v1.8.0 - Visual, Audio, and Gameplay Polish

What's New

Visual Polish

• Enhanced explosions with shockwave rings, center flash, and ember particles
• Engine trails now have dual-layer system (hot white core + faction color glow)
• Parallax starfield background during gameplay
• Capacitor wheel moved to bottom-right, EVE-style yellow dashes

Audio Polish

• Dynamic pitch/volume variation for weapons, explosions, and damage sounds
• Bigger hits sound deeper and louder

Gameplay Polish

• Extended chain timeout (2.0s → 2.5s) for more forgiving combos
• Faster shield recharge (5 → 8/sec)
• Berserk meter decay grace period (1.5s before decay starts)

Performance

• Binary size reduced 29% (75MB → 53MB)
• Optimized release profile with symbol stripping

Bug Fixes

• Ship sprites display correctly with faction color tints
• Kestrel sprite rotation fixed in Gallente chapter
• Removed dead code and compiler warnings

Full Changelog: v1.5.1...v1.8.0