Cataclismo – Beginner’s Guide

Game Basics

You’re the leader of your people. I’m your advisor. I’ll help you fight against the Mist monsters and take back lost lands. If you’re new, start with the tutorials. They teach you how to play.

In this game, you build castles and manage resources. You defend against monster attacks while building your fortress and army. You also solve mysteries.

The Mist has changed the world. During the day, you improve your city. At night, you defend against monsters. Each night, new types of monsters attack in bigger groups. You need to explore, manage your people, and use resources wisely. Your goal is to survive and bring hope back to humans.

Lady Iris

Lady Iris is the main character. You’ll see her in all parts of the game. She has a magic stone in her chest. This lets her use special moves called Artes. These Artes help her in fights. Check out her Artes to see when to use them.

Her best power is making Time Anchors. These are like save points. If things go bad, Lady Iris can go back in time. To make a Time Anchor, click the button on top of the screen or use F5. To use a Time Anchor, click the return button or press F9.

Main Menu

Cataclismo has different ways to play:

1. Campaign: Play the story with Lady Iris. Learn about the Mist. Early access has 10 missions. Full game will have more.
2. Skirmish: Try to survive many nights on different maps. Pick your difficulty.
3. Endless Mode: Like Skirmish, but waves never stop. Maps are made randomly. Only one land type for now.
4. Sandbox Mode: Not ready yet.
5. Level Editor: Make your own maps. Choose size and land type. Not all land types ready in early access.
6. Community Levels: Play maps others made. Share your maps too.
7. Settings: Change game options to fit how you like to play. Adjust picture, sound, and controls.

Game Screen

(1) Resources and People

• Oxygen: Needed to live. Make Air Filters.
• Wood: For building. Make Sawmills.
• Stone: For strong walls. Make Quarries.
• Minerals: For special buildings and troops. Make Quarries.
• Military: Shows your army size.
• Citizens: Shows how many people you have.
• Mistfuel: For advanced stuff. Make Mist Condensers.

(2) Time

• Time Anchor: Lady Iris can go back in time.
• Day parts: Day (build), Evening (get ready), Night (defend).
• Speed buttons: Change game speed.

(3) Objectives: What you need to do.

(4) Game Controls

• Map view: See whole map.
• Visibility: Change how you see things.
• Settings menu

(5) Help: Get game info here.

(6) Citadel Level: Unlock new things as you level up.

(7) Building Menu

• Blueprints: Quick building plans.
• Wood and Stone: For walls.
• Advanced and Tactical: Special defenses.
• Resource and City buildings

(8) Building Tools

• Copy tool: Copy buildings.
• Recycle tool: Remove buildings.
• Undo button

Economy Basics

Resources, People, and Expanding

Your economy has three main parts: getting resources, managing people, and exploring new areas. These help your economy grow and let you survive attacks at night.

Resources:

You need different resources to run your city. This includes buildings, defenses, units, and upgrades. Wood, stone, and minerals come from areas around their buildings. Oxygen comes from air filters. Higher air filters make more oxygen. You can build air filters on top of other buildings to save space. You can see how much of each resource you’re making by looking at the top left of the screen.

People:

You need people to work in buildings. They live in shacks or houses and automatically work to collect resources. Resources go to your main building or the nearest warehouse. Remember that far-away resources take longer to collect. People are also used to make army units. Bigger or better units need more people. Keep in mind that your units and buildings use oxygen to survive. Don’t make too big an army too fast or you might run out of oxygen.

Expanding:

You need to expand for two reasons. First, to get more resources. As attacks get harder, you’ll need more resources. Build a beacon to claim new areas with resources, but make sure there are no enemies there first. If there are enemies, send units to clear them out. Look for leftover resources from old expeditions while you’re at it. Second, you need more space to build. You start with a small area, but you’ll need more room for units, resource buildings, and defenses. Remember, if a beacon is destroyed, you lose access to buildings in that area until you rebuild the beacon.

Defenses

You need to build defenses to protect against nightly attacks. The defense system uses wood and stone pieces like building blocks. You can make walls, stairs, and bridges for your troops to fight from.

Stone walls have a special feature called Toughness. Taller stone walls have more health and are stronger. You can see this by how the stone looks different as it gets tougher. Tougher walls let your units fight better from the top.

The walls follow real physics. If you remove a supporting piece, the wall might fall down. You’ll see red shaking parts to warn you. Fix it fast or the wall will collapse and might hurt your units or enemies.

There are different types of wall pieces:

• Wood and Stone Pieces: These are the basic parts. Remember, only stone gets the Toughness bonus.

• Advanced Pieces: These are doors and windows. They let you move through walls and protect units on top. Windows are good for walls with many levels.

• Tactical Pieces: These are special. They help your units fight better or slow down enemies. You unlock these as you level up your main building.

Use all these pieces to build strong walls that can stand up to attacks.

Units

Units are your trained fighters. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Recruitment:

You make units in Military Growth buildings, mostly using the Barracks early on. Units cost resources like wood, minerals, and citizens. They also use oxygen.

Unit Stats and Actions:

Each unit has two main parts to look at:

• Left side: This tells you what the unit does, how much damage it can do, how fast it attacks, and how much space it takes up.
• Right side: This shows what actions the unit can do, like focus on stronger enemies or attack an area instead of a single target.

Low or High-Ground Units:

How high a unit is compared to its target is very important:

• Low-ground units work best when they’re 0-4 meters above their target.
• High-ground units work best when they’re 5 or more meters above their target.

To check if a unit is at the right height:

• Select the unit
• Look at the white diamond above its card
• White means too high, red means can’t attack, green means just right

When you build defenses, think about making platforms at different heights. This lets your units fight best against the enemies.

The Night

At the end of each day, you face waves of enemies called horrors. Here’s what happens:

Preparation Time:

• Before night falls, you get some time to get ready.
• You’ll see where the horrors will come from and about how many there are.
• Use this time to make your walls stronger or move your units to better spots.

The Attack:

• When night comes, the horrors attack your settlement.
• Their goal is to destroy your main building (the citadel).

Winning:

• To survive the night, you need to defeat all the horrors.
• If you do this, you’ve made it through and can start the next day.

Remember to use what you learned about defenses and units to protect your settlement each night.

Gameplay Tips

• Check your map early. Find resources to get more materials. This helps you build faster.
• You can build on top of most buildings. Use this for Air Filters or defense towers.
• All buildings and units use oxygen. Plan where to put Air Filters.
• Try building walls at different heights. This helps your units fight better.
• When a wall falls, units on it fall too. Move units off falling walls to keep them safe.
• Mix different types of units. Bowmen hit hard but only one target. Lobbers hit many targets but do less damage. Captors slow down enemies. Use them together to fight big groups.
• Upgrade units and use tactical items to make them stronger.
• Look at a unit’s info to see where it fights best. White areas are too high, red areas can’t be attacked, and green areas are good.
• Lady Iris has special powers. Learn what they do and use them when needed.