Thank you for all the reports after 1.1. The loudest one was that damage felt low everywhere, while one core was far too strong. This patch rebalances the game on a model of whole runs, and fixes what you sent us.
Please note: permanent progress has been reset once more. Enemies, cards, cores and build systems all changed, so upgrades and records from 1.1 belonged to a different game. Upgrades, cores, coins, ascensions and records start over. Your achievements and run count stay. The leaderboards start from zero as well.
Balance
- Your damage keeps pace with the enemies. Enemy health used to grow much faster than any build: by minute 10 enemies were about 35 times tougher, while the core's damage grew about 5 times. Now enemy health rises gently while your build takes shape and steepens later on, and it grows with your level in even steps instead of compounding.
- Upgrade cards are stronger: Amplifier +20% damage (was +15%), Overcharge +45% (was +35%), Singularity Lens x1.3 (was x1.25), Cadence 12% faster ticks (was 10%), Hyper Cadence 26% (was 22%), Expansion +15% radius (was +12%), Wide Field +35% (was +28%), Glass Cannon +80% damage (was +60%), Heavy Rhythm +90% damage (was +70%).
- Bosses: each boss in a run has 30% more health than the one before it. It was 90%, on top of the normal growth over time.
- Shooters: at most 8 shooters and 6 healers, wardens and hives stand outside the field at once. Snipers hit for 14 instead of 26, fire less often and show up less. Triangles and carriers ramp up more slowly.
- After minute 15 the arena gets harder faster than before, so every run still ends.
Cores
- Vampire Core: all blood healing now shares one limit of 2.5% of max health per second. That covers the drain, Feast, and the blood carried by orbs, echoes and mini-cores. Before, every orb or echo hit healed on its own, and the core out-healed everything. Feast heals 0.4% per kill (was 1%). In return the core has -10% health (was -20%) and +40% damage (was +15%).
- Void Core: +70% damage (was +40%).
- Lightning Core: -10% damage (was -15%).
- Frost Core: -15% damage (was -10%).
Build systems
- Thorns, reworked. A ring of spikes now shows around the core, or around the shield. Every 2 seconds it throws its spikes into everything pressed against the hull. Every enemy that hits the core or the shield gets bitten back, including the ones that explode on contact, and a bite that kills counts as your kill. Every enemy shot that lands is sent back at the shooter, and bosses get bitten too. Spikes scale with your core's damage. Bristle makes the throws twice as frequent and twice as strong.
- Mini-cores: 75% of the core's damage (was 50%) and a bigger field.
- Orbs and Echoes now go first for enemies that stand off outside the field.
- Satellites: beam satellites deal 30% more damage, and the Lightning Satellite arcs to a second enemy.
- Point Defence, Hunter, Cutter Drone, Lance and Tow Ring are the answers to enemies that won't come closer. They are now offered earlier and more often.
Fixes
- Pause on Alt+Tab: with the option off, the game now keeps running in the background together with the timer. Before, the timer could stop while the game went on.
- The Settings screen no longer runs into the hint line at a large UI scale or on wide screens. Language and resolution now share a row.
- A few cards and upgrades still called the currency "cores". It is coins everywhere now.
Runs last longer now, so the fresh leaderboards should fill up fast. Thanks for playing, and keep the reports coming!