History Main / ACommanderIsYou

** Galactic Empire: Elitist/Brute
** Rebel Alliance: Balanced/Ranger
* ''TabletopGame/TeamYankee''

* ''The Technical Faction.'' The opposite of the Brute faction — [[SquishyWizard lots of nasty special abilities, but poor base stats and/or relatively high unit costs]]. Typically requires a lot of micromanagement to use effectively, and therefore not the best faction for novice players. Often have the best [[TechTree tech trees]] of the game, [[MagikarpPower which make them slow starters,]] [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards but very powerful in the late game]]. May overlap with the Elitists or Guerrillas.

*** Russian Federation - Brute, hands down.

*** Chaos Space Marines - Balanced/Specialist

*** Iberian Tribes: Guerrilla/Generalist mix, as they have good light infantry for ambushes but good medium infantry that can hold its own against even Romans.

*** Armenia and other Eastern factions: Ranger/Unit Specialist. Eastern rosters lack infantry but they make up for it with skirmishers and skirmisher cavalry.

*** Steppe Tribes: Unit Specialist all the way, they rely on their shock cavalry and missile cavalry to get anything done.
*** Daco-Thracian Tribes: Unit Specialist. They make use of staggeringly high charge stats to break enemy infantry, but they lack armor and don't have great non-melee units. Their warriors are also not very good in standing melee, as they lack proper shields.

*** Dwarves: A rare example of an ''Elitist/Technical'' faction. They are slow-moving and small in number, but a combination of heavily armoured and disciplined infantry with devastating ranged weaponry and artillery can turn them into well-coordinated {{Mighty Glacier}}s. Dwarfs are also ''Loyalist'' as they have no civil wars.

*** Beastmen: A ''Spammer/Guerrilla/Brute'' faction. They rely heavily on ambush tactics on the grand campaign, their hordes being invisible and capable of traveling through hidden "Beastpaths". In combat they hit hard but have really poor morale, relying heavily on their units' superior mobility and numbers, but will fall apart in prolonged combat. Much like the Warriors of Chaos they cannot maintain settlements, but have a unit ability to raze and corrupt a region, along with a mechanic similar to the Orcs' Waagh!, spawning AI-controlled armies to assist your own hordes. Unlike the Warriors, the Beastmen do not suffer attrition when two hordes are near one another, meaning you can quickly create new hordes in order to flood the map with your forces.

*** Norsca: A ''Elitist''/''Brute Force''/''Gimmick'', just like their parent army - the Warriors of Chaos. A relatively small number of extremely powerful warriors (Marauder Champions, Berserkers) supported by a number of extremely powerful monstrous units that pound the enemy into submission through pure violent power. They have a number of powerful quirks like their Berserker and Frost Bite abilities, which allow them to become insanely stronger the longer they remain in battle and significantly slow their enemies in combat, respectively.

*** High Elves: A ''Generalist/Elite/Intrigue'' faction with lots of expensive units that are capable of fighting in multiple scenarios. In the Grand Campaign they can use influence to quickly develop alliances or trick other factions into war. Examples of their extremely generalist units are: Lothern Sea Guard are effective, though not great, archers which carry shields (allowing them to resist other archers) have decent melee stats (allowing them to briefly stand against basic infantry) and have a bonus against large creatures (making them dangerous to cavalry that catches them). The Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower is an extremely accurate artillery piece that can switch between having a bonus against large creatures (to snipe monsters) and against infantry (to disrupt infantry formations). The Swordmasters of Hoeth are greatsword infantry with high damage and a bonus against other infantry, this almost always means not having shields and thus being weak to archers but the Swordmasters get the shielded status anyway because they can deflect arrows with their swords.
*** Dark Elves: A ''Balanced/Technical'' faction. Their units require more micromangement than most but ultimately they have effective answers to nearly anything. However if their units aren't managed well and get caught in unfavorable matchups they tend to fall apart.

* ''VideoGame/GreyGoo'' a return to the classic RTS formula.

** Spanish: Generalist/Balanced. Spain has the widest selection of units and they get Home City shipments faster than everyone else, this civilisation suits all levels and styles of play. Their unique units are the Lancer, Rodelero, War Dog and Missionary.
** British: Balanced/Ranger/Industrial. Britain can create settlers faster than anyone else by building Manors, so their economy can flourish very early on. Their unique units are the Longbowman and the Congreve Rocket, and they have the best musketeers as well.
** Dutch: Economist/Technical. Dutch Settlers cost coin instead of food, giving them a slow start, but the Dutch mine gold faster and can build Banks for an infinite steady stream of money. Their special unit is the Ruyter, Fluyt and the Envoy.
** French: Brute/Spammer. The French start with a native scout and can raise native units faster and their Coureurs gather every resource faster than standard settlers. Their Cuirassier unique heavy cavalry are one of the strongest in the game.
** Germans: Rangers, with a side of Spammer. The Germans receive free Ulhan light cavalry with every Home City shipment, this gives them a lot of mobility and map control. They use Settler Wagons to supplement their settlers and boosting their early economy.
** Russians: Spammer. Russian units are cheaper than equivalents in other nations and train in batches, allowing an army to be raised very quickly. The Russian Blockhouse replaces the Barracks and can garrison troops, and this also lets them rushdown well. Their special units are the Strelet, Cossack and Oprichnik.
** Portuguese: Industrial/Technical. A difficult faction to play due to the very slow start (they do not have settler shipment cards like everyone else) but they get a free Covered Wagon as they advance each age. They have strong light infantry (their one unique unit is the Cassador) and dragoons, and a strong navy.
** Ottomans: Unconventional/Unit Specialist (artillery). The Ottomans can field artillery earlier than any other civilisation (by Age II) and they get two special artillery pieces: Abus Guns and Great Bombards. They also get Janissary infantry and Spahis. Finally, Ottoman town centers spawn settlers at no cost, though it takes longer.

** Iroquois: Balanced/Industrial. The Iroquois play most like a European civ, as they uniquely among the native Americans get artillery and cavalry. The Travois can build most buildings for free, and the War Chief gives every unit around bonus hitpoints.
** Sioux: Brute/Unit Specialist (cavalry). Nearly all of the Sioux army is cavalry and their cavalry is very strong indeed. They do not build houses for population, instead they start with the cap maxed out and Teepees give bonus hitpoints and attack to surrounding units. But they have mediocre infantry and no artillery.
** Aztec: Brute Force/Unit Specialist (infantry). The opposite of the Sioux, the Aztecs are an entirely infantry-focused army. Their unique Warrior Priests heal like Medicine Men but have high attack and can dance at fire pits to bestow special effects. The Aztecs have a good navy as well. But they have no cavalry or artillery to speak of.

** Chinese: Brute/Spammer. Like the Russians, the Chinese train armies in batches with the added caveat that these "banner armies" are predetermined combinations of two units. While it is easy for the Chinese to quickly raise a large army, doing so can get expensive and the troops tend to be quite weaker than their European counterparts individually. The Chinese even get a higher pop cap, at 220. Chinese War Junks and Fuchuan are actually superior to the European Caravels and Frigates, but again, beware as prices for these powerful naval units can get exorbitant.
** Japanese: Economist/Elitist/Brute Force. Japanese land units are expensive but powerful - Samurai are hands down the best melee infantry in the game. However the Japanese do not gather as normal; they build Shrines which produce a trickle of resources, and this means the Japanese economy is fragile and cannot recover easily from a disaster. In addition, the Japanese get a Daimyo hero unit; the Daimyo is a capable fighter on his own but he also bestows bonuses and can even raise units in the field. Many of their Home City cards can be sent twice.
** Indians: Technical/Unit Specialist (cavalry). India has a well-balanced army with a diverse range of units, but the cornerstone of the Indian army is war elephants, of which they have multiple varieties. Indian villagers cost wood instead of food, which can leave Indian players playing a delicate balancing act and expanding quickly to fuel their wood binge, but fortunately they get free villagers with every Home City shipment. They cannot slaughter animals for food, instead gaining experience from them in a Sacred Field.

** Spanish: Generalist
** British: Industrial
** Dutch: Economist/Technical
** French: Brute Force
** Germans: Rangers, with a side of Spammer
** Russians: Spammer
** Portuguese: Industrial/Technical
** Ottomans: Unconventional/Unit Specialist (artillery)
** Iroquois: Industrial
** Sioux: Unit Specialist(cavalry)with possibility of spammer
** Aztec: Brute Force/Spammer or Elitist/Unit Specialist (infantry)
** Chinese: Spammer/Brute Force
** Japanese: Economist/Elitist/Brute Force
** Indians: Technical/Unit Specialist (cavalry)

** Atomic Kingdom Of China - Unit Specialist (They play like a TowerDefense game, with frankly amazing walls and experience-gaining turrets. Their mobile units, on the other hand...)

** '''Humans''': Elitist\Technical\Unit Specialist - 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.

* ''The Turtle Faction.'' This faction rely on heavy defense and in some case, the ability to engage the enemy in extreme range. Although they have low mobility just like Powerhouse they are usually not as tough as them. Also, Powerhouse often have a higher focus on heavy units while Turtle often focus more on static defense and long range support as both of those kind and work well with each other. The common tactic of Turtle is to stall the game into late game and defeat the enemy through attrition battle.

*** European Continental Alliance (ECA) - Technical in a defensive sense.

*** Allied Forces - Guerrilla, then turns to Technical

** Terrans - Ranger/Generalist/Balanced

** British Commonwealth - Balanced/Brute. 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 [[HeroUnit "hero" units]] like the Lieutenant and the Captain to gather Veterancy on behalf of the troops around them and in turn grant them a StatusBuff 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, [[StoneWall the British beg to differ]].

*** Royal Engineers Support - Unit Specialist, 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 Gimmick Faction.'' This faction has an unusual quirk or trait that makes its gameplay very different from the others'. The nature of this quirk or trait is usually [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration based on their lore or background within the game itself.]] Mastery of this faction often involves exploiting their quirk or trait to its fullest potential. Depending on how heavily the quirk or trait factors into their gameplan, they can easily end up as some form of SpoonyBard or LethalJokeCharacter.

* ''Turtle.'' This faction rely on heavy defense and in some case, the ability to engage the enemy in extreme range. Although they have low mobility just like Powerhouse they are usually not as tough as them. Also, Powerhouse often have a higher focus on heavy units while Turtle often focus more on static defense and long range support as both of those kind and work well with each other. The common tactic of Turtle is to stall the game into late game and defeat the enemy through attrition battle.

* ''The Guerrilla Faction.'' This faction uses the element of surprise to their advantage, usually at the cost of raw offensive strength and/or staying power. They may have a myriad of odd stealth and cloaking or deception abilities. This faction tends to be the hardest to play effectively against the AI, since the computer is usually [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard programmed to spot hidden troops]], or [[ArtificialStupidity just uses the same strategy regardless of where you position your forces]]. However, the Guerrilla faction can be absolutely infuriating for human players to face. Often overlaps with elitist numbers, due to stronger but less numerous troops being more powerful with stealth, but can arguably work with balanced or spammer numbers.

** Dungeon: Elitist. Few powerful units, that always include the ever powerful Black Dragon.

** The sequel has so far introduced four factions:

* ''The Generalist Faction.'' None of the units in these factions [[JackOfAllStats specialize in anything, nor do they have any downsides]]. If they do have a specialized unit or two then said units can still hold their own when outside their specific specialty. [[HumansAreAverage This typically tends to be humans]] in a setting with multiple races. Basically, a "{{jack of all trades}}, {{master of none}}" sort of deal. Tends to be easy to learn and play, and is a good beginner's faction for getting a grasp of the game mechanics. Often overlaps with the Balanced faction.
* ''The Guerrilla Faction.'' This faction uses the element of surprise to their advantage, usually at the cost of raw power. They may have a myriad of odd stealth and cloaking or deception abilities. This faction tends to be the hardest to play effectively against the AI, since the computer is usually [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard programmed to spot hidden troops]], or [[ArtificialStupidity just uses the same strategy regardless of where you position your forces]]. However, the Guerrilla faction can be absolutely infuriating for human players to face. Often overlaps with elitist numbers, due to stronger troops being more powerful with stealth, but can arguably work with balanced or spammer numbers.

* ''The Ranger Faction.'' This team has [[FragileSpeedster high movement speed]], [[GlassCannon better ranged attacks,]] and/or both usually at the cost of staying power. Expect a lot of HitAndRunTactics. If it's a fantasy setting, this faction is probably elves of some sort. May overlap with the Guerrilla faction.
* '' The Technical Faction.'' The opposite of the Brute faction - lots of nasty special abilities, but poor base stats and/or relatively high unit costs. Typically requires a lot of micromanagement to use effectively, and therefore not the best faction for novice players. Often have the best [[TechTree tech trees]] of the game, [[MagikarpPower which make them slow starters,]][[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards but very powerful in the late game]]. May overlap with the Elitists or Guerrillas.
* ''The Unit Specialist Faction.'' This faction is full of highly specialized units who will dominate in their specialty [[CripplingOverspecialization but get curb stomped when outside their specialty.]] They are usually disadvantaged by having their non-specialized units nerfed in some way sometimes to the point of being [[MasterOfNone useless.]] Their game tends to rely on holding out and manipulating the TacticalRockPaperScissors so that their specialized unit(s) can be deployed heavily without fear of being hard-countered, and then steamrolling the opposition. Usually found when factions in a game have sub-factions, such as a brute faction having sub-factions that improve infantry power, vehicle power, or air power. Also found when a game has so many factions it covers all the other faction types and just takes the base idea of one faction and leans it to a certain unit type.
* ''The Gimmick Faction.'' This faction has an unusual quirk or trait that makes its gameplay very different from the others'. The nature of this quirk or trait is usually [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration based on their lore or background within the game itself.]] Mastery of this faction often involves exploiting their quirk or trait to its fullest potential. Depending on how heavily the quirk or trait

** ''The Industrial Faction.'' This faction is capable of building things very quickly. Their gameplay will inevitably have early-game rush strategies that use their fast-building advantage to get the drop on other factions who are slower to start up. They tend to overlap with the Economist faction or the Spammer faction.

** ''The Research Faction'': Usually only crops up in turn-based games, particularly the FourX type. This faction gets a bonus to research, allowing them access to advanced units and abilities which give them an edge early on. They may overlap with the Elitists, if their superior technology comes at a higher price.

** ''The Espionage Faction.'' The Espionage factions are not particularly adept fighters. Fortunately, they can cripple everyone else through sabotage, spying, theft, bribery, hacking, and general underhandedness.
*** The difference between Espionage and Guerrilla is that Guerrilla focuses more on [[DeathByAThousandCuts killing enemy troops and slowly picking away at the opponent's forces]], while Esionage focuses more on [[GradualGrinder undermining an opponent's systems and debuffing their enemy's army]] to the point that a sneeze could be lethal.
** ''The Pacifist Faction.'' This faction does not focus on combat, but on achieving some sort of non-militaristic InstantWinCondition such as VictoryByEndurance. They usually get either a defensive bonus in their own territory, some special units with strong defensive stats but weak offensive stats, or both. They often overlap with Diplomat or Research Factions, depending on what alternative win conditions the game has to offer.

** [[NeoAfrica People's African Union]] - Free culture structure at the start of the game, and increased population growth in healthy cities. Loyal.

*** High Elves: A ''Generalist/Elite/Intrigue'' faction with lots of expensive units that are capable of fighting in multiple scenarios like the Lothern Sea Guard which are effective archers that are able to briefly stand their ground against basic infantry or the Phoenix Guard which specialize in fighting large units like cavalry and monsters but have such high damage resistance they can also serve as front line infantry. In the Grand Campaign they can use influence to quickly develop alliances or trick other factions into war.
*** Dark Elves: A ''Balanced/Technical'' faction.
*** Skaven: A ''Spammer/Guerilla'' faction. Skaven have huge numbers of incredibly cheap units but make up for it with the ability to ambush other armies while attacking. This represents the idea that Skaven are ''everywhere'' an will come swarming in from all sides. With the Menace From Below faction ability they can even produce free units of infantry anywhere on the map a few times each battle. Their Food mechanic encourages an odd play style since every settlement requires food to sustain. Instead the Skaven must sack and raze everything they come across, leaving ruins in their wake.

*** The Rogue Armies are nonplayable ''Gimmick'' factions that are totally focused on one particular tactic or theme. For instance: only cavalry, only units that fit a pirate themed, only monsters, impractical amounts of artillery, and so on.

*** Lizardmen: A ''Elite/Brute/Economic'' faction. The Lizardmen are a technologically advanced civilization that has degenerated due to its leaders sleeping through millennia of corruption and decay. Their main combat units are half feral, sometimes going insane in combat, while lords and heroes wield sophisticated magic. Their settlements can be joined together into a complex Geomantic Web that gives large bonuses to productivity.

*** Skaven: A ''Spammer/Guerilla'' faction. Skaven have huge numbers of incredibly cheap units but make up for it with the ability to ambush other armies while attacking. This represents the idea that Skaven are ''everywhere'' an will come swarming in from all sides. With the Menace From Below faction ability they can even produce free units of infantry anywhere on the map a few times each battle.