This update is primarily about stability and performance. We targeted the problems that most directly damage the feel of a run: frame-time spikes in large fights, slowdowns that build up over long sessions, and hitches (or freezes) during mission load/unload. The approach here was pretty basic: ship the quickest wins that are safe to integrate without destabilizing gameplay - cutting recurring costs in rendering, batching/atlasing, fog/visibility evaluation, animation overhead, and scene cleanup (costs that scale with everything on screen, from units to trees and biome textures). Alongside that work, we fixed a set of gameplay/UI/VFX issues that could stall enemies, break interactions, or confuse feedback, and we improved bug-report tooling so future fixes can be faster and more accurate. Shout out to everyone who took their time to message us their feedback!
Performance / Optimization
Mission render optimization (general performance pass on mission rendering).
Scene unloading optimization (cleaner unload / less leftover state).
Reduced rendering costs for dynamic fog recalculation.
Field Observer optimized (visibility / detection system that continuously evaluates units and objects in the field).
Faster mission loading by optimizing collider recalculation for building highlights.
Biome atlases regrouped.
ORX sprites regrouped into atlases (more intelligently).
High-res (512) biome images packed into large atlases (with correct form of compression that does not kill the quality of textures).
Reduced sprite overhead: stopped creating clones of sprites already loaded from an atlas.
Runes moved to the custom animator.
Gameplay / Logic Fixes
Final boss phase: fixed a case where the “day” wouldn’t start when the final boss entered its aggressive stage and stepped onto the field (boss could stand idle until killed).
Wizdomiac totems: fixed spawning/placement so totems don’t appear outside warriors’ attack reach.
Walls: fixed a case where a wall could get stuck into a farm after capturing a neighboring village.
Tile progression: fixed cases where a village could be cleared but the tile stayed blocked/closed despite no longer being obstructed.
ORX targeting: fixed ORX units stalling near a destroyed town center (main building) while other village town centers were still alive.
ORX movement: fixed an issue where ORX could run “backwards” (orientation/animation).
Snipers: fixed “strange” behavior (AI/targeting/movement pass).
Boreal crossbowmen: fixed an issue where they didn’t damage lairs.
Boreal contracts: fixed an exploit where contracts could be played on permanently dead ORX/warchiefs.
Worm interactions: Fixed a bug when casting a weapon on a camp whose warriors were killed by the worm would crash the mission. Fixed a restore-blocking issue tied to the worm (restore being blocked on the wrong target).
Fixed incorrect behavior when Revenge and Resurrect were combined.
Towers: removed “cold start” behavior (towers no longer start in a delayed/disabled state).
UI / UX / Tooling
Added a Bug Report button that packages logs + saves and sends them.
HP bar: added a clear “vulnerable” indication when the target is vulnerable.
Buildings: added an indicator for buildings with an active ability while it’s running, including a multiplier/stack count for multiple timers; fixed ability UI showing grey/inactive while the ability still works.
Fixed UI rounding/formatting for very small multiplier numbers.
Fixed an issue where description text color didn’t update.
Artifacts: added dynamic attribute tooltips; adjusted tooltip bottom padding for better readability.
Vault upgrade UI: fixed scrollbar behavior when selecting cards.
Fixed hover detection when dragging/hovering a card on the left side of a road/path.
Player Options: added windowed mode.
Medieval warriors UI: added a title text-sprite showing the warrior count.
Legendary reward icons updated/added (scope unclear).
Advisors: additional “hide/cover” behavior implemented (scope unclear).
Visual / VFX Fixes
Fixed broken “void edge” visuals/tiling.
Decoration layering pass: removed “standing” decorations and moved decorations to the road level.
Poison VFX: updated trail + bullet visuals.
Targeting VFX: beam + target circle now stay on the target until the hit connects.