I am proud to announce the COMMANDERS update is now live!

This has been a massive undertaking, as evidenced by the two week duration between updates. That being said, I am confident you will quite enjoy the added excitement and surprises these new commanders and other AI tweaks bring to the game!

Not only that, we also included a solid pile of user experience improvements as well!

The Commanders

• Enemy commanders will now appear on the world map as red holograms.
  
  
  
• After each mission (essentially a turn on the world map), the commanders will roam around the map.
  
  
• When an enemy commander enters your territory, a new Defense mission type will be available. If you lose the mission, the commander will take over your territory! Yes, this means the Toxians can now take your territory!
  
  
  
• Commanders can have an array of traits, from preferred unit compositions, favored tactics, specialized units, and their own personality.
  
  
  
  
• In missions, commanders are physically present, just like the player. They give orders and support their troops just like you do. They also can be killed just like you can be...
  
  

World Map Changes

• You can now scramble troops. At the cost of world map resources, you can increase your starting acquisition points and unit count. Sometimes you really need the extra help!
  
  
  
• Previously, the player participated in every single battle. Now, with enemy commanders, there is a possibility that multiple battles will be fought in the same "turn," but you will only be able to personally lead one of them. You can use the scramble troops feature to increase your chances of succeeding in the missions you are not personally leading.
  

User Experience

• The mission objective is now clearly labeled at the top center of the mission HUD.
  
  
  
• All units and structures in the build bar now have tool tips.
  
  
  
• Tool tips will now appear if a weapon is particularly ineffective against enemy armor. For example, a Scout's machine gun versus a Soldier Ant.
  
  
• Shooting heavily armored opponents now has a distinct spark effect with ricochet sound.
  
  
• Resource structures now have give detailed information about resources and acquisition point generation when selected.
  
  

Units

• Units now dynamically adjust their speed as to arrive at the destination together.
  
• Units will automatically form up in resiliency order.
  
• Increased quad's light missile launcher homing from 45 to 90. Increased missile launcher's heavy missile launcher from 45 to 60. Thanks @JammingEnd for recommending this change!
  
• Laser gunship now costs 3000. Thanks @JammingEnd for recommending this change!
  
• Increased cost of turrets +250, because their resiliency and build speed made them easily the best option for early defense. If you need a rapid defense, look at the existing Melee Tank or Flame Tank; they're cheap and fast to build.
  
• Starting units now are more likely to choose cheaper units. Otherwise, it was possible to get some of the most powerful units immediately.
  
• Vehicles now have engine sounds.
  

Command Craft

• Added Enhanced Command Craft Booster research, allowing players to fly even faster!
  
• The player's Command Craft can now deploy up to three Construction Yards, but at the full 2500 AP cost. This reduces the need to "leap frog" construction yards. However, "leap frogged" construction yards are still substantially cheaper.
  

Everything Else

• Eggs will no longer spawn at the corner of the map when they cannot find a place near their queen.
  
• Refinery is less sensitive to sloped terrain.
  
• Toxian Origins research topic now has an image.
  
• Resource deposits should be less likely to spawn on the edge of the map.
  
• Unit icons no longer absorb mouse clicks.
  
• Reduced desert map brightness. Thanks @Theplayer!
  
• Added gatherer ant, so that the ants have their own resource gathering unit.
  
• Burrowed Toxian resource gatherers occupy minimal space.
  
• Bigger lights around muzzle flashes.
  
• Fixed several (virtual) bugs.
  
• Idle AI will now respond more effectively when attacked.
  
• Commanders and queens can now retreat when attacked.
  
• If there are no Toxians on world map, they will respawn in a random neutral territory.
  
• Deleting a unit, such as a structure that is still being built, will remove its build order.
  
• Air units should be less likely to be dropped off underground.
  
• All units will run a periodic check to ensure they're not inside an obstacle. Long story... ugh.
  
• The Escape key will now cancel build mode.
  
• Some human structures were not accepting collisions correctly, which meant you could not build structures on them, or deploy units on top of them.
  
• Enemy reinforcements are now tech-limited, based on time into the mission. This reduces the likelihood of early enemy reinforcements stomping the player with high level units.
  
• Enemy resource gatherers now appear later in the game, reducing the difficulty of queens for new players.
  
• Fixed connection between Japan to Hawaii.
  
• Increased frequency player units commit time-delayable actions based on total units. In short, player units will seek targets faster.
  
• Fixed grammar errors, typos, and inaccuracies in several research topics.
  
• Several unit voices now correctly respect volume levels.
  
• Rare Earth Metal Extractors should correctly snap, regardless of hills.
  
• Construction Yard death should now cancel build state, removing build preview.
  
• Decreased drop rate of biopolymers. It was getting kinda crazy.
  
• Double biopolymer price of later research topics. Late game, players had so many biopolymers, and the prices were so low.

Conclusion

I can't wait to share their commander encounters! Pick up Micro Annihilation for yourself on Steam!