Starfield Crimson Fleet faction guide

The Starfield Crimson Fleet faction are one of the most intriguing factions we’ve seen in Bethesda’s upcoming blockbuster. As if exploring the stars wasn’t good enough, the addition of a faction of evil space pirates to fight with or against ramps the excitement up even more. With Bethesda starting to show off more and more of the game in anticipation of the game’s release, we’re also getting more information about the Crimson Fleet and the role they’ll play in the game.

If you’re getting excited for Starfield, why not get ready by familiarising yourself with the Starfield character creator. For now, though, we’re going to take you through everything we know about the Crimson Fleet so you’ll be ready to deal with them once that Starfield release date finally arrives.

Who are the Crimson Fleet in Starfield?

The Crimson Fleet are a group of space pirates, and are one of the many factions that feature in Starfield. The ‘bad guy’ faction of the game, they are not to be confused with the similarly named Crimson Raiders from Borderlands. In typical pirate fashion, they fly a stylised Jolly Roger as the symbol of their faction, and are perhaps unsurprisingly billed as some of the baddies of the Starfield universe, and may be one of your main foes. Rather than a single, centralised organisation, the Crimson Fleet is made up of individual pirate captains, each with their own crew, flying under the banner of the Crimson Fleet.

According to Todd Howard, the Crimson Fleet are “pirates who will stop at nothing to take what’s ‘theirs’”. Following their expansion, the United Colonies, one of the game’s other factions, announced that the Crimson Fleet had become too powerful, and thus committed to eliminating them completely. Given their penchant for violence and looting, it’s probably safe to say that the United Colonies aren’t the only faction with a bone to pick with them, with others like the Constellation faction also pitting themselves against the Fleet.

In a Constellation Questions video, Todd Howard discusses the game’s dialogue, and especially the Starfield persuasion system. As an example, we’re shown an interaction with a Crimson Fleet member, who is attempting to seize the player’s ship to loot anything they find on board. This means if players aren’t aligned with the Crimson Fleet faction, we can expect to have some hostile encounters with them, and will have to either give in, fight back, or try and persuade them to leave you alone.

Where are the Crimson Fleet based?

After starting out in the Kryx system as a relatively small problem for the Freestar Collective, one of the game’s two major governments, the faction has only grown larger and have established footholds beyond Kryx, establishing themselves in the Sagan, Cheyenne, Lunara, and Narion systems. We’re actually shown one of the Crimson Fleet bases during the official gameplay reveal, where the player comes across a Crimson Fleet outpost and ship on the planet Kreet.

While we know that the Crimson Fleet have established themselves in all of the aforementioned locations, we don’t know too much about the extent to which they have done so. Some areas might have small pockets of Crimson Fleet members, while others may be completely overrun. Regardless, it feels safe to say that they will probably be one of the dominant factions in the Kryx system, and players will have to watch out for them as they explore here.

Can you join the Crimson Fleet in Starfield?

Yes, you can join the Crimson Fleet in Starfield. Unlike many games, Starfield doesn’t prohibit you from joining the ‘bad’ factions, going so far as to provide multiple different ways to interact with the faction once you join them. Starfield’s lead quest designer, Will Shen, has described the faction as “the de facto choice for anyone looking to do an evil playthrough of Starfield”.

While you’re a member of the Crimson Fleet, you can join in with the faction’s killing, stealing, and territorial expansion. Or if you want to be a good person, you can instead doublecross them, acting as an informant for the United Colonies to take down the Crimson Fleet from the inside. 

Design Director Emil Pagliarulo said of these interactions, “the cool thing about the Crimson Fleet, what if you’re a good person and want to be a good player and you don’t want to play as a bad guy? You can side with the pirates or you can report back to your superiors and be like a space cop type of thing. So, [we] let you be a cool person and still play with the bad guys.”

This could potentially be a very lucrative prospect for any player. Stealing from any people and ships you come across could be a great way to get rich in Starfield, while also garnering yourself a bit of a reputation.

Whether you decide to become one of the full-on pirates of the Crimson Fleet or an informant for another faction, you’ll want to be careful, as joining the Fleet isn’t all fun and games. As the developers have stated, “When you sign up with the Crimson Fleet, no one quits. The only way out is death”.

If you’re not sold on space piracy just yet though, we’ve got a full Starfield factions list to give you a quick overview of all the other joinable factions we know about so far, such as the mysterious Starfield Ryujin Industries based in Starfield Neon, an infamous pleasure city.