World of Nukes Getting Started Guide

World of Nukes drops you on a tiny island with a fragile headquarters, empty build slots, and neighbors who will eventually fire back. This getting-started guide is the first-hour checklist: finish onboarding, claim free value, grow cash, place the minimum defense that stops light spam, then launch one deliberate strike. Follow the order below and you avoid the classic mistake of buying a flashy missile while your island still earns pocket change.

Servers hold up to seven players. Retaliation is normal. Treat every launch as a conversation starter, not a victory lap. If you want role rankings after this primer, jump to the tier list. For deeper systems, use Economy Buildings, Island Defense, and How to Launch Missiles.

Minute zero: finish the tutorial

Complete the in-game tutorial before experimenting. It teaches shop tabs, placement, rotate/cancel, and the basic missile flow of place → aim → fire. Do not skip prompts that unlock early buildings or the first anti-air pad. After the tutorial, open the map once and note where other islands sit; distance and approach angles matter later when light missiles race in faster than heavies.

Video guide

Claim codes before you spend

Open the Codes page on this wiki, then redeem every working string in-game. Early cash from codes shortens the shack grind and funds your first income upgrades. Redeem before buying missiles so free currency compounds through buildings instead of vanishing on a single Basic Missile volley. Recheck codes after updates or social drops; expired strings waste time.

Economy first: fill slots, not silos

You have sixty income building slots across the long progression from a Shack ($100, about $200/min) up through late structures such as Galactic Exchange, Munitions Plant, Aerospace Works, and eventually the Orbital Cannon at extreme cost. Early on, buy the cheapest income buildings that raise dollars per minute, place them, and reinvest. Avoid empty slots while you save for a heavy that your HQ cannot support yet.

Oil rigs unlock on a separate track at HQ 2, 4, 6, and 8. Grab each rig when it appears; they are high-value income that does not compete the same way as standard slot fillers. The full payback math lives in Economy Buildings, but the rule of thumb for hour one is simple: if a missile costs more than a few minutes of your current income, wait. Cash that sits in a silo does not rebuild after a wipe as fast as cash that was already producing.

Upgrade headquarters when the next income tier and defense unlocks clearly beat your current ceiling. HQ levels run 1–10. Each step raises HQ health, defense durability (defense health scales with HQ), and missile tier unlocks. Light and heavy missiles for a tier unlock together at that HQ — for example Tier 1 Basic Missile (120 damage, $200) and Flea (220 damage, $600). You do not need the heavy on day one.

Defense before ego: AA and shields

Place Basic Anti Air as soon as you can. Add layers as HQ allows: Alien Laser, Kestrel, Harrier, Coastal Gun, Flak, Sentinel, then Guided Missile Launcher (excellent versus missiles, roughly 78% against light) and Iron Dome from HQ 7 upward. Iron Dome engages every missile type except Orbital Strike. Mk upgrades multiply health and improve hit chance; buy them when income is stable, not mid-panic.

Keep a shield habit. Rookie protection and siege rules can cut incoming damage, but they are not a substitute for guns. Spread AA so one blast does not erase your entire screen. Detail layouts and Mk priorities are in Island Defense. For the first hour, one coherent ring around the HQ plus coverage toward common approach paths is enough.

First strike: practice, do not provoke the whole lobby

Open How to Launch Missiles if you need the full place/aim/fire loop. For your first real shot:

1. Confirm income is ticking and AA is online.
2. Choose a light Tier 1 option if cash is tight — Basic Missile for cheap probes, Flea when you can afford the jump to 220 damage.
3. Aim for soft buildings or exposed pads, not a fully layered HQ 7+ island.
4. Remember blast falloff: full damage within about 40% of the radius, down to about 25% at the rim. Center your aim.
5. Expect return fire. Have rebuild cash reserved.

Do not dump your treasury into a Tier 3 Hydra ($29K, 1700 damage) or higher until income replaces that spend quickly. Mid and late missiles — Wasp through Neutron, plus rebirth tools — belong after your economy guide milestones, not in the tutorial afterglow.

First-hour checklist

1. Finish tutorial prompts and learn placement controls.
2. Redeem all active codes.
3. Fill early income slots; take oil rigs at HQ 2/4 when available.
4. Place Basic Anti Air and keep shield awareness.
5. Upgrade HQ when unlocks clearly raise income and defense.
6. Launch one affordable missile with aim discipline.
7. Rebuild, reinvest, and only then climb the tier list for the next purchase.

What to ignore in hour one

Skip rebirth planning, wonders, and Doomsday Device fantasies until you understand income and AA. Skip scripted “win now” impulse buys. Skip attacking the richest island on the server just to see a big explosion — seven-player lobbies punish that hard. Events such as World Tsar Bomba Test, Alien Mothership, Kaiju King, or Golden Hour can wait until you can collect rewards without losing your core; skim Events and Bosses when those timers appear.

After the first hour

Move into a loop: expand income → Mk or new AA → unlock next missile tier → selective strikes → rebuild. When HQ and cash approach rebirth thresholds, open Rebirth and Doomsday. Keep this getting-started page bookmarked for alt accounts or friends you onboard; the same order still wins after patches, even if exact prices shift.

Play greedy on economy, stingy on ego, and precise on aim. That is how World of Nukes beginners become the islands others scout carefully instead of the free farm in the corner of the map.