ZeroSpace mercenary reputation is the system new commanders misread most often, and the game punishes them for it. In most strategy games you eventually unlock everything. Here you do not. Backing one mercenary faction hard enough will actively close off part of a rival faction tech tree. Loyalty costs something.
The game entered Steam Early Access on 20 July 2026. It welds traditional base building onto role-playing ideas: hero characters, branching story choices, co-op missions and a persistent Galactic War.
How ZeroSpace mercenary reputation actually works
Your main faction does the heavy lifting first. You pick the Protectorate, the grell, the Legion of Truth or the xol. That choice sets most of your units, your faction-wide talents and your topbar abilities. On top of that core you then select a mercenary faction, which adds hireable units, extra talents and additional hero options.
Reputation decides how much of that extra layer you can actually reach. As your standing with a mercenary faction rises, higher tier units open up. However, climbing high with one group has the inverse effect elsewhere. The spurned faction shuts part of its tech tree to you. You can read the faction breakdown on the community academy primer.
So the mercenary layer is not a shopping list. It is a commitment. Because your main faction stays fixed, two players can field the same core army and still play very different games, purely based on who they courted.
It helps to know what those four cores actually feel like, because that is what you are patching. The Protectorate leans on heavy mech divisions and veteran shock troopers. The grell play like creeping alien plants, spreading biomass across the map. Meanwhile the Legion of Truth floods the field with fanatical thralls backed by shape-shifting Terror Tanks, and the xol field autonomous sentient robots. Heroes sit on top of all of it, and they are story characters as much as battlefield units, with dialogue and cutscenes of their own.
Why this feels strange in a strategy game
Role-playing fans will recognise the shape of it. Fallout: New Vegas built much of its middle act on the idea that helping one power annoys another. Strategy games rarely work that way, because they usually want you exploring the whole tech tree during a match.
That difference changes how you should plan. Since spreading reputation thin leaves you mid-tier everywhere, committing early is generally the stronger read. In practice, the useful question is which mercenary faction patches your main faction weakness, rather than which units look best on paper.
One honest caveat: this is Early Access, so the numbers and thresholds can move between patches. Check its Steam store page for the current build notes before you commit to a long campaign. For neighbouring reading, see our Company of Heroes 3 vs StarCraft: The Biggest Gameplay Differences piece, and our Battle Brothers Beginner Guide for Total War Players.
Frequently asked questions
Can I max every faction? No. ZeroSpace mercenary reputation is built so that rising with one closes part of another tech tree.
Does it change my main army? Not directly. Your main faction still supplies most units, talents and topbar abilities.
Which mercenaries should I pick? Choose the one covering your main faction weak spot, then commit rather than spreading thin.
Add Comment