Dicevaders Glossary: Budge, Chrono, Dice Power & Mult
The board
- Grid and columns
- Your army sits on a grid of six columns and three rows, 18 tiles in all (the developer refers to "the 17 other tiles" when one is blocked). Each column matches a die face from 1 to 6, so a rolled die lands in the column of its value. The Duchess can build a fourth row, and the Build Tile spell adds tiles.Source: Dev reply (Jul 24, 2026); dev log #6; official screenshots
- Artifact slots
- Each column has one artifact slot above it. Many effects say "this column" or "the artifact in its column", which is why placement matters: XP from scoring a column usually goes to the artifact on top of it.Source: Official screenshots; dev logs #1-#9
- Units
- The alien invaders you buy and place. A unit is scored when a die lands in its column; a small target icon on a unit's text means "when scored". Tokens are spawned units such as Apples, Worms, Webs, Pawns, Worker Bees and Hemocytes, and many effects only count non-Token units.Source: Dev reply (Jul 26, 2026); dev logs
- Warped units
- A stronger, stranger family of units. The Strange Portal artifact spawns two of them and was nerfed for 1.0. A Warped Ghost cannot be removed once it is on your grid.Source: Beta 0.5 notes; demo 0.9 notes; dev reply (Jul 24, 2026)
Dice
- Base Dice
- Your standard roll. Commanders add special dice to it: The Core's blue Kraken die, and The Riftmaker's Rift face, a seventh face that is not on the board and counts as extra dice in every column that already holds dice.Source: Dev logs #3 and #4; dev reply (Feb 20, 2026)
- Mini-Dice
- Extra dice gained from effects (Blob Girl gets three every turn). They score like Base Dice but are counted separately, so many items trigger only on Base Dice or only on Mini-Dice. The developer names Mini-Dice and trigger effects as what "breaks the game wide open".Source: Dev log #2; dev reply (Feb 7, 2026)
- Launch
- Sending your dice into their columns with the LAUNCH button. "When launched" effects fire here, and the units in each die's column are scored.Source: Official screenshots; dev logs #3-#4
- Pairs, triples and quadruples
- Two, three or four dice landing in the same column. Many artifacts reward them, The Captain's Monocle makes a lone Base Die count as a pair, and The Exalted's Broken Lens makes pairs count as triples.Source: Store description; dev logs #1 and #7
- Budge
- A resource that nudges a rolled die by one face, moving it to the neighbouring column. You can hold up to 10. Normally a die cannot be budged from 6 to 1; The Captain's Torpedo allows it. Cracked dice cannot be budged until rerolled.Source: Store description; dev log #1; official screenshots (Budge 9/10, Roxy's Trailblazer text)
- Chrono
- A resource that rerolls your dice or restocks the shop, also capped at 10. If you run out, the shop is guaranteed to offer Chrono.Source: Store description; official screenshots; dev reply (Sep 30, 2026)
- Freeze
- Frozen dice are not rerolled, and frozen shop items stay for the next shop. Freezing shop items can block new units from appearing, so unfreeze if units stop showing up.Source: Dev replies (Mar 3 and Sep 30, 2026)
- Dice Power
- A die's strength when it scores its column; many effects add +1 or more Dice Power to specific dice. Exact rules for how it scales scoring are not spelled out in the official text.Source: Dev logs #2, #3, #8, #9
Scoring
- STR
- A unit's strength, the base number it adds when scored. Players report that STR gains stay on units between rounds while Mult does not.Source: Dev logs; player report in the Steam forum (Jan 2026)
- Mult
- The multiplier applied to the STR you score; the scoring readout shows both (for example 87,438 x 40.4). Some effects add flat Mult, others multiply it (x2).Source: Official screenshots; dev logs #7 and #9
- Repeat
- Scores a unit again. Dark Tower scores your highest-STR unit with +1 Repeat after any triple; Rat Poison gives a Token unit +2 Repeat.Source: Dev logs #5 and #7
- Charge
- A per-unit counter that some units spend for their effect; Mycelium and Hot Buzz hand out +1 Charge. The game shows an icon when a unit is fully charged.Source: Dev logs #2 and #8; Beta 0.5 notes
- Target Defense and Total Attack
- Each fight shows a Target Defense and your Total Attack, with a turn counter. Reach the defense within the turns to pass. Matching it exactly should count as a pass; on launch it did not, which the developer called a bug.Source: Official screenshots; dev reply (Sep 30, 2026)
- Infinity
- Scores can grow so large the display shows Infinity; the demo even ran a challenge to reach it with The Duchess. The game has true infinite loops, which is one reason there is no score preview.Source: Duchess Infinity Challenge post; dev reply (Sep 25, 2026)
Runs and items
- Shop and $
- Between launches you spend $ on units, artifacts, perks, spells, Budge and Chrono. Shop Rarity (shown as a percentage) raises the odds of rarer items. Units should appear at least once every two shops.Source: Official screenshots; dev reply (Mar 3, 2026); demo 0.9 notes
- Artifacts
- Items in the column slots that gain XP and level up. Rarer artifacts scale much faster, so a Rare or Legendary can overtake a well-levelled Common soon after you switch. Their scaling is shown in the corner of the tooltip.Source: Dev replies (Feb 7 and Mar 2, 2026)
- Perks
- Run-wide rule changes with no rarity, such as Toy Maker (after you buy a unit from the shop, spawn a base copy on a random tile).Source: Official screenshot; dev logs
- Spells
- One-shot shop items: Build Tile expands the grid, the swap spell can swap or move artifacts, a Give XP spell levels artifacts, and Blood Beast gets Blood Sacrifice.Source: Official screenshot; dev reply (Feb 20, 2026); dev log #9; demo notes
- Hearts
- Your lives. Failing a fight costs a Heart but gives you an extra shop and turn to scale, and you get the Heart back after beating the act pilot. Cursed shop items cost a Heart to buy.Source: Dev replies (Sep 25 and Sep 30, 2026); dev log #9
- Constellations
- A full-game system of randomized unit modifiers each run, similar to the pack system in StarVaders. There are 30+, and some artifacts are Constellation-unique.Source: Dev reply (Mar 3, 2026); launch post; demo 0.9 notes
- Pilots and acts
- A run is split into acts; each act ends with a StarVaders pilot whose ability disrupts you. Winning a run means beating Act 4. Endless mode continues after that.Source: Store description; dev reply (Sep 21, 2026)
- Rewind
- A pause-menu button that takes you back to the start of the turn. Seeding is deterministic, so the same roll comes up again.Source: Dev reply (Sep 25, 2026)
Definitions checked:
Quick definitions
What does Budge do in Dicevaders?
A resource that nudges a rolled die by one face, moving it to the neighbouring column. You can hold up to 10. Normally a die cannot be budged from 6 to 1; The Captain's Torpedo allows it. Cracked dice cannot be budged until rerolled.
What is Chrono in Dicevaders?
A resource that rerolls your dice or restocks the shop, also capped at 10. If you run out, the shop is guaranteed to offer Chrono.
What does Repeat mean?
Scores a unit again. Dark Tower scores your highest-STR unit with +1 Repeat after any triple; Rat Poison gives a Token unit +2 Repeat.
Do STR and Mult carry over between rounds?
Players report that STR gains stay on your units while Mult resets; the developers have not published a formal rule.