diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 1d92139e..9b9eeeee 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ find_package(Threads)
 find_package(ZLIB REQUIRED)
 find_package(CURL REQUIRED)
 
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
+
 if(WIN32)
 	find_package(Iconv REQUIRED)
 	
@@ -49,6 +53,13 @@ if(WIN32)
 elseif(UNIX)
 	find_package(Curses REQUIRED)
 
+	# shame on you cmake for auto-setting optimization flags!
+	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "")
+	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "")
+	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "")
+	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELWITHDEBINFO "")
+	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_MINSIZEREL "")
+
 	# linker flags
 	set(CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS "${CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS} -Wl,-O1,--sort-common,--as-needed,-z,relro")	
 	set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "${CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS}")
@@ -60,16 +71,16 @@ elseif(UNIX)
 	if ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" STREQUAL "Clang")
 		set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE} -Ofast")
 	elseif ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" STREQUAL "GNU")
-		set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE} -Ofast")
+		set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE} -O2")
 	elseif ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" STREQUAL "Intel")
 		set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE} -Ofast")
 	endif()
 
         # funroll loops and everything else potentially crazy for performance here
-        set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE} -DDEBUG_LEVEL=0 -DPRODUCTION=1 -funroll-loops")
+        set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE} -DDEBUG_LEVEL=0 -DPRODUCTION=1 -funroll-loops -ftree-vectorize")
 
 	# our "always on" flags
-	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++14 -m32 -pipe -march=native -mtune=native \
+	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -m32 -pipe -march=native -mtune=native \
 		-Wformat -Wno-overloaded-virtual -Wno-missing-braces -Wno-format \
 		-Wno-write-strings -Wno-unknown-pragmas \
 		-Wno-uninitialized -Wno-reorder")