Mandate Order Guides Hub
Practical walkthroughs for city-building, logistics, combat, and retainers before and during Early Access.
Mandate Order is a Warring States war city-builder from Digital Sky where a frontier settlement grows through freeform construction, seasonal agriculture, local logistics, conscription, diplomacy, and large real-time battles. Early Access is expected around August 2026 on Steam and the Epic Games Store at roughly $19.99 USD, with a planned twelve-month Early Access window before 1.0. These guides focus on systems that punish guesswork: goods are not a global stockpile, armies need stocked armories, and winter satisfaction depends on fuel you planned months earlier.
New pressure guides
When Early Access invasion timing shifts, read how to handle invasions alongside walls and siege and the updates hub for Phase notes and the Early Access roadmap.
Where to start
If you have never played a logistics-heavy builder, begin with How to Play for the full loop from housing to battle, then follow the getting started guide for a sensible first-hour build order. Both pages explain why roads, water, and granaries matter before you chase walls or retainers. The official trailer on the How to Play page shows the scale of battles and construction you should expect on day one.
Core survival systems
Population satisfaction ties housing, water, food, and winter fuel into one pressure gauge. How to farm by season covers spring planting, yearly harvest timing, and granary placement so your city does not starve during the first cold season. How to manage logistics is the reference for freight stations, courier posts, warehouses, and road upgrades when workshops stall despite visible surplus elsewhere on the map.
Military preparation
Conscription pulls workers from your economy and weapons from local armories, not from thin air. Read how to conscript before you expand barracks, and pair it with logistics planning so spearheads and armor reach the right depot. When enemy camps appear, how to defend a siege walks through walls, towers, ballistae, catapults, chariots, and line-drawn formations in real-time combat.
Statecraft and retainers
Retainers from the Hundred Schools—Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, Legalism, Militarism, Agriculturalism, and related traditions—shape policy, rituals, and long-term bonuses. How to recruit retainers compares when to prioritize agriculture advisors versus military strategists, and how ritual and worship choices interact with disaster pressure and diplomacy.
How these guides fit together
Treat logistics as the spine: farming feeds granaries, granaries feed satisfaction, workshops feed armories, and armories feed conscription. Retainers modify how efficiently each link behaves. Siege defense is the exam—you discover missing fuel, empty armories, or broken supply lines under fire. Cross-link the sibling pages above as your city grows; each guide assumes you may arrive from a different failure state.
Early Access expectations
Digital Sky has described roughly twelve months of Early Access driven by player feedback. Mechanics, balance, and UI may shift between updates, so confirm patch notes on Steam or Epic before you rebuild a strategy around a single beta observation. This hub will expand as new systems land in public builds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers drawn from Early Access systems and common player questions.
Which Mandate Order guide should I read first?
Start with How to Play for the full system overview, then getting started for a practical first-hour order. Add logistics as soon as workshops complain about missing inputs.
Do I need every guide before Early Access launch?
No. Wishlist and skim How to Play plus getting started. Keep logistics and seasonal farming bookmarked—those two systems cause most early collapses when misunderstood.
Why is logistics its own guide instead of a subsection?
Resources are not global. Buildings pull from range, and freight stations plus couriers move supply to demand. That behavior is deep enough to deserve a dedicated walkthrough with troubleshooting steps.
Are these guides official?
No. This is an unofficial fan wiki. Verify release timing, price, and feature lists on the Steam and Epic store pages and Digital Sky announcements.
Will guides cover updates during the twelve-month Early Access?
Yes. As public builds change conscription rules, retainer schools, or siege tools, these pages should be revised to match verified patch notes rather than closed-beta memory.