The Earthling's Search; a Stellaris Quest

The year is 2200. The people of Earth stand united, ready to claim their place among the stars. But their cultural beliefs are not set in stone.

Ethos Customisation
Now you get a chance to change the ethos of the United Nations. You can drop Xenophile for a different non-fanatic ethos, change Egalitarian to non-fanatic and pick up a third non-fanatic ethos or change Xenophile to fanatic and Egalitarian to non fanatic. You cannot drop Xenophile for Xenophobe.
[ ] Keep the ethos of the United Nations as it is
[ ] Drop Xenophile for...
-[ ] Materialist
-[ ] Militarist
-[ ] Pacifist
-[ ] Spiritualist
[ ] Change Egalitarian to non-fanatic and pick up...
-[ ] Materialist
-[ ] Militarist
-[ ] Pacifist
-[ ] Spiritualist
[ ] Switch Xenophile and Egalitarian

Faster than Light Travel
Stellaris has 4 forms of ftl available. Due to the disastrous Ulysses Initiative the United Nations cannot utilise Worm Hole Generators and the Jump Drive is s late game tech. This leaves you with two options:
[ ] Hyperspace Travel
A hidden network predates all other known construction in the galaxy. Its so-called "hyperlanes" connect the stars and they are only visible for those who know where (and how) to look. By tapping into this network, a ship with a hyperdrive may traverse these invisible lanes at a speed of 10 light years a day. Additionally a hyperdrive requires very little charge time to enter hyperspace and can theoretically safely do so even in the gravity well of a star system, though this hasn't yet been accomplished outside of lab conditions. Unfortunately hyperdrive equipped ships can only travel along the hyperlane network, sometimes forcing them to take circuitous routes to reach comparatively close destinations. This can also lead to star systems that exist as natural chokepoints in thehyperlane network, conferring on them significant strategic importance.
[ ] Warp Travel
By using an Alcubierre Drive to create a subspace bubble around a starship and contract the space in front of the ship while expanding the space behind it, a ship can be freely propelled through space at the speed of 3 light years a day. The drawbacks of warp travel is that the Alcubierre Drive requires some time to generate the subspace bubble and far more time to 'cool down' before it can generate another. Similarly current generation Alcubierre Drives can only generate a bubble of a certain strength, meaning they can only cross light years in a single jump. Similarly subspace bubbles cannot be safely generated inside the gravity well of a star or other celestial object, due to poorly understood interactions between subspace and gravity.
This makes Warp Travel unsuited for many small jumps, but the strength of Warp Travel is that there are no restrictions on where you travel beyond maximum distance. Ships aren't reliant on preexisting hyperspace lanes or wormhole geneators, allowing for unparalleled freedom of movement.

Starting Weaponry
There are many potential types of weapon for interstellar conflict in Stellaris, but only three are initially open to you. They are:
[ ] Energy Weapons
Laser weapons fire focused beams of light at targets, causing damage through the generation of intense heat. Though they have limited range they are highly accurate and have next to no travel time due to traveling at the speed of light. Lasers efficiently burn through armour but have difficulty penetrating energy shields.
[ ] Missile Weapons
Space-to-space missiles equipped with high-yield nuclear warheads. Although based on old pre-space technology, these crude fire-and-forget weapons can be surprisingly effective at range. While a laser or bullet can be wasted if they miss, the targeting computer of a missile allows a ship to adjust for the movement of a target or acquire a new target if the first is destroyed. The explosive payload is effective against both armour and energy shields, but the missiles can easily be shot down by point defense.
[ ] Projectile Weapons
These electromagnetic projectile launchers use magnets to accelerate armor-piercing rounds towards targets at high speeds. Rather than rely on the power of individual impacts they overwhelm the foe with hundreds of lesser impacts. This allows them to rapidly overwhelm an energy shield, but armour allows the barrage to be easily endured.