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Survival is ZeroSpace's wave-defence mode, where one or two commanders dig in against an endless enemy assault and try to last as long as they can. It sits apart from the story of the Campaign and from the head-to-head play of Skirmish, using the same base-building, economy and hero systems but pointing them at a single question: how long can you hold?
The mode is still marked beta in the Early Access build. An update on July 30, 2026 moved it to the end of the game mode selection and attached text saying so, and the studio has flagged that it is being actively reworked, so its rules and tuning are less settled than the other pillars.
How It Plays
You build and defend in the usual way, but the pressure never lets up. Enemy creeps spawn on a rolling schedule and escalate as the run goes on, so a position that comfortably held the early waves will not hold the later ones without expanding, teching up and levelling your hero. A status widget on screen tracks how far into the run you are.
Survival can be played solo or cooperatively with a friend. You pick a faction in the lobby before the run starts, and all four base Factions are selectable, including the Xol, who were added to the Survival lobby shortly after launch. The demo build framed the mode as holding out against a Grell onslaught, and the enemy pressure remains the draw rather than any objective you can complete.
Ranked Survival
Unlike a pure side mode, Survival carries its own ranked ladder. It is one of six ranked boards in ZeroSpace, tracked separately from the versus ladders so that time spent holding waves counts toward a standing of its own. Runs are ranked on the same league structure as the rest of competitive play, from Bronze up through Diamond, and the boards are published on the studio's public rankings page as well as inside the client.
The studio has singled out top Survival players in its community posts, calling out the commander who has held off more hordes than anyone else alongside the leaders of the Galactic War boards.
Changes Since Launch
Survival is not balanced on its own. The studio groups it with Versus and Skirmish in every patch, so unit and hero changes made for competitive play land here at the same time and in the same form. That includes the removal of the Harvester armour type on August 11, 2026, which moved harvesters and extractors onto Medium armour, and the movement speed pass that ran across several updates through early August 2026. The Galactic War went the other way: on August 19, 2026 its units were decoupled from Versus and Skirmish balance entirely.
The mode has also had fixes of its own. The July 30, 2026 update corrected Survival creeps not always spawning, alongside the move to the end of the mode list. The August 19, 2026 update rebuilt the Survival score screen. Update History carries the dated record.
How It Compares
Mode | Opposition | Ends When |
|---|---|---|
Scripted story forces | You complete the mission objectives | |
Other players or the AI | One side is defeated | |
Procedurally built enemy armies | The mission objective is met | |
Survival | Escalating waves that keep coming | You are overrun |
Tips
Treat economy as defence. A run ends when your production cannot keep pace with the waves, so expanding early buys you later rounds.
Keep units alive. Veterancy means a force that survives several waves is meaningfully stronger than a freshly rebuilt one, which matters more here than anywhere else.
Use your hero to hold chokes. See Heroes and Commanders for how hero levelling scales with your faction experience.
Spend flux deliberately. Resources and Economy covers why flux is the scarcer of the two resources and what it unlocks.
New commanders should start with Getting Started before taking on a Survival run, since the mode assumes you already know the economy and hero basics.
October 3, 2026: Matchmaking/Survival/Skirmish
The October 3 update completed the Xol roster in matchmaking, Survival and Skirmish, and made the faction playable in Ranked 1v1. See The Xol for the faction mechanics.
October 3, 2026: Account-wide, all game modes
Playing any game mode now earns account XP. Account levels unlock profile cosmetics. This progression is separate from the XP earned during a match.
October 3, 2026: Matchmade Versus/Vs.AI/Survival only
Matchmade Versus, Vs. AI and Survival games can contribute to Galactic War. The planet selector on the right side of these mode screens chooses the planet to support and shows its occupation status.