Upgrades System Is Ready

This update focuses on a core feature that has been still missing: a proper upgrade system that connects research units with the rest of the army in a clear and scalable way.

Along the way, I also added a couple of core upgrades and continued stabilizing the cluster combat system.

Upgrade System Design

The upgrade system is now fully implemented, with a structure built around specialist upgrader units.

The flow is intentionally simple:

Select a specialist upgrader (e.g. a speed researcher).
Select a target unit type (e.g. D6).
Unlock the upgrade → all units of that type receive it.

For example: Selecting a speed researcher and a D6 unit will grant a speed upgrade to all D6 units.

This approach keeps the system readable while still allowing for meaningful strategic decisions - upgrades are not global, but they also don’t require micromanaging individual units. One of the important reasons for this system was the idea to use units exclusively (no buildings at all).

Range Upgrade

One of the first implemented upgrades was the shields upgrade but I’ve decided to add all “basic” upgrades type to have the core systems ready before introducing higher level upgrades.

Because combat is resolved through the cluster system, range doesn’t behave in a traditional RTS way. Instead, it has a more tactical influence - allowing catching reinforcements or raiding enemy resource lines.

To support this, I added subtle visual indicators to communicate range without overwhelming the screen.

Speed Upgrade

The speed upgrade is also now in place.

This directly impacts how quickly units move across the map and indirectly, how fast can the aggresor force the defending unit into the cluster combat. Having super-fast workers could even prevent the enemy from a successful attack.

It’s a simple upgrade on paper, but essential for most RTS games.

To better show that the units actually move faster I’ve added some dust and debris VFX.

Ongoing Cluster Combat Fixes

As expected, continuing work on cluster combat revealed a number of smaller issues:

units not being added to the cluster exchange
units attempting to attack (by pushing enemies that are already in the cluster) infinitely
units preventing the cluster from resolving

These have been addressed as part of this update, making the system more stable and predictable overall.

As a proof, but also a bit unrelated, here’s a short video showing a 100 vs 100 battle:

Next, I’ll continue expanding the upgrade set and exploring how different upgrade combinations interact with the cluster system.