Hello Commanders,
First of all, thank you to every Commander who participated in the recent playtest.
The playtest has officially ended, and we’ll be closing the current test build on June 9th as we move into the next phase of development.
We’ve spent the past few weeks carefully reading all your feedback, and it’s been incredibly valuable. Many of your comments confirmed things we suspected, while others highlighted new areas we’re now focusing on. Most importantly, your input is directly shaping our priorities moving forward.
Here’s how we’re responding to the most common topics:
Balance & Unit Roles
Snipers
Another common concern was that Snipers are extremely effective Focus Fire activators. At the moment, we don't believe they're significantly overpowered. Snipers are expensive units and require careful positioning before they become effective.
However, we're currently testing a change that removes their ability to attack adjacent tiles. Under this version, Snipers can only attack targets 2 or 3 tiles away. We'll continue testing before making any final decisions.
Air Unit Roles
Several players commented that Fighters and Strike Fighters feel very similar, while the Gunship's role isn't always obvious. This is something we're still discussing internally.
For now, we're primarily focused on balancing unit costs, but we're also looking at ways to strengthen each unit's battlefield identity. One possible direction is making Fighters the clearly superior anti-air option while allowing Strike Fighters and Gunships to focus on more specialized roles. Like many balance questions, this will require further testing.
Commander Balance: Wolfram
Wolfram’s movement bonus is strong and gives her a very recognizable identity as the early-game economy commander. We’re still discussing whether to add a balancing debuff. Maps are designed to limit snowballing, but we’d love to hear more of your thoughts on this.
Information and User Interface
We're currently working on several UI improvements:
Revamping the Build Menu to show more useful information
Expanding unit and tile information cards
Adding vision range and terrain suitability information
Showing projected next-turn funds beneath the commander's portrait
Health Bars
Some players reported that the on-unit health bars can feel cluttered. We’re exploring options with the UX team, and one idea we’re considering is automatically hiding them after the cursor has been idle for a few seconds.
Performance and Polish
Some of the areas we're currently investigating include:
Fog-of-war occasionally updates before a unit's destruction animation plays
Performance drops on very large multiplayer maps with high unit counts
Additional interface polish and usability improvements
Other Fixes
Mouse cursor issues are being fixed.
Making Battleship anti-air counters clearer.
Adjusting Radar cost to feel more unique.
Adding Lifting Bridges info to Training/Tips.
AI fixes (including ineffective crowding behavior).
Investigating performance on large multiplayer maps.
Looking Ahead
The playtest generated an enormous amount of valuable feedback, and we're grateful to everyone who took the time to participate. Many of the improvements discussed above are already in progress, while others will require more testing and iteration.
That's it for this month's dev log.
We'll continue sharing updates as development progresses and look forward to hearing your thoughts on these changes.
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Bluesky
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