Alpha build 71 is live. It is a required update: build 70 and earlier no longer connect. Steam offers the update by itself (restart Steam if it has not appeared). The server restarted at 16:51 UTC.
The Tide escalates
- The Hivemind, the Leviathan and the Overmind each have their own threat level, from 1 to 10. All three start at 3.
- Destroy a flagship and its threat rises by one. Let it leave with more than a quarter of its health and it falls by one; leave it at 25% or less and it stays where it is.
- A higher threat makes the flagship tougher and its pot bigger. Every incursion pot now holds fragments, and when a flagship is destroyed every commander who did at least 5% of the damage gets Tide cores.
- From threat 4, brood waves join every battle against it: fresh Tide ships at set times, marked WAVE on the battle screen. From threat 7 the flagship takes its Ascendant form and surges: +40% damage for 15 seconds, with a 5-second warning. Threat 10 is the apex.
- From threat 4 an incursion also brings the week's twist, one of seven, which changes on Monday at 00:00 UTC.
- The Tide Threat panel shows all three flagships, their threat, what their last visit did, what each level brings and this week's and next week's twist. Click the threat chip under an incursion's bar, or the chevrons on the Weekly Bounties panel.
- The three flagships have new models, in their normal and Ascendant forms. The flagship counts as two ships of health.
The Relic Forge
- A ship module of Tier 4 or 5 that you own at Mark 5 can be forged into a Relic: Relic I, II and III add +5%, +10% and +15% to its main stat over Mark 5, and carry a trait that works in battles against the Tide.
- A Relic belongs to the blueprint, like a Mark: every copy you fit at Mark 5 becomes that Relic, on every ship.
- It costs Tide cores and fragments from the weekly bounties and incursions, with minerals, helium-3, antimatter and time. One forging at a time.
- Open the forge with the anvil on the Weekly Bounties panel (the reticle at the bottom right of your screen, which every commander has), or from the new RELIC tab in the Outfit screen, where a Relic shows in gold.
A new medal
- Threatbreaker: destroy an incursion flagship at threat 7 or more with at least 5% of the damage. It is the fifteenth medal on your profile.
The player's guide has the full rules of the threat levels and twists, the Relic Forge has its own section, and the changelog has the whole list.