No hiding under the ship, smarter enemies, inertia.
- Enemies touch the hull, not the hitbox. Until now, contact only counted once an enemy sat almost exactly on the ship’s center: small ships crept underneath, got pushed away a little, came back and rammed again after every invulnerability window — while your own shots flew out of the nose right over them. Now:
- Small fighters (swarmers, chargers, scouts) smash against the hull, deal damage once and are gone. Mines detonate.
- Larger ships keep their distance and turn away before they reach the hull; any that touch it anyway bounce back hard.
- Enemy AI by difficulty: Aimed shots lead their target — not at all on Cadet, a little on Pilot, clearly on Veteran, fully on Legend: fly stubbornly straight ahead and you fly right into them. On higher difficulties, swarmers cut you off instead of chasing after you.
- Inertia: The ship has a velocity of its own. It starts moving with a short delay, glides out when you let go and needs a moment for a sharp turn — clearly noticeable in Orbit (a good 0.45 s to 90 % speed), tight in Arcade so dodging stays fair. The ion nozzles show what they’re pushing right now: while gliding out, the counter-nozzles visibly brake.
- Full speed sideways and backward again (0.130.0 to 0.132.0: 68 % and 52 %).
- New skill “Navigation” (Maneuver, 3 levels): The ship follows your controls 35 % faster per level. Measured in Orbit: in the first 0.2 s, 23 px without it, 37 px with level 3; gliding out 65 px without, 31 px with.
- Maneuvering Thrusters (shop, Drive) now reduce inertia (+60 % responsiveness) instead of raising sideways speed.