There are three primary, Council of Peace (COP), factions and three minor factions in Star Atlas. The safe and medium risk zones are dominated by the MUD, ONI, and USTUR Council factions. The main ship manufacturers, having set up commerce in these zones, have established corporate alignments across the COP.
Gaining access to manufacturer blueprints requires accumulated manufacturer loyalty. This will function like a reputation system. The more loyalty one garners within a manufacturer, the more blueprints they will have access to.
Each of the 3 Council factions has a mix of different corporate alignments:
Each Council faction has one proprietary ship manufacturer
<aside> 💡 Example: MUD Proprietary = Pearce
Access to more advanced Pearce blueprints requires increased Pearce loyalty. To increase Pearce loyalty, a player must be aligned with the MUD faction or have a MUD faction pass.
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Each Council faction has two dual-faction manufacturers
<aside> 💡 Example: ONI Major = Ogrika, ONI Minor = Calico
Access to more advanced Ogrika blueprints requires increased Ogrika loyalty. To increase Ogrika loyalty, a player must be aligned with either the ONI faction or USTUR faction, or have an associated faction pass.
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Faction passes will allow players to gain access to Council factions manufacturer alignments outside of their original faction.
<aside> 💡 Example: Player is USTUR and purchases an ONI faction pass. Now they will be able to accumulate loyalty with Busan and unlock all the blueprints, can unlock access to all the Ogrika blueprints, and can unlock a subset of the Calico blueprints.
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The Medium Risk and High Risk zones house minor factions who boast their own proprietary ship lines. Aligning with a minor faction does not influence a player's existing Council faction alignments.
Jorvik (BYOS) - A faction of outlaws and pirates plaguing the medium and high risk zones
<aside> 💡 Access to more advanced Fimbul BYOS blueprints requires increased Jorvik loyalty. To increase Jorvik loyalty, a player must be aligned with the Jorvik faction and complete missions for them.
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ECOS - A faction of radicals who terraform via bombings in the medium and high risk zones
TUFA - A faction of metagenic creatures, scourge of the cataclysm
Photoli - An ancient race of light-based creatures and source of extremely advanced technology
Faction agnostic loyalty accrual. The Photoli are not a faction, but doing their mysterious biddings will increase loyalty with them.
Unlock access to secret manufacturing techniques using highly exotic materials found in the high risk zone. The techniques and exotic materials are integral in the manufacturing of Rainbow ships.
Most complex and time consuming manufacturing line
<aside> 💡 Access to more advanced Rainbow blueprints requires increased Photoli loyalty. To increase Photoli loyalty, a player can be aligned with any faction, but must complete Photoli missions.
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https://whimsical.com/ship-manufacturer-alignments-82KwNesPSd7BLFmgkLesdx