Sublight Updates: The Changes That Matter for Builds

0.20.02 (October 31 UTC): loadout, controls and pirates

• Three starting equipment slots are selectable on the revised ship-select loadout screen.
• Cruise control has a new binding, including a controller option.
• Boss-camera movement can be disabled through new Options.
• Mines and Scatter guns receive research options.
• Pirate Frigate and Pirate Cruiser events add combat encounters and chests with run currency. Movement equipment is the developer’s advice for escaping their chains.

Finding equipment upgrades during a run is a future plan. The next major update is targeted for the first few weeks of December; the announced target is not a release guarantee.

Start with the ship loadout, research, control and targeting or pirate-chest economy guide for the decision affected.

Patch details: official 0.20.02 notes (October 31, 2026, UTC).

0.20.01 (October 20 UTC): loot and score repairs

• Fleet Support can drop from loot pools again.
• Markets no longer spawn inside the mountain on the second level.
• Barrage Core’s combat benefits apply correctly; the broken application had made it weaker than intended.
• Leaderboard scores receive additional validation, and incomplete score loading is fixed.

The later equipment rework mentioned in this announcement is a development plan. The repaired Barrage Core behavior is the change delivered here.

Patch details: official 0.20.01 notes (October 20, 2026, UTC).

0.17.0: progression became a real system

The Armoury, meta-currency unlocks, additional boss requirements, boss-loot weapons, and long-term progression structure were introduced or formalized here.

0.17.4: categories and synergies

Weapons received higher-level categories, and captain/upgrade tracks began directly buffing those categories. This is why coherent category builds are now central to planning.

0.17.6: craft and rapid-fire tuning

Fighters and escorts received movement improvements; rapid-fire chain guns received heavier ammunition; Armoury research-tier messaging improved.

0.18: the launch-relevant rules

Chainguns gained pierce to attack range, autocannons moved to explosive, barrage aiming improved, class-locked hardpoints arrived, status effects began stacking, markets became more frequent, and passive caps became explicit.

0.19.x: Early Access store, scourge, and fighters (Sep 15–18)

0.19.01 made Tier 4 Bombers no longer free and compensated by making Tier 4 Autocannons plus Tier 3 Plasma and Gatling free. 0.19.02 moved Ice cannons onto the old Scatter-gun tree slot (Scatter no longer needs Sector 33) and cut Scourge laser damage. 0.19.03 (18 Sep) reduced Scourge ramming-ship health/speed and projectile damage/speed, added an Epic pulse weapon, fixed fighters vanishing from the weapon pool when they returned, and stopped Endless bosses from disappearing after 25 minutes. Demo cloud saves were disabled because they could overwrite the full game. 0.19.04 (21 Sep) fixed Steam Cloud saves not syncing between PC and Steam Deck, increased weapon bans (one extra ban per fully unlocked weapon after six maximised weapons), and added a weapon-priority option for event targets.

0.20.0 (Oct 8): the major patch

The developer calls 0.20.0 a major patch, and one line matters before you read any build guide: leaderboards were reset, with extra validation added to submitted scores. A score you remember from before October 8 is not comparable.

Weapons and unlocks changed the most.

• Unlocking a weapon type now unlocks every tier of that weapon, and there is a one-time refund of credits for players who had already bought tiers individually.
• Weapon bans were reworked: you now get one extra ban for each new weapon purchased after the first six. The developer's stated goal is a core pool that can be kept as small as six for build-targeted runs.
• Weapons can be merged mid-run to increase the damage they deal, which changes the value of holding a duplicate instead of selling it.
• Drop tables were updated so low-tier chests stop offering weapons as a run progresses. In practice a common chest 15 minutes in should give a passive rather than another gun.
• Research now covers multiple weapon types, with new weapon variants that depend on your research selections.
• Pulse weapons now sync all of their pulses into a single attack based on your highest-level pulse weapon; multiple pulse weapons trigger multiple attacks in the same wave.

Interface and audio: more tooltips, and you can now click a leaderboard score to see that run's breakdown, weapons equipped and inventory state. Engine sounds and level-specific atmospheric audio were added, and the music player no longer plays much quieter than the rest of the game.

October 8 loading note: the 0.20.0 announcement listed occasional freezes on level load and requested reports with details.