Urban Assault has an extensive storyline and lore backgrounds with interesting settings. However, the majority of them are not directly accessible from the game itself.

Here are some snippets of text from the game's main storyline. Detailed lore and backgrounds are not covered at here, but they may be added here or in a separate article in future.

1 Synopsis

"Darkness. . . The void calling my name. . . . And the evil, always pursued by the evil. . . These were my dreams . . . Back when I could dream.

The machines, were desirous of me - valuing my fear as much as my mind. And because these were the good machines, our machines, the savior machines, I could not refuse their seduction.

There were so few humans left in the years following The Big Mistake. Humans were too precious to send into battle when the OffWorlders came. And so we created the war machines, the savior machines.

But to save us they needed a single human integrated into their empathic net. For it was the human's wetware that provided the passions of love for the planet, and enough fear to temper decisions.

Oh, but humans were not meant to experience such power. When the click of a finger can create new machines, and when just one more click can send them into war, and when the empath net links you into all, as if you were living simultaneous lives, and suffering simultaneous deaths, the mind begins to retreat.

So the machines, the good machines, the savior machines, have searched once again, and have come to you for the plan."

- from the Journal of User 7, 2234 A.D.

2 A Human Interface

There will be those who call it a curse, but they were not chosen to be the human interface. And who among them could handle the unimaginable power of becoming one with the Host Station? After the upload surgery you will be completely wired into the free world’s network of computers, able to synthesize intelligent tanks and aircraft with the click of a button.

After The Big Mistake, the deteriorating atmosphere forced humans to live in domed cities connected by beam gates. These domed cities and beam gates require vast amounts of energy. Unfortunately, those energy sources and your people of The Resistance are coming under massive attack.

Your enemies list reads like a parade of nightmares: the Ghorkovs, the Taerkastens, the Mykonians, the Sulgogars.

The fate of The Resistance—and perhaps even the fate of the entire planet—depends on how well you can master your Host Station resources and wage battle against those who are trying to destroy you and your world.

3 The Big Mistake

It all started so silently nobody really noticed. Ozone depletion allowed unfiltered solar radiation to "sunburn the ocean," killing the phytoplankton that lives within the top few meters of its surface. It was a classic collapse of a food chain. The little fish that ate plankton died, and then the bigger fish that ate the little fish died, and a horrified world watched as the oceans died. And then the atmosphere began to collapse and, as the planet erupted into wars over the remaining resources, the environmental disaster we had brought upon ourselves came to be known as The Big Mistake. Even our own technological prowess became a handicap. Our scientists had unlocked the secret to plasma formation—the ability to materialize solid constructions out of thin air. Constructed over plasma-rich geopockets all over the globe, advanced technology research centers were used to develop military technology of all sorts (ground tanks, air fighters, buildings, to name a few) that could instantly appear at a commander's whim. But this magic had a high price. Everyone wanted this technology, and soon the fragile political alliances and systems that had so narrowly averted global war for three centuries came to a crumbling end. The technology was dispersed into enemy hands, and the world became a multipolar warring hotbed once again. And as if we weren’t doing enough to ruin Earth, the Mykonians launched their energy-sucking Parasite Machine to give us a helping hand.

4 Background: The Big Mistake . . . and the Ultimate War Machine

The year is 2017, the whole planet is at war . . . and you’re certainly going to die. But between now and then you’ll have in your hands the creation and control of the most formidable military power ever created on the planet. The only problem is that some of your opponents were created off the planet. Life is tough. But so are you.

Ever since The Big Mistake . . . the death of the oceans, the ruination of the atmosphere, the blundering use of nukes, and the sudden interest in creating domed communities where the remnants of free humanity live like fish in very small aquariums . . . things just haven’t been the same.

The offworld Mykonians want to exterminate humanity to have the place to themselves. (Good planets are hard to find.) And the very offworld Sulgogars want to blow away humanity and the Mykonians to use our planet as a nest of their own. Meanwhile you’ve also got two human forces bent on your destruction: the Ghorkovs and the Taerkasts, both of whom blame your people for the environmental and political strife that precipitated the Big Mistake.

With so few humans left, all war is roboticized. But the intelligent machines that go into battle have enough sense to want to believe in their leader . . . and that is why they have selected you. Sorry about that slightly painful upload surgery, in which links to the free world’s defensive computers were physically embedded into your brain. But now that you’re uploaded, all battle decisions are yours.

The Player’s Side: The Resistance

You are leading the efforts of The Resistance, the remnant survivors of the last great democracies, gathered together to protect the flame of freedom. To escape the polluted atmosphere, your people live in a series of domed cities, connected by beam gates. But as the evil Mykonians suck the very core of energy from the planet, the power required to filter the air and sustain life will soon be depleted . . . unless you can defeat the Mykonians - and all others who want to see your people die.

The Resistance was just months away from certain destruction by its approaching enemies when a band of hackers and engineers wired together all of the free world’s computers to create the Host Station as the ultimate war machine. Now that the Host Station has chosen you to become its uploaded master, the survival of The Resistance and perhaps even the fate of the entire planet, depends on how well you can master your Host Station resources and wage battle against those who are trying to destroy you and your world.

The Enemies: A Parade of Nightmares

Your enemies list reads like a parade of nightmares:

• The Ghorkovs This totalitarian and militaristic faction that emerged from Eurasia after The Big Mistake has weapons technology at least equal to our own. Diplomacy has failed. The Ghorkovs resent our earlier betrayal of them to the off-world Mykonians.
• The Taerkasts This fanatical retro-cult disdains electronic and related technology yet has advanced weapons development. They wish to exterminate us, and all other forces, from the planet. Diplomacy has failed. The Taerkasts blame us for killing the oceans and destroying the atmosphere.
• The Mykonians An off-world species, the Mykonians are tapping into the very core of our planet with their devastating Parasite Machine, extracting energy to power their attacks. Their weapons technology is more advanced than ours. Diplomacy has failed. They want our planet.
• The Sulgogars A plantlike, bionic off-world species, the Sulgogars hope to claim Earth as a spawning ground. Their technology is more advanced than ours, though it appears to be based on genetic manipulation. Diplomacy has failed. They view humans as fertilizer.

5 Forbidden Reading

* The Forbidden Reading is a part of hidden storyline fragments that can be found inside the game files. Here are some examples of them.

5.1 <01>

"There were so few humans left in the years following The Big Mistake. Humans were too precious to send into battle when the Offworlders came. And so we created the war machines, the savior machines, the Host Station machines."

"But to save us they needed a single human integrated into their empathic net. For it was the human’s wetware that provided the passions of love for the planet, and enough fear to temper decisions."

— From Beam Gate Diary

5.2 <27>

"Unfortunately the human race has evolved just enough science to all but destroy their home planet and just enough technology to create some formidable weapons. They don’t show signs of good parenting. But remember this is from the same planet that gave us dinosaurs."

— From The Mykonian Papers: Intercepted Dispatches

5.3 <29>

"The Mykonian Papers were immediately banned upon publication, with a house-to-house search for contraband copies. But still word got out: ‘They viewed humanity as a viral infection upon the face of the planet ... and even more devastating, they appeared to have a religion similar to our own.’ This was shattering ... that our enemies, who at this point in time were clearly winning, might have been praying to the same source we were—and getting a better reaction."

— From Hangin’ with My Domies: A Study of Adolescent Behavior Within Domed Communities

5.4 <31>

"How did The Mykonian Papers survive? Rumor has it that some computer gaming wizard who lived in the back of an arcade and never removed his leather jacket hid the complete text by typing it into the Help system of an old Microsoft game. His brilliant insight was that the information would be safe throughout the ages, because nobody ever reads Help."

— From My Dome Town Notebook

6 Trivia

• The Hyde Park record date of SDU6's death states year 2071 in the final game briefing. However, this could be a typo of 2017 considering the cross-references from the other official game documents.