Menace Survival Guide: How Not To Die In The Wayback

Space is cold, dark, and full of things that want to turn your squad into paste, so stop playing like a hero and start playing like a survivor.

I’m going to be honest with you. Menace does not care about your feelings. It does not care that you spent twenty minutes customizing your favorite marine’s helmet. It will chew you up and spit you out into the vacuum of the Wayback system if you don't respect it. The game hands you a broken ship, a crew of misfits, and a map full of enemies who are better equipped than you.

If you go into this expecting a fair fight or a traditional strategy experience, you are going to lose. I learned this the hard way so you don't have to. I’ve pieced together the essential intel from the best commanders in the fleet (and my own disastrous failures) to give you a fighting chance. This isn't about min-maxing stats. This is about keeping the lights on.

Forget Everything You Learned in XCOM

This is the most critical piece of advice I can give you. If you play Menace like it’s XCOM, you will fail. In those other games, you usually move your whole team, then the aliens move their whole team. That encourages "Alpha Striking," where you dump all your ammo to wipe the board before the enemy can breathe.

Menace doesn't work like that.

Here, turns are interleaved. You move a squad. The enemy moves a squad. You move another. This changes the entire flow of battle. You cannot just rush everyone forward and hope to kill everything in one go. If you overextend a unit at the start of a round, five different enemy squads are going to take turns turning that poor marine into swiss cheese before you can react.

You need to be methodical. You need to accept that the enemy will get a turn. The goal isn't always to kill them instantly. It's to ruin their day with suppression so their turn is wasted.

The Bridge is Your Lifeline

Before you even drop boots on the ground, you need to understand the TCRN Impetus. This ship is your base of operations, and right now, it’s a floating wreck. You have a few currencies to manage here, and if you screw this up, your campaign ends before the shooting starts.

Authority is your ability to keep the crew in line. High Authority means better discipline on the field. It’s also what you spend to hire new Squad Leaders. If your Authority tanks because you hired too many hotshots, your squads will break and run the second a bullet flies past their ear.

Promotion Points are the dopamine hit. You get these by completing objectives. Use them to unlock perks.

Squaddies are your manpower. This is a finite resource. If you treat your soldiers like cannon fodder, you will eventually run out of bodies to throw at the problem. Protecting your veterans isn't just sentimental. It’s economic necessity.

OCI: Fix the Electronics First

You’re going to be tempted to upgrade the Hull or the Armament first because big guns and more health sound sexy. Do not do that.

Your priority needs to be Electronics (Intel).

Without Intel upgrades, you are flying blind. You won't know where the enemy is spawning or what they are bringing to the fight. Upgrading your Intel components lets you see unit types and positions during the briefing. Knowing that a heavy tank is sitting on the left flank lets you deploy your anti-armor squad right across from it. That wins battles. Hull upgrades are nice, but if you have good Intel, you won't need as much medical bay space because you won't be getting shot as often.

Managing Your Operations

The starmap is cluttered with factions, and they all want something. When you pick an Operation, you are locking yourself into a chain of missions. You can’t just dip out halfway through without pissing off the faction you’re working for.

Look at the rewards before you commit. Some Operations give you components to fix the ship. Others give you resources. But pay attention to the Faction Standing. Making friends with specific factions unlocks unique, powerful upgrades that the standard military tech tree doesn't offer.

Also, check the biome. If you’re dropping onto a planet with low visibility or extreme weather, maybe don't bring the squad that relies on long-range sniping.

The Difficulty Setting Reality Check

There is no shame in playing on Normal. I know you’re a "hardcore gamer" and you beat Dark Souls with a guitar controller. Good for you. But Menace is complex.

Normal gives you extra items and a higher supply cap. It lets you learn the systems without punishing every single mistake with a game-over screen. Challenging strips you naked. You start with garbage gear and lower supply caps. The enemies tech up faster.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, start on Normal. Learn the ropes. Once you understand why smoke grenades are the most important item in the game (more on that later), then you can bump it up.

Manpower is a Resource, Not a Statistic

You are going to lose people. It’s unavoidable. A lucky crit from a pirate sniper or a bug that got too close will take a squaddie out.

When a marine dies, that squad gets weaker. They lose firepower and suppression capability. You can replenish them between missions, but your pool of reserves is not infinite. You need to rotate your squads. If you keep sending the same "A-Team" on every mission, they will get the Exhausted debuff, which cripples their Action Points.

You need a B-Team. You probably need a C-Team. Spread the experience around. If your elite squad gets wiped out and you have nobody to replace them but fresh recruits with shaky hands, you’re in for a bad time.

Suppression is the Name of the Game

I touched on this, but I need to hammer it home. In Menace, bullets do two things: they hurt people, and they scare people.

Suppression reduces a unit’s accuracy and movement. If you pin an enemy down, they are basically useless for a turn. Often, it is better to suppress a dangerous unit than to try and kill a weak one. A suppressed tank can’t shoot straight. A suppressed infantry squad can’t flank you.

Manage your own suppression too. Keep your troops in cover. If they get "Wavering" or "Fleeing," you lose control of them. There is nothing worse than watching your heavy weapons guy panic and run away right when you need him to fire a rocket.

The Bottom Line

Menace is a game about momentum. If you start losing squads, you lose money. If you lose money, you can’t buy gear. If you can’t buy gear, you lose more squads.

Take it slow. Use cover. Upgrade your Intel. And for the love of god, stop rushing into the fog of war like an idiot. The Wayback is a graveyard for heroes. Don't be one of them. Be the guy who survives to collect the paycheck.