Leveling and cards
XP
Enemies drop green XP gems. Fly near them and they get pulled in; the pickup range grows with Tractor Beam and the Magnet upgrade in the Hangar. Bosses also pull in everything on screen when they die.
The first level-up takes about half a minute. After that each level needs only a little more XP than the last, while waves keep getting bigger, so level-ups come faster and faster as a run goes on.
| From | To | XP needed | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 28 | 28 |
| 2 | 3 | 30 | 58 |
| 3 | 4 | 32 | 90 |
| 4 | 5 | 34 | 124 |
| 5 | 6 | 37 | 161 |
| 6 | 7 | 39 | 200 |
| 7 | 8 | 42 | 242 |
| 8 | 9 | 44 | 286 |
| 9 | 10 | 47 | 333 |
| 10 | 11 | 50 | 383 |
| 11 | 12 | 53 | 436 |
| 12 | 13 | 56 | 492 |
| 13 | 14 | 59 | 551 |
| 14 | 15 | 63 | 614 |
| 15 | 16 | 66 | 680 |
| 16 | 17 | 70 | 750 |
| 17 | 18 | 74 | 824 |
| 18 | 19 | 77 | 901 |
| 19 | 20 | 81 | 982 |
| 20 | 21 | 85 | 1067 |
| From | To | XP needed | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 22 | 90 | 1157 |
| 22 | 23 | 94 | 1251 |
| 23 | 24 | 98 | 1349 |
| 24 | 25 | 103 | 1452 |
| 25 | 26 | 108 | 1560 |
| 26 | 27 | 113 | 1673 |
| 27 | 28 | 118 | 1791 |
| 28 | 29 | 123 | 1914 |
| 29 | 30 | 128 | 2042 |
| 30 | 31 | 133 | 2175 |
| 31 | 32 | 138 | 2313 |
| 32 | 33 | 144 | 2457 |
| 33 | 34 | 150 | 2607 |
| 34 | 35 | 155 | 2762 |
| 35 | 36 | 161 | 2923 |
| 36 | 37 | 167 | 3090 |
| 37 | 38 | 174 | 3264 |
| 38 | 39 | 180 | 3444 |
| 39 | 40 | 186 | 3630 |
| 40 | 41 | 193 | 3823 |
Level-up cards
- Each level-up pauses the game and shows 3 cards (sometimes 4 with Lucky Charm).
- You can carry 4 weapons and 4 systems.
- One card always upgrades a weapon you already have, as long as one can still level up.
- The other cards are drawn at random with these odds: an upgrade for a weapon you own counts 3, an upgrade for a system you own 2, a new weapon 2, a new system 1.5.
- Each planet's favored abilities count 2.5 times as much (see Planets).
- When nothing is left to offer, cards become Repair (fix 1 hull) or Gold (+10).
- A card whose partner you already own says "Evolves with...". It and the owned item share a color, the same one they'll have in your HUD.
Boss caches
A boss drops a cache. Opening it evolves a weapon if one is ready (maxed, with its partner system owned). Otherwise it is a normal set of cards. See Evolutions.
Overdrive
Once your build is maxed (4 maxed or evolved weapons, 4 maxed systems, nothing new left to take), level-ups stop pausing the game. Each one is an instant Overdrive burst:
- +2% damage, for the rest of the run, stacking
- +2 gold
- every 8th Overdrive repairs 1 hull
Overdrive needs 30 XP for the first one, then 1 more for each one after. Late in a run they go off every second or two.