# 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 Lightning*or *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!**