Getting Started in Chaos Front
A first-hour checklist that respects the mothership, the calendar, and your gold.
Chaos Front looks like a grand-strategy sequel and plays like a mercenary SRPG. You do not paint the galaxy your color. You park a ship over a planet, take a contract, and decide whether the Interstellar Consortium, the Black Flag, or a revolutionary world pays better this month. This page is the launch-week onboarding for the 3 September 2026 Steam release.
If the demo already taught you that the Impactor can sit full of mecha while you click empty space, you are in the right article. Pair it with controls and combat once the first fight starts.
Pick a protagonist on purpose
The full game offers two selectable leads. Lycurgus is the celebrity route: a galactic mecha-olympiad champion who walks into mercenary work with a named battleship and a crew that already knows his face. Hongyu is the political route: a Gan royal descendant who refuses to stay a pawn and builds a corps the hard way. Developer logs say the two campaigns share a galaxy but keep at least half of their missions distinct. Do not start both on day one. Finish a star-rank plan on one save.
The demo locked players into the Lycurgus prologue. The retail build is the place to meet Hongyu’s staff, Gan court baggage, and the Shazhou proposal screens you will see in missions.
The mothership is not a decoration
Your capital ship is a hangar with a ram. On the tactical grid you move the hull first, then select it again and issue Sortie to dump boarded units onto adjacent tiles. Stacking everyone on one hex is a demo habit that gets your gold mecha ramed into a rock field. Spread to two or three stacks so a single knockback does not pancake the roster.
Read the footer tooltips. Left click issues orders. Right click opens unit data. Battle menu sits top-left. End Turn sits bottom-right. That is the whole first-hour interface; the rest is discipline. Details live on controls.
First hour on the Centersea map
After the prologue fight you are on a node map: planets, industrial bases, and timed story pings such as “head to Kowloon before the time limit.” Click a connected site to move. ESC opens Manage. Wait spends time on purpose; do not Wait because you are lost.
Find a Mission Center early. Contracts pay gold and reputation. Faction battles pay relationship and, later, exclusive ships and ARMS once a power trusts you. Do not join three sides in one week. Pick a paymaster, then read missions before you declare war from a proposal screen.
Spend gold like a merc, not a collector
The shop will sell you battleships, submarines, mecha, artillery, fighters, and titans. About 70 chassis exist in the full roster. You do not need 70 on hour one. Buy a second light mecha and a pilot before you buy a titan you cannot staff. Recruitment explains why a talent on a cheap frame beats an empty legendary hull.
Watch morale, ammunition, and energy in the unit card. High morale increases damage. Zero morale is a routing unit with a pretty sprite. Supply is a resource, not flavor.
Calendar before cosmetics
The Steam page prints a hard line: a bad ending triggers on 30/12/C.E.29 unless the mercenary group is upgraded to star 9 in time for the final battle. Screenshots already show dates like 15/6/C.E.26 and 1/10/C.E.27. You have in-universe years, not infinite sandbox time. Open the ending checklist the same day you learn Sortie.
Star rank comes from completing story missions, campaign battles, and keeping the corps solvent. It does not come from idling on Valencia because the music is good.
A clean opening sequence
- Finish the tutorial fight without stacking the entire sortie on one tile.
- Move to a Mission Center and take a contract you can actually win.
- Recruit at least one extra pilot before the second shop spree.
- Note the in-game date and your star rank.
- Skim unit roles so you know why fighters leave the screen after they shoot.
The video mid-page is a real demo session, not a trailer. Use it to see Sortie and ram before you experiment on a ranked save. When you want a longer first-clear path, jump to the campaign walkthrough.
Chaos Front is single-player, Steam Deck Verified, and fully controller-capable. There are no redeem codes and no drop-in sessions. Your only opponent is the Consortium calendar and your own shopping.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers drawn from the launch build and official notes.
Should I start as Lycurgus or Hongyu?
Lycurgus is the smoother tutorial face if you played the demo. Hongyu is the Gan-court political campaign. Both can reach true endings if you hit star 9 before 30/12/C.E.29; see endings.
Why are my mecha stuck on the ship?
Move the mothership, select it again, and use Sortie. The combat guide shows ram and seize after the units are actually on the grid.
Is there a beginner-friendly difficulty?
The game is a single-player SRPG with a tutorial flag on Lycurgus Corps. There is no online matchmaking to hide behind. Lower the risk by mixing roles from the unit overview.
When should I worry about endings?
Immediately. The bad-ending date is printed on the Steam page. Use the ending checklist as a pin, not a post-game extra.