Tundra's debut roguelike takes FTL's paused ship combat and drops it into a techno-gothic future where the Solar Empire worships the Immortal God King Hyperion and three Ruinous Cults want the same prize you do. A run crosses exactly six sectors and the sixth is always the Imperial Coreworlds, whose final node is the Vault of Souls. Every playable hull carries 30 hull points and room for at most nine installed systems, and the only ship unlocked when you start is Imperial Cruiser A, the Triumph of Heaven. Crew come from seven human factions with more than seventy distinct types between them, so boarding parties are built rather than drafted.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best builds, equipment worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Reactor power across nine system slots
Systems do nothing until the Reactor feeds them, and no hull accepts more than nine installed systems, so every purchase is also a decision about what you will never fit. Shields are the awkward case: power goes in and out in steps of two, and one extra shield barrier costs two upgrade levels rather than one.
Cannons, beams, lances and missile templates
Cannons never pierce shields but each hit strips one layer, beams sweep multiple rooms in a single burst and bounce off any shielding at all, and Lances start pre charged and punch straight through shields for a limited number of shots per battle. Missile Bays hold up to three Missile Templates at once and you switch between them mid fight.
Boarding actions with faction crew and wargear
You recruit crew from the human factions and equip them with weapons, armour and operational gear before sending them over. Crew standing in a room that houses a system also make that system run better, so a boarding party is always paid for with reduced efficiency back home.
A six sector run to the Vault of Souls
Six sectors, chosen from types such as Protostar Wastes, Raider Clanworlds, Imperial Shrineworlds and Forge Enclaves, then the Imperial Coreworlds at the end. Neutral sectors are quiet and full of merchants and shipyards, while Exclusion Zones are unclaimed space with frequent combat and environmental hazards and almost no shops.
Resonance unlocks between runs
Runs pay out Resonance whether you finish them or not, and Resonance buys the B and C variants of hulls you have already reached. The Type B Sunhammer costs 5000, and other ships unlock instead by clearing the Vault of Souls with a specific hull or by killing a High Threat Target.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our Void War combat guide.
Builds Overview
| Build | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Empire | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Raider Clans | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| War Cult | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Death Cult | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Technocult | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our Void War builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Equipment Guide
| Equipment | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Cannons | Armaments that fire one or more physical rounds or energy bursts per salvo. | Stripping shield layers so a beam or boarding party can do the real work |
| Beam Armaments | Beams fire in one continuous burst over several seconds and cut through multiple rooms on a single pass, which makes them the highest total damage option in the game per shot. | Follow up damage across three or more rooms once shields are already down |
| Lances | Lances begin every battle pre charged, travel at high projectile speed and pierce shielding outright, which no other armament category does reliably. | Opening bursts against heavily shielded ships and High Threat Targets |
| Ion Armaments | Ion weapons attack a system's capacity to draw power rather than the hull. | Permanently suppressing enemy shields or medical systems during a boarding action |
| Missile Bays | A Missile Bay holds up to three Missile Templates simultaneously and you switch between them manually during a battle. | Answering a specific problem mid fight when your main weapons cannot solve it |
Cannons: Armaments that fire one or more physical rounds or energy bursts per salvo. Cannon fire never penetrates shields, but each shot that lands strips one shield layer, and depending on the type a hit can damage hull, injure crew, start fires, flood a room with toxic gas or open a breach.
Beam Armaments: Beams fire in one continuous burst over several seconds and cut through multiple rooms on a single pass, which makes them the highest total damage option in the game per shot. Most beams do not penetrate shields or reduce them at all, so they need a partner weapon that clears the barriers first.
Lances: Lances begin every battle pre charged, travel at high projectile speed and pierce shielding outright, which no other armament category does reliably. The catch is a hard limit on how many times each can fire per engagement, so they are an opening move rather than a sustained one.
Ion Armaments: Ion weapons attack a system's capacity to draw power rather than the hull. A shields room held under continuous ion fire never comes back up, which is the standard answer to the shield boosters carried by the Doom Engine, the Necropolis Barge and the Ariokine Starflayer.
Missile Bays: A Missile Bay holds up to three Missile Templates simultaneously and you switch between them manually during a battle. That flexibility is unmatched, but every shot consumes ammunition and Point Defense Turrets on later enemies will shoot a proportion of them down before impact.
Full breakdowns in our Void War weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Protostar Wastes | Sector 1 through 4, can repeat | Early scrap from combat encounters, occasional derelicts, few shops |
| Raider Clanworlds | Sector 2 through 5 | Raider Clan crew recruits, salvage encounters, faction standing shifts |
| Imperial Shrineworlds | Sector 2 through 5 | Imperial Citizen crew, shrine encounters, Imperial faction standing |
| Forge Enclaves | Sector 3 through 5 | System and module upgrades, Technocult crew, shipyard access |
| Imperial Coreworlds | Sector 6, final | Run completion, ship unlocks, the largest Resonance payout of the run |
Protostar Wastes: One of the few sector types that can appear more than once in a single run and can also be your starting sector. It is unclaimed space, which means the encounter mix leans toward hazards and fights rather than merchants, so plan to leave it with less scrap than you entered.
Raider Clanworlds: Home space for the loose alliance of pirates descended from old starship crews and spaceyard workers. Raider crew are common recruits here, and the faction occasionally makes common cause with anti Imperial rebels, which changes how encounters resolve if you have pledged against the Empire.
Imperial Shrineworlds: Devotional Imperial space where crew carrying the Imperial Citizen trait turn up far more often than anywhere else. If you want a crew built around Imperial troops rather than cultists or raiders, this is the sector to route through while you still have jumps to spare.
Forge Enclaves: Technocult industrial space, run by priests of the Machine Cult who put knowledge and rationality above everything else. It is the sector to visit when your ship needs parts rather than people, since the encounter tables lean toward systems, modules and upgrades.
Imperial Coreworlds: Always the sixth and final sector, ending at the Vault of Souls. The Vault is guarded by a hostile ship representing one of the three Ruinous Cults, and on your first three completions you meet them in a fixed order: the Doom Engine, then the Necropolis Barge, then the Ariokine Starflayer.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Shield power only moves in steps of two, and each additional barrier costs two upgrade levels. Budget for that before you buy a third weapon you then cannot power.
- Nine systems is the hard ceiling per hull. Installing a system you never intend to power is a wasted slot you cannot reclaim later in the run.
- Crew standing in a system room make that system run better. An empty Engines room during a fight is a measurable loss of evasion, not a cosmetic detail.
- All three Vault of Souls bosses carry shield boosters. Bring an ion heavy loadout, a missile or bomb to knock the shields out early, or a boarding party willing to kill the crew instead.
- The bosses swarm you with boarding parties of their own. A crew that cannot win a fight in your own corridors will lose the run even if your guns are fine.
- Hoard repair drones and repair equipment through the last two sectors. The final fights either destroy or heavily ion your systems, and repairs mid fight are what keep weapons online.
- The Death Cult boss floods rooms with poison clouds. A psyker with Purify, or a stock of Antidote, turns that phase from lethal into an inconvenience.
- Route through Imperial Shrineworlds if you want Imperial Citizen crew, since that trait shows up far more often there than in neutral space.
- High Threat Target nodes are usually a large ship with four weapons, and beating one unlocks a new hull in the hangar. Take them when your build has already come together, not before.
- Resonance accumulates whether you win or lose, so a failed run in sector four still buys progress toward variants like the 5000 Resonance Type B Sunhammer.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Buying a third weapon before the Reactor can run it alongside Shields and Engines, which leaves you with an expensive system sitting unpowered during every fight.
- Sending the whole crew on a boarding action and leaving Engines and Shields unmanned, so the ship you are trying to capture wins the exchange at home.
- Treating Lances as a main weapon. They pierce shields and start charged, but the per battle shot cap means the fight has to end quickly or you have nothing left.
- Arriving at the Vault of Souls with no repair equipment. The bosses ion or destroy systems faster than an unassisted crew can fix them.
- Spending every jump chasing combat in Exclusion Zones, then reaching sector five with no shipyard visited and a hull that is still on its starting loadout.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Void War just FTL with a new coat of paint?
It starts from the same paused ship combat but diverges quickly. Runs are six sectors rather than eight, hulls carry 30 hull points and a nine system cap, armaments split into Cannons, Beams, Lances, Ion and Missile Templates, and crew come from seven human factions with over seventy distinct types instead of a handful of species.
How do I unlock more ships?
Three ways. Play the A variant of one hull to unlock the A variant of the next, complete the Vault of Souls with a specific ship, or defeat a High Threat Target in a sector. B and C variants can also be bought outright with Resonance, for example the Type B Sunhammer at 5000.
What is the final boss?
The Vault of Souls, the last node of the Imperial Coreworlds, is guarded by a ship representing one of the three Ruinous Cults. Your first three runs meet the Doom Engine, then the Necropolis Barge, then the Ariokine Starflayer. After you have beaten each once, the final boss is chosen at random.
Are boarding builds better than gun builds?
Boarding pays better. Killing the enemy crew and capturing a ship intact yields more loot than blowing it up, and it is the answer to the shield boosters the bosses carry. The cost is that crew pulled off your own systems make Shields and Engines run worse while the boarding party is away.
What should I put power into first?
Shields to two barriers, since power only moves in steps of two and a single barrier stops almost nothing by the third sector. After that a second weapon, then Engines for evasion. Reactor capacity itself is worth buying the moment you own more systems than you can run at once.
More Void War Guides
- Void War Best Builds
- Void War Tier List
- Void War Walkthrough
- Void War Beginner's Guide
- Void War Tips & Tricks
- Void War Weapons Guide
- Void War Combat Guide
- Void War Boss Guide
- Void War Maps & Locations
- Void War Crafting Guide
- Void War Classes & Characters
Similar Games
If you enjoy Void War, check out these related guides:
- Risk of Rain 2 Guide: roguelike game with similar mechanics
- Hades Guide: roguelike game with similar mechanics
- Darkest Dungeon Guide: roguelike game with similar mechanics
