I\'m quoting MrNature72 here. It\'s a good overview of the \"big\" factions in StarMade.
Debrisian Federal Navy (DFN) - The DFN is an old faction with a rough history. They have records of both great success, and horrid failure. But one of their most prominent features is their absolute refusal to give up. Even through the hardest times, Debris has carried his faction through unto the next era, despite hearing \"the DFN is dead\" on at least a hundred different occasions. His refusal to give up and determination to make the DFN survive and thrive is commemorable and a major focus point. If you want a vanilla faction experience, the DFN is for you.
Vaygr - \"Space Vikings\", as I\'d like to call them. Just as old as the DFN. Their members have absolute loyalty, and the best war record to date, having won multiple large-scale wars. They run a tight, efficient faction and I respect them greatly for it. However, they do it with an iron fist. If you join the Vaygr, you\'re going to hit the ground running. They possess a fantastic mix of advanced strategic maneuvers and \"shove enough goddamn ships in their face and they\'ll eventually die\" concepts. If you want to go in and bust some heads, the Vaygr are for you.
Lazarus Imperium - The Imperium is a large, prominent faction with a large number of members. They are known for their neutrality and excellent internal organization. Members in the Lazarus Imperium have upmost loyalty to their Emperor and follow one of the best infrastructures to date. However, they do not often engage in war, so if you\'re looking for fights this is not the faction for you, and are known to be much more passive and extremely paced and deliberate than other factions. If you want If you join the Lazarus, you know you\'ll go somewhere great, but you aren\'t going to get there all too fast. If you want to be part of well structured and paced faction for building, the Lazarus are for you.
Tartaran Empire - The Tartaran\'s run an interesting faction. Half-dictatorship, half-democracy, they have a solid track record of getting things done. The voting system is admittedly slow as of right now (4 months is a long time in a videogame), but it still instills a consistently changing government, making sure that command never goes stagnant and makes the Tartaran\'s a very reliable faction in the long-run. Honestly, they are one of my favorite factions. They are extremely strategic, often neutral, but are totally willing to bust a few heads and kick some ass if someone decides to step on their toes. If you want a fairly intense and veteran experience, the Tartaran\'s are for you.
Void Templars - The Void Templars are a good friend of mine, and a very friendly faction. Despite the tough motto, I have found the void templars to be a very up-and-at-them group. They are an extremely tight-knit group that focuses on member input and caring for their teammates. The chain of command is reliable and well-structured. If you\'re looking for an extremely active, fun group to give you some direction in this game, the Void Templars are for you.
Rebel Alliance - The Rebel Alliance is a Star Wars focused faction that really only plays on their own server. Their leader, Obi, has a bad track record, but I guess if you really wanted to play star wars and only star wars and star wars forever and ever and ever... well then yeah, join them. But if you want anything else besides star wars, the Rebel Alliance isn\'t for you.
The Brotherhood Militia - A solid, well-built faction, admittedly the smallest of the factions I listed, they still warrant their own section on here. They run a surpsingly tight-knit operation on a few different servers, focusing primarily on HSZ, they are a more-than-vanilla faction. Like, french vanilla with chocolate chips. Mmmmm~baby. If you want a fun experience that\'s a little more advanced, the Brotherhood Militia is for you.
Grandeur - It\'s a faction. They\'re still growing and maturing, but no doubt it will eventually become something interesting.
Space Cows - Whatever you do don\'t join these guys. This is the only reason I put them on this list: a warning.
Definitions from here down are my own.
Euro-Corp- Not really on servers much, but theyvhave one of, if not the most advanced spy networks in the history of Starmade. Ridik_Ulass, their leader, is often referred to as \"The Godfather\" or \"Special Agent Oso\" due to his extremely advanced knowledge of anyone, anywhere. (He also has one of the funniest names to date.) If you\'re looking for a faction that isn\'t very active serverrside, but practically knows everything forumside, Euro-Corp is for you.
Lillymu Corporation- A mercenary faction with decently powered and extremely good looking ships, LMC is one of the most prominent mercenary factions out there, with the exception of the fact that nobody\'s heard from them in a while.
ARMtec- Small, fast, and surprisingly rich are three words that come to mind when thinking of ARMtec. They have good sized ships, are unusually rich for a faction their size, and are able to remain under most people\'s radars, even when working directly against them.
UFFC- GeneralBLT\'s faction. I have virtually no idea about anything of theirs, their numbers, or if they even have decent ships, but they are there, and probably just as good a choice as any.
NLR- They are big, powerful, and nobody\'s heard anything from them in a while. Being the former head faction of the UAF, they have retained a good deal of political knowledge, as well as serverside knowledge. They are also a brony(?) faction, for those of you who are into that. Contact LunaMoonBringer or HolyDemon49 for more information.
Dovan Empire- Small but not too small, big ships, but not too big ships, and they\'re the only faction that is obviously nonhuman. The Dovan Empire is quiet, rarely talked about, and just sitting back waiting for someone dumb enough to attack them... if they ever hear about them in the first place... If you like flying spess dragon ships, hate being a human, like to not be heard about (be a hipster), then join the DE.
If you read through these and still don\'t see one that you like, I\'d suggest starting your own.
