Hello everyone! Version 0.9 is now live! This is a major update, featuring many graphics improvements along with a host of new additions and changes. As we get closer to the 1.0 release (still a bit of time to go), every piece of feedback and every bug report becomes even more valuable! I've recently seen some discussions from players expressing frustration due to a lack of communication, and I want to assure you that going forward, all future updatesbig or smallwill be posted both on Steam and Discord. Thank you for your ongoing support. I hope you enjoy this version! Please dont hesitate to share your feedback or suggestions, even if it seems like Im not always responsive, Eventually - I read every post, review, and comment about the game. Always. Mac Users - im deeply sorry but since the new graphics changes there some shaders fixes need to be done - im working on that and you will get an update ASAP

Full change log:

Graphics

• Deprecated the viewport system and render textures the camera now renders the global map and terrain directly, resulting in significantly improved graphics.

• New day/night system supports ambient lighting

• Added support for Nvidia DLSS 3.0 (only for compatible devices).

• Introduced new post-processing effects that enhance bloom and create more vivid colors.

• Buildings now react to lighting changes extremely quickly (with minimal performance cost) lights will gradually turn off at sunrise and on at dusk.

• New batching system combines multiple sprites, text, and meshes into fewer draw calls, significantly boosting performance.

• Trees are now rendered directly, resulting in much improved visuals.

• Mountains and elevation are now integrated into the terrain and no longer require real-time mesh deformation, improving both quality and performance.

• New water system simulates depth, waves, and intersection foam for a more immersive experience.

• New borders rendering technique uses a combination of the JFA algorithm and SDF textures (no more pixelated edges).

• Added camera rotation players can now rotate the camera using E/Q.

• Elevation modification removed, as terrain is now rendered directly.

• Horizontal wrapping removed due to the deprecation of the viewport.

• Terrain quality modification removed (terrain is now rendered directly).

• Internal Anti-Aliasing system removed (previously GPU-intensive; now obsolete with the new batching and rendering system).

VFX

• Highly realistic nuclear explosion effect added.

• Camera shake effect added when near nuclear explosions.

Gameplay - Additions

• Aerial campaigns: new, more intuitive and realistic method for sending squadrons on missions.

• Aerial campaigns: squadrons now operate across an entire country's airspace (rather than just per province) and follow campaign objectives.

• Aerial campaigns: squadrons now consume fuel and missiles, requiring engineers for faster refueling and rearming when returning to base.

• Aerial campaigns: different squadrons have unique 3D models and sound effects and are represented as units on the map.

• Aerial missiles added including cluster bombs, AA, GBUs, and thermobaric missiles used by squadrons during campaigns.

• Nuclear enrichment facilities: nuclear programs no longer require reactors but rely on enrichment facilities, which can be built after activating the nuclear program.

• Underground mechanic: nuclear programs and enrichment facilities can now be built and upgraded underground (up to 3 levels), requiring thermobaric missiles for destruction.

• Trade routes: all official trades (excluding the free market) are now represented by actual cargo planes flying to target countries. Large trades (over 1K) launch cargo ships. These routes can be intercepted in the next version. Built with DOTS, supporting thousands of simultaneous routes with minimal performance cost.

• Government panel added, allowing changes to voting systems, elections, and political structures.

• Central Bank panel added with options to change interest rates, print money, and view financial data.

• Elections added democratic countries will now experience election cycles.

• Promises and Platforms political parties can now launch promises across platforms to gain election popularity.

• Cabinet system players can now assign ministers.

• Minister delegation ministers can behave like AI, managing sectors, trading, research, manufacturing, and more.

• Negotiation system added the ability to offer things like war alliances, economic or military aid.

• Negotiation system added transparency rights requests (to move military forces into other countries).

• Support for military bases in allied countries.

• Support for deployment in allied bases.

• Currencies now influence country economies, world influence, market prices, and economic power.

• Interactive system for negotiating with unions during protests.

• No Exploit toggle added to new games enables/disables resource extraction (disabling gives unlimited resources).

• Strikes: if union satisfaction drops too low, strikes will occur with major economic impact.

• Opposition momentum: failure to fulfill promises or handle protests may increase opposition strength, leading to a government overthrow.

• Aerial space breaches now trigger diplomatic incidents and worsen relations when squadrons enter foreign airspace without approval.

• Unit designer now includes skill levels; each unit has a difficulty rating low skill may result in failed designs.

Gameplay - Changes

• Many stats are now influenced by the new political system.

• Squadrons are now limited to one aircraft type (bombers, fighters, helicopters, drones, or tankers). Mixing types in a squadron is no longer allowed.

• Protests are now initiated by political unions, with negotiable demands.

• Organizations now have alignment values that update monthly. Higher alignment boosts world influence, lower values risk expulsion.

• AI now aligns with organization restrictions (but doesnt apply influence or expulsion mechanics like the player).

• Added diplomatic toggle when clicking on countries shows alliances, war status, etc.

• Political influence is now calculated based on party support.

• Max concurrent research is now based on military/economic superpower status and HDI up to 5 simultaneous projects.

• Nuclear powers now make attack decisions more lighlty.

• Intelligence mission success rate now calculated with a new formula.

• Waging wars now causes a decline in democratic values.

• Population growth decline is now more balanced in highly developed countries.

User Interface

• Over 50% of panels have been resized, and font type/size improved (WIP)

• New global warnings panel on the home screen replaces the old warning system and

Bug Fixes

• Many interceptors failed to stop missiles due to internal miscalculations.

• Merging units sometimes caused negative infantry/special forces counts.

• Fixed issue where scroll view jumped to the top when adjusting values.

• Fixed bug where free market trades exceeded intended internal values.

• Silos previously took no damage and couldnt be destroyed.

• Missile launcher bug where last clicked country remained selected.

• Fixed many overlay issues conquered provinces now display properly.

• Fixed issue where self-aid to own disasters had no effect on casualty calculations.

• Fixed internal pathfinding issues.

• Fixed province panel conflict triggered by nuclear program map clicks.

• Fixed multiple exceptions from battle/war systems.

• Fixed visual artifacts when launching missiles (AI and player).

• Fixed issue where SFX continued playing when the SFX volume slider was muted.

• Improved clarity of resource colors.

• Many UI fixes.

Optimizations

• Tree matrices are now stored in game data instead of being generated at runtime reduces loading time by 25%.

• Performance optimizations to AI decision-making.

Knows Issues

• Some cities/airports may appear on water will be fixed in the next patch.

• Russia may appear fully colored due to incorrect SDF texture generation (may also affect Brazil in some cases).

• Some coastal terrain areas may appear steep or have harsh edges.