... For about 6 hours. Then, after beating it once I stumbled across something HUGE by complete accident.

After starting a new game, I thought to myself "I wish I could have enough money to buy a mercenary for my entire trip".

So I parked myself next to one of those Factory spaces (The space with the "+" symbol on it) and decided to wait a few turns.

I discovered that ships spawned at a factory will always jump to the same space after spawning in. So here's the two step guide:

Step 1: Wait TWICE in the position spawned ships jump to (Next to a "Factory". One "Wait" so the ships spawn, a second "Wait" so they jump into the system)**


Step 2: Kill the ships, get loot

Step 3: Repeat (potentially) forever

(DON'T LET LOOT ACCUMULATE LIKE THIS, I'LL EXPLAIN LATER)

** If, after waiting the ships don't spawn, chances are they are floating around the system elsewhere. Try using a distress beacon or hunting them down first. I've recreated these grind conditions 4 times now so it's definitely repeatable.

Initially I thought this was just a good way of getting scrap so I could buy Mercs for longer. But then I started noticing the stats of the weapons that were dropping were slowly rising higher and higher.

The spawned ships will drop weapons of their type (Celestial, Schillae, etc). Over time, these weapons will become more and more powerful, accurate and have greater range. It will get to the point where the smaller secondary guns (the teal spaces) will have greater range than the main guns (the red spaces) can have naturally.

As an example, this weapon dropped in the very beginning of my run:


And this is a weapon after ~3 hours of grinding in this manner (with the upgrades it came with):


For comparison, here is a FULLY upgraded particle turret (considered by many to be the best weapon):


And remember: EACH of the weapons on my ship are as powerful or more than the one shown in the second picture.

I don't think there's a limit to how powerful the weapons can become. The only factor here is how patient and grind-resistant you are. Because after an hour it stops seeming like a game and becomes more like Cookie-clicker.

As an added bonus to all of this, you'll receive experience at the end of the game for every ship you destroy (although you won't get as much as you'd think because it subtracts an amount based on the total number of turns in your run).


Be aware that while doing this, the enemies in your sector will continue to grow more and more powerful along with you. The good news is this only lasts as long as you are in that sector. As soon as you jump, they revert to their normal state for whatever sector you're in. So if you did this in S1, S2 should be an absolute cakewalk... So long as you don't make dumb strategic decisions. This is only improving your DPS and financial situation, you're still exactly as easily killed as when you started.

After re-creating this grind a few times I learned some things and found a few ways to ease the burden of the constant clicking:

• Keep the game speed on "Accelerated" (hotkey F2) to make the fights as fast as possible.
  
• The instant the red "Sector Cleared" banner appears after destroying the enemy ships you can click the Starmap to begin waiting.
  
• As soon as you hit "Wait" the second time you can click on "Close" to jump right to the fight. You don't have to wait for the enemy ships to "slide" their way to you. Just click that red "Close" button immediately after hitting "Wait" that second time.
  
• You'll get so many distress beacons you'll run out of room for them. Just start selling them after you have a few stacks.
  
• Don't let more than 4 items float in space or it's a real pain to try and pick them up. I learned that from the session with the bunch of items in the screenshot above.
  
• Around 200,000 credits in (or ~3 hours for me), the enemies will start doing a noticeably larger amount of damage to you. Keep an eye on your health pool. Know when to hold and when to fold. If necessary, Alt+F4 will revert the game to the beginning of the battle so you can try not to lose a ship.
  
• After you jump out of that sector, weapon drops revert to normal. So try and stick with it as long as possible to maximize your Godly powers. You won't get another drop this good unless you go incredibly far in Endless.

If you have any questions feel free to say something and I'll help if I can. Otherwise, enjoy being a GOD.