Controls

• MoveArrow keys or W, A, S and D fly the ship in any direction: left, right, up, down and diagonally, anywhere in the lower half of the field. On a phone, drag to fly it. The ship stays just above your finger so you can always see it.
• FireHold Space. On a phone, the ship fires while you drag.
• BoostWhile a BOOST pill is active, hold Shift to throttle up to twice your speed, and let go to ease back. On a phone, drag further ahead of the ship to fly faster.
• PauseP or Escape.
• RestartThe Restart button, or R while paused, ends the run and takes you back to the title screen to pick a new mode or ship.
• Full screenF key or the Full screen button. Escape or Exit leaves it, and the live SI price shows at the top.
• SoundM toggles all sound.
• MusicN or the Music button turns the music on or off. A calm coding beat plays through the levels, and danger music with a siren kicks in when a boss comes out.

Modes

Pick a mode on the title screen, next to your ship. Harder modes score more, so they rank higher on the leaderboard.

• SI AmbassadorEasy. Five lives, gentler divers, slower enemy fire, weaker bosses and more pickups. You keep your gun when a ship goes down, the formation holds its fire until level 14 and bot destroyers wait until level 15. Scores count half.
• SI CommanderNormal. The standard game: three lives and a steady climb that turns brutal around level 150. From level 6 the formation fires aimed shots too, a lost ship costs a gun level, bonus lives get harder to earn and a boss gives a ship back only when you are down to your last two. Scores count in full.
• SI GeneralHard. Starts where level 28 of SI Commander would be and climbs faster. Tougher drones and commanders, faster fire, stronger bosses, fewer pickups, a formation that fires from level 3, destroyers from level 5 and two gun levels lost with each ship. Scores count 1.6 times.
• SI SingularityInsanely hard. One life. Starts deep in the brutal zone, every enemy takes an extra hit, fire is fast, bosses are nearly twice as tough, pickups are scarce, the formation fires from level 1, bosses never give a ship back and destroyers hunt you from level 2. Scores count 2.5 times.

Ships

Pick a ship on the title screen. Each one fires its own weapon, and your choice is kept on this device.

• SI TridentThe split-nose fighter. One shot at first. Gun upgrades grow it into a five-way piercing volley.
• SI JuggernautThe heavy bomber. A three-way spread from the start. Gun upgrades widen it to seven shots.
• SI RaptorThe sleek interceptor. A fast, narrow beam that pierces from the first shot. Gun upgrades add parallel beams, up to five.

Weapons

Your shot grows with your gun, and bigger shots hit harder and blast wider. Enemy fire works the same way: the bigger it is, the more it hurts.

• Gun levels 1 and 2. A fast lance.
• Gun level 3. A missile that hits a quarter harder.
• Gun level 4. An energy orb that hits half again as hard.
• Gun level 5. The big rocket: double damage and the widest blast.
• Fired by drones and scouts. Costs a life.
• Fired by bosses in a spread. Costs a life.
• Fired by diving commanders. Costs a life and knocks your gun down a level on top of the ship loss.
• Dropped by bot destroyers. Ends the run, so step out of the red column.

Power-ups

Shoot the drones to drop a random pickup, and not every drone drops one. Pickups are rare, and two of the same kind never fall at once. About one in three is a power-down. SI, WHALE and MOON are very rare.

• The rarest of all. Full power: max gun, a 12 second shield, five ships for 10 seconds and 1,000 points.
• Gun up one level. The everyday upgrade.
• Gun up two levels.
• Shield for 12 seconds. It blocks one hit.
• Extra life, up to five.
• Rapid fire for 8 seconds. Your gun fires twice as fast.
• Piercing shots for 8 seconds.
• Speed boost for 10 seconds. Your ship moves half again as fast.
• Your ship splits into three for 10 seconds.
• Clears every enemy shot on screen, destroyer bolts included.
• Your combo multiplier locks at x5 for 8 seconds.
• Best route for 8 seconds. Every shot you fire steers itself onto the nearest enemy, destroyer or boss.
• 500 bonus points.
• BOOSTFor 12 seconds, hold Shift to fly up to twice as fast. You control the speed: the longer you hold, the faster you go, up to 2x. On a phone, drag further ahead of the ship.
• WHALEVery rare. Your ship splits into three for 12 seconds.
• MOONVery rare. Your ship splits into five for 8 seconds.

Power-downs

Dodge these. Each one hurts in its own way, and a RUGPULL destroys your ship.

• Destroys your ship and costs a life, even through a shield.
• Calls in a swarm of four bot divers.
• Drains a tenth of your score, at least 100 points, and resets your combo.
• Sells one gun upgrade, or costs 100 points at level 1.
• Your gun jams for 6 seconds.
• SUPER INUFlips your controls for 5 seconds. Left is right.
• HOPIUMYour vision blurs, doubles and wobbles for 6 seconds.
• OLD DEVCashes out every boost you have running: shield, rapid fire, speed, piercing shots, FOMO and ship splits, and resets your combo. With nothing running, it costs 200 points.
• AIAI is the enemy. It slows your ship to half speed for 5 seconds and resets your combo.

Scoring

Points below are for SI Commander. SI Ambassador scores half, SI General 1.6 times and SI Singularity 2.5 times. Formation drones are worth 20 points, commanders 30 and scouts 10. Divers pay double. Close passes earn points too. Kills within 1.6 seconds of each other build a combo, and every four kills in a row raise the multiplier, up to x5. Clearing a level pays an accuracy bonus, and a level with no hits taken pays a perfect bonus. Bonus lives get harder to earn as you go. On SI Commander the first comes at 20,000 points, the next at 60,000, then 140,000 and 300,000, with each gap twice the last. SI Ambassador starts at 10,000 with gentler gaps, SI General at 48,000 and SI Singularity at 150,000 with wider gaps still. You hold at most five ships. THE RENAMING pays 500 points for each level number, and gives a ship back when you are low: below five ships on SI Ambassador, below three on SI Commander, below two on SI General and never on SI Singularity. Bot destroyers are rare and start at level 8 on SI Commander, sooner and more often on the harder modes. Each one locks a red column onto your ship, so step out of the column before the bolt drops. A bolt that hits ends the run at once, and shooting a destroyer down pays 400 points. Clear all 300 levels to win.

Weekend Raid Boss and badges

• WhenEvery Saturday and Sunday, from 00:00 UTC Saturday to 23:59 UTC Sunday. The panel below the game counts down to the next raid.
• HowPress Join the Weekend Raid on the title screen. Each sortie is 75 seconds against that weekend's THE RENAMING at level 60 difficulty, starting at gun level 3. Escorts dive and power-ups still drop.
• Shared healthEvery pilot hits the same boss. Save your damage at the end of a sortie and it comes off one shared health bar. Fly as many sorties as you like.
• Next weekendA boss that goes down comes back a quarter tougher. One that survives comes back at a little more than the damage it took, so the goal stays within reach.
• Badges100 pilot badges unlock as you play: levels, bosses, combos, power-ups, power-downs survived, modes, ships, raids and more. You always see your next 10, and each badge you earn reveals another. Track them on the badges page.