Falcon, Mustang, Phasor, Dragon, Viper: Which Tunnel Rush 2 Ship to Buy

The hangar in Tunnel Rush 2 has five ships, and the game shows you a price and an unlock level but not what the ship actually changes. Here are the numbers, straight from the ship definitions in the build, and what they mean for a run.

The five ships

There are two ways to get a ship. The shop behind the ship button on the title screen sells any of them for gems at any level; the BUY label turns red when you are short. The level-completed screen also counts down (Next Ship Unlocks in N Levels) and, when you finish level 2, 9, 24 or 49, shows New Ship Unlocked and buys the next ship for you, deducting the gems and switching you into it. That automatic buy only goes through if you have the gems, so a short account sees the message and keeps the old ship. Ships you own are remembered in the browser.

What the speed stat does

The stat is folded into the run's speed multiplier as 0.4 plus a fifth of the stat. That gives 0.6 for the Falcon and 0.8 for the Viper before the difficulty setting adds its own 0.5, 0.75 or 1.0. On Med, that is 1.35 against 1.55: the fastest ship is about 15% faster than the free one. On Easy the gap is a little bigger in relative terms, on Hard a little smaller. It is a real difference but a modest one, and the ship's stat never affects the obstacles, the level length or the gem count.

What handling does

Handling multiplies your roll speed around the tunnel, and every ship sits within 4% of the Falcon. The Mustang rolls slightly quicker, the Phasor and Viper slightly slower. In practice you will not feel it. Roll speed also scales with your forward speed, so the faster ships turn faster anyway, which is what keeps them playable.

So which one?

Buy the Mustang once you have 100 gems and level 3. It is the biggest jump in feel for the fewest gems, and with handling above 1.0 it is the only ship that is both faster and easier to steer than the Falcon. After that, save. The Phasor and Dragon are faster still but their handling is neutral or below, so they add speed without adding control, and the Viper needs level 50, which is a long way past where most runs end. If the game feels slow, Hard on the title screen adds 0.25 to the multiplier for free; that is worth more than any ship.

Where the gems come from

Gems are saved under the same browser profile as your ships and your best level, so switching from a school Chromebook to a home laptop starts you from zero on the second machine. On a level you can clear, a dedicated gem section is worth about four gems and there are one or two per level, plus the Double Your Gems offer on the crash screen when a run collected 20 or more. Clearing levels 1 to 8 on Easy while sweeping the gem sections is the quickest 100 gems in the game, and if you have them by the end of level 2 the Mustang is handed to you without a visit to the shop.