Conventional armed forces
The balanced faction. A complete roster from infantry through tanks and mechs to air power, with no special mechanic — what you see here works exactly as expected.
Almost all of it sits behind research: every production building offers one combat unit to begin with, everything else you unlock in the tree.
The Arachnos is a massive 8-legged combat mech with three independent weapon systems on a fully rotating platform - twin cannon, rocket launcher and anti-infantry MG fire simultaneously in any direction, independent of the walking direction.
The artillery bombards targets at enormous range with area damage - ideal against buildings and defense towers, but inaccurate against moving targets and barely armored itself.
The Siege Train is the heaviest demolition weapon the Steel Union field: rolled up and unfolded it throws 500 paces - beyond the reach of ANY tower. The price is being rooted: six seconds to deploy, five to pack up, and helpless in between. Left without escort, it falls to the first squad that gets through.
The Breaker is a siege mortar: mobile it carries only a light backup gun, deployed it lobs shells 355 paces - farther than any standard tower. Against walls, gates and buildings its calibre ignores armour; against vehicles it achieves next to nothing. Deploying takes three seconds, and it is defenceless throughout.
The drone pilot sends a kamikaze drone over a long distance - deadly against infantry, poor against vehicles - but then has to walk back to the barracks unarmed to reload.
The flak tank fights airborne targets ONLY - defenseless against anything on the ground, so it needs its own protection. In return it keeps the sky over the base clear with a high rate of fire and long range.
The flamethrower burns whole infantry groups at once at close range - against armor it does almost nothing. It seeks out infantry even when a vehicle is closer. When it dies, its fuel tank goes up and takes surrounding infantry with it - including your own.
The Ghost is a cloaked elite sniper: kills infantry with one shot and stays invisible until it fires or the enemy gets too close. Besides the barracks it also needs an experimental works; only half damage against vehicles/mechs.
The grenadier throws grenades with area damage - strong against dense infantry and vehicle formations, weak against single targets.
The harvester mines ore and delivers it to the refinery - the closer the refinery is to the ore, the shorter the trips and the more harvesters can work efficiently.
The Titan mech is the mech factory's counterpart to the heavy tank: a bit more expensive, with longer range, but more vulnerable to critical hits.
The heavy tank is the heaviest unit of the regular tank line - hardly any target withstands its shot for long, but it itself takes the longest to get anywhere.
The Blast Furnace is a smelter on tracks: it devours wrecks around it and casts fresh tanks on the spot - a rolling factory at the front. The more that lies on the battlefield, the more reinforcements it turns out. Most of the scrap's value is lost in the process; it is no replacement for a refinery.
The Humvee is cheap, fast and deadly against infantry - against vehicles and mechs, however, it does little damage.
The Impulse fires an EMP burst that completely disables enemy vehicles, mechs and defense towers in the area for several seconds - it deals no damage itself.
Unlike the jet, the attack helicopter can hover in place and fire - slower and tougher than the jet, but without an attack run. It shares the free landing pads with the other hoverers to reload.
The fighter jet is the fastest unit in the game: it takes off from the airfield, flies over its target in an attack run and returns to reload - its airfield is also its permanent home base. Its rockets also hit airborne targets. Untouchable on the ground, but flak and guided-missile squads reliably bring it down.
The Combat Engineer is an unarmed engineer: send it (right-click) onto an enemy building to capture it - if the building is above 50% health it first sabotages it (dealing 51% damage) and a SECOND engineer then captures it; if it is already below 50%, it captures immediately. Growth buildings are organic and cannot be captured. Sent onto a damaged building of your own, it fully repairs it. In every case it is consumed - and it is fragile, so protect it on the way.
The Colossus is a giant harvester with triple cargo space and double mining speed - slower, but a rolling ore depot.
The light tank is the entry point into the tank line: faster and cheaper than its heavier upgrades, but with less firepower and armor.
The Sky Scout is a fast, unarmed reconnaissance drone from the helipad: twice the Humvee's sight range reveals the map early and scouts enemy bases and troop movements. Extremely fragile - any flak hit brings it down.
The Mammoth tank is the heaviest unit in the game: twin cannon plus an independent rear rocket launcher. Unique self-repair that, alone among all units, keeps running even in combat (up to 25% HP) - but the full 50% only out of combat and only from level 5.
The MCV drives to any point on the map and can be deployed there into another command center - the only way to expand the base to a new location or rebuild after a loss.
The medium tank is the all-rounder of the tank line: no specialist, but weak in no category - a solid choice when you don't want to decide between speed and firepower.
The MLRS fires a salvo of rockets that blanket an entire area - devastating against bases and dense formations, but very vulnerable and imprecise against single targets. The only siege unit with friendly fire: the salvo also hits your own troops in the spread radius, so keep your distance from your own army.
The Phantom is a cloaked rocket tank: invisible to the enemy until it gets close or the Phantom fires.
The guided-missile squad is the infantry's answer to everything armored and everything airborne: its guided rockets punch through heavy armor reliably (but don't hit guaranteed) and, as the only Steel Union infantry, also bring AIRCRAFT down from the sky - reaching 50% farther against them than on the ground. Against infantry it is clearly inferior.
The rocket-launcher mech fires a long salvo of precise rockets from its shoulder pods - clearly more accurate than the MLRS against individual vehicles and infantry, but with less total damage against bases and defenseless at close range. As with the MLRS, the salvo also hits your own troops in the spread radius.
The Field Repair Truck is a rolling workshop: within its aura friendly vehicles and mechs repair much faster - so a battered armoured line does not have to pull back to the workshop first. It cannot treat infantry; that is what medics are for. Unarmed itself, it belongs behind the front.
The rifleman is the cheapest combat unit in the game and gets noticeably better with every battle - a freshly trained rifleman hits far less often than an experienced one.
The scout mech is built for reconnaissance: high speed and wide sight, but only limited firepower in direct combat.
The APC carries up to 5 infantry quickly across the map, e.g. to bring reinforcements to the front or slip infantry behind enemy lines - unarmed but solidly armored. When destroyed, the passengers disembark alive.
The barracks trains infantry and also serves as a field hospital - infantry near it is healed automatically.
The build hub extends the area in which new buildings may be erected - a cheap way to expand the base toward ore deposits or the front line without needing a second command center.
The Bunker is unarmed itself, but can be garrisoned with up to 5 infantry (right-click, like a transport): each occupant fires its OWN weapon out of the embrasures - +40% range, but slightly reduced damage. Pick the garrison to match the enemy (riflemen vs infantry, anti-tank vs vehicles). The occupants are untargetable while the bunker stands - if it falls, they die with it. Requires a barracks.
The command center is the heart of the base: you may build around it, and losing it can mean immediate elimination depending on the victory mode.
The Detector Tower is an anti-stealth sensor: it reveals cloaked enemy units (Phantom, Ghost, Wraith and others) within a wide radius, so your units and towers can see and fire on them. Unarmed itself - a pure reconnaissance structure against the stealth meta. Requires a radar.
The experimental works is the most expensive but most powerful production facility: giant mechs, cloaked vehicles and EMP tech roll off the line here, and it also unlocks the cloaked ghost sniper in the barracks.
The mech factory produces the entire mech line - from the light scout to the heavily armored Titan mech to the rocket-launcher mech.
The Siege Tower is a long-range defensive gun: its enormous range outreaches every siege weapon (artillery, MLRS, Railgun Mech), taking out enemy siege equipment before it reaches the base. Its blind spot is close range - it cannot hit targets right in front of it, so infantry and fast melee attackers counter it. Requires a technology center.
The Flak Tower is stationary anti-air defence: it fires ONLY at flying targets, but does so quickly and with the longest range of any tower - attackers are under fire long before their own weapons can reach it. Against ground troops it is completely helpless and needs other towers beside it. Requires a Radar.
The Airfield is the runway for the Fighter Jet - and for nothing else; every other Steel Union aircraft lifts off from the Helipad. The jet is by far the fastest thing in the game, but it carries only a few shots and returns here after every attack to rearm and repair. The runway costs accordingly in money and power.
The gun turret is the heaviest stationary defense: its gun reliably punches through vehicle and mech armor, but struggles against individual infantry.
The Helipad is the Steel Union air base: Attack Helicopters and Sky Scouts launch from here. Both carry a limited supply of ammunition and return here to rearm and repair - without the pad the air force stands still. The Fighter Jet, by contrast, needs the long runway of the Airfield.
The Listening Post does not shoot. Instead it reports enemy units far beyond the fog and marks their rough position on map and minimap - as contact blips, not as recognisable units. Several enemies close together show up as a single blip. Requires a Radar.
The Wall is built as a LINE: the 1st click sets the start, then you drag the wall line and a second click builds it; Shift+click sets a corner and keeps going. Each segment starts at nearly 0% HP and grows over a few seconds - a wall thrown down in front of an enemy is vulnerable at first. Very high armor (concrete): small arms barely scratch it, only siege cracks it. Blocks paths and channels attacks. Gates and towers can be placed into a wall, seamlessly replacing the segment.
The MG nest fires fast and often - ideal for wearing down advancing infantry early, but almost useless against vehicles and mechs.
The power plant produces energy for the base - without enough energy, production and buildings run slower. Upgradeable with turbine upgrades at the technology center (two levels, +50 energy per power plant each).
The radar has two jobs: it unlocks the minimap, and within its radius the fog veil lifts over ground you have already explored - enemy units there become visible too. It does NOT reveal territory you have never scouted. Late in the research tree comes the choice: extend that coverage across the entire explored map, or remove your own forces from all enemy long-range detection.
The missile silo is the ultimate superweapon: after about 4 minutes of charging, any point on the map can be targeted - the missile hits EVERYTHING in the blast radius, including your own and allied units. Recharges automatically after every launch.
The Rocket Battery engages targets at even greater range than the Siege Tower. It fires a staggered salvo of three rockets per target that barely scatter even at full distance - but it reloads slowly. Like the Siege Tower it is blind up close. Requires a Technology Centre.
The refinery processes ore into resources and comes with a harvester on construction. Harvesters deliver exclusively to the refinery - the closer it sits to the ore, the shorter the harvester trips and the more harvesters can work efficiently side by side.
The sniper tower sees and shoots farther than any other defense tower - deadly against infantry, especially anti-tank soldiers, but of little use against vehicles.
The Heavy Hall is the second tier beyond the Experimental Works and thus the Steel Union's most expensive build gate. The Blast Furnace is built here.
The Storage Silo increases storage space - all three ores share ONE pool. The command center and refineries provide a base capacity. Once the pool is full, loaded harvesters stay docked and wait (the economy stalls rather than wasting surplus); copper and titanium together may only occupy 60% of it, so there is always room for iron. Costs only iron and is quick to build.
The technology center is the base's research forge: upgrade levels for energy, infantry, vehicles, mechs and air are researched here. A completed level takes effect immediately and on ALL of your units - including the ones built long ago.
The Gate is built as a LINE like the wall (1st click start, 2nd click end, Shift for a corner) - as wide as you need. It lets your own units pass: each segment sinks into the ground when a friendly unit is near, and stays shut while an enemy stands beside it - so your wall line stays open for you but sealed against attackers. Built over an existing wall, it replaces those segments. Very high armor like the wall; each segment grows up from ~0% HP while building.
The vehicle factory is the economic and military backbone of the base - it builds both harvesters for resource mining and the entire wheeled and tracked vehicle line.
Vehicles and mechs can drive back to the workshop and dock to be fully repaired step by step (costs resources, proportional to the damage healed) - combat units even retreat to it automatically at low health.
The Twin Cannon is the heavy version of the Gun Turret: two barrels, double the output and a damage curve that only pays off against heavy armour. Against light vehicles and infantry it is wasted money - but it stops heavy tanks where a single Gun Turret gives way. Requires a Technology Centre.
Nothing found.