Ebbtide TF-1 Ark Carrier Task Force — Command Layers Explained

What are the two command layers in Ebbtide?

Ebbtide, the zombie survival RTS from ProjectAlive, stacks two ways of playing on top of each other:

• The commander layer — a real-time operations map of Los Angeles where you direct forces across the city.
• The direct-control layer — a live 3D pixel-art battlefield where you can press TAB to take over a single soldier, tank, or helicopter.

The official Steam description is explicit that these are one seamless space: scroll into any street on the operations map and it becomes the live battlefield with no loading screen; scroll back out and the fight keeps running. There are no separate missions and no hidden auto-resolve — every soldier lost, zombie killed, and building destroyed carries back to the map.

Analysis of the footage shared so far (see the gameplay page for the full system breakdown) describes the appeal as “RTS strategy plus a hands-on survival experience”: the tension comes from knowing when to stop being a soldier and start being a general again. Treat that framing as analysis of pre-release material, not a final spec sheet — ProjectAlive has stated that features and visuals shown early can change.

What can you do from the commander layer?

From the operations map, per the official Steam “About This Game” text:

• Run the clock your way — pause, or advance the map at up to 4× speed, as LA’s 15 districts slide from Hold to Crisis to Lost.
• Command the defenders — order National Guard, LAPD, and LA County Sheriff’s units to hold, delay, or withdraw, and call in Marines from Camp Pendleton.
• Move people and supplies — send truck and helicopter convoys carrying supplies, troops, or refugees, and pull out units cut off behind the lines.
• Work with limited intelligence — only hordes within your forces’ line of sight are visible on the map.
• Call the big guns — fire support is requested straight from the map (or the battlefield): M777 howitzers and HIMARS rockets, destroyer guns and Tomahawk cruise missiles, carrier F/A-18s plus F-15E, F-35B and A-10 strikes, and AC-130J gunship and MQ-9 drone orbits. Ship magazines are finite, and heavy weapons bring buildings down.

What does TAB direct control add?

Pressing TAB drops you into direct control of a soldier, tank, or helicopter. Around that core, the Steam text confirms a set of combined-arms tools: squad formations and combat stances, commandable tanks, Bradleys, LAVs and Humvees, Apache and Viper attack helicopters, fast-rope troop drops from Black Hawks, and rooftop helicopter landings to deploy squads.

The horde pushes back at this layer too: zombies pile up to climb walls and rooftops, cling to helicopters hovering close to the ground, and soldiers killed by the horde rise again as zombies.

The trade-off visible in the material shared so far is attention: while you are personally holding a stairwell, you are not repositioning the rest of your line — and while you micromanage one fight, another district can tip from Crisis to Lost. How the final game balances that trade-off is to be confirmed at launch.

How does the TF-1 Ark carrier group fit in?

You command TF-1 “Ark”, humanity’s last carrier task force. The war begins in Los Angeles — from the Hollywood Hills to the Port of LA — and the carrier group is planned as the spine of a wider world campaign:

• The people, troops, equipment, and supplies you bring to the Port of LA form your starting force aboard the Ark.
• You choose which regions to help, bring the carrier group’s guns and aircraft within range, and resupply at friendly ports.
• You can rescue pilots and specialists you cannot train, grow the fleet with allied warships, and hunt the Nexus’s hidden command nodes.

The official trailer “From the LA Operations Map to the Battlefield” (embedded below) shows exactly this carrier identity in action — flight-deck launch operations, strike tasking, and aircraft returning to mother — before zooming from the map into the street-level fight.

What is confirmed, and what is still to be confirmed?

Confirmed (from the Steam “About This Game” text and official videos): the two command layers, the unit and fire-support roster above, base building with forward operating bases, and the LA-to-world campaign structure.

To be confirmed: unit stats, exact controls and UI, system requirements beyond the minimums listed on Steam, price, and platforms beyond the current Steam listing. Release date status: Not Announced — Steam lists the game as Coming soon. We track every change on the release-date tracker and log store facts on the Steam page.

This is an unofficial fan-made wiki. Nothing here is affiliated with or endorsed by ProjectAlive; pre-release details can change before launch. For the big picture, start with the Ebbtide game overview.