A Commander Is You / Video Games

A - C

• Achron is an interesting example: its factions are best defined by their focus on time and space, but can still fit in this classification:
  • Collective Earth Security Organization (space/time balanced) — Spammer/Brute Force
  • Grekim (Chronoportation; temporal focus) — Elitist/Technical
  • Vecgir (Teleportation; spatial focus) — Balanced/Ranger
• Act of War:
  • Task Force Talon: Elitist/Technical. Task Force Talon's units are generally the most expensive and a good number of them either upgrade to fulfill different roles, or they are able to switch and back worth through different settings or modes.
  • United States Army: Balanced/Brute. The United States Army has powerful, straight-forward vehicles. Almost all of its units are good at one thing specifically, and generally they lack features of customization or stealth. For example: It's the only faction with a fighter that purely shoots down other aircraft and nothing else.
  • Consortium: Spammer/Guerrilla. The Consortium has two settings: "Undercover" and "Revealed". The "Undercover" units are the cheapest and easiest to spam, while the "Revealed" units are often fitted with stealth features.
• Age of Wonders: Planetfall uses a two-factor system, where each player's tech tree and unit roster is determined by the combination of their race and Secret Technology (essentially class). The tech tree is also divided into Military and Society research trees that progress simultaneously.
  • Races:
    • Amazon: Militarily a Gimmick faction, as a lot of their units are animals or plant creatures rather than infantry or mechanical, and their unit mods and hero skills offer a lot of support for animal units. They also have tactical and strategic operations that summon or mind-control native wildlife in the field. Their Society research is also Gimmick, focused on making the best use of forest terrain, and they have the ability to terraform sectors into forests.
    • Assembly: Military Generalist, with a well-rounded unit roster. Assembly units can install mods instantly and accept a wide range of mods due to all being Cyborg-typed, and their unique colony building increases Cosmite income, allowing the Assembly to rapidly kit themselves out as needed. Socially Research-focused.
    • Dvar: Militarily Brute, with heavy mechanical units such as tanks and battlesuits making up the majority of their unit selection. Focused on heavy armor and cover-demolishing explosives. Socially Industrial / Economic.
    • Kir'Ko: Spammer all the way through. They pay reduced upkeep for their low-tier units and their Swarm Shield trait grants their units extra shielding when adjacent to each other. Their Society tech tree focuses on boosting their food income and colony happiness, allowing them to rapidly grow their population.
    • Syndicate: Guerilla Military, with a number of stealth units and an emphasis on flanking attacks. Their Elite units are various flavors of Hover Tank with good mobility on the stragtegic map. Socially Espionage/Diplomat focused.
    • Vanguard: Military is Generalist / Ranger, having a good mix of offense and support but vulnerable in close combat. Socially Generalist with some Diplomat.
    • Oathbound (DLC): Military is Unit Specialist, with their units divided into battlesuit-wearing close-combat Paladins and supporting Seer units. Socially Gimmick / Loyalist, with research doctrines giving bonuses based on having high reputation and the ability for a Hero Unit to provide bonuses to a colony.
    • Shakarn (DLC): Military is Guerilla / Technical, making heavy use of stealth and special abilities. Almost all units are amphibious or hovering, allowing high mobility on the strategic map. Socially Espionage focused.
  • Secret Technologies:
    • Celestian: A psychic discipline promoting peace and harmony. Military is strongly Turtle with a lot of options for healing, protection, and non-damaging disabling effects but very little direct damage. Society doctrines are Diplomat / Loyalist
    • Promethean: Military is mix of Gimmick and Generalist, with offense options entirely centered on Thermal damage and setting everything on fire. Also has solid healing and defensive capabilites. Society research leans towards Turtle, with doctrines to improve the defenses of units in their territory and ignore environmental hazards.
    • Psynumbra: A dark psychic discipline focused on attacking the enemy's mind. Military is somewhat Gimmick / Technical with a heavy emphasis on psionic debuffs and morale penalties, meaning they struggle a bit against mindless or psi-resistant enemies. Also has elements of Spammer with the ability to cause enemies to spawn Echo of Despair units on death. Society research doubles down on the gimmick, with doctrines applying morale penalties to enemies in your territory or causing your own units to spawn Echoes on death.
    • Synthesis: An AI and hacking-based technology, focused on machines. Military is also Gimmick / Technical. Offensively powerful and debilitating against mechanical and cyborg units but less effective against biologicals. Support abilities require targets to be Integrated (either by being cyborg or mechanical or equipped with Synthesis unit mods). Society research is Espionage / Economist.
    • Voidtech: A technology focused on space and time manipulation. Military is Generalist with an emphasis on battlefield control and piling Dimensional Instability debuffs on enemies. Socially Economist, improving colony output of all resources and especially energy.
    • Xenoplague: A biology based technology focused on infecting enemies. Military is Gimmick / Spammer. Xenoplague units cannot be built from colonies. Afflicting enemies with Parasitic Infection gives a chance to spawn Xenoplague units after the battle's end or cause existing units to evolve into higher forms. Society doctrines support the Spammer aspect by improving the chances of spawning.
    • Heritor (DLC): A religious sect focused around transferring life Essence. Military is highly Gimmick-based. Heritor units gain Essence by hitting enemies with basic attacks and spend it to use or empower other abilities. Society research supports the Essence gimmick and also offers Loyalist.
• Armies of Exigo
  • The Empire: While more dignified than most examples, they're Spammer. Probably justified, as humans and elves are simply less physically strong than the monstrous creatures they face. They have area-of-effect buffs, experienced units get auras that raise their companions' stats, some of their units can be trained in more than one kind of building, and barracks can be upgraded to build two units simultaneously.
  • The Beasts: Brute/Elitist. They have the strongest melee units, but their cost is rather high.
  • The Fallen: Generalist/Balanced. They lack melee units, but their ranged ones are pretty durable. Have a little bit of Technical mixed in, as some of their units' attacks have a special effect on the unit they hit, not to mention some rather gimmicky special abilities, like reducing sight range for all enemy units on the map, or Void Walker's ability to temporarily shapeshift into any other unit, gaining all of its abilities.
• Battlefleet Gothic: Armada and Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2:
  • Imperial Navy: Balanced/Generalist. Very wide selection of ships with different options and armaments, from escorts to battleships. No real signature playstyle, but mid-range encounters are preferred, and they are rather slow but decently armoured.
  • Adeptus Astartes: Elite. Expensive ships with tons of armour even on the sides and aft, and excel at boarding actions as they are glorified transports for the famous Space Marines. However their gunnery is subpar and they will be outnumbered in any given engagement.
  • Adeptus Mechanicus: Ranger. As the custodians of the Imperium's high technology, Mechanicus ships are modified versions of Imperial Navy ships with superior firepower and speed. They cannot be relied upon to survive close range exchanges due to lack of troops.
  • Chaos: Balanced/Ranger. Chaos forces use twisted parodies of outdated ships that no longer see action in the Imperial Navy. Armour and firepower is relatively lacking and so is quality gunnery, so lances and strike aircraft at longer ranges are the order of the day.
  • Aeldari Corsairs: Technical. A masterful commander who understands their fleets will bring out the potential of this faction. With powerful forward-facing weapons and high speed, the ships can make devastating fly-by attacks, but this has to be weighed against their fragility. Using holofields in lieu of standard shields means ships must stay moving to ensure their protection.
  • Asuryani: Elitist/Technical. Like the Corsairs, the Asuryani have fragile ships with great speed and maneuverability and advanced weapons, but they have superior armour to Corsair equivalents. They only field the smaller classes of ships and are limited to battlecruisers; they rarely stray from their mighty Craftworlds and have little need for lumbering battleships.
  • Drukhari: Guerrilla. Drukhari ships have paper-thin armour and no shields, and are slow by Aeldari standards. They rely on shadowfields to stay hidden while moving to avoid fire. They have some of the most withering firepower of any faction and boarding parties of vicious warriors. Drukhari approach a target undetected, utterly crush it and hopefully disappear before facing retaliation.
  • Orks: Brute. Did you expect any different? Strong hulls, effective boarders, packing a lot of dakka and mercifully cheap ships as well. Ork gunnery leaves much to be desired so effective range and accuracy is very low. Discipline is also poor, and you can expect krew and their kaptans to mutiny the moment the battle starts going badly.
  • Necrons: Elitist/Turtle. Necrons have slow and outrageously expensive ships, but you get what you pay for. Necron ships are tough, very tough, and they regenerate hulls too. They have powerful (but slow firing) weapons and great morale.
  • Tyranids: Spammer. Tyranids employ large numbers of Living Ships that are naturally stealthy, and often literally eat other ships alive. They eschew traditional firepower in favour of swarming enemy crews with chittering horrors, and are almost unrivalled in boarding actions. However they have a glaring weakness in the synapse ship, which causes a loss of coherency in the rest of the fleet if destroyed.
  • T'au Protectors: Ranger. The T'au Empire's modern frontline fleets, packing lots of railguns and seeker missiles for exceptional precision firepower at extraordinary ranges. However they are slow and vulnerable in boarding actions, so an enemy who can reach them is a grave threat. They can employ Kroot and Demiurg auxilliaries.
  • T'au Merchant: Turtle. Older T'au ships from before the post-Damocles Gulf modernisation project. They are slower but tougher ships with more focus on launch bays and carriers than concentrated firepower, so air superiority is not much of an issue. Like the Protectors, they can make use of Kroot and Demiurg auxilliaries.
• The Battle for Middle-earth II's Age of the Ring Game Mod ends up with eleven factions over the base game's six, which naturally leads to this.
  • Gondor: Generalist. Gondor does everything well, but nothing excellently. It has access to cheap light infantry in its fiefdom troops, expensive heavy infantry in its Minas Tirith troops, more elite options in its pikemen, bowmen, and cavalry, an economy-booster in its marketplace, and heroes that fill a variety of roles, from Boromir's physical prowess to Denethor's army-buffing to Gandalf's mighty abilities. This lets it pursue just about any strategy and leaves it with few exploitable weaknesses, but it does nothing as well as genuine specialists.
  • Rohan: Ranger. Rohan starts with elements of Spammer, mainly in the form of its peasants, which are recruited from resource structures and can form a strong infantry core when drafted, and its Draft Towers allowing for a temporary surge in troops. Later on, though, it shows its chops as the game's main cavalry faction, and in the midgame, it is expected that most of its army will be charging around the battlefield and harrying or crushing the enemy, strengthened further by heroic buffs (to the point of bordering on Brute), though it can fall back on heavy infantry if need be.
  • Erebor: Brute. Erebor's infantry is tough as nails (their base troops frequently boast more than double the health of equivalent units in other factions), and most of their abilities magnify this in some way. They're also about as slow as you'd expect short-legged dwarves to be, and their cavalry options in the form of war wagons are fairly restrictive, which means they have issues with tactics more sophisticated than slow charges. However, they can use their mines as a transport network to circumvent this somewhat. Their human allies are either Spammer (Esgaroth) or Balanced (Dale).
  • Lothlórien: Turtle. Lothlórien has some of the best archers in the game, and its resource buildings, in the form of mallorn trees, can be upgraded to turn them into miniature bases in their own right. It also has a great deal of healing on demand, ways to slow and stun an opponent, and abilities that fortify its buildings heavily. However, its bases take work to manage, its troops when out of cover are quite frail, its economy tends to suffer early on, and its main siege tools are the slow-to-arrive and weak-to-fire Ents, which means it struggles at raiding the enemy until the very late game.
  • Rivendell: Technical. Rivendell's Noldor elven units are some of the strongest infantry in the game, but they're also very expensive and take time to recruit, practically necessitating a stopgap in the form of relatively weak Breelanders and frail ranger troops to handle the early game. It also has a number of rather quirky units whose abilities require some getting used to, particularly the unusual skillset of the Revellers and the varied weapons of the rangers. Its ability to purchase static map-wide upgrades helps it blossom in the lategame.
  • Woodland Realm: Guerrilla. The Woodland Realm's units are fast, a lot of them have stealth access, their archers have excellent range and damage, and they can teleport around the map through Waystones and Cellar Doors, allowing them to ambush enemies and then quickly beat a retreat. However, most of their units lack staying power (the only complete exception being highly expensive Greenwood soldiers), and they're the only faction that can't obtain heavy armor through standard upgrades, being dependent on Thranduil's ability to distribute it.
  • Mordor: Brute Spammer. Mordor's great hordes of orcs give it a strong We Have Reserves mindset, but in the lategame, it focuses much more on pure assault. Between trolls, catapults, and the might of Grond, it can smash through most defenses in short order, and it has abilities to scatter and destroy enemy formations or shred them with elite Easterlings. However, it has very little in the way of cavalry options barring the Fragile Speedster Nazgûl or expensive elite units like the Easterling cataphracts, and it can have trouble bringing its heavier equipment to bear due to relying so heavily on spam and lacking in static defense.
  • Isengard: Balanced Economist. Isengard has access to many different types of troops, between a lot of varieties of Uruk-Hai and its Dunlending allies (with a lean towards heavy infantry). Its main strength is generating resources, with three different economy-boosters in its tech tree and the ability to heavily reduce upgrade costs, letting it rapidly build a powerful army for cheap. However, this great economy can only be reached if Isengard can snowball effectively, with it being reliant at first on relatively weak Wildmen and Scouts.
  • Misty Mountains: Ranger Spammer. Misty Mountains can build up large hordes of goblins, wolves, and similar Fragile Speedster units, and like Erebor and Woodland Realm, it can use its resource structures to move around the map. It can also take control of local creeps and turn their lairs into bases, or utilize quirky monstrous units like trolls. However, its elite troops are expensive and tend to be gated, and many of its units have lackluster durability, with the Moria orcs in particular crumbling quickly in the face of any reprisal.
  • Dol Guldur: Gimmick Berserker. Dol Guldur, being led by the Necromancer, is focused on the idea of decay—most of its troops slowly lose health if they stray too far from its buildings or the Necromancer, but it can convert them into undead through various means, which do not suffer from health loss and rapidly regain health when out of combat. Because of this, Dol Guldur focuses on constructing bases close to enemy territory and mitigating the effects of decay with non-undead troops like spiders before assaulting the opponent with a deathless force.
  • Haradwaith: Technical Unit Specialist. Haradwaith covers a large number of subfactions, from the heavy infantry and pirates of Umbar to the more frail and versatile Harondor troops to the lightly-armored skirmishers and terrifying Mûmakil of the Mahûd to the specialized jungle monsters of Nâfarati to the magically-potent cultists of Zigûr. It also has the ability to quickly generate forward bases, using its mobile caravans and summoning powers. Due to this, it requires a lot of work to manage, as it can feel like playing with four or five factions at once.
• Battle for Wesnoth:
  • Loyalists — Generalist
  • Rebels — Balanced/Rangers
  • Northerners — Spammers/Brute
  • Knalgans — Brute/Elitists
  • Drakes — Elitists/Rangers
  • Undead — Technical
• Battle Realms:
  • Dragon — Generalist/Balanced
  • Serpent — Balanced/Technical
  • Wolf — Brute
  • Lotus — Technical/Ranger
• Battlezone (1998) has the Cosmo Communist Army and the National Space Defense Force, which are Brute and Ranger, respectively — though the difference is relatively minor aside from a few units. The Chinese army introduced in The Red Odyssey Expansion Pack has elements of both Elitist/Guerrilla — their units possess cloaking devices. The Black Dogs in the game's Nintendo 64 port are more powerful versions of standard NSDF units.
  • The sequel, Battlezone II, has the radically different Scion Army and International Space Defense Force. The ISDF is Brute/Balanced; their ships are typically powerful and cheaper than comparable Scion units. Additionally, the ISDF can build up their base much faster than Scions can. The Scions are Elitist with elements of Guerrilla — their units are expensive but adaptable courtesy of their ability to morph tanks between combat and assault modes. Scion heavy units are often overspecialized but very good at what they do.
  • Battlezone II's Game Mods add further unique factions. Forgotten Enemies adds the Hadean Crown, which are Elitist/Brute. Their units start out weak, but their factories can be upgraded to make the units absurdly powerful and durable. Fleshstorm adds the Swarm; entirely Spammer with some Guerrilla elements. Their units are absurdly cheap and weak at low levels, but their units do not drop any scrap biometal — the game's building resource — allowing for Swarm units to simply grind down enemies. Fleshstorm also introduces the Phaer Ran, which are a combination of Elitist/Brute Force/Specialist — Phaer Ran units are geared specifically to kill Swarm units. Their bases are mobile, their units are strong and simple, and they tend to rely on fire and air-burst weapons.
• Brütal Legend:
  • Ironheade: Balanced/Brute Force
  • Drowning Doom: Technical/Elitist (Debuff/Buff specialists)
  • Tainted Coil: Industrialist (Able to create units straight on the battlefield rather than from their base)
• Civilization: Beyond Earth:
  • The three Affinities:
    • Purity: Brute. Purity units can gain tremendously powerful perks in either attack or defence, and Purity gain a powerful bonus when fighting aliens at Level 3. Offence get perks like bonuses against certain units and bonus strength for unused movement points — so if your unit is parked right next to the enemy when they attack, they'll wallop it. Defence perks render Purity cities as nigh-untouchable. However, they need to specialise in either attack or defence, not both, and they lack the technical features and fancy tricks of the other armies. Purity tend to use heavy tanks and exosuits for battles, leading up to the LEV-Destroyer, a massive floating fortress bristling with guns.
    • Supremacy: Technical. Supremacy units gain combat bonuses for being adjacent to each other, hence unit placement and organisation of units is very important. They also gain bonuses for flanking. They get free roads between colonies and orbital coverage over any Firaxite source, even one in enemy territory. Supremacy make use of unmanned battle robots and combat aircraft, as well as drones. Also has elements of Ranger, with the SABR unique unit having the longest range of any artillery and the Supremacy upgrades to Ranger and Missile Rover units also offering increased range.
    • Harmony: Guerrilla/Spammer. Harmony units are weaker than Purity and Supremacy, but Harmony troops are capable of healing and fighting better in miasma; miasma can be used offensively or defensively, with provisions for covering both you and your enemy's territory in the stuff. They can also gain movement point bonuses, learn to ignore difficult terrain for fast travel, or learn to move after attacking. Harmony civs also find an easier time taming and befriending native alien life, using them as auxiliaries, mounts for cavalry, and eventually bio-augmenting their troops with alien DNA and breeding their own xeno bioweapons.
  • The various Sponsors:
    • Pan-Asian Cooperative — Bonus to Wonder building production, and to Worker movement speed. Industrial.
    • American Reclamation Corporation — Higher success rate and Intrigue level for Covert Ops. Espionage.
    • Brasilia — Increased unit melee strength and healing rate when fortified. Brute force.
    • Polystralia — Two extra trade routes per capital. Economist.
    • Kavithan Protectorate — Faster border growth for cities. Loyal.
    • People's African Union — Free culture structure at the start of the game, and increased population growth in healthy cities. Loyal.
    • Slavic Federation — Bonus to satellite production and operation. Gimmick.
    • Franco-Iberia — Gain an extra free Virtue for every ten Virtues earned normally through culture. Research.
    • Al-Falah — Can convert production in cities to other resources at high efficiency. Inverted Industrial.
    • North Sea Alliance — Bonus to oceanic cities and naval units. Gimmick.
    • INTEGR — Easier to make diplomatic agreements with other factions. Diplomat.
• Civilization IV: Fall From Heaven gets complicated, being a highly ambitious mod for an already-complex 4X game. This is thus a very general outline. If a faction plays vastly differently depending on the leader chosen, this will be noted.
  • Amurites: Ranger/Technical
  • Balseraphs: Guerrilla/Espionage
  • Bannor: Spammer/Brute Force
  • Calabim: Under Flauros, Extreme Elitist/Economist/Unit Specialist (vampires). Under Alexis, Balanced/Brute Force; "balanced" in this case means that she likes to spam weak units and then promote the survivors. Decius is a Pariah.
  • Clan of Embers: Extreme Spammer (they make their units twice as fast as everyone else!)/Generalist. Sheelba leans more toward a Brute Force approach, while Jonas Endain is more of an Industrialist (population production). Due to a particular emergent gimmick, the Clan is powerfully Industrialist when paired with Runes of Kilmorph religion.
  • Doviello: Charadon is a Balanced/Brute Force Pariah; anything he can do, Sheelba can do better. Under Mahala, Balanced/Gimmick, with almost no reliance on infrastructure and the ability to cheaply upgrade their forces in the field.
  • Elohim: Technical, with a focus on defense and access to an Enemy Exchange Program (letting them do a variety of things).
  • Grigori: Generalist with a few special elite units (Adventurers).
  • Hippus: Unit Specialist (cavalry). Rhoanna is an Economist and Industrialist (pop production), Tasunke is more inclined to Brute Force.
  • Illians: Technical/Terrain Specialist (snowy land).
  • Khazad: Elitist/Industrialist/Unconventional (gain power from gold), Kandros Fir is also an Economist.
  • Kuriotates: Unit Specialist (centaur cavalry)/Gimmick (they have only a few cities, but these cities are especially large and rich).
  • Lanun: Guerrilla (pirate)/Unit Specialist (naval), Industrialist/Economist due to leader traits and sea tile upgrades.
  • Ljosalfar: Elitist/Ranger/Terrain Specialist (forests)/Turtle (forests again). When using the Fellowship of Leaves, they develop a peculiarly Industrial character.
  • Luchuirp: Elitist/Brute Force/Unit Specialist (golems)/Industrialist/Economist.
  • Malakim: Technical/Terrain Specialist (desert)/Unit Specialist (disciples)/Diplomat (extra Overcouncil vote). Decius is a Pariah, lacking Varn Gosam's synergy with the faction specialization.
  • Sheaim: Spammer (spawned units)/Technical
  • Sidar: Guerrilla/Technical/Unconventional (can use experienced units to boost any kind of production)
  • Svartalfar: Guerrilla/Terrain Specialist (forests).
  • Infernals and Mercurians are gimmick factions, being summoned by other factions after gamestart and fuelled by the deaths of units of their appropriate alignment. Infernals are Technical, while Mercurians are more Brute Force.
• Colonization:
  • English — Generalist/Spammer (immigration)
  • French — Diplomat
  • Spanish — Brute
  • Dutch — Economist (trade)
  • FreeCol adds other examples:
    • Portugal — Ranger (naval)
    • Sweden — Industrial
    • Denmark — Generalist (farming)
    • Russia — Economist (furs/coats)
• Company of Heroes
  • United States of America — Generalist/Spammer. The American army is highly flexible, with individual units being able to perform in a variety of different roles. American infantry tend to be more numerous than the Wehrmacht, but not as effective in a straight fight and usually need to rely on upgrades and abilities to get an edge. Similarly, American vehicles tend to lack the armour and raw firepower of the Germans, but tend to be faster and capable of various support tasks. Has traits of Economist, as units tend to be relatively cheap and easy to replenish, and can build a supply yard to drive costs of units even further down.
    • Airborne Company — Technical. This American doctrine focuses on rapid deployment, using paratroopers, supply drops and air support.
    • Infantry Company — Spammer/Unit Specialist, focusing on infantry. This doctrine focuses on production of infantry which are cheap, versatile and effective in numbers. Also allows the use of artillery support.
    • Armor Company — Brute/Unit Specialist, focusing on armour. This doctrine focus on production of armour, and allows production of the Sherman Calliope and the very powerful M26 Persching.
  • Wehrmacht — Elitist. The Wehrmacht is a highly powerful if somewhat inflexible war machine. Infantry are usually are tougher than the Americans, and, at least early on, much more well-equipped. Their armour list is far more comprehensive and features a lot of heavy armour such as the Panzer IV and Panther tanks. However, while the units are strong, they're also fewer and much more expensive, and usually lack special abilities and support features. In their intended roles, the forces of the Wehrmacht can accomplish a lot, but outside their intended roles, it's a different story.
    • Defensive Doctrine — Technical/Unit Specialist. This doctrines allows the Wehrmacht player to upgrade their base buildings with self-defence machine guns, and allows infantry to reinforce from bunkers, which makes the difference in holding the line or keeping an advance going. It also unlocks the Flak 88, a deadly anti-tank piece.
    • Blitzkrieg Doctrine — A rare mix of Brute and Guerrilla. The Blitzkrieg doctrine is offensively minded, and allows you access to Tiger I tanks and Stormtroopers. The Tiger I is a powerful heavy tank effective against both enemy infantry and armour, while Stormtroopers are essentially upgraded versions of Grenadiers which can be called in from any unoccupied building in friendly territory and can camouflage themselves to lay ambushes.
    • Terror Doctrine — Technical. A doctrine centered on psychological warfare and raw destructive power, most of the Terror Doctrine's abilities are focused on providing Status Buffs to your own units and debuffs to enemy units, as well as powerful artillery and V1 rocket strikes. However, it's probably best known for the ultimate Terror ability to build one King Tiger super-heavy tank, which is the single strongest unit in the whole game and capable of fending off two or even three Allied tanks single-handedly, but is slow, vulnerable if not properly supported by other Wehrmacht forces, and cannot be replaced if destroyed.
  • Panzer Elite — Ranger/Technical. A dizzying assortment of light vehicles forms the backbone of the Panzer Elite army, ranging from troop transports and scouts to tank-hunter half-tracks and self-propelled artillery pieces. The infantry are the cream of the crop of the German military, well-trained and armed to the teeth with the finest weapons the German war machine can produce, including the MP44, the FG42 and the Panzerschreck. The trade-off is a limited roster of armour and a complete lack of defensive structures, ensuring that the Panzer Elite is the army for anyone who believes that the best defence is a good offence.
    • Scorched Earth Tactics — Technical. Emphasising the cunning and occasionally underhanded tactics employed by Panzergrenadiers and SS during the closing stages of the war, this tactic adds a few area-denial options and dirty tricks including the ability to Booby Trap buildings and strategic points, as well as the ability to temporarily disable the latter, and the ability to construct impassable roadblocks ideal for funnelling enemy forces into kill-zones. Doesn't sound like much, but through this doctrine, the Panzer Elite can place limits on the opposing player's expansion and force them to spend precious time and resources consolidating what territorial gains he can make, giving you the momentum and putting them at a serious disadvantage. Also unlocks the Hummel, the Panzer Elite's only artillery piece. Scorched Earth Kettenkrads gain the ability to lay down Booby Traps.
    • Luftwaffe Tactics — Brute. This gives the Panzer Elite a lot of nifty new toys including an AA tank which shreds infantry and light vehicles, the dreaded Flak 88 (representing one of the few options for a Panzer Elite defensive structure), the elite Fallschirmjäger squads armed with deadly automatic weapons and able to be called in anywhere on the map, and of course, a bombing run from Henschel ground-attack aircraft. Luftwaffe Kettenkrads gain the ability to camouflage themselves, making them ideal for scouting and sneaky grabs at strategic points deep behind enemy lines.
    • Tank Destroyer Tactics — Unit Specialist, focusing on anti-armour weaponry. Truly an American Armor Company's worst nightmare, this doctrine gives almost every unit a plethora of armour-killing weapons, letting the Pazner Elite contend with armoured forces. Tank Destroyer Kettenkrads can perform field repairs, helping you keep your fleet of tank destroyers and half-tracks in continuous operation.
  • British Commonwealth — Balanced/Brute/Turtle. The British have a fairly versatile force, favouring neither infantry or armour, but an undeniable cornerstone of any British army is the creation and maintenance of a formidable "front line" of static defences, some of which are the cheapest and most powerful available to any faction. British troops don't gain Veterancy like the other factions, instead relying on "hero" units like the Lieutenant and the Captain to gather Veterancy on behalf of the troops around them and in turn grant them a Status Buff which lets them fight elite units on equal terms. Finally, the British base is made up of mobile command trucks which can move and deploy anywhere on the map, making them difficult to pin down. If the Panzer Elite say that the best defence is a good offence, the British beg to differ.
    • Royal Artillery Support — Technical. This support doctrine grants the British 25-Pounder howitzer defensive structure a number of new abilities, turning your 25-Pounder howitzers into some of the most powerful units on the field, and also grants the British their only mobile artillery piece, the M7 Priest.
    • Royal Commando Support — Guerrilla. This support focuses on rapid deployment and covert operations, and adds offensive flavour to the otherwise very strongly defensive-natured British. Gliders can be called in to deploy squads of elite Commandos and even a light tank, the Tetrarch, anywhere on the map, who can then be made to strike at enemy buildings, capture points, ambush enemy units, or support advances by your regular forces. Commando Support also offers a few special misdirection and information gathering abilities.
    • Royal Engineers Support — Unit Specialist/Turtle, focusing on static defences. This support doctrine builds on what the British do best: hunker down and hold firm where other armies would shatter. It also allows the deployment of three different variants of the Churchill, a heavily-armoured British tank.
  • The Eastern Front mod adds the Soviets and the Ostheer. Mirroring the real life Red Army's development in the war, the Soviets are a rather weak Spammer faction in the game's initial stages but a Soviet player who manages to survive to the late-game will watch their force gradually transition into an Elitist/Spammer; their Doctrines are Propaganda War (infantry and artillery specialist), Urban War (Guerrilla) and Breakthrough War (Brute/armour specialist). The Ostheer are much like the Eldar of Dawn of War: a Technical force comprising a number of fairly powerful specialist units which are highly effective in their element but painfully weak if caught out of place; their doctrines are Support Army Group (Technical in a subversive sense), Elite Army Group (Elitist) and Fortress Army Group (Technical in a defensive sense). The two factions play off each other in the style of Linear Ostheer, Quadratic Soviets.
  • Far East War mod brings in the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army into the mix, the Chinese NRA being a spam faction where the IJA are a more Elitist baseline.
• Crossfire Legion:
  • Global Risk: Spammer in numbers, Ranger/Turtle/Industrial in doctrine. Their basic unit costs 50 materials and takes only two population. Global Risk make liberal use of plentiful and fast-training Troopers to swarm the battlefield, backed up by heavy artillery such as the Imperator tank and Morningstar gunship. They rely on having the ranged advantage and bombarding enemy forces from afar, but can also build a solid defensive line with powerful turrets supported by Logistics Depots for additional armor and fire rate. Finally, their unique faction mechanic allows them to heavily boost the production speed of their facilities for a time, giving them the edge in rebuilding lost forces.
  • Black List: Balanced in numbers, Guerrilla/Technical in doctrine. Black List's forces strike the middle ground in population and cost. Their units aren't extremely powerful in a straight fight but they make heavy use of Ghost Kit stealth technology to gain the edge, with an Ambush ability that gives their units a damage boost whenever they come out of stealth. Making the best use of Black List's units tends to require micromanaging activated abilities to boost their capabilities or debuff enemies, rewarding skilled players who can handle their toolkit well.
  • New Horizon: Elitist in numbers, Brute in doctrine. The most expensive faction in cost and population, with their basic infantry costing 150 materials and taking three population. New Horizon tends to be straightforwardly powerful in its ability to roll over the enemy, with the ability to trade shields between units to keep them alive and their supply structure also replenishing the shields of nearby units. Most of their unit abilities are passive upgrades such as increased range or a Damage-Increasing Debuff effect added to a unit's attack, with only a fraction of the roster such as the Orion support vehicle and Siren flyer needing much ability management as a result.

D - F

• Dawn of War:
  • Space Marines (and the Sisters Of Battle from Soulstorm) are the Balanced/Generalist. Overall, Space Marines' combat doctrine can be summed up as "Boring, but Practical en masse". They start with well-rounded heavy infantry squads that grow massively stronger as you unlock a plethora of unit upgrades to them, and can take a large number of special weapons to take on any target. In the final stages of the game, you can deploy these squads via Drop Pod to attack practically anywhere you need them. Sisters squads are cheaper and more numerous than the Space Marines, but are nowhere near as tough - think of them as a midway point between the Space Marines and the Imperial Guard.
    • In the sequel, Space Marines are Elitist/Balanced while Chaos Space Marines are Elitist with a touch of Gimmick, as they rely heavily on their Cultist units to repair mechanical units, provide Worship effects or ranged support/melee whenever needed.
  • Chaos (renamed Chaos Space Marines in II): Numbers wise, a tug back and forth between Spammer and Elitist; their chaff units are very weak, but their elites are very elite indeed. Doctrine-wise, Generalist with elements of Guerrilla. They're less adaptable than the loyalist Space Marines and have less firepower, but make up for it with cheaper squads that are slightly superior in close combat and are able to infiltrate if you upgrade them.
  • Orks: Spammers/Brute. Da Orks need to build WAAAAGH! banners to raise their population cap, build better Ork squads, and improve technology. Having a lot of Orks together in a large squad or many smaller squads in the same area will increase their speed, melee damage, morale recovery (being outright immune to morale loss in large enough hordes) and speed up reinforcement. However be careful because individual Orks drop pretty quickly under sustained fire or bombardment.
  • Eldar: Elitist/Guerrilla/Specialist. Eldar troops are very pricey and you need to buy research rights to build any of them besides their basic Guardians and their worker unit; this combined with their need to build Webway gates to spread their zone of control, Eldar take a long time to get going. They lack general staying power compared to hardier races, and rely on speed and stealth to stay alive. However, their Aspect Warriors are downright vicious, borderline unstoppable even if used correctly and especially if upgraded. Hardly anything can perform better than an Aspect Warrior in their element.
  • Imperial Guard: Ranger/Technical/Spammer/Turtle. The Imperial Guard can be best described as a "Wall of Guns"; weak infantry squads (with lots of potential for upgrades and lots of special weapon options), backed up by some of the toughest tanks in the game and some of the best artillery of any faction. While they fold quite quickly in the face of anything remotely optimised for close combat, good luck getting through the meatgrinder. They have a very defence-centred playstyle, building strong bases (and moving troops between their buildings through tunnels) and letting the enemy break themselves against the gun-wall, gradually inching them back until they have no more ground to stand on.
    • In the sequel, Imperial Guard are a primarily a Brute Force faction but with a mix of different qualities and several unique Gimmicks that would make them something of a Specialist.
  • Necrons: Brute; they use only one resource and gain a cumulating bonus in construction time in place of the other, lending to them a "rolling thunder" playstyle which has them start off pretty slow, but can become quite powerful in the late game.
  • Tau: Rangers, with some guerrilla elements. Tau are hopeless in close combat, from the lowly Fire Warrior squad to the Commander himself. But when your basic infantry can outrange and outshoot other races' sniper teams, who needs melee? Between their stealthy infiltrators, jumping battlesuits and hover tanks, Tau have a lot of options for Hit-and-Run Tactics. Or you can invest in Kroot mercenaries to give your fragile plasma gunners some much-needed melee backup... and you have a unique technology decision (Mont'ka or Kauyon) to upgrade one aspect of your army (Mont'ka lets you roll out the big guns and crack open armour and buildings from extreme distances, Kauyon upgrades your Kroot and basic infantry to be even hardier and more reliable).
  • Dark Eldar: Guerrilla/Ranger.
  • Tyranids: Spammers and Gimmick faction; small units get buffs when paired with big ones. Units have lower population costs.
• DEADLOCK:
  • Humans (duh) — Economists
  • Re'Lu (tibetan elves) — Elitists
  • Tarth (cats/dogs) — Brute
  • Maug (techno cows) — Researchers.
  • ChCh-t (insectoids) — Spammers
  • Cyth (illithids) — Diplomats (the spy kind)
  • Uva Mosk (something strange) — Productionists
• Dwarf Fortress:
  • Dwarves: Generalist/Industrial, and the only playable faction. In terms of combat and non-combat roles, they can do nearly any labor in the game, and have access to a variety of weapons, but no cavalry. Access to the best weapon-grade materials in the game, and able to engineer whatever insane mechanisms the player can devise.
  • Humans: Generalist, with a side order of Diplomat. Most likely to be friendly with the playable faction. On the military side, they're second-best in terms of metal usage, can use cavalry and a wide variety of weapons.
  • Elves: Ranger. Attitude problems aside, they tend to be friendly to dwarves unless the player provokes them. Wooden equipment makes them a joke in melee, but their wooden arrows are deadly. Also have access to a variety of exotic mounts that provide a few Elite troops.
  • Goblins: Spammer, with some additional Brute and Guerrilla units. One of the two Hardcoded Hostility factions, their thieves are tougher than kobolds but vulnerable to traps, and they'll eventually send ambushes and sieges. Their sieges are mostly cannon fodder with an assortment of equipment, and tend to break and run after a few casualties. Elite units in the form of exotic cavalry and Brutes in the form of trolls.
  • Kobolds: Guerrilla, and a heaping helping of Pariah. The weakest faction in terms of size and military ability, only sending thieves and the occasional ambush. Their only redeeming quality is being naturally capable of avoiding traps.
• Earth 2150:
  • United Civilized States: Guerrilla/Specialist
    • Early units are weak but UCS plasma weapons border on Game-Breaker status. Only faction with access to SHADOW generators.
  • Eurasian Dynasty: Spammer/Brute Force
    • Early units are little more than cannon fodder and must be fielded in insane numbers. Late-game tanks are one of the most powerful units in the game. Vehicle-mounted nukes are available.
  • Lunar Corporation: Technical/Elitist/Ranger
    • Units are generally more expensive than the other factions' but every single unit is amphibious. Early units are Fragile Speedsters with a significant disadvantage in firepower.
• EndWar:
  • JSF: Balanced
  • EFEC: Subversive/Cannon
  • Spetznaz: Powerhouse
• Endless Legend:
  • Ardent Mages: Research/Technical. Their pain magic makes their warriors more effective when wounded, can out-research any other faction, and can activate temporary production boosters to increase the output of city tiles or power of nearby units.
  • Broken Lords: Elite/Economist. Expensive units with extreme combat prowess. They cannot regenerate health after combat and do not use food to grow population (as they're suits of Animated Armor), but can instantly heal after combat and build new citizens on demand with Dust, the game's currency. Their combat gimmick is a Life Drain power.
  • Cultists of the Eternal End: Spammer/Espionage. They have only one, well-built up city and have fairly weak units, but can convert minor races to join their cause and will then periodically receive free units.
  • Drakken: Generalist/Diplomat. They can force ceasefires on other players, ending wars. They have bonuses to influence production to make more comprehensive treaties, and have balanced units.
  • Necrophages: Spammer/Loyal. They can never be at peace. Their units are cheap and explode on death, they can cannibalize the dead to make up for their poor farming skills and sacrifice citizens to please their gods.
  • Roving Clans: Actual Pacifist Ranger/Economist. Their units are weak but extremely mobile and focus on hit-and-run tactics. Unmatched Dust production and they own the markets, giving them a cut of every transaction other empires make. They can hire mercenaries with twice the normal health and engage in False Flag Attacks as they cannot declare war (it's bad for business!).
  • Vaulters: Research/Loyal. Well defended scientific cities with a natural resistance to Auriga's collapsing climate.
  • Wild Walkers: Ranger/Industrial. Heavy focus on ranged attacks and get far more industrial output from forests than other empires.
• Endless Space/2:
  • Amoeba: Diplomat. Huge boosts to happiness, trade, and weapon power based on how many allies they have. Their ancient nature gives them knowledge of the galaxy right from the start of a game.
  • Automatons: Elite/Industrial/Loyal. Unmatched industrial prowess as they can use ships in orbit to aid construction, can build up vast planetary populations, and are naturally optimistic, at the cost of expensive maintenance and small fleets.
  • Cravers: Spammer/Brute. Because they cannot be at peace, they build up huge fleets of cheap (but balanced) ships. They must continuously expand or consume their own civilization.
  • Harmony: Balanced/Industrial/Loyal. This Expansion Pack empire does not use money, does not have a happiness stat, and cannot grow population while building ships, in exchange for vast industrial potential and (unintentional) military might as they do not have to pay for fleet upkeep, allowing for enormous flotillas.
  • Hissho: Balanced/Brute/Loyal. Very powerful ship weapons and well defended planets, but poor researchers. Winning planetary battles improves their empire's production.
  • Horatio: Elite/Technical/Economist. Densely populated worlds and powerful Hero Unit bonuses, but expensive ships due to the Price of Beauty
  • Lumeris (ESII): Spammer/Balanced/Economist. As space mafiaso types cornering out the Dust market, they use Dust instead of influence when negotiating with minor factions. Rather than colonise planets, they can simply buy them immediately. Their warships are quite balanced but because of the huge economic bonuses they get, producing them in quantity isn't much issue.
  • Pilgrims: Loyal/Diplomat/Economist. They can trade with non-allied races, have naturally talented Hero Units, optimistic and loyal population and boosts to weapons when in an alliance, but have weak ships. Their Homeworld Evacuation ability lets them expand at astonishing speeds.
  • Riftborn (ESII): Balanced/Ranger/Generalist/Gimmick. As sentient time constructs from another dimension, the Riftborn don't need food and they can create Singularities which give a system a kind of bonus, making them quite versatile. Their ships have less health than other factions but lots of firepower, and their Carrier class is exceptionally good.
  • Sheredyn: Brute/Economist. Their special ability makes retreats enemy retreats impossible, they have extremely well armored ships and boosts to money production, but Honor Before Reason causes them to become unhappy if they break a deal and The Spartan Way makes luxury goods less effective.
  • Sophons: Research/Ranger. Huge science bonuses which are magnified when taxes are raised, fast ships and great sensors, but are pathetic combatants and unskilled laborers.
  • Sowers: Brute/Industrial. They can colonize any world without having to research it and can convert food into industry, but are poor researchers and have slow ships.
  • Umbral Choir (ESII): Espionage/Guerrilla/Gimmick. Starts with cloak, and can cloak anything, systems and behemoths included. Doesn't colonize like usual factions, instead utilize hacking to establish sanctuaries on colonizable planets, other factions' planet included, which feeds resources into their sole home system. Relies on installing sleepers on enemy systems and eventually kidnap them to make 2nd tier population. Assimilated minor factions don't give pops, but add their traits to Umbral pops.
  • Unfallen (ESII): Elitist/Economist/Pacifist. These gentle, beautiful tree people give and receive considerable bonuses from alliances and from being at peace with everybody, making them the best race in the game for peaceful, diplomatic games. Their ships are resilient but weak on the offence, and they can only colonise neighbouring systems due to how their Vines system works.
  • United Empire: Brute/Industrial/Economic. Strong ships, a massive boost to industry when their taxes are raised, and have a boost to money production.
  • Vaulters: Research/Loyal/Guerrilla (ESII). Very well defended planets with strong science produciton and can produce a Portal Network between their worlds, but have poor population growth. The 2nd game also gives them ability to become privateers right from the start instead of needing a Tier 4 military technology to unlock it.
  • Vodyani (ESII): Elitist/Technical/Loyalist/Gimmick. The Vodyani like on arkships rather than planets and their population grows slowly. Arkships are powerful as warships but exposing one to battle is always a risk, and their dedicated warships are highly specialised. They can secure a permanent alliance with a minor faction through brainwashing.

G - J

• Galactic Civilizations 2:
  • Terran Alliance — Diplomats
  • Yor Collective — Industrial (in theory)/Pariah (in practice)
  • Drengin Empire — Brute
  • Altarian Republic — Researchers
  • Drath Legion — Espionage/Diplomats
  • Torian Confederation — Loyal/Spammer
  • Arcean Empire — Brute Force (slow but tough)
  • Dominion of Korx — Economists
  • Iconian Refuge — Researchers
  • Thalan Empire — Elitists (very expensive, limited buildings)
  • Korath Clan — Brute Force/Industrial
  • Krynn Consulate — Loyal/Espionage/Gimmick (culture conquest)
• Grey Goo (2015) a return to the classic RTS formula:
  • Beta: Balanced\Generalist\Ranger — the time-worn, lived-in spacefarers; well-balanced and able to create strong defenses while still able to meet the enemy with a strong offense at the same time.
  • Humans: Elitist\Technical\Unit Specialist\Turtle — the most advanced faction; specializing in the deployment of combined arms forces, each unit type playing on the strength of the others while counteracting their weaknesses. Rely a lot on defense.
  • Goo: Spammer\Brute\Guerrilla — relying on the tried-and-true Zerg Rush, the Goo is definitely one the most unconventional factions ever imagined. The Goo has no conventional infrastructure or economy, instead each new Goo unit is created by dividing larger Goo into smaller Goo at the cost of health points.
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Despite the changes in towns from one game to another, the most famous factions tend to follow these rules.
  • Castle/Haven: Elitist in III, Balanced from IV onwards, with a strong focus on Life Magic. Their Knight predecessors in I and II were Spammer/Brute — less magic than the non-barbarian factions and relatively cheap units with few to no special abilities.
  • Necropolis: Spammer/Technical. Lower tier units tend to be weak but numerous (Skeletons especially), while higher tier units are frail but with killer abilities, like Vampires. In Heroes VI, they became Elitist/Technical, since Necromancy cannot create troops anymore.
  • Dungeon/Asylum: Elitist. Few powerful units, that always include the ever powerful Black Dragon. When the Dungeon is dark elf-themed (V and VI), it becomes Elitist/Guerrilla.
  • Stronghold: Brute. A bit of Spammer in III, since they can access their tier 7 creature earlier than other factions, and in IV where one of their perks was faster creature generation. In IV and V, their heroes can't use magic at all.
  • Tower/Academy: Technical. Weak units, powerful magic. A touch of Elitist in III — their upgraded tier 6 and 7 units are often considered the best of their respective tiers, but balanced by their slow growth and immense price.
  • Rampart/Preserve/Sylvan: Ranger in I, II, IV and V. Balanced in III
  • Inferno: Their identity in III was not very well defined, mostly Balanced/Brute, arguably Pariah. V and onward made them a Spammer faction thanks to their Gating special, which lets them call in temporary reinforcements on mass.
  • H3 Fortress: Technical. They're mostly made of weaker units, but have a few key power creatures with game-changing abilities. Very much Difficult, but Awesome.
  • H5 and 7 Fortress: Balanced/Game Breaker. Solid units, and access to normal magic and special rune magic.
  • Conflux: Spammer/Game Breaker. Phoenixes and Firebirds have double the growth of other tier 7s and are fairly cheap (balanced by being "weaker", but Conflux balance is a bit of a mess). Their tier 1, 2, and 6 are pretty good as well. Additionally, three of their units are immune to Fire magic - one of which being the fastest creature in the game (Phoenixes again) so if they get Armageddon, they can safely cast it every combat.
  • Sanctuary: Ranger, taking over for the absence of Sylvan in VI.
• Homeworld series: the series tends to mix several kinds of factions into one... and what kind of faction each one looks like depends on the situation.
  • Homeworld: the only two officially playable factions, Kushan and Taiidan have more to do with aesthetic than tactical difference, so the best way to compare between them is by their special units.
    • Kushans — Guerrillas in terms of Cloaked Fighters or Technical by Drone Frigates.
    • Taiidan Empire — Unit Specialization with a little Brute Force. Their Defense Fighters are Defense Field Frigates help their fleets last longer in combat.
    • Turanic Raiders — Guerrilla by story, Pariah by game play. One of their craft can Macross Missile Massacre, but that's all they've got.
    • Kadeshi — Elitist/Spammer, sometimes game breakingly so... or Unit Specialization Spammer, sometimes cripplingly so.
    • Bentusi — Game Breaker, if you count their only combat-ready Tradeship unit present the game.
  • Homeworld: Cataclysm
    • Kushans (Hiigarans) and Taiidani — Balanced/Generalist
    • Turanic Raiders — Guerrilla when they started to field disguise and cloaking systems.
    • Somtaaw — Brute Force where combat is concerned: their ships are plainly built to kill. Noncombat-wise, they are Technical.
    • Beast — Gimmick, mostly, owing it all to infectious techno-organic viruses.
    • Bentusi — Game Breaker, only this time, they have a usable fighter unit.
  • Homeworld 2:
    • Hiigarans — Generalist/Balanced, they are more effective when deploying a mixed force. While their ships have various particular rolls to fulfill, they also have more general applicability that lets them be flexible, and have a slightly higher typical durability, though also a slightly higher cost.
    • Vaygr — Generalist/Spammer/Specialist, they are most effective when deploying a mixed force designed around a primary unit, which tend to be smaller, cheaper, and faster on average than Hiigaran ships though with less durability and flexibility.
    • Progenitors — Game Breaker. Their units make heavy use of lethal Wave Motion Guns. One specific kind of Progenitor ship is even so strong that even a fleet won't stop a single one, and it even attempts to escape, only to return in good condition.

K - M

• Master of Magic races (Note: Enemy Exchange Program is in full force, and other races' cities can be captured; additionally, the schools of magic you focus on and the spells you research can have more effect on how you play than your race — eg. almost anyone can be Elitist by focusing on summons or Technical by focusing on utility spells.)
  • Barbarians: Spammer
  • Gnolls: Spammer/Brute Force. Pariah/Lethal Joke Faction due to lacking research capability.
  • Halflings: Spammer/Ranger/Industrialist (farming)/Loyal
  • High Men: Balanced/Generalist with Elitist/Technical tendencies
  • High Elves: Elitist/Ranger/Economist (mana)
  • Klackons: Brute Force/Loyal when the capital is Klackon/Economist/Industrialist. Pariah/Lethal Joke Faction due to poor loyalty of enslaved races and lacking research capability.
  • Lizardmen: Spammer/Ranger/Technical (swimmers). Pariah/Lethal Joke Faction due to lacking building and research capability (seeing a pattern?).
  • Nomads: Ranger/Economist (trade income bonus)
  • Orcs: Balanced/Generalist in theory. In practice, Spammer/Economist/Industrialist with a Master of None military, and generally a pariah as a starting race (but beloved as a slave race).
  • Beastmen: Generalist/Economist (mana generation)
  • Dwarves: Elitist/Economist/Industrialist
  • Draconians: Elitist/Technical (flying units)/Economist (mana generation)
  • Dark Elves: Balanced^note An odd example in that, because they're so Elite that even their cheap Spearmen are powerful early-game units, it's possible to play them as either a Spammer army or as classic Elitists/Ranger/Economist (mana generation).
  • Trolls: Extreme Brute Force/Elitist. They share the research and building weakness of the Pariah factions, but are considered a high-tier race due to raw power alone.
• Master of Orion 1:
  • Human (duh) — Economists/Diplomats
  • Psilon (tibetan elves) — Elitist/Researcher
  • Mrrshan (cats) — Brute
  • Bulrathi (bears) — Brute
  • Alkari (birds) — Rangers/Unit Specialists (pilot skills)
  • Sakkra (lizardmen) — Spammer
  • Klackon (insectoids) — Industrial
  • Silicoid (rocks) — Pariahs (can survive in harsh environments, may turn into Lethal Joke Faction due to an edge this gives them in expansion)
  • Meklar (robots) — Industrial
  • Darlok (nazguls) — Diplomats (the spy kind)
• Master of Orion 2:
  • Humans — Diplomat/Slight Economist/Researcher
  • Mrrshan — Brute
  • Bulrathi — Brute
  • Alkari — Elitist
  • Sakkra — Spammer/Industrial (increased population growth)
  • Elerians — Elitist/Gimmick (start with map explored)
  • Trilarians — Ranger
  • Gnolams — Economist
  • Silicoids — Gimmick
  • Klackon — Industrial
  • Meklar — Industrial
  • Darloks — Espionage
  • Antarans (not playable) — Extreme Elitist
• Mordheim: City of the Damned:
  • Human Mercenaries: Balanced/Ranger. The Humans have troops with moderate stats across the board and access to a generously varied arsenal of weapons and armour, and by far the most expansive armoury of ranged weapons: longbows, handguns, blunderbusses, long rifles, hell even their dedicated melee fighters can use pistols and crossbows as secondary weapons. Marksmen are the best non-Hero ranged troops in the whole game, and with the magical support of their Warlock and the raw power of their Ogre Mercenary Legendary unit, they can be a potent force despite their modest stats. They don't quite excel in any particular area like the other factions do however, and their ranged game is certainly stronger than their melee.
  • Skaven: Guerrilla. Skaven units invariably have lots of movement and attack points, letting them run far and attack several times a turn. They also have the best climbing and jumping skills, letting them easily navigate alternate paths and flank enemies. However, they also have by far the lowest HP, so they die easily and they have the lowest morale too, so they rout quickly after only a few casualties. With the Skaven, you need to learn how to duck and weave around buildings, striking at isolated individuals and avoiding large battles in the streets or being targeted by skirmishers in the open. Their Legendary unit, the Rat Ogre, is extremely powerful but difficult to control.
  • Sisters of Sigmar: Brute. Between their high HP, heavy armour, excellent morale and ability to cast all sorts of nasty buffing and support spells to make them even more killy in melee, these Magic Knight ladies will just stroll up to your guys and bludgeon them to death with massive hammers and maces while laughing off everything you hit them with. Fortunately they're slow as molasses, not very mobile and often screwed if their opponent blocks their movement, employs hit 'n' run tactics, or catches them in a killzone. The Sisters are effectively a Crutch Character: powerful individually, but limited by design to simple tactics that would get the other factions killed quickly.
  • Cult of the Possessed: Technical/Gimmick. Cult troops have great offence, above-average mobility, spellcasting ability, and the potential to gain various random Chaos mutations which can either grant exceptionally powerful bonuses to your troops, or leave them crippled and ineffective (for example, a mutation that replaces your arm with a Blade Below the Shoulder can manifest on your top melee fighter, or your top archer and thus leave him unable to hold bows any more). Unfortunately, their leader is a Squishy Wizard who starts out with one weak spell and can't hold his own in melee, and their entry-level troops all invariably have terrible defence. The Cult are Difficult, but Awesome, potentially very powerful but unpredictable and at times counter-intuitive.
  • Witch Hunters: Balanced/Brute. A more close-combat oriented, Glass Cannon take on the Mercenaries faction, with plenty of units defined by their superb striking power in melee. Flagellants cannot wear armour but they are fearless and with their hefty two-handed weapons they can crump most henchmen in only two hits. Their Legendary unit, the Executioner, is the frailest of the game but offensively one of the most powerful, able to set enemies on fire and equip nearly any melee weapon. Their Heroes are more balanced, competent at range or in melee without really excelling at either.
  • The Undead: Brute/Gimmick. The Undead feature units with high strength and fearless, with very weak troops but extremely deadly Hero units. Their Heroes are often as powerful as the Legendary units of other factions, capable of causing fear or terror while being immune to fear themselves. Meanwhile, their Zombies are expendable (they don't dent morale when they die) but they're limited to one-handed weapons, slow-moving and very likely to die permanently if they fall in battle. Only the powerful leaders can wear armour or use ranged weapons, so in a protracted battle the Undead can expect heavy casualties. Mechanically unusual, the Undead need the most planning to use.
• Mount & Blade:
  • Swadians: Brute
  • Vaegirs: Balanced/Generalist
  • Khergits: Unit Specialist (cavalry)/Guerrilla/Ranger
  • Nords: Extreme Brute Force/Unit Specialist (infantry)
  • Rhodoks: Balanced/Specialist (infantry)

N - P

• In New Horizons, an able commandant can assemble a fleet up to four ships (his included) and give them different orders, like sinking or boarding a certain target, disengage from battle... or to blow themselves up near the enemy.
• Nintendo Wars has several.
  • Most are unit specialists, these are the other archetypes they fall into.
    • Andy — Balanced/Generalist
    • Sami, Sensei, Colin, Hachi — Spammer
    • Max, Grimm, Will (Days of Ruin), Tabitha (DoR) — Brute Force
    • Grit — Ranger/Pariah (Game Breaker in the first title)
    • Olaf, Lash, Kindle, Jake, Koal, Sonja, Javier, Penny (DoR) — Gimmick
    • VS mode Sturm in AW1, Javier (with Towers), Brenner (DoR) — Turtle
    • Sturm, Colin, Kanbei, Hachi, Sensei, Caulder (DoR) — Game Breaker
    • Kanbei — Elitist
    • Sonja — Guerrilla
    • Sasha — Economist
    • Eagle, Drake, Jess — Specialist (Air Units, Sea Units, and Tanks respectively)
  • Super Famicom Wars (The Normal COs are Generalists, so this applies to their AI. The Super COs has a special ability viable to the player, making them Game Breakers)
    • Yuan Delta — Balanced/Generalist: The most rounded of the Normal COs. And the smartest of them too.
    • Rojenski — Balanced/Pariah: His AI is prone to making mistakes.
    • Fon Rosso — Ranger: Favors sending his units on the attack, without looking after his defenses.
    • Hetler — Spammer/Turtle: He's not very aggressive, but will dig in with many units on the defense.
    • Caroline — Elite/Gimmick: She has amazing luck, which can let her units dish out extra damage.
    • Billy Gates — Economic: Starts every round with an extra 10,000 Gold. Useful for making multiple weak units (Spammer), or field out the stronger units early in the game (Elite).
    • Yamamoto — Elite/Brute: Every unit he creates are leveled up twice. Even with leveling up turned off, making him a challenge.
• Open Blue:
  • Avelia — Brute/Spammer
  • Sirene — Elitist/Research
  • Remillia — Ranger/Espionage
  • Pirates — Guerrilla/Gimmick (can have multiple ship mods to make up for lack of raw firepower)

Q - T

• Rimworld:
  • Pirates/Outlanders: Balanced/Generalist. They come with moderate numbers. They usually use modern guns, but some of them use melee weapons.
  • Tribes: Spammer. They are very numerous, but they can only use neolithic weapons like bows, clubs or spears. Most of them don't wear armor.
  • Mechanoids: Elitist/Specialist. They have thick armor and advanced weaponry like charge lance or minigun, but they usually come with small numbers. Mechanoid faction has three units, and they distinctly have advantages and weaknesses.
• Rise of Legends
  • Vinci — Brute, overlapping with Generalist. Can become Industrial if they get rolling.
  • Alin — Spammer, overlapping with Guerrilla.
  • Cuotl — Elitist
• Sacrifice
  • Persephone — Balanced/Brute
  • James — Brute/Technical
  • Stratos — Ranger/Spammer
  • Pyro — Technical/Brute
  • Charnel — Spammer/Technical/Guerrilla
• Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri:
  • Spartan Federation — Elitist/Brute — those morale bonuses stack up quickly.
  • Gaia's Stepdaughters — Gimmick (planet empathy), with a splash of Technical thanks to their inherent combat penalties.
  • Lord's Believers — Brute/Espionage.
  • University of Planet — Researchers
  • Morgan Industries — Economists
  • Peacekeeping Forces — Diplomats/Loyal/Generalist. Interestingly, the "Diplomat" aspect still works in multiplayer, since the way it manifests (as a bonus in votes for Planetary Governor^note Giving the power to propose resolutions and Supreme Leader^note The condition for diplomatic victory) doesn’t affect ordinary day-to-day diplomacy.
  • Human Hive — Spammers/Industrial/Loyal
  • Cybernetic Consciousness — Researchers/Gimmick (stealing tech through offensive war)
  • Data Angels — Espionage
  • Free Drones — Spammers/Industrial/Loyal
  • Cult of Planet — Gimmick/brute force (militant planet empathy). Considered to be a pariah faction, thanks to serious infrastructure building disadvantages.
  • Nautilus Pirates — Balanced/Gimmick (naval power). Often considered a Game-Breaker, due to the advantages of early sea bases.
  • Manifold Caretakers — Gimmick/Brute (Aliens with defence/ecological bonus), with a tendency to be Game Breakers in multiplayer.
  • Manifold Usurpers — Gimmick/Brute (Aliens with offence/growth bonus), with a tendency to be Game Breakers in multiplayer.
  • Firaxans — While mainly the Gaians with a different leader, they are a Game-Breaker faction since they start off with a late game technology. Fortunately, they are only available through the faction editor, and given the tongue-in-cheek nature of everything related to them, they are a Lethal Joke Character as well.
• Sins of a Solar Empire:
  • Trader Emergency Coalition — Economists/Industrial/Brute Force/Spammer
  • Advent — Technical/Loyal/Research
  • Vasari Empire — Elitists/Ranger/Espionage
• Songs of Conquest: The Wielders control the armies, but don't participate in battles themselves aside from casting spells.
• StarCraft & StarCraft II:
  • Terrans — Ranger/Generalist/Balanced/Turtle
    • Among Co-op Commanders, Raynor is Spammer/Ranger/Generalist, Swann is Elitist/Turtle, Nova is Elitist/Guerrilla/Technical, Han and Horner are Spammer (Han's units)/Elitist (Horner's units)/Unit Specialist (on air force), Tychus is ELITIST/Technical/Gimmick and Mengsk is Spammer (Troopers)/Elitist (Elite Guard)/Economical
  • Zerg — Guerrilla/Spammer
    • Among Co-op Commanders, Kerrigan and Abathur are both Balanced/Generalist (and Gimmick for Abathur), Zagara is Spammer/Brute/Unit Specialist (ground attacks only ground, air attacks only air), Stukov is SPAMMER/Brute/Generalist, Dehaka is Elitist/Gimmick and Stetmann is Spammer/Technical/Gimmick/Pariah (Stetelites are not exactly popular).
  • Protoss — Brute/Elitist/Technical.
    • Among Co-op Commanders, Artanis is Balanced/Brute, Vorazun is Elitist/Guerrilla/Technical, Karax is Elitist/Industrial/Turtle, Alarak is Spammer/Technical, Fenix is Elitist/Technical/Gimmick, and Zeratul is Elitist/Game Breaker.
  • Hybrid — Game-Breaker (not playable)
• Star Trek Armada and Star Trek Armada 2:
  • United Federation Of Planets: Balanced/Generalist with some elements of Technical. All factions rely pretty extensively on special abilities, but Federation ships mostly have abilities that are consistently useful throughout the game throughout every tier.
  • Klingon Empire: Brute, also Pariah in that they can commandeer enemy ships more easily than other factions.
  • Romulan Star Empire: Guerrilla/Technical. Their ships have the least hull and only average weapons, but ALL their ships can cloak, and they are the only faction that has a method of being able to use weapons while cloaked. They also have some of the most potent special abilities in the game when used correctly.
  • Cardassian Union: Mostly Balanced/Generalist with some minor elements of Guerrilla and Technical.
  • Borg: Starts out as Spammer, then makes an unusual switch to Elite bordering on game-breaker. Their lower tier units are pretty weak and expendable, but their higher tier ships are some of the toughest in the game and are much more powerful than their equivalents on the other factions. Tactical Fusion Cubes are extremely powerful, but their expensive and slow speed somewhat compensate for their sheer power. The game-breaking part is when Borg Diamonds (spellcasters) and transwarp hubs (think stargates) enter the fray, and suddenly the tactical fusion cubes become capable of raiding any point on the map instantly (transwarp hub) and while being invunerable (borg diamond spell "shield re-modulation").
  • Species 8472: Elite/Brute Force with a twist of Economist; while other factions need particular resources to build their ships (Klingons in particular will hurt pretty bad if they don't get their hands on significant amounts of Latinum) Species 8472 will take ANY resource and convert it into Bio-Matter, the only major resource they need.
• Star Wars: Empire at War
  • Galactic Empire — Brute/Spammer: In space battles, capital ships can replace destroyed TIE squadrons as long as that ship survives battle. AT-AT's are powerful and can produce Stormtroopers.
  • Rebel Alliance — Balanced/Guerrilla: Can preform raids with a small detachments to cause trouble on Imperial worlds. And can steal data to purchase better units by using C-3PO and R2-D2.
  • Zann Consortium — Elite/Technical/Gimmick: Powerful units with nasty surprises while corrupting worlds. Corruption allows for many purposes from black markets for purchasing upgrades to sending out slaves to fight. Arguably a Game Breaker.
• Star Wars: Rebellion:
  • Galactic Empire — Brute
  • Rebel Alliance — Guerrilla
  • Both factions become Balanced over time.
• Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
  • Galactic Empire — Brute (Powerful Ground troops)
  • Rebel Alliance — Guerrilla/Unit Specialist (Powerful Air Units)
  • Trade Federation — Spammer/Economic (No need to create Prefab Shelters, however harvesting Carbon is difficult)
  • Royal Naboo — Elite/Technical (Initially weak ground troops, but grows stronger through progress. Has a great air force)
  • Gungans — Unit Specialist (Great Water Units, can assemble Prefab Shelters underwater)
  • Wookiees — Brute/Economic (Strong Units, can acquire discounts)
  • Clone Campaigns Expansion:
    • Old Galactic Republic: Brute. Though Spammer sometimes since upgrades can produces Troopers more quickly.
    • Confederacy Of Independent Systems: Spammer. Though Brute sometimes since upgrades can increase Trooper's health and attack power.
• Supreme Commander:
  • United Earth Federation — Brute
  • Cybran Nation — Guerrilla/Spammer
  • Aeon Illuminate — Technical/Unit Specialist
  • Seraphim — Game Breaker/Elitist (but they're supposed to be elitist, funny how that works)
• Thrawn's Revenge: Note that some factions are subject to change as the eras change.
  • Imperial Remnant — Balanced/Brute: Top-heavy with powerful Star Destroyers but weaker frigates and fighters, but can generally mimic the other warlords in playstyle.
  • New Republic — Balanced/Generalist/Spammer: Has the strongest fighters in the mod and initially favors spamming them to cover for the weak capital ships. Gradually grows stronger and more versatile as they progress through the eras.
  • Empire of the Hand — Balanced/Ranger/Guerilla: Generally more fragile space units, but all of them except for the Intego battlecruiser can individually jump to hyperspace.
  • Pentastar Alignment — Balanced/Spammer: Favors vast quantities of weak starfighters, but have trouble in slugging matches, though not as much as the Corporate Sector Authority.
  • Eriadu Authority — Elitist/Brute: Even more top-heavy than the Imperial Remnant, with powerful battlecruisers and Super Star Destroyers, but weak frigates, weak fighters, and weak anti-fighter capabilities.
  • Greater Maldrood — Balanced/Unit Specialist: Favors frigates and smaller capital ships, and have powerful fleet tenders to keep them alive, but lacking in larger capital ships.
  • Zsinj's Empire — Balanced/Technical/Gimmick: Somewhat top-heavy like the Imperial Remnant, but can build pirate bases and ships to cover its weaknesses.
  • Hapes Consortium — Spammer/Unit Specialist: Lots of frigates, corvettes, and fighters, but no capital ships bigger than a Victory Star Destroyer.
  • Corporate Sector Authority — Spammer/Gimmick: Can flood the field with fighters, but its capital ships suffer in slugging matches. Can acquire ships outside its normal roster using the Ship Market.

U - W

• War Wind:
  • Tha'Roon — Elitists
  • Obblinox — Brute Force
  • Shama'Li — Rangers (the magic kind)
  • Eaggra — Spammers
• Warcraft
  • Humans — Generalist/Balanced, with some Elitist siege weapons
  • Orcs — Brute/Guerrilla
  • Night Elves — Rangers
  • Undead — Spammers/Technical
• Warlords Battlecry: As of Battlecry 3. It should be noted that heroes can change their factions' gameplay significantly, and all sides can be considered Brute Force when they get dragons and titans. The listed types are the basic faction styles that are seen for most of the game.
  • Humans — Generalist/Elitist, and a huge Pariah (due to having almost no anti-air defense), prior to being split into two in WBC3. Since their split:
    • Empire — Balanced/Diplomat (Can recruit other races' units.)
    • Knights — Elitist/Specialist (Cavalry)
  • Barbarians — Spammer/Ranger
  • High Elves — Balanced/Ranger
  • Wood Elves — Guerrilla/Ranger
  • Dwarves — Elitist
  • Daemons — Elitist/Brute
  • Fey — Spammer/Ranger with elements of Elitist (Units start out very weak but inexpensive and fast, then become very strong once fully upgraded.)
  • Orcs — Brute/Spammer with elements of Technical
  • Minotaurs — Brute/Elitist, were originally a Pariah before finally getting reliable anti-air defense in WBC3.
  • Dark Elves — Guerrilla/Technical
  • Dark Dwarves — Brute/Specialist (Siege Weapons) with elements of Spammer (Thanks to firebombs) and Elitist (with golems)
  • Undead — Spammer/Elitist (Units upgrade to stronger units allowing them to get high tier units with zero build time, but at high cost.)
  • Plague Lords — Technical
  • Ssrathi — Brute
  • Swarm — Spammer/Industrial
• World in Conflict features Cosmetically Different Sides for the most part, but those factions are divided between four roles that need to work in unison:
  • Infantry — Guerrella
  • Armor — Generalist
  • Air — Ranger
  • Support — Unit Specialist

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