Updates from the lab

The Refactoring chamber gets a second mode. Rarity used to be the one thing you couldn't grind — same-rarity parents in, same-rarity child out, so a run of unlucky rolls kept you at baseline forever. IMPROVE RARITY changes that. Two same-rarity models become one child a rarity higher, paid for in bred depth instead of Cu. Costs slots-for-nothing (rarity + depth = zero-sum), keeps installed SW, and — for the first time — makes bad luck something you can work with.

The two mechanics that give a model a life beyond the sale. REFACTORING merges two saved brains into one — deeper slot, higher quality ceiling, more headroom — inside a chamber that can burn one, both, or neither. LENDING sends the model out to work on its own — SW carries the payout, quality carries the wear, and vendor SW preferences turn the loot chain into a real target for the first time. Plus the schema, the tiers, the trade-offs, and the reasons none of it is a shortcut.

A release about a single question — what is that brain, really? Benchmark grades your model on a twelve-step scale, probes and certifications turn the answer into paper, and paper has a price at the vendor's desk. Plus rebuilt achievements with 79 custom icons, redesigned screens across half the game, and — for the web-side devlog stream — a catch-up note on July's 1.6.6 and 1.6.7.

A big one. What started as an economy pass turned into a whole new gameplay layer — runs drop source-code fragments and research notes, a crafting chain turns them into a library of 55 unique software programs, and perk slots let you install those programs onto your models to boost sale value. Plus a proper economy rebalance, one-tap contract delivery, a fragment merge mechanic, a retrain lockdown, and a stack of quality-of-life fixes underneath.

A brand-new layer of progression that survives a brain sale — certain brains discover optimization potential, and from that moment on their modules build permanent know-how that carries over to every future brain. Plus an optional calibration minigame — Packet Filter — that lets you push the optimization bonus higher, a fundamental contract-flow cleanup (train first, match after), and a copy fix on the Prediction module.

A living news feed lands in the Market — industry pulses, market trends, world beats, opt-in leaderboard callouts, gentle tips, and out-of-universe system announcements, all delivered without an app update. Plus rotating weekly leaderboard rewards, a change to how sectors unlock, and small polish.

Two big additions in one release. Autotrain is a one-tap easy-mode pretrain that stops itself at the sweet spot, sitting alongside the classic Manual loop. Neuron Archiv is a hall of records that captures the best traits of every rare brain you've ever sold — the trace they leave behind. Plus progressive hardware unlocking, contextual pulse hints, and quality-of-life fixes.

The biggest update since v1.4.1. A whole vendor world replaces the old passive contract list — 63 clients across 7 sectors and 3 classes, each with their own reputation ladder and their own bonuses to hand out. Cognitive Overload gets reworked into a hands-on gauntlet. Pretrain configuration deepens. Rarer model tiers open up. And the Black Market gets a Flash Deals refresh.

The biggest visual overhaul since launch. The HUB has been rebuilt from a list of menu buttons into a proper command center with per-tile preview panels. The Brain screen rides along with the same grammar. Brain Lab retires and reappears as Telemetry. Plus a holographic brain projection that changes shape with your Model Potential tier.

The Knowledge Domains screen gets the same drill-down treatment as Pretrain Configuration and Hardware Config. Five corpora become a Tier-1 selector, each with its own colour identity and per-domain icons. Plus a brief look at how the Prediction module overlays affinity hints on the buy buttons.

The Hardware Config screen gets the same drill-down treatment as Pretrain Configuration in v1.2.5 — one dedicated screen per chassis, a hero rig visualization, Tier-1 component selector, Tier-2 variant chips, and clear per-tier item lists. Plus an A4000 rental revision in flight alongside.

Pretrain Configuration screen rebuilt as a drill-down accordion. Plus a new Welcome Tutorial for first-time players, a Daily Rewards screen, Black Market vouchers, live per-hour brain rates in Run config, balance tweaks, and bug fixes.

A UI-only release. The Modules / Upgrades screen has been rebuilt from a flat scroll list into a three-category drill-down with custom neon icons. Same logic underneath, very different feel on top.

A point release on top of v1.2.0 — Contract Board refresh choices, the first in-game Help button that deep-links to the web, a Black Market sellback flow, plus a round of tuning from this week's playtest feedback.

A new 7-day Daily Reward chain in the Market, a meaningful Ru income boost for the mid-game, and dramatic Model Potential tier reveals.

First devlog. The game is out, the site is up, here's what's coming next.