploy clergy units to reinforce conversion pressure.
• Target planets without strong opposing clergy or cathedrals.
• Time your conversions just before the 23-turn Patriarchal election cycle.

 

Timing Matters

The Patriarch is elected every 23 turns, based on total sect influence (flock share). If your sect has the highest global flock share at that moment, it will likely become the Patriarchal sect.

Conversion Cooldown

You can’t endlessly switch sects on the same planet. The game limits sect changes per planet with cooldown timers.

The actual cooldown value will appear when you try to change sects too quickly:
“You can only change sects on this planet every X years.”

Plan your religious campaigns across multiple worlds to maintain steady influence.

When your sect becomes the official sect of the Patriarch:

• Your cathedrals get stronger conversion bonuses
• Tithes increase if clergy align with the Patriarch’s sect
• You gain soft power to pressure rivals through diplomacy
• You are protected from proscription and excommunication

 

Deny Your Rivals

Even if you can’t win the Patriarchal seat, you can:

• Disrupt enemy flock totals by converting planets away from their sect
• Destroy cathedrals belonging to rival sects
• Replace their clergy with yours to reverse planetary momentum

• City loyalty drops sharply (approx. -30%).
• Tithes are reduced or denied.
• Conversion efforts are weakened.
• You’re more vulnerable to religious takeover.

Usually triggered by heavy lab usage, diplomatic missteps, or falling out of favor with the Church.

• Act as missionaries and tithe managers.
• Each one gives a [+1] bonus to religious conversion on the planet.
• They also increase tithe income and loyalty when aligned with the planet’s sect.
• You can build, assign, and move clergy units.

 

• Establish sect control of a planet.
• Each cathedral gives a [+10] bonus to conversion for its own sect.
• Also applies a [-10] penalty to opposing sects.
• Constructed via engineers. The player can influence sect alignment when built.

 

• Conversion happens automatically — no direct command required.
• Affected by clergy, cathedral alignment, and local loyalty.
• Over time, units and cities may change sect based on pressure.

 

• Matching clergy improves tithe income.
• Mismatched clergy skim tithes and reduce loyalty.
• Loyalty and income modifiers matter for long-term planetary stability.

 

• You can propose sect transfers or petition Church actions.
• With enough political influence, you can remove enemy sects from planets or request religious control.

• Elected every 23 turns.
• Leads the Church and enforces doctrine.
• Can excommunicate factions, stripping loyalty and influence.
• Can proscribe sects (ban them from spreading).
• Can assign or revoke religious control of planets.
• You can petition the Patriarch, but not control him directly.

 

• Built only by the Church AI.
• Target labs and suppress tech-based heresy.
• Cannot be built or commanded by players (unless modded).

 

• Used by the Church to transport clergy and establish cathedrals.
• Church-exclusive. You cannot build them.