V99 Engine Overhaul

• Entirely new vector rendering system built from scratch
• Dramatic improvements in raw line drawing performance
• Custom effect shader pipeline
• Multisample antialiasing up to 4x
• Variable pixel density up to 2.0x
• Significant optimisation gains in collision detection, entity management, memory traffic, etc.
• More accurate collision detection
• After one launch into fullscreen via the windowed intro, the app will auto launch into fullscreen on subsequent opens (unless the app is set to windowed again while running and then quit)
• New CRT effects (bezel reflections, barrel distortion, phosphorescent persistence, new overlays)
• New graphics options: aperture (beam width), dwell (corner sharpness)
• Manual viewport scaling options
• New audio mix: sound effects, aux reverb and speech generator are dynamics compressed in a dedicated bus (pre-fader), music channels are no longer affected by global dynamics compression
• Experimental X/Y oscilloscope audio renderer (requires high sample-rate DC-coupled audio interface, not practical for or enabled in UMF yet)

Steamdeck improvements

• Steamdeck controller support via XInput
• Steamdeck will auto-launch into fullscreen on first run (unless windowed while running in linux desktop mode, then quit)
• [!] NOTE: Steamdeck requires Proton 10.x (beta) or Proton Hotfix to run (as of 2025/09/23)
• [!] NOTE: Steamdeck requires "Disable Frame Limit" to be switched on in Performance Settings to v-sync properly (recommendation shown on first run)
• Improved gamepad deadzone / sensitivity curve for nuke target crosshair movement, turret aim angle and turret spread trigger controls

Graphics / Audio / QoL

• Entire game aspect ratio widened by 12% (was 5:4 now 7:5)
• At game over, time slows down to 0.01% momentarily and the entity that destroyed the city is highlighted
• Optional darkening mask under missile crosshair for better visibility in hectic scenarios, toggle with 'm'. Persistent between sessions, defaults to off except on Steamdeck.
• All old display modes recreated with the new shader pipeline, except for 'v99 extrasharp' (can be recreated with the new aperture and dwell controls)
• Each display mode now sets various parameters to sensible defaults (dwell, aperture, persistence, screen sim., reduced motion)
• New display mode: 'Hotwired Trinitron', based on a Sony PVM9044QM
• New display mode: Telequipment D1010 x/y oscilloscope
• New layout for history / status buttons in dashboard/upgrade screens
• In lieu of a proper city select screen, cities are now chosen in a shuffled 'playlist' generated once per session instead of randomly per game
• Added explanation popups for drone behavioural parameters
• After applying a factory mod upgrade, the edit outpost screen is opened automatically with the 'recycle obsolete drones' option flashing
• Improved game over FX sequence, increased debris entity count, new debris items
• New particle FX on flail targets and cobalt impacts
• End-of-day rewards (as opposed to rewards gained during the day) are shown in italic in the reward summary screen
• Default music volume of 50% is now the maximum, scaled in the options UI to appear as 100% (the 50% default volume was originally a psychological trick to make people less likely to turn the music down, abandoning that idea because setting music to 100% is just 'too loud' and can cause distortion now that the music bus is no longer affected by dynamics compression)
• Many small aesthetic improvements (shaders, vector artwork, animation, particle FX, etc.)

Additions

• New opportunity: Illicit Arms Deal (rare, week 1), sell 3 nukes in exchange for 1 immediate upgrade (taking the opportunity does not consume an upgrade or block Operation Hermit)
• New opportunity: Liquidate Shield Nodes (rare, week 1), drain a 100% intact shield in exchange for 3 nukes (counts as a 'shield hit' blocking Sanctuary and Blissful Ignorance)
• Illicit Arms Deal and Liquidate Shield Nodes are mutually exclusive
• In-game reward meter showing how many reward challenges have been stacked during the day
• New AoE/DoT system, 'hotzones' apply damage to enemies over time based on their distance from the zone epicenter
• Overfuelled Boosters deal damage in their wake over 1 second, dealing (potentially) 5x more damage overall
• Mini-blob variant added for week 1
• Alternative game over audio when >1,000,000 points scored

Drone adjustments

• Aggressive + Hunter drones have 25% reduced hazard awareness
• If Aggressive Drones collide with enemy mines/bombs and survive the impact, the projectile becomes 'primed' (collides with other enemies)
• If enemy missiles survive a drone impact, the missile stops thrusting and falls under gravity
• Drones no longer necessarily die on impact with enemy shields (damage based on impact magnitude)
• Drones can identify potential targets and threats 66% further away
• Atomic Drones have 20% less health
• Atomic Drones prefer to be 50% further away from other drones and 2x higher in minimum altitude
• Drones have 10% slower fire rate
• Drone bullets have 50% more inertia (pushing force)
• Double-Barrelled Drones per-bullet damage increase reduced to 5% (was 25%, still effectively 2.1x damage overall)
• Twin Drones now available from day 8 (was day 7)
• Aggressive Drones thrust 10% faster
• Aggressive drones 'brake later' when approaching their chosen location
• Robotics Specialist is now a descendent of Superconducting Power Lines, both have revised descriptions

Weapon adjustments

• Sub-frame player bullet init positioning (bullet distribution no longer affected by non-meshing frame rates)
• Cobalt bullets have 5% greater intertia (pushing force)
• Cobalt Coil Gun temporarily gets twin shot during Blackout
• Increased initial gimbal speed by 1.5%
• Shotgun overall damage increase adjusted to 10%
• Orbital Blunderbuss damage increase reduced to 12% (was 18%)
• Orbital Blunderbuss available from day 25 (was 22)
• Laser Watchtowers deal 2.5% more damage per second (all tiers)
• Improved pulse knockback / pull behaviour when interacting with pathed enemies
• Blackout bullet damage reduced by 15%
• High Voltage Arcing damage increase raised to 66% from 50%
• High Voltage Arcing now requires Maximum Flail Amperes as well as Superconducting Flail and Operation Hermit
• Increase Flail Amperes raised to 40% (was 30%)
• Enemy Bombs, Missiles and Rockets are now 1.5x more vulnerable to Arc Flail (Gorilla Slugs remain 1x vulnerable)
• Mines are now destructable by bullets (although still very tough)
• Mines take 66% more damage from superheated bullets
• Graphene Tipped Rods 33% more likely to be offered
• High Frequency Laser towers deal 55% more damage (3.5x that of level 1 laser, up from 2.25x)
• High Frequency Laser towers available from day 12, was 15 (9 for Berserker)
• First Fire Rate upgrade beyond Twin Shot is 2.5x more likely to be offered again after not being chosen

Enemy adjustments

• Global difficulty scaling curves adjusted for fairness vs challenge (slow ramp to week 2, easing into a linear increase to week 4, endgame ramp up to week 8)
• Rockets and Missiles now have a 20x shorter offscreen timeout period
• Mines ('rainbow bombs') have 5% more air resistance (fall slightly slower)
• Wizard mine drop rate 16% slower
• Nullifiers have 27% more health
• 'Centipede' squad enemies are less likely to kamikaze into the ground
• Purple centipedes have 15% less health
• Dive-bombing Cruisers will stop spawning Gnats at a certain altitude
• Asteroids are less likely to spawn more than 3 chunks per generation, maximum capped at 4
• Asteroids have 8% less health
• Level 2 Cheval de Frise have 10% less health
• Level 3 Cheval de Frise have 5% less health
• Calamari Mothership Minions (green mini-fighters) are 25% less inclined to approach the city
• Squidlings, Squids, Pulse Squids and Calamari Motherships move 25% slower
• Squidlings and Squids cannot choose a new destination while charging
• Anemones deal 12.5% more shield drain / vampiric population loss per second
• Anemones now target outposts as well as the city and drones
• Various enemy wave colour tweaks

Other adjustments / improvements

• Adjustments to various week 1 & 2 attack wave delay timings (0.5-1 second longer delay after certain waves)
• More accurate bullet-enemy collision checks
• Slightly more generous and more accurate city hitbox ('unfair' deaths less likely)
• Shield Reflex renamed to 'Shield Blast' to better differentiate between Pulse Reflex / Hyper Reflex
• Hyper Reflex force increase reduced to 25% (description previously said 30%, but the upgrade actually applied 27%, so only a 2% reduction)
• Bookworm reward now requires 4 research categories (Offensive Innovation Center now counts towards bookworm)
• Discipline reward is no longer given to hermits
• Work Retreat daily reward bonus multiplier increased to 2x
• Red Flag Day reward bonus multiplier increased to 6x
• Context Switch charge rate boost while not firing increased to 666%
• Radiation sickness reacts a further more quickly to the number of nukes stockpiled (6.25 full / 12.5 rationed / 25 tactical is still the stockpile sickness threshold)
• Radiation sickness kills 30% fewer people at any sickness level
• Operation Hermit recieves a daily 10% reward bonus as standard (except on work retreat / red flag day)
• Attenborough reward conservation streak reduced to 5 days (repeatable)
• Radiation sickness reacts 3x more quickly to the number of nukes stockpiled (faster lagging indicator)

Fixes

• Prevent crash when spam-clicking icons in upgrade tree
• Fixed Context Switch becoming disabled when enemies appear if ceasefire was manually enabled before the first attack wave
• Changed system frame delta clamping behaviour to ignore insane or negative values that shouldn't be possible
• Fixed incorrect scale units for drones aiming at fly-by enemies (Cruisers)
• Fixed squad members having certain behaviours executed on init before being assigned a path (rare crash)
• Prevent rare crash when newly spawned sub-entities are destroyed by orphaned bullets while being initialised
• Default barrel spread when using mouse wheel for adjustment is 75% focused
• Mines no longer bounce off outposts on direct collisions
• Drones will no longer attempt to aim at cloaked enemies
• Fixed multiple damage sources overkilling enemies and potentially wasting bullets
• Fixed 'hot' bullets (blackout, graphene) having inconsistent cooldown delay between multiple collisions while timewarp is transitioning
• Drones can no longer accidentally damage themselves while in config mode
• Fixed drone bullets relfecting off enemy shields with zero mass
• Fixed minus 1 population bug in rare cases
• Points can no longer be earned from enemies dying in game over explosion (fixed potential difference in final score in-game vs final score on game over summary screen)
• Fixed explosive enemy gibs seed sometimes not auto-popping (Cruisers, Calamari, Wizards)
• Fixed reverb aux bus being attentuated twice (becoming inaudible at low volume settings)