Counterpoints

Let's analyze some of the misconceptions and misleading rhetoric regarding the multi-faction approach.

1) This is not how the game is meant to be played

The team fully anticipates players creating multiple accounts, expecting many of them to want to try out a different major faction (similar to many other MMOs). Multi-accounting and playing in different factions are supported and intended by the team.

As for DACs existing across multiple factions, the team has discussed this a good bit, notoriously going back and forth on this topic in the early days. The final verdict could be loosely summarized as "It will be possible, but we won't encourage it."

The following is a quote from Danny Floyd (CPO) from September 2021 (in response to a question regarding multi-faction guilds being possible):

In short yes, it should be supported. But it's going to get complex allowing cross faction economic activity and tracking faction progress with multi-faction crew and guilds. Like I want players to make a choice between either getting their own faction passports or bringing someone from another faction onto their ship to be able to perform economic activity in either faction region. So I want players to feel like they have value by just being part of a different faction.

When the DAC registration system came online in early February 2024, it became clear that it fully supports multi-faction DACs. Every DAC can even explicitly highlight the factions in which it operates.

2) Faction Loyalty

The idea that players should be fiercely loyal to the faction they were born in (chosen during registration) is a false premise.

There is no need to bring factionalistic mindsets into the game. You are certainly welcome to do so, but the team has not made this a requirement. In fact, they have done quite the opposite.

We can break this down into the following:

• The Narrative (lore) does not support this.

• The Gameplay does not encourage this.

Narrative

Let's look at the narrative first:

According to official lore, a little over 100 years ago, the three major factions decided to end their Convergence War by having their representatives sign a Treaty of Peace. Not only does this treaty still stand today, but the three factions unified themselves in a Federation, the Council of Peace.

It's important to realize that the Council of Peace does not exclusively concern itself with protecting Federation members. It governs shared aspects such as Commerce, Mining, New Discovery Regulations, Galactic Law Enforcement, The Species Rights Directive, the Armed Forces & Military Defense Warrior Mandate, and The De-escalation Accords.

Just recently, the Council of Peace waged a campaign to push the ECOS and Jorvik pirates in the Medium Risk Zone back towards the High-Risk Zone and/or pacify them.

The Council of Peace is not going anywhere anytime soon!

Gameplay

Like many MMOs, the game allows players to improve their reputation/standing with in-game factions/groups/organizations. Among these are the 3 major – and countless minor – factions. It will also be possible for players to improve their reputation with the Council of Peace itself. On the other end of the spectrum, players can work on their reputation with the ECOS and Jorvik pirate factions. And they may want to consider this if they desire access to their ship blueprints.

There are many other groups as well, some of which reside in the major factions and are affiliated with them, such as the individual ship manufacturers.

A factionalistic mindset would prohibit a player from engaging in activities that would inadvertently help out any faction other than their own. If a DAC were to go down that road, they would close a great many doors to their members.

Reaching back to the narrative for a moment, let's say a DAC allows its members to improve their standing with the ECOS or Jorvik, even though these are the sworn enemies of all three major factions. In such a case, it would be quite hypocritical for that DAC to accuse others of collaborating among the three factions that have been at peace for the past 100 years!

3) Territorial Conquest

The White Paper states the following (emphasis ours):

In this distant future, three major factions have emerged [...] These factions are in an ongoing struggle for resources, territorial conquest, and political domination. [...] You, a faction citizen of Star Atlas, will have the ability to influence the outcome of this intergalactic conflict.

Some have interpreted this to suggest that the game is all about territorial conquest between factions. And, if that is the case, how could a DAC ever be multi-faction?

Instead of rehashing the narrative section from the previous section here again, let's take a longer look at the White Paper before diving into the upcoming gameplay.

Key Differentiator

The above quote can be found in the Introduction of the White Paper. Early on, the team highlighted their high-risk Play for Keys™️, high-risk, high-reward gameplay during nearly every interview. And for good reason: Beyond the Play-to-Earn narrative that every Web3 game offers, this is easily one of the features that really sets Star Atlas apart. The thrill of risking your assets that way really speaks to people's imagination!

Perhaps more importantly, the team envisions combat as a way to balance the economy. Combat leads to value being burned, offsetting the otherwise rampant inflation of both assets and ATLAS.

In short, the team has a good reason to spotlight combat in Star Atlas.

Professions

One of the game modes people are most excited about is the Grand Strategy. This mode touches on the struggle for resources and is all about the territorial conquest mentioned in the White Paper's Introduction.

Of course, the introduction also mentions the struggle for political domination, which is another path players can pursue. The struggle for resources does also not necessarily require (PvP) combat, but of course, it will (likely) be the prime motivator for combat. Note that, besides Grand Strategy, the "What is Star Atlas?" section of the White Paper also has sections on Exploration, Role-playing, and Space Flight Simulation.

Beyond listing additional features that live side-by-side with combat in Star Atlas, the many professions listed in the White Paper perhaps make clearer the many avenues players can embrace to play the game:

Players can earn in game by having the correct ships, crew and components for their desired roles. Examples of roles: Transport, Rescue, Freight, Repair, Construction, Refueling, Miner, Salvage, Entrepreneur, CEO, Broker, Bounty Hunter, Pirate, Smuggler, Data Runner, Commander, General, Mercenary, and Scientist.

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Star Atlas is not a straightforward multiplayer game in which every player has to participate in all aspects of the game in order to be successful. In this modern MMO, players will be able to choose from a wide range of activities to partake in and professions to embrace. And it's good to know that the team's ambitions do not stop there (e.g., Metaverse)!

Let’s step out of 2021’s White Paper and focus on some of the upcoming gameplay in the (near) future. In the three years since the White Paper was released, the team has shared a great deal about the gameplay we can expect.

The recently released roadmap gives a great overview of all that will come over the next few years. Besides totally new gameplay, some of the current gameplay will grow much deeper than it is today. All of this will ensure that the Star Atlas economy will gradually grow a lot more complex.

Here are some of the things we can expect:

• Crafting/Refining—Today, everyone can refine/craft items at the Starbases, but in the future, this will require you to have (access to) dedicated facilities and equipment. Some of this was published when the team made their CSS habs sales announcement, as these come with Crafting Stations. But (briefly going back to the White Paper) the real work will happen at dedicated player-owned Space Station modules (decks), such as:

  • Shipyard—For ship manufacturing, repairs, refueling, configuration and docking

  • Refinery—For refining raw ore into higher tiers

  • Cargo—For storing materials and components

  The paper further states: "Cargo and refinery decks will be needed to access higher tier ore, advanced materials, and components requiring physical intergalactic shipping".

• Mining—In the future, asteroid mining will continue to yield some resources, but the bulk will come through Claim Stakes that have been installed on patches of land on the many planets in the Galia Expanse. Two big factors that add complexity:

  • Each Claim Stake has a number of slots for additional buildings (that need to be constructed and can be upgraded), which together determine the output and efficiency of a player's planet-side operations.

  • You will need to assign Crew members to operate all of these different facilities.

• Crew—Talking about Crew, there will be player-run universities (another Space Staton module/deck) where Crew members can be trained. This is a profession in itself and yet another avenue for players to pursue.

• Gameplay License Introduction—Even ignoring Star Atlas, just looking at SAGE, the licenses the team plans to add to the game are a great indicator of new gameplay chunks going live:

  • Freight

  • Racing

  • Rescue

  • Refuel

  • Repair

  • Salvage/Tow

  • Bounty Hunting

  Note that the team acknowledged this list is not yet complete. Furthermore, the team’s goal is that nearly no one can do everything. They want to make specialization count.

These are just a few samples of the incredible number of activities players will be able to dabble in in SAGE. Note that we have not even begun exploring the additional game activities Star Atlas (UE5) will offer, such as racing and monster hunting.

So, clearly, it is not all about Territorial Conquest.

Sidenote: We Love Grand Strategy

There sure is a lot to do in Star Atlas, but we really love (Territorial) Conquest!

Come again? Yep, you read that right! The Grand Strategy and high-risk, high-reward gameplay with real asset destruction played a major role in pulling Aephia’s founders into the project!

Clearly, this was not because they desperately wanted to participate from the front lines. Rather, they saw an opportunity to focus on other aspects of the game, that are supportive of, and supported by, that type of gameplay!

It’s these high stakes, the dangers lurking in the dark, which make every other in-game activity matter more. It's what provides the shine to this game and to the full suite of activities one can partake in in-game.

Now that we are sharing: We also love the High-Risk Zone! We can’t wait to explore it and discover its secrets. We know we’ll lose some of our ships while doing so. If not because of other players, then the hazardous environment or NPC fleets will no doubt do the trick.

It’s exciting to think about! And once again, it is really cool that these high-risk, high-reward activities exist and seamlessly feed into the many other non-combat activities (e.g., data running, research, construction). We're here for it!