Hex battlefields, not a square grid in disguise
Axial hex maps with real terrain: impassable rock, resource fields, and a camera framed once per map so you read the whole board instead of driving it.
Built in Unity · deterministic simulation
VECTOR& VALOR
Hex-grid RTS · Command the hex. Break the line.
A tactical hex-grid RTS. HammerForce armour against The Awakened's adaptive swarm — harvested credits, a real tech tree, and a simulation that resolves the same way on every machine that runs it.
No public download yet. The client, the content pack and the multiplayer server are built in the open.
- Factions
- 2
- Units
- 26
- Buildings
- 19
- Research
- 10
- Maps
- 5
- Biomes
- 6
Counted from content pack modern-warfare v0.1.0 · 4 simulation ticks per second · fixed camera
The game
What is actually in it.
No feature list that outruns the build. Everything below is either running today or described as what it is.
Two doctrines that play differently
HammerForce leans on armour, range and staying power. The Awakened trade hit points for speed, numbers and energy weapons. Both rosters come straight from the content pack.
Deterministic to the tick
The simulation core is pure C# with no engine types in it. The same inputs produce the same match on desktop, on the server and in a replay — which is what makes authoritative multiplayer and verifiable replays possible at all.
Data-driven and moddable by design
Units, buildings, weapons, armour classes, research, rules and maps are versioned JSON validated on load. Adding content is a file, not a code change.
A tech tree that cannot lie
The graph further down is generated from the same prerequisite and production fields the engine checks. There is no second, hand-drawn tree to fall out of sync.
Two ways to end a match
Destroy the enemy headquarters, or hold the control areas until your strike charges. Same board, two clocks.
In the field
Screenshots from the current build
Real Unity Game View captures from local HARD-AI skirmishes on Grasslands. They are pre-alpha footage, not painted-over mock-ups.
How to play
How a match runs
Touch-first and single-select: one tap picks a unit, one tap gives it an order. No drag-boxes, no right click, no camera to wrestle.
- Step 01
Select
Tap a unit or a building to select it — one at a time. Tap it again, or tap empty ground, to let it go.
- Step 02
Move & attack
With something selected, tap open ground to move there and tap an enemy to attack it. Units that cannot shoot simply move.
- Step 03
Harvest
Collectors work resource hexes on their own and haul the load to a refinery. Without one the headquarters still accepts cargo — at a cut.
- Step 04
Build & produce
The headquarters raises your first structures; each one unlocks the next tier and its own production list. Queue units from the building that makes them.
- Step 05
Research
The advanced lab converts credits into permanent upgrades — armour, damage, range, speed or cargo — for a whole unit class.
- Step 06
Win
Level the enemy headquarters. In Nuclear Rivals you can get there with a strike instead, if you hold the control areas long enough.
Economy, in numbers
- Starting credits
- 300
- Collector cargo
- 20
- Harvest per tick
- 4
- Refinery unload
- 12/tick
- HQ accepts cargo
- yes, at 70%
Resource fields differ in what they hold: valor 1,000, vector 500. One crystal is worth 20 credits.
Game modes
Two ways to end a match
Both modes are fought on the same maps with the same economy. What changes is how the last building falls.
Standard skirmish
Destroy the headquarters
The straight duel. Out-harvest, out-build and out-fight your opponent, then bring the enemy HQ down. Sudden death can be armed for matches that refuse to end.
- Starting funds
- 300 credits (adjustable)
- Sudden death
- on after 15 min
- Match speeds
- slow · normal · fast
- Default speed
- Normal
Nuclear Rivals
Hold the ground, charge the strike
Control areas sit on the board. Hold a strict majority of them and your silo charges; lose it and the charge resets. A launch takes a fixed share of the enemy HQ's maximum health, so two clean strikes decide it.
- Strike damage
- 50% of max HQ health
- Charge time
- 0:45 at full control
- Area capture
- 2:22 with a 4-unit lead
- Charging needs
- a strict area majority
Factions
Two doctrines, one board
Both sides harvest the same credits on the same hexes and win the same way. Everything between those two facts is different — and every figure below is averaged out of the shipped roster, not written by hand.
HammerForce
ARMOR. DISCIPLINE. FIREPOWER.
The conventional army answer: gunmetal plate, massed cannon and combined arms that hold a line. Rifle squads screen the armour, rocket teams punish anything tracked, and the advanced lab turns credits into permanent staying power. Nothing subtle — everything survivable.
- Units
- 12
- Buildings
- 10
- Research
- 5
- Avg. unit HP
- 175
- Avg. unit cost
- 155c
- Avg. speed
- 1.28 hex/s
- Air units
- 4
- Can hit air
- 3 designs
- Tech edges
- 29
Tech tree
StructureUnitResearch
Command Post
Structure
Field Workshop
Structure44c
Guard Tower
Structure90c
Processing Plant
Structure240c
Training Hall
Structure60c
Expanded Hoppers
Research160c
Vehicle Plant
Structure260c
Grenadier
Unit68c
Rifleman
Unit24c
Advanced Lab
Structure240c
Forward Airbase
Structure180c
Sentinel Cannon
Structure170c
Collector
Unit140c
Colossus Walker
Unit380c
Ranger
Unit76c
Vanguard Tank
Unit152c
SAM Site
Structure180c
Field Fortification
Research180c
Improved Ordnance
Research220c
Targeting Optics
Research200c
Titan Plating
Research240c
Bastion Glider
Unit92c
Fortress Glider
Unit340c
Kestrel Scout
Unit28c
Vulture Gunship
Unit210c
Titan Tank
Unit300c
Javelin
Unit52c
Read left to right: finish the source before the target unlocks. Scroll sideways on a narrow screen. Costs in credits.
The Awakened
THE SIGNAL DOES NOT SLEEP.
A collective that trades armour for tempo. The Awakened field cheaper, faster chassis in greater numbers, lean on energy weapons that answer air and ground alike, and win the fights that start before the other side has finished deploying.
- Units
- 14
- Buildings
- 9
- Research
- 5
- Avg. unit HP
- 155
- Avg. unit cost
- 132c
- Avg. speed
- 1.36 hex/s
- Air units
- 4
- Can hit air
- 6 designs
- Tech edges
- 30
Tech tree
StructureUnitResearch
Core Node
Structure
Awakened Shrine
Structure56c
Laser Turret
Structure100c
Refinery
Structure240c
Heavy Factory
Structure260c
Corruptor
Unit60c
Insurgent
Unit14c
Rocket Insurgent
Unit42c
Resonance Hoppers
Research160c
Inner Sanctum
Structure240c
Levitation Spire
Structure170c
Tower of Salvation
Structure200c
Harbinger Walker
Unit300c
Harvester
Unit140c
Outrider Buggy
Unit60c
Strike Bike
Unit96c
Viper Tank
Unit136c
SAM Site
Structure180c
Crystal Zeal
Research190c
Focused Lenses
Research240c
Obsidian Carapace
Research180c
Reflex Drives
Research220c
Nightfall Ascendant
Unit92c
Believer Tank
Unit230c
Hawk Gunship
Unit60c
Nightfall Glider
Unit64c
Wraith Skimmer
Unit196c
Cybernetic Elite
Unit360c
Read left to right: finish the source before the target unlocks. Scroll sideways on a narrow screen. Costs in credits.
Army
Every unit, building and upgrade
All 55 entries in the shipped content pack, with the values the simulation actually uses. Costs are credits, ranges are hexes, times are converted from ticks at the pack's own rate.
55 entries — 19 structure · 11 vehicle · 10 research · 8 aircraft · 7 infantry
InfantryHammerForce
Rifleman
24cHit points: 90
Damage per shot: 10 (13.3/s)
Range in hexes: 3h
Movement: 1.00 hex/s
Build time: 3s
Rifle
AircraftHammerForce
Kestrel Scout
28cHit points: 60
Movement: 4.00 hex/s
Build time: 5.8s
AirFires on move
InfantryHammerForce
Javelin
52cHit points: 70
Damage per shot: 26 (17.3/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 0.80 hex/s
Build time: 5s
RocketHits air
InfantryHammerForce
Grenadier
68cHit points: 140
Damage per shot: 25 (16.7/s)
Range in hexes: 3h
Movement: 0.57 hex/s
Build time: 6s
Grenade
VehicleHammerForce
Ranger
76cHit points: 105
Damage per shot: 13 (17.3/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 2.00 hex/s
Build time: 4s
RifleFires on move
AircraftHammerForce
Bastion Glider
92cHit points: 190
Damage per shot: 56 (28.0/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 0.67 hex/s
Build time: 23.8s
BombsAirFires on move
VehicleHammerForce
Collector
140cHit points: 180
Movement: 1.00 hex/s
Cargo: 80
Build time: 8s
VehicleHammerForce
Vanguard Tank
152cHit points: 360
Damage per shot: 34 (27.2/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 1.33 hex/s
Build time: 8s
CannonFires on move
AircraftHammerForce
Vulture Gunship
210cHit points: 130
Damage per shot: 30 (24.0/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 2.00 hex/s
Build time: 9s
RocketAirHits airFires on move
VehicleHammerForce
Titan Tank
300cHit points: 480
Damage per shot: 46 (36.8/s)
Range in hexes: 5h
Movement: 0.67 hex/s
Build time: 16s
Double CannonFires on move
AircraftHammerForce
Fortress Glider
340cHit points: 140
Damage per shot: 40 (22.9/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 0.67 hex/s
Build time: 17s
BombsAirFires on move
VehicleHammerForce
Colossus Walker
380cHit points: 150
Damage per shot: 62 (41.3/s)
Range in hexes: 5h
Movement: 0.67 hex/s
Build time: 18s
Railgun
HeadquartersHammerForce
Command Post
freeHit points: 1,200
DefenceHammerForce
Field Workshop
44cHit points: 460
Build time: 6s
RefineryHammerForce
Processing Plant
240cHit points: 520
Build time: 8s
Infantry productionHammerForce
Training Hall
60cHit points: 650
Build time: 5s
Tech tier: tier 1
Produces 3
Anti-infantry defenceHammerForce
Guard Tower
90cHit points: 420
Damage per shot: 14 (18.7/s)
Range in hexes: 5h
Build time: 6s
Tech tier: tier 1
Rifle
Anti-vehicle defenceHammerForce
Sentinel Cannon
170cHit points: 480
Damage per shot: 30 (20.0/s)
Range in hexes: 6h
Build time: 10s
Tech tier: tier 1
Rocket
Air productionHammerForce
Forward Airbase
180cHit points: 750
Build time: 9s
Tech tier: tier 1
Produces 4
Vehicle productionHammerForce
Vehicle Plant
260cHit points: 800
Build time: 12s
Tech tier: tier 1
Produces 5
Anti-air defenceHammerForce
SAM Site
180cHit points: 520
Damage per shot: 16 (32.0/s)
Range in hexes: 6h
Build time: 8s
Tech tier: tier 2
RocketHits air
Researchmax 1HammerForce
Advanced Lab
240cHit points: 700
Build time: 13s
Tech tier: tier 2
Produces 5
ResearchHammerForce
Titan Plating
240c+18% hit points (vehicle)
Research time: 30s
ResearchHammerForce
Improved Ordnance
220c+22% damage (vehicle)
Research time: 28s
ResearchHammerForce
Field Fortification
180c+15% hit points (buildings)
Research time: 24s
ResearchHammerForce
Targeting Optics
200c+50% range (infantry)
Research time: 26s
ResearchHammerForce
Expanded Hoppers
160c+30% cargo (harvester)
Research time: 20s
InfantryThe Awakened
Insurgent
14cHit points: 95
Damage per shot: 13 (17.3/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 1.00 hex/s
Build time: 2s
Rifle
InfantryThe Awakened
Rocket Insurgent
42cHit points: 68
Damage per shot: 26 (17.3/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 1.00 hex/s
Build time: 4s
RocketHits air
InfantryThe Awakened
Corruptor
60cHit points: 83
Damage per shot: 21 (28.0/s)
Range in hexes: 3h
Movement: 0.80 hex/s
Build time: 5s
Poison
AircraftThe Awakened
Hawk Gunship
60cHit points: 120
Damage per shot: 30 (24.0/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 2.00 hex/s
Build time: 9s
RocketAirHits airFires on move
VehicleThe Awakened
Outrider Buggy
60cHit points: 148
Damage per shot: 7 (14.0/s)
Range in hexes: 3h
Movement: 2.00 hex/s
Build time: 3s
RifleFires on move
AircraftThe Awakened
Nightfall Glider
64cHit points: 128
Damage per shot: 40 (22.9/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 0.67 hex/s
Build time: 17s
BombsAirFires on move
AircraftThe Awakened
Nightfall Ascendant
92cHit points: 174
Damage per shot: 56 (28.0/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 0.67 hex/s
Build time: 23.8s
BombsAirFires on move
VehicleThe Awakened
Strike Bike
96cHit points: 80
Damage per shot: 18 (18.0/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 2.00 hex/s
Build time: 4s
RocketHits airFires on move
VehicleThe Awakened
Viper Tank
136cHit points: 340
Damage per shot: 26 (26.0/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 1.33 hex/s
Build time: 6s
LaserHits airFires on move
VehicleThe Awakened
Harvester
140cHit points: 170
Movement: 1.00 hex/s
Cargo: 80
Build time: 8s
AircraftThe Awakened
Wraith Skimmer
196cHit points: 55
Damage per shot: 24 (24.0/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 4.00 hex/s
Build time: 7s
LaserAirHits airFires on move
VehicleThe Awakened
Believer Tank
230cHit points: 440
Damage per shot: 53 (26.5/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 1.00 hex/s
Build time: 12s
Artillery
VehicleThe Awakened
Harbinger Walker
300cHit points: 138
Damage per shot: 44 (35.2/s)
Range in hexes: 4h
Movement: 0.80 hex/s
Build time: 15s
Electro
InfantryThe Awakened
Cybernetic Elite
360cHit points: 128
Damage per shot: 48 (48.0/s)
Range in hexes: 3h
Movement: 0.80 hex/s
Build time: 14s
Railgun
HeadquartersThe Awakened
Core Node
freeHit points: 1,080
RefineryThe Awakened
Refinery
240cHit points: 500
Build time: 8s
Infantry productionThe Awakened
Awakened Shrine
56cHit points: 620
Build time: 4s
Tech tier: tier 1
Produces 4
Anti-infantry defenceThe Awakened
Laser Turret
100cHit points: 378
Damage per shot: 14 (18.7/s)
Range in hexes: 5h
Build time: 6s
Tech tier: tier 1
Rifle
Air productionThe Awakened
Levitation Spire
170cHit points: 675
Build time: 8s
Tech tier: tier 1
Produces 4
Anti-vehicle defenceThe Awakened
Tower of Salvation
200cHit points: 432
Damage per shot: 30 (20.0/s)
Range in hexes: 6h
Build time: 12s
Tech tier: tier 1
Rocket
Vehicle productionThe Awakened
Heavy Factory
260cHit points: 780
Build time: 11s
Tech tier: tier 1
Produces 6
Anti-air defenceThe Awakened
SAM Site
180cHit points: 468
Damage per shot: 16 (32.0/s)
Range in hexes: 6h
Build time: 8s
Tech tier: tier 2
RocketHits air
Researchmax 1The Awakened
Inner Sanctum
240cHit points: 630
Build time: 12s
Tech tier: tier 2
Produces 5
ResearchThe Awakened
Obsidian Carapace
180c+20% hit points (infantry)
Research time: 24s
ResearchThe Awakened
Focused Lenses
240c+25% damage (vehicle)
Research time: 30s
ResearchThe Awakened
Crystal Zeal
190c+35% damage (infantry)
Research time: 25s
ResearchThe Awakened
Reflex Drives
220c+25% speed (vehicle)
Research time: 27s
ResearchThe Awakened
Resonance Hoppers
160c+30% cargo (harvester)
Research time: 20s
Maps
Boards that fit one camera pose
The camera is framed once per map and never moves, so a map has to be readable in a single view — on a monitor and on a phone held sideways. Every count below is taken straight off the map's tile list.
18 × 9
Grasslands
Any biome
- Tiles
- 128 tiles
- Impassable tiles
- 14 blocked
- Start positions
- 2 starts
- Resource tiles
- 14 resource
4 valor · 10 vector
18 × 9
Moving First
Any biome
- Tiles
- 122 tiles
- Impassable tiles
- 16 blocked
- Start positions
- 2 starts
- Resource tiles
- 14 resource
4 valor · 10 vector
17 × 10Nuclear Rivals
Nuclear Outpost
Winter (fixed)
- Tiles
- 131 tiles
- Impassable tiles
- 11 blocked
- Start positions
- 2 starts
- Resource tiles
- 14 resource
2 valor · 12 vector
17 × 9
Tournament Forest
Any biome
- Tiles
- 127 tiles
- Impassable tiles
- 10 blocked
- Start positions
- 2 starts
- Resource tiles
- 14 resource
4 valor · 10 vector
7 × 7
Training Crossroads
Any biome
- Tiles
- 37 tiles
- Impassable tiles
- 0 blocked
- Start positions
- 2 starts
- Resource tiles
- 8 resource
4 valor · 4 vector
Biomes
One board, six climates
Biomes are a lighting and palette layer, not a different rulebook: the same map plays identically in every one of them. A map may pin its biome, otherwise the lobby picks.
Grassland
Temperate olive ground under a warm key light. The default battlefield, and the one every map falls back to.
Autumn
Leaf litter and warm bark tones under a low sun — the same board read in amber.
Desert
Sun-bleached sand over hardpan, with the vegetation burnt back to dry scrub.
Lava
Scorched basalt under an ash sky, cracked through with molten seams.
Swamp
Waterlogged ground and heavy, muted greens. Cover everywhere, sightlines nowhere.
Winter
Snowfield over frozen dirt under a cold, low sun — the biome Nuclear Outpost insists on.
Multiplayer
How multiplayer works
One authoritative relay, one simulation. The server runs the exact same C# match core as the client, so it can check every client's state hash instead of trusting it.
- 01
Play as a guest
Your client generates an opaque device token and exchanges it for an access token. No e-mail, no password, no profile — you are in a room in one request.
- 02
Open or join a room
Rooms are opened with a six-character code that avoids the characters people misread aloud. Public rooms show up in a waiting list; private ones only answer to the code.
- 03
Commands go up, state stays in sync
Clients send orders, never results. The relay orders them, ticks the match on the pack's own cadence and compares state hashes on a fixed interval, so a desync is caught rather than played out.
- 04
The match is recorded
Every finished room leaves a match record and a replay written in the same format the client produces, so a result can be re-simulated and verified later.
- Simulation rate
- 4 ticks/s
- Command delay
- 2 ticks
- State-hash check
- every 40 ticks
- Authority
- server-side, one shared match core
Guest
No sign-up
- Play ranked-free matches in public or private rooms
- Room codes, both game modes, every shipped map
- Nothing to remember, nothing stored about you but a device token hash
- No rating and no ladder placement
- No commander profile or match history
- No map submissions
Account
Username and password
- Glicko-2 rating with a public ladder and provisional flags
- Commander name, profile and full match history
- Submit your own maps for review
- Matches with a guest in either seat stay unrated — so a rating cannot be farmed
Community maps go through review
An account can upload a map definition. The server validates it against a throwaway copy of the live content pack with the very same validator the shipped pack passes, and hands back the exact errors when it fails. A valid map waits in a moderation queue; once a moderator approves it, that revision is published immutably under its own content hash and supersedes the previous one.
- Validated against the live pack — never trusted, never merged blind
- Rejections come back with the validator's own error list
- Approved revisions are immutable and addressed by content hash
- Only the original author can publish a new revision of their series
Roadmap
Where this is
No dates. Just what runs, what is being wired up, and what is planned.
- Playable now
The match itself
Both factions on five maps, standard skirmish and Nuclear Rivals, the full building/unit/research tree, three AI behaviour profiles, and deterministic replays — in a desktop Unity build.
- Being wired up
Online 1v1
The relay server exists and is container-tested end to end: guest identity, accounts, rooms, the Glicko-2 ladder, match history and moderated user maps. What is left is a public host and the client's side of the socket.
- In development
Touch-first on phones
A single-select, one-thumb control scheme and a HUD shaped for a phone in landscape. The fixed camera exists precisely so a match fits on a small screen without gestures.
- Planned
More to command
Further factions, maps and biomes — and eventually whole universes — as content packs. Growing the game is meant to be a data change, not a rewrite.
FAQ
Questions, answered honestly
Including the ones with an uncomfortable answer.
What is Vector & Valor?
A tactical hex-grid real-time strategy game built in Unity. Two asymmetric factions fight over a hex board using a deterministic, tick-based simulation: harvest credits, raise a base, climb a tech tree, and take the enemy headquarters apart.
Can I play it right now?
Not yet. There is no public download. When a build is ready to hand out, the play button at the top of this page starts linking to it instead of saying "coming soon".
What will it run on?
Desktop first — macOS and Windows — with iOS and Android as the primary long-term targets; the control scheme and the fixed camera are both built for a phone. There is no browser version: WebGL was dropped as a target.
Do I need an account to play online?
No. Guests get an access token from an opaque device token and can open or join rooms straight away. An account is optional and adds a rating, a profile, match history and the right to submit maps.
How does the ranking work?
Glicko-2, the same system the earlier prototype used. A match is rated only when both seats are distinct accounts and nobody abandoned it; an idle player's rating deviation widens over time rather than the rating itself moving. Every rated match writes an auditable before/after record.
Why is a guest match not rated?
Because guest identities are free and unlimited. Rating them would make the ladder farmable in an afternoon.
Can I make my own maps?
Yes — accounts can upload map definitions. The server validates each one against a throwaway copy of the live content pack using the same validator the shipped maps pass, and a moderator approves or rejects what survives. Approved revisions are published immutably under their content hash.
Is there an in-game map editor?
Not yet. Maps are JSON today and the submission and moderation path is already built; an editor is planned rather than shipped, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
How is multiplayer kept honest?
The server runs the same simulation core as the client and is authoritative. Clients send commands, not outcomes, and the server compares state hashes at a fixed tick interval, so a divergence is detected instead of being played out.
Can I mod it?
That is the whole architecture. Units, buildings, weapons, armour classes, research, rules and maps live in versioned JSON that is validated on load, with stable error ids when something is wrong. Nothing gameplay-relevant is a literal buried in code.
How many factions are there?
Two playable today: HammerForce and The Awakened. The engine itself is faction- and universe-neutral, so more are a content question rather than an engineering one.
Where do the numbers on this page come from?
From the shipped content pack. The rosters, costs, hit points, weapon ranges, tech-tree edges, map sizes, tick rate and Nuclear-Rivals thresholds on this page are generated at build time out of the same JSON the game loads.
Community
Follow the build
Vector & Valor is developed in the open, in small slices with the evidence attached. There is no newsletter and no tracking on this site — the source and the server's health endpoint are the honest way to see where it stands.