PastForward
Forward Starship command, in your browser

Standing Orders

Captain a starship. Make the calls, send the away team, and live with who doesn't come back. Story missions in your browser, on phone, tablet or PC.

  • Phone
  • Tablet
  • PC & Mac browser
  • Works offline
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Free. No download, no account, no ads.

Standing Orders combat screen. A Reef Spindle, a crystalline enemy ship, sits in the forward viewer. Below it, target hull and shield bars, a yellow 'Their next move: Main battery charging' warning, the last exchange's damage report, and a list of seven numbered orders, two of them marked 'Answers their move'. The right column shows the ship's hull, shields, power sliders and senior staff.
What you do

How it plays

  1. Command the survey ship CSV Meridian through story tours: every mission is a choice, and nothing in Command is timed.
  2. Fight turn by turn: the enemy shows its next move, so you can brace, dodge or strike first. Then pick who beams down.
  3. Play the same Daily Tour as everyone, or a quick mode: Patrol, Tactical or Damage Control, in 2 to 10 minutes.
CommandStory tours and the Daily Tour · 30–45 minDamage ControlTriage while the ship burns · ~2 minPatrolFly the ship, refit each wave · 2–10 minTacticalMan the main viewer · 2–10 min
On every screen

See it on your phone, tablet or PC

Phone

  • A phone screen showing crew dialogue from the Brannoch mission and three numbered choices below it. Nothing in Command is timed: read the room, then make the call
  • Combat on a phone: the Reef Spindle's hull and shields, its status, and a highlighted panel reading 'Their next move: Main battery charging', followed by the last exchange report and power posture buttons. Every fight shows you their next move before you commit
  • The away team list on a phone: objectives at the top, then officer cards with their skills, three of them ticked, and a Fold Down button. The roster is the puzzle: choose who folds down
  • Patrol mode on a phone: the Meridian at the bottom firing lances upward, pickup crates marked H, S and T, an explosion, and power and weapon buttons along the bottom. Patrol fits in a pocket: thumb to steer, buttons to fire
  • Tactical mode on a phone: lance beams hitting an Auren Veilship inside the reticle, debris scattering, another ship nearby, with hull, shield and torpedo bars at the top. Tactical on a phone: track the contact and hold the trigger

Tablet

  • A mission scene on a tablet held upright: 'Brannoch Is Falling', with the crew's lines of dialogue and three numbered choices, a tractor lock, cycling every fold pad, or flying against the station's hull. Six hundred and forty souls and ninety minutes: how do you save Brannoch?
  • Tactical mode on a landscape tablet. Two lance beams meet on an Auren Veilship, labelled in the targeting reticle, against a purple nebula, with the lance heat gauge below. Tactical on a tablet: tap to aim, hold to fire, watch the heat
  • Damage Control on a landscape tablet: a deck schematic of the Meridian with rooms labelled by deck, officer tokens placed around the ship, Engineering flagged with a fire and Cargo Bay 2 with a hazard, and an incident log on the right. Damage Control: a fire in Engineering, a coolant leak in Cargo Bay 2, and seven officers to send

Desktop

  • Standing Orders combat screen. A Reef Spindle, a crystalline enemy ship, sits in the forward viewer. Below it, target hull and shield bars, a yellow 'Their next move: Main battery charging' warning, the last exchange's damage report, and a list of seven numbered orders, two of them marked 'Answers their move'. The right column shows the ship's hull, shields, power sliders and senior staff. Read the enemy's next move, then answer it: the Reef Spindle charges its main battery
  • The mission board: three mission cards side by side, a refinery station falling into a gas giant, a silent survey ship, and a generation ship waking its sleepers, each tagged with severity and a complication such as Short-handed or Ion weather. Every call is yours: three assignments, and Command has ranked none of them
  • The main bridge screen titled Awaiting Orders, with hull, morale, standing and staff-fit tiles, a menu of choices such as review the mission board and put in for repairs, and side panels for ship status, power allocation and senior staff. The bridge of the CSV Meridian: hull, morale, standing and crew, between assignments
  • The away team screen for Brannoch Station's spin deck. Three objectives are listed with their difficulty, and six officer cards show each officer's skills; three are ticked. A Fold Down button sits below. Send the right people, not the popular ones: pick a three-officer away team
  • Patrol mode, a vertical space shooter. The Meridian fires twin lances up the screen past asteroids and enemy craft, with hull, shield and torpedo bars along the top, power controls at bottom left and torpedo, spread and pulse buttons at bottom right. Patrol: fly the Meridian yourself through waves of raiders and rock
  • Tactical mode, a first-person view through the main viewer. Two lance beams converge on an exploding Ostrav Bastion inside the targeting reticle while other enemy ships approach; a lance heat gauge and torpedo and brace buttons sit at the bottom. Tactical: look out through the main viewer and put the lances on target
Plays on

Phone, tablet and computer

  • Any modern browser: Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari, on a phone, tablet or computer.

  • Touch, mouse or keyboard: the layout fits a phone held upright, a tablet either way round, or a big monitor.

  • Works offline after the first visit, and installs to your home screen like an app.

  • An Android app of Standing Orders is in the works; the browser version is the same game, free.

  • No account needed. Progress saves on your device; sign in only if you want it on all your devices.

Compete

Leaderboards

Everyone plays the same daily challenge. Post your score under a name you choose, if you like: boards are opt-in.

Standing Orders leaderboards