we've got a big patch coming to the main branch on Wednesday (heads up: it includes a reset of runs in progress, more on that below).
Over the last few weeks we've been testing this update on the experimental branch across three rounds: Patch #32, Patch #32.1, and Patch #32.2, and thanks to everyone who jumped in and reported bugs, it's ready to graduate. Here's a preview of everything that's coming; full patch notes (including the complete Flak card list and bug fix log) will follow when it actually goes live. Let's get into it.
Memory Leak Fix
This is one we've been looking forward to posting for months. This update finally includes the memory leak fix we've been working on since the end of last year. Digging into it uncovered a lot of cascading issues, which led us to revamp the entire Addressables system. This should get rid of the slowdowns many of you hit during longer play sessions, and eliminate the crashes caused by the game running out of memory.
Flak Overhaul
We've overhauled the Flak weapons, giving each subtype a clearer identity through a trimmed-down drafting library, and adding a brand-new Flak weapon to the family. It's part of our broader push to pull some focus away from the drafting phase and make your ship loadout matter more.
Quad-Flak
The multi-barrel workhorse. Lots of small attacks plus utility: Suppression, missile interception, and tricks like Double Tap (your next Flak attack resolves twice) and Lock and Load (fills your hand with cheap Flak Shells). It builds Shred slowly, but it's flexible and always has something to do.
Shredder
The setup engine. It applies high Shred fast and stacks tools that amplify it: Shaped Charge, Probing Shot, and Titanium Shells all crank your Shred numbers turn over turn. Its raw damage is modest on its own; its job is getting Brittle online quickly so a payoff weapon can take over.
Bruiser
The payoff weapon that cashes in everything your Shred has been building. Its cards hit hard and scale off the Brittle already on the enemy, but it can't comfortably build that Brittle on its own, Bruiser is at its best as the finisher on top of a setup weapon.
Pyroclast
The risk-for-power weapon. Pyroclast already had a clear niche, so it's mostly unchanged. Cards like Blazing Barrage and Firestrike scale their Shred and damage off your current Heat, while Igniter hits hard but pushes you toward Overheating. Heated Shells are now free to play.
You'll notice a few cards didn't make the cut this round, some of the more powerful upgrades like Quad-Fire, Immolation, Hellfire, and Firestorm. They'll make a comeback in an upcoming update as subsystems, so you'll be able to add them to any Flak weapon for greater build variety.
Subsystem images
We've also started giving the game's subsystems their own artwork, about 50 are in so far, with placeholders for the rest until we get to them.
Area damage changes
As a balance pass alongside the overhaul, Area damage (Missiles and Flak) now deals 50% of its hull damage value to enemy equipment, and only gains its Brittle damage bonus against unshielded targets. Missiles and Flak are built for rushing an opponent down while soaking up their hits; precision weapons are the slower, control-focused option, and full hull-value damage to equipment was letting Area damage knock out enemy gear too easily on its own. Brittle represents softened-up hull, so it shouldn't pay out while shields are still absorbing the hit, break the shields first, then let Brittle do its work.
Individual Card Upgrades
This is a big one: you can now upgrade cards individually on your Mk.II equipment. Instead of removing and redrafting an upgraded version of a card, you pick which cards to upgrade, one at a time, and you no longer need to avoid drafting cards on equipment you plan to upgrade, since already-drafted cards can be upgraded too.
For now this is live on five equipment families: Resource Bays, Shields, Flak, Railguns, and Beam Lasers. The rest are rolling out family by family. Cards that support upgrading now play a small animation when you inspect them in the hangar, so you can tell at a glance which ones are upgradable.
Cards that support upgrading play a small animation in the hangar.
Seeded Random, Weighted Draw, and Map Performance
Waypoint events and stations are now faster to load, cutting out the hiccups you'd sometimes hit moving around the map.
We've also brought the game's random number generation up to the standard other games in the genre use: a seeded random instead of re-rolling a new seed every time. Card draws and drafting options now use a seeded random, so quitting and re-entering combat draws the same cards and offers the same drafting options, the way other deck-builders work. Events follow the same seed too, so quitting and re-entering the map loads the same event (there are still some edge cases here we're ironing out). Together, these changes are a step toward fully seeded runs down the line, which opens the door to things like daily challenges.
On top of that, card draws are now weighted: cards that have been sitting in your draw pile longer have a higher chance to get drawn, so you should stop seeing cards get buried indefinitely behind ones coming off cooldown.
Smaller Changes
- The Smelter and Centrifuge Resource Bays are now correctly in the drop pool, if you've been wanting to try a high-card-volume or run-hot build.
- You can now un-assign reactor power while Overheated, to help you dissipate Heat faster. You still can't reassign that power elsewhere until you've cooled back down, so the Reactor Lock from Patch #30 still matters.
- A round of bug fixes across meta-progression display, sector events, enemy card displays, and an Elite soft-lock.
- Updated localization for the new cards and effects.
Controller support is now undergoing final testing, it will be live in patch #33 (Steam deck verification will take some more time however, as there's some non-trivial UI changes required to pass that)
Quick note on the run reset: the new seeded-random system, individual card upgrades, and the Flak/Resource Bay changes all change how a run's data is structured, so old saves won't carry over. Any run in progress when the update lands will need to restart.
A note on new content: I know all of you are eagerly awaiting new content, and from the outside it seems that we're just changing things back and forth instead of bringing the game closer to full launch.
We have recently finished some major structural changes to make sure the game is more stable and performant going forward, we still have some work left in that department, but the biggest offenders should be dealt with. What that out of the way we are shifting our focus more towards more content, and improving replayability. We aim to have every new patch going forward some new content as well, in addition to any balance and stability changes we add
As always, your Steam reviews, bug reports, and feedback on Discord are what point us in the right direction. Big thanks to everyone who tested this on the experimental branch and helped shape it, we'd love to keep hearing how the Flak subtypes and the new card upgrade flow feel once this is live for everyone.
Thanks for playing and supporting us. o7
The Breachway Team
