Has the admiral (settlers boss) been buffed?

Hi.

The Admiral's encounter used to be easy gold for me.
Now that I have an arguably stronger character thanks to the grafts, this fight is eternal.
Out of 3 shipments (less than 1.5M) 2 have been kidnapped with no danger bar. Twice, it took me so long to kill him I died to the undodgeable waves (towards the end, they come from every angle, 6 at a time, and for now I depend on flasks to unfreeze).

The amount of time wasted is insane. All the gold for the crew + high rerolls, the time to farm the crops, the gold to rehire...

Has this encounter been buffed or something? Because it doesn't make sense that it's so costly when the new tree gives you better loot than 1M shipments.

Thanks in advance.