First steps

Your first ten minutes, step by step. A short tutorial in the game walks you through the first four; you can skip it at any time.

1. Scout a sector. Your flagship sits in the middle of your start sector. Tap a neighbouring sector: one line tells you your chances – easy win, even fight, risky or too strong. Yield and garrison are under Details.
2. Attack. Press Attack. Your strongest ready ships launch right away. If you want to pick ships, doctrine, retreat or abilities yourself, use Choose ships… instead – the win chance there follows the ships you tick. The flight takes a couple of minutes.
3. Fight. When your fleet arrives, the battle is ready. Press Fight to command it yourself – trigger EMP when the enemy front closes in – or let the game fight it automatically after ten minutes.
4. Your first order. Open the Bridge. Stations that are waiting for orders glow. Your fleet already uses all command points, so start with a pilot in the Academy or an upgrade at Research – the command bridge raises your command points.
5. Until later. Start a longer order and close the game. Nothing is lost when you leave; the report shows what happened.

Galaxy and bridge

The map is always there; your bridge slides in on top of it.

• Galaxy: the map. Your sectors are blue. Worthwhile targets carry a ring like a traffic light – green easy, yellow even, red risky. Everything else – sectors too strong for your fleet, far-away space – fades into the background, so the map shows what you can do right now. Tap a sector to scout or attack it, or to fly your flagship there.
• Bridge: the inside of your flagship. Tap Flagship – on a phone it sits in the bar at the bottom – and your bridge rises over the map; close it with ✕, a swipe down (on larger screens: from the right, swipe right) or a tap on the map. Through the window you see where it is; around you are the stations – Shipyard, Academy, Research, Infirmary and Hangar. A glowing station is free and waiting for an order; the others show what they are working on and how long it takes. The number on the Flagship button counts the waiting stations. In the hangar you can scrap a ship you no longer need: tap Scrap twice and half of its build cost comes back.

The Deputy station keeps things going while you are away (with an account). Pick an order: Economy only claims goals, keeps the shipyard and academy busy and upgrades; Careful also attacks pirates when the chance is high; Bold goes for valuable sectors (jump gates, anomalies, shipyards, academies, relays) even at even odds and presses on after a victory – more gains, more losses. Your deputy never attacks other commanders, takes over only after half an hour without orders from you, acts every couple of hours like any other commander (and rests at night), and stops a day after your last visit – it bridges your absence, it doesn't play the season for you. The report lists what it did – attacks, battles, ships, pilots, upgrades and goals.

Below it are your three goals – conquer sectors, build ships, train pilots, win battles, upgrade the flagship, win without losses. A completed goal glows; claim it for resources, and the next goal takes its place. Goals and rewards grow as you go, and the chain never runs out.

Above the map, Next step suggests the most useful thing to do right now – a battle waiting for you, an easy target, a free shipyard, a missing pilot or an affordable upgrade – with one button to do it. When everything is running, it tells you when the next result comes in. For the shipyard it aims for a mixed fleet: it suggests the class your fleet lacks most and would rather wait for resources than add one more of the same.

Install as an app

Corebound can live on your home screen like an app: in Chrome or Edge choose Install in the address bar or menu, on an iPhone Share → Add to Home Screen. It opens without the browser bar, and once it has loaded, it starts even without a connection. With an account you then see your last state, marked “Offline”: battles that are waiting can be fought to the end and their results are sent when you are back online – everything else waits for the connection. A battle must still be fought before its deadline; if your fleet already fought it on its own, the offline result is dropped. When a new version is ready, a small banner offers to reload; after the update a short list shows what is new.

Settings and controls

• Language: English or German, switched instantly in Settings.
• Colorblind mode: your sectors get a second inner ring, cut-off sectors a dashed one, targets a dotted outline; in battle your ships carry a ● and enemies a ▲.
• Fewer effects: no laser lines, flashes or animations. It is on by default if your system asks for reduced motion.
• Game: the battle simulator and New game (tap twice) are here as well. The simulator also has a button at the bottom of the bridge.
• Volume and mute for all sounds – battle, orders, the bridge and the alarm for incoming attacks. Sound starts after your first tap.

Everything works with a keyboard alone:

In battle, the Focus order lets you pick the target with Tab and Enter as well.

Guest or account

You can play right away as a guest. Your game is then saved in this browser only.

With an account (the button at the top right) your game is saved on the server and continues on any device. The server keeps time for you: orders finish and battles past their deadline are fought while you are away, and the next time you open the game you get a report of everything that happened.

• Stay signed in keeps you signed in for 30 days. Without it, you are signed out when you close the browser.
• A guest game is not carried over when you create an account – the account starts a fresh game. Your guest game stays in the browser and is still there when you sign out.
• You can delete your account at any time from the same button. This removes your game for good.

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