CHAPTER 03
Factions
Every faction combines a name, emblem, color, doctrine, special ability, and ship design into a distinct strategic identity.
FACTION IDENTITY
How to recognize a faction
The same identity follows a faction from setup through the war map, battle map, reports, and victory screens.
Name and emblem
The faction name and emblem identify the side. During setup, STATUS identifies the PLAYER, AI factions, and DISABLED factions.
Interface color
Faction color identifies owned sectors, fleets, ships, highlights, report lines, and faction-specific controls.
Ship design
A faction roster includes a ship-art design. Setup can randomize designs independently of faction names.
AI CHARACTER
Doctrine shapes strategic priorities
Doctrine is the readable form of a faction’s aggression setting. It changes how an AI weighs expansion, force concentration, valuable targets, star bases, and risk.
Builder
Favors controlled growth, defensible territory, outposts, and lower-risk opportunities.
Colonizer
Favors claiming open sectors and spreading smaller fleets across useful territory.
Expansionist
Balances territorial growth with selective attacks and larger fleet commitments.
Aggressor
Favors combat, strong fleets, valuable hostile sectors, and pressure against enemy positions.
Conqueror
Accepts greater risk to pursue decisive attacks, high-value targets, and faction elimination.
Doctrine changes priorities rather than prescribing every move. Distance, available ships, sector value, battles already pending, and legal destinations still constrain AI decisions.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
One advantage per faction
Each faction has one asymmetric advantage. Abilities apply to mobile ships in campaigns and Quick Battles; star bases and outposts do not receive them.
Defense
Each undamaged mobile ship receives one additional Defense capacity and one Defense-only charge. That charge cannot be reassigned to engines, weapons, or the general power core.
Weapons
Each undamaged mobile ship receives one additional Weapons capacity and one Weapons-only charge. That charge cannot be reassigned to engines, defense, or the general power core.
Hull / Power
Each mobile ship receives one additional point of factory Hull capacity and one additional point of factory Power capacity.
Torpedo damage
Each successful torpedo hit deals one additional point of damage before the target’s defenses absorb the attack.
Accuracy
Adds ten percentage points to the faction’s chance to hit with weapons.
Evasion
Subtracts ten percentage points from an enemy’s chance to hit the faction’s mobile ships.
ROSTER CONTROLS
Default, randomize, and equalize
- 1
Default
Restore names, doctrine, abilities, colors, emblems, and ship designs from the faction catalog. Existing alliance assignments are preserved.
- 2
Randomize
Create a fresh arrangement of doctrine, special abilities, and ship designs for the active roster without changing alliances.
- 3
Equalize
Give every faction the player’s aggression setting and remove all special abilities. Alliance assignments remain unchanged.
FACTION DEFEAT
Destroying a star base eliminates its faction
When a faction’s star base is destroyed, that faction is eliminated from the campaign. Its remaining ships and outposts are removed from play.
The eliminating faction receives a normal kill for every remaining ship or outpost removed, the resulting kill value, and the value of the defeated faction’s controlled sectors. The elimination screen reports the total award before the war continues.
A star base is more than a powerful stationary unit. Defending it preserves the faction itself; destroying an enemy base can change the war immediately.
ALLIANCES
Recognize factions on the same side
Alliance Formation is available when more than two factions are active. Balanced makes the roster even when necessary, then divides it into two equal, randomly led alliances. Independents separates every active faction. With exactly two factions, the alliance controls are disabled and the factions remain opponents.
Select the small emblem on a faction row to fine-tune its alliance. The emblem identifies that faction’s alliance leader; the popup offers the other available alliances or lets a member become independent.
Alliance markers identify factions that share a side on the war map, scoreboard, initiative display, reports, and statistical charts. Allies cannot attack one another, and allied AI ships still act automatically in initiative order.