MACH-XNew
- Rotor Wingman: an escort helicopter weapon in the level-up pool, with 5 visible MK I-III upgrades (rocket pods, door gunner, incendiary spray, armour plates, boosted engine). It has its own sounds and a Rotor flight section in plane stats.
- Flak Curtain, Cannon Pods and Artillery Barrage replace Sonic Boom, Tuning Fork and Rune Circle.
- Phosphorus Canister, Mixed Warheads, Radio Drones, Heavy Bombers and Magnet Mine replace the Arcane weapons (Hex Orb, Tarot Cards, Will-o-Wisps, Starfall, Implosion Charge).
- Every one of these weapons keeps its LV3/LV6 forks and evolutions, and has its own mount, icon and WW2 shot sounds.
- Bosses are rebuilt as WW2 war machines: bombers, flying wings, rotor gunships, siege, flail and flak tanks, zeppelins, a U-boat, an oil rig and armoured trains, with spinning props and rotors, turrets that track you, jet and rocket flames, searchlights, and damage with engine smoke and fire as HP drops.
- Bosses get distinct silhouettes, per-boss camo and ID bands, and battle-scarred veteran variants instead of a neon tint. The Spotter becomes a Fi 156 Storch, the Warden gets heavier jungle camo, and the Scatterer is a blue-grey Ju 88.
- A new painted supply crate: a wooden ammo crate with planks, steel bands and rope whose lid is knocked loose, with a light shaft tinted by the best reward.
- A realistic flak-deflector shield with layers, hit ripple and a flicker on its last layer.
- A realistic nuke with a capped flash, shock ring, dust skirt, fireball into mushroom cloud, debris and scorch. A co-op host's nuke shows on the guest's screen.
- A Permafrost evolution that bakes a frost crust and freezing fog instead of a rune sigil.
- A post-boss checkpoint: after a paid boss, resuming takes you to the between-wave screens.
- A live wager at the boss kill now settles in the post-boss checkpoint (a win pays, a loss is charged, once).
- A Bail out button with an armed state (red border and pulse) that needs two taps.
- Plane stats are redesigned as a cockpit log: a porthole nameplate, four riveted instrument plates, armament with MK lamps and an evolved tag, and a cargo hold with rarity-rimmed sockets.
- The barracks is a painted Nissen hut with a war table where up to 5 recruited pilots lie as worn service-record folders, with an ON DUTY stamp.
Gameplay & balance
- A world is now cleared at wave 10 (was 15), the extract offer comes only at boss 5, and the Old Man is tougher to match.
- Class names change to match: Arcane is now Special, and the Grimoire is now Boffin's Notebook. Old saves, unlocks and suspended runs carry over.
- Rotor Wingman helicopters are about 65% of your plane's size and scale their hardware with it.
Co-op & online
- Starting co-op first banks a suspended solo checkpoint, so both phones fly.
- A rejoining guest is credited only the stars not yet banked, and takes over the host's run clock.
- Guests see the right scarred boss variant.
- Raid hits by a co-op guest are tracked correctly.
Graphics & audio
- Billowing explosions and fresher shot sounds for the new weapons.
- The nuke icon is a bomb badge instead of the radiation trefoil.
- Pilot Galley portrait now has goggles and an oxygen mask like the others.
- Level-up, supply drop, cursed altar and co-op standby screens show the frozen battlefield behind them, with a dim overlay.
Interface
- "Camp" buttons on reveal and pack screens now read "Barracks".
- Escape works as back everywhere, and back in the co-op lobby ends the session.
- Pick screens have a short tap lock so you cannot choose by accident.
Performance
- A large performance pass: smoother menus and combat, less memory, a faster start and auto quality that adapts to your phone while you play (it never saves a lower setting).
- Terrain is baked in small slices and prefetched ahead of the camera, so you no longer feel a hitch when new ground appears.
- Menu backdrops use a lot less CPU while idle.
- Post effects are off by default on Medium graphics.
- Fewer voices on lower graphics tiers.
Bug fixes
- Co-op, raid and rankings fixes, including a guest's raid hit tracking.
- Plane talent trees in the Black Market are rebuilt.
- Even Footing and weekly challenge codes are rejected when they should be.
- World-cleared medals pay only on a real clear.
- Importing a save drops the suspended run and ghosts.
- Spark refuses maxed legendaries.
- Recruiting Office rolls keep their remainder.
- The daily streak now follows the UTC day and ignores a clock set back.
- The Void world unlocks on its landmark.
- A failed share shows a message.
- Several rare crashes, including a negative-time frame after resuming and a broken shield ripple, are fixed.
- Resuming after a paid boss no longer replays it or lets you farm stars or badges.
- "BOSS DOWN - 0 to go" no longer appears, and Even Footing resume with an unowned plane works.