I've decided that the map update should be the 1.0 version. I don't plan to immediately switch to full release with the map update (I'll want to allow time to patch bugs), but 1.0 means I'm going through all the changes I wanted to implement, including my polishing notes.
No ETA on when it will be ready, but here's a high-level view of what's left:
A magic school and monster differentiation pass, including monster summons.
Armor set abilities.
Rebalancing of move stamina costs and search difficulty.
A mechanic that adds stats to the shop, depending on total monsters killed by the base.
A feature to name your drone.
Possibly hot key configuration.
Possibly multiple saves per slot (we'll see).
Possibly a basic word search for the tutorial.
Basic mod support (allowing loading a custom template database on world create, so you can play a custom scenario).
A host of polishing/balancing notes to go through. I intend to do triage on whether I do them: probably, maybe, and probably not. :)
A personal playtest.
I also want to add flavor images for map backgrounds and anything selectable in the targeting pane. I'm using Grok AI to create the images, and it's fun to see how the AI interprets what I'm thinking. :)
I intend to allow the images to be disabled (should free up memory), and I consider them to be a bonus, not something included in the price or essential to the game.
Here's the system base, with the holographic scaffolding selected:
I'll try to keep updating the forums with weekly progress notes.