Oil arrives automatically; Alloy comes from enemy Frames and slowly roaming supply drones in the center. Refit Frame components with Alloy, Base upgrades with 2 Alloy per 1 Oil, and an army-wide Kernel doctrine with Oil. Combat XP unlocks higher doctrine tiers.

Left click / drag

Select a Frame / group. Shift-click toggles a Frame; Shift-drag adds to selection.

Right click

Move directly to ground; attack when clicking a visible enemy.

Ctrl + 1–9 / 1–9

Save / select a squad. Press its number twice to center the camera.

Shift + right click

Queue a waypoint or focused attack. An ordinary order clears the queue.

J / Z / X / C

Select wounded Frames / withdraw selected units / hold without chasing / stop and engage nearby.

U, category, item

Quick upgrades: 1 Frame, 2 Base, 3 Kernel. Base has ten slots: use 0 for the West gate. Press U first, then two numbers: U → 1 → 1 buys Weapon; U → 2 → 1 buys Compute. The main HUD has one-click upgrade buttons with live prices. Upgrades keep your army selected and its orders active. Each purchase uses the normal resources and installation time. Esc cancels a partial shortcut.

M then click

Move without stopping for enemies or supply drones.

B / Bulwark

Deploy your emergency defender from the main HUD.

Q / Emergency Recall

Instantly return all surviving robots, including your Bulwark, to your base. Free, with a 60-second cooldown. Health, effects and attack charge are preserved; orders and the spawn rally reset to defend home.

T / Repair Swarm

Spend 100 Oil to restore 25% of maximum core HP (at least 500 HP), plus 250 HP to every surviving tower and gate. Cooldown: 35 seconds. Destroyed defenses must be rebuilt. The button shows cooldown, cost and repair readiness beside Bulwark.

Arena lighting

Change Full / Soft / Off in this menu or Audio & display. Full adds colored light spill, fiery explosions, muzzle flashes, sparks, smoke and fading scorch marks. Soft removes added fire and flashes, reduces particles, and keeps steady base lighting and a gentle repair glow. Off keeps basic hit and shot cues. Reduced-motion preferences default to Soft. All effects follow fog of war.

Core reinforcement

Every Kernel level after level 1 automatically adds 400 maximum core HP and 1 core armor, up to level 51. Armor reduces incoming core damage using the same formula as Frame armor. Level-ups preserve the core’s current health percentage; they do not fully repair it. The same rules apply to every foundry.

E then click

Choose ground to attack-move, or a visible enemy to focus it. M cancels combat; X attacks only within reach.

R then click

Rally future Frames to this location.

F / X / H

Select all / hold / center on home.

WASD / arrows

Pan camera. Scroll to zoom. Middle-drag to pan.

Base tab

Buy each gate for 80 Alloy + 40 Oil, lock / unlock automatic passage, and upgrade each corner tower through five tiers. Click your gates or towers to inspect them.

Gate locks

Unlocked gates open for your moving Frames, then close behind them. Locked gates stay shut; Frames reroute to another exit. Enemies can slip through an open gate or destroy a closed one. Locking an occupied gate waits for the passage to clear.

Corner minimap

The bottom-right minimap shows the full battlefield with current fog of war. Green circles mark your Frames; bright red diamonds mark visible enemies. HOME marks your compound; a red outline and enemy count warn about visible hostiles inside or within 20 units of its walls. Click, tap or drag the map to move the camera without changing orders. Home returns to your base; the Map button opens the larger tactical view.

Fog of war / V

Your base sees just as far as the facing gates of its nearest neighbours. Frames reveal an 18-unit radius while scouting; areas fog over again when they leave. Hidden units, defenses, combat effects and rival statistics stay concealed. In single player, toggle Fog off below the minimap, or press V, to inspect all AI activity. New and resumed matches begin with fog on.

Corner towers

The two towers beside each entrance cover its entire width. Tower upgrades add damage and health, plus 250 HP to all four gates for each new tier reached at a corner. Gates start at 1,300 HP and reach 5,300 HP with all towers maxed. Reinforcement survives destroyed towers and gates; rebuilding a tower does not grant the same bonus again. Towers pierce 20–48% of Frame armour and gain 2% damage per Kernel level, up to +100%. Split attacks, superior equipment and timed pushes can overcome them. Repair Swarm (T) also restores 250 HP to each surviving defense.

Frame equipment

Frame equipment visibly refits all of your existing and future Frames: clubs become hammers, axes, blades and polearms; helmets gain protective shells and sensors; guards gain layered plating and emitters; drives add leg pistons and back-mounted thrusters. Chassis Reinforcement adds torso and shoulder plates. A brief gold ring marks a completed refit. Scroll in to inspect the details.

Online matches

Everyone plays at normal speed with fog locked on. Menus never pause the match. If you disconnect, AI takes over after 45 seconds; rejoin from the same browser to reclaim your foundry. Matches keep going while other players are connected and suspend when nobody is polling. Multiplayer seats expire after six hours.

Space / 1× (single player)

Pause and choose upgrades / change simulation speed.

Use Hunt supplies (G) to send your army and new spawns to pursue and destroy supply drones. Each gives 18 Alloy and 2 Kernel XP. Supply drones detonate when destroyed and are replaced after 18 seconds. Hammers crush robot chassis; axes and swords cut them in half; blasts scatter shrapnel. Wreckage falls onto the battlefield, then fades. This order leaves your base lightly defended; use Defend or a Bulwark when a raid approaches. The AIs wait 2 minutes on Relaxed, or 90 seconds on Standard, before launching base raids. Pause with Space to choose upgrades; queued installations finish after you resume. Your Bulwark has 3 charges: each summons a 10,000 HP incinerator for 20 seconds, firing 500-damage shots at up to 3 enemies every 0.25 seconds. Armor reduces its damage; late-game armies can fight it. One can be active at a time, and one charge refills every 15 minutes. It only attacks intruders inside its home defense zone. RIVAL BULWARKS HAVE THE SAME FIREPOWER: withdraw beyond their orange ring until the active timer ends. Rivals also have three charges. One Kernel doctrine applies to every ordinary Frame. Breacher: burst, splash and EMP insulation. Reclaimer: direct-hit repairs and blast resistance. Disruptor: EMP and repair suppression. Tiers unlock at Kernel 1, 4, 8, 13 and 19. Refit to another doctrine for 60 + 20 Oil per purchased tier: 10 seconds to switch, then 60 seconds before switching again. Purchased tiers carry over. The original doctrine stays active while refitting; refits never heal or reset attack charge.