Faction Tier List

This page details the general Faction Tier List for BTA. It covers all factions, including those that can be worked for and also those that cannot be worked for. The tier rankings are intended to indicate the relative difficulty of each faction as an enemy in combat and are ultimately subjective to the author's opinion. Some factions have sub-tier rankings due to the inclusion of SoldiersPiratesAssassinsMercs (SPAM) which gives some factions sub-factions that may have different difficulty rankings; in these cases the main faction will receive an overall tier ranking and its sub-factions will have their own sub-tier rankings.

S Tier

ComStar, Word of Blake: The Blake factions are probably the hardest factions to face in general. They have good technology (bordering on Clan-tier at times), fight using obscure units such as Superheavies and Land-Air Mechs (LAMs) that require different tactics to easily defeat, and spawn in larger groups than any other faction (fielding 6 units per lance). Their elite and regular regiments are rated S Tier accordingly. Their garrison forces (7th Army for ComStar and Protectorate Militia for Word of Blake) are rated only A Tier, mostly on the strength of numbers.

Clan Wolf, Clan Jade Falcon, Clan Ghost Bear, Clan Nova Cat, Clan Snow Raven, Clan Diamond Shark, Clan Goliath Scorpion, Clan Fire Mandrill: All of these Clans are among the hardest factions to face due to their high technology level and their sheer number of enemy units. However, the S Tier rating only applies to their front-line forces (the ones named Clan X). For their garrison forces (the ones named XX Galaxy), the tier rating is downgraded to A Tier due to their use of less powerful technology.

Sanctuary Alliance, Mallard Republic, Dane Sacellum, Jacobson Haven: The Sanctuary factions are the final members of the S Tier, exclusively on the power of their technology. All Sanctuary units have effective in-built C3 networks giving them excellent accuracy, they are highly resistant to pilot damage, and generally counter most common player strategies effectively. This makes them deadly opponents and not to be under-estimated.

Terran Hegemony: This faction is really somewhere between the S and A tier factions. They are more dangerous than the Great Houses due to a generally higher technology base and they have better variants in general and have exclusive chassis and technologies that can be quite dangerous. However, unlike ComStar/Word of Blake or the Clans, they spawn in lances of 4 units so they don't overwhelm the player with numbers. Their garrison force, IV Corps, is rated A tier for sure as it is only as good as the general regiments for the Great Houses, which their regular and elite regiments are S tier.

A Tier

Capellan Confederation: The Liaos are a Great House and have a good technology spread with plenty of unit variety among their regiments. The A Tier rating holds true for all Capellan regiments except for the 6th Confederation Reserve Cavalry which is B/C Tier.

Draconis Combine: The Kuritans are a Great House and have a good technology spread with plenty of unit variety among their regiments. The A Tier rating holds true for all Kuritan regiments except for the 2nd Legion Of Vega which is B/C Tier.

Federated Suns: The Davions are a Great House and have a good technology spread with plenty of unit variety among their regiments. The A Tier rating holds true for all Davion regiments except for the 1st Kittery Borderers which is B/C Tier.

Free Worlds League: The Mariks are a Great House and have a good technology spread with plenty of unit variety among their regiments. The A Tier rating holds true for all Marik regiments except for the 30th Marik Militia which is B/C Tier.

Lyran Commonwealth: The Steiners are a Great House and have a good technology spread with plenty of unit variety among their regiments. The A Tier rating holds true for all Steiner regiments except for the 15th Lyran Regulars which is B/C Tier.

Free Rasalhague Republic: The FRR isn't a Great House but they still have a good technology spread with plenty of unit variety among their regiments. The A Tier rating holds true for their elite regiment, the 1st Tyr, but their other two regiments are weaker. The 2nd Freemen earn a B Tier rating while the 4th Kavalleri is equivalent to a Great House garrison regiment and thus earns a B/C Tier rating.

Scorpion Empire: In a rare case, Clan Goliath Scorpion actually gets *easier* when it transforms into the Scorpion Empire. This is because the Scorpion Empire has no sub-commands and because it incorporates some amount of Inner Sphere technology into its force list. Still, it is primarily composed of Clan units and still fields units in stars of 5, meaning the Scorpion Empire still rates an A Tier rating.

B Tier

St. Ives Compact: St. Ives is a small faction and is only alive for a short period of time but in that time they present a respectable challenge to confront. However, because St. Ives is a combined faction list and does not have sub-factions like other large powers, their spawn list is somewhat diluted and wildly variable between encounters. Because of this, they earn a B Tier rating.

Rim Worlds Republic: The RWR has taken the crown of "best equipped Periphery state" from the Taurians with the advent of BattleTech Advanced Universe. The RWR has unique chassis, unique technologies, and a generally dangerous force list. Because of this, they receive a B Tier rating, while their garrison regiment, the Republican Guard, rates a C Tier rating.

Taurian Concordat: The Taurians are among the best equipped of the major Periphery states and have a respectable military to speak of. Their elite and regular regiments have a decent amount of good tech and maintain a B Tier rating while their garrison regiment, the 3rd Taurian Lancers, rates only a C Tier placement.

Magistracy of Canopus: The Canopians aren't as well off as the Taurians are. While they have a decent force list they have generally less advanced tech than the Taurians do. Only their elite regiment (Raventhir's Iron Hand) rates a B Tier rating. The 2nd Canopian Fusiliers rate B/C Tier while the Magistracy Cavaliers rate a firm C Tier.

Marian Hegemony: The Marian regiments are actually fairly weak compared to the rest of the B Tier but they have one bonus advantage the other members of the tier don't: the Hegemony fields units in groups of five as opposed to four. That fact alone pushes them up a tier in challenge due to the increased volume of opponents. This is maintained for all their regiments.

Dark Caste: While the Dark Caste says they're Clanners, they're mostly bandits operating near Clan space. They're tricky to get contracts against but when confronted mostly field Star League and Early Clan designs. They are dangerous but not so much that they're overwhelmingly so, and so they rate a B Tier ranking.

331st Royal BattleMech Division: This rare side faction is hard to encounter, only appearing in specific regions of the Draconis Combine via events, but if faced off against proves to have good technology and high-quality variants. They use mostly Star League and Early Clan designs, making them dangerous but not unreasonably so. They earn a B Tier rating.

C Tier

Calderon Protectorate: The Protectorate has available to it much of what the Taurians have available, which gives them a respectable force. However, their mixed force nature (no sub-factions) means that their forces are highly variable between fights and given that the majority of their spawn list is *not* upgraded tech they rate only a C Tier placement.

Outworlds Alliance: The Outworlds Alliance is the worst off of all the major Periphery states and has a fairly middling force list. However, they have a few gems that can take players by surprise (such as the Pulverizer). While they do have sub-factions, they are close-enough to each other in terms of quality that the entire faction rates a C Tier rating.

Hanseatic League: The Hanseatic League has seen an upgrade in their fortunes since the earlier days of BTA's life. Their technology has been upgraded and they field a better spread of tech and upgraded variants, including a few rare Blakist-sourced variants such as the Toyama. This upgrade pushes them up a tier from D Tier to a low C Tier ranking.

D Tier

Aurigan Directorate, Aurigan Coalition: The Aurigan factions rate a D Tier rating just due to their general lack of high-quality units and a decent reliance on low-power Periphery variants with high variability in effectiveness.

Fronc Reaches: Fronc sadly gets the worst of all worlds. It has little of the high tech toys from the Canopians or Taurians and gets saddled with a decent amount of Primitive variants which drag its forces down somewhat.

Circinus Federation, Tortuga Dominions, Pirates: Circinus, Tortuga, and the Pirates all have similar force lists and rate the same D Tier rating just due to a prevalence of Primitive variants as well as low-power Periphery variants with high one-shot potential but low staying power.

Illyrian Palatinate, Lothian League: These two fairly short-lived factions are low on the tech totem pole and offer relatively little to players wishing to face them. They don't put up much resistance generally and they cease to exist mid-way through BTA's timeline, rating them a D Tier placement.

JàrnFòlk: The JàrnFòlk are much the same as the Hanseatic League above: they have nothing special to distinguish themselves with and have no good technology to speak of. Because of this, they rate a D Tier ranking.

F Tier

Chainelane Isles: Chainelane both has nothing good going on for itself and is annoying to interact with due to most contracts against Chainelane being also offered *by* Chainelane, rating it a F Tier ranking. Because of this unusual self-combative behavior, Chainelane rates a F Tier ranking.

New Delphi Compact: New Delphi rates an F Tier rating not because their tech is bad (though it is). They rate a F Tier rating because they hold a unique honor shared with only Clan Diamond Shark: they are nearly impossible to actually fight. No planets offer contracts against Delphi and they can only be faced as a 3rd party drop in force, where they almost always fail to perform well.

Special

Mercenaries and Local Government: Mercenaries and Local Government get a Special Tier ranking because they cannot be easily classified. Locals almost always have Mercenaries fight on their behalf and Mercenaries as a "faction" is actually about 50 sub-factions of individual mercenary companies ranging from the Clantech-equipped Wolf's Dragoons and Kell Hounds to the barely functional Gray's Ghosts and Clean Kill. Generally, when you face a Mercenaries/Locals contract, prepare yourself for anything. Their average rating is probably somewhere around a B Tier showing but you can get anything from S/A Tier to D Tier encounters.