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Stellaris console commands and cheats

Here are the best Stellaris console commands and cheats out therre, as well as how to use them in the expansive space strategy game.

What are the Stellaris console commands and cheats? As with all grand strategy games, the desire to have that perfect run is strong. While some of the best stories come from rolling with the punches, when you’re the hero of your own tale you sometimes want things to happen in a specific way.

That’s where cheats come in. Stellaris has a console command feature that’s common with many strategy games where you can input commands to achieve instant results. Sometimes this can be literal cheating, like giving yourself more resources or just hand-waving away a pesky rival, but there are plenty of debug commands and options to create nice visuals, like by removing the UI. We’ve compiled a guide to the essential commands to give you a smooth game.

Stellaris cheats console commands: a UI overview

Stellaris console commands and cheats

Here are the best Stellaris console commands and cheats:

  • activate_all_traditions – activates all Traditions
  • activate_ascension_perk [name] – activates a specified Ascension Perk
  • activate_tradition [tradition id]– activates a specified Tradition
  • add_anomaly [anomaly id] – adds specified anomaly to the selected celestial body
  • add_intel [target] [amount] – adds desired amount of intel towards the target, default 10
  • add_opinion [source] [target] [amount] – increases the one empire’s opinion of another by desired amount, default 40
  • add_pops [species id] [planet id] – populates the specified planet with the specified species
  • add_relic [relic id] – grants relic, writing all instead of a specific ID grants all relics. Same relic can be added multiple times
  • add_ship [ship id] – spawns a fleet of the specified ship
  • add_spynetwork_value [target] [amount] – adds [amount] of infiltration progress on [target]
  • add_trait_leader [leader id] [trait id] – adds trait to a specified leader, entering only the leader ID reveals all trait IDs for that class. Can also use remove_trait_leader [leader id] [trait id]
  • add_trait_species [species id] [trait id] – adds trait to a chosen species. Can also use remove_trait_species [species id] [trait id]
  • ai – toggles the AI on or off
  • alloys [amount] – adds desired amount of Alloys, default 5000
  • build_pops [amount] – adds robot pops to the selected planet, only works if the empire has the technology to build robot pops
  • cash [amount] – adds desired amount of Energy Credits, default 5000
  • communications – establishes communications with all empires
  • create_megastructure [megastructure id] – creates chosen Megastructure in the current system, pressing tab reveals the IDs
  • create_navy [amount] – creates a fleet using your most recent designs that uses chosen amount of Naval Capacity, 1 = 100%
  • damage [amount] – all ships in the selected fleet take specified amount of hull damage
  • debug_nomen – AI empires always refuse player proposals
  • debug_yesmen – AI empires always agree to player proposals
  • effect add_building = [building id] – adds building to the selected planet
  • effect add_deposit = [deposit id] – adds resource deposit or planetary feature to the selected celestial body
  • effect add_district = [district id] – adds specified district to the planet
  • effect add_planet_devastation = [amount] – adds X amount of devastation to the selected celestial body, negative values lower it
  • effect country_add_ethic = [ethic id] – adds chosen ethic to the player empire
  • effect country_remove_ethic = [ethic id] – Removes chosen ethic from the player empire
  • effect force_add_civic = [civic id] – adds chosen civic to the player empire
  • effect force_remove_civic = [civic id] – removes chosen civic from the player empire
  • effect remove_modifier = [modifier id] – removes chosen modifier from the selected planet, or empire if none is selected
  • election = starts a ruler election
  • end_senate_session – passes/fails the currently voted resolution
  • engineering [amount] – adds x amount of Engineering tech points, default 5000
  • event [event id] – triggers chosen event
  • federation_add_experience [amount] – adds x amount of experience to the Federation, default 1000
  • federation_add_cohesion [amount] – adds x amount of cohesion to the Federation, default 200
  • federation_examine_leader – triggers a Federation succession
  • finish_research – finishes all active research
  • finish_special_projects – finishes all special projects
  • finish_terraform – finishes all terraforming processes
  • food [amount] – adds x amount of Food, default 5000
  • force_integrate [target] – integrates target empire into the player’s empire
  • force_senate_vote – ends the current senate recess
  • free_government – toggles allowing player to change governments without the time limit
  • free_policies – toggles allowing player to change policies without restriction, including policies previously disabled
  • influence [amount] – adds x amount of influence, default 5000
  • instant_build – toggles instantly finishing constructions and upgrades. WARNING: This also applies to enemy AI so only used while paused
  • intel – gives sight of the entire galaxy and disables first contact while active
  • invincible – player ships will not take damage
  • max_resources – fills all resource storages
  • minerals [amount] – adds x amount of Minerals, default 5000
  • own – take ownership and control of the selected fleet, starbase or planet, or specified planet ID if nothing is selected
  • physics [amount] – adds x amount of physics tech points, default 5000
  • planet_class [planet class id] – changes the selected celestial body to a new class via the class id
  • planet_happiness [amount] – adds a modifier with x amount of happiness to the selected planet, default 100
  • play [empire ID] – switches player control to designated empire
  • research_all_technologies – instantly research all non-repeatable technologies
  • research_technology [technology id] – instantly research specified technology
  • skills [amount] – adds x amount of skill levels to every leader under player control, default 1
  • skip_galactic_community_cooldowns – allows proposing resolutions from the same group without cooldown
  • society [amount] – adds x amount of society tech points, default 5000
  • survey – surveys all planets, requires at least one science ship
  • techupdate – re-rolls the current available tech choices
  • unity [amount] – adds x amount of Unity, default 500
  • unlock_edicts – unlocks all edicts
  • branchoffice – take ownership of a selected planet’s branch office
    menace [amount]
    – adds x amount of menace, default 5000
  • imperial_authority [amount] – adds x amount of Imperial Authority, default 10

Stellaris console commands cheats how to: overview UI

How to use console commands and cheats in Stellaris

To cheat and use console commands in Stellaris, open up the in-game console by using the tilde or ` key, although you can also use Shift + Alt + C. From there, punch in your code and hit enter to activate it.

Like in other modern Paradox games, the in-game console is only accessible when not in Ironman mode. This is because using these commands is considered ‘cheating’ for the purposes of getting achievements.

Many commands also require you specify the target using its ID. Stellaris has more distinct ID tags than other grand strategy games, such as species, empire, specific leaders and so on. You will need to consult the Paradox wiki for a full list of ids, as we’re not going to be able to list them all here. With regards to event ids specifically, there is a more comprehensive list to be found here.

You can also grab the specific ID you need by typing in the ‘debugtooltip’ command and hovering over a game element.

This should be enough to get you started, but we’ll check back in later to provide any further information or commands we think you might need – there’s plenty of other cool cheats you can use for testing as well!