MAJOR UPDATE: Basic Tower Builder

**0.16.0 - Basic Tower Builder major update**

**NEW FEATURE: Basic Tower Builder** - Spend Titanium during a run to place extra towers on the map (separate from your deployment list) - Works on Endless maps and World Map runs only (subject to change) - 5 Ti to place, 5 Ti for first upgrade (+5 Ti each time after, up to 6 upgrades) - Roll picks a random tower tier shift from -3 to +9 on your unlocked ladder - A fresh basic tower is a blocker only until you upgrade it - Uses a tower from storage for mod layout, but at much lower power - 10% damage, half range/mag/fire rate..., double reload/spread, 3% energy - Active mod functions (like Fracker blasts) do not work. Passive stats only - No Ti refund if you delete it - Needs enough base energy to place or upgrade

**PERFORMANCE AND STABILITY**

Save and Cloud Sync - Big world-map, high progression saves should no longer freeze the game on save or sync - Saves happen more quietly in the background while you play

Map Simulation - Maps with lots of towers should run smoother with fewer hitches - Heavy mod calculations are spread out so frames drop less

**CORE 2025 SERIES** - Increase wave difficulty for Core 2025 series

**ENDLESS AND WORLD MAP** - Max director spawn rate cap raised from 1.5x to 2x - At high difficulty, spheres can randomly spawn with armor + shield + cloak + immunity all at once - Spheres that go off-path speed up over a few seconds - Spawn rate on the map panel now shows spheres per second instead of a percent bonus - Timed invasions on World Map nodes — megabosses can show up in groups based on your loop - Shield regen on spheres is now more consistent across maps

**ECONOMY**

Ore mining - Before: high rarity pushed drops heavily toward Quarium and Nebulite - Now: rarity gives 2x the amount of quantity increase in terms of % points

Gold income - Passive mining only works if you killed a sphere in the last 60 seconds

Other - Deep Excavation perk is now +25% resource quantity only

**MOD BALANCE**

Fracker - Energy cost increase to +40, perks +20 (removed % based energy cost) - Blast radius per Make tier: bonus cut from 0.5 to 0.25 per tier (smaller blasts at high Make) - B-side cooldown changed: was half cooldown, now cooldown minus 1 second (min 1s) - Fracker unlock moved to Endless Map 10 - Gamma Prism unlocks on Endless Map 30 - Fracker does not work on map-built basic towers

Campaign mod unlock order - Speed, Armor Piercing, Frag, Shock, and Mining Rate unlocks shuffled - Research R4 moved to Map 40 (was Map 50)

**TOWER BALANCE** - Nebulon Pulse: magazine 8 -> 4 - Meteoric Maul: projectile size set to 0.5

**TOWERS** - Spare Sentry target mode/type choices in the property panel now save to your profile - Tower colors match between the deployment list and the map report - Wave spheres stay on their intended paths more reliably

**NEW PLAYER TUTORIAL LEVEL** - Brand-new accounts get a introductory first map before the full game opens up - Existing players skip this automatically

**OTHER FIXES** - Leaderboard loading improved - Less debug logging in release builds - All drones now use 1.75x move/accel as the default baseline speed