Into the Breach: How to Plan an Unfair Mode Turn

Choose the intended Advanced Edition content before the run

Unfair Mode arrived in the free Advanced Edition update. Its additional enemies, pilot skills and other new content can be toggled off for a base-content experience, while balance changes remain. Decide which content to include before judging a strategy against a particular enemy pool. The harder mode is explicitly aimed at veterans and can demand different decisions from earlier difficulties. [1]

The developer introduces the Unfair advice as a change in strategic expectations. [1]

Steps

1. Choose the content toggles that match the run you want to attempt. [1]

Compare the consequences when all damage cannot be prevented

Begin the turn by comparing the losses each available line leaves behind. Subset warns that Unfair creates more situations where damage is inevitable. Its examples are losing grid power, sacrificing a pilot, or failing a mission objective. Treat those as competing costs rather than assuming every turn has a perfect no-loss solution. The best choice depends on the actual board and remaining run resources. [1]

Steps

1. When a loss is unavoidable, compare grid damage, pilot loss and objective failure before choosing the turn’s actions. [1]

Account for doubled grid gains when evaluating a setback

Unfair doubles grid-power gains. That creates more opportunity to recover after taking damage, and the developer specifically encourages continuing after setbacks. Include that recovery rule when comparing a grid hit with an irreversible pilot sacrifice. It does not make every grid loss acceptable; the official advice is to take losses strategically, using the situation in front of you. [1]

Consider leaving a weak Vek alive

Before spending an action on a weak enemy, consider the spawn limit. Subset says the number of Vek that can spawn is limited, so leaving some weak Vek alive can sometimes be more advantageous than eliminating them early. Use this as a conditional choice when an enemy’s continued presence is manageable; the announcement does not give a universal instruction to spare every weak Vek. [1]

Steps

1. Evaluate whether leaving a manageable weak Vek alive is preferable to freeing space for another spawn. [1]

Include Boost, KO effects and cracked tiles in the attack calculation

Advanced Edition adds three interactions worth checking before committing an attack. Boost adds one damage to the next attack and is especially effective on an area attack. A KO effect requires killing the primary target. A cracked tile shatters when damaged again, destroying both the tile and anything standing there. These conditions can change whether an action actually protects the threatened pieces. [1]

KO effects depend on the primary target dying. [1]

Cracked ground is destroyed by another hit. [1]

Steps

1. Check the primary target’s survival before relying on a KO effect. [1]