f<!o>Basic Gameplay</>

The only victory condition is to destroy the opposing <!G>Command Centre</> using the Superweapon or attacking it directly with your units. By capturing resource points, you can increase the rate of resource accumulation (Iron and Steam) which enables you to build units or to fire the Superweapon.

There are <!G>4 tiers of Units</> for each Faction with varying strengths. Each Faction is made up of at least a Ranged or Melee Unit.


<!o>Basic Controls</> 

Use 2/8 for up/down and 4/6 for left/right or the D-Pad to navigate; Use 5 or the Middle D-Pad to select. Use 0 to deselect.

Pressing the '<!G>Right Soft Key</>' opens the Map Overview.

Pressing the '<!G>Left Soft Key</>' opens the Build Menu.


<!o>Unit Selection</> 

Select a Unit by placing your cursor over a unit and pressing '<!G>5</>'. or the <!G>Middle D-Pad</>.

You can <!G>cycle</> through individual friendly unit by pressing'<!G>1</>'. 

Pressing '<!G>3</>' will select all friendly units of the same tier on the screen. Pressing '<!G>3</>' again will select the next tier of units.

Pressing keypad '<!G>9</>' will select the all friendly units on the screen. 

Deselect units by pressing'<!G>0</>'.

 
<!o>Bounding Box Selection</> 

To select multiple units using the bounding box, deselect any units and place the cursor near the group of units. Press '<!G>5</>' or the middle D-Pad. Ensure that the cursor is pointing at an empty space with no units on it.

A <!G>bounding box</> will appear. Any units that fall in the box will be selected. The bounding box is expanded by pressing keypad '<!G>5</>' or the middle D-Pad again. The bounding box can be expanded a maximum of 3 times. 


<!o>Control Groups</> 
Selected units can be assigned to a <!G>control group</>. First, select units.

Next, Press the '<!G>#</>" key, followed by a number on the keypad. You can assign up to 9 control groups. 

Press the "<!G>*</>" button and then the number assigned to select the units of the particular control group.


<!o>HUD</> 

Information about the selected unit/resource/building is shown in the <!G>information panel</> of the HUD.

If you have multiple units selected, the information panel will show the icons and the health bar for the units instead. 

The <!G>Mini-map</> displays the overview of the map. Units/Buildings/Capture resource points are represented by the color of its owner in the Mini-map.

The Yellow box shows the current view area of the screen.

The <!G>amount</> of resources accumulated is shown at the bottom left of the HUD frame.

The current amount of resources is displayed, followed by the rate of accumulation.

The unit <!G>population</> of the player is shown below the resource displays. There is a cap of 15 units.  


<!o>Build Menu</> 

The Build Menu allows you to <!G>train and upgrade units</>, <!G>upgrade resources</> and to fire the <!G>Superweapon</> using their hotkeys.

When a hotkey is pressed to build, upgrade or fire the Superweapon, it is queued for production in the Build Queue.


'<!G>1</>' to '<!G>4</>' are used for <!G>unit production</>. 

'<!G>5</>' is used to upgrade the unit tier to gain access to higher tier units.

'<!G>6</>' and '<!G>7</>' are used to upgrade Iron and Steam resources respectively. 

'<!G>8</>' is used to fire the Superweapon.

'<!G>9</>' is used to activate the game menu. The game menu can be used to pause the game, toggle sound and surrender.
 

<!o>Map Overview</>
Zoom to a sector of the map by pressing the corresponding hotkey on the map overview.

Go to <!G><www.steamirongame.com></> for more information.