Factions and ships

The Star Wars realm runs on two systems that feed each other: factions hold territory, and ships are how you fight and travel to defend or take it.

Picking a faction

You choose a faction the first time you leave the realm’s hub, and the choice is permanent for that character — there’s no faction-hopping mid-season. Each faction controls its own set of home systems at the start of a season and expands (or shrinks) from there based on how contested space plays out. If you don’t have a preference, join whichever faction currently holds less territory; new pilots matter most where the fight is closest.

Crewing a ship

Ships need a minimum crew to move and a larger crew to fight effectively. Solo flying works for scouting and cargo runs in safe space, but a lone ship in contested territory is an easy kill. Each crew role — pilot, gunner, engineer — has its own controls, so a full crew is doing meaningfully different things, not just standing around.

You don’t need to own a ship to crew one. Faction-owned ships are available to any member through the hangar terminal at a faction’s home base, which is the easiest way to get into combat before you’ve saved up for your own.

Territory and bounties

Contested systems flip when one faction holds more presence there than the other over a rolling window, not from a single fight. Losing one battle doesn’t cost you the system outright, which is deliberate — it keeps early losses from snowballing into a season being decided in the first week.

Bounties are separate from faction warfare and open to anyone. Check the board at any faction hub for active contracts; completing one pays out regardless of which faction placed it.