How to play

Getting started

The in-game coach walks you through your first few minutes. Here's the same path, step by step.

1. Lay a road out from your HQ. Roads cost 10 cr per tile. Every lot needs a road within 2 tiles to grow, and barracks and vehicle bays must sit alongside one.
2. Zone homes. Drag to paint Residential (5 cr per tile) along the road. Homes hold 4 residents per level.
3. Zone jobs and food. Paint some Farm land so your people eat, Commercial for credits, and a little Industrial for materials. Keep industry a few tiles away from homes.
4. Watch your power. Your HQ gives +15 power within 6 tiles, and every lot level uses 1. Build a Power plant (+40) before you run short, and pylons to carry power further.
5. Read the demand bars. The R, C, I and F bars at the top tell you what the city wants more of. Zone what's in demand.
6. Build a Barracks beside a road and train a few Rifle squads. Production runs at half speed until you have 40 residents.
7. Add a Police station to stop crime around your homes and shield nearby buildings.
8. Put a Watch tower on the side facing the enemy so you see raids coming.
9. Tap CITY/COMMAND to switch to command mode, tap your squad, then tap the ground to move it.
10. Follow the goals in the top right. Each one pays credits (and sometimes materials).

The city

Roads & zoning

• Zones are painted by dragging. Zoning costs 5 cr per tile, roads 10 cr per tile, bridges (road on water) 40 cr per tile. Clearing forest adds 8 cr per tile.
• Residential: homes, 4 residents per level. Commercial: shops, 3 jobs per level, paying 0.12 cr/s per staffed job. Industrial: 3 jobs per level, making 0.06 mat/s per staffed job. Farm: 3 jobs per level, 0.12 food/s per staffed job.
• Lots grow up to level 3, but only if a road is within 2 tiles, they have power, and there's demand.
• Unpowered or road-less lots slowly decay.
• Roads speed ground units up ×1.75. Forest slows them to ×0.6.

Power

• Each level of a lot uses 1 power, and most buildings use some too.
• The HQ gives +15 power within 6 tiles. A Power plant gives +40 (more when upgraded) and powers land within 5 tiles, with an upkeep of 0.5 cr/s. Pylons carry power 6 tiles further; chain them.
• When demand exceeds supply you get a brownout. Turrets and watch towers need power to work, so a brownout is also a security problem.

Demand & money

• The demand bars at the top show what the city wants: Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Farm. Lots only grow where there's demand.
• Residents pay 0.03 cr/s tax when employed. Shops pay 0.12 cr/s for each staffed job. Jobs need residents to fill them, so homes and jobs have to grow together.

Food

• You start with 150 food. Each resident eats 0.02 food/s; each staffed farm job grows 0.12 food/s. That's roughly one farm job for every six residents.
• When food runs out the city goes hungry: homes empty and income halves. Depots also store food.

Pollution

• Industrial lots pollute 4 tiles around them. Power plants pollute 3 tiles beyond their footprint.
• Polluted homes grow at 35% speed, can't reach level 3, and residents complain. Keep a buffer of farms, shops or roads between industry and housing.

Crime & police

• Homes outside the reach of a powered Police station (10 tiles), a Barracks (6) or the HQ (8) have crime: they pay 40% less tax and grow at 60% speed.
• A Police station (300 cr / 30 mat, power 2) patrols 10 tiles, and shields your buildings within 10 tiles so they take 25% less damage. Look for the faint glowing blue field ring.
• Its officers take pot shots at nearby enemies (7 damage, range 5, every 1.2 s). A nuisance, not a defence.

Territory

• You can only build and zone within 16 tiles of your HQ, 12 of an Outpost, or 6 of other finished buildings. Pylons, walls, turrets and towers don't extend territory. Roads can go anywhere.
• To claim far ground, build a Mobile HQ at the vehicle bay, drive it out and DEPLOY it into an Outpost. It can't deploy on roads, water or buildings.

Materials & supply

• You can store 500 materials, plus 1000 per Depot (more when upgraded).
• Industrial jobs make a trickle of materials. For real volume, build an Extractor on a 2×2 salvage resource site: 1.5 mat/s while powered, holding 60. A free supply truck hauls loads of 40 to your depots or HQ and is replaced 30 s after being lost.

Upgrades, repairs, bulldozing

• Most buildings go to level 3 via UPGRADE in the building panel. The first upgrade costs the listed price; the next costs that × the current level. Every level adds +20% health on top of its own bonus.
• REPAIR restores 10% of health per second and costs 35% of the build price for a full repair. It pauses for 3 s after each hit. Engineers repair for free.
• Bulldozing refunds 100% if the building was unfinished, 50% if it was built.

War

Command mode & camera

• Tap the CITY/COMMAND button to switch between building and commanding.
• Pinch with two fingers to zoom, twist to rotate. The minimap is bottom right; tap it to jump there.

Selecting units

• Tap a unit to select it.
• Double-tap a unit to select all units of that type on screen.
• Hold and drag to box-select.

Control groups 1–4

• With units selected, tap an empty number to save them as a group.
• Tap the number to select the group; tap it again to centre the camera on it.
• Hold a number to overwrite it with your current selection.

Moving, attacking, guarding

• Tap the ground to move. Tap an enemy to attack it.
• Idle units guard their spot: they chase enemies within their guard radius, then return.
• Match weapons to armour. Rockets and drones wreck vehicles, rifles handle infantry, flak handles drones. See the damage table.

Watch towers & alerts

• Watch towers spot enemies within 10 tiles (+40% per upgrade level), raise a tappable alert, and call nearby idle units within 12 tiles.
• Tap the alert to jump to the trouble.

Production

• Barracks train infantry; vehicle bays build tanks, buggies, mechs and the Mobile HQ; drone pads launch drones; harbours build gunboats.
• Production runs at half speed with no population, reaching full speed at 40 residents. Each upgrade level of a barracks, vehicle bay or drone pad adds +30% build speed.
• Barracks and vehicle bays must sit alongside a road; troops come out onto it.

Research

• Research infantry upgrades at the barracks, vehicle upgrades at the vehicle bay, drone pad or harbour.
• Weapons: +20% damage per level. Armour: −15% damage taken per level. Two levels each.
• Level 1 costs 250 cr + 40 mat and takes 30 s. Level 2 costs and takes twice as much (500 cr + 80 mat, 60 s).

Commander & walk mode

• Each side has one commander. They aren't trained: 500 health, 18 damage, range 5, reload 0.6 s, speed 2.4.
• Friendly units within 6 tiles of their commander deal +25% damage and glow gold.
• A fallen commander respawns after 60 s.
• WALK mode: play as your commander in third person. Move with the joystick, drag to look, hold FIRE to shoot.

The rival

Tidewater builds its town, power, defences, police, research and army by the same rules as you. It raids with fast units and sends growing attack waves. How fast it thinks and when it first attacks depends on difficulty.

Goals

Thirteen goals, worked through in order. Three are shown at a time in the top right, and each pays out when done.

1. Reach 40 residents300 cr
2. Build a police station200 cr · 20 mat
3. Fill 60 jobs400 cr · 40 mat
4. Train 8 units400 cr
5. Earn 8 cr/s500 cr
6. Reach 150 residents600 cr · 60 mat
7. Run 3 power plants500 cr · 50 mat
8. Destroy 5 enemy buildings800 cr · 80 mat
9. Upgrade 3 buildings to level 3600 cr · 60 mat
10. Reach 300 residents1000 cr · 100 mat
11. Earn 25 cr/s1200 cr · 100 mat
12. Train 30 units1000 cr · 100 mat
13. Reach 500 residents2000 cr · 200 mat

The relay-fault puzzle

Now and then a POWER RELAY FAULT offer appears. Tap it to open the puzzle: rotate the wire tiles until every house is connected. The game pauses while you solve it, and a fix pays out credits and materials.

Harbours & gunboats

• A Harbour (600 cr / 60 mat, 2×2, power 3, 900 hp, 20 s) must touch water.
• While powered it earns 2.5 cr/s in trade, +50% per upgrade level (upgrade 350 cr / 40 mat).
• It builds Gunboats: water-only, they pass under bridges and shell anything near the shore from range 6. They can't hit air.
• On Lakelands, expand towards the shore (an Outpost helps) so you can build one.

Day, night & settings

• A full day lasts 12 minutes. At night windows light up and vehicles switch on their headlights.
• The pause menu has music and sound toggles and graphics quality (High, Medium, Low).
• The game autosaves. Pick CONTINUE to carry on where you left off.

Tips & hints

1. Road first, zone second. A lot with no road within 2 tiles never grows and slowly decays.
2. Race to 40 residents. It unlocks full production speed and pays the first goal.
3. Count your power. Every lot level uses 1 power. The HQ's 15 runs out fast; drop a power plant before you zone a big block.
4. Plants cost upkeep. 0.5 cr/s each. Upgrade a plant (+30 power) rather than building a fourth you don't need, once the goal for 3 plants is done.
5. Mind the brownout. Turrets and towers stop working without power, which is exactly when raiders like to arrive.
6. Pylons are cheap. 40 cr / 5 mat carries power 6 more tiles. Chain them to outlying turrets and extractors.
7. Feed the city. About one staffed farm job per six residents keeps food level. Hunger empties homes and halves income.
8. Shops pay best. A staffed commercial job earns 0.12 cr/s, four times a resident's tax. Zone commercial whenever C demand is up.
9. Jobs make taxes. Residents only pay tax when employed, so don't overbuild homes without jobs to match.
10. Buffer the smog. Keep homes more than 4 tiles from industry and 3 tiles clear of power plants. Polluted homes grow at 35% speed and cap at level 2.
11. Use farms and shops as buffers between industry and housing.
12. Cover every home. Crime costs 40% of a home's tax and slows growth. Police reach 10 tiles, barracks 6, the HQ 8.
13. Police near the front. The shield makes buildings within 10 tiles take 25% less damage. Don't rely on its pistols, though.
14. Build a depot before saving big. Base storage is only 500 materials; a mech plus research adds up quickly.
15. Extractors beat industry for materials. One extractor (1.5 mat/s) out-produces 25 staffed industrial jobs.
16. Shorten truck runs. A depot close to a distant extractor means faster deliveries and less exposure to raids.
17. Guard the supply line. A gun turret by your extractor stops buggies picking off trucks and the site itself.
18. Creep your territory. Finished buildings (not pylons, walls, turrets or towers) extend territory by 6 tiles, so a depot or barracks at the edge opens new ground.
19. Deploy outposts off-road. A Mobile HQ can't deploy on roads, water or buildings; pick open ground before you drive out.
20. Misplaced it? Bulldoze fast. Unfinished buildings refund 100%; finished ones only 50%.
21. Keep two engineers at home. Idle engineers auto-repair damaged buildings within 6 tiles for free, saving you the 35% repair cost.
22. Repair after the fight. REPAIR pauses 3 s after each hit, so clear the attackers first.
23. Upgrade your factories. Each level of barracks, vehicle bay or drone pad builds +30% faster.
24. Cheap level 3s for the goal. Watch towers are the cheapest upgrade (80 then 160 cr) and you want better sight anyway.
25. Research early. Weapons level 1 (250 cr + 40 mat, 30 s) is +20% damage for every unit of that kind.
26. Build military roads. Ground units move ×1.75 on roads and only ×0.6 through forest. A road to the front gets reinforcements there in time.
27. Towers on the approaches. A watch tower's alert calls idle units within 12 tiles; park a group near each tower.
28. Let guards guard. Idle units chase enemies in their guard radius and return. A tank pair by a choke point holds it for you.
29. Double-tap to grab a type. Double-tap a rocket squad to pull every rocket squad on screen out of a mixed fight.
30. Group 1 = army, 2 = defence. Tap a group number twice to jump the camera to it.
31. Rockets for tanks, rifles for infantry. Rockets do ×2.0 to vehicles but only ×0.35 to infantry; rifles are the reverse.
32. Drones ignore walls. Put an AA turret by your production and power; tanks and gun turrets can't shoot up.
33. Use drones on armour. Tanks, mechs and gunboats can't fire back at them.
34. Bring the commander. +25% damage for everyone within 6 tiles, and they come back after 60 s.
35. Cut their power. A Tidewater power plant is a soft target; without it their turrets and towers go dark.
36. Steal, don't just smash. Engineers capture enemy buildings (not the HQ or walls). A captured vehicle bay is a forward factory.
37. Prepare for the first wave. On Normal the rival attacks once its army is worth 1200 cr (1600 on Easy, 1000 on Hard). Have turrets and a squad ready.
38. Trade money. A powered harbour's 2.5 cr/s is like 21 staffed shop jobs, and it grows +50% per level.
39. Gunboats slip under bridges. On River Crossing they can patrol the whole river and shell both banks.
40. Always fix the relay fault. It pauses the game and pays credits and materials. Free money.
41. Wall the necks. On Twin Isles, a wall plus turrets across a narrow neck funnels every ground attack.
42. Save battery. Graphics Low in the pause menu for long sessions; the game autosaves.