Air Defender

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• Patch Notes·23 May 2026Official

  Bug Fixes & Additions

  Air Defender Changelog - Version 0.7.0.0 - 23 May 2026 A major reliability and polish update covering interceptor behaviour, voice and radio procedure, save and load, map settings, scoring, civilian and emergency handling, and difficulty options.New: Difficulty-Scaled Fuel ConsumptionInterceptor fuel burn now adapts to your selected difficulty setting.Hard: Realistic period-accurate baseline (unchanged).Normal: Half rate — interceptor sortie endurance doubles.Easy: One-tenth rate — extended endurance for relaxed sessions.Warnings Unchanged: Joker, Bingo, PAN-PAN and MAYDAY warnings still trigger at the same fuel percentages — they just take proportionally longer to reach.Save & Load ReliabilitySaves Survive Process Kill: Saves are now written safely — closing the game (or losing power) part-way through a save no longer leaves a corrupted file behind. The previous slot's contents remain intact until the new save is fully written.Rapid SAVE Click Safety: Clicking SAVE rapidly no longer risks two saves overwriting each other.Corrupted Save Entries Visible in Load Menu: Saves with malformed files no longer silently disappear from the Load Game list — they are shown with an error indicator so you can spot them and choose to delete.Save Game Click Reliability: Loading a save no longer silent-fails when the on-disk filename differs from the in-game display name.Mid-Mission State Preservation: Save/load now correctly preserves a wide range of mid-flight state: AWACS approach gates, tanker fuel-flow rates, Nimrod departure-leg sequencing, enemy aircraft RTB position, enemy bomber turn state and evasion timers, in-flight missile guidance parameters, nuclear weapon damage profiles, and many smaller details that previously reset to defaults on load.Chinook Supply Missions Survive Save/Load: In-flight Chinook HC2 supply aircraft no longer disappear seconds after loading a save — cargo, ordnance, and origin-base accounting are all preserved.Crash Sequence No Longer Loops On Load:...
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• Patch Notes·2 May 2026Official

  Hotfix - Version 0.6.9.102

  A focused hotfix bundle covering radar reliability, Russian deception polish, and engagement procedure correctness. Radar & Track Reliability - Radar Toggle No Longer Destroys Aircraft: Switching a radar off no longer permanently removes the enemy aircraft it had been tracking. Aircraft state and radar state are now properly independent — turning the radar back on, or another sensor picking the aircraft up, correctly redisplays them on the map. - EW-Identified Raids Persist: Enemy raids spotted by EW intelligence (e.g. bombers inbound from far north of UK radar cover) no longer disappear after about 20 seconds. The radar map now keeps EW-flagged Hostile raids visible for as long as EW continues to report them. - Hostile Classification Survives Radar Cycle: Toggling a radar off and back on no longer loses a Russian spoofer's known-hostile classification. A spoofer that has been correctly identified will not silently revert to "Unknown civilian" after a radar power cycle. Russian Deception - Spoofers Trigger Full Intercept Procedure: When a Russian aircraft using a civilian airline callsign (e.g. Iran Air) is intercepted, the QRA fighters now correctly run the full Russian intercept procedure (visual identification → challenge → engagement or escort) automatically once they reach the merge. The procedure no longer goes silent if the spoofer's civilian disguise hasn't yet been visually identified. Engagement Procedure - Critical Tension Auto-Engage On Hostile Confirmation: In Critical tension, QRA interceptors that visually confirm a contact as hostile now correctly switch to Engage instead of continuing the standard intercept procedure. The "ENGAGING" radio call plays at the moment the interceptor confirms the hostile, not after a manual override.
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• Patch Notes·1 May 2026Official

  Bug Fixes & Additions

  Air Defender Changelog - Version 0.6.9.94 - May 2026 A large bundle of fixes covering campaign endings, the end-of-game summary and soundtrack, the identification procedure on Hard difficulty, Russian deception, stuck aircraft, AWACS and interceptor reliability, civilian traffic during airspace closure, and a long tail of quality-of-life issues.Campaign End & Summary Screen- Critical Campaign Won't End After The First Wave: Clearing the opening wave no longer ends a Critical campaign early — victory waits until the full assault has been spent.- "All Threats Cleared" Fires At The Right Time: The all-clear message now waits until every enemy has left the map, every inbound bomb has detonated, and any queued waves have finished spawning.- Airspace Stays Closed Until It's Really Empty: Airspace no longer reopens while escort fighters are still in the air — it waits for every enemy aircraft to clear, not just the bombers.- Honest Victory Framing: The end-of-game summary now tells the truth about cost — "DEFENCE SUCCEEDED" only for clean wins, with "DEFENCE HELD — AT GREAT COST" or "NATION DEVASTATED — DEFENCE HELD" for higher-casualty outcomes.- No More Duplicate Cities In The Summary: Cities hit more than once are listed once with a strike count, instead of repeating with the same casualty number on every row.- Submarine Debug Panel Hidden During Armageddon: The launch debug panel no longer overlays the formal end-of-game screen.Hard Difficulty Identification Procedure- Procedure Bonus Now Awarded For Hostiles: Identifying a hostile aircraft (TU-95, spoofer, military) using the full 4-step procedure now correctly awards the procedure-followed bonus instead of unfairly penalising you. Hostile aircraft don't have a Mode 3 code, so ATC will reply "no Mode 3 code assigned" — that response now correctly counts as the ATC step.- Procedure Guide Rewritten: The Help / Guide Procedures tab now spells out the full 5-step identification sequence in order, calls out the ATC hotkey ...
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• Patch Notes·15 Apr 2026Official

  Bug Fixes & Additions

  Air Defender Changelog - Version 0.6.8.49 - April 2026 This is a major update bringing enemy variety, a comprehensive intelligence reporting system, an expanded Guide panel, intercept status updates, shift handover, supply coaching, and dozens of fixes across interceptors, radar, voice, and training.New: Enemy Variety SystemEnemy aircraft now employ a wider range of deception tactics. What you see on your radar may not be what it appears. Intelligence reports from various sources across the UK will help you identify threats -- pay attention to the clues. Difficulty setting affects how challenging these encounters are to detect.New: Intel ReportsThe ASMA console now posts intelligent, data-driven reports from across the UK.- Real Aircraft Data: Every observer report -- RAF veterans, air cadets, coastguard, police, North Sea oil rig crews, ATC squadrons, GCHQ -- references the contact's actual altitude, speed, heading, and approach direction. Reports never contradict your radar picture.- Expertise-Aware Language: RAF veterans use proper military terminology. Civilians describe what they see. Air cadets check their Jane's guides. The source shapes how it's written.- Contact Positions: Every report includes where the contact is (e.g., "30nm north of Edinburgh"), so you can correlate sightings with tracks.- ATC Call Intelligence: CALL ATC now includes a RELATED INTELLIGENCE section -- observer sightings, SIGINT assessments, registry checks, and ATC anomalies for the queried track.- Your Squadron: 849 real RAF Air Cadet squadron numbers and locations across 34 Wings are included. When an enemy aircraft overflies your town, your squadron may be the one to spot it.- Radar-Gated IDO: The Identification Officer only reports contacts visible on the radar scope. Aircraft beyond coverage are reported by maritime and ground observers, not the IDO.New: Guide PanelThe Guide panel has expanded from 9 to 12 tabs with comprehensive coverage of game mechanics.- Overview: Game setting, ...
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• Patch Notes·27 Mar 2026Official

  Bug Fixes & Additions

  Air Defender Changelog - Version 0.6.0.1 - March 2026This is a major update bringing a completely new coaching and mentoring system, comprehensive ASMA console upgrades, training mission improvements, a hidden easter egg, and hundreds of stability and performance fixes under the hood. New: Coaching and Mentoring System Your ASMA console now acts as an intelligent mentor, giving you real-time feedback tailored to your experience level. FOR YOU Feed: A new dedicated coaching feed in ASMA delivers situation-aware tips based on what is happening in your watch. Hints scale with your XP — beginners get step-by-step guidance, experienced operators get concise reminders.Controller Handover Brief: When you start a new session or load a save, you now receive a handover brief summarising the current air picture, active sorties, fuel and weapons status, and threat assessment — just like a real controller shift change.Session Performance Tracking: Your performance is tracked across each session. When you next log in, your handover brief includes a supervisor assessment covering identification accuracy, resource management, and decision making from your previous watch.Training Mission Mentor: Training missions now feature a dedicated mentor who provides state-aware hints. If you are stuck, the mentor nudges you toward the next step rather than leaving you guessing.Bear Hunt Tanker Hint: A three-tier hint system now nudges you to deploy a tanker after launching QRA in the Bear Hunt mission, progressing from gentle suggestion to direct instruction.New: ASMA Console Overhaul The ASMA console has been significantly upgraded with new filtering, categorisation, and message quality improvements. Category Filters: Filter ASMA messages by category — Sortie, Intel, Supply, ATC, Alerts, and more. Click the category buttons at the top of the console to focus on what matters.Sortie Sub-Filters: When filtering by Sortie, individual sortie buttons appear. Click one to see only that sortie's mes...
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