Starfield Factions Complete Guide Join All Factions and Explore Questlines

In the vast expanse of Starfield, your allegiances are as limitless as the stars themselves. Whether you crave the thrill of piracy with the Crimson Fleet, the prestige of the United Colonies, or the intrigue of Ryujin Industries, you’re free to join every major faction-and even play them against each other as you carve your own legend across the Settled Systems. But with rivalries simmering beneath a fragile peace, every alliance you forge could ignite new adventures-or unexpected betrayals. Which path will you choose among Starfield’s power players?

Factions flesh out the main story of Starfield and bring life to its corner of the galaxy – or death, and a lot of it, depending on which one you join. Starfield puts few restrictions on joining factions at first, though you’ll have to make some tough choices later on. There’s also a handful of factions that you can’t actually join, though most of them want to hurt you and everyone else anyway. Here are all the Starfield factions you can join and how you can join them, plus details about some minor factions you can’t join.

Factions you can join in Starfield

Starfield offers players the opportunity to join several major factions as they explore the Settled Systems. The five main factions you can officially join are Constellation, United Colonies, Freestar Collective, Crimson Fleet, and Ryujin Industries. Each group has its own unique identity and questlines: Constellation is a legendary band of explorers central to the main story, United Colonies represents a powerful space republic, Freestar Collective is a frontier alliance valuing independence, Crimson Fleet is a notorious pirate organization, and Ryujin Industries is a tech-focused megacorporation. Joining any of these factions unlocks exclusive missions and rewards, and you are free to join all of them in a single playthrough, though your choices may lead to conflicting loyalties as their interests often clash. Additionally, there are minor factions and religious groups you can interact with or join via character traits, but only the five major factions offer full membership and questlines.

Starfield has five major factions that we know of, though outside of Constellation – the engine of the main story – it’s easy to miss them unless you’re paying attention to side quests. The major factions in Starfield are as follows:

• Constellation
• Ryujin Industries
• UC Vanguard
• Freestar Rangers
• Crimson Fleet

Minor factions you can’t join in Starfield

While Starfield features five major factions that players can officially join-Constellation, United Colonies, Freestar Collective, Crimson Fleet, and Ryujin Industries-the game world is also populated by numerous minor factions that you cannot become a member of. These smaller groups, such as the Ecliptic Mercenaries, Spacers, and Argos Extractors, play significant roles in the Settled Systems but remain off-limits for formal membership. Instead, these factions serve to enrich the universe, offering additional lore, side encounters, and sometimes affecting your standing or interactions based on your choices, but without dedicated questlines or the option to join their ranks.

There are other minor factions, though as far as we can tell, you are unable to join them. You can get special bonuses or dialogue options when interacting with these factions, if you choose certain traits affiliated with them, though. For instance, choosing the Raised Enlightened or Raised Universal trait grants you a chest full of items in New Atlantis.

The minor factions in Starfield are as follows:

• Spacers
• Ecliptic Mercenaries
• House of Va’Ruun Zealots
• House of the Enlightened
• Sanctum Universuum
• Trackers
• The Trade Authority

Can you join multiple factions in Starfield?

Yes, in Starfield, you can join multiple factions, including all five major ones: Constellation, Crimson Fleet, Freestar Collective, Ryujin Industries, and United Colonies. While you are free to be a member of every faction, be aware that some factions have conflicting interests or are outright enemies, which can lead to loyalty tests and complicated questlines. Joining multiple factions allows you to access a wide range of missions and rewards, but progressing deeply in one faction’s story might strain your relationships with others, potentially requiring multiple playthroughs to fully explore all narratives. Overall, Starfield offers the flexibility to join all factions simultaneously, enhancing your experience across the Settled Systems.

Yes, you can join every major faction in Starfield within minutes of each other if you want to. There’s no penalty for joining any or all of them, and except in some cases, your actions for one faction won’t have any effect on how the others view you – at least for a while.

Things get a bit trickier later in each faction quest line, especially the Vanguard and Crimson Fleet quests. The Vanguard wants to eradicate the Fleet, which is, naturally, not going to sit well with the Fleet if you’re working with them. Make sure to juggle multiple save files if you want to see them all through.

How to join each faction in Starfield

To join each major faction in Starfield, you’ll need to seek out their headquarters and complete an initial mission or introduction, which varies by faction. Constellation is joined automatically as part of the main story, making it impossible to miss unless you avoid the main quest entirely. For the United Colonies, head to New Atlantis on Jemison and sign up with the Vanguard at the MAST building. To join the Freestar Collective, travel to Akila City in the Cheyenne system and help a Freestar Ranger with a local issue to begin their questline. Ryujin Industries can be joined by finding their job application terminal in Neon on Volii Alpha and completing an interview. The Crimson Fleet can be joined either by getting arrested and recruited as an undercover agent or by progressing through the United Colonies Vanguard storyline, which will eventually lead you to infiltrate the Fleet. You can join all five major factions in a single playthrough, and there are no penalties for doing so, though some questlines may present conflicting choices.

Joining a faction involves picking up a certain quest or series of quests and pledging your service to the faction in question. If you’re not sure whether a quest is tied to a faction, open your mission log, and head to the “Faction” tab. Every mission there is a faction quest. Alternatively, head to the “All” tab and check the symbol next to the quest name. Faction quests have a faction symbol next to them, such as the Crimson Fleet’s red skull and bones or the Freestar Rangers’ brown-and-yellow emblem.

How to join Constellation

You join Constellation automatically as part of the main story. Travel to the Lodge in New Atlantis’ MAST District after leaving Vectera, and speak with Sarah Morgan. She’ll induct you as a new member after speaking about artifacts and join you for a short time as you seek out more of the mysterious objects.

Constellation missions comprise the main story quests, and you’ll need to complete them to finish the game.

How to join UC Vanguard

Head to MAST Headquarters, the large building just above the sector’s transit line, and turn left once you go inside. Speak with Commander John Tuala, and express interest in joining the marines. Tuala sends you to the training hall to register in the system for an exam – you don’t have to actually take the exam – and a flight test.

There’s an optional museum area to wander through, and I strongly recommend stopping and interacting with each exhibit. These exhibits are where you’ll find most of Starfield’s important lore, and it adds some welcome context to your work as a Vanguard marine.

Pass the flight test at the end, and you’re officially part of UC Vanguard. You can pursue the Terrormorph plotline further (the core of the UC Vanguard quests), and you can join UC SysDef to infiltrate the Crimson Fleet.

How to join Crimson Fleet

You have to progress the Vanguard story past the introductory “Supra et Ultra” mission to unlock “Deep Cover,” the mission that lets you join the Crimson Fleet. (You can also start “Deep Cover” by getting arrested in UC space.)

“Deep Cover” puts you in contact with UC SysDef, which sends you undercover to infiltrate the Crimson Fleet as an aspiring member. You need to carefully balance your actions if you want to stay on good terms with both the Fleet and SysDef.

Your bosses in the Crimson Fleet want you to do basic pirate behavior – murder, theft, and extortion, for example – but that doesn’t always go over so well with the United Colonies. You might want to save before making any important decisions in this quest line, and whenever possible, try to find non-violent solutions to missions given to you by the Crimson Fleet.

How to join Ryujin Industries

Joining Neon’s premier corporation is a bit more straightforward, and you can do it pretty early in the game. Travel to New Atlantis’ Commercial District, and make your way to GalBank. In front of the bank is a red kiosk. Interact with it, and choose to apply to Ryujin Industries. Your answers don’t matter, in my experience, so just pick whatever.

The next phase is in Neon on Volii Alpha, which is near Olympus on your starmap. The Ryujin Industries building is at the end of the street once you leave the landing area. Head inside, take the elevator up, speak with the receptionist, and find Imelde, your new boss.

Your first task is picking up a coffee order, but a former employee ambushes you at the counter. You can try to persuade him against using violence, but there’s no downside if you fail and have to kill him.

Head back to Ryujin, and Imelde will promote you to the Operative role. You’re now part of Ryujin Industries, the questline focused on corporate espionage.

How to join Freestar Rangers

Joining the Freestar Rangers is about as straightforward as joining the Vanguard. In Akila City on Akila, diffuse the situation at the bank – ideally without the hostages or anyone else dying – during the “Empty Nest” main mission. After, continue down Akila City’s main street and enter The Rock. Head upstairs, and speak with Emma, a patron sitting at one of the bar’s tables.

Emma gives you the rundown about the Rangers and asks you to complete a bounty as an evaluation test. Choose one from the terminal nearby. They’re all at roughly the same challenge level, so just pick the one with the highest reward.

You’re inducted into the Freestar Rangers after returning to The Rock. You’ll follow a questline that’s initially about investigating crimes, but eventually blossoms into full on political conspiracy.

What is the best faction in Starfield?

The best faction in Starfield largely depends on the player’s playstyle and moral alignment, but the United Colonies is often regarded as the top choice due to its powerful presence, rich storylines, and valuable rewards, including access to a home in New Atlantis and involvement in espionage and military operations. However, the main story requires joining Constellation first, a faction focused on exploration and discovery, which offers a unique narrative and character-driven experience. For players seeking a more rebellious or pirate-like role, the Crimson Fleet stands out as the best faction, offering thrilling quests and the freedom to live as space pirates. Ultimately, Starfield allows players to join multiple factions, each with distinct identities and benefits, so the “best” faction is the one that aligns with the player’s preferred gameplay and story choices.

Which faction is best really depends on what you’re after. The Freestar Rangers are more of your do-gooder types, for example, with a more predictable mission structure, and the quest line is full of local flavor and insight into how people in the Freestar Collective live. It also dabbles with the crime community on Neon.

Ryujin Industries is its counterpart. While the opening mission seems like your usual corpo setup, the reality is far from that. Ryujin has its hands in some dirty business that goes right to the core of Starfield’s ideas of humanity and progress. The quests take a dark turn pretty quickly. If you want to play as an antihero, this is a more nuanced version of it than the Crimson Fleet quests offer. (If you played Skyrim, joining Ryujin Industries is akin to joining the Thieves Guild from that game.)

The UC Vanguard quest line has probably the most variety in mission types, with a strong mix of objectives and even genres. It’s also a good way to get more insight into the conflicts that shaped Starfield’s lore. While it may seem a bit vanilla at the start, it slowly turns into one of the more intriguing, mysterious quest lines in Starfield.

The Crimson Fleet quest line does an excellent job of building a pirate fantasy. The search for a grand treasure is at its core, and the tension of balancing good behavior with piratical crimes (if you’re simultaneously doing the UC Vanguard quest) gives it a welcome sense of tension. It also sheds light on the darker side of the United Colonies and its checkered past.

Which factions in Starfield offer the most unique questlines and rewards

Most Unique Questlines and Rewards in Starfield Factions

Crimson Fleet

• The Crimson Fleet offers the most unique and engaging questline in Starfield. Its storyline stands out because you play as a double agent, infiltrating the pirate organization on behalf of UC SysDef, and must choose where your true loyalties lie. This dual-allegiance setup creates high tension and suspense, making it one of the game’s most captivating experiences. The rewards are also significant, including up to 250,000 credits and exclusive pirate-themed gear such as the Keelhauler and Revenant weapons.

United Colonies Vanguard

• The UC Vanguard questline is notable for its variety, blending combat, diplomacy, and high-stakes storytelling. It’s often described as feeling like a main questline due to its scope and depth, featuring one of the most complex villains in the game. The missions are diverse, ranging from space battles to political intrigue, and completing the questline grants access to unique rewards and high-level gear.

Ryujin Industries

• Ryujin Industries provides a questline focused on corporate espionage and intrigue. While it starts with mundane tasks, it quickly escalates into a web of persuasion challenges and stealth missions. This faction is ideal for players who enjoy dialogue-heavy quests and navigating morally gray choices. The rewards include advanced tech and corporate-themed equipment.

Summary Table

Conclusion

The Crimson Fleet and UC Vanguard offer the most unique and memorable questlines, with the Crimson Fleet standing out for its double-agent narrative and lucrative rewards. Ryujin Industries is also notable for its corporate intrigue and role-playing opportunities. Each of these factions provides distinct gameplay experiences and exclusive rewards that set them apart from the rest.

Which faction’s questline offers the most unique gameplay experiences in Starfield

The Crimson Fleet faction questline offers the most unique gameplay experiences in Starfield. Its standout feature is the double-agent mechanic: you are recruited by UC SysDef to infiltrate the Crimson Fleet, forcing you to balance allegiances and make high-stakes choices about where your true loyalties lie. This setup allows you to essentially play two faction quests at once, creating intense tension and suspense. The questline incorporates a wide variety of gameplay elements, including combat, stealth, and space battles, culminating in an epic confrontation regardless of which side you choose. This breadth of experiences-along with the opportunity to replay and explore different outcomes-makes the Crimson Fleet questline the most dynamic and varied in the game.