How to play Hardpoint

Hardpoint is a real-time strategy game that runs in your browser. You start with one fortified base on a large map and a handful of rival commanders, run by AI or by other players. You build an economy, produce vehicles and helicopters, take neutral bases, and destroy your rivals' defences until nobody else has a base left. This guide covers everything you need for your first game.

Play now The menu has a short Tutorial mission that walks you through building a force, shooting down a defence turret and capturing a base. It is the quickest way to learn.

1. The goal

You are knocked out when your headquarters falls, which happens when its last Flarak turret is destroyed. You win by being the last commander standing. Other game modes end on a clock instead: after a set time, the player with the most bases or the highest score wins. You choose the mode, the difficulty, the number of rivals (2 to 9), how many neutral bases there are, and a map seed when you start a new game.

Total annihilation

Destroy every rival. Losing your last base puts you out.

Bases and Points (timed)

After 60, 120, 240 or 480 minutes, the player holding the most bases (or the highest score) wins. Variable-pace versions run fast at first and slow down.

Teams

An optional switch on every mode: you and half the AIs against the other half, with shared vision.

Difficulty

Easy AIs earn half income and attack after about ten minutes of peace. Normal AIs attack after about five. Hard AIs earn more, play smarter and attack after two and a half minutes.

2. Your economy

Your headquarters has four factories, each producing one resource:

• Concrete factory: concrete, spent on base buildings and walls.
• Steel mill: steel, the main cost of vehicles.
• Composites factory: composites, the main cost of helicopters and many upgrades.
• Oil refinery: oil, burned as fuel. Moving vehicles use it, and a vehicle with no fuel stops, so keep the refinery running.

You start with no resources, but the factories run on their own while you are active, paying out every 5 seconds. A factory produces 2,000 units per minute for every level it has. Output per base is divided by the square root of the number of bases you hold, so spreading out has diminishing returns. Hover a factory to see its rate and press Upgrade to raise its level. Each base can do one build at a time: an upgrade, a defence, or one vehicle.

Storage is limited, so spend what you earn. The command building at the front of your base converts oil into Titan, a rare resource used for extensions, radar and base upgrades.

3. Building an army

1. Hover the big hangar at the front of your base, the vehicle bay, and pick a vehicle. It rolls out through the gate and parks just below the base.
2. Vehicles belong to groups of up to nine of the same type. A new vehicle joins an existing group of its type when there is room. You can have only a limited number of groups at once: two to start, plus half a group for every extra base you hold.
3. Groups stand in a 3 by 3 block by default. You can switch a group's formation to rows, column, line or blob on its group card.
4. Vehicles earn ranks (Veteran, Elite and Champion) for destroying enemies, which gives them more damage and health. Keep your veterans alive by pulling damaged groups back to a base, where they repair.

The units guide lists every vehicle with its cost, health, damage and best use.

4. Capturing bases

Every base is guarded by Flaraks, strong automatic gun turrets with a long range. When a base's last Flarak is destroyed, it is lost to its owner and becomes neutral, and then a Boxer APC can take it. A home base that loses its last Flarak eliminates its player. The sequence is always the same:

1. Send armour or artillery to destroy the Flarak turrets. Howitzers and bombers are the best at this. Flaraks outrange every vehicle, so expect losses.
2. Keep your vehicles out of the turrets' range until you are ready, and let a Boxer APC wait nearby.
3. When the last turret has fallen, the Boxer drives through the gate into the vehicle bay. It is used up, and the base is yours.

Neutral bases have one Flarak and are the easiest early targets. You get a full base with two Flaraks and level-one factories, and it adds to your group limit and your income. Enemy bases are the same, only with more turrets and an owner who fights back. Destroying an enemy home base's turrets knocks that player out, and a Boxer can then capture the empty base.

You can strengthen your own bases too: build more Flaraks, add walls, and research missiles. A garrisoned group stands guard at a base, heals there, and takes less damage while defending.

5. Fog of war and scouting

You can only see what your own units and bases can see. Anything else is dark. Ground you have scouted stays revealed, but enemies in it are only shown while you can see them, and an enemy base you saw earlier is shown as it was when you last looked, marked "last seen". Scouts, radar stations and the scout helicopter are your eyes. The map's day and night cycle and weather also change how far everyone can see, and night favours defenders. AI players play by the same rules: they cannot see through the fog either.

6. Helicopters

Helicopters are built only at helicopter bases, special neutral bases with a helipad. Capture one first. They fly straight over rivers, forests and bases, and only anti-air units (the Gepard and the Sentinel) and Flaraks can shoot them down. That makes them superb for raiding deep behind enemy lines, and deadly against armies that did not bring anti-air. A new helicopter lifts off the middle of its pad, and helicopters land on the pad to repair.

7. Controls

Desktop (mouse and keyboard)

Phone and tablet

• Tap a vehicle to select it, or tap the ground or a base to give an order.
• Press and hold to give a command, the same as a right-click.
• Drag one finger to pan the map. Pinch with two fingers to zoom.
• The ▭ button switches one-finger drag to box-select.
• The command bar at the bottom shows every order for the selected group. On a phone the minimap sits at the top right.

8. Playing with others

Sign in (Google or email) to open the Multiplayer lobby. One player creates a room and shares its five-letter code. Friends join with the code, and empty seats are played by AI. Choose any normal mode, or Humans vs AI, where all players share a team against the AIs. Each player only sees what their own units see. If someone disconnects, an AI plays their seat until they return. When a match ends, everyone can vote for a rematch on the same map. Guests can play every AI mode without signing in.

9. Quick tips for your first game

• Upgrade your factories early, and build a few cheap vehicles to explore. Do not lose them near a Flarak.
• Take the closest neutral base first. More bases give more income and more groups.
• Bring artillery or bombers to break Flaraks, and tanks to protect them.
• Always keep a Boxer or two in reserve. A base is only taken when a Boxer gets inside.
• If helicopters appear, add a Gepard or two to your army.
• Watch your oil. A refinery left too low means your army stops moving.