Sublight Beginner Guide: What to Prioritize in Your First Runs
A launch-day Sublight beginner guide covering movement, firing arcs, caches, upgrades, markets, bosses, and Armoury progression without wasting early picks.
Stay mobile, protect turret uptime, and treat each run as a build problem rather than a loot grab. Early picks that improve movement, range, sustain, and one coherent damage path are easier to scale than collecting unrelated bonuses. Use the Armoury between runs to unlock options that reinforce the build you actually enjoy playing.
Your first run: build for uptime, not card rarity
Sublight fires your mounted weapons automatically, so the real skill is positioning the hull where its firing arcs can keep working. A weapon with a great damage number still underperforms when the ship spends half a fight rotating to reacquire targets. That is why turn speed, movement, attack range, and a coherent weapon category matter so much early.
Pick a direction quickly. If your first strong drops are missiles, explosive damage and projectile support make sense. If you are leaning into chainguns, the 0.18 change that lets them pierce up to attack range makes range a damage stat as well as a comfort stat.
Caches, rerolls, and markets
Caches are not all equal. Official patch notes added labels for reward type and minimum rarity, and higher-rarity caches cost more. Do not burn currency automatically. Ask one question: does this reward help the build already on the ship?
| Choice | Good when | Bad when |
|---|---|---|
| Take | The item strengthens your current category or solves survivability | It is merely higher rarity |
| Reroll | The offered choices miss your build and the reroll cost is acceptable | You are low on currency before a market |
| Skip | The reward is actively off-plan | You are skipping useful power for a theoretical perfect roll |
Bosses and the scaling clock
Bosses are progression gates and build checks. Earlier demo patches increased boss health and added telegraphed phases, while 0.17.0 expanded boss mechanics and boss-loot weapons. Keep one part of your build aimed at single-target pressure even if most of the run is swarm clearing.
Between runs: spend Armoury credits with a purpose
The Armoury unlocks weapons, tools, ships, and permanent upgrade tracks using meta currency earned in runs. Do not spread early credits across every branch. Unlock enough variety to support one or two playstyles, then expand once you understand what your hull and firing arcs need.