v29: Ranked 1v1 + Main Menu Rework

Major New Mechanics

• Ranked 1v1 (Elo): The purple button on the home page matches you directly into 1v1, with Elo ranks. The first version with a formal ladder.
• Main menu rework: The whole interface refreshed, with a clearer component structure.
• Hierarchical Pathfinding: Ship pathfinding sped up up to 500× and more accurate — long-distance naval expeditions become a viable tactic.
• HvN returns: Humans vs Nations team mode was disabled in v27 due to imbalance — it returns in v29, with player and Nation counts automatically matched, defaulting to Hard.
• Single-player achievements: Each map / each difficulty completion unlocks a dedicated achievement, saved to your account.
• Public lobby random modifiers: Public lobbies on the home page now carry 1+ purple tag modifiers (Random Spawn / Compact Map / 5M Starting Gold), adding variety.
• End of Game Report: After a match, a window pops up with Survival / War / Economy three-dimensional stats.
• Private lobby pause: The host can pause the game, convenient for discussion / screenshots / handling interruptions.

Key Balance Changes

Item	Old	New	Impact
Public lobby player count	Hardcoded	Dynamically computed by land tile count (max 125)	Large maps auto-scale player count
Allied nuclear protection	SAM intercept only	Newly formed alliances instantly destroy any in-flight nukes between allies	Eliminates “sneak a missile in at the moment of allying”
Nuke warning	Range marker only	Nukes that would break an alliance are shown with a red warning ring	Misclick rate plunges
Nation cheats	Already cut 50% in v28	Cut another 50% (Hard / Impossible only)	High difficulty leans more on AI behavior than stat advantages
Nation nukes	Occasionally intercepted by SAMs	Impossible Nations 100% avoid SAMs	High-difficulty Nations rarely waste nukes
Player cap	Static	Adaptive by land, up to 125	Large maps scale up

UI / QoL

• Lobby diplomacy color borders: territory edges tinted green / red to indicate diplomatic relations.
• During the spawn phase, teammates pulse-highlight for easy identification.
• Radial menu right-click on an ally now offers quick troop send.
• Player info card adds a troop percentage bar.
• Your own rails highlight bright green in Alternate View.
• Building placeholders show cost under cursor (toggleable in options).
• Many previously hardcoded hotkeys are now configurable.
• Nation difficulty naming changed from relaxed/balanced/intense/impossible to easy/medium/hard/impossible.

Maps (10 new)

Two Lakes, Britannia (the original renamed to Britannia (Classic)), Amazon River (280×5536 long-strip river map), Surrounded, Strait of Hormuz, Lemnos (Greek island, Arma3-inspired), Sierpinski (fractal party map), Didier (France) × 2.

Strategies Players Should Adjust

1. 1v1 ranked: The opening window of each version where you can stabilize Elo is the sweetest — grind 1v1 for rank seriously.
2. HvN mode returns: First officially playable since v27, the team play experience is more controlled than public FFA.
3. Nuke UI prompts cut friendly fire: Games where you accidentally nuked an ally because the hover didn’t show the alliance-breaking warning are almost extinct after v29.