Available now from www.nicelycrafted.com, Time of Defiance offers many enhancements, the most immediate of which is a fresh lick of virtual paint that increases the quality of visuals all without increasing the download size.

This is also the first time players can experience the Shadoo buildings. Up until now, players have experienced only some Shadoo vehicles; but now, the Eighth House stocks Shadoo Colonisers – opening the doors to all of their technology, including the devastating rail-gun. Players now have a whole new range of strategic, tactical and defensive opportunities.

The sound engine has been improved and the in-built help has been given a complete work-over to make the game even easier to learn to use. With player-driven enhancements to the existing user interface, navigating around the huge play-area is now more intuitive and quicker than before. Yet even with these changes, the client weighs in at just under 8Mb – a demonstration of coding efficiency, designed to offer the best possible graphics within a minimum file size.

As well as the new Shadoo buildings, the Cog has been developing new technology. A super transport allows shifting of vast amounts of resource from one place to another, and the new travelling salesman offers some special hardware to players eagle-eyed enough to track him down and pay him promptly – including the rather splendid Quantum Bomb.

But that’s not all. The Cog Eighth House trading post has branched out into journalism – offering four editions of the Cog newspaper – outlining tactical and financial activities throughout the game. Players are even able to bribe the Eighth House to remove news items about themselves. With the new Eighth House bank opening new opportunities for allies to work together, there is now even more scope for player deviancy.

Time of Defiance is the world’s first 3D massively multiplayer real-time strategy game. Up to 1,000 players compete in each game, using aggression, politics, risk and stealth as they battle for control of thousands of islands spread across the remnants of a distant planet.

A five-day demo can be downloaded from the site, offering players a taste of this incredibly addictive strategy title. After that, subscription charges apply, as listed on the site.

“The Time of Defiance community is active and vibrant,” says Ben Simpson, creative director, Nicely Crafted Entertainment, “and we’re delighted to be able to incorporate some of their hopes and wishes in the latest version of the client. That’s what makes our game unique – we can update it frequently with the minimum of fuss. Our whole client is much, much less than most games’ patches – despite the fact that we’re using full 3D visuals. The strategies that have been developed since the Time of Defiance’s launch have proved to us what a unique game this is. These new additions will really throw the cat among the pigeons; and there is more to come!”

Time of Defiance is available now from www.nicelycrafted.com