Quick mid-month update - two major systems landed this week that I’m excited to share. If you haven’t already, join TG’s Discord to discuss these changes and help shape what comes next.
Production Queue Overhaul
The old unit construction menu had problems. A single-click action with confusing messaging about gold (“Cost 200 - gold deducted when unit spawns” read more like an upgrade mechanic than a build action). No control over whether you wanted to build immediately or plan ahead. And every turn, you had to click through each building individually to keep your army growing.
That’s all changed now.
Build Now vs. Queue
Every unit card now has two distinct buttons:
-
Build Now - gold is deducted immediately, unit appears on the map this turn. If you can’t build right now (not enough gold, hex is occupied, multi-turn build), it’s greyed out with a tooltip explaining why.
-
Queue - always available unless the queue is full. Gold is paid when the unit actually spawns, not when you queue it. Plan your production without committing your treasury.
How Gold Works Now
Gold is not a queue fee. You queue freely, and production proceeds as your economy allows. If a unit is ready to spawn but you’re broke, it waits. Build timers tick down every turn regardless. This means you can plan several turns ahead without worrying about locking up gold you need elsewhere.
Queue Management
The queue operates as a FIFO list - the first entry blocks everything behind it. You can reorder with up/down buttons to reprioritize, or bypass the queue entirely with Build Now. Instant builds work independently of the queue.
Turn estimates (“ready next turn”, “in 2 turns”) now account for queue position, so you know exactly when each unit will hit the field.
Accessing Buildings Under Units
One of the biggest quality-of-life pain points is gone: you can now reach a building’s production menu even when a unit is sitting on top of it. Right-click on desktop, long-press on mobile, or use the “Open Building Queue” button in the unit info panel.
Terrain Combat Bonuses (Preview)
This is the other big piece - the groundwork for terrain-based combat modifiers. Every terrain type now supports two combat modifiers in the ruleset:
- Defense bonus - reduces incoming damage for units defending on that terrain
- Attack bonus - increases outgoing damage for units attacking from that terrain
Buildings can also provide defense bonuses that stack with terrain bonuses.
Nothing Changes Yet
All values are currently set to 0% - the plumbing is in place but combat math is unchanged. This lets us verify everything works correctly before we start tuning numbers.
What It Will Feel Like
Once balanced: forests will reward defenders with cover, mountains will be strong defensive positions, roads will be fast but exposed. Where you end your turn will matter just as much as where you attack from.
Ambush Rework
The existing +25% ambush bonus for forests and mountains is now driven by the ruleset instead of being hardcoded. The ambush bonus stacks additively with terrain attack bonuses, and defender terrain defense applies fully during ambushes too. This gives us a single system to tune rather than scattered special cases.
What’s Next
We’re halfway through March and already ticking off items from the March roadmap. Coming up:
- Tuning terrain bonus values and playtesting the impact on strategy
- Combat preview showing terrain bonuses before you commit to an attack
- Continued work on roads, rivers, and new units
Your Feedback Matters
Terrain bonus values are wide open for community input. What feels right for forest defense? Should roads carry a penalty? Come tell me on Discord, or just play a few rounds and let me know how positioning feels.