Iron Tide Command: Building Your First Real Fleet

Iron Tide Command throws a lot at you in the tutorial and then leaves you to sink or swim. The most common early mistake I see — and made myself — is dumping everything into one giant flagship and then losing it to a swarm.

Balance matters more than raw firepower early on. A couple of cheap scouts give you vision, which lets you avoid ambushes entirely, and vision is worth more than another gun in the first few missions. Tap to pause the moment you spot raiders and issue orders calmly.

When it comes to trade routes, don't over-escort. One reliable escort per route frees up ships to actually go fight. I wasted a whole campaign babysitting convoys that were never really in danger.

Once the flow clicks, this becomes one of the more satisfying strategy games on the platform. Just give the systems a mission or two to breathe.