Pax Autocratica How to Play: Master the Colony Sim & FPS Roguelite Hybrid
Learn how to play Pax Autocratica with our guide covering colony management, citizen control, FPS combat, and roguelite cores.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Pax Autocratica is two games braided together. By day you run a colony — assign jobs, pass laws, balance Fear and Loyalty. Then you pick up a rifle and lead squads through roguelite FPS expeditions that feed resources and captives back into the colony. Understanding how the two halves feed each other is the whole game.
The Colony Half
Assign, Don't Micromanage
You don't directly control citizens. You set the rules and they fill roles automatically — but the auto-assignment is imperfect.
- Use Work Locks to pin specialists to their best jobs.
- Use Job Filters to disable roles where a citizen underperforms.
- Always leave a basic resource job (mining, gathering, logging) as a fallback so nobody idles.
Automate Logistics
The Resource Transport Station plus the Warehouse Center plus the three crafting modes (Order, Stock, Continuous) turn your base from a camp into a factory. Get all three running before your first expedition.
The FPS Half
The Roguelite Core System
During expeditions you collect Core Fragments that reshape your build for that run.
| Core Type | Effect |
|---|---|
| Weapon Cores | Change how your guns handle — fire rate, projectiles, recoil. |
| Combination Cores | Create synergies between core sets. |
| Squad Cores | Buff allied troops or convert them into expendable shields. |
| Prisoner Cores | Emerge from captured enemies processed back at base. |
No two expeditions play the same because your loadout shifts every run.
Capturing, Not Just Killing
Weakened enemies can be captured instead of killed. Drag them home and choose: execute for Fear, indoctrinate for Loyalty, or convert into a worker or soldier. This is the bridge between the two halves of the game.
How the Halves Feed Each Other
- Colony → expedition: better weapons, more troops, medics, Capture Rounds.
- Expedition → colony: resources, captives, Core Fragments, territory.
A failure in one half becomes a problem in the other. Run out of industrial materials and your combat gear suffers; lose too many soldiers and your defenses weaken. The loop is the point — and the difficulty.
Where to Go Next
Once the dual-loop clicks, read the Beginner Guide for the 20 essential tips, then the Combat Guide for boss patterns and dash iframes.