Title is a lie, I'm actually more of a xenophile/militarist/materialist, but lets get on with it.
Note that this is assumed that the player is playing vs. AI on a high difficulty. MP is a bit of a different beast.
//www.tierlists.com/list/stellaris-origins
Top tier:
Hegemon: Easily the most dominant origin. This gets you two fully-powered AI allies to bend to your will in early conquest. Utilize them to conquer at least 3-4 enemy homeworlds so that you have ~150 pop while everyone else has 40, then kick one out of the federation to conquer them, and repeat. Now you have probably 240 pops before everyone else has 50, and you've cleaned out your quadrant of the galaxy. You hardly need to expend resources building a fleet to conquer like a madman even on Grand Admiral difficulty. To top it off, 2 traditions ain't a bad starting bonus. Picking up Open Markets immediately really helps balance resources and convert food to energy.
High Tier:
Scion: Sometimes you get a free 7k power fleet in the first 10 years. Sometimes you get basically nothing and its like playing without an origin. You do get a guaranteed support fleet if you are losing in a war with > 80 exhaustion while your enemy has
Note that this is assumed that the player is playing vs. AI on a high difficulty. MP is a bit of a different beast.
//www.tierlists.com/list/stellaris-origins
Top tier:
Hegemon: Easily the most dominant origin. This gets you two fully-powered AI allies to bend to your will in early conquest. Utilize them to conquer at least 3-4 enemy homeworlds so that you have ~150 pop while everyone else has 40, then kick one out of the federation to conquer them, and repeat. Now you have probably 240 pops before everyone else has 50, and you've cleaned out your quadrant of the galaxy. You hardly need to expend resources building a fleet to conquer like a madman even on Grand Admiral difficulty. To top it off, 2 traditions ain't a bad starting bonus. Picking up Open Markets immediately really helps balance resources and convert food to energy.
High Tier:
Scion: Sometimes you get a free 7k power fleet in the first 10 years. Sometimes you get basically nothing and its like playing without an origin. You do get a guaranteed support fleet if you are losing in a war with > 80 exhaustion while your enemy has