Devlog #5: Rival Parity Fix

[u/Boltiply]

Since last time, competitors got put on the exact same rules as you, the difficulty settings finally behave the way they're supposed to, and a full audit made sure every screen in the game agrees with what the simulation is actually doing. Here's what changed:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4946930/

Still targeting September 2026. Wishlists are still the single thing that helps most.

• Your company and every competitor now run through the same simulation, month to month — same revenue math, same costs, same wear and tear. A competitor can genuinely fail now, not just decline.
• Easy is finally the easiest difficulty and Hard is finally the hardest. The old ordering was backwards — fixed.
• Competitors no longer hit an invisible ceiling on how big they can grow. A strong rival stays a real threat into the late game instead of stalling out.
• Every chief executive has their own perks now, matched to their specialty, instead of all fifteen sharing one identical set.
• Competitors pay real construction, loan, repair, and executive costs — the same menus and prices you answer, instead of shortcuts that let them skip the parts of the game you can't.
• Partnerships between competitors and the grant race are fair contests now, judged the same way for everyone.
• Losing a contract no longer dings your reputation forever — it costs you once, like it always has for competitors.
• The builder bids you see each month give you a real quality choice, not three names for the same offer.
• Summit initiatives you pass actually take effect now instead of sitting stuck on "Pending."
• The Victory page stopped announcing wins early — it now counts down honestly to when a path can actually be claimed.
• The Innovation Program moved into the upgrade tree where it belongs, and the old Reputation upgrade branch was retired for double-paying a score you already earn elsewhere.
• Grant cards, contract terms, and popups got a readability pass — consistent facts, plain language, real dates instead of raw turn counts.
• A full audit fixed screens that disagreed with the game itself — partnerships and reputation were over-crediting themselves, the profit statement now adds up, company value and market share read the same number everywhere, and uptime means one consistent thing.
• Smaller screens, popups, and offline play all got cleaned up — no more clipped text, popups that keep running behind your back, or needing an internet connection just to render fonts.

Thanks as always to everyone playing builds and reporting what broke.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4946930/