Getting Started
After you launch the game from the live area by tapping the Livearea Bubble and then "Start" on the respective area, initial boot times for the Unity3D engine are slow, so be patient. It is not uncommon for the game to take up to 20 - 30 seconds to initialize depending on the speed of your memory card.
Once loaded, the game will show a black screen and the attract? mode intro movie will start playing. You can sit back and admire the movie or get things started by tapping the screen or pressing any key. You will then be taken to the title screen where after some time the "PRESS ANY KEY" text will appear. Usually soon after this text appears, the game will emit a chime to signal that it's finished loading all the essential data.
You should be presented with the following options:
- New Game: This will be the only option for new players. Upon tapping this option, the game will introduce you to the game
- Continue: If you have save data on your console already, then this option as the name suggests allows you to get back into the action by loading the existing save data.
New Game
Difficulty Selection
The first thing the game will ask you to do is to pick the difficulty. This mainly changes the amount of time you have to get your fleets ready before the enemy tries to take over your naval base and hexagons, plus some additional restrictions (todo: what are they?).
- Tei / Easy: Recommended for new players.
- Hei / Normal: Recommended for people who want to experience what the developers of KC Kai think Normal is.
- Otsu / Hard: Recommended for people who want a challenge.
Unlockable difficulties after clearing the game on the above are:
- Kou / Very Hard: Unlocked by clearing Otsu. Don't expect any mercy.
- Historical / Nightmare: Not many admirals have survived this mode.
Note that clearing Tei (Easy) will NOT unlock Kou difficulty. Also,your difficulty setting is locked in for the course of the game on your save file.
- -That means if you want to change the difficulty, you'll have to start over in a new save slot.
- -Also, please note that Shipgirs will not carry into a new save file; however, you can choose to bring some with you into NG+, after beating the game.
Select the difficulty and lock it in with Circle (O) key. Pressing X at any time will cancel the New Game mode.
Enlistment
Once you've locked in your difficulty, you'll need to give yourself a name. Unfortunately the shipgirls won't attempt to pronounce your name (although it would be cute if they did) but this is what will be used on your records. You have up to 12 characters maximum, so fancy names like xXx_BestAdmiralEvah_xXx won't work.
Once you've entered your name, tap "Decide" to lock it in.
Kai Mode or Classic Mode?
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Next screen, you'll be presented with a choice - do you want to start the game with a Light Cruiser on Kai Mode, or Classic Mode?
- Kai Mode: Allows you to select Jintsuu, Naka or Sendai as your starting Shipgirl.
- Classic Mode: Allows you to select one of the cast from the Flash game: Fubuki, Murakumo, Inazuma, Samidare, Sazanami as well as the Vita-exclusive starters Mutsuki, Shigure and Ooshio. Note that "Vita-exclusive" means that the Flash version does not offer them as starters.
The choice is yours - Kai Mode is recommended as you have a beefier ship to start with, while Classic Mode allows you to pick the same ship that you may have chosen in the Flash version.
Get ready!
After choosing a ship, the game will ask you if you're ready or need to make any choices. Your choice of starter isn't horribly important (Unless you want a specific one), as you'll be able to pick up the other starting ships later - either as a drop from a stage node or constructing her in the factory. Then comes the fun part - some walls of text explaining the game. Take the time and understand it - they only pop up once.
Once complete, you will get a scene where your selected shipgirl is pulled up from her watery grave and appears before you. Take good care of her, since she'll be your flagship until you start building and collecting new shipgirls. You'll then start at the World Map after a short loading screen.
A tutorial will also begin. Make sure you follow it, as it may cause confusion if you do not.
Continue to Gameplay Mechanics for more information.
