Steal a ship, gather your crew, and set sail for adventure.
We’ve picked out ten of the best strategy game factions to create yourself, whether you want to forge an empire, explore the stars, or conquer the land.
From pirate fleets to sci-fi space travellers, these factions will give you the freedom to craft your own stories without having to worry about upsetting the game’s storytellers. So whether you want to take a grounded approach and conquer with your own band of soldiers in a RTS game or just want to become the most powerful being in the universe, we’ve got the perfect factions for you.
Here are the best strategy game factions:
Endless Space 2
The Endless universe is a vast, open space where you can explore planets, build colonies, and expand your factions across multiple planets. In this space-faring adventure, you can forge empires, gather scientists, and uncover the secrets of the universe to gain an advantage against all the other space-faring factions.
While the main storyline offers plenty of guidance, the sandbox mode allows you to build your own custom galaxies and set your own rules. With this freedom to play how you want, you can forge an intergalactic empire with your friends or strike out on your own and see how far you can get.
Europa Universalis IV
If you love the historical side of things and the opportunity to control a nation’s fate, then this grand strategy game from Paradox is for you. From controlling hundreds of nations throughout the different time periods, you can customize them to your liking and forge alliances with other countries.
With different victory conditions, you can rule the world in several different ways, whether you spread your culture across the globe, become the dominant military force, or have your economy so powerful that you can buy the world. With such an in-depth system, you can amass a lot of power and create a faction that rules them all.
Mount and Blade: Bannerlord
Bannerlord allows you to create your own character and faction to conquer the land with an army at your back. With an extensive range of customization options, you can forge your own ships, forge your own weapons, and forge your own nation.
This is a voxel-style sandbox game set in space, where you can create your own ships, factions, and explore and battle other players in space. From building your base to creating your ship, there is a lot to do before you can take to the skies and dominate the galaxy.
From the Depths
From the Depths is an aquatic survival game that offers an alternative take on the voxel style of sandbox game. It’s set in a massive, procedurally generated ocean where you can build submarines, battleships, and more.
This is more than just a building game though, you need to consider many different factors, from the materials you’re using to the amount of oxygen you have available. If you don’t take care of your crew and ship properly, you won’t make it to shore and will be crushed by the sea.
Galactic Civilizations 4
If you love expanding your territory and finding new planets to colonise, then GalCiv is the strategy game for you. You can decide whether to conquer or befriend the other factions as you expand your world into space.
Once you’ve got your intergalactic empire established, you can strike out into the unknown to find new planets and see if they are suitable for life. This is a good alternative to the other space-faring games and has great in-game music, too.
Forged Battalion
Forged Battalion takes a grounded approach to the world of tactical shooters and real-time strategy games. Instead of controlling a massive army, you build your own faction from the ground up in a bid to resist the military group, ATAC.
While the story isn’t the main focus of this game, it gives players a good reason to go up against a well-equipped, well-funded army. To fight back, you need to build up your own army and strike back against the oppressors.
Stellaris
Stellaris is a space-faring adventure that allows you to forge empires, gather scientists, and uncover the secrets of the universe to gain an advantage against your enemies.
As you forge your empire, you can choose your own path through the game’s multiple victory conditions. You can become the most powerful military force in the universe, spread your culture across the galaxy, or use your advanced technology to win.
No matter how you choose to play, you will naturally expand your empire across the stars, building bases, exploring planets, and researching new technologies. As you become more powerful, you will meet other factions, as well as the AI players in the game, and you need to decide how you deal with them.
The Banner Saga 3
The Banner Saga 3 offers players the chance to forge their own saga, choosing the path they wish to take through the final chapter of the trilogy.
