How endless scales
Endless mode reuses campaign waves with a difficulty multiplier that climbs roughly 12% per wave. Density, projectile speed and enemy health all scale — but pattern logic stays identical. Nothing in wave 40 is new; it is wave 8's patterns played faster.
The survival economy
Bombs drop on a fixed cadence — roughly one per five waves — and repair drops follow a damage-weighted schedule. The discipline that matters: never spend a bomb on a survivable wave. Spending one early is how wave-35 runs die at wave 44.
The wave-30 wall
- Projectile speed crosses a readability threshold around wave 28-32.
- Solution: move to the lower quarter earlier — margin buys reaction time.
- Drop greed habits: a missed medal is cheaper than a dead run.
Loadouts that scale
Agility aircraft dominate endless because hitbox control out-screens raw damage. The Zero-Sen Kai and Corsair hold the Australian records for exactly this reason. Laser main weapons scale better than spread at high wave counts.
The mental game
Long runs fail on concentration, not skill. Pros run endless in 20-wave blocks with micro-breaks — the pause button is a legitimate tool. Tilt deaths after a great wave are the most common record-killer in our community's submissions.
