EXAWAR

The goal

Build a base, train an army and destroy the enemy headquarters. Losing your own headquarters (the Citadel Core) loses the match. The names in this guide's ATLAS tables are the base names; MESH and ORACLE rename every unit and structure, but the role underneath is the same, so a MESH Fang Swarm plays the same job as an ATLAS Rifleman Squad.

Economy

Select an Excavator Drone or Field Engineer, open the BUILD tab, choose a category and place a structure. Drones mine metals, silicon and uranium when you right-click a deposit. Build an Excavation Depot near ore to shorten return trips. Engineers build faster, repair and fight lightly. Right-click a paused construction site with a builder to resume it. Wrecks can be salvaged for metals. Tier 3 structures can synthesise silicon, mine deep core metals and breed uranium without a deposit.

Power

Power plants such as the Thermal Generator (+100 power) keep everything running. Factories, research and Data Halls stop when they lose power. Grid Batteries cover short deficits. Each structure has a power priority, so under a shortfall the high priority buildings stay on. The top bar shows power, battery and compute. ORACLE has a hungry grid: build generators early.

Compute

Compute is the currency of technology. The Citadel Core supplies 4 to begin with; every powered Titan Data Hall adds 12 more. Units and research that need compute check how much you have online, so an unpowered Data Hall gives nothing.

Technology tiers

Build a Directorate Research Lab. Research Tier 2 with 12 compute online, usually from a Data Hall. For Tier 3, research Advanced Research after Tier 2, then research Tier 3 with 30 compute online (costs: Tier 2 250 metals, 140 silicon, Advanced Research 350 metals, 260 silicon, Tier 3 650 metals, 420 silicon, 20 uranium). Hover the tier indicator in the HUD to see what is still missing. Tier 3 unlocks the megaprojects and superweapons.

Production and rally

Select the headquarters or a factory, open the PRODUCE tab and queue units. Click a queue tile to cancel that item and refund its cost. Population is capped, so watch the population readout. Right-click ground to set or move the rally point. Right-click an ore deposit to send new workers straight to mining; combat units simply move there. Click the IDLE count or press . to select and centre on the next idle worker, Shift+. selects them all.

Combat basics

Select units and right-click an enemy to attack, or use attack move (L) so the group fights whatever it meets on the way. H holds position, K stops, P patrols. Keep ranged units behind tough ones, focus fire, and pull back damaged units to an Excavation Depot or a repair structure. Artillery and siege weapons have a minimum range, so protect them from units that get close. Anti air weapons (air only) cannot hit ground units, and siege weapons cannot hit air.

Damage types

Every weapon deals one of four damage types and every unit has an armour class. The multiplier for each pair comes from the damage matrix. Kinetic is the all-round bullet, strong against infantry and light units but poor against heavy armour and fortifications. Anti armour shreds heavy units. Anti air is deadly against aircraft and almost useless against everything else. Siege crushes structures and fortifications but cannot hit air. The reference tables below give a computed strong against / weak against line for every weapon, and each faction's full matrix.

Garrisons

Infantry can garrison a Bulwark Bunker: it holds 4 units and adds 50% damage for each one inside, and the occupants are protected by the structure. Use garrisons to hold chokepoints and to protect riflemen from artillery. Walls and gates (G while dragging a wall to add a gate) funnel the enemy into your defences; gates only open for you and your allies.

Superweapons

At Tier 3 a Orbital Rail Battery (2000 metals, 1200 silicon, 60 uranium, 120 s to build) becomes available. Its ability, Orbital Strike, needs power and 10 uranium, charges for 5 s and then strikes anywhere in 100 m for 300 siege damage in a 8 m radius, with a 60 s cooldown. Protect it: it is a fortification with 1400 hp and 120 power demand, and the enemy can destroy it before it fires.

Campaign

Choose CAMPAIGN on the main menu. Act 1, Grid Down, follows the ATLAS Directorate through five missions against the MESH swarm, until ORACLE shows its hand. Act 2, Keep, unlocks after Two Fronts: you play the MESH Collective, a strand called GLEAN that wakes in the wrecks of Ash Basin and refuses the Chorus. Act 3, Last Directive, unlocks after Greywave: you take the ORACLE Ascendancy first, then return to the ATLAS Directorate for the finale. Fifteen missions in all. Every mission has an EASY, NORMAL or HARD setting. A mission unlocks when the one before it is won. The briefing lists the map, the objectives and any technology limits. In a mission the objectives panel (top left) tracks PRIMARY and OPTIONAL goals, and radio lines appear at the top of the screen. Complete every primary objective to win; a failed primary objective, a lost headquarters or an expired time limit ends the mission. Progress is saved on your computer.

Repair

Field Engineers (the Repair Weaver for MESH, the Restoration Envoy for ORACLE) mend damaged friendly structures and walls. Select one, then right click a damaged structure, or press REPAIR (Y) on the ORDERS tab and click it. Shift queues, right click or Esc cancels. Each engineer restores 8 hp per second while standing next to the target, several engineers stack, and repairs cost nothing. Research Automated Field Repairs (Tier 2): damaged idle units within 12 m of a powered Excavation Depot, Armour Foundry or Recovery Depot (MESH and ORACLE rename them) heal 2 hp per second. MESH also has the Nanite Cloud, a repair swarm that heals units and structures in a 9 m radius.

Maps and sizes

Pick a map in Skirmish or in a multiplayer lobby. Iron Throat (basalt) is two halves joined by one narrow central pass: hold the choke or break it. Twin Spans (industrial) is a deep chasm crossed by two bridges, three on 4v4 and larger. Both come in six sizes, 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, 6v6 and 8v8: choose the map, then the SIZE. The other maps (Substation Divide, Ash Basin, Frozen Array, Reactor Fields, Basalt Front and Glacial Relay) have a fixed player count. On the generated maps every base sits on a raised plateau with an irregular rim and a long ramp. The two sides are exact mirrors, so starts are fair.

Multiplayer

Choose MULTIPLAYER, then LAN or INTERNET. LAN lists games on your own network; host from your PC or join by IP, and allow EXAWAR through the Windows firewall. INTERNET uses the EXAWAR server: press CREATE GAME, or pick an open game and JOIN SELECTED. The first player in a lobby is the leader, marked with a LEADER tag. Only the leader chooses the map, size and mode, adds AI players, sets teams and starts the match; everyone else sees the choices live and presses READY UP. Everyone must run the same version. If the server refuses you with a version mismatch, press CHECK FOR UPDATE.

Team play

In a team game the TEAM panel appears on the left, under the top bar. Pick an ally, then press +100, +500 or ALL beside METALS, SILICON or URANIUM to send them resources. You can only send what you hold, in whole units, to a living ally on your team. Units and structures cannot be given, only resources.

Updates

When a newer version is out, an UPDATE AVAILABLE banner appears on the main menu (Windows and Linux downloads). Press VIEW UPDATE, then DOWNLOAD. When it is ready, RESTART AND INSTALL closes EXAWAR, installs the update and starts the game again. Your saves and settings are kept.

Saving and loading

In a skirmish or a campaign mission press Esc and choose SAVE GAME. Resume from LOAD GAME on the main menu. Multiplayer and Training Grounds cannot be saved. Resumed matches stay deterministic.

Selection

Orders

Build and production cards

Camera

Interface

For everyone

• Scout early. The Ranger Recon style scouts (or the MESH and ORACLE equivalents) tell you what the enemy is building.
• Never let drones idle: press the period key, and keep sending new ones to ore.
• Match damage types to armour classes: anti armour for heavy units, anti air for aircraft, siege for structures.
• Do not forget compute: a Data Hall that loses power also loses your tier.
• Save before a risky attack (Esc, SAVE GAME) when playing skirmish or campaign.