GUIDES / GETTING STARTED

Getting started

Your first match, from the first solar plant to the first win. Aether Ascent plays like the classic RTS games it descends from — if you've built a base and boxed an army before, you're most of the way home.

The first five minutes

You start with a Construction Yard — it builds every structure, and losing your last one loses you the match. Get the economy standing before anything else:

Solar Plant first. Everything runs on power, and a brownout slows the whole base.
Refinery next, placed close to a resource deposit — it comes with a free Harvester that starts working immediately. Short trips are everything: a refinery beside the deposit out-earns a distant one several times over.
Trade Hub — this is the step that gets credits rolling in. Your harvest is stock, not money, until it sells: the hub converts surplus into credits automatically, and until one stands you are spending down your starting wallet.
A few Marines from your starting Barracks — you already own the building, and a small guard squad stands outside. Train, don't build. Not because you're attacking — because your opponent eventually is.
A second Harvester when credits allow — two trucks per deposit cluster is a healthy start — and a Vehicle Depot when the economy can carry it: tanks decide the midgame.

Credits are global across your whole operation; raw resources (regolith, metals, water) belong to the world they were mined on. The Trade Hub always keeps a per-resource reserve, so automated selling can't strip what your rockets will need.

The combat triangle

Cost for cost: Marines beat Rocket Troopers, Rocket Troopers beat Tanks, Tanks beat Marines and Buggies. Scout Buggies are fast infantry-shredders that melt against armor. Mixed groups beat pure-anything — check the units table for the exact multipliers when you're ready to min-max.

Research

The University generates science, and science buys techs in four branches — Economy, Military, Space, Science (the full tree). Early picks that rarely disappoint: Improved Drills (more per harvest) and whichever military tech matches the army you're already building. The Space branch is how you eventually leave the planet — Launch Pad Plans unlocks the Spaceport.

Defense that works

Gun Turrets cover ground; they ignore aircraft. AA Turrets are the reverse. You need both eventually.
Walls slow a push and shield turrets from siege fire.
A Radar Station widens your vision and warns you when a colony on another world comes under attack.
Units return fire when shot and prefer enemy units over buildings — trust them to fight sensibly, and use attack-move (not plain move) when advancing into contested ground.

Winning

Destroy every enemy Construction Yard and the match is yours — the moment the last one falls, everything else that commander owns dies with it. A surviving MCV won't save them, but an MCV that deploys in time is a brand-new yard, so hunt those too. Before you march: scout (lost both starting Scouts? The Barracks trains another for 150 credits). The map remembers what you've seen, but only the fog you've lifted. When your army outnumbers what you've scouted of theirs, push — hesitation feeds the enemy economy exactly like it feeds yours.

Difficulty, saves, and not losing heart

The AI comes in three grades — Easy, Medium, and Hard. Easy gives you a long grace period before anything serious arrives; Medium runs the full strategic playbook at a gentler tempo; Hard runs it at full speed and full depth. The FIRST MATCH preset in the setup screen is tuned for a first game.
Save anytime. Six slots, and with an optional free account they follow you across devices.
Lost anyway? The economy guide is usually the reason and the cure. A stronger economy forgives almost every tactical sin.

When home feels solved, it's time to leave it: Going off-world.

ALL GUIDES GETTING STARTED ECONOMY GOING OFF-WORLD COMBAT MAP EDITOR

REFERENCE GENERATED FROM LIVE GAME DATA — BALANCE v102 · 2026-08-27 · NUMBERS UPDATE WITH EVERY RELEASE