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Joining a Faction and Ranks

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Seven factions are ready to take an outsider into their ranks — but only once you prove you can be trusted. This article explains how to join a faction, how “open” admission differs from “closed,” and how your ranks grow within an organization.

The main rule: one faction at a time

You can belong to only one faction at a time. While you’re counted among, say, the Traders, the leader of another faction simply won’t offer you membership — the system won’t let you join a second one until you leave the first.

Faction membership, like reputation and ranks, is tied to a specific character, not to your account. The only thing shared between characters is the inventory (personal storage). Switch characters and you start your relationships with factions from a clean slate.

How to join

Joining happens through a dialog with a faction’s leader or recruiter at their headquarters. Each faction has its own person and its own place:

  • Traders — the leader-trader at their caravan camp.
  • New Gambell — Aygas in the town itself.
  • Savoonga — the Elder in the settlement.
  • ED-17 — the technician Diana Gurieva in the Vault.
  • The Battalion — at the Weather Station.
  • Radio Rats — the recruiter at the Radar System.
  • Headhunters — the recruiter by the Antenna.

A separate “join” response will appear in the conversation. If it’s hidden, you haven’t met the requirements yet — the faction isn’t ignoring you, it’s telling you outright what’s missing.

Open and closed admission

Factions fall into two groups by how easy they are to get into.

  • Open admission (no reputation threshold): Traders, New Gambell, Savoonga. Just come to the leader and agree.
  • ED-17 — requires “clearance confirmed” (reputation 21 or higher): the Vault’s security only starts to recognize you above the 20 mark; below it, access stays restricted and you can’t join.
  • The Battalion, Radio Rats, Headhunters — require “respected” status (reputation 51 or higher): these are raider factions that treat a stranger as an enemy by default until they earn contact.

How to reach the raider threshold

Closed raider factions aren’t a dead end. You can earn the needed reputation in two ways, and the recruiter points to both directly:

  • Repeatable jobs from bulletin boards. The Radio Rats and Headhunters have open contracts that even a non-member can take. Each one gives +10 reputation with an 8-hour cooldown.
  • Combat against their enemies. Killing a member of a faction that the raiders count as their enemy raises your reputation with those raiders. For example, a slain Trader adds a little reputation with both the Radio Rats and the Headhunters.

What happens when you join and leave

When you join, your reputation rises to at least the entry threshold = 10. For open factions this grants a small starting credit of trust; for closed ones, where you’ve already crossed a higher threshold, this floor changes nothing — the reputation you’ve earned is kept.

You can leave any faction. Leaving removes 5 reputation points, so you won’t get to leave and come back “for free.”

Ranks within a faction

Each faction has its own ladder of ranks tied to reputation. Your rank is shown in the PDA and can be displayed over your character’s head — you’re free to “wear” an earned title like a nameplate for those you meet. Crossing the threshold of a new rank comes with a promotion notification.

  • Traders: Associate → Caravaneer → Partner.
  • New Gambell: Resident → Citizen → Council Member.
  • Savoonga: Guest → Kinsman → Keeper.
  • ED-17: Staff → Senior Specialist → Councilor.
  • The Battalion: Soldier → Commander.
  • Radio Rats: Radioman → Signalmaster.
  • Headhunters: Hunter → Master Hunter.

Ranks begin at the threshold where you can be a member: open factions and ED-17 from the moment you join, raiders from “respected” status. Higher ranks unlock as your reputation grows.

What grows you the fastest

The main engine of advancement within a faction is quests. They hand out reputation directly, can admit you into a faction, or raise your rank. Repeatable contracts from faction boards provide a steady stream of reputation, while combat deeds (and misdeeds) change the factions’ attitude toward you automatically.