🎓 New Player Experience & Tutorial Upgrades

We have completely overhauled the tutorial to make learning the ropes easier and much more informative.

• No More Rush: Removed the pressure of the tutorial timer so you can learn the game mechanics at your own comfortable pace.
• Combat Clarity: Added explicit explanations for unit attack cooldowns and why certain attacks might be unavailable in specific situations.
• Master the Map: Provided a thorough, step-by-step breakdown of how tile capturing works.
• Deselection Made Easy: Explained how to easily deselect units by either clicking on the active unit itself or anywhere outside of it.
• Role Introductions: Added detailed explanations for the unique roles of Expansion, Attacker, Defender, and Tactical units during the draft phase.
• Interface Guide: The top UI score display is now fully explained so you always know exactly where you stand.

⚔️ Gameplay Adjustments & Vital Bug Fixes

Several key bugs affecting the economy and flow of matches have been resolved.

• Upgrade Cost Reduction: Reduced the cost of upgrades to help you scale your economy and power up tiles more efficiently.
• Chest Spawning Fixed: Resolved the visual glitch where resource chests would instantly vanish after appearing, bringing the in-match resource economy back to full health.
• Victory Screen Optimization: Fixed a severe memory leak and performance issue on the victory screen that was causing PC lag and high resource usage.
• Smooth Replay Transitions: Fixed a bug where watching post-game replays would incorrectly toggle between victory and defeat screens.
• Percentage Win Timing: Adjusted the 65% territory control victory condition. The match now correctly ends immediately at the start of the final turn rather than requiring one more unit movement.

🎨 UI & Quality of Life Enhancements

We polished the menus and interfaces to make navigating the game intuitive.

• Redesigned Upgrade Menu: The upgrade window now clearly previews exactly what stats or bonuses your tile will receive before you commit.
• Streamlined Move Menu: Cleaned up the moves interface by removing redundant "Unit Upgrade" text.
• Settings Access Everywhere: Added the audio and graphics settings menu to the Unit Selection screen so you can configure your game before the match begins. We also reviewed and polished all settings buttons for better responsiveness.
• Better Legibility: Increased the font size on the Territory Selection screen to make those crucial numbers much easier to read.
• Smart Reconnections: Reduced the sensitivity of the reconnection system to prevent unnecessary gameplay interruptions during minor network blips.

🏆 Ranked & Competitive Play

We made competitive progression more robust and accurate.

• Ranked Gate: Ranked Mode is now hidden on the main landing page until you have completed 5 casual games, ensuring players are warmed up and ready.
• Rank Integrity: Fixed a bug where casual games were incorrectly affecting ranked match scores. Your rank progress is now strictly tied to your performance in Ranked Mode.