Foxhole: Beginner-to-Veteran Guide

A guide to Foxhole's persistent war: picking a faction, your first hours, the logistics chain that runs the whole game, frontline combat, and what the Airborne era (air warfare) and Updates 64–67 changed.

Researched September 2026, current as of Update 66 (live 18 August 2026, when a new World Conquest also began) with Update 67 previewed on 16 September 2026. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Choose your faction carefully. You fight for the Wardens or the Colonials. Once you've played for a faction you're locked to it until the war ends (new, low-rank players get limited leeway to switch; check the current rules on the wiki).
• Pick a busy shard. ABLE has historically been the most populated. More players means more logistics and more fights.
• Start in the Home Region, then deploy. Set up your character at the barracks, check the map for active fronts, then deploy to a region at war.
• Take only what you need from stockpiles. Every rifle and bullet was made by another player. A rifle, 2–3 magazines, bandages and a hammer is a normal kit.
• Bandages stop bleeding but don't heal. Get to a medic or a base.
• Do logistics. The team with better supply wins the war. Delivering a truck of shirts and ammunition to the front can matter more than a dozen kills.
• Join a regiment or squad. Voice chat and organisation make everything easier, especially logistics, tanks, naval and aircraft crews.
• Earn commendations. You rank up through commendations from teammates, which you get for helping with kills, heals, revives, repairs and building.

Default Controls (common binds)

Action | Default key

Move | W/A/S/D

Sprint | Shift

Map | M

Inventory | Tab

Interact | E

Build menu | B

Chat | Enter

Aim / Fire | Right mouse / Left mouse

Stances, voice chat and item-slot keys vary with your settings. Update 66 added new keybinding options, so open Settings > Keybindings once and learn crouch/prone, push-to-talk (local and squad) and your equipment slots before you deploy.

How a War Works

• The world is a map of hex regions. Each region has towns and bases.
• Victory: a faction must hold a set number of Victory Towns (towns with Town Halls that count toward victory). The required number is set per war; check the war report or the wiki for the current target.
• Starting Conditions change every war and can adjust regions and facilities. Since Update 66 you can see the Starting Conditions in-game in the State of the War tent in the Home Region during the Resistance Phase (the break between wars).
• War length varies a lot, from about a week for a lopsided war to well over a month for a close one.

The Logistics Chain

Everything in Foxhole is produced by players, like this:

Stage | What happens

Gather | Collect raw resources at fields and mines: Salvage, Components, Sulfur, Oil and others

Refine | At a Refinery: Salvage becomes Basic Materials (bmats), Diesel or Explosive Powder. Components become Refined Materials (rmats). Sulfur becomes Heavy Explosive Powder.

Produce | At a Factory (and more advanced production buildings), materials become crates of rifles, ammo, grenades, medical supplies, uniforms and more

Store | Crates go into a Storage Depot or Seaport stockpile

Deliver | Trucks, trains, ships and now aircraft move supplies to frontline bases

Your first logistics run:

• Get a truck from a Storage Depot or Seaport (or a Garage).
• Go to a Salvage field, gather with your hammer, and fill the truck.
• Unload at a Refinery to make Basic Materials.
• Take the Basic Materials to a Factory, queue useful crates (ask in chat or on the regiment Discord what the front needs), and pick them up when done.
• Deliver the crates to a frontline base. Soldier Supplies (used for respawns), ammo, rifles and bandages are always needed.

Tips:

• Check the map's stockpile intel before producing. Make what's running low.
• Stockpiles: public stockpiles are shared with your faction. Reserved stockpiles are locked by code for regiments.
• Squad Storage at Refineries (Update 66): squad members can send refinery output to shared squad storage and collect it as long as they stay in the squad.
• Don't abandon a loaded truck on the road. Park it at a depot.

Bases and Building

• Town Halls and Relic Bases are the key bases in a region, and Town Halls count toward victory.
• Bunker Bases are player-built forward bases with defenses and spawning.
• Respawns use Soldier Supplies from the base's stockpile. Set a Home Base plus a player-built forward base as your spawn points.
• Trenches and bunkers protect a front. Build in layers, and underground bunkers can hold ammo storage, engine rooms, intel centers and artillery emplacements.
• Watch towers reveal enemy positions on the map within their range.
• Weather matters. Storms freeze rivers, disable equipment and reduce artillery effectiveness. Since Update 66, redesigned Weather Stations can give your whole faction storm predictions.

Combat Basics

• Stay in cover and move in groups. Lone players die to machine guns and artillery.
• Use a spotter. Binoculars and watch towers find targets for artillery and mortars.
• Medics win pushes. Revive, heal and carry the wounded back.
• Engineers keep tanks alive. Tanks can be tracked, lose fuel through ruptured tanks, or be disabled. Armour uses penetration and deflection, so angle and flanking matter.
• Don't feed. If a push fails, fall back and regroup rather than respawning straight into the same machine gun.

Air War (Airborne and Updates 64–66)

Airborne (9 February 2026) added player-flown aircraft, paratroopers, airfields and hangars, ground crews who rearm and repair planes, and aircraft whose subsystems can be damaged separately. Later updates focused on countering air:

Update | Air-related additions

64 (26 May 2026) | AA light tanks: Colonial HA-1 "Sagaris" and Warden Sharkey-Devitt Birdeater Mk. I, both from the Garage. Second scout planes: Colonial A59 Venti "Perdix" (mini torpedoes) and Warden Luminary Mk. VI Emissary (drops mines). Mounted Machine Guns got an AA mode.

65 (7 July 2026) | AI Anti-Aircraft Guns at some rear airfields and towns. Air Siren (alerts when a non-scout enemy aircraft is within 500 m). Field Machine Guns got an AA mode. Mine Boats can lay Torpedo Nets. Bombers got an intel icon.

66 (18 August 2026) | Warden Rinnspeir Mk. I "Zealot" redesigned with faster paratrooper deployment. New Colonial heavy fighter Daimon aK-5 "Harpy". Coastal Guns can now engage Large Ships. Aircraft recovery and scouting improvements.

If you're on the ground: place an Air Siren near the front, keep an AA tank or an AA-mode machine gun with your push, and spread out when bombers show up.

Naval Notes

Large Ships (battleships, destroyers, submarines) support beach landings and control the sea. The Update 67 preview (16 September 2026) re-enables cross-world Ocean Travel, letting Large Ships travel east–west between The Oarbreaker Isles and Lykos Isle, even if those hexes are disabled during a war. It also previews a new liquid-carrying Large Ship and a Radar Bunker. Update 67 is the last minor update of 2026. Update 68 is planned as the bigger year-end content update.

Roles at a Glance

Role | What you do | Good first step

Frontline infantry | Hold trenches, push towns, medic and revive | Deploy with a squad, carry bandages, stay near your base

Logistics | Gather, refine, produce and deliver | Do one salvage-to-front run solo, then join a logi squad

Builder/engineer | Trenches, bunkers, base upkeep, repairs | Bring a hammer and materials to a quiet sector and ask what to build

Artillery | Spot and shell enemy positions | Learn to use binoculars as a spotter first

Tank crew | Driver, gunner, commander and engineer roles | Join a regiment that already runs armour

Trains/Facilities | Long-haul supply and mass production | Help an existing facility before building your own

Naval | Large Ships, beach landings, sea control | Crew for a regiment's ship before commanding one

Air | Pilots, gunners and ground crew | Start as ground crew rearming and repairing planes

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Taking gear you don't need. Emptying a frontline stockpile can lose the town.
• Joining the faction your friends aren't on. You're locked for the whole war.
• Driving trucks alone through contested areas at night with no escort.
• Building structures nobody will supply. Bases need upkeep materials.
• Ignoring chat and map intel. Other players have usually already reported where help is needed.
• Leaving vehicles out in the open. Unattended vehicles decay or get stolen.

Advanced Tips

• Specialise. Veterans usually pick a lane: logistics, facilities, artillery, tanks, naval or air. Regiments organise around these roles.
• Facilities (player-built industrial bases) can turn into mass production centers. They're a long-term project best done with a regiment.
• Trains move huge amounts of supplies. A protected rail line can change a war.
• Partisan play behind enemy lines, like cutting logistics or sabotaging infrastructure, is a real contribution. Now paratroopers can do it too.
• Read the devblogs. Balance changes every ~6 weeks under the current development cycle, and each war's Starting Conditions change the map.

FAQ

Is Foxhole free? No. It's a one-time purchase on Steam.

Can I switch factions mid-war? Generally no: once you've committed to a faction you're locked until the war ends. Very new players have limited leeway, so pick carefully and check the wiki for the current rule.

How long does a war last? It varies, from under a week to over a month. When a war ends there's a short Resistance Phase before the next one starts.

What should a new player do to help? Logistics. Gather salvage, refine it, produce what the front needs, and deliver it. Or join a regiment that will teach you.

Can I fly planes? Yes, since Airborne (February 2026). Aircraft need airfields, hangars and ground crews. Joining an air regiment is the easiest way to learn.

What's in Update 67? Cross-world Ocean Travel, a new liquid Large Ship, a Radar Bunker, water visual effects, security fixes and balance changes. Update 68 is the bigger end-of-2026 release.

Sources

• Foxhole on Steam
• Foxhole Steam news (Updates 64–67, Airborne)
• Foxhole Wiki: Getting Started
• Foxhole Wiki: World Conquest