NORTH AMERICAN
FREIGHT EMPIRE

Save System Fix — Cloud Restore & Cross-Device Sync

• Fixed a critical issue where admin-restored game saves were not appearing for players on mobile devices
• Fixed cloud save ownership tracking to use user_id field, resolving cross-account session persistence issues
• Fixed admin restore marker comparison that prevented restored saves from loading over stale local data

Active Staff Roles — Mechanic, Safety, Accountant & Sales Rep — EARLY ACCESS

• [EARLY ACCESS] Mechanic: auto-inspects fleet daily and schedules critical trucks for shop repairs — weekly fleet condition report generated automatically
• [EARLY ACCESS] Safety Officer: pre-dispatch permit audits flag missing permits before you dispatch, 20% lower DOT/CBSA catch rate, and weekly safety training boosts your safety score
• [EARLY ACCESS] Accountant: auto-files IFTA quarterly (no more audit penalties!), generates weekly P&L summaries with break-even + 10% profit targets, and auto-pays fuel & company credit cards
• [EARLY ACCESS] Sales Representative: actively finds load leads every 2 days — you set the focus (outgoing, backhaul, or any) and accept or reject each offer. Max 1 rep, manages up to 4 drivers
• [EARLY ACCESS] Weekly P&L target: Accountant calculates your fixed costs (payroll, insurance, fuel card fees, loan installments) and tells you exactly how much revenue you need to cover bills + 10% profit
• Note: These staff automation systems are in early access — you may encounter edge cases or unexpected behavior. Please report any issues via the in-game bug report tool.
• Note: We are still in early stages — staff behavior, lead quality, and automation timing will be refined in upcoming updates based on your feedback

Dispatcher Automation & Home Time Queueing — WIP

• [BETA] New Dispatcher staff role — assign drivers to dispatchers who auto-handle ACI/ACE border filings, permit ordering, and pilot car hiring based on their permit mode (manual, service, or in-house)
• [BETA] Dispatchers level up as their drivers deliver loads — capacity scales from 4 to 8 assigned drivers at max level
• [BETA] Auto-dispatch: dispatchers automatically pick the best available assigned driver for booked loads — prioritizing matching expertise and proximity
• [BETA] Auto home time: dispatchers detect overdue drivers and queue them for home time automatically
• [BETA] Home Time Markers — insert a "go home" marker at any position in a driver's load queue to sequence mandatory rest between loads
• [BETA] Home time markers show as dashed cards on the Scheduler timeline between queued loads
• [BETA] Home time markers appear in the Dispatch queue alongside reloads — remove them anytime with the trash button
• Fixed: auto-dispatch no longer assigns new loads to drivers with pending home time
• Fixed: dispatcher auto-dispatch also respects pending home time — overdue drivers go home before getting new loads
• Note: These features are work in progress — expect refinements to dispatcher behavior and home time scheduling in upcoming updates

Navigation Refresh — Hubs & Bottom Bar

• Bottom bar streamlined to five hubs: Dashboard, Dispatch, Loads, Fleet Map, and Banking — the most-used screens are now one tap away
• Inbox (broker messages + alerts) moved to the sidebar — tap the menu to check messages and notifications
• Dispatch is now a single hub: Active Loads, Scheduler, Permits, and ACI/ACE customs credentials all live together under the Dispatch tab
• All staff management — Drivers, Recruitment, and Staff Management — consolidated into one Staff Hub in the sidebar
• Fleet Map is now a primary bottom-bar destination for tracking your trucks on the road
• Banking (Bank, Loans, Fuel Card) promoted to the bottom bar for quick access to your finances

UI Streamlining — Load Specs & Banking Hub

• Removed the standalone Heavy Haul tab — heavy & oversized loads now appear directly on the main load board with all their specs visible
• New "?" spec tooltip on load cards — tap it to see axle count explanations, weight limit references, jeep/booster dolly details, permit & escort requirements, fuel cost breakdowns, and risk factors for any specialized load
• Fuel Card moved into the Banking hub — now sits alongside Bank and Loans as a tab, removed from the sidebar and dashboard to reduce clutter
• Cleaned up dashboard quick actions by removing redundant Heavy Haul, Fuel Card, and ELD/HOS shortcuts
• Tapping a driver in the Fleet Map ELD strip now opens a detail card showing their start location, destination, current position, and remaining HOS hours — plus a button to center the map right on them
• Fixed contract loads never appearing in Career mode — the board refresh that posts them was being skipped, so no contract loads were ever generated for delivery

Queued Reload Auto-Dispatch Fix

• Fixed: queued reloads now properly auto-dispatch when a driver completes their delivery — drivers were getting stuck in resting state when their rest timer hit zero
• Fixed: loads stuck waiting for fuel funds no longer loop forever — the 24-hour forced delivery timer now correctly expires so drivers can finish the delivery and pick up their next queued load

Dispatch Engine & Credit Score Overhaul

• Credit score now correctly factors in ALL debt types — fuel cards, credit cards, lines of credit, no-credit loans, and consolidation loans are all counted (previously only bank loans and leases were considered)
• Hard inquiries now properly impact your credit score — each credit application drops 8 points for 30 days
• Facility hours now enforced on permit-hold dispatches, skipped-permit loads, LTL consolidated shipments, and auto-dispatched reloads — arrival ETAs are accurate across all dispatch paths
• Fuel card discount now applies to deadhead fuel costs on LTL consolidated loads (was previously charging full price)
• Removed legacy duplicate dispatch code that was missing fuel card discounts, facility hours, and proper state parameter passing

Dispatch Board — Driver Queue System

• Active Loads is now a full Dispatch Board — every driver has their own collapsible section showing current load + queued loads
• Drag and drop queued loads to reorder — grab the handle on the right to rearrange a driver's queue
• Queue position numbers show the order loads will fire (#1 is next, #2 after that, etc.)
• Collapsed driver sections show a one-line summary — route, progress %, and pay — so you can scan your whole fleet at a glance
• Drivers are auto-sorted: alerts first, then active loads, then queued, then available — most important drivers bubble to the top
• Queue limit increased from 2 to 5 — stack more round trips and keep drivers busy for days
• Available drivers with no loads are now visible on the board — see exactly who's ready for dispatch

Canada Load Board Fix

• Significantly more Canada loads on the board — cross-border traffic increased from 15% to 25%+ for US companies
• Loads now originate FROM Canadian cities, not just deliver TO them — drivers delivering to Canada can finally find backhauls home
• Reload suggestions now match nearby cities in the same province — a driver in Toronto will see loads from Mississauga, Hamilton, London, and other Ontario cities
• LTL and spot contract loads also include cross-border routes for more Canada variety

Load Stacking & Rounders

• Drivers can now stack up to 2 queued reloads at a time — build round trips and keep your drivers moving back-to-back
• Queue multiple loads for a driver while they're on an active run — each one fires automatically after the previous delivery completes
• The Active Loads tab now shows all queued reloads stacked under each driver's current load
• Driver sub-labels in the dispatch drawer show "X/2 reloads queued" so you always know who has room for more
• Reassign or pull individual loads from a driver's queue without clearing the whole stack

A Message from the Developer

• The game has been rebuilt from the ground up with tons of new systems — AI brokers, shared markets, heavy haul, equipment auctions, banking, fuel cards, staff morale, and more
• As you explore, you may run into issues — that's expected with this much new content. I'm committed to fixing things as fast as you find them
• Found a bug? Have an idea? Need help with something? Use the "Report an Issue" button in Settings — every report comes straight to me with your game state attached so I can investigate quickly
• I read every report and will do my best to get back to you and push fixes ASAP. Your feedback is what makes this game better — thank you for playing!

Live AI Market & Broker Relationship Fixes

• Empire Freight AI broker now powers the live Shared Market — every load is generated from 45+ real cargo templates, 20 AI industries, and 80+ AI customers
• Shared Market load cards now display the AI customer name, industry, cargo manufacturer, and difficulty badge (Easy → Superload)
• Every shared load includes full specs: special handling instructions, escort level, cargo value, and recommended truck horsepower
• 30 AI brokerages post freight autonomously every 5 minutes — the market is always fresh and alive
• Fixed: shared loads held past the 7-day dispatch window now properly expire and trigger broker relationship penalties (previously silently skipped in career mode)
• Career mode now exclusively uses the live Shared Market — no more stale local load boards
• New "Rate This App" card in Settings — let us know how we're doing!

Empire Freight AI — Dynamic Load Generation

• Empire Freight AI broker now generates loads dynamically — no two days are the same. Every load is built from real cargo templates, AI customers, and industry data
• 45+ real cargo templates: CAT D6/D8/D10/D11 Dozers, Komatsu PC490/PC8000 Excavators, CAT 988K/994K Loaders, CAT 793F Mining Trucks, wind turbine blades & nacelles, power transformers, bridge girders, and more
• 20 AI industries: Construction, Mining, Oilfield, Agriculture, Wind Energy, Power, Steel, Military, Marine, Railroad, Manufacturing, Pipeline, Bridge, Forestry, Equipment Dealer, Rental, Port, Government, Energy
• 80+ AI customers: Empire Construction, Titan Mining, Prairie Energy, Great Lakes Wind, Northern Steel, Caterpillar Dealer Network, Pioneer Pipeline, Continental Bridge, and more
• Every load now includes 30+ properties: Customer, Industry, Cargo Manufacturer, Truck HP Recommended, Transmission, Length/Width/Height, Gross Weight, Route States, Escort Level, Route Difficulty, Bridge Restrictions, Travel Time, Cargo Value, Driver XP, Delivery Deadline, Weather Risk, Traffic Risk, Damage Penalty, Late Penalty, Special Instructions
• Dynamic load types: Emergency (must leave within 3 hours, 1.8x pay), Rush (12-hour window, 1.35x pay), Seasonal (1.15x pay), and Standard loads
• Seasonal industry demand — mining peaks in summer, oilfield in winter, agriculture during harvest, wind energy in construction season
• Regional cargo spawning — equipment originates from states where that industry is active (mining in NV/AZ/MT, oilfield in TX/ND/AB, wind in TX/IA/OK)
• Difficulty ratings from Easy to Superload based on weight, dimensions, permits, and escort requirements
• Weather and traffic risk calculated per route — northern states in winter = severe weather risk
• Bridge weight restrictions checked per state on the route
• Special instructions per cargo — chain down tracks, maintain -10°F for reefer, security clearance for military, and more

Shared Market, Broker Relations & Leaderboard Overhaul

• New Shared Market — a live load board with 30 AI brokerages posting freight in real-time. Each broker has unique specialties, rate ranges, cargo types, and posting behavior
• Broker Relationship system — build reputation with each broker over time. Earn +10 points for on-time deliveries, lose 10 for late deliveries, -15 for releasing a load, and -10 for missed loads
• Four relationship tiers: Neutral, Preferred, Dedicated, Exclusive. Reach Tier 4 (100+ points) to unlock exclusive personalized loads that only you can see
• Exclusive loads — high-tier brokers close their yard to other players and post loads tailored to your fleet (matching your trailers and yard location)
• Auction loads — some brokers post auction freight where the lowest bid wins. Bid against other players in real-time (bids cannot go below fuel cost)
• Load caps — claim up to 8 public loads at a time (exclusive loads do not count against the cap)
• Global Career Leaderboard — compete against all players worldwide. Only companies active in the last 7 days appear, keeping rankings fresh and competitive
• Leaderboard stores only your highest net worth save — no more clutter from multiple slots
• Company name uniqueness — your name is checked live against all players as you type. If taken, you will see 3 suggested alternatives you can click to use
• Profanity filter — company names are automatically screened for inappropriate language before appearing on the public leaderboard
• Legal disclaimer added to company creation — players are informed their names are public and subject to moderation
• Leaderboard Opt-Out — new setting in Settings lets you hide your company from the public leaderboard at any time. Opt back in whenever you want

Equipment Auctions

• New: Equipment Auction system — bid on trucks & trailers at 30-60% below dealer prices
• Auctions feature AI bidders that can outbid you before the auction ends (2-5 days)
• Auction vehicles sold as-is with unknown condition — may need immediate repairs
• No credit check required — cash only. Win vehicles get added directly to your fleet
• Access via the Auction tab in the Dealership panel

Staff Management & Personnel System

• Complete Staff Management Panel — monitor all drivers and staff in one centralized hub
• Morale system for all employees — daily fluctuations based on salaries, work conditions, and performance
• Give Raises in real-time — boost morale instantly with salary increases and see the financial impact
• Fire employees directly — terminate drivers or staff members with confirmation dialogs, instantly removing them from payroll
• Morale color indicators — visual feedback showing content (green), neutral (yellow), and at-risk (red) staff
• Quit risk tracking — staff with critically low morale may leave your company, generating notifications when departures occur
• Auto-updated payroll calculations — staff section displays real-time weekly and monthly salary totals
• B-Train configuration fix — B-Train sets now correctly show as "Led + Pup" (32-ft leading + 28-ft pup) instead of "2×28 pups"

Main Bank Selection & In-House Repair Shop

• Choose your main bank — pick between two banking profiles when you enter the Bank: Sterling Savings (higher interest on savings) or Apex Credit (bonuses toward credit score & net worth requirements for loan/credit card/LOC approvals)
• Savings interest rate is now set by your main bank — Sterling Savings gives 5% daily, Apex Credit gives 2% daily but easier credit access
• Credit requirements adjust dynamically — if you picked Apex Credit as your main bank, all banks lower their minimum credit score and net worth thresholds for your applications
• New In-House Repair Shop in the Yard — if you have a hired mechanic, send damaged trucks and trailers to the shop for FREE repairs
• Shop repairs take time proportional to damage — a truck at 50% condition takes ~12 game hours to fully repair. Equipment is locked (cannot dispatch) while in the shop
• Shop bays grow with your yard level — Level 1 has 1 bay, Level 5 has 8 bays. Each bay repairs one truck or trailer at a time
• Cancel a shop repair anytime to pull equipment back out at its current condition
• Maintenance panel now shows both options side-by-side: free but slow shop repair, or paid instant repair
• Dealership financing now uses adjusted credit requirements based on your main bank choice
• New Secured Vehicle Loan — new trucks & trailers can ALWAYS be financed, no credit check needed. The vehicle is collateral, so approvals are guaranteed (10% APR, 6/12/24-month terms)
• New Lease vs Finance comparison — see side-by-side total costs so you can pick the cheaper option based on rate and term
• Fixed a glitch where saved games could fail to load — your career progress now loads reliably every time
• New "Report an Issue" button in Settings — report bugs, glitches, balance concerns, or suggestions directly to the dev team
• Each report automatically attaches a snapshot of your game state (cash, day, fleet size) so we can investigate faster

Realistic Banking & Financing Overhaul

• 6 different banks — each with unique loan rates, credit card APRs, and line of credit terms. Apply for loans, cards, and LOCs from any bank you qualify for
• Hard inquiry system — every credit application drops your score 8 points (recovers after 30 days). Apply too often and banks will auto-deny you
• Multiple credit cards — one per bank. Your limits grow automatically with good payment history and credit score improvements
• Multiple lines of credit — one per bank. Each grows over time up to its bank-specific ceiling
• 5 fuel card companies — Comdata, EFS, TCH, FleetCor, and WEX. Each offers different discounts, fuel prices, and limits. Hold one card per company
• Switch between active fuel cards — the active card is used for all fuel purchases. Choose the one with the best discount or cheapest fuel price
• No-credit-check loans — QuickCash Capital and Express Funding offer fast cash with no credit check (but 35-45% APR and severe penalties)
• Debt consolidation — if your credit cards and fuel cards are maxed out, consolidate all balances into one lower-rate loan to keep your company running
• Credit score now factors in hard inquiries, credit utilization, and all debt types — managing your credit profile is more realistic than ever
• Existing save games automatically migrate to the new system — your current fuel card and line of credit carry over

Report Issues & Save Fix

• Fixed a glitch where saved games could fail to load — your career progress now loads reliably every time
• New "Report an Issue" button in Settings — report bugs, glitches, balance concerns, or suggestions directly to the dev team
• Each report automatically attaches a snapshot of your game state (cash, day, fleet size) so we can investigate faster
• Help us make the game better — your feedback goes straight to the developers

Charity & Relief Contracts

• New "Charity" tab in Contracts — recurring haul commitments with 8 charity partners (Red Cross, Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity, and more)
• Bid for reputation: choose what % of pay you keep — donate more to earn higher safety score and company rating boosts per delivery
• Charity loads appear on a dedicated "Charity" board with heart badges and simplified one-tap acceptance (no bidding)
• Every charity delivery grants safety score + company rating — no cash penalties for missed cycles, charities are understanding
• Charity contract offers arrive every ~10 game days — a chance to give back to your community

Auto-Dispatch Toggle

• New Auto-Dispatch toggle on the Active Loads screen — flip it on and booked loads auto-assign the best available driver, truck, and trailer each game tick
• Smart asset selection: picks drivers with matching expertise, prefers trucks in best condition, and matches exact trailer types first (with compatible substitutes as fallback)
• Heavy haul loads auto-dispatch only to tri-drive trucks; cross-border loads wait for customs clearance before auto-dispatching
• Manual dispatch still available via "Manual Override" button when auto is on — you always have full control

Heavy Haul, Payment Options & Stuck Asset Recovery

• Heavy Haul expansion: 3 new tri-drive trucks (Western Star 49X, Peterbilt 567, Kenworth C510) required for super-heavy loads
• 5 new multi-axle RGN trailers (7-axle & 9-axle) for oversize cargo up to 196k lbs GVW
• New "Heavy Haul" load board with mining shovels, power plant generators, refinery vessels, bridge segments & more ($9–$12/mi)
• Dynamic risk mechanics: tire blowouts, mechanical breakdowns, and DOT overweight tickets scale with load weight
• Heavy haul insurance surcharge ($2,000/month per heavy trailer) and 1.75× fuel consumption
• Company credit cards & line of credit now available as payment options for permits, pilot cars, and utility lifts
• Counter-offer bidding: counter loads up to 130% above broker rate with decreasing acceptance odds the higher you bid
• New "Reset" button on stuck drivers, trucks, and trailers — releases seized assets, clears detained/suspended drivers, skips rest, and recovers stranded equipment back to the yard
• Consolidated permits panel: utility lifts and pilot cars all managed in one place
• Heavy haul drivers earn 35% of load pay (vs 28% standard) for the added risk

Smart Trailer Compatibility

• Reefers can now haul dry van loads (runs unrefrigerated) — but dry vans still can't haul perishables
• Step decks and flatbeds are now cross-compatible for most freight
• Conestoga trailers can substitute for flatbeds and step decks
• Curtainside trailers can substitute for dry vans
• Livestock loads (cattle, hogs) now strictly require a livestock trailer — no substitutions allowed
• Improved dispatch warning messages show compatible trailer alternatives when you pick the wrong type

Load Board & Active Loads Improvements

• Booked loads now stay visible on the Active Loads screen until dispatched — no more silent disappearances
• New "Queued Reloads" section shows pre-booked reloads assigned to drivers already on the road
• Trailer-type filtering on the Load Board — quickly find FTL or LTL loads by trailer requirement
• Dispatch holds: loads with missing permits or customs now stage at the yard/border and auto-resume when cleared