You’ve just landed on the TCRN Impetus – a warship orbiting a lawless stretch of space. As a newly assigned commander, your role is more than just moving squads around a map. You’ll need to manage your personnel, gear up your forces, plan operations, and lead boots on the ground through tense, turn-based engagements.
This guide walks you through everything you need to know to survive and succeed in the MENACE demo — from assembling squads to executing operations and mastering the battlefield.
MENACE DEMO Guide Wiki – Squad Management & Customization
MENACE blends two core layers:
- Squad Management (Strategic Layer) — onboard your ship, you’ll recruit, equip, and organize teams led by unique Squad Leaders.
- Tactical Combat (Battle Layer) — once deployed, you take direct control of your squads in turn-based missions against hostile factions on procedurally generated maps.
The demo features a single campaign (called an Operation) with three random missions selected from a pool of ten, ensuring replay value. The full game promises even more planets, enemies, branching paths, and tactical options.
Squad Management & Customization
Squad Leaders: The Heart of Your Forces
Every squad is led by a unique Squad Leader. These individuals are more than stats—they come with distinct backgrounds, personalities, and a personalized perk tree that grows as they gain experience.
- Action Points (AP): Dictates how many moves or attacks your unit can make in a turn.
- Hitpoints (HP): Determines how much punishment the squad can take before members are lost.
- Armor Value: Influences how much protection they have from enemy fire.
- Discipline: Affects suppression resistance and morale checks.
- Accuracy: Impacts hit chances — suppressed units see this drop significantly.
- Detection & Concealment: These govern how well your squad can spot enemies — or stay hidden themselves.
- View Range: The number of tiles a squad can see. Blocked by buildings, trees, and terrain.
Each Squad Leader also begins with a unique perk and progresses through their own perk tree as they level up.
Infantry Squad Loadout
Infantry will be your bread and butter. You can assign them gear in the following categories:
- Primary Weapon: Assault rifles, shotguns, and other standard-issue weapons.
- Special Weapon: Limited-use tools like RPGs, LMGs, or sniper rifles (only one squad member uses this).
- Armor: Offers defense and can allow more accessory slots.
- Accessories: Frag grenades, extra mags, drones — tools that define playstyle and function.
Tip: Squad size increases logistics cost. Bigger isn’t always better, especially in supply-limited missions.
Vehicles & Pilots
Some Squad Leaders are trained to pilot tactical vehicles. These can pack serious firepower but are rare and expensive to field.
Vehicle loadout includes:
- Heavy Weapon Slot: For large-caliber or explosive weapons.
- Light Weapon Slot: Secondary arms like MMGs or flamers.
- Vehicle Accessories: Extra armor, targeting systems, etc.
Preparing for Operations
Mission Selection
You’ll select your path through a 3-mission operation. Every mission comes with key details:
- Difficulty
- Objectives
- Weather & Time of Day
- Supply Limits
- Enemy Type (mostly “Unknown” in demo)
Carefully evaluate each mission before committing — especially supply caps and terrain layouts.
Pre-Mission Setup
Before you launch:
- Position Squads: Place squads in optimal start zones based on their roles.
- Adjust Loadouts: Balance firepower and logistics cost.
- Watch Supply Cap: If you’re over it, you won’t deploy — strip accessories or reduce squad size as needed.
Combat Fundamentals
MENACE’s combat plays out in turn-based rounds. Each side activates one squad at a time, cycling through all factions until everyone’s acted once.
Key Mechanics:
- You control activation order: Move your tank last one round, then first the next — there’s flexibility here.
- AP Drives Everything: Movement, attacks, deploying, crouching — all actions consume AP.
- Cover Matters: Use terrain to reduce incoming damage and stay hidden.
- Line of Sight: Heavily influenced by map layout. Use elevation and buildings to your advantage.
- Deploying & Crouching: Crouch for accuracy bonuses and to use certain special weapons. Vehicles use crouch to reorient.
Pro tip: Always leave AP for overwatch-style follow-ups or cover maneuvering. Overextending gets punished hard.
Suppression & Morale
Psychological Warfare
MENACE isn’t just about bullets — it’s about mental pressure. Units accumulate Suppression as they’re targeted or when nearby allies are hit.
Suppression Stages:
- Unaffected
- Suppressed: Reduced AP, lower accuracy.
- Pinned Down: Severely reduced performance.
A highly suppressed squad may flee, temporarily losing control. If they don’t recover morale in future turns, they might abandon the fight entirely.
Ways to reduce suppression:
- High Discipline stat
- Heavy cover or armor
- Avoid clustered positioning
Anti-Vehicle Tactics
Vehicles operate differently from infantry:
- They have directional armor — always try to flank.
- AP weapons like rockets or heavy cannons work best.
- Vehicles do not panic, but take component damage instead.
- Use the face (X) command to angle their strongest armor at the threat.
Some vehicles can transport troops or crush infantry by running them over.
Off-Map Abilities
The demo provides a Minigun Strafing Run:
- Pick 5 tiles.
- Enemies hit suffer high suppression and potential damage.
- Doesn’t cost AP but takes a full turn to activate.
- Great for crowd control or pinning down entrenched units.
Expect more abilities (artillery, reinforcements, recon scans) in the full version.
Casualties & Reinforcement
Squads are made up of individual soldiers. Each death reduces squad effectiveness — fewer bodies means less firepower.
After missions, you can replenish squads with new recruits — but the pool is limited.
Protect your people, or you’ll find yourself fielding half-strength squads later on.
Mission Results & Progression
After every mission, you’ll receive:
- Loot Rewards: Gear, perks, or supplies.
- Promotion Points: Upgrade Squad Leaders via perk trees.
- Squad Stats: Damage dealt, suppression applied, kills, etc.
These screens help you evaluate what’s working — and what’s not.
MENACE is shaping up to be more than just another tactical game. Even in this demo, it’s clear there’s a layered combat system, smart unit design, and high-stakes decision-making. Whether you’re a veteran of XCOM-style games or brand new to the genre, the key to success in MENACE is to think before you act, customize wisely, and play the battlefield, not just your units.