Mini City Wars drops you onto an empty plot and asks you to turn it into a working town, an income engine, and a military base at the same time. The early game follows a fixed order: unlock builders through research, connect your buildings with roads so they function, raise your civilian population, and then push troops out to capture outposts that pay you a cash bonus every second.
Quick answer: Research a Builder, place the free Rose Lane Flats house and a Corner Cafe, connect both to a road, build a Recruit Post, then lower your shield and march Squad 1 to the nearest outpost.
First-hour start sequence
The opening tutorial walks you through the core loop with help from Mayor Goodwin, Scanner Denny, Sergeant Steel, and Captain Blitz. Follow these actions in order to clear it and leave your base in a stable starting state.
Sending troops out drops your protective shield, and other players can raid your base while it is down. Only open the border when you are ready to commit units.
Research tree and node costs
Research unlocks the shop tabs and build tools you need to grow. It keeps running offline, so queue the cheap foundation nodes early and let them finish while you play other sessions. Builder II is the one that speeds everything else up, because it lets you construct two buildings at once instead of one.
| Research node | Cost | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Builder II | $5,000 | +1 Builders group; place up to 2 items at once |
| Tools Starter | $5,000 | Build tools on your plot |
| Military | $5,000 | Military tab in the shop |
| Offices | $5,000 | Offices tab in the shop |
| Defense | $5,000 | Defences tab in the shop |
| Trade Starter | $10,000 | Trade port on your plot |
| Researcher | $10,000 | Researcher perk |
How to increase your population
Residential buildings add civilians, and your civilian count gates which higher-tier shops and buildings you can place. Reaching 75 civilians opens Uncommon buildings, and hitting 250 civilians unlocks infrastructure factories. Buy the biggest houses you can afford and keep them all connected to a road.
| House | Civilians | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Rose Lane Flats | 7 | Free |
| Station Lodge | 8 | $2.53K |
| Seafoam Townhouse | 11 | $3.91K |
Reinvest collected cash into Seafoam Townhouses once you can afford them, since they house the most civilians per plot of the starting options. Each new house needs its own road connection before it counts toward your total.
Income buildings in the Offices tab
Offices produce cash every second, which you collect manually by walking up and pressing E. Each building shows a per-second rate and a worker requirement. Higher rates cost far more and demand more workers, so grow your population before chasing the Uncommon tier.
| Office | Rate | Workers | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corner Cafe | 106/s | 1 | Free |
| The Roastery | 111/s | 1 | $4.14K |
| Sunrise Bakery | 113/s | 1 | $4.33K |
| Main Street Shops | 116/s | 3 | $4.55K |
| Old Town Restaurant | 118/s | 3 | $4.78K |
| Trattoria | 162/s | 13 | $70.4K |
| Ice Cream Parlour | 163/s | 13 | $72.9K |
| The Florist | 166/s | 13 | $76.1K |
| Azure Offices | 167/s | 16 | $78.6K |
| Pizzeria | 169/s | 16 | $81.1K |
Stack the cheap Common offices early to build a steady income, then switch to the Uncommon tier once your worker supply can staff them. Collect earnings often so you always have cash ready to reinvest.
Military, outposts, and the cash multiplier
Capture points pay you for every second you hold them, and each outpost you control adds a stacking multiplier to your cash, such as +5% per outpost. To take one, you build military structures, recruit squads, then open your border and march the units to the point.
The border gate controls this. “Open Border” marches your units out, and “Close Border” recalls them. Opening it lowers your shield, so time your pushes when you can watch the base. Troops can be redeployed to a second outpost, such as Outpost 2, for another multiplier once the first is secure.
| Structure | Type | Workers | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recruit Post | Military | 7 | Free |
| Barracks | Military | 7 | $6K |
| Rocket Post | Military | 8 | $11K |
| Humvee Depot | Military | 18 | $45K |
| Machine Gun Nest | Defense | — | $4.5K |
| Sniper Post | Defense | 3 | $50K |
| Guard Wall | Defense | — | $50K |
The Rocket Post lets you recruit Rocketeers, giving your squads more firepower for contested captures. Pair offensive structures with Defenses such as the Machine Gun Nest, Sniper Post, and Guard Wall so your base can survive raids while your shield is down.
Expanding your plot and water tiles
You unlock extra land one tile at a time around your base perimeter, priced at roughly $100 to $200 each. Buy a block of tiles, lay a road loop across them, and you have room for more houses and offices. A square road perimeter keeps every new building within reach of a connection.
Water tiles are placed with the Build Water tool and run alongside roads to decorate your city. Use them once your core road, housing, and income layout is in place.
How to confirm it worked
A building is active once its red “Must touch a road” highlight disappears and it begins producing. Offices then show their per-second income ticking up, ready to collect with E. Residential buildings raise your civilian counter immediately, and crossing 75 or 250 civilians opens the gated shop tiers.
For captures, you know an outpost is yours when it starts paying out each second and its multiplier is added to your cash. Hold it with your squad, keep your border managed, and the bonus stays active for as long as your troops remain in control.
