This guide is written for the "early access" version of the game. It is current as of May 2024.

In its current state, only the first chapter of the game is available to play. So that's what this guide covers. Just the tutorial, first three story missions, an introduction to the (somewhat limited) selection of mech parts and weapons you can use, a brief explanation of pilot abilities and combat skills, and a little description of the different mission modes you can unlock and replay.

This game showed a lot of promise, I find it FUN and INTERESTING even in its current unfinished state. But the developers have been silent about their work for a long time now so I can't promise you that it's still being worked on. If they update the game in the future, I'll try to jump back in and add coverage for the new content. But for now, it is what it is.

I want to be very clear on this point:

As I write this, it's May of 2024. This game was first announced in 2016, and has already been in early access for FOUR YEARS. When they first put it into early access, they did so FAR TOO EARLY and there basically was nothing there, just a single battle mission. Four years later, they only have a brief tutorial (that doesn't do a good enough job of explaining things), three missions that you can replay - each with a secondary game mode too, and one "boss fight" at the end of mission 3 that basically ends the first chapter of the story. With five pilots, four basic mech robot models, a few paint jobs you can apply to each mech in your squad, and a handful of weapons to choose from.

There is a flimsy story that pushes you into and through each mission in story mode. The plot is simple and a little bit ridiculous, obviously inspired by the "Front Mission" series of games. And the localization (translation - particularly into English) is very poorly done, there are points where it makes no sense at all and nearly every line of dialogue makes it blatantly obvious that it was not translated by a native English speaker... it's even worse than if someone used Google Translate. So yeah, the story right now is silly and kind of terrible. But this is something that "should" be fixed in the final stages of development before final release... since it's still in early access development, try not to have too bad an opinion of the game just because the dialogue is not polished up yet. At least the combat is fun and the pilot/weapon upgrade system works pretty well.

Once you start trying to upgrade your mech's parts and weapons, you'll find the selection is VERY LIMITED at this stage in development. There are a lot of categories of equipment that are just empty at this point, but supposedly they have (or had) plans to add a lot more equipment to the game. In contrast, the pilot XP and skills system is pretty well fleshed out. There are still a handful of skills that are not implemented yet, but generally speaking they did a good job on it.

The battle system is DIFFERENT from anything else you've ever played. The combat is turn-based in the sense that your team goes, then the enemy team goes, then your team again, etc. And each of your units has a set number of GP and AP on each turn. GP is used to move around the battlefield in "simulated real time" which means nothing happens unless you're moving but if you are moving then the enemy can shoot at you. And then you spend both GP and AP to use combat skills to wipe out the enemy forces. Each weapon has two skills ("defense" which strikes if an enemy moves within this unit's range, and "counter" which strikes if an enemy targets this unit) that you can set on YOUR turn but they won't activate until the enemy's turn. These skills burn more GP than standard attacks though, and in my opinion they should cost LESS since their action is delayed and they only activate once per turn.

Visually, the game looks good. The mech design is "cool." The battle stages are SMALL but they look alright. The menu screens look good, too. However, the pilot levelup screen is confusing because too many numbers are highlighted in bright colors but they don't actually do anything. It's not intuitive AT ALL, it took me two hours to figure out where I was supposed to click in order to upgrade my Action Points. Likewise, the mech parts screen has NO TOOLTIPS for anything. The mechs have a bunch of parameters (or "stats") that are affected by the equipment you use, and it's not clear what effect any of these numbers has in practical terms. And some of the equipment and weapons give you special effects that are not properly described anywhere. In fact, most of your stats are hidden in a SECRET MENU that I didn't even realize was there until several hours after I finished all of the available missions. So building a mech is basically a trial-and-error guessing game.

And because they only have a tutorial and three (replayable) missions, the game is VERY SHORT. You can finish the entire game in a couple of hours if you don't bother with mech upgrades or unlocking new pilot skills. Even so, it is FUN to play. They just need MORE CONTENT to make this game worth the price of purchase.

There have been no updates in OVER A YEAR at this point. I thought you should be aware of what you're getting into. The last anyone heard from the developer - about a year ago - they were hoping to migrate the game onto a new version of Unreal Engine and then they wanted to add more variety of mech parts. However, they never finished that and since all the "news updates" from 2022-23 were just "artist's concept drawings" it seems like they never intended to do any further updates. This game has been abandoned and the developer has VANISHED with our money.

Short answer is "YES IT IS."
Long anser is "Yes it is, but at least the small portion that got done first is FUN to play."

• 2015: sometime before this, the development company "Orbital Speed Studio"[www.orbitalspeedstudio.com] formed in Thailand. "Dual Gear" game was first announced in 2015, with a few concept art drawings of giant combat robots (mechs) that they had in mind. In May 2015, they had a basic Alpha demo at the Tokyo Game Show.
  
• 2020: Game went into early access beta, with a bare-bones build and only one combat mission.
  
• 2020: Developer stopped posting on their official Facebook page,[www.facebook.com] though there was still some activity on the game's page.
  
• 2021: Developer stopped posting on their YouTube page and took their homepage down.
  
• 2022: The most recent game update was released on Steam. EVERY other game platform in the world still has a version of the game that is OLDER than this one, the new (current) version is apparently exclusive to Steam. We now have three missions to play, five pilots, a few more mech parts and weapons, and a second mission mode "Skirmish" added to the game.
  
• 2023: Developer says the game's website[www.dualgeargame.com] is back up, but it is BROKEN and none of the links work, and all the info there is from 2015.
  
• July 2023: final post on the game's Facebook page.[www.facebook.com]
  
• 2023: Developer promises further updates after migrating the game to a new version of Unreal Engine, shows off "concept art" for new mech units and weapons, claims they are done working on a new game mode and combat system. But they keep delaying the launch date for the update and have zero in-game new content for us.
  
• November 2023: last contact of any kind from Orbital Speed Studio, after they missed the promised release date for the new game update for the FOURTH TIME.
  
• May 2024: there has been zero contact from the developer for 6 months, and for an entire year before that they only had empty promises about a new update that was never released. At this point I have to assume the game project has been ABANDONED and the developer is now using the game as a SCAM to keep getting paid for an early access game that they're no longer planning to finish.

If I have to compare it to something, it's like if Gundam and Front Mission had a baby. Youtuber "SplattercatGaming" did a good review showing the entire first mission a few years ago. This mission hasn't changed since then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35o5497tcLM

You work for the government as a combat pilot in a giant death robot. You fight against two rebel factions who also seem to be ad odds with each other. You go into combat where you skate around the battlefield like a hockey player and destroy the enemy force. Combat is a combination of real-time and turn-based. You're rewarded for your combat prowess, then you go to the shop where you purchase upgrades for your mech and its weapons. After equipping your upgrades, you can then use your pilot's XP to boost their combat abilities. Then you go back out into the next battle, until you achieve that final victory. You have a squad of five pilots and six mechs, though there is an extra space for a sixth team member who may be added to the game later.

I want to tell you the story so you can just SKIP through the cutscenes. As they are currently written, the dialogue in this game is atrocious. It hurt my brain trying to follow along. SPOILER ALERT, skip this whole section if you want to read the in-game story for yourself.

In a nutshell, it goes like this:

1. The world is at war, huge mechanical war machines a la Gundam are being used by both sides. The allied government is dispatching special combat units (like yours) to thwart the efforts of two rebel armies.
   
2. You (Alma) sign up and become a mech pilot. They make you team leader. That lasts for ONE mission before you lose your leadership position.
   
3. In the first mission (after the tutorial) you fight a mystery pilot who hits your whole team with an EMT that shuts your systems down. Then you're rescued by another mystery pilot.
   
4. The mystery pilot who EMT'd you is a young woman who is pissed off because she thinks the government had her father killed. The other mystery pilot who rescued you turns out to be her long-lost father who has been in hiding and acting secretly against the rebellion.
   
5. They make the father the official team leader, so poor Alma is demoted back to a regular pilot. Even though the new guy is a wanted WAR CRIMINAL who has been living in hiding for YEARS. Sorry, flimsy plot hole here. But whatever.
   
6. You continue to fight against increasingly advanced special units from the rebellion forces, hoping to protect law and order and the rule of government. As you go, you'll find some evidence that suggests the two rebel armies might not actually be enemies of each other as everyone thought. They might be working together. Maybe.
   
7. BOSS FIGHT!!! DO NOT get close or it will WRECK you.
   
8. This is the end of the game, unless they update it with more levels later. You unlock a NEW game mode "skirmish" for the three replayable missions. Skirmish mode puts you back in that stage and you have to fight waves of four enemies, each new wave giving you additional money rewards if you survive. Each wave should take you ONE TURN not even a full round, if you've been upgrading your mechs and pilots. For the first mission, I cleared the first three waves with ONE mech before I ran out of GP and AP. Then the next three were cleared with ONE more mech. The "hardest part" was running to the target zone to start the next wave after killing all four enemies, since it burns most of your GP to run across the zone.
   
9. That's it... so now we wait for the developers to make more content and HOPE they haven't just abandoned the project.

Gamepad support is not currently implemented fully. So use your keyboard and mouse.

When you're preparing to start a mission, you have to select your squad. This is a two-step process.
First, click the POSITION you want to fill (on the right side of the screen). Then use the on-screen arrow buttons or the A/D keys to cycle through your roster until you find the pilot you want to put in that spot. Hit enter to put them in that spot.
Once you have your squad selected, hit the button near the bottom right to start the mission briefing.

• Each unit will take a TURN. Once they've all had a turn, that ends the ROUND. All units on your team will go first, then the enemy units will take their turns.
  
• At the start of each TURN, you'll see an overhead map of the zone. Your units are BLUE, enemies are RED. Units that have already spent their turn are blacked out. You'll need to decide which of your units is going first, use your mouse to click on them because the keyboard controls (WASD) tend to get wonky and might select the wrong unit.
  
• WASD moves your unit around the zone, movement will burn GP.
  
• Shift toggles SPRINT mode, go faster but burn more GP.
  
• Space + WASD activates dodge mode, jump to the side to avoid enemy fire. Burns more GP
  
• (Dodging looks cool, but it's just as effective if you simply sidestep using regular movement.)
  
• The enemy will fire at you while you move.
  
• As you move, keep an eye on the range between you and the enemy. Your weapons each have an effective range; if you're too close or too far away you can't fire that weapon.
  
• Once you're in a good position, scroll your mouse wheel to select the proper weapon skill.
  
• L-Click to activate the skill. Skills burn a certain amount of GP, AP, and ammunition.
  
• Certain skills have trigger events, such as...
  
• Missiles you have to HOLD the L-Click down to lock onto your target, then release it to fire.
  
• Swords need you to HOLD the L-Click until the big circle hits the small circle, then release it to do bonus damage.
  
• SMG is just point, click, and fire.
  
• You can continue to move until you run out of GP.
  
• You can use additional skills until you run out of GP, AP, or Ammo.
  
• When you're done with that unit's turn, R-Click to bring up the action menu, then hit E to end your turn. CAREFUL, if you hit T instead of E then you end your whole team's turn instead of just that pilot's turn, and the enemy will go next.
  
• The map comes up so you can select your next unit and repeat the process for them.
  
• At the start of your next turn you will recover ALL of your GP and AP.
  
• If you have multiple weapons equipped, each one carries its own ammunition. Ammo does NOT refill on your next turn, so if one gun runs out of ammo then you have to switch to another one.
  
• You can press the 1 or 2 keys to swap between your left hand and right hand, or left shoulder and right shoulder, when you have a skill highlighted that both guns can utilize.
  
• If you are dual-wielding two of the same type of weapon, every weapon type has at least skill you can unlock that lets you use both weapons at once AND increases the damage and accuracy of both weapons. There are also some skills that let you use weapon combos with two different TYPES of weapons: SMG and shotgun; knuckle and blade, knuckle and SMG, V-missile and ground missile, etc. Feel free to experiment with different weapon and skill combinations.
  
• Attacking an enemy from their left or right side gives you 20% extra damage
  
• Attacking them from behind gives an extra 50% damage.
  
• More damage = it takes fewer bullets to kill them.
  
• 
  
• Enemies that you kill sometimes drop orbs. Pick them up to recover your mech:

GREEN - appears to do NOTHING.
BLUE - restores your AP to full
YELLOW - restores ammo for ALL of your weapons
PURPLE - restores your GP to full
Orbs will VANISH after a few turns, so if you want them then hurry up!

Once you kill all the enemies in the area, the next wave comes. When all the waves are finished, you win the mission. If you finish in fewer rounds, without any of your pilots dying or losing any mech parts (i.e. their arm gets blown up etc,) then you get better rewards. Mission rankings go F, D, C, B, A, S, and then Ace. Getting an Ace award will double your payment at the end of the mission. S and A rankings give you a bit extra cash, too.

Here's an introduction to your combat view screen. (You can hit F4 to get a tactical view that shows your available weapon trajectories to each target in range, then hit F4 again to return to combat view.)
In the top left you'll see info about your currently selected skill. Note the AMMO count, if this drops to zero then you can't use any skills for that weapon again until you reload with a yellow ammo orb dropped from a dead enemy. Also note the GP (energy) and AP (action points) required to use the skill.
Along the bottom you see some basic info about the other members of your team.
And in the top right is minimap. Enemies are orange, friendlies are blue.

There are two types of XP in this game.
Pilot XP is used to levelup your pilot. Each levelup will then allow you to add additional AP or Skill Slots to your pilot's mech. It is earned by firing your weapons, killing enemies, destroying enemy mech parts, and winning the battle.
Weapon XP is earned the same way as pilot XP, but is specific to that particular weapon type. For instance if you use SMG weapons then you wearn SMG WXP but not Shotgun WXP. You can use WXP to unlock new weapon skills. You can then upgrade to a stronger gun and keep those skills unlocked. Each weapon type has its own skill set that will need to be unlocked independently though. For instance if you have five skills for SMG unlocked, and then you unequip it and start using a shotgun, then your only shotgun skill will be the normal attack. You'll need more shotgun WXP to get more shotgun skills. But if you then unequip the shotgun and equip a BETTER SMG, all your old SMG skills will still be there.

In my opinion the descriptions of some of the weapon skills are lacking. They're just not descriptive enough to tell you exactly what the skill does. But at least they tell you SOMETHING about each skill.

Here is a look at the "Status & Skills" menu, which I call the "Pilot Upgrade" screen. Note the pink numbers and arrows that I drew to help you find the important info here.

1. At the bottom left, it will show you if the currently selected weapon type is equipped on your mech or not.
   
2. This shows the currently selected weapon type for skill unlocks. Click the arrows to change to another weapon type. Remember each type has its own Weapon XP to spend on upgrades.
   
3. Skills that you have unlocked will appear with a colored symbol. If you click the skill's icon and drag it, you can equip it in the currently selected skill slot.
   
4. You can unlock new skills by clicking their icons after you collect enough WXP points. You can also click the icon before you can afford it to see a description of what the skill does.
   
5. These show your available skill slots. Anything equipped here will be available to use in combat. Click in this area and drag left or right to move the selector to another skill slot. The current selection is in the center/bottom of the row. If you click and drag to equip a skill from the list below, this bottom/center slot is where it will be equipped. It will replace whatever other skill is already there.
   
6. Action Points are used in combat anytime you activate a skill. More action points = more attacks per turn. Skill Slots are your available slots to equip skills, shown to the right. Both of these can be upgraded by using your Dual Points (gained by leveling up your pilot in combat). to do so, you have to click on the area I've circled, next to the upgrade progress counter. Then press the + or - buttons on screen to raise or lower the upgrade level. Then press the Confirm button on screen. It literally took me 2 whole hours to figure out that I'm supposed to click this TINY LITTLE UNLABELED SPOT to upgrade these.

As for the rest of your pilot's stats, I really wish they had some TOOLTIPS to describe what each one does. Look at how they're all highlighted in special colors but none of it means anything because THE GAME DOES NOT EXPLAIN WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN OR HOW TO CHANGE THEM.

Money is earned at the end of each combat, or by selling old mech parts and weapons that you don't need anymore. You use it in the shop to buy more weapons and mech parts.
The mech paramaters, used when upgrading your mech's parts, have NO TOOLTIPS AT ALL, which makes mech upgrades a very confusing experience. I hope they change this in the next update... assuming we get a new update for this game.
You can buy better parts from the shop. Then you can upgrade individual parts by spending money on them. Pay attention to what stats increase (and by how much) as you upgrade the parts; decide if you think it's worth the cost before you approve the upgrade.
You can manage your mech's parts and weapons on the "Unit & Pilots" screen, which I like to call the "Mech Upgrades" screen.

1. First thing: notice which pilot you're looking at. You can change pilots (thus showing THEIR mech) by using the Q or E keys.
   
2. Take note of your walk speed. The lower this is, the more GP you burn by moving, and the slower you move.
   
3. Also note your GP, if this is below 4000 then you'll have a hard time in combat because you'll always be running out of energy after a short walk and firing one shot. More GP means you can walk farther and shoot more on each turn.
   
4. Also take note of your total weight. If you make a fat mech and it says you're overweight (too heavy) here, you should probably rearrange your parts and use lighter ones until it says "STABLE" again.
   
5. On the right side of the screen it shows your parts and weapons. By default it shows the parts list first, but if you click one of the arrow buttons on top of the list it will switch to the weapons list. Clicking on a part or weapon will open an expanded list that will let you replace it with a different one or else see its specific stats and spend money to upgrade it. The little white tickmarks on top of the item's listing (where it says "UPGRADE") and the number under that where it says "PART LV" lets you see at a glance how many times you've upgraded it so far. Each item can only be upgraded 10 times.

In the shop, you can only sell items that are not currently equipped. They sell for a small fraction of their original price. There is no "buyback" available - once you sell it, it's gone forever. So if you have one Shotgun at level 1 and another at level 9, and you want to equip the level 9 and sell the level 1... just be careful that you don't accidentally sell the level 9 instead. The listing for each item will have a small "E" icon in the top right corner if it is currently equipped. But if you're in the expanded inventory list after clicking on one of your items, it won't tell you which pilot's mech has it equipped. Just that SOMEONE on your team has it equipped. In the screenshot above, I'm showing the default parts list not the expanded list, so all those parts are on Kenji's mech since Kenji is the currently selected pilot.

Also, if you hover the mouse over the picture of the mech unit on the mech upgrades screen, then right-click, you get a secret menu! You can move your pilots around between your mechs, or you can rename your mechs, or you can look at a screen showing all the mech/pilot stats for that unit. From the stats screen, it seems like they're planning to implement a MUCH more complex system with specialized jobs and a few other features. But it's not done yet, and might never get done at this rate.

When you're looking at mech parts or your whole mech unit, here are the interesting stats:

• Durability is your HP basically. The AP component is armor, that's the grey bar in combat. The CP component is your core structure, the yellow bar in combat. Your AP gets damaged first, then once the armor breaks you start damaging the CP. If both AP and CP drop to zero, that part blows up. Broken leg = halved walking speed and range. Broken arm = no more guns from that arm. Broken head = fuzzy vision and bad accuracy/evasion. Broken cockpit = instant death.
  
• Absorb is damage resistance. It lowers the amount of damage done by an attack before it subtracts from your AP or CP. I'm not 100% sure exactly how it works mathematically but that's the general idea.
  
• Sensor increases your accuracy when you're shooting at something, and also your evasion for dodging enemy attacks.
  
• Agility affects your evasion (dodge enemy attacks) as well as your movement speed.
  
• Synchro seems like it has some effect on both your shot accuracy and your evasion rate, but I can't figure out exactly how it works.
  
• Dual Drive increases the duration you can use the special dual-drive dodge mode per turn (hit SPACEBAR while moving left or right during combat). I neve ruse this move though, it's easier to either sidestep normally to avoid an attack or tank it and pretend it never happened.
  
• Servo has an effect on how much torque your mech can produce, which determines how heavy your mech is allowed to be before you are considered overweight. More servo = ability to equip more armor and bigger guns.
  
• Weight is just what it sounds like: how heavy the part (or mech) is. If the mech goes overweight, your walk speed and move rate will be cut in HALF. So try not to build a fat mech without having enough servos to pull it off.
  
• You can increase maximum weight capacity by upgrading your legs and cockpit, since those parts are the ones that have servos build in.
  
• Walk speed is how quickly you move around the battlefield. It's labeled as "meters per hour" but that's CLEARLY WRONG, it should be labeled as "meters per second" instead.
  
• Move range is a measurement of how far you can walk in a single turn. It is computed based on your weight, move speed, and total GP... or at least it is SUPPOSED to be calculated that way but they wrote the code wrong so all it does is multiply the walk speed by 10. In actual combat, you can get a good estimate of how far you can walk by dividing this number by about half.
  
• Torque determines how much weight your mech can carry, and also affects your overall speed.
  
• Critical determines how often your attacks become critical hits, dealing bonus damage.
  
• Defend depends on your Absorb stat, it blocks damage before it hits you.
  
• Evasion depends on a few other factors, and determines how often you will (automatically) dodge an attack that should have hit you. You won't see the mech make a dodge move, it will just turn a hit into a missed shot.
  
• Accuracy depends on several other stats, and determines your chance that an attack will hit your target instead of missing it.
  
• ATK is the base damage for the weapon equipped on that spot. Various skills can change the amount of damage the weapon actually does, and shooting from behind or to the side of the enemy also gives extra damage. Bigger guns = more ATK.
  
• Your pilot's Dual Points are earned each time you level them up. You can spend these to add more action points or unlock more skill slots for use in combat.

Once you buy your mech parts or weapons, you'll want to start upgrading them as soon as you can afford it. However, not every stat on that item will go up when you upgrade it.

• SMG only increases damage PER ROUND and accuracy with each levelup, but NOT the number of rounds fired per shot.
  
• Shotgun, Blades, and Knuckles increase damage per round, accuracy, and critical with each levelup.
  
• V-Missiles, Cannons, and H-Missiles increase damage per round, critical, and accuracy with each levelup.

• Main Cameras (Heads) all increase Durability, Absorb, and Agility with each levelup. Some of them (i.e. the Sidewinder) also increase Synchro, but only if they come equipped with some points in it at level 1.
  
• Cockpits increase durability, absorb, and synchro plus a small amount of agility with each levelup.
  
• Arms increase durability, absorb, and agility plus a small amount of synchro with each levelup.
  
• Bottoms (Legs) increase durability, absorb, and agility plus a small amount of synchro with each levelup.
  
• Backpacks increase Generator (GP production) and a small amount of agility with each levelup.

(If you want these stats changed, you must buy different equipment that has the stats you want by default from the shop.)

• rounds fired per shot
  
• weight
  
• energy (GP use)
  
• sensors
  
• ammo capacity
  
• servo
  
• dual drive
  
• firing rate
  
• cooldown delay.

In terms of combat ability - which is basically the whole point of this game - I have some opinions about the various weapons and parts. I suggest that you should feel free to experiment on your own and decide for yourself what type of setup you like best. But I'll tell you what I think anyway.

Knuckles are garbage. Some of their higher level skills are really powerful, but in this version of the game you'll never play long enough to earn enough WXP to unlock them. They also require you to be standing right in the enemy's face to use them, which means the enemy can and will wreck you at point-blank range.

Swords are garbage. They LOOK really cool when you use one, but like knuckles you need to stand right beside the enemy to use it. The higher level skills allow you to target specific parts of the enemy mech, but it still comes down to RNG which part you hit. The dual-blade skill is super OP in terms of attack power though... but like the knuckles you'll never earn enough WXP to unlock it. And they burn all or almost all of your GP in a single attack, too.

Shotguns are worse than garbage. You need to be within 30 feet of the enemy just to shoot them. And the weapon spreads severely so you can't target a specific component of the enemy mech, and you miss a lot of the time. They're also very heavy and burn a lot of energy per shot. Don't use shotguns.

Ground missiles (horizontal missiles) fire a single high-power shot from medium range. They're great at targeting a specific mech component, like if you want to blow off an enemy's arm. They do high damage and almost never miss. Good medium range option for a shoulder-fired weapon. If you really want to use a katana or knuckle build, I recommend using this or a vertical missile, too, in case you find yourself in a situation where you can't catch the enemy because they don't let you get close enough to punch/slash them. There is currently only ONE ground missile available to use.

Vertical missiles (cluster missiles) are fantastic. My personal favorite. They strike the enemy from above, and allow multi-targeting. However, the targeting is QUICK so it's too easy to accidentally dump all your missiles onto a single target or accidentally target the wrong enemy. Just remember to HOLD DOWN the targeting button until all four are selected... if you let go too soon you won't fire all four missiles but you'll still burn the full amount of AP and GP. The Candy Stick and Candy Bar have broken stats, they are NOT WORTH USING because they do very low damage but use a LOT of energy and they are VERY heavy. The Candy Box is even heavier and uses even more GP, but it does fire SIX missiles at once!! If you want a vertical missile, just use the standard VD-MM5, it has a much more reasonable set of stats. It's better, and cheaper, than the fancier ones. BTW the Candy Stick fires only 2 missiles per shot; the Candy Bar and the VD-MM5 each fire four per shot.

Submachine Guns (SMG) are my other favorite. They have a ridiculously long range. Each shot does low damage, but they unload a lot of bullets with each shot. You can use it to target a specific component of an enemy mech, but the bullets will spread a bit so if you aim for an arm you will also hit the body and possibly legs a few times, too. And they're easy to use - just point and click to fire.
The Edge AW06 assault rifles throw a lot of lead downrange, but they're VERY HEAVY. Think of them like the SMG's bigger, tougher brother. In fact, they are classified as SMG by the game so they use the same set of skills as the smaller SMG. If you're not worried about being overweight, you can double-wield assault rifles while wearing a high-GP backpack. With a range of 600 meters, you should never need to move - just keep your finger on the trigger and watch enemies disintegrate before your might. If you're more worried about weight and GP, just get the AX-A505 Snakehead-R. Then pump it up to level 2 or 3 to make it super deadly, but also lightweight and cheap.

Shields have no offensive capabilities at all. They just add weight and armor to your arms. Don't use them; you won't need them. MAYBE later in the game they'll become more useful as you encounter stronger enemies with better guns to kill you with, but at this early stage you just don't need that much armor. If you want more durable arms, just upgrade your arm parts. At least then you can still equip a real weapon in that slot. Damage output is king.

Cannons are basically mortars. Fire a big explosive shell at the ground near the enemy's feet. They're heavy and expensive, and they come with a huge penalty to your accuracy!! So if you're going to get a cannon, wait until you have enough money to upgrade it to level 5, since that's where the cannon's accuracy rating finally switches from negative to a positive number. For the 150mm Phsutha cannon, this means you will need $851700 to buy it and upgrade it enough to make it hit the target consistently. HUGE damage... but very expensive and heavy.

There are a bunch of other weapon categories, but none of them are implemented yet; perhaps in a future update we'll get more guns. If they ever make another update.

Remember, you can upgrade a weapon's attack skills from the pilot upgrade screen. And its basic stats from the mech upgrade screen. Skills will be unlocked for every weapon of that type. Stat upgrades are specific to only that specific gun. Skill unlocks cost WXP, while stat upgrades cost money.

Here's what to look for when you're shopping for a new weapon...
The top of the weapon tab shows the TYPE of weapon it is, this tells you how it will fire normally and what kind of skills it will use.
Attack Value is related to how much damage each shot does. More is better.
Mn and Max Range is how far away the enemy should be when you fire at it.
Energy Use is how much GP a "normal shot" will take. Less is better.
Accuracy is how often you'll HIT instead of MISS. More is better, anything over 30 is fine.
Critical Rate doesn't matter much because it's always less than 10%. Critical hits just do more damage than normal hits.
Rate of Fire doesn't matter - at all. Ignore this number.
Instant Delay is the cooldown, how long you must wait after shooting the weapon before you take another shot.
Weight is how heavy the weapon is. Less is better.

In terms of exchanging your current weapon for a bigger version...
Sure you CAN do that. But in most cases upgrading to a bigger gun means adding more weight and using more energy per shot. Since you can only play through the first chapter of the game right now and all the enemies are pretty easy, you shouldn't need to go bigger. It's usually more practical to simply upgrade the weapon you already have, which has lower attack power to start with but also less energy use and lighter weight. When you upgrade it from level 1 to 2 to 3 etc, the weight and energy use stay the same but the attack power goes up. So a level 5 tiny SMG can outmatch a level 1 version of the biggest SMG, for example.
But if you absolutely MUST kill everything in a single shot... yeah sure, go ahead and buy a bigger gun FIRST and then upgrade the bigger one instead.

Before you equip a bigger gun, be sure you also get a bigger BACKPACK since it contains the energy generator that supplies you with GP. And make sure you have good leg and arm parts to balance the weapon's weight.
Small backpack = no more bullets. Big backpack = lots more bullets.

The key to effective combat is to have as many GP and AP as possible while also having your speed above 70. Everything else is a secondary concern.
GP, or "Generator Points," is a measure of how much energy your mech can spend on each turn. This will be used when you move, sprint, dodge, or use any skill.
AP, or "Action Points," is a measure of how many skills you can use on each turn. Your AP is determined by your pilot not by your robot. These are only used when you activate a skill. Some skills only need 1 AP, others need more, so plan your turn accordingly.
GP and AP will regenerate at the start of your next turn in combat, or you can pick up orbs that defeated enemies drop to refill them instantly.
Once these needs are satisfied, look at your Sensors and your three armor ratings. More is better in both cases.

And now, on to the other stats available for mech upgrades from mech PARTS...
Each mech requires a core, a head, arms, legs, and a backpack. Weapons are optional, but these five parts are necessary. These parts will determine your mech's basic parameters.

NOTE: If you equip a part (or multiple parts) that is TOO HEAVY, you can still go into combat like that but you will move much slower and walking will drain more GP than usual. You also have a harder time dodging enemy attacks, so it's easier for you to die if you make a fat robot. For this reason, I stay away from the "Atilla" and "Vladimir" parts; they have great armor but they make you super heavy. However... if you have crazy high GP and a gun with crazy long range, then you might not need to move at all; just sit far outside the enemy's range and fire at them from there... but none of the missions START with you outside the enemy's range so you'll still have to move to get there first.

N7A-P1 Combat Pack = garbage.
Aisen MicroPack 01, 02, & 03 = garbage.
Aisen MicroPack 04 Speeder Pack = baby's first day at school. Alright for your first pack, but only if you upgrade it 2 or 3 times to increase the GP output.
Sidewinder = decent first replacement for your Combat Pack or Aisen Pack. Very average stats.
EGE-803 Radar Amplifier = super high sensors and decent dual drive, okay GP, I'd pick this over the Sidewinder if I'm looking for my first upgrade on a tight budget.
EGE-804 Full Power = good second upgrade, has decent GP, sensors, and dual drive. My favorite.
Atilla Archery BPG = comparable to EGE-804. Also my favorite.
Atilla BigPack = decent GP and sensor, but no mobility. Too heavy for its own good.
Atilla TwinBooster = supposedly makes you run faster but I didn't notice a difference. Super heavy, decent GP, otherwise it's overpriced garbage. Too heavy to equip.
EGE-805 Twin Tails = god's gift to mankind. HIGH GP, decent sensors, and high dual drive. It would be my favorite, but the only way to equip something this heavy is to NOT use any arms or else have ONLY Kusanagi parts equipped with it. It's literally too heavy to equip this thing.

Strike Rattle = baby's first day at school. Low armor, low mobility.
Sidewinder = a little more armor, great balance of weight, armor, and mobility once you upgrade it a couple of times. My favorite.
Kusanagi = if all you care about is SPEED, use this. You can run fast and far but low armor.
Vladimir = best armor, super heavy, low mobility, with high SYNCHRO and SERVO (but I have no idea what synchro or servo actually do). It's heavy weight makes it impractical. Equip these if you want to act like a turret: immobile but heavily armored.

Strike Rattle = baby's first day at school. Low armor, medium weight, low mobility.
Sidewinder = a little more armor than Strike Rattle, but still a bit on the heavy side.
Kusanagi = adds to your mobility AND is the lightest option for arm parts. Upgrade it a couple of times to make it the best option you have. My favorite.
Vladimir = best armor but low mobility, with high SYNCHRO and SERVO (but I have no idea what synchro or servo actually do). It would be my favorite, since it's harder to blow up your arms with all that armor, but it's just too heavy to be practical.

EGE-01SC0 Ahaetulla = garbage. Terrible in every respect. But at least it's ultra lightweight.
Kusanagi = Great agility, ultra lightweight. Otherwise terrible.
Strke Rattle = baby's first day at school. VERY low armor, high agility. Otherwise terrible.
EGE-01SC2 Bear Winder = heavy, high armor, low agility. Otherwise terrible, especially since you almost never get shot in the head.
EGE-01SC1 Scope Winder = medium armor and agility, high sensors. My favorite.
Sidewinder = medium at EVERYTHING. Actually for a head this is a decent choice.
Vladimir = high armor, low agility, medium at everything else. But it's pretty expensive considering that you almost never get shot in the head.

Strike Rattle = baby's first day at school. Low armor, low mobility. Kinda garbage.
Sidewinder = decent armor, medium mobility. My favorite.
Kusanagi = if all you care about is SPEED, use this. You can run fast and far but low armor.
Vladimir = high armor, super heavy, low mobility, with high SYNCHRO and SERVO (but I have no idea what synchro or servo actually do). I think the high weight makes it impractical for use.

Not yet implemented. Maybe in a future update, if we ever get another update.

And here is a screenshot of the "secret menu" if you RIGHT CLICK ON THE ROBOT from the mech upgrade screen, then select "Unit Info" from there. It shows all of your mech and pilot stats.

I like to use this same loadout for my entire team, whether i'm doing story or skirmish missions. There are two loadouts that seem pretty useful: one is for long-range combat based on the Assault Rifle and V-Missile; the other has you using a blade/knuckle combination along with a V-Missile. In the parts & weapons lists below, I've underlined the most interesting skills for each build.

Please understand getting all this equipment will require you to ACE every story mission and replay them numerous times to earn a bunch of money because these upgrades are EXPENSIVE!!! So you're really not supposed to have all this equipment after only finishing the first chapter of story mode for your first time. (Also bear in mind the game is still in early access and only the first chapter is available for play at this point.) It is absolutely fine if you prefer a different loadout - even if you like to use the dreaded melee weapons or shotguns instead. It's also absolutely fine if you use with lower-level or lower-tier equipment first since you won't be able to afford the good stuff until later. Feel free to experiment and find gear that fits your style. This is just my opinion on the equipment that makes this FIRST CHAPTER of the game easiest to finish.

With this build you'll mostly focus on fighting at long-range. You won't need to move much, unless you're just trying to circle behind an enemy for some back attack bonus damage, and it's fairly conservative in terms of action point usage. This one is great for Skirmish Mode since that Array Strike can often wipe an entire enemy team in a single turn (because they spawn clustered together), and the assault rifle can clean up any survivors from anywhere on the map. But it's also great for Story Mode, and you have the knuckle equipped for those times when you're tired of playing like a sniper and you just want to PUNCH something right in the face.

• One V-Missile VD-MM5, upgrade to level 5; L-shoulder mounted (Optional dual-wield)
  Skills: Launch Missile, Array Strike 1, Perfect Array (only if dual-wielding)
  
• One SMG Edge AW06 Assault Rifle, upgrade to level 4; R-hand mounted
  Skills: Normal Strike, Splash Strike, Hi-Tension Strike 1
  
• One Knuckle Dragon Killer, upgrade to level 4; L-hand mounted
  Skills: Normal Punch, Follow Sting 1, Machinegun Sting 1, Break Point
  
• Bottom: MAB-B4 Sidewinder Legs, upgraded to level 4
  
• Cockpit: EGE-01 Sidewinder, upgraded to level 3
  
• Main Camera: EGE-SC1 Scope Winder, upgraded to level 3
  
• Arms: MAB-B4 Kusanagi, upgraded to level 4
  
• Backpack: Attila Archer or , upgraded to level 4

This build is VERY action-point intensive and focuses on using a combo move with a blade and knuckles to demolish whatever is standing in front of you in a single attack. You also need to get right up in your enemy's face, so you should have your backpack upgraded with extra GP so you can run farther, and upgrade your arms to give them a bit more armor in case your enemy fires a missile while you're closing the gap.

• One V-Missile VD-MM5, upgrade to level 5; L-shoulder mounted (dual-wield is too heavy)
  Skills: Launch Missile, Array Strike 1
  
• One Blade HF Accelerator, upgrade to level 4; R-hand mounted
  Skills: Normal Slash, Tornado Slash, Hissatsu Engage, Hissatsu Perfection
  
• One Knuckle Dragon Killer, upgrade to level 4; L-hand mounted
  Skills: Normal Punch, Follow Sting 1, Break Point, Hack 'n' Slash 2
  
• Bottom: MAB-B4 Sidewinder Legs, upgraded to level 4
  
• Cockpit: EGE-01 Sidewinder, upgraded to level 3
  
• Main Camera: EGE-SC1 Scope Winder, upgraded to level 3
  
• Arms: MAB-B4 Kusanagi, upgraded to level 5
  
• Backpack: Attila Archer or , upgraded to level 5

If you're going to try running the Skirmish missions, you should have each of your pilots upgraded with at least 8 AP. And you should also have your Attila Archer Backpack boosted to level 5 or 6 because you'll be doing a lot of running back and forth for those missions, so you'll need some extra GP so you can move and shoot on the same turn. In story mode, you really barely need to move at all so you want to focus more on having enough GP to use all your skills to wipe out the enemy in just one or two turns. One exception is if you plan to replay the third mission (the one with the boss fight at the end) you want Ajay to have A WHOLE LOT of GP AND MOVE RANGE because he'll need to run around and hit two switches on opposite ends of the zone. NOBODY else can hit the switches. If Ajay loses an arm or dies before hitting both switches, you FAIL the mission. So you want Ajay LIGHTLY armed with very high GP for that mission so he can run like Sonic the Hedgehog. Everyone else should be armed to the teeth since you'll be fighting a boss plus four heavily armored (and well armed) walker mechs.

There are several different types of combat missions you can do on each level. I'll give you a brief description of the ones that are available in the current version of the game. Not all of them are implemented yet.

Play (or replay) the mission to progress the main story quest. It includes a full mission briefing, all cutscenes and dialogue associated with that mission. At the end of the mission you unlock medals (bronze, silver, or gold Narwhal emblems) depending how well you did, which currently serve no purpose but perhaps in a future update they'll do something fun.

You fight wave after wave of enemies. Each new wave gives you extra money if you clear it. At the end of each wave you can choose whether to leave now and collect your reward, or keep going to the next wave. You don't start making good money until you get past wave 15. After wave 25, each mission is giving you quite a bit of cash reward. However, if your team dies then you lose HALF of the reward. You can safely exit and collect the reward after defeating any wave, before starting the next one. For easy wins, equip a Snakehead-R SMG and a V-Missile, and run a mech that has at least 10,000 GP. When the enemy group lands, run behind them to get "back attack" damage boost. Then use the "Array Strike" V-missile skill to wipe them out, sometimes in a single shot. Then use the SMG's "Normal Strike" skill to clean up any survivors. Grab the orbs and run to the next checkpoint to fight the next wave and repeat the process. By doing his, you can wipe about a dozen waves with A SINGLE PILOT'S TURN. Just watch your armor, sometimes they use a "defensive strike" skill of their own to shoot you while you're moving around behind them.

Fun story: I made it to wave 37 of skirmish mission 1 before I found THE WORST BUG IN THIS GAME. I was getting ready to wreck the final enemy of the wave, still had full armor on my pilot and my other pilots were also alive and well. This enemy had about 20 HP left. One more SMG bullet would have taken him out. But he still had his shotgun. And from OUTSIDE HIS RANGE he fired while I was preparing my shot. It blew up BOTH of my arms in a single shot, right before I pushed the trigger. Now the game thinks I'm still trying to fire my gun, but the gun is gone and so is the attack skill I was trying to use. So not only can I NOT shoot at the guy, but I also CANNOT CANCEL the attack skill, can't exit out of this screen where I'm trying to aim at him, can't end my turn, can't switch to another pilot, I'm just STUCK ON THIS STUPID SCREEN. The only way out is to hit ESC and quit the mission. But that means I've just wasted 2 hours of this mission and I won't get any of that fat reward money!! I'm so pissed off about that. I hope this doesn't happen to you. By the way, it happened to me AGAIN later while I was fighting the boss in story mission 3. I totally forgot about the cannon sniper guy on top of the bridge and he WRECKED me while I was focused on the boss. Again, blew up both of my arms in a single shot and I got stuck on a similar "aiming screen" that I can't back out of. I had to quit that mission, too. To prevent this, make sure to upgrade your arms to maximum so they have LOTS OF ARMOR for protection against getting blown up.
Seriously, I don't mind so much if one of my pilots loses both arms or even dies, but at least LET ME SWITCH TO MY OTHER PILOTS so I can finish the mission!!! Please??? I really hope they fix this bug.
https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/id/dj_moyer/screenshot/2491130806580982961/

Not yet unlocked/implemented.

Not yet unlocked/implemented.


Fun fact: They misspelled "rescue" in the description for the Messa Naval Dock mission. LOL.

From the Mother Base, you can select your mission by using the on-screen arrows at the top left to change the zone, then click which type of mission you want to run at that location. After you click to start a mission, you CANNOT back out until the mission starts, and then if you back out of a mission in progress it counts as a forfeit/defeat. So be sure you want to run the mission before you click on it.

If you want to make money fast, replay Story Mode on mission 3, the one with the boss fight at the end. And bring a lot of upgraded MISSILES and SMGs into the battle.

If you want to earn a lot of money in a single mission without much risk of dying, and you don't care that it takes a long time, then play SKIRMISH MODE on mission 1, since the enemies there are all pretty easy. However, it will require you to beat at least 20 waves before you start seeing any significant amount of reward money. I'd recommend having every squad member upgraded to 8 AP, with a pretty big GP generator and at least one SMG equipped on each pilot. You'll fight a bunch of tanks and turrets (plus a few surdier mechs) in this mission and a lot of them can be killed with a single SMG shot. However, you have to watch your AMMO because those SMGs fire a lot of bullets per shot. Still more ammo efficient than missiles though. So keep an eye out for those yellow orb ammo drops after you kill the tanks and turrets.

Spoiler Alert!! I'm about to describe the story missions for you. I'm not going to describe the mission briefing or the after-action debriefing; if you want to know the backstory you can read those for yourself when you play the missions. I'm just going to describe what you'll have to do for each mission, what enemies you'll face, and hopefully this helps you nail that "Ace" rank at the end of each mission.
Also, the description for each mission doesn't really match up with what you're actually doing in each mission. For instance, mission 1 says "secure the shuttle that carries a new type of mech called a Xenoframe." But then when you get into the mission there is no shuttle, you're not securing anything, and the new Xenoframe turns out to be only a minor updated version of your own mechs. And a mysterious pilot has already stolen it and will fight you rather than be captured. So please, by all means feel free to just IGNORE the description shown on the mission selection screen.

Earning and ACE ranking on a mission doubles the cash reward at the end. Earning and A or S rank also increases the amount, but it won't fully double unless you ace the mission. It doesn't matter if you do it on the first try or after 100,000 replay attempts, you can earn the reward as many times as you want it and the result will be the same..

First you'll play through the tutorial. It's very straightforward and it gives you about three minutes of practice for moving around the battlefield and shooting at enemies. Go where they tell you to, do what they tell you to, and then it ends. You cannot replay the tutorial.

When you step off the truck you'll be surrounded by four turrets. Nothing fancy here, just aim and shoot until they're all dead. Then two more turrets will drop in, one on the left and one on the right side of the map. When they're all dead, your position will automatically be reset to the center of the map and you'll be surrounded by four more turrets (just aim, shoot, kill) and an "Unknow Pilot" in the Xenoframe mech. Beat up the Xenoframe until it's nearly dead and it will fire off an EMP that disables your whole squad (hey, that's cheating!!) and then a "Mask Pilot" arrives to save the day (Tuxedo Mask, is that you!?!?). Use the masked pilot to finish off the unknown pilot and then the mission is over. After the mission, you'll have two new pilots to use from now on.
One of them replaces Alma as squad leader, but for the purposes of the early access first chapter that really doesn't matter. To qualify for Ace rank, don't lose any limbs and don't get killed, destroy all the turrets, and finish in as few rounds as possible. On your first try you might only get A or B rank. It's fine; you can come back and replay it later, once you have more skills unlocked, more AP, and better weapons and parts equipped. Maybe next time you'll do better.

Check the map before you start. Note the enemy positions and numbers. There are two directly north of you, a group of four directly south of you, and a box formation of four more to the west. Those are all turret guns. If you destroy them all, four new turrets will show up in the western area in front of the hangars. Once those are all dead, three "Walker Pilots" show up in their mechs to try to ruin your day. All three will be at the western side of the map, next to the hangars. Kill those three and you're done here. To get an Ace rank, same as last time basically: don't lose any limbs or let any of your pilots pilots die, and finish in as few turns as possible. Just like the last one, you can come back and replay this mission later, as often as you'd like. If you can ACE it, it's an easy $40,000 reward here.

Before you start: make sure Ajay has GP above 7000 and a Movement Speed of 75 or more.
He's going to be doing some running in this mission. But only Ajay. Also, you MUST have Ajay selected in your team to complete this mission. The rest of your team can use their normal loadout equipment. When the mission starts, you'll be surrounded by turret guns (as usual). THREE of them are more than 300 meters away, on the other side of the bridge across the canal. The rest should be within SMG range or close to it, depending which gun you have equipped. Have a few of your pilots take down the nearby turrets first, but NOT AJAY. Once the closest ones are down, send Ajay to the LEFT and he'll have to walk up a little ramp over the red pipes to reach a switch that operates the bridge over the canal. He'll have to spend the entire round working on the switch. On his next turn, send him back to the start, and keep going straight across that intersection. Have him do the same thing on the other side: climb up a ramp and over the red pipes, then have him spend a full turn operating the switch for the canal bridge. While Ajay is busy with that, start moving your other pilots towards the canal.

Once the bridge is fully up, you'll face off against FOUR pilots in walker mechs. The one above the bridge is dual-wielding CANNONS and they hurt VERY MUCH if he shoots you, so kill that guy first. The other three are crossing the bridge to reach you. Kill them. Then your team will regroup on the other side of the bridge and you'll need to fight the "boss" of the first chapter. This thing is weird. It will drive straight at you and run you over if you're outside of its melee reach; if you're too close to it then it will do a spinning attack and crush you. You'll need to break all four legs/wheels and two body sections to kill it. Every time you break a part, it drops orbs; if you're brave enough to get right next to it you can pick them up... but trust me you DO NOT want to be that close to this thing because it will WRECK you at close range with that spinning attack. The first time you beat this mission you'll unlock Skirmish Mode for all three missions plus you'll unlock some new toys in the shop. For now, this is the end of the story, but HOPEFULLY they'll make more and then we'll see if the finished plot is any good or if it stays as flimsy as it's been so far.

After you beat all the available missions, you can still play.
Replay the story missions (particularly missions 2 and 3) for big money to spend in the shop.
Replay the Skirmish missions to see how many waves of enemies you can survive. If you get far enough, the payout is even better than story mode.

Eventually, you'll have a ton of money lying around in your bank account. I'm talking a few hundred thousand bucks. When that happens, you might consider rebuilding all of your mechs. Trade in your old parts and swap them out for the following:

• Arms - Kusanagi, but they should be upgraded at least to level 3.
  
• Legs - Kusanagi, but they should be upgraded at least to level 3.
  
• Core Body - Kusanagi, but they should be upgraded at least to level 4.
  
• Main Camera / Head - Scope WInder, but it should be upgraded at least to level 2.
  
• Backpack - Attila Archer, but it should be upgraded at least to level 2.
  
• L-Hand - Assault Rifle level 2 or higher, or AX-A505 Snakehead level 3 or higher.
  
• R-Hand - Assault Rifle level 2 or higher, or AX-A505 Snakehead level 3 or higher.
  
• L-Shoulder - Aisen R-B-09 horizontal missile, level 3 should be good enough.
  
• R-Shoulder - VD-M-M5 vertical missile, level 3 or higher.
  
• Optional: you can replace the horizontal missile pack with the Phsutha Cannon on one shoulder. It does a MASSIVE amount of damage, plus some AOE splash damage, but it is also INSANELY HEAVY so if you equip this, don't plan on walking anywhere during your turn; just stand still and keep lobbing mortars at anything that moves. You'll also want to upgrade your other parts a lot more first so you can carry this giant thing without becoming a stationary mortar turret.

Listen, I have no idea. I'm not connected to the developers AT ALL. I'm just a gamer like you. If you need more information, check the "Follow" box on the game's Steam Store page to get the latest news (if there is any) about the game. Or join the developer's Discord server (which I'm not even sure if it exists). Or visit their website (which has been BROKEN and shown zero new information since 2021).

There has been no visible activity on this game for ALMOST THREE YEARS. The information on the company's official website has not been updated, nor has the site been functional, since 2015. The developer's facebook page has been inactive for OVER A YEAR, too.
There might not be any more updates for this game EVER... but I hope there will be.

That's all I know.