Compare Ashes of the Singularity II Factions: UEF vs PHC

Ashes of the Singularity II has three factions — pick the United Earth Forces for cheap swarms and the campaign, the Post-Human Coalition for fewer but tougher elite units, and the Substrate for pure machine asymmetry. Per the official Steam page, only the UEF is playable in the single-player campaign; all three factions are selectable in skirmish and multiplayer.

The game launches November 10, 2026, on PC via the official Steam page.

The three factions at a glance

The gameplay split between the UEF and PHC comes from an Oxide Games interview with Wccftech: UEF units are near-future conventional wheeled or tracked vehicles, while PHC units skew toward bipedal mechs and drones, with returning favorites like the Hyperion. The Substrate reveal is from the official Ashes of the Singularity site news post of March 26, 2026.

United Earth Forces (UEF)

The UEF is the new faction for Ashes of the Singularity II. Oxide describes them as organized around standard tech, favoring quantity over quality: their equipment is not the best, but they pump out a lot of it. They are also the only faction with actual human infantry on the ground, and the only one you lead through the campaign as a Commanding Officer.

• Lean on cheap tier 1 infantry and tanks, which need only the durantium resource to produce.
• Seize territory early with infantry, then expand armies in multiple directions.
• Tech trees (Assault, Containment, Dominion) let you upgrade infantry HP and damage, boost economy, or unlock heavy units and orbitals.
• The endgame Obliterator cannon costs a lot but offers very long range and strong damage.

A player guide from the September playtest reports that UEF armies auto-reinforce from nearby production buildings, gain experience, levels and medals as they fight, and that keeping a small number of long-lived armies preserves those bonuses.

Post-Human Coalition (PHC)

The PHC is the quality faction: each posthuman commander is very powerful and controls an army of constructs. Their units are tougher and hit harder than their UEF analogues, but cost far more and come in smaller numbers, making some of them vulnerable to being swarmed. They field no infantry; their cheapest unit is the Brute light tank.

• Armies are designed to be led by commanders such as the default Commander, the Sovereign mech, and the flying Hyperion dreadnought.
• The Hyperion flies over impassable terrain and strikes enemy HQs and back regions; the Sovereign can be upgraded into a vanguard version with more speed and firepower.
• PHC tech research works as a single queued list rather than a tree; research progress on a tech is saved even if you remove it from the queue (player-reported from the playtest).
• Player testing during the September playtest suggested expensive units took longer to destroy cheap ones than those cheap units took to replace, so PHC players leaned on cheap-unit spam late game — expect this balance to keep shifting.

Substrate

The Substrate return from Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation. Per the official faction reveal, they are fragments of Haalee — the world's first true artificial intelligence — each given independent existence. Where the PHC clings to its human origins, the Substrate are pure machine intelligence built around one guiding purpose: the will of their mother. The reveal named the Hatchling, Overmind and Reaper among their units, and stated that their arrival completed the roster into a proper three-faction war. In the store page's lore, as Haalee's Supreme Agent your task is to keep humanity confined to Earth and stop the Post-Humans from thwarting your plans.

How to try each faction before you commit

In the February 2026 Steam Next Fest demo, players could try two of the three factions (UEF and PHC) across three maps with full skirmish and 8-player multiplayer, per Wccftech. The September multiplayer playtest added the Substrate and player guides covered all three. Since the game releases November 10, 2026, check the Steam page for any current demo or playtest build; otherwise Instant Action against AI in the full game lets you test any faction with adjustable difficulty.

FAQ

Which factions are in Ashes of the Singularity II?

Three: the United Earth Forces (humans), the Post-Human Coalition (uplifted posthumans), and the AI Substrate (Haalee's machine civilization). All three are playable in skirmish and multiplayer; only the UEF is playable in the single-player campaign.

Which faction should a beginner pick?

The UEF is the most conventional entry point: cheap, spammable units, human infantry, and standard military roles like tanks, artillery and tank destroyers. The PHC punishes losses harder because each unit is expensive, though the lower-APM army system makes all factions accessible.

What is the difference between the UEF and PHC?

UEF favors quantity over quality with large numbers of cheap units; PHC favors fewer, tougher, more expensive units with stronger weapons, led by powerful commander mechs. UEF fields infantry and conventional vehicles; PHC fields constructs and mechs with no infantry.

Can you play the Substrate in the campaign?

No campaign role is listed for the Substrate — the official Steam page says the campaign casts you as a Commanding Officer of the United Earth Forces. The Substrate are playable in instant action and multiplayer, and were available in the September playtest per player guides.

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Check note: faction rosters, lore and campaign details come from the official Steam store page and the official Substrate faction reveal; UEF and PHC gameplay detail comes from Oxide Games via Wccftech's interview and from first-hand PHC and UEF playtest guides. Specific unit balance and mechanics from the playtest builds remain unconfirmed for launch.