Is anyone playing the Advanced Edition?

The free update added new squads, pilots, gear, enemies, and missions. As someone that exhausted everything in the initial release, I'm very excited for this. I tried out a new squad last night, the Bombermechs. They're a little tricky to deal direct damage, but have some interesting tactical options. I only finished one island so far, but the new mission objectives and enemies are really interesting. It has reignited my compulsion to sink many more hours into this.

This update seems really great so far.

I haven't meshed as much with the Bombermechs, but I've been playing a good amount of Cataclysm and Arachnophiles, both of which have been really interesting mechanically.

Some of the new content definitely felt a bit overwhelming at first (more complex movement patterns on some new weapons/enemies, some of the new missions expect pretty different playstyles), but after getting further in it definitely still has that cohesion that made the original release work so well.

I have to say, "Once More Into the Breach" would be a very clever name for this. Or, maybe they're saving that for a sequel?

As side note, if anyone is looking for a boardgame that has a similar turn structure to Into the Breach, but has a lot more depth, check out Spirit Island. There is a digital version of the game on Steam and mobile. I work a lot of the same mental muscles playing Spirit Island that I do with Into the Breach, but the variety of play styles the spirits have to offer justifies the adoration this game gets in boardgame circles.

WOAH, there's an update?! 😲 I absolutely must check this out. thanks dude. 😁

I'm playing it for the first time now, because it's one of the games on Netflix. It's definitely overwhelming. Even on Normal mode, most missions feel more like you're cutting losses than really planning a strategic outcome. I'm not far enough in the game to know that's deliberate, but it does make that barrier to entry quite rough.

@gyratyne: Gosh dang it. I didn't NEED another reason to play this game again, but I sure got one with this post.

@daavpuke: Into the Breach is definitely that kind of game at times, wherein it can start to be more about trying to reach the best possible outcome over trying to reach a good outcome. That said, I could definitely see some of the new stuff increasing that feeling, if you have it enabled; I'm pretty sure it specifically has a message along the lines of "this content is intended for players familiar with the base game."

I tried this out yesterday and realized I had forgotten pretty much everything about how to play it. Also it just makes me so nervous sometimes! I guess there's other stuff to play.

@gyratyne: I have been waiting on it, and I'm SO EXCITED to jump back in.

Started playing randomly and saw the announcement.

I cleared my first run with the Bombermechs. The Pierce Mech's AP Cannon must pass through one object before dealing damage to the second. Lining up attacks requires careful consideration. The Bombling Mech's Walking Bomb has a lot of versality, but only detonates for one damage. It's rather handy for blocking and positioning. The Exchange Mech swaps an adjacent unit with any other on the field. This opens up many possibilities, but is less straightforward to use effectively than most.

All the new stuff can certainly be overwhelming to even seasoned players, but advanced content options can be toggled independently. You can select enemies, missions, equipment, and pilot abilities separately at launch. So if you want to get used to new Vek attack patterns without also having to deal with unfamiliar mission objectives, you have the choice. I had everything on but played on easy, which I always did when trying a squad for the first time. For anyone having a rough time, I highly recommend doing this to get more practice. The experience will build the fundamentals needed for success. When you have more familiarity and a strong starting pilot, normal difficulty should be manageable and hard is achievable with favorable equipment drops. That said, Unfair Mode is quite threatening. I will not be challenging myself with that until I accomplish all the new achievements.

I picked up two new pilots. Morgan has a strong ability that boosts her damage in the following turn after killing an enemy. Highly effective for your offensive mech. Adam's ability is tied to using the Reset Turn. This gives additionality functionality to that mechanic, so it can be used more tactically than just erasing a botched turn.

I'm very impressed so far. I can tell that I've barely scratched the surface and there is a lot more to discover.

Into the Breach is great, and this adds more cool stuff so it's greater now.

As long as I'm playing on easy.

I'm in a similar boat. I dipped back in only to remember that the reason I stopped playing Into the Breach is because I am spectacularly bad at Into The Breach.

I love it as a CONCEPT. I'm just so awful at it that playing it isn't actually any fun.

Did a two island run with Bombermechs, they’re very cool. It’s such a fun battle chess game. Someone said that it’s less compelling than FTL because there’s essentially very little randomness or RNG, and I appreciate that, but I dig how you can take your time and come up with a masterful solution where no one dies, no one gets hurt, most of the time. It’s a tactics game that plays like a puzzle game and I feel very smart while playing — and occasionally very dumb.

Yeah, I'm gonna echo: there's no shame in knocking the difficulty down to "EASY." No one will know and no one can judge you.

Especially with how the little tweaks they've added can add up and make the game feel VERY different. Not necessarily harder, but even more complex, which can feel punitive.

Yeah, the Bombermechs are honestly quite a challenge to play. The Pierce Mech (Brute) is your only reliable source of damage, as that cannon has decent upgrades. The Bombling Mech (Ranged) is interesting, but feels like the weak link; there are lots of essentially off-limits spots on each map where you shouldn't detonate a bomb because one of the 4 directions is a civilian building. Detonating the bombs almost seems secondary - their primary use feels like it's for blocking Vek spawns or bodyblocking ranged shots/bullrush enemies. The bomb upgrade letting you fire twice could probably only cost 2 cores instead of 3; even with 2 shots, there's just tons of turns where you can't be in a position to put them in 2 useful places so the 2nd shot is wasted. I really think you need to grab a shop weapon to give the Bombling Mech more usefulness than stalling spawns or doing 1 damage to 1-2 enemies. The Exchange Mech (Science) swaps are fun, though it's just very situational turn-to-turn whether you can make Vek hit each other or fall into hazards, and unfortunately some turns the swap only gets to be a minor reposition.

It's a fun squad, but wow do I ever not recommend it for beginners. It almost feels like it has 2 Science mechs that just troll/stall the enemies, and only 1 mech that consistently deals with enemies.

The new stuff is a lot to take in. The new enemy types that fire/attack in one direction and self-knockback themselves away from that attack direction at the same time are a real clusterfuck of directional preview arrows that I think doesn't read very well. Like the arrows technically follow all the UI rules of how other enemy units are explained, but it's just a lot to take in if it's a crowded fight area.

I cleared another run with the Bombermechs. Got a better ranged weapon for the Bombling Mech that sets fire to the target and smokes the surrounding area. Effective for killing and canceling attacks, but it litters the field with smoke and fire; limiting potential movement options later. My cheap trick for the Exchange Mech is using a Mantis pilot, giving it an attack in place of repair. I've been carrying over one with +1 reactor and +2 health, but there are new skills available that can grant even more advantages. If my trusty time traveler ever falls in battle, I can potentially train a stronger one.

I picked up another new pilot, Kai. At full health, she gains an attack boost, but movement is reduced by 1 if any damage is taken. Another strong choice for your offensive mech if you can keep it out of harm's way.

I have the last achievement left for the bomb squad, but it's one that will likely require me to increase the difficulty in order to spawn more enemies. I think I have a decent handle on them now, but it's still going to take some luck to pull off 7 kills in a single turn. Probably need to do it on mission with a mechanic that can help clear enemies, like the disposal unit.

If you don't want to drive yourself mad on higher difficulties:

• The Walking Bombs (assuming you have the upgrade to launch 2 in the same turn) count as 2 deaths out of your needed 7
• It's surprisingly doable to rack up 5 other kills on missions that spawn 1 HP enemies. There's the OG spider egg spawners, there's the OG explosive goo sac spawners, there's a new Vek Psion that makes all enemy units spawn a spider egg on death, there's the giant slime boss that eventually splits into low HP little slimes, I think there are a few missions types on the ice island where 1 HP robots get spawned and you're allowed to kill them.
• Also yeah, as you said, if the mission gives you some bonus killing machine like the disposal unit, the terraformer, etc., that will help to kill high HP targets, especially with the Exchange Mech swaps

If the mission has 1HP enemies, you might eventually find a turn where the Bombling Mech alone gets 4-5 kills (2 walking bombs dead, 2-3 weak enemies dead). Then it's just a matter of doing an Exchange Mech swap that causes a Vek to die, and maybe getting some kind of double kill with Pierce Mech if collision damage works out well.

It's definitely pretty luck-based, but I managed to get it on my first run with the Bombermechs. I think I found a turn on the 3rd island (Normal difficulty) after I had put some upgrades on Pierce Mech and Bombling Mech.

@bisonhero: I didn't realize the walking bombs counted as kills. That's more manageable. Thanks for the good advice.

This one went the way of FTL for me: liked it up to the point where I could never beat it. There's something immensely dissatisfying about that. Still, I had no idea this was released. I might try it again and probably run into the same issue but hey, it's a free update.

I managed to get the last Bombermech achievement on a 2-island run. I got super lucky and had Pull Tanks as a reward and bought Light Tanks in the shop. Then I had a opportunity to sacrifice them and a walking bomb while taking out 4 enemies. Very satisfying.

Next, I unlocked the Arachnophiles, which are a much more approachable. The featured Arachnoid Mech (Ranged) spawns a spider droid from a kill. The arachnoids can move 3 spaces and have a melee attack that pushes, but causes it to self-destruct. But unlike the walking bombs, they do not automatically expire at the end of the turn. The Bulk Mech (Brute) has the fun Ricochet Rocket. The shot will damage and push an enemy, then bounce 90 degrees to potentially strike another target. You choose which side the rocket will travel after the first hit. You have to take care to avoid friendlies, but a perfect shot can damage 4 enemies. The Slide Mech (Science) looks like a helicopter, but disappointingly does not fly. With Area Shift, the mech moves 1 space in a selected direction and brings all adjacent units with it. Handy for positioning Vek for a ricochet.

On easy, this squad is a breeze. Having just one additional controllable unit greatly increases your options, and I sometimes had a swarm of 2 or 3 of droids by the last turn. Completed all achievements by the third island. Beefier enemies on higher difficulties will make it more challenging to get kills with the Arachnoid Mech to spawn a nightmare army. But I'll worry about that later. Onward to the Mist Eaters, which appear to be another technical squad.

Bombermechs definitely take some time to get used to, but I've you get the hang of them you have a lot of options.

One of the biggest things with using the walking bombs is that you can use them with the Swap Mech to switch with any enemy or ally (and still move the bomb around around if you didn't use its move action previously).

I had a very lucky run with the Mist Eaters, a squad that utilizes smoke like the Rusting Hulks. But instead of causing them to deal damage, they are converted into healing sources.

The Smog Mech (Ranged) holds the Nanofilter Mending passive that allows your mechs to absorb smoke to repair upon contact. Its weapon is Smoldering Shells, which I found previously. It ignites the target and smokes the adjacent tiles. This time the smoke is a benefit instead of a liability. The Thruster Mech (Brute) is a flying unit that attacks with Reverse Thrusters. It smokes the target behind it and deals damagesequal to the distance that it travels, but causes self damage. The Control Mech (Science) also flies and it can take command of an adjacent unit. You direct them to move a few spaces, but enemies retain their original attack.

I was fortunate to pick up Abe, whose armor ability mitigates the self inflicted harm of the thrusters. This allowed freedom to move and attack without having to worry about healing. Later, I bought a Storm Generator, that weaponized the smoke as well. These huge advantages allowed me to focus on finishing achievements again. I'm moving on to the Heat Sinkers, but I imagine when I return to the Mist Eaters, it will be more frustrating.

@dijidiji: Just play on easy. I put in many, many hours and never got past a normal run.

I spent a little time on Normal with the Cataclysm squad. To summarize the squad: Pitcher Mech is a Prime whose weapon throws enemies forward, sort of a push except you're lobbing them over obstacles so there's no collision damage. Triptych Mech is a Ranged that lobs a triple missile in a line that pushes each tile. And Drill Mech is a flying Science that has a low damage melee attack that spins the target 180 degrees, and if the damage is a killing blow it cracks the 4 tiles around the dead enemy.

It was really a study in highs and lows.

• LOW: On my first run with Cataclysm, I died on the first island. I haven't had that happen since picking the game up again for Advanced Edition, and frankly I don't think I've failed that early in the last 10-12 runs I did whenever I last regularly played this game in 2018-2019. It was my own doing, as my starting island was Pinnacle (ice) with the spider-spawn-on-death Vek Psion, and there were a couple missions that really got away from me because there was way too much going on with Vek, Pinnacle robots, and spider spawns. Just some really busy boards where I got boxed in, and it was too much to deal with when you have so few upgrades. I have more respect for the spider Psion now.
• HIGH: On my next attempt, it turns out if you can survive an island, some of the early upgrades are solid. The cheap range upgrade on Pitcher Mech's throw means you can really throw enemies into far away hazards. The damage upgrade on Drill Mech gives you 2 damage, which is enough to kill Psions and other weaker enemies, creating cracked tiles for the other 2 Mechs to take advantage of. Even with only those 2 upgrades the squad felt a lot more useful into the mid-game.
• HIGH: I'm gonna call this pretty lucky, but on the 3 islands I did on this 2nd attempt, every single island boss was nonflying, and I killed every single boss on the first turn. I would kill some 2 HP enemy with Drill Mech creating cracked tiles, and summarily toss or push the boss into his chasm-y doom. It feels insanely busted to deal with a 5-7 HP enemy so quickly.
• LOW: OK, other than the hilarious boss kills, the 2nd run was straight garbage. In all of Advanced Edition, this is the worst set of pilot levelup skills I've had, and my free stuff from time pods was so-so. My carryover pilot from previous timeline was the Mantis (has a 2 damage melee attack in place of Repair action so can't heal) with Technician (auto self-heal) and Invulnerable (if pilot reaches 0 HP, pilot is still alive and well after the mission finishes). Which was fun for an undying Mantis joke strat, but I probably only needed 1 of those skills and the other one could've been something more useful. My other 2 pilots learned Thick Skin/Opener and Thick Skin/Grid Defense, and boy I would've given anything for any of my pilots to have +1 Mech Power or any movement/HP stats. Also one of my time pods was a Brute weapon that I really couldn't spare the cores to equip so my inventory felt a little thin all run.
• LOW: then after the 3rd island I actually died in the final volcano battle with the bomb, another thing I haven't had happen in the last dozen runs I've done. Usually I find the final battle weirdly easy, but this time all the Alphas were in the absolute worst spots where I couldn't throw them to an easy doom and if I pushed them they were just lined up with a different set of buildings to hit. Also it was getting late and I accidentally had a Mech die on the 2nd turn because I didn't account for some pushing interactions and thought I would survive with 1 HP but died instead. Even if I kept that Mech alive, I think I didn't have enough upgrades or weapon flexibility to survive.
• HIGH: got all the achievements in that 2nd attempt, cursed as it may be.

Overall, Cataclysm is a fun squad, though I think it's pretty taxing and not very straightforward. Much like Steel Judoka and Bombermechs, the starting damage output is quite low and you have to rely a lot on throwing enemies/pushing enemies/spinning enemies, hoping to make Vek hit each other or end up on hazards. The cracked tile mechanic can be strong, but the squad really struggles against flying enemies, which simply fly over cracked tiles/chasms and water/acid lakes. Flying Alphas or flying bosses are especially tough to deal with, as your Pitcher Mech can't throw them into anything more dangerous than a fire or Vek spawn hole.

Also, once you get good at making cracked tiles, I noticed you can get yourself into a pickle where by turn 3 or 4, you've made too many checkerboard chasms and it's tough for Pitcher Mech to get around the map, since you can't cross over chasms at all. Pitcher Mech really needs something to overcome this:

• when you start your run, you could make Pitcher Mech's pilot Prospero (robot with flying) or Henry Kwan (can move through enemy spaces). This might alleviate some of the late turn positioning issues.
• if not going with those specific pilots, consider swapping pilots around to make sure Pitcher Mech has a pilot with some movement abilities: +1 Move, Skilled, Finisher, or Adrenaline.
• also consider using Pitcher Mech's other item slot on an ability that gives you some kind of long-distance leap/dash, or any Prime weapon that has a longer reach or is ranged somehow, just for turns where you are blockaded by a series of chasms and enemies and buildings/mountains.

It's a neat squad, and it's fun to use the cracked tiles so heavily, when otherwise that mechanic only appears very briefly on the R.S.T. (desert) island.

The Heat Sinkers utilize fire to increase their power. The Napalm Mech (Science) carries Heat Engines, a passive that allows them to absorb the flames to gain a boost that increases damage/repairs by 1. It also uses the Firestorm Generator to launch a fireball that ignites spaces on the way to the target and pushing it upon impact. It does no damage, so it can be launched over your mechs and buildings without harm. An opening strategy is to position your squad in a line, so the Napalm Mech can potentially boost the others at the start. The Dispersal Mech (Prime) is armed with the Thermal Discharger, which damages enemies in a line and pushing away units at the sides of the attack. It can be upgraded to add fire, which will generate more areas gain boosts in future turns. The Quick-Fire Mech (Brute) fires rockets in two different directions. While boosted, it can deal good damage to multiple Vek, but it needs an upgrade to add push. Both shots must be taken, which can limit options if there are friendlies in the line of fire.

The base kit of this squad is fairly straightforward. Boosting and burning means high damage output, but the Napalm and Dispersal Mechs only start with range of 2 and need upgrades to increase it. It lacks a true artillery attack, so direct line of sight is needed for Quick-Fire to deal with enemies at long range. It becomes difficult to handle enemies when they spread out and hide behind your buildings. Getting new gear to increase versatility is important. Archimedes is a strong pilot because their ability to move after attacking gives them the chance to move to a fire tile to get boosted again. It took a couple of runs to complete the achievements. Igniting 3 enemies with 1 attack required luck and inefficient moves to get enemies into position. Not my favorite.

Cataclysm is my final squad to try. Thanks to BisonHero's summary above, I have an sense of what I'm in for. Steel Judoka is one of my weakest squads to play and I relied on getting another Prime weapon to be successful. Might be the case for the Pitcher, too.

Oh shiit...I've been dragged back in. I've put 20-something hours into this game over the last few days.

Also, just got my first win in Hard mode

My first run with Cataclysm was absolutely blessed. As predicted, I needed a new Prime weapon to make the Pitcher effective, and I got a real game breaker. The Refractor Laser is a better version of the Laser Mech's Burst Beam . It also starts with 3 damage and decreases for each space it travels until it does 1 for rest of the way. However, you can choose to deflect the laser at a selected distance, turning it 90 degrees and continuing to pierce in the selected direction. A good shot can hit hard-to-reach targets while avoiding buildings. Sure beats tossing Vek a few spaces. I also picked up two pilots with synergistic talents. Adam gains a shield and +2 move after a Reset Turn and Isaac grants a second one every battle. I have one achievement remaining where I will need to focus on throwing enemies into pits, but I'll be lucky to have as smooth a time as that ever again.

After trying every new squad, my favorites are the Arachnophiles and Mist Eaters so far. They'll have more disadvantages at higher difficulties, but are fun to use. I still need to unlock a final pilot too.

@beachthunder: Congratulations! Which squad did you use? I like that the Statistics screen allows you to look back at your highest scoring runs. My best ones almost always had deployables.

@gyratyne: I felt like using a custom squad would probably be the best way for me to get a win on Hard. I went with:

Lightning Mech + Smog Mech + Gravity Mech

@beachthunder: That's quite an eclectic team. I don't notice any inherent synergies between them, so good on you for making it work.

My highest scoring custom squad was before AE: 2 Boulder Mechs with Ice Mech. The Rock Accelerator is a versatile, high damage weapon capable of pushing and blocking. Mafan, the Zoltan pilot, grants the Ice Mech a shield every turn, removing the self-freezing disadvantage and allowing you to freely disable the most dangerous threats. These mechs have low cost upgrades, opening opportunities to pick up new gear to spend reactor cores on. The downsize of an all artillery team is that they cannot attack at close range, making them susceptible to melee Vek, particularly ones with webbing.

When I try Unfair Mode, custom squad is definitely the one to start with. Of the new mechs, Smog is a frontrunner with high damage, disabling, area denial, and healing. Paired with a Rocket Mech, the smoke is weaponized as well. A Napalm Mech could complete the team, allowing boost from fire. But with the whole squad holding passives, they are unable to use deployables without replacing one of them.

@gyratyne: I was looking for big damage output: Lightning Mech has the potential to damage a lotta enemies if you can get stuff lined up. Gravity Mech is helpful for lining up the big combos - and it also comes bundled with Vek Hormones. And you already know that Smog Mech is good.

Also, that is a clever synergy with Mafan and Ice.

@beachthunder: Despite my fondness for the Boulder Mech, I was not the most proficient with Blitzkrieg. It's been a while, but Electric Whip was less reliable that I liked, even with the upgrade to chain through buildings. It becomes a major liability for some mission objectives, too. Vek Hormones is somewhat limited with Grav Well as the onlymeans to push initially.

Shielding the Ice Mech is something I learned early on when I was jumping Bethany between timelines, but it's most effective after finding Mafan. Frozen Titans became one of my best squads and the first one to win on Hard. Aside from custom, it's the only other that had no losses with before AE.

Now that I have completed all achievements, I have two paths to go down: get Hard Victories for all the new squads or take on Unfair Mode. Has anyone tried Unfair Mode yet? Is it as brutal as it sounds?

I've opted to get Hard Victories for all squads. I returned to the Arachnophiles and they're still a very strong team that cleared all runs without defeat. It's trickier to get kills to spawn arachnoids, but it can be done consistently with efficient plays. Having the droids really helps to deal with the increased number of threats. The early upgrade to add acid to their attacks is vital to deal enough damage to Alpha Vek and Leader bosses.

The 4-island victory was made possible by picking up Morgan and Kai to further boost attacks and getting an acid tank to weaken more enemies. I also found the EM Railgun, a single-use Brute weapon that pierces through any enemies killed and can be upgraded to deal a hefty 4 damage. While in the Volcanic Hive, I managed to kill an acid-soaked Leader and 2 Alphas that were luckily lined up. While good fortune cannot be discounted as factor for success, this squad has the tools to exploit opportunities better than most squads.

Here are my stats for the Arachnophiles.

After very intermittent sessions and detours with other games, I got all the Hard Victories. Of the new squads, surprisinglyit was Cataclysm that earned my only perfect 4 island score. They picked up absolutely broken gear: Rock Launcher as an alt for the Pitcher, Light and Shield Tanks for the others. 2 of the pilots gained the Popular Hero skill, so I had almost everything fully upgraded by the end. Even so, it was a super lucky to avoid taking any grid damage.

It'll probably be a while until I challenge Unfair Mode. But Advanced Edition has given many more hours of enjoyment. If you haven't played the free update, it is highly recommended.