Build 2026-08-25 — saves & replays, four-player skirmish, observer mode, smarter AI
Saving, loading and replays
- Save from the pause menu or the end-of-game banner. A save records the orders you gave, not the map state — loading replays them from the start at full speed (a late game loads in about a minute; the bar is the real fraction done).
- Autosaves: every 5 minutes of game time (3 kept) and at every victory or defeat (3 kept), oldest overwritten — the six slots on the stage select's Load tab. Either kind can be switched off in Options.
- Manual saves are files; Export on the Load tab keeps an autosave as one. The title screen's Load button opens the Load tab.
- A save belongs to the build and the balance numbers that wrote it — a mismatched save is listed but refuses to load, with the reason. Tutorial levels and games touched by a debug tool cannot be saved.
Four players, and the new lobby
- Up to 4 players (1 human + 3 CPU) can be placed on a map. A new four-player map Pinwheel: (size 150×150) added with shared expansions on the seams, and a 16-node ring at the center.
- Added 8 new maps in the skirmish list, and the seven older ones are re-authored to the ladder pool's standard.
- Player slots can be removed and re-added (minimum two to launch); slots keep their numbers, and the map preview numbers each start position in its slot's color.
- Faction choice can now be set as Random and difficulty handicaps to HP and damage dealt are now enabled.
- Starting resources for minerals and biomass have more options.
Observer mode
- Observer mode is added (can watch 2-4 AI opponents play each other. Simply select observer mode in the skirmish screen to watch. View modes can toggle for each player and the global true state.
Computer opponents
- Computer-controlled opponents are smarter now in what they build and where they build. But this is an ongoing optimization process.
Terrain
- Ground cleared by fire grows back: 60 s ± 5 s after the flames go out, then the ordinary regrowth clock. Flames shouldn't be as debilitating to forests now.
- Bugfix: Death Sonar and Seismic Ping no longer mark mineral nodes, rubble or walls.
Options, text and the manual
- The Options screen now has autosave toggles.
Known issues: none new.