Solar Wind. Every two to three minutes, the Core flares up in Orbit (the first one after about 2.5 minutes, never during the Core fight):
- A three-second warning: a banner reads “SOLAR WIND · SEEK SHADOW,” the Core pulses, and a line runs from your ship to the Core — amber means unprotected, cyan means covered.
- The shockwave travels as a ring from the center to the edge of the system, at around 1,400 px/s near the center and 560 near the edge. Getting caught in it deals kinetic damage (up to 60, full strength near the center, barely a scratch at the edge — meaning part of it punches through the shield) and knocks you outward.
- Cover is an obsidian chunk between you and the Core (up to 420 px ahead of you), or a nebula. The Gravity Anchor from 0.94.0 cancels the knockback, not the damage.
The wave also sweeps away enemy fire it rolls over — a brief moment where everyone does the same thing. It shows up on the system map as an amber ring.
That gives obsidian a second role: it used to be cover against projectiles, now it’s also the shadow you look for before the flare hits. The help entry explains Solar Wind under SOLAR WIND.