Greetings Wardens

It’s been a long time since the last update, and I apologize for that. I’m not going to spend this post on why – I’d rather show you what we’ve been building, because it’s playable right now!

In this update we’ll look at Project Lazarus, the new mission mode that’s live on Steam as an Alpha, how to jump in with your friends, what the next Lazarus versions bring, and the pile of features that are going to get their own spotlights over the coming weeks.

What is Project Lazarus?

Project Lazarus is Solar Warden’s mission mode – think of it as Instant Action. No long setup, no campaign to grind through first: you pick a mission, launch, and you’re flying the fight within seconds.

In the fiction, you’re a Warden whose mind has been pulled back through Dr. Arnold’s Telepresence tech and wired into the Mnemonic Nexus – a place where recovered combat memories are rebuilt and relived as *Memory Sequences*. Every mission is one of those memories. (Who brought you back, and why, is a story we’re going to tell a piece at a time…)

Out of the fiction, here’s what it really is: the fastest way into the heart of everything we’ve been rebuilding for Solar Warden. All of the post Demo spaceship features from the previous posts are here:
– The full 6DOF flight model with all three Vector modes (Throttle, Newtonian, Direct)
– The new Crosshair + weapon groups and hardpoints, and new weapon code with net lag compensation and net rewind capabilities
– New Auto-Turret tech to assign to turrets for Point defense or whatever fits your current needs
– A new FOV radar (Top-left in the HUD)
– A new ship selection window and unlocks for the Horde mission
– And more!

It’s all in there, in one mission you can learn in a couple of minutes!

And the big one: it all works in multiplayer co-op. The original Kickstarter demo was single player only. Project Lazarus allows for 1-8 pilots on Steam, flying the same fight together, with every system built for multiplayer from the ground up. That’s been the bulk of the work since the demo, and it’s the part I’m proudest of. (Side note, the true capacity in co-op hasn’t been tested yet, so it is currently open and there is no limit to the number of players in one session at the moment, so use at your own server risk!)

Project Lazarus V1 – Defense of Zenith Station

The first memory is a Horde mode. Zenith Station is under attack, and you and your co-op wingmen have to defend it!

– Waves escalate. Squids swarm you, Grubs snipe from a distance with the same fusion beam from the demo (you *can* dodge it!), new Exploders prime and dive in to detonate (beware their blast radius!!), and the Silicoid Worm – yes, the one from the demo – bursts out of an asteroid and comes for the station itself. The swarm grows bigger and meaner as it escalates (dynamic aggro director and AI grudge system if you hurt asteroids or other aliens), not spongier.
– Fleet Points (Player Lives) are shared. Deaths draw from one squad ticket pool called “Fleet Points”, so a reckless pilot costs the whole crew.
– Score buys ships. Kills and wave clears pay every pilot. Pool your score together to unlock new hulls or variants and buy Fleet Points (Player Lives) between waves.
– Zenith Station is your base. Fly into the station’s service zone to repair, rearm, and swap ships. Lose the station and the memory is lost.

This isn’t a trailer – it’s a build we’ve been playtesting over the internet for the last few weeks and now those of you with Alpha access can join us!

Who can play right now? The Alpha is open to our Kickstarter Alpha-tier backers and a small group of testers. Every other Kickstarter backer also has a slot, but will need to wait to play when either the Beta opens or the Early Access opens depending on their Kickstarter pledge level. See the Kickstarter update for more information!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1763148489/solar-warden/posts/4841977

Not a backer yet? Wishlist Solar Warden on Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/690800/Solar_Warden/) so Steam tells you the day it releases! Also, join us on Discord (https://discord.gg/MaGzwt4) – that’s where every update and playtest opening lands first!

How to play

Getting in (solo): Main menu > MISSION MODE > pick the memory > Single Player > ENTER MNEMONIC NEXUS. You’ll land in the Nexus lobby – free-flight in Earth orbit – and when you’re ready, open the [TAB] screen and INITIATE MEMORY SEQUENCE.

Playing with friends (important!): in the current Alpha, the only way to play together is through your Steam friends list. There’s no server browser YET (It is very high on our priority list, so very soon™).

1. The host goes first: Main menu > MISSION MODE > pick the memory > Multiplayer > ENTER MNEMONIC NEXUS. The host must be in the Mnemonic Nexus before anyone tries to join.

2. Friends join through Steam: right-click the host on your Steam friends list > Join Game. Or the host invites you from the Steam overlay (Shift+Tab > Friends > right-click > Invite to Game).

3. Ready up: everyone ticks READY on the [TAB] screen (or presses [Enter]), and the host initiates the memory sequence.

If the main menu shows a “STEAM NOT CONNECTED” banner, restart Steam and the game – multiplayer won’t host without it.

In the fight, the keys you’ll want first:

– [Enter] – deploy (after a death, or to launch on the dot)
– [Backspace] – Ship Selection (pick a new hull or loadout)
– [TAB] (hold) – squad scores, and READY between waves to skip the breather
– Ctrl+V – Match Vector: lock your flight to a target’s reference frame
– F – Toggle between Throttle and Newtonian flight modes.
– Every binding is in Options, and you can rebind them there.

We will in the coming days release a video on how to get Started.

The road ahead: The Lazarus Versions

Lazarus isn’t one drop. It’s a series of numbered versions, each one a new memory built around a headline feature – and each one unlocks its new ships and toys in the older memories too.

– Lazarus V1 – Defense of Zenith Station (live now) – co-op Horde, the core flight and dogfight loop.
– Lazarus V2 – Counter Attack *(targeted early 2027)* – the **Tactical View** finally gets to be played (not just the strategy layer): pull out of your ship to the tactical plane, command your fleet and AI wingmen, then take control of any ship and fly the fight yourself. Plus a Fleet Builder – spend a Fleet Point budget to field your force – and a new Silicoid boss, guarding a meteor swarm you’re going on the offensive against.
– Lazarus V3 – Orion Down – Mag Drive travel (Earth is now 1:1 scale in engine vs shrunk from the Demo), the first capital ships, and ship customization. Objective: rescue a downed Orion-class destroyer.
– Lazarus V4 – Divided Front – the PDI strategy view, like the Demo: two meteor clusters inbound from opposite sides of Earth, and you split your forces to stop both.
– Lazarus V5 – Extinction Level Event – the Mega Meteor. Chip it apart from the outside with heavy hulls and big guns, or fly light ships into its caves and deliver a nuke to the core.

After that comes Early Access on Steam, which we’re targeting for summer 2027. Mission names past V1 are still working titles, and the order may shift – but you’ll hear about it here first.

So many features, so little space

Here’s the honest problem with this update: we’ve built way more than one post can explain. Over the last few months we’ve finished dozens of features, and a lot of them deserve their own spotlight – what they are, why they work the way they do, and how to use them. A taste of what’s coming:

– Match Vector – reference-frame flight that lets you lock onto a target’s motion and dogfight on its terms
– Hits that land at 400ms ping – how co-op combat stays fair over real internet connections (Weapon lag compensation – makes you feel like there’s little/no lag at all*)
– Crosshair Assist Mode – our newest aim mode, and now the default: paint a spot on your target with the crosshair and every turret leads it for you, with each weapon’s pip closing on the crosshair and turning orange when it’s on solution. The classic Lead and Lag pips are one keypress away (Ctrl+L) for pilots who’d rather fly the solution themselves
– AI Targeting Computers – auto-turret fire control: assign turrets to a computer and they pick their own targets, lead their shots, and lock before launching missiles, while you keep flying. Capital ships run several as independent batteries, and Zenith Station defends with the same tech.
– The swarm that splits – the Silicoid aggro director, and why the swarm hunts the pilot who hurt it most
– Ship Selection – pick your hull in 3D, read its specs and hardpoints, and spend your score to unlock more
– Missiles and countermeasures – swarm missile racks, lock warnings that speed up as the missile closes, and flares that actually work
– Zenith Station destruction – what it looks like when you lose
– A soundtrack that follows the fight – the music director, built with our sound designer

Each one gets its own post here and on solarwardengame.com over the coming weeks – so watch this space.

Conclusion

That’s Project Lazarus: Solar Warden’s Mission Mode, in co-op, live on Steam right now. V1 is the start, the Tactical View is next, and there’s a spotlight series lined up behind it. Grab a wing, get into the Nexus, and come hold the line. See you in the next update!

Kickstarter backers: your Steam keys and the fulfillment status of every pledge reward are in our latest Kickstarter update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1763148489/solar-warden/posts/4841977

God speed, Warden!

-Kami
Polar Zenith