Army Commander Tycoon Promotion Guide — Rebirth at HQ 5
Promotion is Army Commander Tycoon's rebirth, and it is the single largest power spike available. Your first promotion takes you from Lieutenant to Captain for $75.0M and hands back a permanent +50% income. Here is the full checklist, exactly what you lose, and exactly what you keep.
Table of Contents
Requirements and Cost
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| Rank change | Lieutenant → Captain |
| HQ level | 5 (Command Citadel) |
| Price | $75.0M Cash |
| Income bonus | +50% permanent |
| Gold reward | +50 Gold |
| Starting Cash after | $2,750 |
| New units unlocked | 9 |
Before HQ 5 the PROMOTE button reads 'NEEDS COMMAND CITADEL', so there is no way to promote early even if you somehow banked $75.0M. That makes the HQ ladder the real gate, and the $75.0M the second gate.
You find it through MORE (the three dots, bottom left), which expands to MAP, LOADOUT, RIVALS and PROMOTE. The PROMOTE panel shows your next rank, the price and the rewards before you commit.
What Resets and What You Keep
This is where players get burned. Promotion resets your entire base back to the Command Tent. If you were expecting to keep your oil rig ladder, you were wrong — and that reset is precisely what makes the +50% bonus worth having, because you rebuild the same ladder faster.
| Resets | Permanently kept |
|---|---|
| Every building (back to Command Tent) | Promotion income bonus (+50%) |
| Cash (restarts at $2,750) | Gold |
| Capture point holdings | Orders progress |
| — | Stats |
| — | All unlocked units |
Because unlocked units are kept, the optimal promotion is the one where you have already bought every Cash unit you can afford. Unit unlocks are the only asset that survives the reset, so convert spare Cash into unlocks immediately before promoting.
The Nine Units You Unlock
Promotion 1 opens nine units that were previously locked behind the promotion requirement, even if you already had the Cash to buy them.
| Unit | Cost | Building | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marksman | $200K | Troop Tent | Sniper |
| Rocketeer | $300K | Troop Tent | Anti-tank |
| Engineer | $150K | Support Tent | Vehicle support |
| Scout Car | $250K | Light Garage | Gun platform |
| APC | $800K | Armour Depot | Transport |
| Anti-Air Tank | $2.50M | Heavy Garage | Anti-air |
| Attack Helicopter | $5.00M | Helipad | Gunship |
| Gunboat | $900K | Boat Dock | Gun platform |
| Missile Boat | $2.50M | Boat Dock | Gun platform |
The two that matter most are Marksman and Rocketeer, both cheap and both fixing a problem free infantry cannot: range and anti-tank. Anti-Air Tank is the sleeper pick — it is the only reliable answer to aircraft before you own aircraft yourself.
When to Promote
The naive answer is 'as soon as you have $75.0M'. The better answer is 'as soon as you have $75.0M and nothing left worth buying'.
- Reach HQ 5 and confirm the PROMOTE panel is active rather than reading NEEDS COMMAND CITADEL
- Buy every Cash unit you can field at your current promotion tier — this is the only value that survives the reset
- Check you have no pending building upgrades mid-construction; the reset wastes them
- Spend down spare Cash on unlocks rather than holding a buffer you are about to lose
- Promote, then immediately rebuild the early oil rig ladder — your +50% makes the first four rigs pay back faster than before
- Reclaim capture points with the free infantry you still own, since point income compounds with the new bonus
The rebuild after promotion is genuinely faster than the first run, not just emotionally faster: the same $90 Oil Rig 1 now returns three times its base rate minus the multiplication, and your already-unlocked units mean you never have to re-buy combat capability.
Warning: Do not promote while a capture point war is live. Losing your buildings mid-fight with a reset base is the worst possible timing — the enemy takes your points while your tent is empty.