Update 0.46: Endless Protocol

Endless Protocol

Update 0.46 is an integration-focused patch with one new way to stay in the fight: Endless Mode. It also connects Aetheris Core's achievements and activity to Steam, adds optional Discord Rich Presence, makes dynamic relic effects easier to read, and includes a focused balance and reliability pass.

No save reset or refund is required. Existing saves continue automatically.

Endless Mode

Defeat the final Tier 4 boss on a full-game save to unlock Endless in the Hangar. Choose Normal or Endless before launching with any unlocked pilot.

• No finish line: Endless has no major-boss schedule or victory state. Normal run modifiers are ignored so every pilot enters the same survival ruleset.
• Six-minute escalation: Enemy composition and battlefield density ramp through the normal-run phases before the Threat Protocol activates. Threat then rises every 15 seconds, increasing enemy durability and outgoing damage while accelerating mini-boss pressure.
• Bank rewards in the field: Collect Endless Caches to save Aether Seeds, Trial Sigils, and Mastery Sprouts immediately. Collected rewards remain yours whether the run ends in defeat or through End Run.
• Keep building: Timed relic boxes draw from both field and generic boss pools. Once upgrade or relic choices are exhausted, overflow levels and boxes convert into additional currency.
• Challengers return: Duelist Challengers begin appearing at Threat 20 and return at increasingly tight randomized intervals. Defeating one deploys a bonus cache.
• The battlefield stays alive: World events continue on an Endless schedule, and a non-repeating music rotation draws from normal battle, character, and boss themes.
• Track the run: A dedicated Threat HUD shows survival time, the next cache, and each pilot's best record. Results and Run History preserve Threat, caches, overflow, rewards, and whether you chose to end the run.

Endless Mode is exclusive to the full game.

Steam Achievements & Rich Presence

• 57 Steam achievements: The Steam Full build now mirrors every completed local Aetheris Core achievement after the local save succeeds. Previously completed achievements reconcile when Steam is ready with that save loaded.
• Local saves remain authoritative: Steam achievement state never unlocks local rewards or changes a save. Loading a less-progressed slot cannot import progress from Steam.
• Steam Rich Presence: Friends can see whether you are at the Core, in a Normal run, challenging an Unstable Rift, training, reviewing results, or pushing Endless Threat.
• Optional Discord Rich Presence: Full builds can share the same activity context with the Discord desktop client. A new Settings option can disable and clear that activity at any time.

Players with substantial existing progress may see several Steam achievement notifications during the first reconciliation. Steam achievements are available in the full Steam app; the demo keeps its local achievement catalog without Steam mirroring.

Interface & Readability

• A new HUD status row shows live stacks, percentages, timers, and active states for Kinetic Battery, Ascendant Hourglass, Overheat Circuit, Last Stand Module, Magnetic Surge, Emergency Thrusters, and Ghostfeather Charm.
• All 57 achievements now use individual artwork in the in-game catalog and Steam, with clearer locked and completed presentation.
• Endless adds a controller-friendly Hangar selector, Threat and cache overlays, dedicated results, and full Run History details.

Balance & Fixes

• Orbital: Base damage reduced from 9.5 to 8.5.
• XP Magnet: Upper-rank XP scaling has been smoothed. Its maximum multiplier is now 3.85x, down from 4.60x; pickup-radius progression is unchanged.
• Endless Caches: After the Threat Protocol activates, cache Seed rewards now scale to a 140 cap. These caches award a Trial Sigil every time and Mastery Sprouts every fourth cache.
• Bonus XP explosions no longer select bosses as ambient execution targets.
• Endless spawning respects the late-run occupancy envelope across regular enemies, mini-bosses, scavengers, splits, and challengers.
• Three-choice Endless relic boxes use the wider reward layout and filter ability-specific relics against the abilities in the current build.

Thank You

Thank you for testing the edges of every system. 0.46 brings more of Aetheris Core online, then opens a mode built for finding out how far a finished build can really go.

The signal ends. The Threat does not.