More Meta-Progression and Starting Loadout Customization

Many of you mentioned wanting more ship unlocks and customization options after a few runs to add variety and strategic depth. So, we’re creating a system that lets you unlock different starting load-outs for your ship, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This should give more room for varying playstyles rather than being pushed into a particular direction by your starting loadout.

This will also address a common concern: lack of variety in runs. The previous system limited how much you could diverge from your initial ship's setup. Now, with more flexible load-outs and a broader card pool, you’ll have more ways to explore different builds.

New End-of-Run Screen

We’re close to completing a proper end-of-run screen, showing stats like nodes traveled, damage done, damage blocked, enemies defeated, and most damage dealt in a single turn. This screen will form the basis for a scoring system, paving the way for features like leaderboards, daily challenges, and more.

Reworking Flak

One of the biggest gameplay issues we've heard is that randomness sometimes plays too big a role, especially with Flak attacks dealing wildly varying damage (4-12!). We've reworked Flak to keep its high-damage identity without relying so much on RNG, so it now scales damage as the enemy hull weakens rather than randomly damage spikes. This change also boosts synergy between weapon types, as Flak works well with other attacks.

Simplifying card Mechanics and increasing weapon synergies

We’re also refining the Ignite and Shred mechanics (yes, Flak is getting another tweak!). These changes will make them easier to understand while expanding ways to strategize and combine attacks from different weapon types.
This is just the first step in a larger effort to create more synergies between equipment. Simplifying and generalizing these systems will lay the groundwork for more advanced and rewarding combos in the future.

New Playable Ship: Missile Frigate

We’re adding a new ship—the Missile Frigate! There’s nothing quite like launching a full volley of missiles and watching them hit sequentially. We think it’ll add an exciting new flavor to the game.