Faction Skills and Faction Changes

The tree has five visible branches: Fleet, Pillars, Industry, Research, and Exploration. Each branch corresponds to a faction and contains seven exclusive skills.

Without a faction, all five trees, their costs, and their prerequisites remain visible, but no purchases are possible. After choosing a faction, only the active faction’s branch can progress; the other four remain visible and locked.

Faction skill levels are purchased with Echoes. A skill can have several levels; raising a level costs Echoes and may require a specific doctrine grade.

Effects scale with the levels purchased: for example, the production bonus or the reduction in construction time increases with each purchase.

You can change factions. The first change is free; subsequent changes cost 40 000 Astrium. Every faction change triggers a cooldown of 30 days. The change resets the tree and refunds the Echoes actually spent; faction experience and doctrine grade are retained.

For example, a Pillar Commander who switches from the Ferrenne Legion to the Luxian Directorate keeps their grade, but resets their skills and rebuilds them with the refunded Echoes.

Under the normal rules, resetting the tree and refunding Echoes are tied to changing factions: this is not a free respec.

The one-time token granted for migration to the exclusive V2 system can be used while keeping your faction or choosing another, without paying Astrium or triggering a new cooldown. All skills are removed, the Echoes actually paid are refunded, and experience and faction-change history are preserved.