The main goal of Into the Breach is to make sure that the Vek do not destroy all of the grid power. Each island has a set variety of Vek that can spawn, one of which is a Psion, a supporting unit that grants a passive bonus to others. They emerge from the ground on certain tiles, which can be intercepted at the cost of 1 health during the enemy turn.
Before the player turn any active Vek will move to a certain tile and prepare to attack it, aiming for either a mech, building or objective. These attacks are executed during the enemy turn unless they are cancelled or the Vek is killed beforehand.
Vek are divided into five main groups:
Common Vek are those that can spawn on any island and make up most of the spawns on a mission. All of them have a soft limit on spawns per mission that can be bypassed if the spawning algorithm needs to.
Rare Vek are those whose attacks are more unique than common ones and do not appear on early islands.
Psions, which provide passive bonuses to other Vek when spawned. Note that the Psion itself does not benefit from the passive bonus.
Minor Vek, which are spawned by other Vek, are typically very weak, and bypass the spawning algorithm. They are not worth any experience and are not affected by Psion bonuses.
Hive Leaders, bosses found on the final mission of each island, the Volcanic Hive and normal missions on the fourth island in Unfair difficulty.
Rare Vek and Psions have a hard limit on spawns that cannot be bypassed, with Psions in particular being able to spawn only once per mission. Each island has three species of common Vek that can spawn as well as one type of psion, with rare species appearing the further you are in a run.
Alpha Vek are upgraded versions of Vek with higher health and stronger attack, spawning in place of any Vek that has one while contributing to the same spawn limit. They will appear more depending on a timeline's progression and difficulty.[1]
Description[]
Vek appear mainly insectoid in nature and behavior, forming a hive and reproducing via eggs. Exceptions among them include goo-like lifeforms or species resembling Earth sealife (such as the jellyfish-like Psions, and a variety of Vek introduced in Advanced Edition).
The Vek's origin and motives are left unexplained. However, their psionic powers and ability to hijack technology hints that they are more than mere rampaging beasts.
Deal 2 damage to and push three tiles then bounce backwards.
Massive: Massive units can walk in Water (but Water will prevent attacking or repairing). Natural Armor: Weapon damage to this unit is reduced by 1. All other damage (Push, Blocking, Fire, etc.) is unaffected.
Explode, dealing 1 damage to itself and 2 damage to adjacent tiles. Kill it first to stop it.
Minor: This unit does not grant XP to pilots on kill.
Trivia[]
The code associated with each mission in the game shows no indication that the same Vek will appear on any given mission. Instead, it appears that the Vek are randomly chosen from the island's pool each time the player enters a mission.
Unimplemented sprites exist for leader versions of the Burrower, Leaper, Digger and Moth:
Flying: Flying units can move over any terrain tile.
Explosive Decay: Explodes on death, dealing 1 damage to adjacent tiles.
Burrower: This Vek will hide underground after taking one or more damage.
Stable : Cannot be moved by any weapon effect (Push, Teleport, etc.).
Massive: Massive units can walk in Water (but Water will prevent attacking or repairing).
Spawner: Spawns two Medium Goos on death.
Natural Armor: Weapon damage to this unit is reduced by 1. All other damage (Push, Blocking, Fire, etc.) is unaffected.
Minor: This unit does not grant XP to pilots on kill.
Smoke Immunity: This unit is unaffected by Smoke.
