Desolation
What it is
Desolation is the tenth planet in the hub swiper order — a barren-rock world themed around mortar-plus-shooter suppression on a heavy variant of the bug enemy family. It uses the landing-site biome with a dedicated desolation-field level preset, applies the dark post-processing mastering preset, and falls back to the Iron Throne boss at the run timer’s zero mark (the planet definition has no boss key set, so it resolves to the system fallback). The planet has a 10-level mastering track gated by per-planet XP at the unmodified baseline grind rate (1.0× multiplier, marked in source as a placeholder pending tuning).
Identity
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Display name | DESOLATION |
| Numeric ID | 36 |
| Biome | landing_site |
| Level preset | desolation_field |
| Enemy set | bugs_heavy |
| Boss at T-0 | Iron Throne (fallback — no boss key set) |
| Mastering XP multiplier | 1.0× baseline (placeholder) |
| Base run XP | 10 (placeholder) |
| Leaderboard planet | No |
Run definition
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Post-processing mode | dark |
| Fog overlay alpha | 0.15 |
| Enemy count multiplier | 1.0× |
| Spawn grace period (seconds) | 1 |
| Shadow offset multiplier | 1.0× |
| Buildings allowed | Yes |
| Crate density (0–100) | 40 |
| Debris density (0–100) | 18 |
The bugs_heavy enemy-set variant biases the planet’s hazard mix toward heavy bug archetypes — the source comment frames the planet’s pressure pattern as combined mortar-plus-shooter suppression, which mixes indirect-fire forcing-functions on movement with sustained projectile pressure on open ground. Enemy count and grace period sit at baseline values (1.0× multiplier, 1-second ramp), unlike The Voidstar’s doubled count and zero-grace pressure curve. Atmospheric fog overlay is moderate at 0.15 — the same setting as Landing Site and Network Station — and the planet is dark-mastered. Debris density sits at 18, the second-highest debris setting on the roster after Speedway’s 19.
Mastering track
Desolation uses the baseline XP curve at 1.0× — its multiplier is flagged in source as a placeholder pending balance tuning. All XP thresholds below are cumulative totals.
| Level | XP threshold | Rarity | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | Common | Unlocks Wasteland Event (sub-event during runs) |
| 2 | 250 | Common | New Ship: signature ship (common) |
| 3 | 500 | Uncommon | Unlocks signature weapon #1 |
| 4 | 800 | Uncommon | New Ship: signature ship (uncommon) |
| 5 | 1200 | Rare | Unlocks alternate boss encounter |
| 6 | 1700 | Rare | New Ship: signature ship (rare) |
| 7 | 2300 | Epic | Planet Master (advanced planet variant) |
| 8 | 3000 | Epic | New Ship: signature ship (epic) |
| 9 | 4000 | Legendary | Unlocks signature weapon #2 |
| 10 | 5500 | Legendary | Global Armor Boost (permanent buff on all planets) |
XP is earned by completing challenges (bulk awards via XP bounty) and by completing any run on this planet (10 XP per run, placeholder rate). The mastering track is per-planet — XP earned here does not progress other planets’ tracks.
Mission posting reference
Mission postings reference this planet by numeric ID 36. The hub mission board surfaces postings tagged for Desolation alongside its planet card in the swiper. See mission-postings for the per-posting catalog and missions for mission flow.
Planet order position
| Swiper index | Planet |
|---|---|
| 0 | Landing Site |
| 1 | Sunrise City |
| 2 | The Voidstar |
| 3 | Solaris |
| 4 | Speedway |
| 5 | Eden-5 |
| 6 | Old Earth |
| 7 | Network Station |
| 8 | Delphi |
| 9 | Desolation |
| 10 | Obelisk |
Desolation is the tenth planet in the hub swiper order — the penultimate slot, immediately after Delphi and before Obelisk. It is the only planet in the roster that omits a planet-specific boss key, resolving instead to the system fallback boss.