Engine update

Engine Update — smarter win conditions + Combat Mode now actually matters


Spent today deep in the battle engine and wanted to share what changed, because a few of these you'll notice straight away.

The big one: the engine got much better at understanding how a fight is actually won, not just who's stronger on paper. It used to get stuck on "untouchable" characters — Gojo being the classic. His Infinity means nothing can physically reach him, so the engine would basically hand him the win by default, even against opponents who had other ways to close it out. That's fixed. It now understands things like winning by removing the battlefield itself — a planet-buster who just takes the ground out from under you — and weighs that against defences like Infinity properly.

Which leads to the bit I'm happiest with: Combat Mode now genuinely changes the outcome. It's not flavour text for the write-up anymore — the setting feeds into who actually wins. Three levels:

In-Character — everyone fights like they normally would, no crossing lines they wouldn't cross.
Morals Off — willing to kill, full personal arsenal, but still tactical. No mass-casualty stuff.
Bloodlusted — will do the absolute worst thing it takes to win. Level the planet, take everyone with them, whatever secures it.

Gojo vs Superman is the perfect showcase. In-Character and Morals Off, Gojo takes it — Superman won't level a planet to win, and nothing short of that gets through Infinity. Flip to Bloodlusted and Superman wins, because now he will tear the battlefield apart from orbit and Gojo has no way to follow him up there. Same two fighters, three framings, and the setting decides it. Go try it.

Two smaller things you'll spot: the write-ups now stick to how the fight was actually won — no more inventing a lucky hit that shouldn't land — and the Match Certainty rating is the engine's real read now, not a placeholder.

The whole point of this is that results come from consistent rules, not from who's more popular or whatever mood the day's in. Same matchup, same settings, same answer, every time — and I'd rather it be defensible than flattering.

It's not perfect, and I'm sure some of you will find fights that still feel off — please do. Run some matchups, try the different Combat Modes, and flag anything that looks wrong. That feedback is genuinely what makes this thing better.