New: Run Difficulty

After Play, you now choose Easy or Normal before starting a run.
Easy: enemies have 75% HP and 75% damage. On the final wave there is no overtime — when the timer ends, the run completes and you warp out.
Normal: full enemy stats and overtime on the final wave for higher scores.
Complete a run on Easy to unlock Normal as the main challenge mode.
Easy is marked as Recommended for new players until you’ve cleared it once.
New: Quick Start Guide

Before your first runs, a 3-step intro explains the loop: fight waves → shop between waves → chase records & meta progression.
Guide cards: DESTROY, LEVEL UP, SET A RECORD.
Can be turned off in game hint settings if you already know the basics.
Main Menu

New difficulty screen with dedicated Easy / Normal icons.
UI click sounds added to the new start flow.
Improved layout for difficulty cards: clearer stats, spacing, and readability.
Shop & Loadout UI

Loadout panel (passive weapons + active ability) resized — blocks and text are more compact and readable.
Shop offer icons slightly enlarged for better visibility.
Passive weapon slots use matching card backgrounds for every row; the first owned weapon no longer looks specially highlighted.
Wave transition label (e.g. Wave 1 → 2) is now part of the shop scene layout.
Crystal Quest text alignment improved.
Loadout row text centered vertically with cleaner spacing between icon and name.
Combat & Weapons

Return Probe (boomerang) now targets the farthest enemy in range, flying a longer arc and hitting more targets on the way out and back.
Fixed enemy ship orientation during pursuit and strafing — ships now visually align with their movement instead of sliding sideways toward the player.
Performance & Stability

Reduced micro-stutters during waves, especially in dense fights with many enemies, shots, and hit effects.
Combat VFX lines (chains, pulses, impact trails) are prepared at wave start so they don’t spike mid-fight.
Optimized enemy crowd movement — less CPU load when many ships cluster together.
Passive weapons run lighter under sustained fire (less repeated lookups and overhead per frame).
Medic drone projectiles now use pooling — fewer hitches when drones fire often.
Auto-turret and several weapon modules prewarm their pools for smoother opening waves.
Armor Pierce no longer creates components on the fly for pooled shots.
Boss HP bar refreshes more efficiently during long boss fights.
Dust Storm wave event and arena boundary effects use less CPU while animating.
Combat sound effects optimized — fixed a source of stutter on repeated shield-hit sounds.
Shop and wave systems use cached player references — less overhead when opening the shop or starting waves.
Fixes

Compile fix for charged enemy shooter movement.
Various shop layout regressions reverted where manual prefab positioning is preferred.