Devblog #04 – Smarter AI, Better Battles & More Improvements Ahead

Commanders,

Welcome back to another Silica Development Blog!

Over the past few weeks, we've been focusing on something that influences every match you play: AI behavior, battlefield responsiveness, and overall game performance.

While some of these changes happen behind the scenes, together they make battles feel more tactical, more reliable, and more immersive than ever before.

Let's dive into what we've been working on!

Smarter AI Takes the Wheel

One of our biggest priorities has been making AI-controlled armies behave more intelligently in every situation.

AI Can Now Use Transports

Whether it's reinforcing the front line or moving troops across the battlefield, AI units are now capable of boarding transport vehicles just like human players.

This allows them to react much more efficiently, making large-scale engagements feel more dynamic and believable.

New Protect Command

We've introduced a brand-new Protect command.

Units assigned to protect another unit will now:

• Surround the protected target.

• Follow it as it moves.

• Re-form their defensive positions after navigating around obstacles.

Whether you're escorting a valuable harvester or protecting a key combat vehicle, your forces will stay organized instead of scattering across the battlefield.

Improved Attack Command

We've also refined how attack orders work.

Previously, units would continue advancing toward their target even when they were already within firing range.

Now, they'll stop as soon as they can effectively engage, allowing them to maintain better positioning while delivering sustained fire.

This seemingly small change has a surprisingly big impact on tactical combat and unit survivability.

Smarter Target Priorities

Another major improvement comes to how AI chooses its targets.

Rather than constantly switching to whatever enemy happens to be closest, units now make much smarter decisions.

They will:

• Stay focused on their assigned target whenever possible.

• Prioritize enemies that pose the greatest threat.

That means no more watching Rocket Tanks ignore an incoming Railgun Tank just to fire at a harmless Scout.

Battles should now feel significantly more logical.

Better Vehicle Navigation

Anyone who's watched AI vehicles climb halfway up a building knows exactly why this change matters.

We've reworked vehicle navigation so AI units now properly avoid driving onto the sides of structures, greatly reducing situations where vehicles become stuck or take bizarre routes around the map.

The result is smoother pathfinding and fewer frustrating moments during large battles.

Performance Improvements

Optimization remains an ongoing effort as we continue improving Silica.

One of the latest additions is mipmap streaming, which helps reduce memory usage by only loading texture detail when it's actually needed.

While this isn't the most visually exciting feature, it should help improve overall performance and deliver smoother gameplay on a wider range of hardware.

More FPS is always welcome!

Quality-of-Life Improvements

Not every update comes with flashy explosions, some simply make the game feel better to play.

Harvester Fixes

We've resolved several issues affecting harvesters, including problems with:

• Resource depositing

• Vehicle flipping

• General reliability during resource collection

Harvesting should now be much more dependable throughout your matches.

FOV Settings Added

We've now added proper FOV settings and sensible limits, giving players much better control over their first-person experience while preventing some rather entertaining visual oddities.

What's Next?

These improvements are just one step toward making Silica feel smoother, smarter, and more enjoyable with every update.

We're continuing to work on additional gameplay improvements, AI refinements, bug fixes, and quality-of-life features, and we're excited to share more in future development blogs.

As always, your feedback plays a huge role in shaping the game. Keep sharing your experiences, bug reports, and suggestions; They genuinely help us prioritize what comes next.

Thank you for your continued support, and we'll see you on the battlefield!

Community Spotlight

Before we wrap up, we'd like to shine a spotlight on one of our amazing community members.

A loyal member of the Silica community, MadButterzz, has created an absolutely breathtaking cinematic video showcasing the game, and we couldn't resist sharing it with all of you.

We're genuinely impressed by the passion and creativity behind it; thank you for taking the time to create something so incredible for the community!

🎥 Watch the video here:

If you've captured your own epic battles, cinematic moments, or beautiful screenshots from Silica, we'd love to see them too!

Join the Community

Want to stay up to date with future development blogs, updates, and community events?

Join our Discord to chat with the developers and fellow players, and don't forget to Wishlist Silica on Steam to be notified whenever a new update lands.

We'll see you on the battlefield, Commander.

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