A faction is your group identity. It owns a shared treasury, owns stations, runs diplomacy with other factions, and tags chat messages.
The Independent Pilots Union (IPU) is a server-run open-membership faction every player joins by default — it's the "no real faction" state. You can leave anytime by founding or joining a real faction.
/faction found <name>
You become the founder + only LEADER. You're now a one-person faction.
This is the default flow. Server config can require multi-member ceremonies; out of the box you can just type the command.
If the name's taken, the command rejects with a clear error.
Officers + Leaders can invite:
/faction invite <player>
The target gets a pinged message + a short TTL on the pending invite (a couple of minutes). They accept with:
/faction accept
Accepting consumes the pending invite + adds them as MEMBER.
/faction <message>
... wait, that's chat. To leave:
/faction leave # ← actually no command; use the members UI to be safe
Open /faction members and find your own entry. The leave action there handles the bookkeeping (if you're the last member, your faction dissolves).
Officers + Leaders can kick lower-ranked members:
/faction members # → right-click a member → kick
Kicking emits a faction-side event (used for downstream consequences like spy-detection in future systems).
Leaders can promote up to + including Leader rank (lets you have co-Leaders):
/faction members # → left-click promote, right-click demote
Members default to MEMBER rank; the only rank ladder is MEMBER → OFFICER → LEADER.
Three ranks:
| Rank | Default permissions |
|---|---|
| MEMBER | Chat in faction |
| OFFICER | INVITE_MEMBER, KICK_MEMBER, POST_FACTION_BOUNTY, WITHDRAW_TREASURY, MANAGE_STATION_INSURANCE |
| LEADER | All Officer permissions + CHANGE_RANK, MANAGE_DIPLOMACY, INITIATE_SCUTTLE, INITIATE_RELOCATION |
These are the default thresholds for each permission. You can adjust them per-faction in /faction settings (e.g. let any member invite, or restrict kick to leaders only).
Shared credit pool for the faction. Anyone can fund it:
/faction deposit <amount>
Withdraw via /faction settings (gated by WITHDRAW_TREASURY permission, default OFFICER+).
The TAB menu shows treasury balance next to your personal credits.
What the treasury pays for:
If the treasury can't cover an upkeep charge, the station enters arrears + drops its sov anchor. Top up promptly.
/faction settings opens a chest UI exposing:
Changes take effect immediately.
Between any two factions, the state is one of:
Setting any station ACL action to ALLY_ONLY lets your allied factions' members pass. Useful when you want a friendly faction to be able to dock at your stations without joining you outright.
If no actual alliance exists, ALLY_ONLY behaves like FACTION_ONLY (only your own faction passes) — so make sure to declare alliances explicitly via the commands.
All gated by MANAGE_DIPLOMACY (default LEADER):
/faction diplomacy # show your current state /faction diplomacy propose <faction> # offer an alliance /faction diplomacy accept <faction> # accept their proposal /faction diplomacy cancel <faction> # withdraw or decline a proposal /faction diplomacy break <faction> # break an existing alliance /faction diplomacy hostile <faction> # declare hostility (one-sided) /faction diplomacy peace <faction> # retract hostility /faction diplomacy help # show this list
Faction names are case-insensitive.
Diplomacy changes broadcast to global chat (formed alliance, broken alliance, declared hostility, retracted hostility). Cross-faction political news is visible to everyone.
Three modes (toggle with /faction or set sticky):
/faction with no args toggles into faction chat mode + makes it your default until you toggle outYour faction tag prefixes your messages in chat. Other players hover over it to see your faction name + member count.
In practice, you'll rarely hit this — but if you go AFK from the game and your faction empties, you have a window to come back.