New Content
Ship Identity
Signature Subsystems: Each ship now has a locked Signature Subsystem that remains consistent across all loadouts. These carry unique augments that define each ship's playstyle:
Ironclad Core (Ironhide): Emergency Protocols - When below {1}% Health, triggers automatic repairs of {2}% Max health every second for {3}s. Cooldown 60s.
Nova Core (Nova Lance): Precision Overload - Critical hits apply Armor breach, increasing damage taken by 50%. When above {1}% Health, Critical Chance increased by {2}%.
Nemesis Core (Nemesis): Dreadnaught Protocol - On Kill, increase Global Damage by {1}. Resets on Warp. Reduce all incoming damage by {2}. Movement speed reduced by {3}. Every {4} weapon hits Stuns.
Weapons
Beam Weapons: Three new pieces of laser technology have been added to the arsenal:
Pulse Laser: A high-fire-rate laser weapon with pinpoint accuracy.
Plasma Arc: Bounces between targets to inflict damage and apply status effects to clusters of enemies.
Phase Beam: A powerful, high-impact laser that penetrates all targets in its path at the cost of lengthy charge-time.
Augments
New Augments
Adaptive Shielding: Shield Recharge Rate increased by {1}. When shields fully recharge, gain {2} Shield Resistance for {3}.
Energy Siphon: Every {1} kills, restore {2} Max Shields and gain {3} Global Damage for {4}.
Full Charge: While Shields are full, Damage increased by {1}.
Shield Battery: On Kill, {1} Chance to restore {2} Max Shields and Shields begin recharging immediately.
Capacitor Burst: When Shields fully recharge, Damage increased by {1} for one shot.
Beam Efficiency: Damage increased by {1} for each Beam weapon equipped.
Critical Cascade: On Kill, Critical Chance increased by {1} for {2} seconds. Stacks up to {3} times.
Searing Beam: On Hit adds Plasma Damage at {1} of Damage Dealt.
Stasis Pulse: On Hit {1} Chance to Slow.
Overcharge: Increases Damage by {1} but also increases Charge Time by {2}.
Charging Pulse: While Charging, deal {1} of Weapon Damage every {2} seconds to enemies within {3} radius.
Radiation Wake: Beam creates Radiation Clouds along its path, dealing {1} of Damage Dealt.
Extended Aperture: Increases Targeting Range by {1} and Beam Width by {2}.
Temporal Laser: Each hit has a {1} chance to apply a random effect on the hit target.
Escalating Arc: Each bounce increases damage by {1}.
Extended Arc: Bounces increased by {1} but Fire Rate reduced by {2}.
Arc Amplification: On Crit, next bounce chain gains {1} additional bounces. Resets on Reload.
Refraction: On Crit Refract beams to {1} amount of enemies in a {2} Radius, dealing {3} of the initial Damage.
External Power: Every 10 kills, spawn a rotating beam cross at the kill location dealing {1} of kill damage. Lasts for {2}.
Overcharged Emitter: Fire Rate reduced by {1}% but Damage increased by {2}% and Critical Chance increased by {3}%.
Destabilizing Fire: Plasma Damage has {1} chance to apply Armor Breach increasing damage taken by {2}.
Exposed Systems: On Hit, if target has Armor Breach damage is increased by {1}.
Breach Detonation: On Hit, if target has Armor Breach deal {1} of Damage Dealt in {2} Radius.
Plasma Contagion: Plasma Damage has {1} Chance to spread to enemies in {2} radius.
Shattered Momentum: On Kill, if the enemy was Slowed deals {1} of Damage Dealt in {2} Radius.
Thermal Stasis: When Plasma is applied, {1} chance to also apply Slow.
Plasma Breach: When Armor Breach is applied, {1} chance to also apply Plasma Damage for {2} of Weapon Damage.
Stasis Fracture: When Slow is applied, {1}% chance to also apply Armor Breach increasing damage by {2}.
Overloaded Circuits: When Stun is applied, {1} chance to also apply Plasma Damage for {2} of Weapon Damage.
Aftershock: When Stun ends, deal {1} of target's Max Health as damage in {2} radius.
Neural Cascade: When Stun is applied, {1} chance to Stun {2} additional nearby enemies.
Ship Loadouts
New Loadouts: Three new loadouts are unlockable, one for each ship, built around the new beam weapons:
Phantom (Ironhide): Unlocked by defeating 10,000 enemies with the Plasma Arc.
Overdrive (Nova Lance): Unlocked by defeating 10,000 enemies with the Pulse Laser.
Aegis (Nemesis): Unlocked by defeating 10,000 enemies with the Phase Beam.
Skill Tree
New Unlockable Skills: Three new skills can now be purchased to improve beam weapons:
Beam Critical Chance: Increases the critical chance of beam weapons.
Beam Weapon Damage: Increases the base damage of beam weapons.
Beam targeting Range: Increases the targeting range of beam weapons.
Boss Overhaul
Final Boss: previously known as the CWM (Rebel) Flagship, the final boss has been redesigned as the Contaminator. This new threat heavily utilizes radiation and deployable structures as a means of area control, and has a variety of new attacks:
Breach Reactor Core: Every 30s the Contaminator will spawn three Breached Reactor Cores. These cores spew Radiation Clouds that grow larger the longer they remain active. If destroyed, the lingering radiation will dissipate.
Radiation Thrower: The Contaminator launches several high-damage radiation clouds at its target.
Micro-Warp Drive: The Contaminator is fitted with a Micro-Warp drive. Initiating at 80% health, this is used to periodically teleport and pursue the player.
Star Map
Star Map Rebuild: The Star Map has been reworked into a more focused, branching structure.
Shop Frequency: Shops are now guaranteed every three nodes and always appear directly before the boss.
Map Modifiers
Ranged Onslaught: A new map modifier in which only ranged enemies spawn.
Mini-Boss Onslaught: A rebel fleet crowds the sector, and mini-bosses periodically arrive.
Secondary Objectives
Special Target: Optional elimination mission of a special rebel cruiser. Each hit against this target drops 1-8 credits and drops an augment on-death. Persists for 30s before fleeing the system.
Convoy: A reverse version of the 'Escort' mission. Eliminate a rebel convoy before it is allowed to charge its warp drive and flee the system.
Balance Changes
Augments
Functionality Changes
Power Surge: On Crit, shields pulse for {1} Max Shield as damage to {2} nearest enemies. Cooldown {3}.
Reactive Armor: Now applies Slow in addition to damaging nearby enemies.
Titanium Plating: Max Shields reduced by {1}, but Health increased by {2} and Health Resistance increased by {3}.
Drop Pool Adjustments
Bastion Protocol: Removed. Functionality replaced with Adaptive Shielding.
Shielded Armor: Removed. Functionality replaced with Energy Siphon.
Enemy Balance
Ranged Enemies: Ranged enemies now appear as soon as from map 1.
Melee Enemies: Tier 1 and 2 melee ships have universally had their health reduced.
Enemy Spawning: Enemy spawn groups have been restructured to create two intensity 'peaks' per map rather than a gradual escalation.
Enemy Collision: Enemies that collide with the player ship are knocked back briefly and stunned rather than sliding away.
Rebel Carrier: Carrier enemies now drop 40 experience (previously 20).
Weapon Balance
Weapon Modulator: The enhancement that added extra projectiles per burst to all weapons (Weapon Modulator) has been split into three separate enhancements. Each now only boosts its respective category, so the power spike from this enhancement scales with how committed you are to a single weapon type rather than rewarding every build equally.
Beam Array: Increases projectile count of all Beam weapons.
Split Chamber: Increases projectile count of all Projectile weapons.
Multi-Launcher: Increases projectile count of all Missile weapons.
Increased Weapon Capacity: All ship classes have had their maximum weapon capacity increased. Frigate 2 → 3, Cruiser 2 → 4, Battleship 3 → 5.
Weapon Enhancements: Weapon-specific enhancements now only appear if you're carrying that weapon type.
Plasma Damage: Plasma Damage can now critically strike.
Standard Missile: Standard Missile base damage increased from 15 to 20.
Autocannon: AOE size increased by 20%.
Machine Gun: Crit chance increased by 5% and pierce chance by 10%.
Slow Status: Slow status now also slows enemy weapon attack speed.
Map Modifiers
Ion Storm:
Reduced spawn delay to 1-3s.
increased the minimum and maximum radius of Ion strikes.
Gravitational Anomaly:
Reduced spawn delay to 3-6s.
Decreased damage scaler to enemies.
Gravity environmental dangers no longer damage bosses or mini-bosses.
Visual Enhancements
Outline Scaling: Removed scaling from entity outlines, improving quality and consistency.
Enemy Glow: Enemies now emit a subtle glow to improve visibility.
Meteor Storm: Added meteor VFX to the background and foreground during the Meteor Storm map modifier.
Stun VFX: New stun VFX for improved readability.
Ship Destruction: Player and boss ships now utilize an improved destruction method for improved performance and chaos.
Quality of Life Changes
Secondary Mission Rewards: Secondary mission objective widget now displays the rewards gained for completing it.
Miscellaneous
Removed 'Impossible' difficulty.
Fixes
Fixed ship names, icons, and class displaying incorrectly on the pause menu.
Fixed Plasma Aftershock dealing significantly more damage than intended.
Fixed various edge cases involving enemy death, causing crashes or cascading ability loops.
Fixed issues related to player progress not being saved.