Reinstalled Stellaris and began a new Commonwealth of Man game, because I have a (video) date tomorrow and need to relax with empire management.

I got a lucky start, with two neighbouring systems having habitable worlds with 90% suitability, several systems with high Mineral and Energy yields, and multiple potential expansion routes so I'm not stuck if I run up against another Empire in the very early game. And what do you know, I come across a pre-spaceflight species in a nearby system.

Now I've never come across a pre-spaceflight species this early before, and this gave me ideas. Normally I'm too busy vassalising nearby empires to spend much time on such planets, but here I haven't encountered anybody with spaceflight yet, in fact I've barely begun building starbases. So I immediately decided to use this species, some subtle indoctrination to make them not quite so xenophobic later and I could begin uplifting them. Sure I'll lose the system for a bit but I've surrounded their home system with my territory and so they have nowhere to go while I reintegrate them. Because while I could just land armies on the planet and conquer it that way it's so much more satisfying to give them them a taste of interstellar life before I enslave them all and cart them off to the space mines.

I mean, when I actually start meeting other empires I'll have to do this in the efficient way, but until then I can roleplay as a cruel leader intentionally creating hope spots for others...