In the previous chapter, we covered the UI at the top of the screen and introduced the basic resources and statistics. Now, look at the left side of the screen. That vertical strip of UI is what we will focus on next.
Starting from the top, the first icon is called the Situation Log. Click it, and you will see three tabs: Situation Log, Anomalies, and Victory. This records the anomalies discovered by your science ships while exploring, archaeological sites that need excavating, and special projects that need researching. You do not need to worry about it for now.
The Victory tab tracks each empire's victory score. When the game reaches its end date, the empire with the highest score wins. This is Stellaris's score victory ending, and you can ignore it in the early game too.
The second entry from the top is Government.
Here, you can see the members of your government's council, inspect the details of the leaders serving on it, or replace them. Directly below them are your council agendas. Every so often, you can pursue a different agenda to gain different bonuses. When the time comes, choose whichever suits your needs.
On the left side of the Government entry is an Open Edicts button. Clicking it takes you to the Policies and Edicts screen. This is a very important part of the UI, but Paradox made it rather inconspicuous. You can change your empire's policies in the Policies section on the left. Remember that different policies allow you to perform different actions. We will not go into detail yet; for now, just remember where to change them.
The Edicts section on the right has checkboxes. Edicts differ from policies: a policy takes effect immediately once selected, and you can only change it once every ten