Hello and welcome to an exciting and fun-filled update for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition! This is a huge one with massive balance changes, bug fixes, and some new mods available as in-game options!
Plus, there’s an all-new Spicy Expeditions Event to celebrate Spring time! The merchants have come to town and have brought some very flavorful rewards from faraway lands. Complete daily challenges and unlock saffron fields, burning chilis, and colorful shops to decorate your Town Center!
While there are plenty of notable fixes and features to look forward to in today’s build, here’s some of the big highlights coming with this month’s update:
- Spicy Expeditions Event!
- Massive balance update!
- A mountain of bug fixes based on your feedback!
- A few Mods are now available as in-game options:
- Small trees
- Idle economy units pointers
Be sure to dig down into the post below to get all of the smaller details before hopping in-game and checking them out firsthand.
Thanks again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!
—The Age of Empires Team
Remember that you’ll need to update your game in the Microsoft Store:
- Open the Microsoft Store.
- Click the [∙ ∙ ∙ ] symbol next to your profile picture.
- Select Downloads and updates.
- Press the Get updates button to automatically detect, download, and install the latest changes to your game!
- Open the game. The title screen should show you on Build 81058.
If you are unable to launch the game after downloading the update, make sure you add (or re-add) the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition client or folder as an exception to your firewall and antivirus program.
That’s it; you’re ready to play!
Remember that you’ll need to update your game in Steam:
- Open Steam.
- Click on Library to see your games list.
- Click Downloads at the bottom of the Library window.
- [If the new build does not download automatically,] click the Download Now button to manually download the new update.
- Open the game. The title screen should show you on Build 81058.
That’s it; you’re ready to play!
Remember that you’ll need to update your game in the Xbox App for Windows.
- Open the Xbox app.
- Games that are installed show up on the left side of the app.
- Hover over the game or click it, and then select Update.
- [If the new build does not download automatically,] hover over the game, select More Options (…), choose Manage. Under the Files tab, choose the option to Check for Updates.
- Open the game. The title screen should show you on Build 81058.
That’s it; you’re ready to play!
Please note that custom mods may not be compatible with the latest game update. If you are experiencing issues launching or playing the game after downloading the new build, try disabling your installed mods before trying again.
Still having trouble? Visit our support site!
Build Spotlight
Spicy Expeditions Event
April 11th – April 25th
This month is dedicated to the adventurous merchants who risked life and limb to obtain luxuries for their customers throughout the ages. They shared the world’s finest indulgences in colorful shops bursting with spices from faraway lands, thanks to fearless explorers in search of commerce.
New Rewards!
NOW through April 25th, complete daily in-game tasks within the time limit to unlock exclusive rewards!
Day ~ | 🎯 Sign in to Xbox Live. 🏆 Unlocks a profile icon of a Flemish Militia very proud to show his Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition t-shirt. 💾 Required to save any rewards unlocked during the event! |
Each of the following challenges must be unlocked in order and on separate days.
Day 1 | 🔒 Research Wheelbarrow before 13 minute of game time. 🧱 Unlocks a graphical mod where Farms are replaced with saffron farms. |
Day 2 | 🔒 Gather 5000 Food. 🏆 Unlocks a profile icon of a burning chili. |
Day 3 | 🔒 Build 3 Town Centers in a single match. 🧱 Unlocks a graphical mod to decorate your Town Center with colorful shops. |
Day 4 | 🔒 Train 30 Trade Carts or Trade Cogs in a single match. 🏆 Unlocks a profile icon of a trade cog braving the spicy weather. |
Day 5 | 🔒 Train 50 unique units with at least 3 different fabric colors on their icon. Leather, Feathers, and Metal do not count. 🧱 Unlocks a graphical mod where gunpowder is replaced by paprika powder. |
Keep it Forever!
Remember: if you sign in to Xbox Live at any point during the event, you get to keep all the mods and profile icons you unlock! Sign in, earn your rewards, and enjoy!
—The Age of Empires Team
Event F.A.Q.
While challenges don’t have to be completed on consecutive days, only one challenge can be completed per day.
This means that you will need to play at least five different days to complete all of the challenges.
The Spicy Expeditions Event concludes April 25th.
All you need to do is log into your Xbox Live account before the end of the event to keep all of the profile icons and mods you unlock; it’s as easy as that!
No problem! All you need to do is click your Profile Icon on the main menu, select Event Mods (under Collection), and then check the unlocked event mod you want to enable!
You can update your profile icon in your profile:
- On the main menu, click the Profile Icon next to your name.
- You should now be in the Profile Icons tab under Collections.
- Select your favorite icon, then click the Select Icon button to lock in your choice.
- You’re done!
For information about how to subscribe to and prioritize your mods, visit this article.
Game
Stability & Performance
- The game no longer becomes unresponsive and loses multiplayer features when leaving a clan.
- Typing in the Scenario Editor search bar and then pressing enter no longer causes a crash.
Graphics
- Fixed an issue where one of the Stone Mine variations had black marks.
- Unit movement animation no longer stutters while following/guarding another unit when the unit is moving.
- Fixed an issue where the shield was upside down in Legionary idle and walk animations.
- Legionary attack animation now has two extra variations which are used when facing different angles.
- Added the fire version of Slinger’s projectile which is used after Chemistry is researched.
Audio
- Villagers no longer use the audio confirmation of the task they are assigned when told to garrison, the move sound is used instead.
- Updated the Civilization Theme and Jingle for the Bengalis.
UI
- Fixed an issue where the Technology Tree was showing the item costs from the currently played civilization when viewing another civilization’s Technology Tree.
- Removed the inaccurate mention of range increase from the “Upgrade to Keep” tooltip.
- The Profile Menu does not close anymore when unsubscribing from an event mod.
- Age Up Button’s non-extended tooltip now lists the requirements to age up.
- Updated the extended tooltip of the Kataparuto technology to make it clearer.
- Fixed some localization issues in multiplayer leaderboard menus on Xbox.
- Fixed an issue where Town Center costs were shown incorrectly in the Technology Tree for civilizations with cheaper Town Centers.
- Event Mods part of the Player Profile Menu will no longer display if there is no connection.
Settings
- In the Settings – Options – Game menu, those 2 new options have been added:
- Idle Pointers: Adds an exclamation mark on top of idle economy units (Villagers, Fishing Ships, Trade Carts and Cogs).
- Small Trees: Replaces all trees with visually smaller versions.
Hotkeys
- Allowed combining the functionality of several Go to Building and Select All Buildings hotkeys when they are set to the same keys. This allows selecting different buildings together or cycling through them using one key.
- Multiple building queue now works for units which are trainable from different buildings (Huskarls, Tarkans, Konniks, Serjeants) if these buildings are selected together.
- Hotkeys that use CTRL + a mouse button (e.g. middle mouse button) will now execute hotkeys correctly.
- Allowed ungarrisoning units from allied buildings using Ungarrison hotkey.
- Fixed an issue where the gate rotation hotkeys had lower priority than Game Commands group hotkeys when placing a gate.
Xbox
- Added a button while in Keyboard & Mouse mode only that allows player to return to the lobby browser.
- Fixed an issue where players experience a black screen/softlock when exiting the Technology Tree while moving the focus cursor around and changing civilizations.
- Players attempting to join their Friend’s game while the Title was suspended are now transitioning directly into the Lobby properly.
- Technology Tree now shows the correct availability for all items.
Gameplay
General
- Random number generator has been improved to avoid situations where it could return the same result over and over. This affects villager training randomness, accuracy of ranged units and conversion randomness.
- Fish Traps can no longer be stolen by Fishing Ships of other players if they are being worked on.
- When attempting to garrison units, units will now move to the targeted building even if it is full.
- Monks and Priests with relics do not drop relics anymore when tasked to a full Monastery. Instead, “the building is full” message appears.
- Villagers no longer stay idle after finishing constructing a building, garrisoning into it and being ungarrisoned by send back to work button.
- Units no longer evacuate Fish Trap foundations when it starts being constructed.
Fixes
- Enemy players during treaty are no longer treated as allies when doing the spy/treason command.
- Auto Scout no longer fails to work in games with Explored map reveal setting.
- Adding units to a control group no longer causes the group to hold more units than selectable. Excess units are now correctly removed from the control group and the new units selected get correctly appended to the group.
- Ranged units now have consistent attack delay when automatically attacking after receiving a stop command, same as when receiving an attack command.
- Shift Queue now works properly for a group of monks picking a relic.
- Unit spawning cheats no longer cause parts of the map next to the bottom left map edge to be revealed.
- Group of Trebuchets can no longer ignore first instance of “stop” command when unpacking.
- Buildings can no longer drop units through walls, gates, buildings, trees, relics or resources.
- Fishing ships will now properly go to the nearest fish when they deplete their current fish.
- Fortifications can no longer end up with less than the intended amount of secondary projectiles upon ungarrisoning units while having other units still garrisoned.
- Stop icon can no longer disappear from trebuchets control panel.
- The ungarrison command now consistently becomes available immediately after garrisoning units into the building.
- Allowed players to use ctrl/shift-click to ungarrison their units from ally buildings again.
- Players are no longer able to ungarrison other player’s units from allied player’s buildings when ungarrisoning units with ctrl/shift-click.
- Relic carts now change ownership without time delay.
- Aztec monks with 1/55 HP no longer die when picking up or dropping a relic.
- Monks can no longer hide inside/behind a relic and become unreachable by enemy melee units.
- Relics can no longer be dropped to the other side of a wall when the monk carries the relic close to the wall.
- The construction progress percentage of Cuman Town Centers no longer changes when advancing to the Castle Age.
- Docks can no longer fire arrows at units which previously were adjacent to them.
- Farm outlines are now correctly displayed in the building placement mode.
Campaign
Art of War
- Booming: Prerequisites to hit Imperial Age are now shown in the objectives needed to complete the mission.
Campaign Missions
- Fixed typos, audio issues and inaccuracies in various campaign missions (menus, dialogues, objectives, intro/outro slides…).
- Fixed wrong population limit in various campaign missions.
- Fixed some issues with post game statistics displaying wrong values.
- Bari 4: ‘The Best Laid Plans’: Fixed an issue where a relic had a chance of being dropped in an inaccessible location after destroying the monastery.
- Francisco de Almeida 3: ‘Ruins of Empires’: Landing all starting units in Kilwa when bringing Muhammed for execution no longer makes Kilwa an enemy.
- Francisco de Almeida 5: ‘A Son’s Blood’: The objectives to convert and to not kill Albuquerque’s men can no longer be skipped.
- Bayinnaung 1: ‘The Burmese Tigers’: The second timer where the Portuguese must be given another 500 gold to buy their services now last 2 minutes as intended.
- Ivaylo 2: ‘An Unlikely Alliance’: The wonder won’t be destroyed by AI anymore when an enemy is defeated.
- Jadwiga 5: ‘Vytautas’ Crusade’: The hero now gains HP and attack as intended.
- Rajendra 1: ‘The Successor’: AI units from the Chalukyan Garrisons now properly react/counter attack when being attacked.
- Rajendra 2: ‘Deeds of the Father’:
- Fixed an issue where buildings destroyed by Players different from Player 1 was taken into account for objectives count.
- The first objective of landing in Chola harbor is now only fulfilled when landing in Chola harbor as intended.
Civilization Balance
Developer Note
Thank you for all the gameplay and feedback on the PUP! We took notes and made some adjustments to the patch since then. The changes are highlighted in bold below.
New Technology – Gambesons
- Effect: Militia-Line +1 Pierce Armor
- Cost: 100 Food and 100 Gold, 25 seconds
- Available in Castle Age after Supplies has been researched
- Civilizations gaining Gambesons are also listed in the civilization specific balance changes category:
- Gambesons Available for:
Aztecs, Bengalis, Bulgarians, Burmese, Byzantines, Celts, Dravidians, Franks, Japanese, Koreans, Malay, Persians, Portuguese, Saracens, Sicilians, Slavs, Spanish, Teutons, Vikings - Gambesons Disabled for:
Berbers, Bohemians, Britons, Burgundians, Chinese, Cumans, Ethiopians, Goths, Gurjaras, Hindustanis, Huns, Incas, Italians, Khmer, Lithuanians, Magyars, Malians, Mayans, Mongols, Poles, Tatars, Turks, Vietnamese
- Gambesons Available for:
General
- Eagle Scout, Eagle Warrior, and Elite Eagle Warrior cost increased from 20 food and 50 gold ▶ 25 food and 50 gold
- Long Swordsman upgrade research time decreased from 45 seconds ▶ 40 seconds
- Two-Handed Swordsman upgrade research time decreased from 75 seconds ▶ 60 seconds
- Champion upgrade research time decreased from 100 seconds ▶ 85 seconds
- Pikeman upgrade research time decreased from 45 ▶ 35 seconds
- Pikeman upgrade cost decreased from 215 food and 90 gold ▶ 160 food and 90 gold
- Supplies research time decreased from 35 seconds ▶ 20 seconds
- Fishing Ship collision size reduced from 0.5 ▶ 0.4
- Trade Cog collision size reduced from 0.5 ▶ 0.3
- Elite Steppe Lancer pierce armor increased from 1 ▶ 2
- Heavy Scorpion upgrade cost decreased from 1000 food and 1100 wood ▶ 800 food and 900 wood
- Murder Holes research time decreased from 60 seconds ▶ 35 seconds
- Sappers research cost changed from 400 food and 200 gold ▶ 400 food and 200 wood
- Sappers research now also adds +3 bonus damage vs rams for villagers
Developer Note: In practice this means +3 damage against Armored/Siege Elephants and Trebuchets, +2 against Capped Rams and +1 against Siege Rams.
- (Elite) Elephant Archer train time decreased from 34 seconds ▶ 32 seconds
- Elite Elephant Archer upgrade cost reduced from 1000 food and 800 gold ▶ 900 food and 500 gold
- Siege Elephant upgrade cost increased from 650 food ▶ 850 food
- (Elite) Genitours are now affected by Recurve Bow, Tower Shields, and Byzantine skirmisher discount
- Cannon Galleon Adjustments:
- (Elite) Cannon Galleon damage increased from 35 (45) ▶ 50 (60)
- (Elite) Cannon Galleon bonus damage vs Infantry, Archers, Cavalry and Mamelukes decreased from 15 ▶ 0
- (Elite) Cannon Galleon bonus damage vs Siege decreased from 40 ▶ 25
- (Elite) Cannon Galleon accuracy increased from 50% ▶ 100%
- (Elite) Cannon Galleon blast radius increased from 0 ▶ 0.25 (0.3)
- (Elite) Cannon Galleon receives attack ground ability
- Fixed an issue where Cannon Galleons sometimes wouldn’t damage the targeted unit.
Developer Note: These changes simplify the damage of Cannon Galleons by removing its numerous bonus damages vs almost all units and increasing the base damage accordingly. Also fixed a bug where Cannon Galleons sometimes wouldn’t damage the targeted unit. Added a little bit of splash damage to the projectile as a small buff against clumped units.
Aztecs
- Jaguar Warrior (Elite) pierce armor increased from 1 ▶ 2
- Receive Gambesons
- 50 extra starting gold is received after completing the first Town Center
Bengalis
- New Bonus – Melee Cavalry gain +2 bonus damage vs Skirmishers
- Mahayana effect now also applies to Monks
- Receive Supplies and Gambesons
Berbers
- Villager movement speed bonus adjusted to 5% in Dark Age and 10% in Feudal Age
Bohemians
- Hussite Reforms research cost reduced from 800 food and 450 gold ▶ 500 food and 450 gold
Britons
- Team Bonus decreased from 20% ▶ 10% faster working archery ranges
- Fixed an issue where the Town Center cost discount was not reducing the cost of repairing.
Bulgarians
- Receive Gambesons
- Stone discount does not apply to starting Town Center
Burgundians
- Flemish Militia cost decreased from 60 food and 25 gold ▶ 50 food and 15 gold
- Flemish Militia production after researching Flemish Revolution moved from Town Center to Barracks
- Flemish Militia HP decreased from 75 ▶ 60
- Flemish Militia damage decreased from 12 ▶ 11
- Flemish Militia pierce armor decreased from 1 ▶ 0
- Flemish Revolution cost changed from 1200 food and 650 gold ▶ 200 food +10 food per villager converted and 150 gold +5 gold per villager converted
Burmese
- Elite Arambai upgrade cost adjusted from 1100 food and 675 gold ▶ 1000 food and 750 gold
- Receive Gambesons
Byzantines
- Greek Fire now additionally provides 5 splash damage to Bombard Towers
- Receive Gambesons
Celts
- Stronghold effect increased from 25% ▶ 33% attack speed to towers and castles
- Stronghold now additionally heals allied infantry near castles by 30 HP per minute
- Woad Raider (Elite) HP increased from 65 (80) ▶ 70 (85)
- Woad Raider (Elite) Attack increased from 10 (13) ▶ 11 (14)
- Receive Gambesons
Chinese
- No changes
Dravidians
- New Bonus: Siege units cost -33% wood
- Medical Corps cost reduced from 350 food and 250 gold ▶ 300 food and 200 gold
- Medical Corps effect increased from 20 HP/minute ▶ 30 HP/minute
- Receive Gambesons
Ethiopians
- Team bonus effect changed from towers and outposts +3 line of sight ▶ outposts +3 line of sight and stone cost removed
- Royal Heirs effect changed from Shotel Warriors trained 100% faster to Shotels and Camel units receive -3 damage from Mounted Units
- Elite Shotel Warrior train time decreased from 8 seconds ▶ 4 seconds
Franks
- Receive Gambesons
Goths
- New Bonus: Hunt lasts 20% longer
Gurjaras
- Kshatriyas cost increased from 200 food and 400 gold ▶ 500 food and 450 gold
- (Elite) Shrivamsha cost increased from 70 food and 20 gold ▶ 70 food and 30 gold
- (Elite) Shrivamsha reload time increased from 1.75 ▶ 2.0 (1.9)
Huns
- Atheism cost decreased from 500 food and 500 gold ▶ 500 food and 300 wood
Incas
- Andean sling now additionally provides +1 attack to Slingers
- Fixed an issue where Slingers incorrectly gained attack speed from thumb ring
- New Bonus: Military units cost -15/20/25/30% food in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial
- List of affected units: Militia-line, Spearman-line, Eagle-line, Skirmisher-line, Slinger, Kamayuk, Genitour, Condottieri, Petards and Xolotl Warriors.
- Lose access to Supplies
- (Elite) Kamayuk cost increased from 60 food and 30 gold ▶ 65 food and 30 gold
- Slinger cost increased from 30 food and 40 gold ▶ 40 food and 40 gold
- Bonus Removed: Start with a free Llama
- Team Bonus effect changed from Spearman and Skirmisher +2 line of sight ▶ Start with a free Llama
- Stone discount does not apply to starting Town Center
Japanese
- Now have access to Hoardings
- (Elite) Samurai cost reduced from 60 food and 30 gold ▶ 50 food and 30 gold
- Kataparuto cost reduced from 750 wood and 400 gold ▶ 550 wood and 300 gold
- Receive Gambesons
Khmer
- (Elite) Ballista Elephant armor changed from -2 ▶ 0, cavalry armor from -2 ▶ 0, siege armor from -2 ▶ 0
Developer Note: This fixes various bugs where Ballista Elephants would receive additional damage even from units which had +0 attack vs siege or cavalry armor (all infantry units, chu ko nus, steppe lancers…)
The addition of the Hussite Armor will cause them to receive more damage from siege such as Mangonels or Bombard Cannons.
- (Elite) Ballista Elephant gain hussite wagon armor class with a value of +20
Koreans
- Elite Turtle ship range increased from 6 ▶ 7
- Receive Gambesons
Lithuanians
- Bonus for starting with 150 food changed to each Town Center providing 100 food
Malay
- New Bonus: Receive infantry armor upgrades for free
- Receive Gambesons
Malians
- (Elite) Gbeto HP increased from 35 (45) ▶ 40 (50)
- The 30% longer lasting Gold Mines bonus changed to villagers drop off 15% more gold
- Tigui additional arrows changed from 5 ▶ 8
- Wood discount does not apply to starting Town Center
Persians
- Receive Gambesons
- 50 extra starting food and wood are received after completing the first Town Center
Poles
- Villager regeneration bonus now starts in Feudal Age
Portuguese
- (Elite) Organ Gun damage decreased from 16 ▶ 7 (20 ▶ 9)
- Secondary projectile damage changed from 2 flat to same as main projectile
- (Elite) Organ Gun total projectiles increased from 5 (5) ▶ 6 (7)
- (Elite) Organ Gun accuracy decreased from 50% ▶ 0%
- (Elite) Organ Gun attack dispersion decreased from 0.75 ▶ 0.25
- (Elite) Organ Gun Bonus vs Infantry increased from 0 ▶ 1
- Elite Organ Gun Bonus vs Buildings increased from 0 ▶ 1
Developer Note: The aim of this change is to more accurately realize the vision of this unit being effective against groups of units.
Instead of one high damage projectile and additional mostly cosmetics bullets, the damage of the unit is spread equally across all its projectiles.
- Elite Caravel upgrade cost adjusted from 750 food and 475 gold ▶ 700 food and 525 gold
- Receive Gambesons
Saracens
- Zealotry cost reduced from 500 food and 450 gold ▶ 400 food and 400 gold
- Receive Gambesons
Sicilians
- Castles and Town centers built 100% faster changed to Castle build 50% and Town Centers build 100% faster
- Farm upgrade bonus increased from +100% ▶ +125% food per upgrade
- Donjon affected by Hoardings
- Donjon can now train Spearman-line
- Donjon now functions as a prerequisite for Archery Range and Stable
- First Crusade effect reduced from 7 ▶ 5 Serjeants per Town Center
- First Crusade cost adjusted from 300 food and 600 gold ▶ 400 food and 300 gold
- Serjeant HP increased from 45 ▶ 50 in Feudal Age
- Serjeant HP increased from 65 ▶ 75 in Castle Age
- Serjeant Elite upgrade cost reduced from 1100 food and 800 gold ▶ 800 food and 675 gold
- Serjeant build/repair 25% slower in Feudal Age
- Receive Gambesons
- 100 extra starting stone is received after completing the first Town Center
Slavs
- Boyar cost adjusted from 50 food and 80 gold ▶ 60 food and 70 gold
- Druzhina cost reduced from 1200 food and 500 gold ▶ 900 food and 500 gold
- Receive Gambesons
- Free Supplies bonus also includes Gambesons
Spanish
- Inquisition also gives Missionaries +1 range
- Conquistador -1 Pierce Armor (Elite unchanged)
- New Bonus: Gain 20 gold for each technology researched
- Receive Gambesons
- Build speed bonus does not apply to starting Town Center
Tatars
- (Elite) Keshik train time increased from 16 (14) ▶ 17 (15)
Turks
- Artillery cost increased from 450 wood and 500 gold ▶ 600 food and 650 gold
Teutons
- (Elite) Teutonic Knight cost reduced from 85 food and 40 gold ▶ 85 food and 30 gold
- Receive Gambesons
Vietnamese
- Paper Money cost reduced from 600 wood and 350 gold ▶ 550 food and 200 wood
Vikings
- Chieftains effect now also provides infantry with gold generation while attacking villagers, trade units, and monks. This is in addition to infantry gain bonus damage vs cavalry
- 5 gold per Villager
- 20 gold per Monk/Trade unit
- Chieftains cost reduced from 700 food and 500 gold ▶ 600 food and 450 gold
- Berserkergang replaced with Bogsveigar (650 food and 500 gold): Archer-line and Longboats +1 Attack
- (Elite) Berserk healing increased from 20 HP per minute ▶ 40 HP per minute
- Elite Longboats Bonus vs Ships 11 ▶ 10
- Elite Longboats Bonus vs Buildings 8 ▶ 7
- Receive Gambesons
Random Maps
General
- Archipelago, Islands, Migration, Team Islands, Fortress maps are now enlarged on all map sizes except Ludicrous instead of only on Giant. On the map sizes smaller than Giant these maps now have the dimensions of the next map size (for example Tiny map size on these maps will have the dimensions of Small map size). The same enlargement now applies to Budapest, Pacific Islands, and Sandbank maps as well.
- Players now start with only one King in Regicide game mode on maps with multiple lands. This change applies to Budapest, MegaRandom, and ES_Metropolis maps.
Map Balance
- Amazon Tunnel:
- The tunnel width between players in 1v1 games no longer varies greatly.
- Added an extra gold mine per player.
- Arabia:
- Ponds no longer generate when playing Empire Wars.
- Temporarily removed the Asian, European and American themes. This leaves the Eastern and African themes.
- Added a chance for even larger forest generation.
- Increased the number of rugs by one (5 in total).
- Added a small chance of generating some extra visual objects.
- Meadow: Fixed an issue which could cause a mill to fail to spawn in Empire Wars mode.
- MegaRandom: Fixed an issue on a specific generation where Town Centers and starting gold and stone could fail to spawn for every player in the game.
- Nile Delta: The starting islands in team games now have west/east distribution between the teams instead of north/south.
- Pacific Islands:
- Added a small amount of elevation to the middle islands.
- Players now start with a Transport Ship and a Hut.
- Improved the wood generation balance on players’ islands.
- Fixed an issue where on 1v1 map generations all mangrove forests could spawn on the map edges.
- Middle islands can now be accessed equally easily by both players in 1v1 games.
- Added Rhinoceroses and more forage bushes to the middle islands.
- Sandbank: Gold and stone mines can no longer generate on small mangrove shallows patches in the corners of the map.
- Socotra: Reduced the map size in order to reduce the percentage of water on the map. The size of the island is unchanged.
- Yucatan: Yucatan no longer has a smaller dimension on Ludicrous map size.
Random Map Scripting
- Added the new generate_for_first_land_only parameter for object generation. Objects with this parameter will generate only for the first player land.
- Added the new set_facet X parameter for object generation, where X is the facet ID the created object will have.
- Added the new override_map_size X parameter, where X is the map dimension which will be used instead of the default dimension for the selected map size. The minimum allowed dimension is 36, the maximum is 480.
Lobbies and Matchmaking
General
- The default state of Record Game checkbox has been changed to off in single player lobbies.
- The state of Lock Speed and Record Game checkboxes no longer changes when accepting the recommended for game mode settings in single player lobbies.
AI
General
- Optimized certain parts of the default AI to improve game performance.
- Improved default AI on Nile Delta Map so the starting garrison action is activated faster and the transport ship is moved off the starting island more quickly.
- AI constructs mining camps in order of how far they are from its starting position, reducing the likelihood of taking allied resources.
- Fixed an issue where some campaign AIs would no longer research certain technologies on higher difficulties.
- Fixed an issue where Extreme Gurjara AI would build initial mill near the enemy base.
- Fixed an issue where AI doesn’t use fishing ships in Four Lakes.
- Fixed an issue where AI doesn’t research Caravan upgrade on Marketplace and Michi maps in late game.
- Japanese AI on Wade map no longer builds an unnecessary large number of lumber camps in early game.
- Fixed an issue where AI was unable to make Trebuchets in some campaign missions.
- Fixed an issue to improve Extreme AI prioritization logic. Now if an AI sees an enemy unit, it will stop attacking buildings and track that unit instead.
- The AI will take into account how closed the map is before committing to building walls.
- Fixed an issue where Cumans would build multiple town centers in Sudden Death.
- Harder difficulties of the AI will now defend monuments more effectively in King of the Hill.
- Extreme AI will assign multiple repairers to castles and wonders in certain situations.
- Extreme AI will build a forward tower that is walled-in by palisades if it has a large local advantage.
- AI will send drushing militia to an estimated enemy position instead of waiting at its base if the enemy has not been scouted.
- Fix an issue where AI would fail to research Loom timely if given a high Handicap.
- AI correctly obtains Parthian Tactics for Arambai units.
- AIs will no longer wait to save up for the usual full cost of a Town Center before building it, if its civilization actually has a discount for it and can build it with less resources.
- Fixed an issue where attack groups and warship explore orders could spam and confuse warship targeting as they weren’t considering their current target.
- Added new Group Micro feature for archery range units on Extreme difficultly. This will be active in the early to midgame, where the opponent does not have large numbers of walls or siege units, and the game’s framerate is higher than 40.
- AI will micro closer to a human by moving groups of units rather than individual units, using focus fire on individual targets.
- AI will generally focus more on units rather than unnecessarily attacking enemy buildings or walls.
- AI will evaluate local unit advantage to a greater extent than before. For example, the AI will go back with archers if it sees an equal number of skirmishers nearby, even if the overall military numbers are balanced.
- AI will use hit and run and arrow dodging tactics in between shots.
- AI will use flank formation to dodge arrows while retreating or against mangonels. However, for realism there is a probability of the AI deliberately mistiming the formation change.
- AI will move between shots in mangonel against mangonel fights while Group Micro is active.
- AI will take an alternate route round the side of the base if there is a tower in the front of the base.
- Should you wish the AI to return to the old behaviour, you can taunt 106.
Pathfinding
- Improved pathing of units when going on a straight line on formation.
- Walls builders are now sorted based on distance to the last wall node which should sort them in a precise order to be assigned to each tile node.
- Units will now retarget to a unit of the same type if they bump into them and cannot reach the current target.
- Fixed an issue where units were unable to properly navigate around obstructions/terrain if the goal was more than 10 tiles away.
- Fixed an issue where units were not taking the shorter distance path in certain situations.
- Fixed an issue where path smoothing wasn’t shifting all the waypoints to better/more ideal positions resulting in back tracking when a bump occured.
- Units no longer stutter when they collide and have enough space to follow a correct path.
- Additional fix to avoid Villagers going idle when gathering resources near walls.
- Formations no longer stop when colliding into an obstruction despite having remaining waypoints they could path to.
- Villagers no longer go idle in some circumstances close to palisades when cutting wood.
Scripting
- Fixed an issue where unit-type-count-(total) would not count units in the middle of a unit line correctly.
- Added sn-keystates for direct unit commands. This allows the AI to input ctrl and shift inputs when issuing commands. Setting to 1 corresponds to shift, setting to 2 corresponds to ctrl and setting to 3 corresponds to both.
- Fixed an issue where pending trebuchets were not properly counted.
- Fixed an issue where sn-maximum-patrol-distance cap has no effect and the units patrolling always follow the enemy unit and never return to the path.
- Search ID is now reset between searches with different filter settings, as in legacy.
- Farming is now given a greater priority than foraging when using the gather percentage system.
- up-get-victory-data now returns the correct value for the player.
- sn-town-center-placement set to a camp will now consider pending town centers when deciding on a placement.
- The AI simrate is more consistent on high framerates.
- Fixed can-build town-center as Britons incorrectly considering the cost as 275 wood.
- Fixed a bug that would occasionally idle AI controlled ships.
Modding
General
- The attacks with a negative value are now able to add negative amounts to the total damage calculation if the target unit has higher armor of the matching attack/armor class class. The value of the target unit’s armor is considered to be 0 if it isn’t negative. The minimum total damage amount is still 1.
- The value of resource 269 now determines the ID of an additional effect which fires when any technology gets researched.
- Added the new Loot Object task (ID 154) which can add resources or fire technology effects when the unit with this task kills, razes or converts an enemy object. This task rewards the attacking player if the work range in the task is 0 or otherwise the target player with:
- the value of resource set in Resource Out field. The amount is defermined by work value 1 which is multiplied by the amount of Productivity resource if it is assigned.
- the effect with ID of the number in Resource In field.
- the effect with ID of the 4th task resource’s value.
Scenario Editor
- Fixed an issue where Change Color Mood trigger effect was affecting the following scenario editor sessions.
- Fixed an issue where Color mood wasn’t changing properly.
- The bottom panel now displays correct icons for Trebuchet units.
XS Scripting
- xsResearchTechnology, xsGetObjectCount, xsGetObjectCountTotal and xsGetTechCount functions can now be used in Random Map game modes.
Ongoing…
Investigation
As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates. Here is a brief update from our Production team regarding some of what is still in the works:
- Units stop attacking enemy foundation when it becomes building.
- Villagers continue walking to Town Centers and garrison even though the bell button was clicked again.
For other known issues, please visit this page to see what’s being tracked!
What’s on the Horizon?
COMING UP…
The Return of Rome
Set a reminder, our next big release, Return of Rome will be releasing on May 16th, 2023!
Reges Romam redeunt.
Unexpected Guests In Next Month’s Event
Before Rome comes knocking on our door, we have some other unexpected guests arriving in next month’s event. Stay tuned!
DISCLAIMER
Please note that this list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.
For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.
Only the Xbox Live challenges can be completed *any* day before the end of the event!