How to survive your first ten minutes in Hwacha Fortress: steam charge and crushing, which blocks to pick, the four castle tiers, when the three bosses arrive, and what each beacon level changes.
Hwacha Fortress is an action roguelike in which you drive a wheeled Joseon fortress for ten minutes. Every level-up bolts a new block onto the castle, and more blocks make it bigger. The core thrill is simple: the enemy that scared you a minute ago becomes something you can ram straight through.
The JWorld team wrote this guide from the game's current rules and numbers. It follows the order a new player needs: controls, steam, blocks, tiers, bosses, beacons. Where a time or number comes from our simulation bots rather than from a rule, we say "in our simulations". Human runs will differ a little.
Learn two buttons first
- Move: drag the screen and the fortress drives that way. On a computer you can use WASD, the arrow keys or a mouse drag. It is a big machine, so it turns slowly.
- Charge: SPACE or right-click (the Charge button at the bottom right on a phone). It is a steam rush, and while it lasts you crush enemies one tier above you.
- Barrage: E or Q (the Barrage button on a phone). Every turret fires at once and shells fall from the sky. Save it for big targets.
Enemies carry colored marks. Green means you can crush it. Red means it is bigger than you. In your first run you can play on those two colors alone: chase green, avoid red.
Keep moving: the steam rules
A parked fortress is a weak fortress. While you drive, steam pressure builds, and a full boiler adds +45% damage. The numbers:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Time to fill the boiler | about 3 seconds of driving |
| When Charge can start | only at 100% steam (it empties the boiler) |
| Charge duration | 2.4 seconds |
| Speed during Charge | about 1.6× |
| Does crushing enemies refill steam? | No. Smashing buildings refills a little |
| If you stop | steam starts draining after 1 second |
So the rhythm is: drive to fill the boiler, charge into a crowd, drive to fill it again. If you hoard Charge, the boiler just sits full and wastes time. One use, then refill, is the efficient loop.
There is also a safety net in the first two minutes. A castle that barely moves takes less and less damage as its armor nears a floor, and that floor fades away before 3:00. It does not apply to a castle that keeps moving. Use it to read the screen for the first few seconds, then start driving.
Blocks and tiers: size is the rule
Each level-up opens the Build screen with three cards. Choosing a new block bolts it onto the grid. Choosing a block you already own raises it one level (up to Lv 5). The grid has 13 slots in total, and every block you add gives Armor +28.
You start with seven block types:
| Block | What it does |
|---|---|
| Singijeon Rockets | Fires homing fire-arrow volleys at nearby targets |
| Cheonja Broadside | Fires heavy iron shells to the sides and ahead |
| Dragon-Head Flamer | Breathes fire ahead, melting foes and palisades |
| Dokkaebi Ram | Greatly boosts ram and crush damage |
| Crossbow Squad | Crossbowmen on the towers snipe nearby foes |
| Whirling Sawblades | Saws circle the castle |
| Jang Yeong-sil Engine | More speed, auto-repair and steam shockwaves |
Three more are unlocks. The Thunder Catapult appears after you destroy the Red Tiger Ironclad for the first time. The Mine Dropper comes from surviving to 5:00 in one run. The Cavalry Gate comes from filling all 13 slots in one run.
Four tiers
At 4, 6 and 9 blocks your castle grows a tier.
| Tier | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Cart Fort |
| 2 | Siege Wagon |
| 3 | Engine Castle |
| 4 | Mountain Fort |
The moment you tier up, the camera pulls back a step and a herd of the enemies that used to outclass you rushes in: 8 Shield Carts, 5 Iron Turtle Tanks, or 3 Twin-Gun Siege Tanks. They are food now. Charge into them and you swallow the whole group. In our simulations these moments land around 0:50, 3:35 and 6:30.
One practical tip: the earlier you reach 4 blocks, the earlier the first tier event happens. In the early levels, prefer "New block" cards. Leveling one block to Lv 5 can wait.
★ evolutions need a partner
A block at Lv 5 evolves into a ★ version from a chest, but only if its partner block is also on your castle. Singijeon Rockets, for example, become the Great Singijeon Battery. The number of ★ you can hold is capped by time: 1 from the start, 3 from 5:00, 5 from 8:00.
That is why all-in on a single block rarely works. Without the partner it stops at Lv 5. Check the ★ entries in the Codex to see the pairs, and when a block nears Lv 5, bolt on its partner. Chests never disappear: if you ignore one for 15 seconds it slides toward your castle.
The three bosses and their clock
Bosses arrive at fixed times. A warning appears 3 seconds before, and the boss enters on screen at full health. It is always one tier above your castle.
| Time | Boss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 3:00 | Red Tiger Ironclad (Tier 3) | First kill unlocks the Thunder Catapult. A second kill unlocks the Land Turtle Ship |
| 6:00 | Black Iron Citadel (Tier 4) | Five kills unlock the Bigyeok Siege Castle |
| 9:00 | Imperial Colossus (Tier 5) | The final boss. Destroy it to clear the run and unlock Beacon 1 |
In our simulations the Red Tiger fell in about 42 seconds, the Black Iron Citadel in about 51 and the Imperial Colossus in about 67. What matters is having enough firepower and tier before each one shows up. If a boss is still alive at 10:30 it goes into a rage.
Before a boss fires, the floor shows a fan-shaped danger zone. Stay out of the fan and you take at most one hit from that volley. Your fortress is slow, so turn the moment you see it. In the final stand after the ten minutes, the normal waves are replaced by a thin stream of small carts, so you can keep your eyes on the boss.
Hunt Riders also come during the run. They cling to the castle and bite, but a Charge shakes them off and stuns them. Kill the last rider and a repair kit drops.
Beacons 0 to 5: the same game, harder
Your first clear unlocks Beacon 1. Beacons are a difficulty ladder: higher levels pay more coins, and earlier rules stay on. Clearing Beacon n opens the next one.
| Beacon | New rule | Coin multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Base game | ×1.0 |
| 1 | Enemy health ×1.4 | ×1.25 |
| 2 | Enemy damage ×1.5 | ×1.5 |
| 3 | Enemy health ×1.65, damage ×1.9, 15% of normal enemies are elites (gold rim, health ×4) | ×1.75 |
| 4 | Boss health ×1.6, boss summons ×0.7 | ×2.0 |
| 5 | Enemy health ×1.6, damage ×2.1, boss health ×1.8, natural regeneration and repair ×0.3 | ×2.5 |
Beacon 5 has almost no healing, so you need to find clean lines to drive and hit first with Charge.
There is also the Daily Siege. Everyone plays the same castle and beacon, chosen by the date, and your saved workshop upgrades do not apply. Today's beacon is either 0 or 1.
Coins, the workshop and the three castles
Every run pays coins, which you spend in the Workshop on permanent upgrades: 8 upgrades with 27 levels in all, costing 14,900 coins to buy everything. If you undo an upgrade you get the coins back in full. The 25 achievements and the 39-slot Codex (10 blocks, 10 ★, 12 enemies, 7 buildings) pay coins too.
There are three castles to choose from at launch:
| Castle | How to get it | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Hwacha Fortress | From the start | Starts with Singijeon Rockets. Better speed and steam charge |
| Land Turtle Ship | Destroy the Red Tiger Ironclad twice | Starts with the Dragon-Head Flamer. Strong ram damage and more armor, a little slower |
| Bigyeok Siege Castle | Destroy the Black Iron Citadel five times | Starts with the Cheonja Broadside. Hits from far away, but less armor |
The Hwacha Fortress is the easiest to learn. Once the driving rhythm feels natural, try the Land Turtle Ship.
A checklist for your first clear
- In the first few levels, take new blocks to reach 4 slots quickly.
- Keep moving, and charge into a crowd when the boiler is full.
- Chase green marks, avoid red ones.
- When you tier up, swallow the herd that rushes in.
- Aim to have at least three firepower blocks before the 3:00 boss.
- When the boss's red fan appears, turn immediately.
- After each run, spend coins in the Workshop. Two or three runs make a clear difference.
Summary
- Controls: drive, Charge (SPACE), Barrage (E).
- Drive to fill steam, then charge when full. A full boiler gives +45% damage.
- Tiers rise at 4, 6 and 9 blocks, and the herd that arrives is food.
- ★ evolutions need a Lv 5 block plus its partner block.
- Bosses: Red Tiger Ironclad at 3:00, Black Iron Citadel at 6:00, Imperial Colossus at 9:00.
- After your first clear, Beacons 1 to 5 and the Daily Siege open up.
You can play Hwacha Fortress right in your browser. The game's page is at /en/apps/hwacha/.
Written by the JWorld team from our game design documents and measured play data, with AI tools helping with the writing.