If you have never played a real-time strategy game before, you are not behind. You are exactly who this page was written for.
An RTS looks intimidating from the outside — a hundred buttons, a swarm of little machines, someone on a forum telling you your build order is bad. Underneath all of that, an RTS is one simple loop repeated until somebody wins. Read this page and How a match plays out, play three games badly, then come back for the rest. That's the intended order and it works.
1. Install
Get SplinterFaction from itch.io. (A Steam release is planned but not yet available.)
What you're installing is Coilbox — a launcher that handles the engine, the game files and the maps for you — pre-configured for SplinterFaction. Download, unpack, run. On Windows, unpack somewhere other than Program Files.
The download doesn't include the game itself, or any maps. This is deliberate: it keeps the initial download small and means you're never installing an out-of-date version. The first screen gives you buttons for both:
- The game. One button, one click. Coilbox fetches the current version of SplinterFaction.
- At least one map. Maps are separate downloads. Grab a map pack early — playing the same map every game hides half of what strategy is for.
Coilbox checks for new versions on launch and fetches only what's changed. You never need to reinstall. Already have a plain Coilbox install? Go to Downloads in the left sidebar, select Games, and filter to SplinterFaction.
If the game refuses to start: update your graphics drivers first. Then check your antivirus hasn't quarantined the engine executable. Then let Coilbox re-verify the game files. Ninety percent of launch failures are driver or antivirus related, not corrupt files.
2. Set up your first match
From the lobby you'll choose:
- A map. Small maps mean fast, violent games. Large maps mean long economic games. For your first match pick a small-to-medium map with a clear separation between start positions.
- Opponents. Add a SimpleAI for a standard skirmish, or a SurvivalAI for co-operative wave defence.
- Teams. You on one, the AI on the other. Allies share vision and can share resources.
- Your faction. You pick here — and you'll be asked again when the game starts.
Leave mod options at default for your first games. AI options are worth knowing about: SurvivalAI in particular has many — wave pacing, difficulty scaling, beacon behaviour. If survival mode is too punishing while you're learning, turn the pressure down, learn the systems, turn it back up.
3. Choose a faction
Federation of Kala
Fast walkers, cloaking, self-repairing hulls, missiles and plasma. Mobile, tricky, punishing to chase. Start here. Fed units are more forgiving while you're learning the interface — you can pull out of a bad fight and undo mistakes that would be permanent otherwise.
Loz Alliance
Slow heavy tanks protected by personal energy shields. Durable, direct, unpleasant to stand in front of. Every commitment is final because you can't outrun anything. A skill worth having — just not on game one.
You choose twice: in the lobby, then again via the in-game faction chooser when the game loads. The second prompt is your real commitment. Your allies can see your choice; your enemies cannot. Full dossiers.
4. Place your start
After choosing a faction you place your starting position on the map. This is your first real decision and it matters more than it looks. Look for:
- Resource locations — fixed spots where EM Converters go. The map's most important feature. More locations near you = more income.
- Geothermal vents — power plants, research centres, or the best converter in the game. Worth having nearby.
- Chokepoints — a narrow pass means one defensive position covers an entire approach.
- Open flanks — two directions is manageable. Five is a nightmare.
- Distance to the enemy — close means early aggression by both of you. Far means the economic player wins.
What beginners get wrong: placing in the middle because it "looks central and strong". It's exposed on every side. Take a corner or a pocket with a defensible entrance.
Once placed, your Commander appears — and the Commander is a loss condition. In 1v1, losing it loses the game immediately. It's strong and it gets stronger as you tech, so use it to push. Then bring it home. Keep it constructing, bind it to a control group, and watch for raiders: fast enemy units in your base are hunting it specifically.
5. The keys that matter most
If you learn six, learn these. Everything can be rebound in the in-game Static Keybinds editor — and hovering any button and pressing Ctrl+Insert binds it to a key on the spot.
| Key | Action | Why |
|---|---|---|
| F | Fight | Advance while engaging. The most important order in the game. |
| Y | Set Target | Designate a priority target. Free focus-fire. |
| E | Reclaim | Turn wreckage into metal. |
| Shift | Queue | Hold while ordering to queue. Also the build-placement modifier. |
| Ctrl + 0–9 | Set control group | Army to 1, constructors to 2, factory to 3. Every game, until it's muscle memory. |
| Alt + wheel | Camera angle | Plus Alt + middle-drag to rotate, Tab for the whole-map overview. |
6. Learn one habit at a time
Play against SimpleAI in this order. Each is a single habit; learn them one at a time, not all at once.
- Just survive a full game. Don't optimise anything.
- Play a game where you never let your factory go idle.
- Play a game where you take every resource location you safely can.
- Play a game where you never let your stored metal exceed a small buffer.
- Play a game where you scout every three minutes.
Coilbox on first launch
The in-game faction chooser