Endless Mode

## Mechanics

Survival Mode by any other name, and like any Survival game, you fight endless waves of enemies and bosses with increasing difficulty to the point of your defeat. This mode also introduces the threat of Meteorites and Sudden Missiles.

The objective of Endless Mode, besides setting high scores and besting your friends, is the chance to collect Glory and Equipment chests. Before playing this mode, there are various things a player can do to bolster their runs, which we explain in detail below.

* Unlike all other modes so far, surrendering in this mode forfeits the 1 Energy used.

## Friend Assistance

Friend Assistance bonus and costs are calculated solely by their power value, and adds to your own bonus for that round. i.e.

* Friend Assistance bonus -> Every 200 points = 1% bonus
* The gold cost -> Every 1% = 5 Gold

The first time you use Friend A, it will cost you an amount of gold. The next time you use Friend A **on the same day,** It will cost you 5 Diamonds and an *additional* 5 diamonds for each subsequent use.

Friend Assistance maximum time span can be boosted using Roxan's pilot skill, Sync Instinct. If your friend's fighter is defeated, it will immediately swap back in your own fighter.

* Currently unable to test if using Friend's Assistance during the game will deplete your bonus. Due to the high-speed destruction nature of the game, it is very difficult to calculate the possibility if any.

## Pre-War Supplies

300 Gold - Receive a random buff

* This option only offers one (extra) buff at a time, pressing it again simply re-rolls your buff.
* A buff offered here **WILL NOT** stack with the buffs offered below. Hence, take the gamble here before you decide on adding the buffs in the list below.
* This buff takes **priority** over the ones you have in stock. i.e, if you roll a Raging Fire buff, the next run uses the one offered here instead of the stock you have.
* The list of random buffs is shown below.

200 Gold - Raging Fire

* 6 waves of enemies will be cleared at the start of run, stacks with Perry's pilot skill, Charging Bull.
* A maximum of 30 waves can be stacked (Supplies + Pilot Skill)
* Combined, this translates to 3 full boss + bonus waves destroyed at the beginning.
* Bosses and the bonus wave both count as a wave each.

500 Gold - Holy Light

* Provides a 5% buff to all stats
* It remains questionable what "All Stats" actually refer to, besides maybe HP and Power?

800 Gold - Burning Ashes

* Additional 6 waves of enemies cleared when fighter dies, stacks with Pilot Clark's Re-Ignition Ashes.
* A maximum of 18 waves can be stacked (Supplies + Pilot Skill)

10 Diamonds - Peacemaker

* Deals "severe" damage to all enemies on the screen.
* Can be bolstered by Blade's Charging Sparks, to increase the damage dealt to enemies.
	+ The Peacemaker is an unscaled weapon, i.e, it does not increase power exponentially to your own, and is thus only good for the early-mid half of the game. By the late game stages and in some modes, the Peacemaker will not be able to inflict significant damage.

## **All Random Buffs**

**Bonus** **Scores**

* Increases the bonus statistics of your plane, allowing more points to be yielded per enemy defeated/crystal collected.

The three buffs in this category are

* 10 Bonus Scores (10%)
* 15 Bonus Scores (15%)
* 20 Bonus Scores (20%)

**Gold Bonus**

* Doubles or triples the amount of gold awarded at the end of the game.

The two buffs in this category are:

* Double Gold Bonus (x2)
* Triple Gold Bonus (x3)

**Attribute Bonus**

* Increase all statistics by 5 or 10 percent, similarly to Holy Light. Does not stack.

The two buffs in this category are:

* 5% bonus attributes
* 10% bonus attributes

**Equipment Assistance**

* Replaces an equipment in your loadout with any other equipment in the Gallery.
* These equipment can be in any of the 4 categories, and are either of Blue or Purple Rarity. (Level 75 or 90)
* Does **NOT** include GOW equipment.

**Raging Fire/ Burning Ashes Buff**

* Clears a set amount of waves BEFORE starting or AFTER death.
* They can provide 6/8/20/24(20/24 waves being exclusive to Raging Fire) waves of clearing assistance, and can be stacked to up to 30 waves of assistance in total. A maxed combination of Clark and Perry with both buffs allows you to destroy up to 48 waves in any run.

## **Gameplay**

### **Waves**

Each set of enemies is defined as a "wave". This specifically includes the boss itself and also the bonus wave that comes after. In Endless Mode, 10 waves make one full "cycle". This consists of-

* 8 Standard enemy waves
* 1 Boss / Mini-boss
* 1 Bonus Wave

For each standard enemy wave, a random theme of fighters are chosen and you face them off for 8 waves. After that, you face off a Boss / Mini-boss ship and enter the bonus wave.

Lastly a Bonus wave of fodder planes comes up as a breather level, also a means to boost your score or recover your armour if you equip any Armour with the Reconstruction skill.

This is one complete cycle of 10 waves. Every cycle you complete will then increase the difficulty.

### **Dangers**

Sudden Missiles and Meteorites are the absolute lethal objects of this mode, and start appearing after the 3rd cycle. Sudden Missiles will only travel downward, usually in pairs. As the stage difficulty advances, their approach patterns change and increase in number up to a maximum of 4 per volley.

Meteorites on the other hand, start out easy to destroy, but will slowly evolve into stone-wall status, being nearly indestructible and especially impenetrable to all non-piercing weapons. Although they approach very slowly, they can shield enemy fighters behind and allow them to unleash their weapons on you, in addition to the looming threat of these rocks.

### **Treasure**

In this mode, blue Treasure boxes with an "?" may randomly appear when a Boss-class ship arrives, flashing in beside their names on the warning banner. Defeating them yields a treasure box when they are destroyed. Up to a maximum of 3 boxes, containing random 2★-3★ equipment can be earned in a single run. A total of 20 of these chests can be earned in a day, 25 if you have the relevant team skill (only on fixed days).

A special box containing random Pilot Glories can be obtained by chance when the Galaxy Pirate enters battle, hailed by a different and yellow warning banner. Upon destruction, either a yellow-lined box or a heart-shaped point booster will drop from it. You can only earn 5 of these boxes per day by default. Once your daily quota is reached, the Galaxy Pirate will only drop point boosters from then on.

* VIP 4 players can earn 6 of these yellow boxes a day.
* The Galaxy Pirate only appears ***once*** per run. (If the player does not kill the Galaxy Pirate within 30s on the first attempt, there is a chance that it will appear again with the same health as when it had fled with.)
* Together with the regular blue treasure boxes, a player can earn a maximum of 4 boxes a run.
* These treasure boxes can heal a % of your Armour if you have Elena as a Pilot on the roster.

## **Summary**

This mode is pretty profitable due to its absolutely low cost at 1 Energy. There are some pros and cons to it to consider though.

**Pros:**

* Relatively decent amount of gold earned. Typically enough to earn back the cost of buffs if used even.
* One of the more productive ways of equipment farming, handsfree run being a feasible method of play.
* If you plan your energy usage to a T for this game, also a good way to maximize energy usage.
* With Perry's and Clark's pilot skills, players can hope to crash through their enemies and earn some free treasures before having to shoot anything. Both of these skills when maxed up can situationally tear through 3-5 bosses on their own.

**Cons:**

* A handsfree run requires power in excess of 16,000 to favourably survive long enough to reap the mode's benefits
* Encountering Galaxy Pirate or The Dead-R too early may spell doom for under-powered players.
	+ Either that or no rewards from the Galaxy Pirate, since it'll likely escape.
* Sudden Missiles can prematurely end the player's run. So will OHKO weapons.
* Forward-focused firepower can decimate bosses before they scrap you, but leaves your fighter unable to tackle enemies by the far sides.

* **Extremely Time Consuming.** Runs can last up to half an hour or more, depending on phone/laptop processing power and loadout. Players that choose to be present for the duration of the run will find the process extremely tedious. One cannot "save" for a long period for risk of being kicked out of inactivity, and the problem is worsened when battling online due to the inability to pause at all.

## Tips

**Note:** Boss Table removed as it plays no importance to the knowledge of the player.
However, there are some conditions to take note of.

* As you progress through boss after boss, you will eventually reach a point of the game where one hit is all it takes to destroy you. This condition depends on how much armour and power you have.
* You can't hope to cover all weaknesses of your weapons loadout as you cannot guarantee what bosses you encounter.
* Be especially wary only if you encounter the blue icy stage, as the chance of Hera Goddess appearing is present.
* Meteorites in the later stages are especially tough to destroy even if you have piercing weapons. What you will need is raw power over weapon versatility.

## Trivia

* When the bonus planes are flying across the width of the screen, their formation forms the word: "KILLER", or "RELLIK" if in opposite direction.
* There are occasions where Mini-bosses are not named appropriately in the higher levels of Endless Mode. ~~Incidents like the one in the picture on the right may be a trick to confuse players or just a bug.~~
	+ Given the other areas in-game where naming errors are found, I'd say this is incidental.
* Before their actual stage appearances in the Aquarius constellation, Lancet Thunder, Lancet Flame and Hera Goddess were only encountered in Endless Mode, under two conditions-
	+ The Lancet pair only appeared at Lv70 or above, while Hera Goddess at Lv90 and above.
	+ They only appear in the blue icy stage, no other stages has seen their presence.