HexArmy is a turn-based tactical strategy game built on a hex grid where the outcome of every battle depends on the decisions you make before the first shot is fired. Choose from 10 real-world-inspired factions, each with a distinct military doctrine that reshapes how you fight. The United States fields air superiority with extended jet range and precision strikes. Russia overwhelms with discounted armor and infantry, flooding the map with numbers. Iran exploits rear flanking at 75% bonus damage and deploys units that act immediately on spawn. North Korea entrenches behind fortified cities with +50% bombardment resistance. New Zealand runs a lean volunteer force — fewer units, lower budget, but every capture heals your army and restores the city. These aren't cosmetic differences. Faction choice alters your draft budget, unit costs, terrain bonuses, defensive modifiers, production capacity, and AI behavior. Two players running the same strategy with different factions will produce different wars. THE DRAFT Before combat begins, you build your roster. Each faction receives a gold budget — typically 900 to 1,020 gold — and a catalog of 21 unit types spanning ground forces, armor, air power, naval assets, and special operations. You pick up to 8 units (some factions allow fewer), balancing cost against capability. Unspent gold carries into the match as starting funds. A lean draft with scouts and infantry leaves gold for early production. A heavy draft with tanks, jets, and a bomber puts firepower on the field immediately but starves your economy. There is no correct answer — only the answer that survives contact with the enemy's composition. 21 UNIT TYPES Ground forces form your frontline: Infantry entrench for bonus defense, Tanks absorb hits with armor plating, Artillery suppresses from 5 hexes away, and Engineers repair your cities and fortify defensive positions. Recon and Scout units extend your vision deep into enemy territory. APCs carry up to 5 units across the map and rapid-deploy them in a single turn. Snipers eliminate foot soldiers from concealment with 92% accuracy. Mortars lob indirect fire but require a spotter in range. Air power controls the tempo: Jets strike with afterburner speed, Helicopters strafe adjacent hexes, Bombers deliver 3x strategic strikes against structures and naval targets. Paratroopers airdrop behind enemy lines, immune to anti-air fire. Naval forces dominate the coastline: Destroyers bombard from shore, Submarines dive invisible for ambush attacks, AA Frigates deny enemy air over open water, and Transports ferry your ground army across seas. Then there is the Nuclear Launcher — 3,500 gold, one warhead, 30 damage to the target and every adjacent hex. It self-destructs after firing. Guard it carefully. Every combat unit has a unique ultimate ability on cooldown. Tank Blitz resets movement and grants a double attack. Artillery Barrage hits the target and all adjacent hexes. Submarine Dive renders it invisible for two turns with a 50% damage bonus on the first strike. PsyOps Phantom Signal injects false reports into the enemy operations log. These abilities create decisive moments that swing the battle when used at the right time. TERRAIN AND POSITIONING Hex terrain is not decoration. Forests grant +2 defense and +10 dodge while blocking line of sight. Mountains provide +3 defense but cost extra movement for most units. Cities generate 100 gold per turn and offer garrison defense. Deserts and plains allow rapid movement but leave units exposed. Flanking matters. Attacking from behind deals bonus damage. Entrenched infantry behind a fortified forest hex with an engineer healing adjacent is a fundamentally different problem than the same infantry standing on open plains. Elevation, concealment, and chokepoints emerge naturally from the procedurally generated maps. Seven map generators produce battlefields ranging from tight corridors to sprawling continental theaters of up to 5,000 hexes, ensuring no two matches play the same. FOG OF WAR You see only what your units see. Vision is computed per unit based on type, terrain, and special abilities. Recon units see 4-5 hexes deep. Radar sweeps 8 hexes in a rotating directional arc. Scouts ignore forest vision penalties. Snipers and PsyOps units are invisible unless an enemy stands adjacent. Submerged submarines vanish entirely. Smoke screens from mortar ultimates blind everything in a 2-hex radius for two turns. On Medium and Hard difficulty, the AI operates under the same fog of war rules you do. It does not see your hidden sniper. It does not track your submarine. It builds its threat map from what its units can actually observe, and it makes mistakes because of it. ECONOMY AND PRODUCTION Your HQ generates 200 gold per turn. Every city you capture adds 100 gold. Damaged cities cost more to produce from, so engineers repairing your infrastructure directly improves your economic output. Production happens at any city or structure you control. The full unit catalog is available — if you can afford it. Iran's infantry costs 30% less. Russia's tanks are discounted 15%. New Zealand cannot build jets at all. These constraints force doctrinal production decisions that differ every game based on your faction and the state of the map. COMPETITIVE MULTIPLAYER HexArmy supports 2, 3, and 4 player matches in free-for-all or team configurations (2v2, 2v1, 3v1). Matches run in real-time turns over Socket.IO with disconnect recovery. A 17-tier ranked ladder tracks your ELO from Bronze III through General. Monthly and lifetime leaderboards reset and record your competitive history. Create or join a Battalion — a clan of up to 20 players with its own ELO rating, emblem, and leaderboard position. Single-elimination tournaments support 8, 16, or 32 player brackets with automatic seeding and ELO rewards for placement. FIVE VICTORY CONDITIONS Not every war ends the same way: HQ Takeover — Capture the enemy headquarters. Military Annihilation — Destroy every enemy unit. Complete Domination — Capture all cities and destroy all enemy units. Infantry Only — Only foot troops may be drafted and produced. 20 Turn Survival — The player controlling the most cities after 20 turns wins. Each mode reshapes your draft, your economy, and your definition of a winning position. PROGRESSION 24 military ranks from Private to General, earned through combat actions, victories, and mastery challenges. Higher ranks require elite conditions: win streaks on Hard difficulty, flawless victories, and faction-specific mastery. 97 commendation medals track everything from your first kill to a 10-game win streak to completing a sub-7-turn victory. A persistent service record logs your lifetime combat statistics, K/D ratio, economic output, and competitive history in a public dossier. Units that survive combat earn experience and promote through three tiers: Veteran, Specialist, and Commander. Each promotion offers a specialization choice that permanently alters the unit's capabilities. Commanders project faction-specific auras that buff nearby allies — and their death is a significant loss. KEY FEATURES 10 Doctrine-Driven Factions — Each faction has unique costs, bonuses, restrictions, and AI personality. Faction choice is a strategic decision, not a cosmetic one. 21 Unit Types with Ultimate Abilities — Ground, air, naval, and special forces, each with a unique cooldown ability that creates decisive tactical moments. True Fog of War — Vision is per-unit, terrain-dependent, and applies to the AI on Medium and Hard. No omniscient enemies. Procedural Battlefields — 7 map generators, up to 5,000 hex tiles. No two matches play the same. Competitive Ranked Ladder — 17-tier ELO system with Battalions, tournaments, and monthly leaderboards. 5 Victory Conditions — HQ Takeover, Annihilation, Complete Domination, Infantry Only, and 20 Turn Survival. Unit Promotion System — Veterans promote with branching specializations. Commanders project battlefield auras. 97 Commendation Medals — Deep achievement system tracking combat milestones, mastery, and elite play. 6-Direction Sprite Rendering — Units visually face their movement direction with 504 unique perspective-aware sprite variants. Adaptive AI — Faction-aware AI with three difficulty tiers that adapts targeting, production, retreat, and territory control to its doctrine. Multiplayer — 2-4 players, free-for-all or teams, real-time turns with disconnect recovery. Full Gamepad Support — Analog stick navigation, trigger zoom, and face-button controls for couch play.
