01.07.2025 - The update is here

Today’s update introduces a wide range of exciting new features and deep changes to the game. Much has been reworked behind the scenes, and other parts are visibly altered – time for a detailed overview:

🎮 CTD – The Game

🧠 Skill-Based Attacks

The turret functionality has been fundamentally reworked.
Previously, most turret parameters were hard-coded and could only be modified to a limited degree via upgrades or power-ups – any changes required major effort.

With the new system, nearly every parameter – from the number of chain lightning targets to damage values or upgrade effects – is now defined in a central database.
The game itself only reacts to the bundled, externally calculated values.
Turrets are now "dumb" in-game and completely rely on external data, which gives us maximum flexibility for future expansions.

☠️ Damage Types

Each turret now uses one of six damage types:
Kinetic, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Poison, Plasma

• All but Plasma are linked to a unique status effect.

• Turrets can learn alternate damage types via the skill tree (and later, items) – for example, Fire Chain Lightningor Lightning Rocket Launcher.

• Some effects are still placeholders, but already lead to diverse and exciting battles.

• Plasma currently has no status effect but offers unique skill nodes and excels at pure damage output.

🛡️ Resistance Penetration

Enemy resistances from wave 10 onwards previously turned higher difficulties into war-of-attrition scenarios.
To counter this, Penetration has been introduced:

• Starting at turret level 2, turrets automatically gain a small penetration value.

• This value can be increased further through the skill tree or with items.

Example:

Enemy has 50% Fire Resistance, turret has 10% Penetration → effective resistance: 40%.
If penetration exceeds resistance, bonus damage is applied.

🧭 Pathfinding

In addition to classic pathfinding (where enemies choose their path dynamically), there is now a waypoint system that enforces a predefined path.
This allows:

• Crossroads, loops, or repeated runs through the same area

• Dynamic switching between both systems (useful for special maps)

⚖️ Balancing & Difficulty

Due to the complete overhaul of turret logic, many balance values had to be reconsidered.
The game is currently deliberately unbalanced – which makes it unpredictable and (hopefully) more exciting.

💣 Bomber & Nuke

These power-ups can now once again be used at any time during a wave.
Especially noticeable on small maps with short paths.

🗺️ New Map: Green1

To showcase the new waypoint system, a new map is available:
Green1 – featuring multiple direction changes and re-entry points.
Ideal for fresh tactical approaches!

🌲 Skill Tree – Bigger, Deeper, Smarter

• Expanded from ~500 to over 1150 nodes

• New damage types, many specialized effect nodes

• Reworked existing values

• New search field at the bottom right (e.g. search for “Cooldown”, “Team Cooldown”, “Turret Cooldown”, etc.)

⚡ Power-Ups – Reworked & Repriced

Changes:

• GameSpeed is now called Enemy Speed – only affects enemy movement speed

• Team Power-Ups are now tiered and repriced

  • Previous values were converted at a 5:1 ratio (rounded up)

• Effect strength now varies:

  • Team Damage = +5%

  • Cooldown or Range = start at +1%

🤝 Team Bonuses – More Fair, More Controlled

Team Damage no longer doubles a turret’s total damage.
It now only affects the base damage (excluding item, boost, or skill modifiers).
This keeps total damage output in check and prevents runaway scaling.

🌐 CTD WebUI – New Features & Improvements

New:

• Diamond shop with high-level items

• Turrets with multiple damage types can now switch damage type in their inventory

• The active damage type is displayed in the top-right corner of the turret inventory

• Three new in-battlefield options:

  • Show animated paths – visualizes enemy movement

  • Show level bars – color-coded turret level indicators

  • Show names permanently – permanently show player names (use CTRL to toggle visibility temporarily)

Changes:

• The term “Speed” has been replaced by “Cooldown” throughout the interface

• Item upgrade prices have been reduced – in some cases by up to 90%

• The turret overview now shows all parameters of all damage types, including status effects

• Boost cards have been updated with correct English names

Temporary:

• Status effect missions are currently disabled – they are not yet compatible with the new system

• Statistics display in the battlefield is still a work in progress – will be updated in a future patch

🧑‍💻 Note on the Update

Although this update is not fully completed in every area,
we had to release it within a narrow time window.
The reason is the team’s vacation schedule – to ensure we could respond quickly and collaboratively in case of critical issues, this release timing was essential.

Thanks to all players and supporters!
This update is a huge leap forward – technically and in terms of gameplay.
Enjoy discovering all the new features and possibilities!