The following adjustments, optimizations, and corrections have been approved for immediate deployment.

• Special soldiers, such as IntelliExplorer A20 and Miralisse Novarin, will no longer randomly get negative general and combat traits.

• Improved the Temporary Assignment and Auto-assignment logic so that soldiers properly go back to previous tasks after completing a temporary one, and, when idle, choose a task that is a better fit for them, including Mining, Logging, and Gathering.

• Improved hauling logic:

  • When resource-producing buildings reach full storage, soldiers working at the Resource Transport Station will now spread out and collect resources from different buildings instead of clustering together.

  • Transporting resources from the Resource Transport Station to the Warehouse no longer requires the station to be Level 2. Resources can now be transported as soon as a has been built.

  • If a soldier's hauling task is interrupted, the carried items will now be sent directly to the Warehouse instead of being dropped on the ground.

• Adjusted the ratio of male and female soldiers appearing in combat.

• Adjusted the attributes and drop configuration of goods available through the Trade Port, and removed several goods that were particularly harmful to soldiers.

• Added support for NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 Frame Generation and improved logic for better overall performance. Leaders are recommended to update their graphics drivers to the latest version.

\[Combat]

• Added 3 new battles to the Sector 1 - Elysia.

\[Combat]

• Increased the activation speed of the Medic's Healing Grenade skill.

• The State has enacted a new decree establishing a strict minimum “Usain Bolt speed” requirement for all soldiers en route to revive a downed Leader.

• Rebalanced the probability distribution across capture stages so failed attempts are more likely to resolve earlier, reducing time spent waiting through multiple jiggles.

• Normal enemy soldiers killed by explosive damage will now trigger ragdoll physics. Ragdoll and explosion effects have also been improved.

• Shield Grenade resources are now preloaded when the Leader carries one, reducing loading hitches when it is used for the first time during combat.

\[Balance & Progression]

• Adjusted weapon and armor drop rates.

• The White-tier Recon Sniper and Grenade Launcher blueprints are now unlocked by default when upgrading the Weapon Research Center to Level 2.

• Reduced the number of soldier slots in Victory Square, reducing the over-allocation impacting negatively on other important duties.

• Removed unnecessary seed slots from the Greenhouse to better match its automatic planting behavior.

\[UI & Interaction]

• Added missing buff icons.

\[Visuals & Audio]

• Improved the performance of Volumetric Light quality settings while maintaining better lighting quality at lower settings.

• Improved the projectile visual effects and firing sound effects of the Light Hovercraft.

• Updated A20's voice lines for early-game quests.

• Disabled Panini correction by default and added an option to enable it in the settings. When enabled, it reduces edge stretching at high FOV and on ultrawide displays, but may slightly soften the image. It is best suited for FOV values above 95°.

\[Performance & Stability]

• Optimized resource preloading and redundant properties, and improved the game shutdown process and exception handling to further improve overall performance and stability.

\[Combat & Controls]

• Fixed an issue where the Core Fearless Entry could not appear due to an incorrect random configuration.

• Fixed an issue where switching the flagship could allow multiple vehicles to be brought into combat.

• Fixed an issue where combat mechs could not move after a battle ended.

• Fixed an issue where soldier models could display incorrectly when viewing soldier birth animations in the base under certain circumstances.

• Fixed an issue where the Reload Speed affix did not take effect.

• Fixed an issue where Light Hovercraft skins could behave incorrectly.

• Fixed an issue where certain dialogues would not play.

\[Base & Building]

• Fixed an issue where the quest Rest at the Right Time could not be completed under certain circumstances.

• Fixed an issue where accumulating too many items in Continuous Mode could cause the game to crash. Production will now stop automatically when the accumulation limit is reached.

• Fixed an issue where clicking and releasing during continuous demolition mode could demolish multiple foundations.

• Fixed an inconsistency between the description and actual effect of the Population Suppression Injectant.

• Fixed an issue where soldiers could die of old age before reaching the Aged state threshold.

\[Scenes]

• Fixed terrain display errors and missing surfaces in several scenes.

• Fixed incorrect stair collision in the Sattleri Sacred Altar battle scene.

• Fixed overlapping/clipping objects in the Drakon Mercenary Camp scene.

\[UI & Display]

• Fixed an issue where prompts during soldier birth animations were not properly localized.

\[Other]

• Fixed an issue where loading timeouts could be incorrectly detected.

• Fixed game crashes that could occur under certain circumstances.

All corrections have been verified and authorized.

This update focuses on improving the State’s operational stability, including fixes for loading issues that could prevent some Leaders from properly playing the game, alongside several other improvements that directly impacted the overall experience.

We've been asked a lot when the next update is going to be released, so I wanted to explain that since launch, our priority has been addressing the most severe stability issues and urgent problems reported by the community. With those foundations secured, our focus will now shift toward the larger Early Access goals such as expanding the depth of the colony sim, co-op, and introducing major new systems and new content to build the future of Pax Autocratica.

As a small development team, we want to be transparent about our update pace. While we will continue to fix critical issues whenever needed, we do not want to sacrifice meaningful development time just to push frequent small updates. Our goal is not to release patches as often as possible, but to make each update move the game forward in an efficient way, and this needs focus.

Please review the improvements and fixes below with pride:

• Optimized the loading process to prevent loading from becoming stuck or the game failing to start properly under certain circumstances, improving overall loading stability and smoothness.

• To further improve base efficiency, upgrading the Resource Transfer Station to Level 2 now also unlocks drones to assist with hauling. Resources produced by the Ore Refinery and Wood Processing Plant are now included in the resource transfer system.

• Added batch dismantling for foundations and decorative buildings, allowing Leaders to plan and rebuild their bases more efficiently.

• Adjusted the size of some human and Scourgeborn soldiers to resolve the issue where character proportions appeared too small, improving overall visual consistency.

• Optimized soldier collision, significantly reducing friendly units blocking the Leader’s movement, while making enemy units harder to push through.

\[Base]

• Salute the Leader! After unlocking this Directive, soldiers will automatically salute when the Leader passes nearby.

• Added the option to cancel Paid Time Off for soldiers currently on leave.

• Added sleeping and recharging animations for mechanical soldiers.

\[Combat]

• Removed enemy leader affixes from Infested Nest battles that were unsuitable for the narrow combat areas, improving the overall battle experience.

• Improved the drop locations of victory chests in several battles.

• Reduced the invulnerability duration of a target after a failed capture attempt from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.

• Improved the effects and detailed description of Core · Void Detonation.

• Improved the visual effects of the Sattleri Warrior's blink strike skill.

• Added a map zoom scale setting, making it easier for Leaders to judge enemy positions.

• Optimized the text layout of the Command Mode interface, making information clearer and easier to read.

\[Balance & Progression]

• Improved the randomization logic for mechanical soldiers' lifestyle traits.

• Reduced the shared cooldown of allied affixes from 15 seconds to 5 seconds.

• Increased the combat strength of Barbara Kosmos, Athena Thayer, Levia Brooks, Natalia Kandack, and Miralisse Novarin.

• Added 1 additional Shattered Core chest to battles in Sector 3.

\[UI]

• Hovering over the soldier class in the Soldier Details interface now also displays the class details.

• When repeatedly picking up the same item, pickup messages will now automatically be combined in the chat log.

• When departing on an expedition, Leaders will now receive a reminder if Second Chances is available in the Warehouse Center but has not been brought along.

• Weapons and armor that have already been crafted will now display a unique marker in the Crafting interface.

• Added guidance text to crafting interfaces inside buildings to help Leaders improve production efficiency and base management.

• Improved the refresh, ban, and card display animations in the Shattered Core interface.

• Star Map and Base interactions are now differentiated by Sector.

• Improved the display of soldier models and skin models in the Account Inventory.

• Improved the display rules for Leader's Maxims on loading screens and added support for manually browsing through them.

• Improved base visuals on ultrawide displays.

• When using a controller, LT can now be held to temporarily hide hover tooltips.

• Improved controller experience on the Difficulty Selection and Login interfaces.

• Changed the tutorial button in the Building Details interface to RT when using a controller, and fixed incorrect button icons when switching between input devices.

• Improved the text layout of the Influence HUD.

• Improved the Trade Port Building Details interface across different resolutions.

• Button prompts in the Building Details interface are now always displayed.

\[Base]

• Improved the cutscene animation for soldiers dying of old age.

\[Visuals & Audio]

• Added sound effects to several interactions, including hotkeys and progress bar dragging.

• Improved the poisoned HUD effect.

• Improved missile explosion effects.

• Added friendly/enemy differentiation to the hit effects of the Lethal Venomfly.

• Improved the spawn effects of the Overlord Venom Bug.

• Improved smoke effects and optimized the performance of new particle effects.

• Improved the effects of the allied Auto-Defense affix.

• Improved the effects of the Toxic Fog Core.

\[Other Optimizations]

• Reduced VRAM usage and improved overall performance.

• On first launch, the game now uses the current display refresh rate as the default framerate limit. Loading screens now use a separate framerate limit to reduce performance consumption.

• Improved various texts and dialogues.

• Fixed crashes when exiting the game and loading failures that could occur under certain circumstances.

• Fixed an issue where the Sub-Healthy trait could still cause soldiers to suddenly die under certain circumstances.

• Fixed an issue where shotguns could continue firing while reloading.

• Fixed lingering tracking-bullet effects and invisible hit-effect particles.

• Fixed an issue where hitting enemy Elites or Bosses with a capture attempt under certain circumstances could cause their affixes to trigger without cooldowns.

• Fixed an issue where non-capturable targets would gain temporary invulnerability after being hit by a Capture Round.

• Fixed an issue where some invisible walls in battles were not displayed.

• Fixed a visual issue when exiting battle scenes containing rivers.

• Fixed jittering in soldiers' kneeling animations at the base.

• Fixed a crash that could occur during scene transitions in The Terminal Bastion: Descent under certain circumstances.

• Fixed incorrect left mouse button icon mapping when using a controller.

• Fixed an issue where the pirate pursuit sound effect could continue playing during exploration.

• Fixed issues with input fields and the fullscreen virtual keyboard on Steam Deck.

• Fixed abnormal controller navigation in the flag background selection interface.

• Fixed an issue where soldiers' ages would stop increasing after reaching adulthood.

• After issuing the Salute the Leader Directive, some soldiers may not salute the Leader in certain situations.

All corrections have been verified and authorized.