So... This was the old Roadmap - and yeah, it's fairly modest by comparison to what we have now, to say the least. Beyond that, many major features were added such as Turrets, Proc-gen (for maps), Artifact Anomalies, Custom Artifacts Mode, Apex Waves (Apex Units & Nest), Unit Ascension, the Codex, Online Leaderboards, and many others still!
This of course was not just scope creep for the sake of scope creep, but rather things I thought were integral enough to be added before full release, due to how our playtests went at the time, via feedback given via our FORMS, REDDIT, DISCORD, and alike. I simply could not see Endless Tactics anymore as a full experience without our beloved Apex Units, which essentially act as periodical posses to the endless-type horde mode it is - Units that are unique to each Planet, and by the way are fully playable via Artifacts, certain Upgrades, and other late-game combinations.
So now to the meaty part of it, our (potential) Post-Launch Plans:
A) OPERATION COMMANDERS
Medium Update. Buy and unlock new Commanders to play as! They'll each have their own unique Special Units squad, with their own Special Abilities and Unique-Mechanic Synergy (eg.: Fire Commander has 3 different flamethrower Mechs available for the Airdrops + Initial Squad pool; Air Commander has access to Flying Units, etc.).
Unlock them by retrieving DNA samples when killing Apex Enemies... They also die whenever you fail to Extract before getting overrun and/or lose!
Each Commander will also permanently Unlock its own set of foes, for example the Air Commander (whenever first Unlocked) would add Flying Enemies to the Enemy Spawn Pool!
B) TERRAFORM GAME-MODE
Big Update. Due to increased mining activity and local disturbance, Corruption starts to run wild! As a damage-control measure, a new Operation-type will be available: Terraforming Stations will be periodically dropped throughout the whole map - defend them and Terraform EVERY SINGLE terrain tile... or lose. An All-or-nothing mode; get a huge bonus on victory, or barely enough to cover your expenses! No Extractions available.
It's a two-staged mode, whereas you'll first have to defend (periodically-dropped) Terraforming Stations for a whole Wave until they finish their job, THEN, once all Stations have ran their course, you'll be issued a set of MTUs (Mobile-Terraforming-Units) to clear up the leftover Tiles (don't let them get destroyed!!). Terraformed Tiles are permanently Cleansed (immune to Corruption).
Meta Progression - Every time you LOSE in any Operation or mode, the [NULL] Solar System's Corruption increases (X percentage). It must be always BELOW quota, else enemies get buffed and/or spawn more (across unique Corrupted Upgrade-like modifiers... each System-Corruption Upgrade gets activated as their threshold is met, and thus all stacking up to max level once the system is 100% Corrupted).
Xenoform Extra Mode - Basically reverse mode! Your ship will drop off multiple Xenoform bio-stations (courtesy of BioTek department) and they;ll ONLY convert corrupt rather than cleansed tiles into 100% alien-suitable terrain. Given to being easier by nature (as you don't need to actively cleanse corruption to progress), alien-suitable terrain will also present some form of buff to creatures (PERMANENTLY Corrupted)... Instead of MTUs afterward, there'll be Biomechanical MXUs. Once finished, it'll DROP OFF the System-cleansing quota, if by any chances you might want to revert it back to make the game harder, it's now entirely up to you.
C) SOLAR EXPEDITION
Huge Update/Expansion. New Game Mode whereas you'll to navigate through an procedurally-generated Solar chart to reach your final destination. Between point A and B, there'll be several randomized Nodes, with branching paths, such as Planets (Operations) with randomized RISK, Artifact Anomalies active, Missions (with dynamic rewards), Moon Shops (buy Units, Items, and per-run Upgrades), and other types of events!
An actual Boss will await you at the final destination, beat it and cash-in a massive rewards - unlock brand new rewards on completions. No Airdrops (your Units are fixed) - Unit levels, and more! Much like with Operations, Solar Expeditions will also feature different RISKS, or rather, Scales.
Brings many unique Unlocks back to the main game, such as Unit levels and more! In an effort not to create any content islands, any and all mechanics like that will be FULLY integrated back into all Game Modes - such as how all Artifact Modes are gonna be accessible via both Standard Operations and Terraform Operations (and present in Solar Expeditions to enhance node variety).
... Quite the long read I know. But now, if you're still with me, here's the part where you'll come in! Vote in your favourite Update and it'll (most likely, given its within our reach of course) be prioritized as the first one to come post-launch ;)
Also, feel free to give suggestions, new ideas, and similar to any of these, and/or an entirely new potential Update you really want to see!... So far Operation Commanders (A) has been the player favourite (in our Forms), but I'd like to revisited and then bring this discussion into a more public place, especially with how much the game has changed since well most of the votes we've had before.
As always, most of the feedback gathered and addressed from our Reddit.
- the_procrastinator