Terra Invicta Official Wiki - User contributions [en]

Hooded Horse

2022-09-24T03:53:53Z

Snow:

[[File:HoodedHorse.png|right|300px]]

Hooded Horse Inc. is a publisher of strategy, simulation, and role-playing games based in Dallas, Texas with people and partners across the world. Starting in 2021 with three titles, Hooded Horse’s portfolio has grown to 17 games and counting. Their goal is to empower and support developers in doing what they love. From the distant past of Old World, to the depths of space in Falling Frontier, Hooded Horse is the new name for deep, strategic experiences.

You can find out more about Hooded Horse on their [https://hoodedhorse.com/ website], as well as their social channels; [https://discord.com/invite/b5ddSHK Discord], [https://twitter.com/HoodedHorseInc Twitter], [https://www.youtube.com/HoodedHorse YouTube], and [https://www.facebook.com/HoodedHorse/ Facebook].

'''''Go back to [[Main Page]].'''''

Terra Invicta

2022-09-24T03:51:09Z

Snow: /* Built For Mods */

Terra Invicta is a grand strategy game where an alien invasion has fractured humanity into seven ideological factions each with a unique vision for the future.

=== Background ===

An extraterrestrial probe is detected approaching Earth. Unknown to humanity, an alien force has arrived in the far reaches of the icy Kuiper Belt and has begun mining a dwarf planet to prepare for an invasion.

With Earth’s nations unable to unite to address the alien arrival, transnational groups of like-minded political, military, and scientific leaders develop covert channels to coordinate a response. With the aliens' motives uncertain, [[Factions]] emerge, driven by hope, fear, or greed.

You will control one of these factions.
* [[The Resistance]] works to form an alliance of nations to mount a coordinated defense
* [[Humanity First]] vows to exterminate the aliens alongside any who sympathize with them
* [[The Servants]] worship the aliens and believe they will solve all the troubles of the world
* [[The Protectorate]] advocates negotiated surrender as the only means to avoid annihilation
* [[The Academy]] hopes the alien arrival heralds the opportunity to form an interstellar alliance
* [[The Initiative]] seeks to profit from the chaos and destruction
* [[Project Exodus]] plans to build a massive starship and flee the Solar System

=== Compete for Control ===

You begin on Earth as the head of a shadowy organization devoted to your chosen ideology. The aliens are coming – soon – but your first enemies (and perhaps allies) will be other human factions.
* Lead a faction united by ideology, rather than a nation defined by territory. This is a stark change from most strategy games – in Terra Invicta, you will not paint the map with the colors of some chosen nation. Instead you will rule from the shadows and compete with other factions for control points representing a region's military, economic, and political leadership.
* Geopolitics is your sandbox – unite or break apart nations as best serves your ends, while using those under your influence to conduct proxy wars against the other six factions. Earth’s regions are modeled in detail, from educational levels and unrest to GDP and inequality. Gaining command over regions with great monetary wealth and military power can allow you to implement your will on Earth, but the war for the Solar System will not be won without also securing regions containing space launch facilities.
* Enact your will through a council of politicians, scientists, and operatives sent around the world (and even into space). The starting abilities of these councilors will improve through gaining experience and acquiring control over powerful organizations like intelligence agencies or wealthy corporations. A veteran commander may make the perfect choice to lead a tactical team under the council’s direction, while an experienced diplomat works to secure the funding needed to resist the alien invasion.
* Seek out like-minded populations and politicians and take actions to convert followers of opposing ideologies. Public opinion is modeled along multiple axes – the Servants’ alien worship and the Protectorate’s advocacy of negotiated surrender may largely align in terms of support or opposition to the aliens, but events that show the aliens can be defeated have the potential to convince followers of the Protectorate that resistance is a realistic choice.

=== Investigate the Alien Threat ===

A distant anomaly, a mysterious crash site, and a spike in reported disappearances. Could this truly be humanity's first contact with extraterrestrial lifeforms? As your field agents investigate sightings and your scientists race to explore new fields of research, you will slowly learn the truth behind the alien arrival.
* From early sightings and UFO crash sites to rampaging alien megafauna and robotic armies, it will rapidly become clear that the other six human factions are not your sole competition. Throughout the game, illustrated events will present you with difficult choices as you investigate growing alien activity on Earth. Uncover the mystery of the aliens’ origins and motives – unless, of course, you are Humanity First, and all that matters to you is extermination.
* Terra Invicta has a global research system that creates opportunities for both competition and cooperation. Shared scientific advancement unlocks private engineering projects. Factions can choose to focus on private projects, at the cost of weakening Earth as a whole and ceding influence over global research direction to other factions with different priorities. Left unchecked, factions like the Servants or the Initiative may steer the world’s efforts toward developing methods of social control, rather than propulsion or weapon systems.

=== Expand Across a Dynamic Solar System ===

Terra Invicta bridges the gap between our modern-day world and the vast interstellar empires of other space strategy games, asking you to take humanity’s first steps in colonizing our Solar System, where over 300 asteroids, moons, and planets in constant motion create an ever-changing strategic map.
* Take your faction beyond the confines of Earth, building space stations to act as shipyards and fuel depots, constructing mining stations to acquire advanced resources, and establishing bases to serve as research or construction facilities. Terra Invicta zooms into the strategic geography of the Solar System, presenting space not as a series of isolated stars that you order units to move to and from, but rather a rich and varied landscape of asteroids, moons, dwarf planets, gas giants, and other celestial bodies creating texture and tactical opportunities at every turn.
* The expansive map is constantly shifting as celestial bodies orbit the Sun. This means your space stations and forward operating bases are constantly moving as well, forcing you to plan accordingly and adapt to the evolving circumstances – your colonies among the Jovian moons could find that a once-distant alien military outpost or Initiative privateering base has suddenly become a close neighbor.

=== Hard Sci-Fi Meets Strategy ===

Terra Invicta explores what might be – how colonies on Mars might function, what plausible engines could power our spaceships, and the nature of how space colonization and warfare might proceed. Players may find themselves establishing a mining base on the asteroid 16 Psyche after noticing it is rich in metals – and then learn that in our world NASA is planning [https://psyche.asu.edu/ The Psyche Mission] for the same reason.
* Exploring and eventually colonizing space will require access to many resources: water for life support and propellant, metals for manufacturing, fissiles for nuclear drives and weapons, and more. At the start, you’ll have no choice but to acquire such resources on Earth and suffer the high cost of using rockets to escape Earth’s gravity, but over time you’ll increasingly choose to instead rely on asteroid mining and other means of securing local supply.
* Spaceship design in Terra Invicta draws from the best of scientific speculation and hard science fiction. You can design your own ships, selecting from an array of weapons, drives, and other modules to place on a variety of hulls, ensuring each ship has the right mix of fuel capacity, maneuverability, and other capabilities.
* Tactical combat is built around a realistic simulation of Newtonian physics, where momentum and maneuver in 3D space are just as important as the firepower your ships carry. Fire missiles and use point defense cannons to destroy incoming projectiles; build up momentum then swing hard to bring the enemy into your firing arcs; or grapple with the difficult decision to retract radiators and sacrifice heat dissipation to achieve better armor against an incoming enemy barrage.

=== Built For Mods ===

Terra Invicta is built with modding support in mind, and much of the game is accessible to modders without a coding background. We hope that the Solar System setting and geopolitics simulation will provide a useful framework for modders to realize their own creative visions.

'''''Go back to [[Main Page]].'''''

2022-09-24T03:42:19Z

Snow:

File:Pavonis.png

2022-09-24T03:41:47Z

Snow:

2022-09-24T02:42:00Z

Snow: /* Managing Nations */

=== Starting a New Game ===
[[File:NewGameOptions.jpg|right|471px]]

After selecting ‘New Game’ on the main menu, you will be presented with the following. For this guide, these are settings that have been used.

'''Solar System''' and '''Faction''' count can be adjusted freely, and parts of the guide will be applicable to all factions, but certain story related events, etc. will differ if you choose to play as someone other than the Resistance.

Enabling the tutorial will provide some additional guidance in game about basic features.

 

=== Strategic UI Overview ===
The screenshot below highlights some key UI features:
: Objectives
: Quick Focus and Panels
: Date & Time Control
: Finder Panel
: Event Log

[[File:UIOverview.jpg|1328px]]

=== Events ===
[[File:UFOCrashes.jpg|right|500px]]

When you first start, you will also have an Event popup in the middle of your screen.
When these occur, the game will automatically pause.

Significant events that occur, along with Councilor mission reports, will have a similar pop up later on in the game.
Generally these will have 3 options (along with some additional ones for repeatable missions):
# '''Continue''' – will close the popup and unpause the game.
# '''Close''' – will close the popup, but leave the game paused.
# '''Take Me There''' – will close the popup and keep the game paused, and snap the camera to relevant location on Earth or in the Solar System.

 

=== The First Days ===

==== Councilor Assignment Phase ====

[[File:ConfirmAssignments.jpg|right|400px]]

The game initially starts paused, shortly before the first Councilor Assignment Phase. These are one or two week cycles during which your Councilors will complete the missions assigned to them.

The first thing we need to do (after reading through our initial events) is to unpause the game (spacebar or 1-5 by default) and let it run until it automatically pauses again, and the '''CONFIRM ASSIGNMENTS''' button appears at the top of the UI.

 

==== The Council ====

[[File:TheCouncil11.png|right|500px]]

The Councilor Assignment Phase is where you decide what missions your council will be doing during the next cycle. Your council is composed of up 6 characters from various walks of life.

You may note that right now you only have 2 councilors listed in the Finder Panel on the right of the screen. You start with the capacity for 4, and this can be increased to 6 via technology. In addition to this, you can have up to 2 enemy councilors that you have turned to your cause.

Therefore, the first thing we need to do is to figure out who in our council should do what this cycle, and what gaps in our line-up we need to fill by hiring additional councilors.

To do this, we can click on the '''Council Panel''' button just above the '''CONFIRM ASSIGNMENTS''' button to open the relevant panel.

 

[[File:TheCouncil2.png|right|500px]]

The Council Panel presents an overview of your current council, and a brief summary of their attributes.

By clicking on the portrait of one of your councilors, you will be taken to a more detailed screen with information on them, including the missions they are capable of, their attributes and incomes, their traits, and organizations controlled by them as well as available for purchase or assignment.

Of interest to us here initially is mainly what missions they are capable of, and their attributes.

The first stage of the early game is about getting a foothold on earth, and to do this requires either taking uncontested ‘'''Control Points'''’ ('''''CP''''') or taking over CP already controlled by another faction – these are done via different missions, and use different attributes.

 

[[File:TheCouncil3.png|right|278px]]

Uncontrolled CP are taken using the '''Control Nation''' mission, which is governed by the '''Persuasion''' attribute.

CP controlled by another faction are taken using the '''Purge''' mission, governed by the '''Espionage''' attribute.

CP can be made more vulnerable to '''Purges''' by the '''Crackdown''' mission. This is governed by the '''Investigation''' attribute. '''Crackdowns''' will also remove the benefits provided by a CP to an enemy faction.

Take a moment to look through your two councilors. In addition to the above, it is also worth paying attention to their '''Administration''' stat, any possible '''Income''' (note this is monthly, whereas the resource panel is daily by default), along with their '''Traits''' (which can affect how they perform on mission and their incomes significantly).

 

==== Recruiting Councilors ====

Once you have done that, return to the Council Panel, and lets take a look at hiring a third councilor, by hitting ‘'''Recruit'''’ either on one of the empty slots, or at the bottom of the Council Panel.

This will open a page with a list of candidates on the left side – clicking on them will provide information similar to what you were provided on your own councilors.

New councilors cost either 30 or 60 '''Influence''' to recruit. As we only start with 50, we will only be able to fill one of the two free slots we have.

Bearing what was described above in mind, and depending on your initial councilors, you will want to pick someone out to round out your roster. If you already have 2 councilors capable of the '''Control Nation''' mission, then hiring one capable of the '''Purge''' and '''Crackdown''' missions might be a good move. If you only have one councilors capable of the '''Control Nation''' mission, I would hire a second councilor with that mission available. In both cases it is worth it to also pay attention to their attributes for those relevant missions, as well as their '''Traits''' and '''Income'''.

When you have hired a third councilor, close the '''Council Panel''', and lets proceed to assigning missions to your team.

[[File:RecruitingCouncilors.png|center|900px]]
 

==== The Mission Interface ====

[[File:MissionInterface1.jpg|right|600px]]

When a councilor is selected during the Councilor Assignment Phase, additional UI elements appear allowing you to assign missions to them.

At the bottom of the main interface, you will see a panel which allows you to select from the missions available to the selected councilor.

Above that, the chances of success are shown, along with the factors that are both positively and negatively affecting these chances.

In addition to this panel, when you have a mission type selected which targets nations or other councilors, the base chance of success for that mission is shown on the map.

In the example on the right, you can see that for the selected Control Nation mission this ranges from 0% to 38%.

The mission selection panel shows the available mission types for that councilor, with ones with no valid target or insufficient resources to perform shown dimmed out.

Information on which Attribute governs the mission, as well as which resource can be spent (by moving the slider in the top right) to boost the chances of success.

[[File:MissionInterface2.jpg|right|600px]]

The mission assignment can be confirmed by clicking on the mission name (Control Nation) in the top middle of the panel.

 

==== Initial Mission Assignment ====

[[File:InitialMissionAssignment.jpg|right|400px]]

For this initial phase, if possible assign 2 of your councilors to Control Nation missions (aimed at countries with high base chances of success), and one to the Investigate Alien Activity mission. You can boost the Control Nation missions with some influence, but try to keep some in reserve.

You can click on nations to get more details on them, displayed on the left side of the screen. Take some time to look through a couple, there are extensive tooltips describing the various metrics that are tracked for nations.

Nations with higher levels of '''Public Support''' (a bigger slice of your colour in the donut) will be significantly easier for you to bring under your control. Public Support can be raised with the '''Public Campaign''' mission (governed by the '''Persuasion''' attribute).

Once you have finished assigning missions to all of your councilors, hit the '''CONFIRM ASSIGNMENTS''' button near the top of the screen to lock in your mission selections.

 

==== Starting Research ====

[[File:StartingResearch.jpg|right|400px]]

The final thing we want to look at before unpausing and beginning our campaign for real is Research, which is managed via the '''Research Panel'''. This can be accessed by clicking on the relevant button at the top of the UI. This page is split into 2 sections.

'''Global Research''' is shared research conducted across factions. These global technologies advance the general scientific understanding of humanity, and unlock various faction-specific Projects. Each faction can choose if they want to contribute research towards these, and how much. The faction contributing most research to a particular slot will choose the next technology to be researched by that slot. There are always 3 slots.

'''Council Engineering Projects''' are faction-specific projects with tangible results. These results can include bonuses to missions, additional councilor slots, new ship or habitat modules, various projects related to story progression, etc. You have a single slot for them to begin with, and can gain one additional one via an Org, and a second via a suitable equipped Habitat.

Council Engineering Projects can be freely switched around using the '''Change Project''' button. Global Research, once selected, is locked in to its slot until research is complete.

You can control the distribution of your research points using the 3 ‘pips’ located in the panel for each technology/project. These affect the relative distribution of your '''Research Points''' (daily income can be seen in the top resources bar) – if you have a total of 3 pips assigned like in the example on the right, and 2 are on a particular technology, then that technology will get 2/3 or 66% of your Research Points.

 
''Once you have done the above, you can unpause the game and let it run. The next Councilor Assignment Phase will happen in one week. In the meantime, you will probably get a few events.''

=== The First Weeks ===

==== Managing Nations ====

[[File:Sweden.jpg|right|600px]]

Once your Control Nation missions resolve, you may end up with a '''Control Point''' ('''''CP''''') under your control. CP represent the various institutions and elements that hold power inside a nation. There are between 1 to 6 CP in each nation. Larger nations with bigger economies will have more CP, representing the increased difficulty in obtaining full control of more powerful nations.

The rightmost (or in the case of nations with only 1, the only) CP is always the Executive CP, and represents the most powerful office(s) in the nation. When taking control of a nation with multiple CP, you can only attempt to gain control of the Executive CP if you already have at least 1 other CP in the nation. In the example shown to the right, we have taken the only other CP in Sweden, leaving the Executive as our next target.

If you did not end up with CP after your first Councilor Phase, that’s okay – you can just repeat the process earlier in this guide (perhaps hiring an additional councillor to help out), until you do end up with a CP. It can also be beneficial to '''Boost''' the mission by spending '''Influence'''.

 

[[File:SwedenDetails.jpg|right|600px]]

Control CP allows you to affect the nations '''Priorities''', which determine where they will spend their national budget. By default, they will be set to your Factions default Priority template, but you can adjust them by clicking on the pips beside each category – these work the same way as in Research, with your portion of the budget (so for example, 50% per CP in a nation with 2 CP, 25% per CP in a nation with 4, etc), split between the pips according to their distribution. Uncontrolled CP will have a default Priority configuration depending on the nations real world policies.

Once you control the Executive CP of a nation, you will also be able to adjust the nations foreign policy. This is done via the '''Relations''' tab, where a '''Manage''' button will appear once you have control of the executive CP. With this you can pay '''Influence''' to change your stance towards other nations from Allied to Neutral to Rival. Changes have a cooldown, so its worthwhile to plan ahead here.

In addition to the above, once you have the Executive CP, the '''Set National Policy''' mission can be used to perform other, more significant policy changes, such as declarations of war, forming federations, unifying with other countries, or disbanding armies.

 

==== Consolidating Power ====

[[File:Russia.jpg|right|600px]]

With an initial foothold with some CP, your next priority should be to aim to take full control over some of these nations.

Nations with 2 CP are ideal for this, as once you have the first one, it is impossible for any of the other factions to take the Executive CP if it is uncontrolled (as doing so requires at least 1 other CP, which you have the only one of).

For larger nations, you may run into cases where another faction also ends up with a CP, and thus you only end up with partial control of the nation even if you take the Executive CP. This is where the Crackdown and Purge missions come in.

 

[[File:Illustration1.jpg|right|400px]]

Crackdown can be used to disable and weaken a CP controlled by an enemy faction, and this will make it significantly easier to Purge. CP which have been affected by a Crackdown have the Crackdown mission icon on them in the Nation Panel, and a yellow/orange icon next to their on-map CP.

Purge is used to take control of a CP controlled by an enemy faction. Like Control Nation, taking control of an Executive CP requires control of at least one other CP in the nation. It is far easier to execute Purge missions against CP which are affected by the Crackdown mission.

Both Crackdown and Purge (and many other missions) are much easier to conduct in nations with high Public Support. The Public Campaign mission can increase this, and it is recommended to use it if you are attempting to go after larger (3 or more CP) nations, or enemy CP in nations with high Public Support for their faction.
 

[[File:Illustration2.jpg|right|400px]]

The other symbol you may seen on the Nation Panel or on-map CP is the Defend Interests icon, indicated as the mission icon on the Nation Panel, and as a shield next to on-map CP. Defend Interests is a mission which will add this modifier to any CP under your control in the targeted nation, and any CP affected by this modifier become much harder targets for Crackdown and Purge missions. The modifier expires after a set period.
 

=== The First Months ===

==== Long Term Planning ====

Hopefully after the first month or two, you will have control over at least a nation or two. At this point, with some initial footholds gained, its worth it to take a step back and consider what you will need as part of a longer term plan to fight back against the aliens.

The first thing we need to consider is Resources. In the longer term, this will mean the Space Resources shown on the right side of the Resource Panel, but in the short term, this means Money, Influence, Ops and Boost.

The second thing we will require is suitable Technology, which will enable us to expand our council, progress the story missions, and put the resources above to better use. In the longer term, technology will provide us with the tools to expand into the Solar System, design and build Spaceships, and fight the aliens on a more even footing.

[[File:LongTermPlanning.jpg|center|900px]]

==== Resources ====

: '''Money''' can be gained via councilors, or from nations via the Funding or Spoils priorities. It is useful for both Direct Investment, acquiring Orgs, and later on, for various costs related to space assets. It is also important for Boosting Public Campaign missions.

: '''Influence''' is gained for your share of global Public Support, as well as via councillors. It is important for acquiring Orgs, Direct Investment, hiring Councilors, certain new Councilor traits, and certain missions. It can also be expended to boost the Control Nation, Purge and Crackdown missions.

: '''Ops''' is gained mainly via councilors (and more specifically, relevant Orgs assigned to councilors). It is used for boosting various missions, particularly those that target enemy councilors and assets.

: '''Boost''' is gained via certain Orgs assigned to councilors, or from nations with space launch infrastructure. At the start of the game, the key ones are the USA, Japan, China, India, as well as any nation in the European Union or Eurasian Union (weighted to the bigger members). Boost is vital for expansion into space.

In addition to the uses above, all of these resources also have uses in Events, and having some on hand can offer alternative options.

The last Resource to consider in the longer term is Control Points Capacity. This is effectively a cap on how many nations/CPs you can maintain effective control over. It can be increased with certain councilor Attributes and Technology.

==== Technology ====

While initially your research will be directed at simple projects providing some resources and global tech providing awareness of the Aliens, after a few months you will want to start directing this with specific goals in mind.

Broadly speaking, we can divide early technology into 3 broad categories.

The first are those that provide a direct benefit to your operations and expansion on Earth. These include the ‘Clandestine Cells’ project to recruit a 5th councilor, the Commercial/Audience/Operations/Management Research ones providing additional resources, and others with similar bonuses.

The second are those that pave the way to serious expansion in the Solar System. This includes technologies that improves the amount of Boost you get, create Orgs providing Boost, reduce the amount of Boost required for sending payloads beyond Earth Orbit, and most crucially, those that allow you to send probes, and later build bases and mines on the Moon.

The final category is those that advance the story missions for your faction, revealing more about our ‘guests’ and their possible objectives. I would strongly recommend doing these whenever possible (unless the cost is completely unpalatable), as only by understanding the enemy can you begin to oppose them.

The final thing to remember is that contributing the most Research Points to a Global Research will allow you to pick the next one for that slot. This is very powerful, as it allows you to work towards technology you need to achieve your goals longer term.

==== Developing Councilors ====

[[File:DevelopingCouncilors1.jpg|right|600px]]

Once your councilors have completed a few missions, it is worth taking a look at their pages in the Council Panel again.

There are 2 ways to improve your councilors; by using the Augment button to spend XP on improving their Attributes and Traits, and by acquiring and assigning Orgs to them.

Augment allows you to spend XP (and in some cases, other Resources like Influence) to either improve their Attributes (up to a maximum of 25) or to purchase new Traits or improve existing ones. Generally, you will want to either focus on improving Attributes that help with the mission types you run with that councilor, or on improving Administration, which will allow you them to control more Orgs, and help with your CP Capacity resource.

 

[[File:Developing Councilors2.jpg|right|300px]]

Orgs are shown on the right side of the page, with Orgs assigned to this councilor shown in the upper half, and Orgs available for acquisition, or unassigned shown in the two tabs in the lower half.

Orgs are shown with their icon, name, 1-3 stars for their level, small icons showing what they do, and their cost. This cost is typically either in Money or Influence, though occasionally other resources are also used. Hovering over an Org will tell you more about its bonuses, and also any extra requirements to acquire it (for example some orgs require the Government trait).

An Org requires as much free Org Capacity (based on Administration attribute) as the number of stars on their icon. If you have both sufficient Org Capacity and Resources to acquire an Org, its icon will be shown in a brighter colour in the Org Panel.

It is worthwhile to check up on what Orgs are available every month.

 

'''''Go back to [[Main Page]].'''''

Help:Gameplay Guides/Beginner's Guide

2022-09-24T02:40:29Z

Snow: /* Starting Research */

=== Starting a New Game ===
[[File:NewGameOptions.jpg|right|471px]]

After selecting ‘New Game’ on the main menu, you will be presented with the following. For this guide, these are settings that have been used.

'''Solar System''' and '''Faction''' count can be adjusted freely, and parts of the guide will be applicable to all factions, but certain story related events, etc. will differ if you choose to play as someone other than the Resistance.

Enabling the tutorial will provide some additional guidance in game about basic features.

 

=== Strategic UI Overview ===
The screenshot below highlights some key UI features:
: Objectives
: Quick Focus and Panels
: Date & Time Control
: Finder Panel
: Event Log

[[File:UIOverview.jpg|1328px]]

=== Events ===
[[File:UFOCrashes.jpg|right|500px]]

When you first start, you will also have an Event popup in the middle of your screen.
When these occur, the game will automatically pause.

Significant events that occur, along with Councilor mission reports, will have a similar pop up later on in the game.
Generally these will have 3 options (along with some additional ones for repeatable missions):
# '''Continue''' – will close the popup and unpause the game.
# '''Close''' – will close the popup, but leave the game paused.
# '''Take Me There''' – will close the popup and keep the game paused, and snap the camera to relevant location on Earth or in the Solar System.

 

=== The First Days ===

==== Councilor Assignment Phase ====

[[File:ConfirmAssignments.jpg|right|400px]]

The game initially starts paused, shortly before the first Councilor Assignment Phase. These are one or two week cycles during which your Councilors will complete the missions assigned to them.

The first thing we need to do (after reading through our initial events) is to unpause the game (spacebar or 1-5 by default) and let it run until it automatically pauses again, and the '''CONFIRM ASSIGNMENTS''' button appears at the top of the UI.

 

==== The Council ====

[[File:TheCouncil11.png|right|500px]]

The Councilor Assignment Phase is where you decide what missions your council will be doing during the next cycle. Your council is composed of up 6 characters from various walks of life.

You may note that right now you only have 2 councilors listed in the Finder Panel on the right of the screen. You start with the capacity for 4, and this can be increased to 6 via technology. In addition to this, you can have up to 2 enemy councilors that you have turned to your cause.

Therefore, the first thing we need to do is to figure out who in our council should do what this cycle, and what gaps in our line-up we need to fill by hiring additional councilors.

To do this, we can click on the '''Council Panel''' button just above the '''CONFIRM ASSIGNMENTS''' button to open the relevant panel.

 

[[File:TheCouncil2.png|right|500px]]

The Council Panel presents an overview of your current council, and a brief summary of their attributes.

By clicking on the portrait of one of your councilors, you will be taken to a more detailed screen with information on them, including the missions they are capable of, their attributes and incomes, their traits, and organizations controlled by them as well as available for purchase or assignment.

Of interest to us here initially is mainly what missions they are capable of, and their attributes.

The first stage of the early game is about getting a foothold on earth, and to do this requires either taking uncontested ‘'''Control Points'''’ ('''''CP''''') or taking over CP already controlled by another faction – these are done via different missions, and use different attributes.

 

[[File:TheCouncil3.png|right|278px]]

Uncontrolled CP are taken using the '''Control Nation''' mission, which is governed by the '''Persuasion''' attribute.

CP controlled by another faction are taken using the '''Purge''' mission, governed by the '''Espionage''' attribute.

CP can be made more vulnerable to '''Purges''' by the '''Crackdown''' mission. This is governed by the '''Investigation''' attribute. '''Crackdowns''' will also remove the benefits provided by a CP to an enemy faction.

Take a moment to look through your two councilors. In addition to the above, it is also worth paying attention to their '''Administration''' stat, any possible '''Income''' (note this is monthly, whereas the resource panel is daily by default), along with their '''Traits''' (which can affect how they perform on mission and their incomes significantly).

 

==== Recruiting Councilors ====

Once you have done that, return to the Council Panel, and lets take a look at hiring a third councilor, by hitting ‘'''Recruit'''’ either on one of the empty slots, or at the bottom of the Council Panel.

This will open a page with a list of candidates on the left side – clicking on them will provide information similar to what you were provided on your own councilors.

New councilors cost either 30 or 60 '''Influence''' to recruit. As we only start with 50, we will only be able to fill one of the two free slots we have.

Bearing what was described above in mind, and depending on your initial councilors, you will want to pick someone out to round out your roster. If you already have 2 councilors capable of the '''Control Nation''' mission, then hiring one capable of the '''Purge''' and '''Crackdown''' missions might be a good move. If you only have one councilors capable of the '''Control Nation''' mission, I would hire a second councilor with that mission available. In both cases it is worth it to also pay attention to their attributes for those relevant missions, as well as their '''Traits''' and '''Income'''.

When you have hired a third councilor, close the '''Council Panel''', and lets proceed to assigning missions to your team.

[[File:RecruitingCouncilors.png|center|900px]]
 

==== The Mission Interface ====

[[File:MissionInterface1.jpg|right|600px]]

When a councilor is selected during the Councilor Assignment Phase, additional UI elements appear allowing you to assign missions to them.

At the bottom of the main interface, you will see a panel which allows you to select from the missions available to the selected councilor.

Above that, the chances of success are shown, along with the factors that are both positively and negatively affecting these chances.

In addition to this panel, when you have a mission type selected which targets nations or other councilors, the base chance of success for that mission is shown on the map.

In the example on the right, you can see that for the selected Control Nation mission this ranges from 0% to 38%.

The mission selection panel shows the available mission types for that councilor, with ones with no valid target or insufficient resources to perform shown dimmed out.

Information on which Attribute governs the mission, as well as which resource can be spent (by moving the slider in the top right) to boost the chances of success.

[[File:MissionInterface2.jpg|right|600px]]

The mission assignment can be confirmed by clicking on the mission name (Control Nation) in the top middle of the panel.

 

==== Initial Mission Assignment ====

[[File:InitialMissionAssignment.jpg|right|400px]]

For this initial phase, if possible assign 2 of your councilors to Control Nation missions (aimed at countries with high base chances of success), and one to the Investigate Alien Activity mission. You can boost the Control Nation missions with some influence, but try to keep some in reserve.

You can click on nations to get more details on them, displayed on the left side of the screen. Take some time to look through a couple, there are extensive tooltips describing the various metrics that are tracked for nations.

Nations with higher levels of '''Public Support''' (a bigger slice of your colour in the donut) will be significantly easier for you to bring under your control. Public Support can be raised with the '''Public Campaign''' mission (governed by the '''Persuasion''' attribute).

Once you have finished assigning missions to all of your councilors, hit the '''CONFIRM ASSIGNMENTS''' button near the top of the screen to lock in your mission selections.

 

==== Starting Research ====

[[File:StartingResearch.jpg|right|400px]]

The final thing we want to look at before unpausing and beginning our campaign for real is Research, which is managed via the '''Research Panel'''. This can be accessed by clicking on the relevant button at the top of the UI. This page is split into 2 sections.

'''Global Research''' is shared research conducted across factions. These global technologies advance the general scientific understanding of humanity, and unlock various faction-specific Projects. Each faction can choose if they want to contribute research towards these, and how much. The faction contributing most research to a particular slot will choose the next technology to be researched by that slot. There are always 3 slots.

'''Council Engineering Projects''' are faction-specific projects with tangible results. These results can include bonuses to missions, additional councilor slots, new ship or habitat modules, various projects related to story progression, etc. You have a single slot for them to begin with, and can gain one additional one via an Org, and a second via a suitable equipped Habitat.

Council Engineering Projects can be freely switched around using the '''Change Project''' button. Global Research, once selected, is locked in to its slot until research is complete.

You can control the distribution of your research points using the 3 ‘pips’ located in the panel for each technology/project. These affect the relative distribution of your '''Research Points''' (daily income can be seen in the top resources bar) – if you have a total of 3 pips assigned like in the example on the right, and 2 are on a particular technology, then that technology will get 2/3 or 66% of your Research Points.

 
''Once you have done the above, you can unpause the game and let it run. The next Councilor Assignment Phase will happen in one week. In the meantime, you will probably get a few events.''

=== The First Weeks ===

==== Managing Nations ====

[[File:Sweden.jpg|right|600px]]

Once your Control Nation missions resolve, you may end up with a Control Point (CP) under your control. CP represent the various institutions and elements that hold power inside a nation. There are between 1 to 6 CP in each nation. Larger nations with bigger economies will have more CP, representing the increased difficulty in obtaining full control of more powerful nations.

The rightmost (or in the case of nations with only 1, the only) CP is always the Executive CP, and represents the most powerful office(s) in the nation. When taking control of a nation with multiple CP, you can only attempt to gain control of the Executive CP if you already have at least 1 other CP in the nation. In the example shown to the right, we have taken the only other CP in Sweden, leaving the Executive as our next target.

If you did not end up with CP after your first Councilor Phase, that’s okay – you can just repeat the process earlier in this guide (perhaps hiring an additional councillor to help out), until you do end up with a CP. It can also be beneficial to Boost the mission by spending Influence.

 

[[File:SwedenDetails.jpg|right|600px]]

Control CP allows you to affect the nations Priorities, which determine where they will spend their national budget. By default, they will be set to your Factions default Priority template, but you can adjust them by clicking on the pips beside each category – these work the same way as in Research, with your portion of the budget (so for example, 50% per CP in a nation with 2 CP, 25% per CP in a nation with 4, etc), split between the pips according to their distribution. Uncontrolled CP will have a default Priority configuration depending on the nations real world policies.

Once you control the Executive CP of a nation, you will also be able to adjust the nations foreign policy. This is done via the Relations tab, where a Manage button will appear once you have control of the executive CP. With this you can pay Influence to change your stance towards other nations from Allied to Neutral to Rival. Changes have a cooldown, so its worthwhile to plan ahead here.

In addition to the above, once you have the Executive CP, the Set National Policy mission can be used to perform other, more significant policy changes, such as declarations of war, forming federations, unifying with other countries, or disbanding armies.

 

==== Consolidating Power ====

[[File:Russia.jpg|right|600px]]

With an initial foothold with some CP, your next priority should be to aim to take full control over some of these nations.

Nations with 2 CP are ideal for this, as once you have the first one, it is impossible for any of the other factions to take the Executive CP if it is uncontrolled (as doing so requires at least 1 other CP, which you have the only one of).

For larger nations, you may run into cases where another faction also ends up with a CP, and thus you only end up with partial control of the nation even if you take the Executive CP. This is where the Crackdown and Purge missions come in.

 

[[File:Illustration1.jpg|right|400px]]

Crackdown can be used to disable and weaken a CP controlled by an enemy faction, and this will make it significantly easier to Purge. CP which have been affected by a Crackdown have the Crackdown mission icon on them in the Nation Panel, and a yellow/orange icon next to their on-map CP.

Purge is used to take control of a CP controlled by an enemy faction. Like Control Nation, taking control of an Executive CP requires control of at least one other CP in the nation. It is far easier to execute Purge missions against CP which are affected by the Crackdown mission.

Both Crackdown and Purge (and many other missions) are much easier to conduct in nations with high Public Support. The Public Campaign mission can increase this, and it is recommended to use it if you are attempting to go after larger (3 or more CP) nations, or enemy CP in nations with high Public Support for their faction.
 

[[File:Illustration2.jpg|right|400px]]

The other symbol you may seen on the Nation Panel or on-map CP is the Defend Interests icon, indicated as the mission icon on the Nation Panel, and as a shield next to on-map CP. Defend Interests is a mission which will add this modifier to any CP under your control in the targeted nation, and any CP affected by this modifier become much harder targets for Crackdown and Purge missions. The modifier expires after a set period.
 

=== The First Months ===

==== Long Term Planning ====

Hopefully after the first month or two, you will have control over at least a nation or two. At this point, with some initial footholds gained, its worth it to take a step back and consider what you will need as part of a longer term plan to fight back against the aliens.

The first thing we need to consider is Resources. In the longer term, this will mean the Space Resources shown on the right side of the Resource Panel, but in the short term, this means Money, Influence, Ops and Boost.

The second thing we will require is suitable Technology, which will enable us to expand our council, progress the story missions, and put the resources above to better use. In the longer term, technology will provide us with the tools to expand into the Solar System, design and build Spaceships, and fight the aliens on a more even footing.

[[File:LongTermPlanning.jpg|center|900px]]

==== Resources ====

: '''Money''' can be gained via councilors, or from nations via the Funding or Spoils priorities. It is useful for both Direct Investment, acquiring Orgs, and later on, for various costs related to space assets. It is also important for Boosting Public Campaign missions.

: '''Influence''' is gained for your share of global Public Support, as well as via councillors. It is important for acquiring Orgs, Direct Investment, hiring Councilors, certain new Councilor traits, and certain missions. It can also be expended to boost the Control Nation, Purge and Crackdown missions.

: '''Ops''' is gained mainly via councilors (and more specifically, relevant Orgs assigned to councilors). It is used for boosting various missions, particularly those that target enemy councilors and assets.

: '''Boost''' is gained via certain Orgs assigned to councilors, or from nations with space launch infrastructure. At the start of the game, the key ones are the USA, Japan, China, India, as well as any nation in the European Union or Eurasian Union (weighted to the bigger members). Boost is vital for expansion into space.

In addition to the uses above, all of these resources also have uses in Events, and having some on hand can offer alternative options.

The last Resource to consider in the longer term is Control Points Capacity. This is effectively a cap on how many nations/CPs you can maintain effective control over. It can be increased with certain councilor Attributes and Technology.

==== Technology ====

While initially your research will be directed at simple projects providing some resources and global tech providing awareness of the Aliens, after a few months you will want to start directing this with specific goals in mind.

Broadly speaking, we can divide early technology into 3 broad categories.

The first are those that provide a direct benefit to your operations and expansion on Earth. These include the ‘Clandestine Cells’ project to recruit a 5th councilor, the Commercial/Audience/Operations/Management Research ones providing additional resources, and others with similar bonuses.

The second are those that pave the way to serious expansion in the Solar System. This includes technologies that improves the amount of Boost you get, create Orgs providing Boost, reduce the amount of Boost required for sending payloads beyond Earth Orbit, and most crucially, those that allow you to send probes, and later build bases and mines on the Moon.

The final category is those that advance the story missions for your faction, revealing more about our ‘guests’ and their possible objectives. I would strongly recommend doing these whenever possible (unless the cost is completely unpalatable), as only by understanding the enemy can you begin to oppose them.

The final thing to remember is that contributing the most Research Points to a Global Research will allow you to pick the next one for that slot. This is very powerful, as it allows you to work towards technology you need to achieve your goals longer term.

==== Developing Councilors ====

[[File:DevelopingCouncilors1.jpg|right|600px]]

Once your councilors have completed a few missions, it is worth taking a look at their pages in the Council Panel again.

There are 2 ways to improve your councilors; by using the Augment button to spend XP on improving their Attributes and Traits, and by acquiring and assigning Orgs to them.

Augment allows you to spend XP (and in some cases, other Resources like Influence) to either improve their Attributes (up to a maximum of 25) or to purchase new Traits or improve existing ones. Generally, you will want to either focus on improving Attributes that help with the mission types you run with that councilor, or on improving Administration, which will allow you them to control more Orgs, and help with your CP Capacity resource.

 

[[File:Developing Councilors2.jpg|right|300px]]

Orgs are shown on the right side of the page, with Orgs assigned to this councilor shown in the upper half, and Orgs available for acquisition, or unassigned shown in the two tabs in the lower half.

Orgs are shown with their icon, name, 1-3 stars for their level, small icons showing what they do, and their cost. This cost is typically either in Money or Influence, though occasionally other resources are also used. Hovering over an Org will tell you more about its bonuses, and also any extra requirements to acquire it (for example some orgs require the Government trait).

An Org requires as much free Org Capacity (based on Administration attribute) as the number of stars on their icon. If you have both sufficient Org Capacity and Resources to acquire an Org, its icon will be shown in a brighter colour in the Org Panel.

It is worthwhile to check up on what Orgs are available every month.

 

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