Governors!
Kaiserpunk: Strategic Warfare Update is officially out now! After months of talking about what’s coming, it’s finally time to get your hands on it. New frontline mechanics, new AI, refreshed diplomacy, updated military production - and plenty more.
We’re really looking forward to hearing what you think of this update and seeing how you take on the new battlefields. Your input and feedback over the past year has been incredibly valuable and helped us understand where to put our efforts. We’ll continue to gather feedback from you all and likely make some hotfixes in the short term to make sure you can happily conduct your wars and expand your empires. Now, it's over to you, Governors!
Old Saves Games & Strategic Warfare
Note that if you wish to continue any ongoing save games you have, you have to switch over to the previous_version branch in Steam as your old saves won’t be compatible with the Strategic Warfare update. To do this, simply go to Kaiserpunk in your steam library, right-click it and select Properties. Go to Game Versions & Betas and opt into the “previous_version” branch and you’re all set.
If you encounter any issues or have thoughts on game balance or UI, then you’re more than welcome to let us know. The best way to do this is to join our discord or use our Pinned threads in the Steam Forum.
We sincerely hope you’ll enjoy this grand new update, and you can certainly expect more updates to come for Kaiserpunk. Time to take command and lead your forces to glory!
If you haven’t tried Kaiserpunk yet it’s currently 50% off and our Supporter Pack is also available at a 40% discount, so now might be a good time to try it!
Happy gaming everyone!
- The Overseer Team
Strategic Warfare at a Glance
A Complete Warfare Overhaul
War. War sometimes changes. The previous warfare system is gone, and warfare has been rebuilt from the ground up. Experience deeper strategic warfare gameplay with greater insights into the battles themselves, bringing warfare and city building closer together than ever before. In addition, organization and logistics within the capital cities have been streamlined.
Completely New Frontline Warfare
A completely new warfare mechanic focusing on strategic frontlines, replacing the previous way of conducting war entirely. The city’s industry now feeds men and materials into ongoing large battles. Focus on economy, fronts and logistics creates a more authentic representation of how warfare would have been conducted during this era.
Rebuilt AI for a Better Player Experience
A complete overhaul of the AI delivers a better and more well balanced opponent while providing a stronger foundation for future balancing, updates, and long-term improvements.
Expanded World Map with Ocean Regions
Many new water regions open up additional strategic opportunities, allowing to secure maritime territories as part of the global strategy.
More Flexible Unit Movement
Units move with far greater flexibility, giving more control over navigation, reinforcements, separation of units, and long-term military planning.
New Options for all Military Branches
A new approach to the unit tier system, with different units creating synergies. Unique special actions for Navy and Air units. Two entirely new units - submarines and aircraft carriers - introducing specialized roles.
And Much Much More…
Enhanced Diplomacy introduces a more intuitive and streamlined diplomacy experience that better matches player expectations,
Special missions for air units,
The ability to strike enemy logistics,
New regional infrastructure upgrades,
And a dynamic weather system that impacts frontline battles.
Changelog
The update is enormous so we’ll list the biggest changes here and if you’re curious about the total changes, or would like to dig into one of these changes in particular, you can check the full changelog here.
Combat & Military
Division rework - All military units (land,naval, air) now use a single “Division” entity.
Land divisions are Battalions, naval are Fleets, air are Squadrons
Player divisions receive ordinal names ("1st Battalion", "2nd Fleet"); AI divisions use ID-based names ("Battalion #14")
No artificial cap on divisions per region or per faction
Division Types - Three strictly separate categories, no mixing of unit types within a division
Land: Infantry, Artillery, and Tank units
Sea: Ship units (Corvettes, Destroyers, Cruisers, Battleships, Carriers, Submarines)
Air: Fighter and Bomber units (stationed at airfields, mission-based)
Veterancy - Units have 3 veterancy levels: Conscript, Regular, Veteran
Regular and Veterans earned through surviving combat
Visible in the Military Overview Panel with per-level breakdowns
Contextual Click Control - All units now use contextual click control which includes new actions like “Deploy” for Navy units or “Join Front” for Land units.
Combat System
Two-Phase Combat - Replaces the old one-off battle system with persistent frontlines
Phase 1 - Border Battle: attacking and defending forces clash along a shared border. Combat resolves in 12-hour cycles. A progress bar tracks momentum from -1.0 (defender winning) to +1.0 (attacker winning). When the attacker reaches +1.0, the border falls.
Phase 2 - Region Conquest: after the border falls, attacker divisions can move into the enemy region and siege it. Regional guards and any remaining defenders resist. When defending forces are depleted, the region changes ownership.
4 Combat Types
Frontline: persistent border battle with full entrenchment bonuses and directives
Field Battle: division vs division in the open - no entrenchment bonus, only Dug In bonus applies
Region Conquest: siege of enemy region - regional guards plus any stationed defenders fight back
Naval Battle: fleet vs fleet at sea, uses the same cycle-based resolution
Front Directives - Choose combat doctrine per frontline
Blitzkrieg: 2x supply consumption, maximum aggression - for fast breakthroughs
Aggressive: 1.1x supply, above-average pressure
Balanced: standard combat
Defensive: 0.9x supply, reduced offensive output but conserves resources
Fortify: minimal offensive, maximum entrenchment - for holding ground
Directives available in all combat types: Frontline, Field Battle, Region Conquest, Naval
Active directive can be changed at any point during the battle
Terrain Combat Modifiers - Separate attack and defense modifiers per unit category per terrain type
9 terrain types: Plains, Forest, Mountains, Desert, Urban, Coastal, Rural, Tundra, Naval
Examples: Tanks get +10% ATK on Plains but -20% ATK in Mountains. Infantry get +30% ATK and +30% DEF in Urban. Bombers get +40% ATK on Plains but -50% ATK in Mountains.
Air units are NOT terrain-agnostic - bombers penalized in mountainous terrain, fighters penalized in forests and cities
Land units on water (transports) receive severe penalties: 0.05x ATK, 0.1x DEF
Terrain derived from the defender's region (not hardcoded)
Combat Synergies - 11 combined arms bonuses that reward diverse unit composition
Combined Arms: 100+ Infantry + 10+ Artillery → Artillery ATK +50% (scales to 200 infantry)
Armored Advance: 20+ Tanks + 50+ Infantry → Tank DEF +30% (scales to 100 infantry)
Fighter Escort: Fighters ≥ 50% of Bombers → Bomber ATK x2, DEF +50%
Partial Escort: Any Fighters + Bombers (below 0.5 ratio) → Bomber ATK scales with fighter ratio
Naval Bombardment: 2+ Battleships on Coastal terrain → Infantry ATK +25%
Recon Spotting: 5+ Recon Biplanes + 10+ Artillery → Artillery ATK +20%
Heavy Barrage: 5+ Heavy Artillery + 3+ Heavy Bombers → Heavy Bomber ATK +60%, Heavy Artillery ATK +20%
Screening Fleet: 4+ Destroyers/Corvettes + 1+ Battleship → Battleship DEF +40% (scales to 8 screens)
Shock Assault: 30+ Assault Infantry + 10+ Tanks → Assault Infantry ATK +35% (scales to 60), Tank ATK +25%
Tank Hunters: 20+ Heavy Infantry + 10+ Artillery, no Tanks → Infantry ATK +30%, Artillery ATK +20%
Blimp Screen: 3+ Blimps/Airships + Navy on Naval terrain → Navy DEF +20% (scales to 6 blimps)
Active synergies displayed live in the Frontline HUD with tooltips showing unit counts and requirements
Synergy bonuses stack multiplicatively with terrain, directive, and weather modifiers
"Potential" synergies are displayed on the unit tooltip
Regional Guards - Population-derived passive defenders in each region
Scale with region population, regenerate every hour
Provide defense-only presence (0 attack) during Field Battles and Region Conquests
Supply System
Per-Resource Supply - Divisions at war consume specific resources each combat cycle
Supply delivered from global stockpile through a route of regions from homebase to the front
Throughput limited by the weakest link (bottleneck) in the supply route
Infrastructure capacity: Undeveloped (50/cycle), Roads (150/cycle), Rail (400/cycle), Sea (200/cycle)
Supply Depot regional upgrade doubles throughput through its region
Non-combat units (stationed, not at a front) only consume 25% of normal supply rates
Supply Route Visualization - Map highlights showing the supply path from homebase to front
Per-link flow animation with directional arrows
Bottleneck region highlighted
War Declaration & Diplomacy of War
War Declaration - Confirmation popup before declaring war on any faction
Clicking an enemy region triggers a War Declaration popup with faction info
Confirming creates frontlines on ALL shared borders between both factions
Defenders auto-deployed to their side of the frontline
Divisions cannot walk into enemy regions - all attacks go through the frontline system
Production & Deployment
Military Production Flow - Military bases now use the standard production controller
All unit types spawn as a rally division near the capital - one predictable location for all new units
Rally divisions accumulate produced units over time - player splits and moves them when ready
Rally invalidated when the division moves too far from capital, next production batch creates a new one
Diorama Battle View - Full 3D battle visualization for all combat types
Division Figurines - 3D figurines on the world map replace flat sprites at close zoom
Composition track below each division: icon strip showing all unit types present
Transport boat swap: land divisions crossing water automatically show a boat model instead of soldiers
Dashed Border - Fallen borders display a dashed red line (meaning you're free to enter the region directly and lay siege to it)
Combat SFX - Multiple new sound effects added for combat activities
Naval Warfare
Naval Divisions (Fleets) - Full naval combat using the unified division system
Deploy to coastal bombardment nodes
Free movement on water after deployment - click to move like land divisions
Naval field battles: fleet vs fleet encounters at sea with cycle-based resolution
Ship diorama with 3D ship models, turret animations, and stylized water rendering
Aircraft Carriers - Mobile airbases at sea
Max 1 carrier unit per fleet (enforced on merge)
Max 2 air squadrons stationed per carrier
Air missions launch from the carrier's current position using the carrier's range
Submarines - Stealth naval units
Stealth mode: all-submarine fleets are invisible to enemies until detected or entering combat
Detection via proximity: enemy units within configurable radius reveal the submarine fleet
First Strike bonus: +50% attack power on the first combat cycle (ambush advantage)
Wolfpack bonus: +10% attack in the division if only composed of submarines (rewards massing subs)
Destroyers serve as natural counter units with bonus damage vs submarines
31 Ocean Regions added - Strategic naval territory on the world map
Organized by geographic region: Atlantic (3), Americas (2), Northern Europe (4), Mediterranean (3 - split into West/Central/East), Indian Ocean (3), Pacific (7)
6 chokepoint micro-zones: Panama Canal, Suez Canal, Bosphorus, Danish Straits, English Channel, Strait of Malacca - cheap to hold, devastating to lose
Open ocean (outside sea zones) is always accessible to all unit types
Open Sea Movement - All unit types can move onto open sea tiles
Land divisions, fleets, and commanders can traverse open ocean
Foreign sea zones block passage; must declare war to cross hostile waters
Fleet Radar Discovery - Player fleets automatically discover nearby regions within bombardment range while moving through open sea
Naval Bombardment - Fleets can bombard coastal regions from adjacent sea zones
Naval Blockades - Fleets positioned in enemy sea zones now actively reduce AI supply throughput
Air Warfare
Air Divisions (Squadrons) - Mission-based air combat
Produced at capital as an undeployed squadron
Must be transferred to an airbase or carrier before becoming operational
Visible on the map during transit - vulnerable to attack and flak fire
Once stationed, can launch missions within range and be re-transferred to other airbases/carriers
Max 2 squadrons per airbase/carrier
5 Air Mission Types
Front Support: assign a squadron to support an active frontline. Bombers add attack power to your side; fighters contest air superiority. Lasts for the duration of the front.
Strategic Strike: target an enemy region within range. Damages a chosen regional upgrade (airbase, fortification, etc.). Bombers on station for 6 hours.
Ground Attack: direct attack on any visible division on the map within range. Squadron flies to target and attacks. Works against land, sea, or air targets.
Defensive Intercept: default stance. Squadron auto-scrambles when enemy air missions enter its range. No player action needed.
Supply Drop: deliver supplies to a cut-off frontline or region that has lost its supply route.
Air Range System - Distance-based range (world units)
Air Range Radar visual: animated ground-plane circle with rotating sweep line, pulse rings, and radial gradient - shown when selecting a deployed squadron
Auto-Intercept - Idle squadrons stationed in a region automatically intercept incoming enemy air missions
Strategic Strike Details - Strikes now deal condition damage to the target region and can downgrade infrastructure (roads/rails) if damage exceeds threshold
Multi-Squadron Missions - Multiple squadrons targeting the same location share one battle
Air Mission Reports - Detailed after-action reports for each mission type
Commanders
Commander System - Named officers that emerge from your veteran units and provide combat bonuses
Category-locked: Land, Air, or Naval (set at emergence, cannot change)
Emerge from veteran units: ~1.5% chance when a max-veterancy unit gains additional XP
One commander per division or per front side maximum
Standalone commanders are visible on the map as jeep figurines with flag and portrait
Commanders can act independently, be attached to a division or be attached to a front.
Commander Traits - 22 traits across 3 categories, max 3 stacks per trait
Commanders level up their XP and unlock traits giving them bonuses for fighting in specific terrain, leading specific unit types and other combat bonuses.
Diplomacy & Trade
Reworked Diplomacy Panel - Full-screen UI with 5 tabs
Overview: faction info, 3-track progress bars, active deals list
Military Tab: military cooperation pacts with resource exchange
Trading Tab: trade agreements with resource exchange
Science Tab: shared research branch exchanges
War Tab: military comparison (peacetime) or war weariness + peace treaties (wartime)
3-Track Relationship System - Military, Trading, and Science tracks with 4 tiers each
Tier unlocks: intel sharing, cash trading, military access, joint operations, research bonuses
Track progress displayed as mini-bars on the faction sidebar
Balance Indicators - Visual fairness meter for each trade deal showing the value balance between both sides.
Total value display with flash animation on changes
Hover tooltip shows raw unabbreviated numbers
"Make It Work" Button - Let advisors auto-fill the AI's side of a deal
Requires player to have already placed their offer
Trade Convoys - Physical figurines on the world map for active trade and military deals
Convoy Pillaging - Intercept enemy trade convoys
Land/naval: 50% cargo seized, convoy resets with cooldown
Air strafe: convoy destroyed, no cargo
Not an act of war - causes relationship penalty with both deal parties
Surface matching: land divisions can only pillage land convoys, naval can only hit sea convoys, air can hit both
Peace Treaties - Territorial concessions (immediate) and resource reparations (timed delivery)
AI Overhaul
Only listing a fraction of these changes .
AI Architecture - Old 16-manager system replaced by lean CombatAIController
AI Faction Personalities - 10 archetypes with 8 personality sliders
Archetypes: Warmonger, Turtle, Diplomat, Industrialist, Expansionist, Opportunist, Isolationist, Warlord, Merchant, Admiral
44 factions mapped to default archetypes based on lore
AI Economic Budget - Abstract economy driving AI behavior
Budget calculated from region count, base output, and difficulty multiplier
Split into military, economic, and diplomatic budgets based on personality
Supply disruption modifier: player actions (blockades, strikes) visibly weaken AI output (floor 0.2x)
5-Level Difficulty System - Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Nightmare
5-Level Aggressiveness - Passive, Cautious, Balanced, Aggressive, Extreme
Economy & Regions
Region Infrastructure - Separate per-region property (not an upgrade slot)
3 levels: Undeveloped, Roads, Railroads
Affects supply throughput and movement speed
Region Condition - Replaces the old Stability concept for yield scaling
0-100 scale, starts at 100
Direct linear multiplier on resource output, immigration, and development
Damaged by combat, bombardment, strategic strikes, and conquest that then can be repaired
Taxes - Regions now generate income instead of costing upkeep
Financial Display - All financial values unified to per-cycle (12h) display from the previous per-day (24h)
Regional Upgrades - Renamed and rebalanced
Fortification: +20% defense bonus per upgrade for battalions in region
Gun Emplacement: +15% attack bonus per upgrade, fires on enemy fleets
Flak Battery: anti-air damage to attacking aircraft
Supply Depot (was Outpost): doubles supply throughput through the region
All other upgrades unchanged
World Region Resources Rebalanced - Resource yields across all world regions have been rebalanced and bumped up
Distance-Based Transformers - Water Towers, Large Water Towers, Power Substations, and Large Power Substations no longer require workforce or road connections
Global Stock Limits Increased - Base global stock limit raised from 3,000 to 10,000; Warehouse global stock bonus raised from 1,000 to 5,000
Production Balance Pass - Limited balance tweaks to Electricity and Water production, as well as production cycle duration and production count for Artillery, Tank, Fighter, and Bomber resources (all tiers)
Tax Rebalance - Slightly reduced tax income per citizen for all classes; regions now provide cash income
Terrain Type Adjustments - Terrain type of some regions altered; "Marine" terrain type is now reserved solely for ocean regions
World Map & Visuals
World Map Rendering - Region overlay completely rewritten
Supply Network Visuals - Road and sea networks rewritten from region-pair splines to a node-link graph
Road Infrastructure Visual Map - Runtime texture showing infrastructure tiers (undeveloped, roads, railroads) per region, fully replaces individual objects (massive reduction in draw calls)
Terrain Grid Pathfinder — A grid pathfinder from the RegionID texture for terrain-aware direct movement
Weather System
Weather Events - Visible world map entities
Weather events are large VFX that physically move across regions
Players can see weather coming and plan around it
Events are rarer but stronger
18 Weather Regions - Each with unique spawn rates, seasonal wind patterns, and weather type weights
6 Weather Types - Cloudy (precursor), Rain, Storm, Snow, Blizzard, Fog
Each with distinct combat modifiers per unit category (e.g., Blizzard grounds all aircraft)
Supply cost increases: Rain +15%, Storm +40%, Blizzard +60%
Movement penalties: Rain 0.85x, Storm 0.60x, Blizzard 0.40x
Weather Trajectory Arrows - Procedural arrows showing weather movement direction
Arrow length scales with remaining duration
Weather VFX - Particle-based visual effects for each weather type
Unified Movement System
Pathfinding & Movement - All units use a unified route-based movement system
Units will either move in a straight line or follow roads/rails depending on which is fastest.
Units will try and avoid bad weather if impact on movement is significant
Movement Speed - Infrastructure tier bonus, weather penalties, and terrain-aware pathing
Weather movement penalties: Rain 0.85x, Storm 0.60x, Snow 0.75x, Blizzard 0.40x, Fog 0.90x
Path Line Renderer - Visual route display for divisions and convoys
Tutorial System
Tutorial Framework - Partially replaced the original tutorials
New Tutorial Lessons covering:
War, frontlines, and combat cycles
Directives and commanders
Supply routes, bottlenecks, and infrastructure
Air squadrons and naval fleets
Diplomacy: factions, deals, tabs, and peace treaties
Tutorial Episode Unlock - All tutorial episodes available from the start (no longer gated behind completion of previous episodes)
Save System
JSON Save System - Complete migration from binary to JSON
GZip compression for production builds (.sav.gz) to reduce save file size
Separate .meta.json for save menu metadata (to speed up the Loading panel opening) and .png for minimap screenshot
Binary Save Format Removed - Old binary saves can no longer be loaded (opt into previous_version branch on Steam to still be able to load your old save games)
UI & Quality of Life
Military Overview Panel - 3-tab division overview accessible from the bottom screen of the World Map layer
Divisions Tab: category foldouts (Battalions/Squadrons/Fleets) with expandable rows showing unit composition and supply state
Units Tab: foldouts by unit category with veterancy columns (Conscript/Regular/Veteran), status, and division assignments
Logistics Tab: side-by-side production rates and supply/demand coverage
Frontline HUD - Information panel for active frontlines
Dual-fill progress bar with ETA
Weather and terrain modifier display with detailed tooltips
Supply route visualization: hops, throughput/cycle, bottleneck region
Active unit transfers shown as "IN TRANSIT" with counts and ETA
Commander assignment display
Predictive progress labels: "Faction will breach the border in ~X days"
Briefing Panel - Game-pausing modal for critical events (22 event types)
New Tooltips - Multiple new tooltips added
Factory Info Panel - Restructured from 3 tabs to 3 focused foldouts
CONDITION foldout: building health slider + fire risk (moved from main panel)
PRODUCTION foldout: merged General + Production tabs into one — shows current chain, efficiency, workforce, upkeep, electricity/water, production cycle fill, local inventory, and available products
UPGRADES foldout: unchanged
Available products section: click to switch production chain, checkmark on active, tooltip with recipe details
Pause Production Button - Always-visible pause toggle on factory panel
Building Upgrade UI - Inline list with left-click install / right-click remove
Each row is a single button: left-click installs one copy, right-click removes one (with refund)
Upgrade Loadout System - Save and apply upgrade configurations per building type
Save Loadout: stores current upgrade setup for this building type
Apply Saved Loadout: one-click applies previously saved setup (with warnings for blocked upgrades)
Clear Loadout: removes all upgrades with refund
Resource Picker Popups Upgraded - All resource picker popups upgraded per player feedback
Entries now sorted alphabetically
More informational entries
Search field filtering across entries
Peace Treaty Balancing - AI peace treaty decisions now factor in war position and difficulty
Development Thresholds - Research level thresholds steepened for levels 5-15, and further rebalanced
Early levels remain as-is, but mid and late game requirements now grow significantly faster
Level 15 now requires 2x what it did before
Ultimate threshold raised from 81,920 to 165,000 (22% above new Level 15)
Science deals and breakthroughs are now much more meaningful as a result
Ultimate Levels - Ultimate development levels increment and apply gameplay bonuses
Agriculture: +1 flat farm production per ultimate level
Transport: +500 global stock cap (all resource types) per ultimate level
Utilities: +1% power and water output per ultimate level
Manufacturing: +1 flat factory production per ultimate level
Civic: +1% civic booster effectiveness per ultimate level
Military: +1% attack and +1% defense for player units per ultimate level
Morale: -0.5% war weariness accumulation rate per ultimate level
Living: -2% decoration and infrastructure upkeep per ultimate level
Loading Screen Tips - Almost 30 new loading screen tips added
CJK Input Support - Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text input is now fully supported. We apologize to all the players affected by this issue that we haven't resolved this sooner.
Monuments & Achievements
Monument Warfare Tracking - 5 monuments now track real warfare statistics
Tomb of the Unmarked Soldier: unlocks after 1,000 dead soldiers
Memorial Park: unlocks after first war concluded
Monument of Revenge: unlocks after first region lost
Arc de Triomphe: unlocks after 5+ regions conquered
The Long March Memorial: unlocks after 8+ battles lost
Achievement Triggers - 4 achievements re-wired to work with the new Division system and 3 new Achievement Triggers added
Downfall Achievement - No longer fires on victory
LandBridge Loop - Last enum value was excluded from session reset, sync, and checks
Five Star Governor - Now achievable with all triggers properly implemented
Removed Systems
Old Army System
Old Garrison System
Old Battle System
Old Military Base UI
Old Military Base Info Panel Tabs
Old Naval Fleet System
Old AI System
Old Weather System
Old Region Stability System
Old Region Economics
Performance
Note that several overhauls has or might in some cases also impact performance positively as newer systems have been made to be more efficient.
Energy Distribution Optimization - Electricity and water distribution no longer recalculates all building connections every 10th frame
Hover Highlight Optimization - Hovering the same object no longer re-applies highlight effects every frame
Allocation-Free Iteration - Multiple hot-path methods converted from LINQ to manual loops
Phew, that was the more condensed version. Check here for the full unfiltered changelog!