The RezNet Report — May 2026
This months's official playtimes focused on testing an updated version of Strife featuring portals, along with a major overhaul to Laser Wars. The new Laser Wars slot system introduced a second equipment slot, allowing players to load additional support modules such as the Drone Controller and Doppler Radar. The game also adds teammate HUD indicators that display which special modules allied players are carrying, making coordination and team strategy easier.
Phoenix Wars Testing
The updated Strife now looks and feels much more in line with the identity of Phoenix Wars. The re-texturing work and overall grimier atmosphere make the arena feel harsher and less forgiving — which suits Strife perfectly. With its large open areas and fights over a handful of key reload pads, strong individual skill wins in here which means its not an arenas for beginners.
The portals showed a lot of promise as well. The interior building portals worked extremely well, while the portals leading to the side platform still need some refinement to feel right. And a possible improvement may involve replacing the center teleport route with a full cross-map teleport to create a more meaningful and faster transport route.
Bugs
Gameplay overall was very enjoyable, and portal usage exposed a healing-related bug that is now fixed. We also discovered that the rock piles should use simplified convex colliders instead of their current mesh colliders, as players can occasionally become stuck on them. As a quick fix, these colliders are now convex but ultimately they have simplified box colliders to better fix their geometry.
Takeaway
Phoenix Wars itself feels extremely close to where it needs to be mechanically. The primary remaining discussion revolves around fall-height death thresholds, as there is still a delicate balance between what feels fair versus overly punishing. Fortunately, this is something that can be tuned in real time as testing continues.
Laser Wars Testing
Laser Wars unfortunately did not receive the turnout needed to fully stress test the new update this week. However, the players who did participate successfully verified that the Drone Controller system is functioning properly.
Bugs
We uncovered an interesting bug: firing a PackI Laser would instantly disconnect the player from the arena. Thankfully, this issue appears isolated and should be resolved quickly.
The newly overhauled Hills of Glory arena also still has a few visual issues that need cleanup, including texture problems and tank shadows appearing through tunnel geometry. Nothing particularly serious, but as with Strife, arena overhauls tend to reveal lots of smaller polish issues that must be addressed before they are truly production ready.
Takeaway
A lot of us hope that Total Wars CTF will one day take off, but without it being played much, this new Laser Wars update offers us the chance to test out some more critical modules like Doppler Radar, Doppler Receiver and more. We'll still need more testing to work out any issues that may be present bringing in these extra modules to Laser Wars, so hop on next week if you can!
Impulse Wars Update
Impulse Wars received a major physics update this month with the introduction of a completely redesigned ramp system.
A significant amount of legacy code and numerous tuning variables that previously controlled impulse behavior have been removed in favor of a much cleaner and simplified physics model. The goal of the update is to create more consistent and predictable impulse interactions while reducing unnecessary complexity behind the scenes.
Additionally, tank momentum now has much less influence over gameplay. As a result, impulse missile behavior is expected to be more consistent, with tank position becoming the primary factor in determining outcomes. This also places greater emphasis on juking and positioning, as driving into an incoming missile to reduce or negate some of its force is likely no longer the optimal strategy.
Last but not least, Mosh Pit received a visual upgrade as we continue to bring the standards of Rezarus higher.
Takeaway
The new system will require additional focused testing before we can fully evaluate its impact, but early results are promising. Matches in Mosh Pit and Singularity have already felt more consistent than ever. Hopefully this hold true for other arenas.
Other Notes
Rezarus has also been updated to the latest Unity 6.0 LTS — 6000.0.75f.1
Automated Random Events
The server has also been updated to now fire off random special events every Friday. Each event runs for a duration of one hour. Getting here took some work — there were a few rounds of testing and some bugs to iron out along the way — but the automatic event scheduler is now fully operational. Rather than running the same event every week, the scheduler picks one at random from the available pool each session, so you never quite know what you're walking into. The two Friday time slots are a starting point; more times may be added in the future depending on how things go. The events and their modifiers are posted here.
Better Explosions
Tank explosions have also been improved — most noticeably in Impulse Wars. Previously, tanks would detonate at inaccurate positions. The root cause was a client-side data queue: because the explosion is triggered instantly, the client would sometimes skip processing of 1–3 pending interpolation frames, causing tanks to appear to explode mid-air rather than on a surface. Clients now flush their remaining data queue before triggering the explosion animation, resulting in a much more natural-looking event. Next month we'll look at giving explosion debris some momentum, so hits feel more satisfying — especially in Impulse Wars.
RezNet Bots Update
A bug was identified and fixed in the RezNet bot code, and patching it results in notably improved bot behavior. Building server-synced deterministic bots that imitate human players is still a work in progress, but they should be more enjoyable to practice against in the meantime. In June, we plan to give them a small HP boost to make RezNet battles a bit more challenging.
