The faction
field guide
Four factions. A galaxy at war.

CHOOSE YOURALLEGIANCE.

Lead humanity’s defense. Unleash the Horde. Build an industrial empire. Or play both sides from the shadows. Every faction has a different answer to the same question: how will you win?

Find your play style

Hover over an underlined card name to reveal the card. Click or tap for a closer look.

The universe of Fleets

First contact.
Final warning.

Earth and Luna were thriving when a message seized humanity’s screens. A herald of the Marsling Hegemony brought a warning: the Wrathians were coming to harvest Earth’s water.

Now survival, conquest, industry, and secrecy collide. In Fleets: Galactic Warfare, the faction you command shapes both the story you step into and the way you fight.

01 / The human factionUNITY • LEADERSHIP • TECHNOLOGY
The Sol ConfederacyA future worth defending.
Human command, academy training, and a fleet united.
The Sol Confederacy

Humans

Stand together. Strike as one.

Thrust into a conflict far beyond Earth, humanity answers with discipline, ingenuity, and the will to protect its future. Fresh cadets join experienced pilots, while commanders turn individual courage into coordinated resistance.

From the Sol Confederacy Space Academy to the unfinished , every recruit, vessel, and station is part of something larger. With Charon-developed technology in its arsenal, humanity turns engineering and cooperation into a fighting chance.

  • Coordinated combat
  • Initiative
  • Adaptability

How they play

Build a fleet whose cards make one another better. Human leaders and support stations strengthen your battlefront, while Initiative and fast arrivals help you seize favorable fights. Shift between pressure and defense as the situation changes.

The challenge: Your support pieces matter. Protect them, and commit to combat with a plan.

Command Humans if you enjoy teamwork, flexible tactics, and turning a well-built battlefront into a decisive advantage.

Signature cards & synergies
  • Grants Initiative to your Human Vessels, turning coordinated attacks into a dangerous proposition.
  • Supports your Vessels with an attack bonus on offense and a defense bonus when defending.
  • Warp Speed lets this recruit contribute immediately, keeping your fleet’s momentum alive.
02 / The Wrathian factionCONQUEST • SALVAGE • REANIMATION
Even the fallen serve.
. The face of an unrelenting conquest.
Relentless conquerors

Wrathian
Horde

Harvest worlds. Feed the war.

The Horde consumes what it conquers. Precious resources, shattered vessels, and the fallen all feed an expanding engine of war. Jagged hulls and burning furnaces announce an enemy that turns destruction into fresh strength.

drives the assault. calls the fallen back into service. Against the Wrathians, surviving the first wave is only the beginning.

  • Relentless pressure
  • Swarm tactics
  • Scrapyard recursion

How they play

Attack early, keep the pressure on, and make your own losses work for you. Drones build numbers, brutal attackers threaten the battlefront, and reanimation returns your fallen Vessels from your scrapyard for another assault.

The challenge: Constant aggression can leave you exposed. Time your sacrifices and keep your return-from-scrapyard engines protected.

Command the Horde if you enjoy overwhelming attacks, sacrifice synergies, and an army that refuses to stay defeated.

Signature cards & synergies
  • Calls from your fleet to build a relentless fighting force.
  • Returns your Wrathian Horde Vessels from the scrapyard to the battlefront.
  • Turns the return of your Wrathian Horde Vessels into damage, rewarding every new wave.
03 / The Charon factionPRECISION • INDUSTRY • SURVIVAL
The Charon CombineBuild what outlasts the war.
Mining, processing, and engineering at an industrial scale.
Masters of industry

Charon

Refine. Reclaim. Endure.

Charon carved a civilization from the galaxy’s harshest frontiers. Mining, processing, salvage, and reconstruction became the foundations of survival. Where others see an asteroid field or abandoned wreckage, Charon sees the next supply line.

The Charon develop technology utilized by both Humans and Nixians. Their engineering reaches far beyond their own fleets, shaping the tools of war across faction lines. Under ’s exacting leadership, utility craft and industrial stations work as parts of a larger machine.

  • Resource acceleration
  • Utility Vessels
  • Reclamation

How they play

Invest in an economy that grows stronger over time. Deploy additional Resource cards, generate resources for your Reserve, and reuse key pieces with replenishment and reclamation. Unspent resources stay in your Reserve, letting careful setup fund bigger turns later.

The challenge: Your engine needs time and protection. Balance economic development with enough defense to survive early pressure.

Command Charon if you enjoy building engines, planning several turns ahead, and squeezing value from every resource.

Signature cards & synergies
  • + allows an additional Resource play; rewards your Resource arrivals with resources added to your Reserve.
  • + A utility craft generates resources, while the station can bring a Resource card from the top of your fleet onto the battlefront.
  • Builds toward recovering one of your Utility Vessels from your scrapyard.
04 / The Nixian factionSECRECY • MISDIRECTION • INFORMATION
The unseen hand of war.
Hidden intent, stealth technology, and information as a weapon.
Brokers of secrets

Nixians

Both sides. One hidden agenda.

The Nixians are playing both sides. They trade information, cultivate rival alliances, and shape the war from the shadows. What looks like loyalty may be a transaction. Every alliance leaves the same question unanswered: whose side are they really on?

They use Charon-developed technology alongside their own methods of secrecy and misdirection. Behind veils, masks, and sleek stealth hulls, knowledge becomes ammunition. Cipher adepts such as attack the enemy’s information as surely as any warship attacks its armor.

  • Draw & discard
  • Fleet disruption
  • Retreat & evasion

How they play

Shape your options while dismantling your opponent’s. Draw and discard effects support your plans, while milling sends cards from the top of a fleet into its scrapyard. Elusive Vessels and Retreat create tactical tension around which fights are worth taking.

The challenge: Subtle engines need support. Fleet disruption can feed an opponent’s scrapyard strategy, so read the matchup before committing.

Command Nixians if you enjoy layered synergies, tricky decisions, and winning through information and disruption.

Signature cards & synergies
  • Doubles the number of cards placed from the top of a player’s fleet into their scrapyard by qualifying effects.
  • Its destruction sends cards from the top of an opponent’s fleet into their scrapyard, turning a loss into disruption.
  • Uses life to return itself from your scrapyard, giving Nixian fleets another way to sustain pressure.
Your command style

Find your kind of warfare.

Start with the decisions you enjoy making. Each faction rewards a different approach to building and commanding your fleet.

FactionYou enjoyBuild aroundPlan for
HumansCoordinated combat and flexible decisions.Leaders, support stations, and Vessels that strengthen one another.Protecting the pieces that hold your formation together.
Wrathian HordeAggressive attacks and returning for another round.Drones, sacrifice payoffs, and scrapyard reanimation.The openings you leave when you commit to an assault.
CharonEconomic growth and interlocking engines.Resource acceleration, Utility Vessels, and reclamation.Surviving while your infrastructure comes online.
NixiansInformation, disruption, and indirect pressure.Draw, discard, mill, and elusive threats.Opponents who benefit from cards entering their scrapyard.

Fleets: Galactic Warfare is in development. Card designs and faction strategies continue to evolve through playtesting.