How to Unlock Commanders, Frontier, and Endless Mode

How to Unlock Commanders, Frontier, and Endless Mode

Version scope: Tower Dominion PC (Steam), version 1.66. Verified July 13, 2026. This checklist covers all 30 PC commanders. Tower Dominion GO uses different progression and is not covered here.

You know the scene: the third Slovek Howitzer finally appears while the last wave is chewing on the Headquarters, so you place it, continue into Endless, and receive precisely nothing. The missing step is timing. Finish single-expedition goals before the normal final wave, then end the expedition instead of continuing into Endless. Choosing Endless does not bank commander unlocks or the achievement for completing an expedition with that commander. Building Expertise and mastery steps also need to be finished before Endless. One narrow exception exists: placing an already unlocked but unseen building during Endless can reveal its Codex entry. That is Codex discovery, not commander or mastery progress.

Difficulty, Frontier, and Endless Unlock Order

An expedition is one full run. A battlefront is a separate active route leading toward the Headquarters.

The same War victory opens Frontier and Endless. Frontier is a separate wave-35 challenge with selectable modifiers and special doctrines called dotations. Endless extends a regular run, and once unlocked it can be entered from any standard difficulty.

Commander Unlock Rules That Cause Trouble

• Single expedition: Reach the full target in one run before Endless. The count resets when that expedition ends.
• Career total: The counter carries between expeditions. Standard difficulties and Frontier can advance these totals before their normal endpoint; Endless waves do not.
• Exact difficulty: Obivim, Jorg, Yevdoki, and Trevia require victories on Difficulties 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. A Frontier badge does not replace one of those wins.
• Build means place: A blueprint in your inventory does not count. Put the Howitzer, Mirador, platform, Zone Command, or other building on the battlefield.
• Production is not your wallet: Marshal Tander needs the displayed Supply production to reach 400. Major Delcia needs Recon production to reach 50. Saved or spent currency is a different value.
• HQ thresholds are separate: Architectus Droh needs the Headquarters to reach 20,000 HP. Rotmistr Liza needs 50,000 HP of Headquarters repair in one expedition.
• No upgrade count: No commander requires a number of building upgrades. Cost, Efficiency, and Expertise objectives belong to separate Codex progression.
• Faction rules: The faction heading shows where the unlocked commander can be selected. Commander goals themselves are not faction-locked, and Slovek Howitzers, Miradors, platforms, and Zone Commands are available to all three factions.

Iron Dragoons Commander Checklist

Lions of Ravelski Commander Checklist

Pargan Assault Group Commander Checklist

Fast Unlock Route and Recovery Plan

1. Clear Engagement, Battle, Campaign, and War once. This opens the full difficulty ladder, Frontier, Endless, Obivim, Jorg, Yevdoki, and Trevia.
2. Use standard or Frontier expeditions to collect career totals for buildings, Supply, foes, wins, losses, Neutral buildings, and rerolls.
3. Pick one single-expedition target per run. Chasing Howitzers, 30 Doctrines, 12 Miradors, and 50,000 HQ repair together turns the reward draft into an unruly supply clerk.
4. Check the target before the final wave. If it is complete, end the expedition and save Endless for another run.

If the needed blueprint refuses to appear, stop spending Recon once rerolls threaten the defense. Pivot to a career goal such as foe kills, Supply produced, buildings placed, or total rerolls. Your carefully shaped alien traffic jam still earns useful progress, and the missing single-run target can wait for a friendlier draft.

Achievements and Frontier Badges

Unlocking a commander does not automatically earn that commander's Steam achievement. Each of the 30 Steam achievements requires completing an expedition with its commander after that commander is unlocked. Steam's current list still calls Iron Captain Milio by the older name Lieutenant Colonel Arrian in Bridgehead Alpha, and it calls Legate Volkin by the older name Legate Girosky in Herald of the Knotev.

Standard-difficulty icons and Frontier badges are separate records. A commander's portrait shows the highest standard difficulty completed with that commander, while the Frontier badge tracks that commander's Frontier result. Neither record replaces a commander requirement or the Steam achievement. End at the normal victory screen when you are banking one of those unlocks; the battlefield will still be there for the next gloriously questionable traffic plan.