Faction

Factions are similar to guilds or clans of other games where players can invite and recruit members into a group. This group will share the alliances and enemies of the Faction. Factions can be at war with one another, causing players in those Factions to appear as enemies. There are also two NPC factions: Pirates and the Trading Guild. The faction menu can be opened with Error: Unknown keybinding.

Faction Properties

There are many benefits gained from belonging to a faction. While many of these are abstract and are largely caused by the successful cooperation of a group of players, the game does provide certain mechanics which grant factions concrete advantages.

Homebase Invulnerability 

The faction can choose one space station or planet to be their "homebase". This entity, as well as everything docked to it, becomes invulnerable.

Resource Gathering Bonus 

In any system claimed by a faction, the volume of resources which can be gathered by salvaging is greatly enhanced.

Block Permissions 

Faction Permission Modules can be used to allow access to doors, factories, and other blocks, by placing them adjacent to the block in question. Permissions inside a faction can be determined by using the menu in the faction block for a station, planet, or ship.

Creating a Faction

To create a new Faction, open the Faction Menu by pressing Error: Unknown keybinding. Next, click the tab labeled "Options". Under the heading "Personal Options" there is a button,"Create Faction". Click this button. Enter the name of the faction to be created in the text area. The number of characters for the faction name is limited to 23 characters.

Joining a Faction

Press Error: Unknown keybinding to open the Faction Menu. Click on the "Options" tab, and click the "Received Invites" button under the "Personal Options" heading. All invitations to a faction will appear here, listing the faction name, and the option to accept or deny an invitiation. A player can only be in one faction at a time.

Faction Relations

A faction's entry in the Diplomacy list, showing the "Change Relation" button and other interface elements.

The panel displayed when "Change Relation" is clicked, featuring options to declare war or offer an alliance.

The game features 3 relationship states for factions, which can have varying impacts on player interactions.

• Friend
• Neutral
• Enemy

An alliance offer can be sent to a faction by the following steps. Factions which accept an alliance offer are changed to "Friend" relationship status.

1. Open the Faction Menu by pressing Error: Unknown keybinding.
2. Click on the "Diplomacy" tab.
3. Click on the list entry of the desired faction to ally with.
   • This list can be sorted by clicking on a list header to sort by that value (ascending or descending), as well as using the "Filter by Relation" and "Search" fields at the bottom.
4. Click "Change Relation".
5. Click "Offer Alliance" and optionally input a message to be sent with the offer (eg. pleasantries in order to "butter up" the faction in question).

A faction can declare war on another by the following steps. Factions which are at war have "Enemy" relationship status.

1. Open the Faction Menu by pressing Error: Unknown keybinding.
2. Click on the "Diplomacy" tab.
3. Click on the list entry of the desired faction to declare war on.
4. Click "Change Relation".
5. Click "Declare War" and optionally input a message to be sent with the war declaration (eg. a brief explanation of the reason for conflict).

Faction Points

[WIP]

NPC Factions

There are two non-player factions in the game, Pirates and the Trading Guild. Players may not join either of these factions.

Pirates

Pirates are a hostile faction in StarMade. Upon seeing the player, members of the Pirates faction will shoot on sight. On the HUD, they will appear as RED as any other hostile would. Pirates can be destroyed and their ships salvaged. The Pirates have pre-defined ships that they can pilot, however they can also use other ship blueprints if the server admin so chooses.

Trading Guild

The Trading Guild is a neutral faction which composes of all the Shops in the area as well as trader ships. Similar to Pirates, they can be found flying around space. They are friendly unless fired upon, and will become aggressive if Shops are attacked. Traders and Pirates will fire upon one another if spotted. If you find yourself running from Pirates, looking for traders to assist in combat may prove useful.