Editing Dropzone Commander (section)

== The Factions ==
Hawk Wargames started out with four factions. The 5th faction; called the Resistance was released in 2014.

=== United Colonies of Mankind ===
[[File:ucm_infantry.jpg|125px|thumb|right|UCM Legionnaire.]]
{{Main|United Colonies of Man}}

The UCM is the standard [[human]] faction.  Olive green, sharp angles, wheels and tracks, lots of machine guns and [[railgun]]s, the usual. They are twenty billion strong and all dedicated to retaking Earth. Their twelve main worlds are named after the Latin names for metals. Aurum is the largest and most urbanized of these and their present capital. Their dropships are named for birds, fast-moving aircraft for angels, tanks for swords, and wheeled vehicles for animals.

The nation has a strange combination of a socialistesque political environment and a military state. For example, there ''are'' politicians and they have power, but when push comes to shove, it's the military who holds most of the power. Not that anyone is really bothered by this; when you've been brought up with stories of the lost cradle worlds, among them the jewel called Earth, no one is gonna argue about too much spending on the military.

The UCM are a fairly normal looking faction populated by decent humans, so of course, they are - say it with me - the generalist faction. They have no glaring weaknesses, but no strengths either, can do most things well, yadda yadda. So, what's interesting about them? Well, for one, their airgame is among the best nowadays. They also have a few very weird but cool models, such as the drone-spewing Ferrum or the Mortar team, the only infantry with indirect fire in the game. In fact, UCM does blasts and barrages better than most.

=== Scourge ===
[[File:scourge_infantry.jpg|125px|thumb|right|Scourge Warrior.]]
{{Main|Scourge}}

Malicious alien brain squids who lead a fairly miserable existence without a host, they want nothing more than to share that misery with others by injecting their young into their prisoner's ear canals and making them a flesh puppet. They have a merciless glass cannon strategy and love blasting things with plasma. Those Scourge unlucky enough to mature past prime brainjacking age get permanently installed in a vehicle; these either float or walk.

The UCM doesn't understand how they communicate and coordinate; that's a big goal of the first phase of reconquest.

Their vehicles have been given names like "Despoiler", "Reaper", and so on, as a result of being generally nasty all the time.

=== Post-Human Republic ===
[[File:phr_infantry.jpg|125px|thumb|right|PHR Immortal.]]
{{Main|Post-Human Republic}}

Thanks to technology given by the White Sphere, the humans who escaped Vega IV have upgraded themselves into post-human cyborgs.  They are only three billion strong, but very powerful on a unit-per-unit basis, with clean lines, tan colors, and walkers as well as tanks.  The UCM don't like them because they think they're cowards, calling them "Abandonists", while the PHR don't like the UCM for being warmongering zealots.  They aren't directly governed by the White Sphere anymore, but they do trust it quite a bit, and nobody (not even the PHR) knows where it really comes from.

Their vehicles are all named after gods from various mythologies -- mostly Greek and Roman, but Egyptian, Celtic, and Norse god-names are also used.

They also have Sirens, who are all-women elite warrior units who fight with twin pistols.

=== Shaltari Tribes ===
[[File:Shaltari_infantry.jpg|125px|thumb|right|Shaltari Warsuit.]]
{{Main|Shaltari Tribes}}

The Shaltari are extremely long-lived, having mastered the art of transferring their consciousnesses into new bodies.  When death of natural causes is no longer an issue, they simultaneously fear death and yet venerate war as the only pursuit worthy of respect.  People who haven't seen battle yet don't even get names.

Their greatest technological advantage is that, rather than carry their units, their dropships are actually teleportation gates: units can enter one vehicle and get popped out of another one. In contrast to the Scourge and their homogenous arsenal of plasma weapons, Shaltari weaponry is a mix of energized particle beams, focused microwave emitters, and the occasional extreme velocity railgun. 

The various sub-nations of the Shaltari are named after the nations of Native Americans (of both continents). Their units are named for traditional weapons and totem animals of various pre-industrial cultures.

=== Resistance ===
[[File:Resistance_fucker.jpg|125px|thumb|right|Resistance fighter.]]
{{Main|Resistance}}

The Resistance are the descendants of the humans who managed to survive on Earth and escape capture and possession by the Scourge. They have a wide range of vehicles available to them, from salvaged or improvised vehicles such as gun technicals and mining drills, to remnants of the old military of the EAA such as standard battle tanks and fighter jets. They are likely the easiest faction to personalize a force around, given the wide range of possible backgrounds you could think up for them.