Answers
Merits & faction war
How do I earn Merits?
Earn Merits through faction-war kills, Recycler deposits and relic fragments.
- Kill rival faction NPCs and players in the faction-war maps, Cloud Wake and The Gallows. Kills in other breaches don't count.
- In those maps, tow relic fragments to the salvage bays with your harpoon.
- In a hub, deposit resources in the Recycler tab of your stash (it is the faction depot). Minerals and looted gear count; faction-issued gear is worth 0.
Good to know
The Leaderboard page lists the rules.
Warning
The war maps have no build-rating limit, so you can meet anything there. Shooting an ally or losing your faction starter ship costs Merits.
I recycled loot and got 0 Merits.
Faction-issued gear is worth 0 in the Recycler.
- Minerals and looted gear do give Merits.
- Faction-issued gear returns no ORE either.
- A merit bug on 1 October also caused zero Merits; the devs restored them.
Tip
Before recycling minerals, keep rare ones such as Dark Triton and Solstine for recipes.
What do I spend Merits on?
Spend them at your faction's Quartermaster, in your faction hub.
It sells ship and module blueprints, repair charges, hulls and more. Blueprint prices seen so far:
- Seraph, Jackal and Rune: 800 Merits, 5 uses.
- Enforcer, Orstrog and Vektr: 1.3K Merits, 3 uses.
- Mining Drone: 160 Merits, 20 uses.
Good to know
Quartermaster blueprints are Faction quality, T1 only and can't be traded. Buying higher blueprints raises your rank: an Enforcer, Orstrog or Vektr blueprint makes you Sergeant.
Where is the Quartermaster?
In your faction hub: Zhat Kali for Tzhal, Ganden for Ganden.
- Get home: in a breach, take the extraction marker (green box) for your hub, e.g. ZHAT.
- In the hub, look for the arrow or neon sign above the Quartermaster.
- Since Beta Patch 1, vendors also have yellow HUD markers.
- Fly up to the Quartermaster and press F to harpoon onto it. That opens the shop.
It sells mining lasers, Faction-quality ship blueprints and repair charges for Merits.
Tip
Greylock has the blueprint and industry merchant, another place to get blueprints.
What happens if I shoot an ally?
You lose some Merits.
- Rampart Gatlings used to auto-target allies who damaged you; Beta Patch 1 stopped that.
- The Rampart Gatling is a battery module that fires on its own: at missiles aimed at your hull, then at drones and hostiles that come close.
- Losing your faction starter ship also costs Merits.
How many Merits for killing the enemy Bastion ship?
Around 80,000, though the dev gave that from memory ("iirc").
- Each faction's Bastion ship is its stronghold in a war map: Ganden's holds the Cathedral Arcs in Cloud Wake, Tzhal's holds the Cathedral Arcs in The Gallows.
- So Tzhal pilots find the enemy Bastion in Cloud Wake, and Ganden pilots find theirs in The Gallows.
- The war maps have no build-rating limit.
Do the factions have different bonuses?
Not right now.
- Ganden and Tzhal are the two playable factions in Beta 1.
- Each has its own home hub, Ganden and Zhat Kali, and lower-tier breaches the other faction can't enter.
- What differs is who can join: the faction picker weighs Merit rank as well as headcount, and closes the leading faction to new recruits while it leads.
If I'm in the top 15 on the losing side, do I get anything?
A dev answered yes, but the published event rules only reward the winning side.
- The rewards named so far: the Falx and Talon blueprints, the first "Birds of Prey", go to top-5 players each wipe until launch. It's unclear whether that means the top 5 of the winning faction or of each faction.
- The Leaderboard page lists the current rules.
- This needs clarification from the team; treat it as open until they confirm.
What are the merit ranks and what do they unlock?
Nine titles, from Slug to Imperator; higher titles let more faction NPCs follow your pings.
Your title rises with the Merits you hold. At certain ranks, faction NPCs follow your pings (hold left click for the ping wheel).
Title Min. merits NPC capacity Authority (of 8) Slug 0 0 0 Recruit 10,000 1 1 Legionary 25,000 1 2 Sergeant 50,000 2 3 Knight 100,000 2 4 Commander 200,000 3 5 Praetor 400,000 4 6 Exarch 800,000 5 7 Imperator 2,000,000 All 8 To climb:
- Earn Merits with kills in Cloud Wake and The Gallows, Recycler deposits and relic fragments.
- Buying higher Quartermaster blueprints also raises your rank: an Enforcer, Orstrog or Vektr blueprint (1.3K Merits) makes you Sergeant.
- Shooting allies and losing your faction starter ship cost Merits.
Good to know
Titles reset with seasons and wipes.
Can I change my faction?
Yes: the developers can change it if needed, so ask in the Discord.
A developer also suggested a workaround:
- Trade your items to a friend.
- Clear your browser's cache to start fresh.
- Pick the other faction.
- Have your friend trade everything back.
Good to know
Since Beta Patch 2 the faction picker closes the leading faction to new recruits.
Does repairing faction NPCs earn Merits?
Not directly: a trusted player found that repairing allied NPCs gives no Merits on its own.
- Repairing allied players does pay: you earn a share of the Merits from their kills.
- Whether kills an NPC makes after you repair it count for you is unconfirmed.