Below is a basic set of instructions to get you up and running.
LOGIN
You’ll need a profile if you don’t already have one. If you do have one, make sure that you are logged in, which you can do at the
profile section main page or from the greeting strip (light blue row at the very top of each page on thecontinuum.com).
BUILD
Now that you are in, you’ll need to build your massive army with troops. Get your mouse to the
Marketplace section. If you didn’t login, you will be prompted to do so.
_Element Balance -
The Element (E)
is The Continuum’s in-game currency that you can use to buy troops in Starter packs (40 units), Booster packs (15 units), and
Chosen One packs (1 unit).
_Purchase -
Buy as many troops as you see fit (add them to your cart, proceed to checkout, and place your order).
_Units -
After you have placed your order, you will see the units from your just-made purchase. Each character has a certain rarity
(common, uncommon, rare, heroic, and legendary) that relates to how powerful that character can become.
UPGRADE
You have your characters; now give them the strength to crush the opposition. Upgrade your units by spending their
Ability Points (AP).
_The Continuum launches in a new window, loads, and presents you with The Continuum Lobby.
_COLLECTION -
Click on the main navigation item, “COLLECTION” (see fig A. in the zoom diagram below).
_Units tab -
In the top left of the screen (below The Continuum logo), notice the Units and Armies tabs.
_My Collection Units -
When the UNITS tab is selected, all the units in your collection are listed in the left hand column titled, “My Collection Units.”
_Selecting any of these units
loads the unit’s information into the middle column for examination. Pay careful attention to the AP (Ability Points) column.
If any of your units have remaining AP, then that AP can be spent by purchasing abilities (see fig C below) to augment the unit before their next battle.
_Purchasing Abilities -
The right-hand column titled, “Available Abilities” lists the different ways to develop your character.
You can develop your character by using AP to purchase abilities (Action abilities to initiate powerful moves in battle,
Characteristic abilities that augment your units’ inherent power, and Equipment abilities that enable your character to equip certain types of armor, weapon, or items).
_Armies Tab -
Click on the “Armies” tab (see fig D to the left) to start creating your armies.
_My Armies Panel -
In the “My Armies” panel at the top-left of the screen, click on the “Create”
button in “My Armies.” Select that newly created army to start filling it with squads and units.
_Squads Panel -
Squads, composed of 1-20 units, are created in the center column. The first character added will have a star to the left of its
name (See fig E below). This star represents the squad’s leader. The squad’s leader can be changed using the “make leader”
button below. The leader will be the visual representation of the squad on the battlefield, as well as affect the squad’s
Morale
and ability to
Target-1
or
Retreat.
_Available Units Panel -
If an Army is selected, units can be added to your squads by clicking on the “Add Unit to Squad”
button (see fig E above) or by selecting and dragging the unit into the selected squad in the center Squad Panel. Each unit in your
collection can be assigned to multiple armies, but can only be assigned once within each individual army.
_Point Value (PV) -
Each unit has a certain point value or PV (see fig E above). A character’s PV is a measure of their power. Pay attention to PV while
building your army as PV is the way that battle-size is negotiated with your opponent.
CHALLENGE
Now that you have developed your troops and placed them into Armies —
it’s time to go to war.
_Lobby -
If you are not there already, click the “Lobby” menu-item from the top-level navigation.
_Find an opponent -
Select an opponent from the lobby chat rooms, and…
_CHALLENGE! -
by selecting the challenge button (see fig G below).
_Be Challenged -
You can accept challenges made to you by other players by selecting the challenges tab (see fig G below), highlighting an incoming
challenge (see fig H below), and then clicking on the “Accept Challenge” button (see fig I below). Notice that any challenges that
you have made to other players will be represented by a sword icon, whereas challenges from other opponents made to you will be represented by a shield icon.
GAME SETUP
In the “Game Set-up” phase, you and your opponent will agree to the terms of battle. Only the challenger can adjust the setting
during game set-up. Make sure to communicate with your opponent via the persistent chat panel to make sure that both of you are
engaging in the kind of game that you want to play.
_STAGE 1: SELECT OPTIONS -
_Ranked (counts towards your record, more XP for your characters).
_Unranked (just for fun, less XP for your characters) (see fig J below).
_Maximum Point Value -
This is the size of the battle—the higher the PV, the stronger and/or larger the armies on the battlefield (see fig J below).
You will not be able to field an Army with a higher PV than designated as the maximum point value.
_Victory Conditions -
The Victory Condition is the objective that each player is attempting to achieve to win the battle (see fig J left).
_Map -
Choose which map from the Crossworld to battle upon. Maps vary in size, which limits the maximum squads per player.
_STAGE 2: SELECT ARMY -
_My Armies - Create, select, and/or modify an existing army to take the field of battle.
DEPLOYMENT
Field your Army for battle.
_Battlefield -
Notice the tile-based battlefield. This is where your legend will be made. On the battlefield you can see different terrain (each
with their own movement value), special tiles, and deployment tiles that are highlighted with a red or green outline.
_Drag and Drop -
Drag and drop your squads (from the right squad panel below the character detail, see fig K below) into the green highlighted tiles on the
battlefield to deploy them, but be wary - the enemy deploys to the red highlighted tiles (see fig L at right). After you drag all of your
squads to the battlefield, click the “Finished” button.
MOVEMENT
Maneuver for the strategic advantage and attack.
_Movement Points -
Each squad is assigned a movement value that is dictated by the unit with the lowest movement score. A squad can only move as far as
they have movement points, and different tiles have different movement costs based upon the terrain (i.e., rocky terrain has a higher
movement cost that open plains). Notice the highlighted tiles in the battle map below. By clicking on a squad, the highlighted tiles
provide you with the legal moves available to that squad (see fig M below). Notice the way that the highlight on the battlefield is shaped by the rocky
terrain. Tiles with rocky terrain have a higher movement cost than the squad can move into or through on this turn.
_Special Tiles -
Special Tiles are represented by yellow or green colored bases with an object or scene atop the base (see fig N below). The yellow-based
tiles bestow powerful buffs (health, morale, speed, etc) to the squad to aid in battle and movement. The green-based tiles, which
typically yield equipment, need to be search/mined to produce their benefit. This is done by landing on the tile and hitting the
search/mine button (see fig O below). The search/mine action requires that you have at least one movement point remaining, and will
exhaust any additional movement points that your squad has for the movement turn. Each Special Tile has a certain amount of “charges”
that are denoted by the number on the left-hand side of it’s base. Once the charge number has reached zero, that tiles resources have
been exhausted. Lastly, any equipment yielded from a special tile cannot be equipped and used by your characters during this match-up,
but can be equipped in the collection section for your next match.
_Initiating Combat -
If the enemy is within your allotted movement points, you can initiate a combat instance by entering the tile that the enemy squad
occupies. Once you have initiated combat, the battlefield view will switch from movement to combat.
_Fortify -
The fortify movement action (see fig O above), can be used to increase a squad’s defense factor while that squad remains stationary. The
fortify action costs one movement point and it’s affects are negated as soon as the fortifying squad moves from the tile that they
initiated the fortify action upon. Fortifying can be used best when a squad has one movement point remaining and is certain to be attacked
by the opponent on the next movement turn.
_Ending Your Turn -
If you have exhausted all of your movement points, or are satisfied with your battlefield position, click the “End Turn” button. This will end your movement round and transfer control of moving squads to your opponent for their movement turn.
COMBAT
Crush your opponent with your ability and superior strategy. Each combat phase entails 3 rounds of squad-on-squad fighting, and then
moves back into movement phase. During combat, your units can either use their basic attack or employ an Action ability.
_Action Abilities -
Action abilities are attacks or defensive moves that the user must actively use or cast for a unit. Each Action ability has effects
as well as charges. Effects detail what results the ability has when it successfully hits a target (see fig P below).
Charges are the number of times the ability can be used per game. Lastly, please note that some beneficial abilities, such as heal,
can be self-targeting.
_Basic Attack -
Basic attacks are used when no Action Abilities have been designated for that unit.
_Squad Orders -
Squad Orders give all of your units direction on how to focus their attack (see fig P below), E.G. selecting “Ranged Attack” can give
a buff to your ranged units whereas Charge can give a buff to your melee units, however those buffs are not guaranteed. Depending on what
Squad Order you choose in combination with what Squad Order your opponent chooses (think rock, paper, scissors), one or the other Squad
Order will get the “Advantage” giving it a buff for that combat round. E.G. A “Charge” order will gain the advantage over a “Ranged Attack”
order (giving a buff to the charging squad’s melee units for that combat round), whereas a “Charge” order will lose the advantage to an
“Attack” order (giving a buff to the attacking squads melee units for that combat round). Any units not activating a targetable ability
(E.G. Drain) will be assigned a target based on the Squad Order.
_Squad Orders & Targeting -
Squad Orders affects how units automatically select targets (See table below):
GAME WRAP-UP
After the smoke clears, who will be victorious? The game wrap-up screen provides you with the glorious details of a victory or statistics to analyze and learn from a defeat.
_Post-Game Stats -
Learn which units were the most effective in battle by sifting through kill, damage given, damage taken, and death statistics.
_XP Awarded -
The game wrap-up screen lets you know how much XP is awarded to each unit in your army.