Guide to Factions

In FTL13 you can expect to see Nanotrasen and the Syndicate like in other code bases, but there are two other factions that have been introduced. This guide will cover them.

Nanotrasen

A monopolistic corporation whose hand is in every form of business for profit and exploitation. Infamous for taking other companies' business and becoming bigger and more powerful than any government, this corporation is the biggest and probably the most powerful authoritarian figure. Because of their desires to be the only business in the whole economy, a conglomerate of businesses who lost nearly all of their profit to Nanotrasen have formed The Syndicate, and are Nanotrasen's biggest and most dangerous enemy. Recently they have discovered that Plasma has mysterious properties, and have dispatched a handful of research stations to look into the many effects of it's elusive properties.

Nanotrasen isn't exactly good, but they aren't necessarily bad. Regardless, you work for Nanotrasen aboard a ship meant to carry out high-risk missions to further their interests, whatever they may be.

The Syndicate

Once just a number of large businesses doing their own thing in their place in the economy, now joined together to become what could be considered a terrorist force to combat everything related to Nanotrasen. Made up primarily of eight large corporations, from human augmentation development to literally waffle making, each have their reasons, though similar, for sabotaging Nanotrasen's business and research. Sabotage ranges from stealing important items, murdering certain individuals, and/or outright detonating NT facilities from the inside. Despite residing under a similar banner and goal, they're not all friendly to each other, since business is still in their interests and some members were once (and still are) competitors.

SolGov

An authority figure that is still held together by law and government but has taken a backseat to the big kids since, after all, "money talks". Because of their stance, they remain neutral to both The Syndicate and Nanotrasen, seeing them simply as competitive fronts, but recently The Syndicate has been putting rather intense pressure on them. Their only real concern involves pirates if they choose to raid one of their settlements, but are otherwise quiet and provide a safer passage than unclaimed systems.

Pirates

More of a blanket term than an actual faction, pirates are usually groups of people that have commandeered a space vessel of some sort in the pursuit of loot and profit, usually through malicious methods, but are otherwise unaffiliated with each other. The term "pirate" has lost some of its meaning, however, since anyone who doesn't align with any faction usually gets called one. With this in mind, not all pirates are immediately hostile; some may be for hire, others just want to be left alone, but many are legitimate pirates.