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Protectorate

The most conventional army in the game. Infantry, armour and air that all behave the way an RTS player expects, with siege-style firepower to punish a static defence.

Updated 2026-08-11 · Facts checked against Steam and the official site

Who they are

For centuries the Protectorate have defended humanity's expansion through the Orion Arm. With the galaxy's infrastructure buckling over a shortage of the resource flux, they answer with drilled tactics and heavy firepower — veteran commandos for deep strikes, mech divisions to break a line.

Protectorate armour column and walkers advancing across a shallow riverbed — Protectorate forces in the field. Official screenshot · Starlance Studios

At a glance


Role	Humanity's standing army
Identity	Combined arms
Difficulty	Beginner friendly
Signature units	Veteran commandos, Mech divisions, Heavy armour
In the campaign	This is the campaign faction. Aster, Commander of the Protectorate, is the story's protagonist.

Playstyle

The most conventional army in the game. Infantry, armour and air that all behave the way an RTS player expects, with siege-style firepower to punish a static defence.

How they actually win

By taking fights on their own terms. The Protectorate's tools are about creating a position the enemy has to attack into — heavy armour holding a line, artillery punishing anything that sits still, commandos threatening a base you left thin. There is no gimmick here and that is the point: the faction rewards clean macro and good engagement decisions rather than a trick.

The campaign connection

You play the Protectorate for the whole Early Access campaign, as Aster. That makes it the one faction you can learn without any multiplayer pressure at all — eleven missions of guided practice with the same units you will take to ladder.

Should you pick them?

Pick them if

You want a faction whose mistakes are recoverable while you learn the game's economy and timings.

Look elsewhere if

You want a mechanic that plays unlike anything else — the Protectorate are deliberately the readable one.

The other three

Grell biomass spreading across a field with plant-creature units massing on it

GrellGrow. Expand. Exterminate.

You expand by spreading roots and biomass across the battlefield rather than just planting more bases. Territory is the resource; ceding ground costs you more than it costs other factions.

A large Legion engagement, beam weapons streaking across a red desert battlefield

LegionAcross a Million Worlds, We March

Drown the opponent in expendable bodies, then follow up with the Terror Tank — a mobile fortress that reconfigures as the fight changes. You trade units freely and win by never letting the enemy reset.

A dense sci-fi base laid out around a flux crystal formation

Xol BetaFor Purpose. For Survival.

The newest and least settled faction. Expect the most balance churn here — builds that work this patch may not survive the next.

Frequently asked

Questions people actually ask about this, pulled from the Steam discussion boards and search data.

Is the Protectorate good for beginners?

You want a faction whose mistakes are recoverable while you learn the game's economy and timings. You want a mechanic that plays unlike anything else — the Protectorate are deliberately the readable one.

Can I play the Protectorate in the campaign?

This is the campaign faction. Aster, Commander of the Protectorate, is the story's protagonist.