Welcome back to another Silica Development Blog!
We've been busy improving some of the systems that sit at the heart of Silica's large-scale battles. This update focuses on smarter AI commanders, better battlefield control, and improved late-game performance.
Let's take a look!
Smarter AI Commanders
AI commanders are getting a major upgrade, with improvements across both offensive and defensive behavior.
They can now better:
- Respond to incoming threats
- Defend resource points and Harvesters
- Repair damaged units and structures
- Retreat damaged repair units
- Stage larger attacks
- Expand their bases
- Capture points of interest such as bunkers
- Use transport units to move infantry
- Build multiple production structures
AI commanders will also use dynamic unit presets and rankings, allowing them to choose more appropriate units depending on what they're facing.
The goal is to make AI-controlled armies feel more reactive, strategic, and capable.
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New Repair Vehicles
Both the Centauri and Sol factions are getting a dedicated repair vehicle.
These vehicles can repair allied vehicles; and yes, you can simply shoot an allied vehicle to heal it.
Sometimes friendly fire really is friendly.
Take Control of Your Turrets
Commanders now have more direct control over defensive positions.
You can order turrets to attack specific targets, and you can select multiple turrets at once to coordinate their fire.
This should make defending important positions much more effective.
Units Stick Together
We've also improved group movement.
Units sent somewhere together will now stay together, moving at the speed of the slowest unit and waiting for other members of the group.
This should make coordinated attacks and troop movements much more reliable.
Better Late-Game Performance
Large-scale battles can put a serious strain on your machine, especially during the late game when hundreds of units may be active at once.
We've been working on optimizing these situations, and the latest improvements can provide up to 50% more FPS on certain machines during heavy late-game scenarios.
More performance improvements are still on the way!
More Ways to Command
We're also adding several quality-of-life improvements for commanders.
Production Hotkeys
You can now use hotkeys to produce units and other items from production structures, making it faster to manage your economy and army.
Commander Votes
Players can now vote to remove the current commander from their seat.
Use this power wisely!
We Want Your Feedback
Your feedback continues to play an important role in Silica's development.
You can still share your thoughts through our Discord, and we're also working on a built-in feedback form that will let you send feedback directly from the game.
We hope this will make it easier for you to tell us what you think.
Important: Finish Your Singleplayer Games!
One final but important note:
The next update will introduce a new save file format, meaning that existing singleplayer saves will no longer be compatible.
If you have an ongoing singleplayer game you'd like to finish, make sure to complete it before the next update!
What's Next?
We're continuing to improve Silica's AI, performance, and core gameplay systems, while working towards making large-scale battles smoother and more strategic.
Thank you for playing, providing feedback, and helping us shape Silica.
See you on the battlefield, Commanders!
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