Getting Started

Run the prototype, learn the core loop, and give your first competent orders. This is the ten-minute on-ramp to ASHFALL.

What's live today

The prototype is at milestone M0/M1: squad movement, cover-snapping, and the first firefight systems. Economy, full production, and the campaign arrive at M2–M3. Where a section describes a system that isn't playable yet, it says so.

Running the prototype

ASHFALL runs in the browser — no account, no download of a client. To run the current dev build locally you'll clone the repository and start the dev server:

# from the project root
npm install
npm run dev

# open the printed local URL (default http://localhost:5173)

Requirements: a recent Chromium, Firefox, or Safari with WebGL2; Node 18+ and npm for the dev server; keyboard and mouse (touch isn't supported yet).

If npm run dev isn't defined in your checkout yet, the game team hasn't shipped the first playable drop into your copy of the repo. Watch the devlog for build announcements.

The core loop

Every skirmish is the same short, sharp rhythm. Master this and the rest is nuance:

Capture points. Move a squad onto a Strategic Point to start its capture timer. Points generate Requisition (buys infantry and most tech) and, at Power Nodes, Power (buys vehicles and top-tier upgrades).
Spend on your army. There's no worker unit and no base-building sprawl. Your HQ builds structures and produces units; your squads capture and fortify points. Every economic choice is also a military one: which points do we hold and contest?
Fight for the front. Push squads into cover, suppress the enemy, flank the guns, and break their line. See the Battle Primer for how that actually works.
Win by Control. Hold a majority of Strategic Points to run the enemy's ticket down to zero — or annihilate every enemy structure. Control is the default and produces front-line games with comebacks. Battles last 15–25 minutes.

Giving orders

ASHFALL is a squad game, so you're commanding a handful of entities, not a swarm. The controls are built around reading and posturing your line.

Action	How	Why it matters
Select a squad	Left-click its models or its roster card	The whole squad is one commandable entity
Center on a squad	Double-click its roster card	Jump the camera to a unit in trouble
Move	Right-click a destination	Models auto-snap to nearby cover on arrival
Set facing	Drag the move order (release in the facing direction)	Facing decides which cover protects you and where suppression points
Attack-move	Attack-move key, then click	Advance while engaging anything in range
Stances	Aggressive / Hold / Retreat-move	Retreat-move is faster but drops morale — use it to escape, not to reposition
Control groups	Bind and recall number keys	Recall your assault wing or your gun-line in one press

Reading the roster strip

The roster strip along the edge of the screen is ASHFALL's signature UI element — one card per squad and vehicle, showing health, morale, upgrades, and cover state. Because your army is only 8–14 entities, your entire force is always one glance away. This is the "squads, not swarms" pillar paying off directly:

Two bars per unit. Health and morale. A squad at full health but low morale is about to break — watch the second bar.
Cover pips. A shield icon shows current cover quality. When you hover a move order, pips preview the cover you'll get before you commit.
Posture at a glance. On the battlefield itself: pinned squads go prone, breaking squads run, locked melees visibly scrum. You can always answer "who is winning this firefight" from posture alone.

The one habit to build

Watch morale, not just health. Breaking a squad opens a hole in the line right now and is often better than killing it. Half of ASHFALL's tactics live in that second bar.

Where to go next

You know the loop. Now learn the grammar of the front line — cover, suppression, morale, and melee — in the Battle Primer. Then pick who you'll command in The Four Factions, and read how a single battle feeds a continent-spanning war in The Campaign.