Patch Notes 0.41.0 – Public Playtest Launch
Welcome to the first patch notes for the official Steam Playtest!
Steam Transition
The biggest change is our playtest platform: the playtest will now run exclusively through Steam. This makes it much easier to track player stats and playtime while allowing for seamless updates instead of requiring a full redownload every time. Expect plenty of updates during the playtest over the coming months!
Major Features & System Changes
Run Saving: You can now quit a run midway through and pick up right where you left off. The game automatically saves whenever you enter the map screen, and you will be prompted to continue or start fresh on launch.
Loadout Unlocks: You can now unlock alternate starting loadouts. Your first unlock is earned simply by playing a run (regardless of how far you get). Beating Sector 2 and completing the playtest will unlock the Dev Loadout, featuring all available ships.
Difficulty Settings: Added selectable difficulty modes. Right now, these are straightforward stat adjustments to help you dial in the right challenge level. I personally prefer clear difficulty tiers over overcomplicated systems, but I'll be monitoring feedback to see what kinds of challenges players want.
Ship Traits: Ships now feature two distinct traits: one for their faction and one for their class. This provides a clearer structure for balancing and makes synergies easier to track.
Grid-Based Boosters: Boosters and active boosters have moved directly onto the grid. Ships now display highlighted adjacent squares showing valid booster placement. While this makes grid space tighter, adjacent boosters can now be shared by up to 4 ships simultaneously.
Booster Rework & New Actives: Boosters have been adjusted to affect a wider variety of weapon types, with a full set of brand new boosters on the way. Added 3 new active booster types to ensure defensive coverage against every weapon class:
Point Defense Missiles: Intercepts enemy drones, missiles, and deployables.
Stasis Fields: Slows down incoming projectile and magnetic weaponry.
Ablative Foam: Blocks incoming beam and plasma attacks.
New Weapons & Equipment
We’ve streamlined the arsenal to a clean roster of 4 weapons per category, removing select older weapons (some may return later) and introducing new ones:
Projectile – Flak Cannon: Bursts into shrapnel capable of destroying incoming ordnance as well as damaging enemy hulls.
Missile – MIRV: Splits into mini-missiles mid-flight to overwhelm targets.
Beam – Thermal Lance: Inverts traditional beam mechanics to deal massive hull damage with minimal shield penetration.
Beam – Shield Charge Beam: Locks onto allied ships to repair their shields mid-battle.
Drone – Split Drone: Deploys as a single unit before splitting into two lighter combat drones with slightly reduced firepower.
Drone – Defense Drone: Orbits your fleet to physically intercept and block incoming fire.
Magnetic – Bola Shot: Applies a powerful stern hit that drastically reduces target velocity; deals no damage.
Magnetic – Lever Action: Redirects surplus energy when thrusters are idle, boosting weapon damage and projectile speed by up to 3x.
Deployable – Tesla Mine: Emits periodic shock waves that damage all nearby hostiles until depleted.
Deployable – Ion Bomb: Proximity mine that detonates for massive shield damage when enemies enter its radius.
Plasma – Chain Lightning: Fires an ionized projectile with mild tracking that arcs to nearby secondary targets.
Plasma – Storm Emitter: Creates an expanding energy storm that zaps all hostiles in range; size and fire rate scale up the longer the trigger is held.
Experimental Systems: Added 4 new shields, reactors, and engines with active effects. These are in early testing and subject to heavy iteration.
Quality of Life & Balance
Tutorial: Added an introductory mini-tutorial on first launch (can be replayed via Settings).
Audio & Descriptions: Added multiple new music tracks and filled out missing lore/mechanical descriptions across all weapons, modules, and traits.
UI Tweaks: Reworked several interface screens to optimize usable layout space.
Boss Survivability: To prevent bosses from being bursted down instantly, bosses now restore 50% shield upon losing each quarter (25%) of their health pool.
Swarm Encounters: Non-boss sectors (such as Sector 1 in the current build) now culminate in an intense swarm encounter against dense waves of light craft.
Carriers: Carrier ships now automatically deploy their fighter wings upon entering combat. Enemy fleets can now deploy carrier ships as well.
Please jump in, try out the new systems, and share your feedback!