Balance Patch 0.2.9

A rebalance as a gameplay mod. 0.2 redesigns the economy from the top down: first the pacing a match should have, then numbers chosen in an economy simulation that follows the game's own rules, calibrated on real games. The economy is simulated and only lightly played: this release is for playtesting it.

New in 0.2.9

Rebuilt for the game update of 11 October 2026 (0.0.1.21.1). That update moved 19 numbers this patch checks before changing, so 0.2.8 skipped them on the new game, and some of its multipliers stacked on the developers' own buffs (T3 fighter shells would have flown at 225). 0.2.9 applies every change, with none skipped.

Air is left as the game has it. The developers' own anti-air pass (T3 fighters lead their shots, anti-air missiles at 50, faster turrets, splash on T1 anti-air) moved most of what the Air section rested on, so the Air section is gone. The 0.2.6 aim, anti-air that hits most of the time, isn't measured against the game's new anti-air yet. Tell us how air feels.

• Aircraft cost 40 energy per alloy at T1-T3 (were 20, Chosen 10). This patch's generators make twice the game's energy, so 40 is the game's energy burden in generator time. T4 and T5 aircraft keep the game's price.
• Shields cost more and hold less: T2 300 alloys for 6000 (were 150 for 10000), regen 60, 200 energy a second to run; T3 1000 alloys for 15000 (were 600 for 20000), regen 110, 500 energy a second.
• Alloy Furnaces use 2000 energy a second (were 1000).
• Guardian Crucible (T4 generator): 3x the cost and build time (150000 alloys), same output. Its new death explosion does 50000 damage out to 40, friendly fire on.
• Generators: T2 still make 600 (the game now makes 300, was 200). T3 take the game's new 2750 and keep this patch's 2800-alloy cost.
• T1 point defences see 27, their new range (the game raised it from 25).
• Dropped because the game does it now: the EDA T3 fighter's second launcher, the TALEN's tier, the Guardian T1 fighter's speed, T1 fighter bullet lifetime. The Chosen T2 point defence still needs this patch to raise its barrel above level.
• Left as the game reworked them: the Chosen Comet bomber and the Chosen big bot's speed (now 1).

Nothing in 0.2.9 is simulated or played: the simulation doesn't model air, shields or furnaces, and its pacing table doesn't move.

New in 0.2.8

The T2 factory upgrade costs 1000 alloys + 10000 energy (was 1500 + 15000) and takes 90 s (was 80). It drained about 19 alloys and 188 energy a second while it ran; now about 11 and 111. At 1500, T2 arrived after T1 tank spam had already decided the game.

The catch: a T2 rush is cheaper too. In the simulation the fastest T2 factory is now about 2:45 (was about 4:05), since the 500-alloy starting bank pays half of it. That's accepted for now; tell us if rushes win games.

New in 0.2.7

T4s re-scored. 0.2.4's maths ignored splash (most T4 main guns splash 3-4, hitting several bunched tanks) and range (60-100 against T3 tanks' 34), so the big bot and others beat far more than their cost in T3 tanks. Each T4 is now set to about 0.8 of a T3 tank's health x damage per alloy, splash and range counted, split evenly between health and damage: the single-target beam bot gets more of both, the splashing big bot less. No T4 is faster than a T3 tank any more.

Unit                 Alloys    HP        Ground DPS   Speed
Behemoth  (EDA)      10,000    136,000   4,564        3
Centaur   (EDA)      10,000    127,000   2,170        2.25  range 80
Quasar    (Guardian) 10,000     67,000   3,111        2.25  artillery
Beam bot  (Guardian) 12,000    160,000   5,620        3
Tripod    (Chosen)   12,000    158,000   3,686        2.25
Ares      (Chosen)   15,000    189,000   4,435        3
Djinn     (Chosen)   20,000    234,000   5,320        2.75
Big bot   (Chosen)   25,000    297,000   5,109        2.25

• Guardian Nitro (T3 raider): 3000 HP (was 1500), +25% damage. A bit lighter than a T3 tank and hits harder, like a T2 raider scaled up.
• Guardian T2 anti-air (tower and mobile): half damage. Their shells splash 5 and 10 (Chosen 2 and 3), so with anti-air now hitting, each shot hurt every aircraft in a group.
• T2 point defences: were barely tougher than T1 at 2.5-3x the price. Now 3000-3800 HP (was 2000) and 1.5-1.9x damage, about 0.65 of their cost in T2 tanks (FAF's T2 point defences are about 0.6).
• Chosen T3 point defence: 7000 HP (was 6500), 2.24x damage (about 615 a second): a fragile hard-hitter.

All worked out from the unit files, not played.

New in 0.2.6

(The Air section was removed in 0.2.9.)

Anti-air hits most of the time, and T4s are toned down.

Anti-air. Shots hit a thin line against the aircraft's box, so the projectile's look never mattered: what decides a hit is shot speed, drop, spread and the box.

• Beam fix: the EDA T2 anti-air tower and the Guardian T1 tower and mobile anti-air are beams that were aiming ahead of planes (our mistake since 0.1.0), so they missed anything crossing. They now aim at the plane.
• Faster shots: all anti-air shells 1.5x; the slowest (T2 towers and mobile AA, Chosen and Guardian T3 fighters, Guardian T3 tower, Chosen big bot) 3x, the Guardian T2 tower 6x. Those lose their spread.
• Missiles: 1.5x as fast, turn twice as fast.
• No drop: shells only anti-air fires no longer fall under the target.
• Aircraft hitboxes 1.5x bigger.

Model: average hit rate, 24 AA weapons vs 5 aircraft	0.2.5	0.2.6
Flying straight	38%	82%
Moved around every 1-2 s	27%	75%
Hard weaving	28%	71%

The catch: air now takes roughly 2-3x the real damage from anti-air, so air may need retuning once played. The hit rates are from an offline model of the game's hit code, not from games.

T4s: toned down to 0.8x (numbers superseded by 0.2.7 above).

New in 0.2.5

Radar costs more to run:

• T2 radar: 250 energy a second to run (was 150).
• T3 radar: 2800 alloys + 28000 energy to build (was 700 + 7000), 1400 energy a second to run (was 350).
• T3 radar range: EDA 750 (was 450), Chosen 850 (was 550), Guardian 1000 (unchanged).

New in 0.2.4

T4s are game enders for long 512 games, spammable as the game goes on. They cost 10000-25000 alloys (2-3x before), and their health and damage are raised so that per alloy they beat the average T3 tank by about 10%. The long-range Djinn and Chosen big bot match it, and the Quasar is measured against T3 artillery.

(Numbers superseded by 0.2.6 above.)

• Centaur (railgun sniper): range 80 (was 40) for a little less damage. It still sees only 20, so it needs radar or spotters.
• T1 factories cost 200 alloys (were 300). Simulated: about 85 units built by 10:00 on 256 maps and 117 on 512 (were 72 and 104).
• The catch: T4 damage is worked out from the unit files, not measured in fights. The Athena mobile shield is unchanged for now.

New in 0.2.3

• Reclaim is 3x as fast: a wreck still holds half the unit's alloys, you just get it three times quicker.
• Wrecks last 6 minutes before they disappear (were 3).
• T4 bots move at 2.5-3.5 (were all 2), by role:
  • 3.5, brawlers: EDA Behemoth, Chosen Ares, Guardian beam bot, with faster turning and main guns swinging at 90 deg/s (were 45).
  • 3, hover and escort: Chosen Djinn, Athena mobile shield.
  • 2.5, long range and heaviest: EDA Centaur, Guardian Quasar, Chosen Tripod and the Chosen big bot.

None of 0.2.3 is simulated. Walk animations may slide a little at the new speeds.

New in 0.2.2

T2 and T3 are cheaper, and T3 economy pays for itself inside a normal game.

• Factories: upgrading to T2 costs 1500 alloys (was 2500), to T3 4000 (was 6000).
• T3 extractors make 15 alloys a second (were 10): the upgrade pays back in 200 s instead of 400 s.
• T3 generators make 2500 energy a second for 2800 alloys (were 4500 for 5000), about the same energy per cost in a smaller step.
• T3 tanks (Kodiak, Glaive, Auger) cost 30% less, move at 3.3 like T1 tanks (were 2.5-2.7), turn faster and track with their guns much faster.
• Guardian Nitro (T3 raider): 30% cheaper, moves at 4.5 (was 3.3) with a quick gun, but 1500 health (was 2250): one EDA T3 tank volley kills it.
• Sniper bots and other T3 units are unchanged.

The catch: in the simulation the fastest T2 factory is now about 4:20 (6:37 in 0.2.1), earlier than the 7-minute target. The T3 changes aren't simulated at all; tell us how T3 feels.

New in 0.2.1

• Commander storage back to 500 alloys and 5000 energy, and you start with it full.

The economy targets: 256 maps over in 5-15 minutes, 512 maps in 20-30, about 60-80 units each at 10 minutes, and nobody on T2 before about 7 minutes without being overrun.

Playtesting: please note when you first upgrade an extractor and a factory, whether the first two minutes feel right, and whether 200-alloy factories hold back factory spam without making the opening drag. Replays help most.

What the mod does

Every section is a lobby option, on by default:

• Fixes
  • Targeting freeze: a weapon with no muzzles (Guardian T1/T3 bombers, Chosen T3 bomber, EDA T2 raider) no longer stops every other unit's targeting.
  • Shields: an aircraft's shots from inside an enemy shield's bubble hit the shield. Land units are unchanged.
  • Chosen T2 point defence: can raise its barrel above level, so it stops shooting the ground.
  • T1 bombs: they live long enough to land.
• Economy: commanders make 3 alloys and 30 energy a second (were 5 and 50) and start with full storage. Extractors make 1 / 5 / 15 alloys at T1 / T2 / T3; T1 and T2 generators 20 / 600 energy, and T3 ones cost 2800 alloys. Alloy Furnaces use 2000 energy a second. The Crucible costs 3x as much. Factories cost 200 alloys, the T2 upgrade 1000 (90 s), T3 4000. T3 tanks and the Guardian Nitro cost 30% less. T2 radar runs on 250 energy/s; T3 radar costs 2800 alloys and 1400 energy/s. Wrecks reclaim 3x as fast and last 6 minutes. Land and naval units cost 6 energy per alloy, T1-T3 aircraft 40; engineers have less than half their health.
• Commanders: EDA and Guardian missiles fly at once and lead their target, in smaller, faster volleys.
• Artillery: leads moving targets. The three T1 artillery are brought level.
• Defences: point defences see as far as they shoot. T1 point defences beat their cost in T1 tanks, and T1 artillery still outranges them. T2 point defences are much tougher; the Chosen T3 one hits much harder. Shields cost more and hold less.
• Unit tuning: the Jager is toned down and the other T2 raiders brought up. The T1 tanks are brought level. T3 tanks are faster with quicker guns; the Nitro is faster still. T4 bots move at 2.25-3 and are game enders priced 10000-25000 alloys.

Every change, number by number, is in CHANGELOG.md. How the numbers were chosen, and what the simulation can and can't tell, is in REDESIGN-PLAN.md. balancepatch.json below has the changes as data, for tools such as the unit database.

The catch: the economy numbers come from a simulation and a few real games, so expect them to move. The Guardian T1 and T3 bombers, the Chosen T3 bomber and the EDA T2 raider still deal no damage, because their models lack the weapon bones (FINDINGS.md).

Install

• Delete any older SanctuaryMods\BalancePatch\ folder first. A leftover file stops lobbies from matching.
• BalancePatch-0.2.9-ModManager.zip: extract into the game's engine folder, so the mod lands in SanctuaryMods\BalancePatch\. It needs the Mod Manager 0.17.0 or later, which the game update of 11 October needs anyway.
• Every player needs this same copy. The host opens Mods in the lobby, switches Balance Patch on and picks its sections. Start waits until everyone matches.

This is a gameplay mod: it changes the match's Lua, but only in lobbies where the host picks it. Outside those, the game runs vanilla. Built for the game update of 11 October 2026 (0.0.1.21.1). A change whose game number has since moved is skipped, not stacked.