1
Find an opponent
Press «Battle». If no live player is around, the game offers a bot after fifteen seconds.
Game
How a battle goes
Two players shoot at each other over a hill, turn by turn. Each has 3 action points a turn — and complete freedom in how to spend them.
Order
A battle in five steps
You take turns, as in chess: while you think, the opponent waits. One battle takes five to twelve minutes.
2
See the conditions
Fifteen seconds of briefing: which arena, which weather and which rule runs for the whole battle.
3
Build the loadout
Eight slots out of twenty-four items — against what you have just seen. Ready-made sets are there too.
4
Take turns
3 action points and 30 seconds a turn. Whatever you do not spend carries over.
5
Take the reward
Credits and XP — even for a lost battle. Shown line by line, for what exactly.
The main rule
Three action points a turn
That is the entire budget of a turn. Every action spends points, and there are never enough for everything at once.
= one turn
Unspent points carry over to the next turn. You can bank at most 5.
1–8 · Space
Fire
A cheap shell costs one point, a heavy one two, the biggest salvo four.
A / D
Drive
Change position. How far depends on the machine.
Q
Turn around
The gun faces one way. To shoot the other way the hull has to turn.
E
Dig in
Bury yourself in the ground: a nearby blast hurts less. Not possible in stone.
B
Build cover
Throw up a mound of earth in front of you — or build a bridge with concrete.
F
Focus the aim
The next shot lands closer to the point you aimed at.
T
Dig a tunnel
Go clean through the hill and come out where nobody is looking.
U
Drop a ledge
Knock the support out of an overhanging rock — it comes down with everything under it.
You can also do nothing at all. Skipping a turn costs no points — they carry over,
and the total grows. That is how you save up for an expensive shot.
In one turn you could, for instance
Careful
DriveDig inFire a cheap shell
You changed position, dug in and still got a shot off.
Attack
Focus the aimFire a heavy shell
One accurate heavy shot instead of three small errands.
By terrain
Drop a ledgeFire a cheap shell
The rock falls on the enemy and the shell finishes the job.
The shot
How to hit
Three things decide where the shell lands. All three are on the screen; nothing has to be guessed.
Mouse
Angle
The barrel follows the cursor — from a flat shot to an almost vertical lob. The dotted line shows the START of the arc, not the point of impact: where it actually lands is decided by your wind correction, and that is a skill, not a hint.
Wheel
Power
Power lives separately from the angle — on the mouse wheel and on W and S. That is why a lob works at any range. The number is in the instrument bar at the bottom.
Below
Wind
Wind pushes the shell sideways, and it is stronger up top than down low: a lobbed arc catches more of it than a flat one. Both layers, with arrows, are in the instrument bar under the battlefield.
The shell goes where the arc says it will. The game does not nudge the trajectory
in your favour or against you. Spread appears only on a very long shot — and focusing for
one action point takes it away.
05 · The opponent
While the opponent moves,
While the opponent moves,
you see everything
Where they aim, what power they fire at and what came of it. Their plan reads off their turn — and you can build your next one against it.
You can hide from this as well: a smoke screen conceals your position for two turns.
Turn 30 sBattle 5–12 minutesSurrender allowed from turn three
Next
Once you find your feet
None of the following is needed in a first battle. But this is what the game is made of afterwards.
24 items
Arsenal
Damage is only one of five roles. There is something to dig with, something to disrupt with and something to hide behind.
8 kinds of ground
Battlefield
The ground can be dug, collapsed and flooded. Craters stay until the end of the battle.
6 kinds of weather
Weather
In a storm the wind shifts mid-flight; in fog you can barely see the enemy trace.
It is easier to play one battle
The first battle explains more than any page can. The game opens in a browser — there is nothing to install.