Pax Autocratica Beginner Guide

Soldier Management is the real HUD

Almost every citizen, soldier, and prisoner lives under Tab → Soldier Management. Right-click a unit, pick a work location, then lock the assignment if you need a specialist (research, cooking, haul) to stop wandering. Watch stamina, morale, pay, and fear on the same sheet — fear too high risks defection; fear too low invites strikes and protests.

Starter companions are optional but strong

When the shuttle offers early companions, community runs often favour high-utility starters (names such as Mirrorless and Camila appear in early playthroughs). Treat named picks as convenience, not a hard rule — swap if a unit’s work traits clearly beat the default pair.

With bodies assigned, the next bottleneck is usually food and warehouse flow, not combat.

Unified Labor hours

Inside the flag / policy building, Unified Labor sets the work day. Community-observed comfort sits around 16 hours; pushing toward 18 often triggers overworked complaints during social hours. Raise hours only when food, beds, and pay already look stable.

Tier gates before flashy toys

Early deep-drill / wood-harvest buildings unlock better material tiers than hand gathering. Soldier training, reproductive allocation, and shipyard research are mid-loop goals — do not skip food automation to rush them. Full structure notes live on buildings and the wider colony page.

Stable plates buy you the political half of the game: fear and loyalty.

Named people, not abstract pops

Citizens age, bond, feud, and carry battle trauma. A soldier who works the kitchen at noon may stand beside you under fire at night. That is why capture and care matter: every captive who converts is another named worker, not an XP bar. Deeper mood tables: citizens · decree detail: policies.

Once the State can eat and obey, the shuttle stops being a suicide button.

Star-map destinations

From the shuttle, early sectors such as Elisia teach major battles when expedition progress hits 100%. Resource stops drop logic chips (cornerstone buildings), reactors (weapons/armor), and alloys (upgrades). Merchant or exile-fleet encounters can trade or fight for recruits — including non-human workers with strong work traits.

Fight like a mobile arcade, not an RTS

You control the leader in first person, issue simple squad orders (F1 follow / hold patterns appear in community guides), and keep moving. Melee clumps and sniper tells punish standing still; Shift bounce / dash timing matters against heavy shots. Heal on Q when available. Extract toward the warp marker instead of greed-farming every red ping when the squad is thin.

Loot only sticks if you understand what Cores do — and what they do not.

Core Fragment pods

Pods spawn as you clear areas and push the objective marker. Pick the fragment, keep moving, and do not treat the roster as a permanent loadout editor — returning to the colony strips the temporary fragment bag. Ban / preference tools may appear later; exact UI labels stay TBA while Early Access moves.

Capture without wiping the captive

Bring health down (community shorthand: leave roughly a quarter of the bar), then fire a Capture Round (often bound near F in early guides). Back home: imprison, interrogate/shock until overwhelmed, then indoctrinate. Over-shocking kills. Discipline, care, labour, or execution are separate post-capture choices on the unit menu.

When you want habit-level mistakes instead of the full loop, jump to tips after the checklist below.

Sleep through the night when chores are done

Near the end of sleeping hours you can press V at the bunk to advance time instead of staring at the clock. Use that only after cooks, haulers, and research queues look healthy — sleeping through a broken kitchen just hides the fire.

For Deck quirks, co-op timing, and habit FAQs, keep tips open beside this guide.