Sublight Patch Notes

Sublight’s patch culture is fast and mechanical. Solo development means notes arrive as Steam posts that mix features, balance, and hotfixes without a giant publisher template. This page digests the changes captains still feel at Early Access launch—especially demo 0.18.0’s Hunter, weapon, and status overhaul—and the 0.19.x launch hotfixes that fixed unlockable ships, image scaling, livery icons, and early armoury prices. For future seasons, pair this digest with the roadmap and primary links on Official Links.

How to read future Sublight notes

When a new post appears, scan in this order:

1. Gameplay systems — Hunter rules, mission flow, markets, objectives trackers.
2. Weapons and damage types — category retunes instantly move the weapons tier list.
3. Status effects — Ignite and Cold stacking rules define entire builds.
4. Ships and hardpoints — integrated guns, locked slots, new hulls for the ship roster.
5. Economy — free tiers, store prices, rare/epic drop rates, upgrade kit rarity.
6. Fixes — crashes, keybinds, UI, scaling bugs that quietly change power.
7. Known issues — developer-stated soft spots (historically: missiles overperforming, ignite performance, wording quirks).

Then go fly one learning ship and one push ship from the ships tier list before you spend a week of credits.

Demo 0.18.0 — Post Next Fest overhaul

Published mid-July 2026 as the major post-festival demo patch, 0.18.0 is still the systems foundation Early Access players inherit.

Hunter flagship (~30 minutes)

After thirty minutes in a run, a powerful enemy flagship spawns to hunt the player. It scales menace over time by increasing damage and speed, forcing an end to infinite farm loops. The intended answer is a mix of defensive and mobility options so high-score captains can outlast rather than ignore the chase.

Practical takeaway: builds that only stack greed DPS without survival tools fall off a cliff at the Hunter timer. Support frigates, mobility alts, and Cold control climb in value for long runs.

Weapon changes

• Chainguns pierce up to their attack range, shredding multiple targets in a line.
• Autocannons move to explosive damage.
• Barrage weapons lead their shots and land more accurately.
• Ship-unique weapons become class-locked hardpoints: they buff a single slot but usually lock that slot to a weapon category.

These four bullets rewrite build craft. Explosive autocannons forgive messy arcs; pierce chainguns reward lane kiting; barrage wants prediction and projectile speed; locked hardpoints punish off-category greed. Re-read the Tier List Hub methodology whenever another overhaul this large appears.

Status stacking

Status effects now stack into real elemental plans:

• Ignite stacks applications, with new passives to augment burn strategies (conceptually capping around five stacks in community guidance).
• Cold stacks to 20 applications, then freezes the target and causes bonus damage while frozen.

Incomplete stacks waste upgrades. If your arcs cannot stay on target, pick clear engines first.

Economy, passives, and quality of life

• Weapon upgrade kits drop from epic to rare rarity.
• Rare and epic rewards are less likely at low levels.
• Multiple passives gain numerical caps; capped upgrades stop appearing as reward options (including previous crit-style caps rolled into the system).
• Markets spawn more frequently (every event cycle) but only one market is active at a time.
• HP rewards scale from ship base health; ships gain additional health per level.
• Skipping boss loot triggers a level-up.
• Unique rewards are enforced as unique.
• Resources always collect once inside magnet range.
• Objectives tracker shows end-game currency rewards.
• Armoury text indicates where to unlock upgrades; passive tooltips improve on level-up and boss loot screens.
• Default keybinds for some interactions change; ability scaling fixes land in the same patch family.

Why 0.18.0 still matters after launch

Early Access did not throw away this framework. When you die to the Hunter, mis-fill a locked hardpoint, or wonder why Cold suddenly deletes a swarm, you are living inside 0.18.0’s design. New roadmap content will extend it—boss-drop weapons, flagship hunts, extra factions—not erase it overnight.

Early Access 0.19.0 hotfix — unlocks and presentation

Shortly after launch, Patch 0.19.0 Hotfix addressed three player-facing issues:

• Some new ships were marked available but were not unlockable — fixed.
• Image scaling issues — fixed.
• Some livery icons could not be colored — fixed.

If a hangar tile looked purchasable but refused progress, update past 0.19.0 before assuming your challenges are bugged. Presentation fixes matter for ship identity too: liveries and icons help you recognize alt loadouts quickly while browsing the Ships hub.

Patch 0.19.01 — quick balance and prices

0.19.01 focused on store prices and first-time player friction:

• Tier 4 Bombers were not intended to be free (corrected).
• To compensate and ease earlier runs, Tier 4 Autocannons, Tier 3 Plasma, and Tier 3 Gatling were made free.

The developer noted that broader early balance changes will continue as more captains hit friction, with Discord as the preferred feedback channel. For wiki readers: free tiers temporarily inflate certain weapon families on the weapons tier list. Recheck prices after every economy hotfix before you declare a permanent meta.

Earlier demo context (useful memory)

Pre-0.18 notes still explain some hangar names and systems:

• Cutter frigate added as an uncommon early option; frigates received extra turrets and versatility tuning.
• Sabre integrated rail gained mid-run upgrade tiers.
• Fighters/escorts received movement and interface improvements; chain guns and missiles saw multiple balance passes.
• Localization, weapon categories, captain tracks, caches, controller support, and Vulkan-on-Linux work landed across 0.17.x.

You do not need every 0.17 bullet memorized—but when a ship or weapon fantasy feels “older than launch,” it probably graduated through those notes.

After you finish reading a patch

1. Update the game and confirm the version string.
2. Skim this page or the Steam original for systems vs economy vs fixes.
3. Test on the starter battleship, then on your favorite frigate.
4. Adjust unlock spending using the ship roster checklist.
5. Refresh community rankings on tier-list child pages when damage types or Hunter rules moved.
6. Carry feedback to Discord/Steam via Official Links.

Related reading

• Updates Hub — index
• Early Access Roadmap — upcoming seasons
• Getting Started — fundamentals after rules change
• Guides — build adjustments

Patches are part of the loop. Read them like loadout notes, not like optional fluff.