MENACE Guide for Beginners – Investment Policy

MENACE can seem complicated at first, with a lot of rules and information on the screen. But once you understand the basics, it becomes more manageable – as much as a challenging strategy game can be! If you’re just starting out, you might feel lost. This guide will help you through your first mission, explaining the most important game features as you go.

Pick Your Starting Lineup

We strongly recommend starting with the following Squad Leaders:

Darby has the best stats out of all starting Infantry units, and she can completely neutralize enemy special weapons like chainguns and rocket launchers.
Pike is a fantastic support character who can give other units extra AP.
Rewa is a vehicle pilot who can snowball in battles by stacking Accuracy and Discipline after destroying enemies.
Carda is a cheap character who can grow stats very quickly.

This strategy maximizes each operator’s abilities. Use Carda and Rewa’s transport to lead the charge, with Pike providing close support. For scouting and flanking, Darby’s high AP and accuracy make her ideal. If you prefer a vehicle-focused approach, choose Achilleas over Rewa and Lim instead of Darby.

Picking Your First Operation

Once you’ve chosen your initial team, you’ll see the System Map. It shows several options on the left and a planet with a random mission. For now, we’ll focus on the mission and not worry about the other options, as they aren’t useful yet.

Your first task will involve fighting either Pirates or Aliens. It’s best to take on the Pirates first if you can, because they often drop valuable items. If you receive a mission from the Aliens, accept it, but cancel it right away. This will slightly lower your standing with the faction that offered the mission, but don’t worry – you start with a neutral reputation, and it can’t go any lower. You might even end up improving your reputation!

Planning Your First Mission

When you begin an Operation and choose a mission, you’ll move into the planning stage. Your first priority should be to get the most out of your Supply Cost. Here’s how:

Select Rewa’s portrait and equip the Light Troop Carrier vehicle, then add her to the mission by pressing the button to the right of her name above her info card.
Select each of your Infantry squads, then press the small + button next to the Unequip Squad button. This will increase the number of Squaddies present in the squad itself, giving you more firepower.
Arm your squad with special weapons, if you have any.
Equip your Infantry units with Magazine Pouches to increase their total ammo count for their main weapons.

Every time you begin a new campaign, you’ll have 50 soldiers ready to deploy, but be warned: losing a soldier means they’re lost for good. You can hire replacements later through the Black Market.

Adjust Your Deployment Zone

The map on the left side of the screen, found when preparing for a mission, displays enemy positions, objectives, and where your characters are stationed. You can move your squads around by clicking and dragging their icons onto any highlighted orange tile within the Deployment Zone.

Pay attention to where potential enemies are and plan your approach from there.

Commanding Your Troops

As a huge MENACE fan, I’ve found the combat really clicks when you get into a rhythm. It’s basically about suppressing the enemy, then quickly flanking them to get the drop, and finally, finishing them off. A lot of the game is about finding those perfect spots where you can pull that off. You’re always moving between cover, relying on your Squad Leader’s skills, and honestly, just trying to keep your whole squad alive – it’s intense but so rewarding!

Here are some important tips you can incorporate into your MENACE gameplay:

You can choose which of your units act whenever it’s your turn to move, provided that unit hasn’t moved yet during that round.
All units, hostile or friendly, receive an AP and Accuracy penalty when Suppressed, and they won’t be able to take any action (besides crawl) when they’re Pinned Down. Use this knowledge to safely move your troops around the map while in a firefight.
Units (both yours and the enemy’s) will lose morale if they or their allies take losses. You can send multiple enemy squads running for their lives by using shock and awe tactics that inflict heavy casualties and suppression.
Use vehicles to transport low-AP units like Carda over long distances.
Make sure your vehicles are always facing their front toward the enemy.
Use the Deploy skill to gain a bonus to Accuracy and defenses, at the cost of 20AP and the inability to move.
The L100 Rocket Launcher is surprisingly good at sniping enemy units. Unless there’s a high-priority armored enemy on the field, feel free to use this against infantry.
You can shoot at and hit enemies that aren’t visible to your troops by issuing a fire order on what tile you think they’re standing on.

Post-Battle Rewards

Finishing missions rewards you with loot – a random item based on the mission – and Promotion Points. You can use this loot directly or sell it on the Black Market to get even better equipment.

Black Market Recommendations

We highly suggest equipping Darby with a K-PAC Assault Rifle or Carda with a Crowbar Battle Rifle. These weapons will greatly increase their effectiveness in your early missions.

The Black Market doesn’t use money. Instead, all trades are based on the value of the items themselves. You can’t receive any money back from a sale, and you can’t simply sell items for money – it’s always a direct item-for-item exchange.

Promoting Squad Leaders

So, leveling up my Squad Leader unlocks a cool new perk, but it also makes them more expensive to maintain – the higher their Supply Cost Tax, the more supplies they eat up. It’s tempting to max out a unit, but honestly, going all-in on one SL can really hurt my ability to equip the rest of my squad. I have to balance things and make sure I don’t spread myself too thin!

OCI Components

After each operation, you’ll earn OCI Components. These let you unlock improvements for your base, which are essential for staying ahead of the enemies in MENACE. Upgrades include better scouting to help with mission planning, powerful support options like airstrikes and artillery, and helpful bonuses like faster unit recovery.

Faction Reputation

Completing missions successfully will improve your standing with the faction that asked for your help. As your reputation grows, you’ll gain access to more OCI facilities. Keep in mind that you’ll still need to construct these facilities using OCI Components.

General & Meta-Game Progression Tips

Sometimes, having more squads with fewer soldiers in each is better than having fewer squads with more people each. This is usually the case during defense missions where enemies can come from all directions.
Build Sensors on your ship first to help you plan your missions more effectively.
Turning Pike’s squad into a dedicated support weapon platform is great for saving up on Supply Costs. Keep 3–4 Squaddies with him, and he’ll be good to go.
Carda has the potential to be one of the best units in MENACE thanks to her high Growth Potential stat. Use her as often as possible, so her stats can rise quickly.
Fighting the Alien faction is great if you want to stock up on trading goods.
Quality is better than quantity, as far as the early game is concerned. Focus on kitting out your squads first before getting new ones.

2026-02-10 19:14