What it is
AETHERDOME is a hex-grid autobattler-tactics game. Eight stable managers, one arena. You draft units, position them on a hex board, and watch the ARO-driven combat resolve. Then you do it again, smarter.
A fusion of Hearthstone Battlegrounds' draft + escalation loop, Teamfight Tactics' synergy stacks, and Infinity: HexaDome's reactive combat — the killer mechanic is ARO: your reactive units fire back during enemy turns, spending team-wide Focus.
Design pillars
Reactive combat
ARO means combat is never passive. Snipers shoot back. Bodyguards intercept. Hackers stun. You're always spending Focus.
Multi-viable openers
Eight viable build paths from round 1, with soft counters only. No solved meta on day one.
Layered dopamine
Four independent variable-reward schedules: rolls, augments, trinkets, synergies. Sessions never feel the same.
Live service is a feature
Bi-weekly patches, rotating augments, new chassis. The arena evolves.
Factions in alpha
Concord Vanguard
Templar-style infantry. Defensive line, reactive ARO, healers. Iberian blue+gold.
Crimson Throne
Pan-Asian techno-empire. Initiative bursts, surgical kills. Samurai & Aragoto bikers.
Verdant Synod
Bio-tech symbiote collective. Regen, on-death spores, swarm bodies.
49 units live in the alpha catalog. Roadmap: 12 factions × 25 chassis × 12 loadouts = ~300 viable builds.
Backend status
Authoritative combat sim live at https://api.aetherdome.xyz.
The client is a Godot 4 desktop build that talks HTTP/JSON; Colyseus rooms drop in next for 8-player lobbies.