v1.2 is live and it targets exactly what you described. The late-game crawl is gone - I flattened the hardness curve in the deepest strata so active digging stays in a healthy m/s band all the way to THE CORE instead of grinding to a stop with the strongest drill. And the idle-to-win loop is closed: offline progress now runs at half efficiency, so leaving the game is a catch-up at best, never better than playing. Early-game pacing is untouched. You've reported across three versions now and the game's genuinely better for it - would love your verdict on the endgame this time.