Updates
Version 4.0 - Combat Update
Version 4.0 expands Pioneer from a mass movement and rendering foundation into a broader gameplay toolkit for strategy and top-down combat projects. It is the update that connects the large-unit foundation to the moment-to-moment systems players expect: fighting, grouping, formations, queued orders, and readable animation.
Two New Game Modes
Pioneer now includes two ready-to-use sample modes:
- RTS Mass Battle - a large-scale strategy battle with deployment, command cards, groups, formations, melee units, ranged units, projectiles, match state, and RTS HUD.
- Top Down Zombie Shooter - a squad-action sample where Actor operatives fight Mass zombie entities through the Actor-Mass Bridge.
See Sample Game Modes.
Melee And Ranged Combat
Mass units can now fight through the new Combat System. Units can define health, armor, attack damage, attack range, melee timing, ranged projectile behavior, line-of-sight checks, volley timing, projectile visuals, and death behavior.
See Combat System.
Actor-Mass Bridge
Regular Unreal Actors and Mass entities can now participate in the same combat simulation. This supports gameplay patterns such as Actor heroes, squads, bosses, or objectives fighting Mass armies or enemy waves.
See Actor-Mass Bridge.
Groups And Formations
Players can create groups from selections, merge groups, ungroup, assign control slots, recall groups, and apply formations. Built-in formation types include line, column, wedge, box, circle, loose, and custom layouts.
Command Queue
The new Command System supports move, attack move, attack, hold position, stop, patrol, follow, retreat, and charge orders. Commands can replace existing orders, queue behind them, interrupt immediately, or cancel all active and queued commands.
See Command System.
Mass Animation States
Mass entities can now use semantic animation states for Idle, Walk, Run, Charge, Attack, and Death. Animation sets bind these states to baked vertex animation clips, allowing gameplay events to drive readable animation while preserving instanced rendering performance.
Version 3.1
Performance improvements
Navigation and avoidance have been streamlined for better efficiency: we consolidated several navigation processors into a single pass, improved use of cached data, and simplified obstacle querying. You should see smoother behavior with large unit counts.
Version 3.0
Terrain navigation
Units can now walk on the Z-axis based on navigation mesh data, so they follow terrain height and multi-level environments correctly.
Animation blending
Smoother transitions between unit animations for more natural movement and behavior.
Version 2.0 – Major Update
We're excited to announce the release of Pioneer Mass Strategy System 2.0, a milestone update that brings huge performance improvements, new features, and more creative freedom for developers.
What's New
Instanced Static Mesh (ISM) support for units
Units now use ISMs, making rendering far more efficient.
Massive unit counts with stable performance
You can now render up to 10,000 units on screen while maintaining smooth and stable FPS.
Dynamic LOD system
A new Level of Detail system adjusts models dynamically based on camera view, giving you the best balance between visuals and performance.
Foliage support with navigation mesh
Your units can now move around foliage with correct pathfinding through the navigation mesh.
Vertex animation setup
Create and use your own animated meshes directly within the plugin, opening up new customization options.
Free camera mode
Explore your units more flexibly with a freely movable camera.
Built-in FPS counter
Easily monitor performance during testing and development.