How many factions?

[FOTUS (Felon of the U.S)]

How many factions will be in the game upon release?

[Rok]

8 playable leaders, 3 tech paths, 3 npcs.

[FOTUS (Felon of the U.S)]

Originally posted by Rok:

8 playable leaders, 3 tech paths, 3 npcs.

Thanks. What do you mean by npcs? Are they separate non playable factions? What sort of distinguishable difference are there b/w the leaders?

[lordofknightmares]

They've revealed 4 of them in demos. 3 as playable 1 as an npc. Each seems to have a unique tech per tier and 2-3 unique abilities/penalties and will have a quest line you can do for a permanent bonus. Still in alpha so I don't think they'll comment too much as they might get stuck if they want to change something later.

Emulated Mind
-One city faction
-Super ranged headquarters laser attack iirc 12 instead of 3 hexs missiles.

Fallen Soldier (The one every demo video does)
-Units have regen and increased upkeep
-Can pay influence to level units

Heartless Artificer
-Increased pop growth and can spend pops for production boost
-Escalating loyalty penalty that can be reset with influence
-Can pay Influence to temporarily buff unit accuracy

Not yet show cased.
Furtive Tribal
Honorable Aristocrat
Practical Romantic
Rouge Operator
Untold Prophet

NPC
Anchorite (eldritch aliens)
Zephon (Machine AI)
Chieftess (human "barbarians").
-She was an enemy in the demo
--Hijack mechanical units on kill
--Non-engineers seem able to found cities.

[FOTUS (Felon of the U.S)]

Thanks for the detailed answer

[Toriaz]

it is essentially 3 playable factions (tech paths), the choice of leader has a small impact on how the faction plays, well from the last demo the only leader that felt like it made any big difference was the single super city leader, and even then the super city essentially just functions similarly to having several normal cities, so it really just cuts out the process of having to build settler units.