Early Build: Crash Reporting Is In (plus a WIP pile of good stuff)

Infinite Empire Demo · published · build 24065294

Note up front: this update shipped earlier than planned. I built a crash reporting system and wanted it in your hands immediately, so the rest of this patch rides along in a work-in-progress state. It all works and is tested (as much as I can), but tuning is ongoing and a follow-up is coming fast.

🚨 Crash Reporting: Help Us Hunt

The game now notices when it did not shut down cleanly. On your next launch you may see a small "Unexpected Exit" notice telling you where it happened, with an Open Logs Folder button (also available in Settings). If you ever get kicked to desktop with no error: hit that button and send the newest log file to me in our Discord, along with what the notice said. That turns "it just closed" into something I can actually fix (maybe). One silent Empire-screen crash is already dead thanks to exactly one player report, and I want the rest.

🧪 The Research Tree Is Fully Real

  • Every research unlock now does what it says. All placeholder effects are gone: every passive, ability, and Keystone is wired and visible in play.

  • Keystones earn their drama: Mass Production stamps out a gunship escort mid-battle, Living Hull regrows dead modules before your eyes, The Wound curses a ship for the whole fight.

  • Full ability VFX pass, a real ability picker, and battle-order color coding so you can see which orders buff which abilities at a glance.

⚔️ Combat: Weapons Behave

  • Turrets aim before they fire and respect their range. No more opening salvos into empty space.

  • Enemy gunners now lead their shots. Strafing at range is no longer an invincibility trick.

  • All Ahead Full delivers a true +15% top speed, and ramming at full charge is properly catastrophic, for both ships.

  • Shields explain their downtime, ground hazards no longer blot out the screen, beams hold steady, and core-death craters glow hot and cool like they should.

🏛️ Strategy

  • Contested sectors offer real choices: fight the defenders, hit the besieging fleet, or join a siege at Allied standing.

  • Currencies simplified: Supplies and Salvage are the two that matter, and trade hubs exchange between them.

Your feedback shapes where this goes. See you on Discord!