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Pick Campaign and deploy to Cinder Scar: the first sector walks you through building a Power Plant, a Refinery and a Barracks, training troops and attacking. Hints at the top of the screen tell you what to do next.

Tap a unit to select it, double-tap to select every unit of that type on screen, or press and hold, then drag, to box-select. ALL selects your whole army. Tap the ground to move there (units fight anything on the way), or tap an enemy to attack it.

Tap BUILD and choose a structure, then drag the map until the ghost turns green and tap PLACE. You can only build near your existing base, and some structures need another one first – the tray tells you which.

Tap a Barracks, War Factory or Airfield to open its production tray and tap a unit to queue it. With the building selected, tap the ground to set where new units gather.

Cinderite (blue crystals) pays for most things. Alloy comes from rusty salvage yards and is needed for aircraft, Flak, the Tech Lab and research. Power Plants supply power; if you use more than you make, building and training slow down.

They are control groups. Select some units, then hold a button to save them as a group. Tap it later to select the group again – tap once more to move the camera to it.

Pinch out: past a certain zoom the view switches to the strategic map with unit icons. The MAP button jumps there and back, and you can tap or drag the minimap in the corner.

Bastion tanks crush infantry and structures, Breachers destroy armour, Troopers screen Breachers and can shoot at aircraft, and Flak tracks shred Gunships. Moving tanks can even run over enemy infantry.

Abilities that appear when the right units are selected. Troopers Suppress an area (enemies there fire and move slower), Bastions dig into Siege Mode (more range and damage, but they can't move) and Gunships drop a Smoke Screen that hides friendly units from distant enemies.

Veterancy. Units that destroy enemies earn up to three stars, each adding health and damage – keep your veterans alive.

Every few minutes an ash storm rolls in. You get a warning first; while it lasts, every unit sees much less, which makes ambushes easier.

Once you have an Airfield, tap STRIKE, then the target. A red marker warns everyone, then a bomber wing flies over and bombs the area. It costs Cinderite and Alloy and needs time to rearm.

The tutorial, the first three campaign sectors and skirmish on Cinder Scar are free, with no ads. The Full Game is an optional one-time in-app purchase that unlocks all 9 campaign sectors, the random map generator, three more skirmish maps, the Turtle, Rusher and Air Command AI personalities and online 1v1 matches. It is not a subscription and never renews.

Make sure you're signed in with the same Apple Account (iPhone and iPad) or Google Account (Android) you used to buy it and that you're online. Then tap ★ UNLOCK FULL GAME on the title screen and tap Restore Purchases.

No. Install Ashen Worlds, sign in with the same Apple Account or Google Account, and tap Restore Purchases on the purchase screen. You will not be charged again. Purchases stay with the store you bought from: the Full Game bought on the App Store does not unlock it on Android, and the other way round.

Payments are handled by Apple or Google, so refunds are requested from them: on iPhone and iPad at reportaproblem.apple.com, on Android through Google Play. We don't have access to your payment details and can't issue refunds directly.

If Ask to Buy (Apple) or purchase approvals in Google Family Link are turned on for your account, a parent needs to approve the purchase. On Android, some payment methods, such as paying with cash, also take a while to complete. The Full Game unlocks automatically as soon as the purchase goes through; if it doesn't, tap Restore Purchases.

Tap 1V1 ONLINE on the title screen. QUICK MATCH pairs you with anyone else who is searching. To play a friend, one of you taps CREATE ROOM and shares the four-character room code that appears; the other types it in and taps JOIN ROOM. Online play is part of the Full Game and needs an internet connection.

QUICK MATCH searches for about 15 seconds. If nobody else is searching, the game offers PLAY VS AI (HARD), a match against the computer on your device, or KEEP SEARCHING. Online matches are always against real players; there are no bots.

Yes. iPhone, iPad and Android players are matched together, by quick match or by room code. Each player needs the Full Game, bought from their own store.

No. Online play runs on our own game server and doesn't use Game Center or Google Play Games. There is nothing to sign up for: the game signs in with a random ID created on your device, and you play under a generated callsign such as Ember-42, shown on the 1V1 ONLINE screen.

Make sure both of you have the latest version of Ashen Worlds from the App Store or Google Play: players on different versions are never matched, and a room code only works between players on the same version. Check that you're both online and that the room code is typed exactly as shown (codes never use 0, O, 1, I or L).

If your opponent leaves or loses the connection, you win the match. Leaving an online match counts as surrendering, and online matches can't be paused or continued later. You can still watch the match again with LAST REPLAY.

After an online match, tap REMATCH and ask your opponent to tap it too: you'll play each other again. The game keeps your wins and losses against each opponent on your device and shows them at the start and end of a match. This record is only stored on your device, not on our server.

Yes. Campaign progress, settings and the battle you were playing are saved on your device – when you return, tap CONTINUE on the title screen. They are not synced between devices, and deleting the app deletes them. Your Full Game purchase is linked to your Apple Account or Google Account, so it can always be restored.

Yes. When a battle ends, tap WATCH REPLAY, or LAST REPLAY on the title screen. Replays show the whole battlefield and can play at 1×, 2× or 4× speed.

No, the campaign and skirmish play offline. An internet connection is only needed to buy or restore the Full Game and for online 1v1 matches, which connect to our game server.

Yes. Open SETTINGS on the title screen, or pause a battle and tap SETTINGS, and set Music and Effects separately.

Almost nothing. Ashen Worlds has no accounts, no ads and no analytics. Only online 1v1 talks to our server, using a random ID created on your device so it can match you with an opponent. See our Privacy Policy for details.