Refactoring, Regression Fixes, and the Case Against Unit Tests?

Today was a busy one for Stellar Throne. I pushed through a long list of regression fixes and finally got unit test failures down to a single case related to game save versioning. I also redirected all tests to a separate test_saves directory to avoid interference with the main game data — something Claude had been missing.

UI got some much-needed love today too:

• Top-bar buttons for Research, Diplomacy, Ship Build, Construction, Fleet Management, and Bombardment are all back
• You can now double-click planets to jump into construction, and double-click stars to access the shipyard
• Fixed UI quirks like inability to select the last item in a panel, and persistent notifications not returning if a project wasn't selected

Combat bugs are getting squashed as well. Battles between AI empires no longer hang the game, and turn processing now has a wait animation to replace the "Pause" message.

The ROI on unit tests? They rarely catch production issues in practice. Manual playthroughs and design audits remain the primary safeguards.