The Union of Imperial States is one of the three playable factions in D.O.R.F. Real-Time Strategic Conflict, alongside the Warband Tribes and The Collective. Its subtitle on the official faction page is "The Crumbling Empire", and the developers usually call it the Empire. The press kit describes it as brutalist and battle-hardened.
The game is unreleased as of September 2026, so everything below reflects lore text, development updates and developer statements rather than a finished build. Unit roles, structures and systems may still change.
Lore
According to the official faction description, the Union is a confederation of powerful industrialists, aristocrats and military nobility in the north of the continent, whose territory is covered in factories and rail lines. Its lands are extensive, its legions of armor and artillery are formidable, and its concrete superfortresses and colossal vehicles are feats of military engineering.
The same text describes an empire in slow decline. Raiders, corrupt officials, dwindling resources and sabotage by rival powers have gradually worn it down, and the description closes by suggesting that unless a great leader emerges to turn things around, the Union is living on borrowed time.
Role in Development
In December 2025 the developers said the Empire is the most prominently featured faction so far. They gave two reasons: its units are the easiest to create art for, and the team uses it as the testbed for most of the game's systems. They also said they do not plan to make any faction the generic one. The May 2026 logistics rework, for example, was described mostly in terms of the Empire.
An official video introducing the Union of Imperial States was published on the official YouTube channel on April 4, 2026, during the Kickstarter campaign.
Structures and Annexes
Two Empire production structures have been named. The Motorworks is the Empire's vehicle factory and the Academy is its infantry structure. Under the Annex System announced in July 2026, attaching Annexes to these factories changes which units and variants they can build. The developers gave the following Empire examples.
Factory | Annexes Attached | Result |
|---|---|---|
Motorworks | None | Medium Tank armed with an autocannon |
Motorworks | Artillery Depot | Mobile artillery variant of the Medium Tank |
Motorworks | Artillery Depot and Steelworks | Armored Assault Gun variant |
Motorworks | Hypervelocity Lab and Steelworks | Tank Destroyer, a late-game anti-armor unit |
Academy | Artillery Depot | Riflemen squads that include a deployable Mortar |
The Tank Destroyer had been shown earlier as a standalone unit. The July 2026 update said it will no longer exist in isolation and is now produced as a late-game anti-armor version of the Medium Tank through Annexes. Combinations beyond these five examples had not been published as of September 2026.
The Powerplant (used as the example in a 2023 development article on lighting) and wind turbine sprites now serve only as map props. The May 2026 rework removed Power as a resource for every faction except the Collective.
Logistics
The May 2026 development update reworked the Empire's supply chain after the team found that several overlapping systems made play feel too busy. As described in that update:
Element | Planned Role |
|---|---|
Forklifts | Bound to individual production structures rather than the HQ. They move resources from a stockpile to their production structure when it needs them, and no longer supply construction sites. |
Workers | Carry supplies directly to construction instead of only helping build, with smarter checks to avoid duplicate deliveries. |
Trucks | Move resources between oil deposits and refineries automatically. The developers said this may be temporary until proper rail logic is added. |
Construction vehicles | More advanced construction vehicles are planned for building bases at long range. |
Pipelines and Conveyor Lines | Being rethought after a flaw was found in their placement logic; placement may be limited. The developers said this mostly affects the Empire and the Warband. |
There is no longer a hard limit on base size. The developers intend base size to be set by layout efficiency, so an Empire base is meant to be built around smooth resource flow. Resource types and the physical movement of materials are covered on Resources and Logistics.
Rail Units
The faction's lore leans heavily on rail lines. In January 2025 the developers said they do intend to include single-car rail units for the Empire. Full trains with multiple cars were an open question: the developers worried that a large, expensive train could decide a match on its own, and suggested trains might become a campaign-only feature. The July 2026 update still listed trains among the systems needing work.
Named Units
The following units have been tied to the Empire in development updates. Unit statistics are placeholders, according to the developers, so none are given here. Other units whose faction has not been stated are listed on the Units page.
Unit | Built At | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Medium Tank | Motorworks | Autocannon-armed base tank; no Annexes required |
Mobile artillery variant | Motorworks with Artillery Depot | Artillery version of the Medium Tank |
Assault Gun | Motorworks with Artillery Depot and Steelworks | Armored variant |
Tank Destroyer | Motorworks with Hypervelocity Lab and Steelworks | Late-game anti-armor |
Riflemen | Academy | Infantry squads; an Artillery Depot adds a deployable Mortar to the squad |
Single-car rail units | Not stated | Planned for the Empire as of January 2025 |
The July 2026 update also showed new face mockups on what it called the standard Imperial grunt, part of work on unit portraits and cutscenes.
Not Yet Confirmed
As of September 2026 the developers had not published the Empire's full roster, its tech tree, Annex combinations beyond the examples above, or any unit statistics. Multi-car trains, the Empire's campaign story and its characters also remained unannounced. Planned features that apply to all factions, such as Veterancy, Support Powers and building capture, are covered on their own pages.