Stability & Performance

• Fixed an issue causing a crash of the MSIXVC version of the game since last patch.

Audio

• Fixed an issue where a burning building sound could be heard after a game in main menu and lobbies.

UI

• The game does not pause/unpause anymore when activating Steam overlay.
• Scrollbar no longer missing in lobby and spectating browsers.

Xbox

• A notification is now displayed to prevent Cross-input from being accidentally toggled off.

• Message from the Dev Team: The dev team is following up on their May/June overview with a quick message about new additions coming to the game on the server side. These additions will be live today.
• API Match History Privacy: A small but significant change has been made to the match history API. Games that are marked as non-observable (no spectators allowed) cannot be found through third-party services. This helps tournament contestants train privately and ensures their strategies don’t leak.

• Matchmaking Speed: The dev team has heard complaints about long queue times and has taken action to shorten them. This change will affect everyone whose queue times are shorter than 7 minutes. On average, you’ll notice a queue time reduction of around 20 to 30 seconds. After evaluating initial results, the dev team may tweak this further to shorten it by 45 seconds to a minute.

• Stability & Performance

  • Fixed an issue where the game was crashing after using backslashes in the Browse Mods search bar.
  • Fixed an issue where researching Wheelbarrow/Hand Cart after Flemish Revolution was causing a crash.
  • Fixed an issue to prevent a crash to occur if a player attempts to create a Co-Op Campaign lobby while in Return of Rome mode.
  • Fixed an issue where the game would crash when a player accepts a lobby invite that has altered settings.
  • Fixed a rare issue where the game could crash when making edits to hotkeys during an ongoing game.
  • Users are now limited to sending 10 messages over 10 seconds, to prevent spam messages from being sent rapidly, causing the game to crash. Also, empty messages wont be sent anymore as intended.

  Achievements

  • Fixed various Steam Achievements texts and icons.

  Graphics

  • Assigned the correct graphic to the Imperial Centurion decay animation.
  • Relic glow effect is no longer dimmed in fog of war.
  • Idle Pointer no longer appears when villagers/fishing ships die.
  • Reduced the size of the pots on farms in Return of Rome.
  • Added graphics for single and double pole flags in Return of Rome.

  Audio

  • Barracks and Archery Range now have the proper construction sound in Return of Rome.

  UI

  • Fixed various text issues in Return of Rome.
  • Fixed various outdated strings in campaigns due to Roman civilization addition.
  • Added two missing “Spectate with Capture Age” buttons in Return of Rome replays and escape menus.
  • Adjustments have been made in the Campaign sword rating to better reflect the difficulty of some campaigns.
  • Adjustments have been made on the map recommendations/filters.
  • Added missing Return of Rome filter option to the game filter dropdown.
  • Return of Rome tech tree has been updated to show fortified gates as disabled for civilizations with unavailable fortified walls.
  • Fixed an issue where incorrect icons were displayed for towers in technology tree preview for Koreans.
  • Return of Rome tech tree now shows the correct price for Archer Chain Mail.
  • Improved the way the warning message at the bottom of in-game UI is displayed.
  • The global queue icons of units which can’t be trained because of the housing/population limit now receive the red glow if the current population is lower than the maximum supported.
  • Cuman, Tatar and Lithuanian AI players now use their correct leader names.

  Hotkeys

  • Fixed an issue where pressing space bar to confirm the action to send resources in the diplomacy menu was not working anymore.
  • Tab key no longer causes UI lock up when used for cycle commands.

  Xbox

  • Fixed various stability issues on Xbox.
  • Fixed various UI issues, strings and wrong/missing icons on Xbox.
  • Fixed various issues while using the Keyboard and Mouse inputs.
  • B button now cancels queued farms/fishtraps as intended, instead of adding more of them in the queue.
  • Singleplayer game will now be paused when Xbox sign in dialog appears.
  • Wall foundations can now be selected even if they are covered by the Fog of War as intended.
  • Panning speed now scales based on zoom level.
  • Restarting games from loaded saves no longer creates a completely different map.
  • Fixed an issue where sound objects were not correctly getting freed up, leading to loss of most in-game sounds after 1-2 hours of active gameplay.
  • Fixed an issue where the stereo panning of a unit-bound sound would never update along with the unit’s movements.

  ---

  Gameplay

  Fixes

  • On Xbox, villagers will no longer attempt to harvest from garrisoned livestock units.
  • On Xbox, rally points from the Site Command menu can now be created properly for buildings that are off screen.
  • Fixed an issue where Monks in group, without “Theocracy”, weren’t all losing faith after a successful conversion.
  • Defensive buildings do not continue firing at units that have moved out of range.
  • The Return of Rome Priest’s site command to heal units works now as intended on Xbox.
  • Waypoint flags now get properly removed regardless of the mouse options selected.
  • Shift queueing attack is now working correctly, instead of having units getting stuck after killing their first shift queued target.
  • Fixed a parity issue on Xbox where Franks unique techs were age swapped.
  • Fixed an issue where Town Center sometimes weren’t firing at enemy units properly.
  • Own/ally units in “Defensive” and “Stand Ground” stance or with “Guard” or “Follow” order don’t obstruct building foundations anymore, preventing construction.
  • Fixed an issue where units were unable to move when using Guard stance.
  • Transport Ships no longer fail to unload all units at once if there is enough space to unload.

  ---

  Campaign Missions

  • Dracula #2: The Return of the Dragon
    • The convertible buildings can no longer be deleted.
  • Yodit #4: Broken Stelae
    • Fixed an issue where starting forces would not change their loyalty to you.
  • Jadwiga #1: The Matter of the Crown
    • On Xbox, the Jadwiga unit no longer have the healing icon present when hovering over an injured ally unit.
  • Pyrrhus #1: A Second Alexander
    • AI error no longer occurs on the start.
    • The bridges by Demetrius camp are no longer on fire.
    • The other enemy players are now more likely to help Antiochus out when you’re destroying his Stables.
    • Some of the player’s starting Houses are changed to Army Tents.
    • Antiochus now starts with some Cavalry, to ensure he always has some level of defense.
    • Antiochus also makes a last ditch defense effort when he has lost most of his stables on higher difficulty levels.
    • Fixed a bug where the enemy forces would keep walking away from Antigonus’ camp during the finale, if you destroyed Antiochus’ Stables before your allies fell back to defensive lines.
    • Antigonus no longer builds Storage Pits close to the enemy lines.
    • Lysimachus no longer researches Centurion or Iron Age armor/attack upgrades.
    • Antiochus no longer gets Scale Armor for Cavalry on Easy or Moderate.
    • Antigonus spawns a few extra defenders as a last ditch effort, if his camp gets overrun before the finale.
    • Flags now mark out the Stables you need to destroy.
    • The final enemy push is now less intense on all difficulty levels.
    • Moved a tower so that you can see the nearest gold mines from the start.
    • Gave Antigonus a Storage Pit by a good wood line.
    • Minor AI updates.
    • Ensured stable counter isn’t activated twice, which could previously cause issues in rare circumstances.
  • Pyrrhus #2: The Many Kings of Macedon
    • The victory message now has its proper dialogue sound playing.
    • Neoptolemus no longer tries to steal your gold mines when he’s allied to you.
    • You now get some resources for defeating Neoptolemus.
    • Demetrius’ transport are no longer on fire.
    • Minor AI updates.
  • Pyrrhus #3: Pyrrhic Victories
    • Rome’s villagers no longer gather gold from Asculum’s camp.
    • Minor AI updates.
  • Pyrrhus #4: Savior of the Greeks
    • Added scout section about the Carthaginian Suppliers.
    • Blocked an unintended path by a mountain.
    • Minor AI updates.
  • Pyrrhus #5: Sisyphus
    • Rotated some out-of-season brown bushes so that they are now green.
    • Fixed a rare bug where the dialogue for defeating all enemy factions would play even if the player achieved victory the standard way (by protecting the allied Wonder).

  ---

  Balance Changes

  General

  • Battering Ram move speed increased from 0.5 ▶ 0.6
  • Battering Ram garrison capacity increased from 4 ▶ 6
  • Capped Ram move speed increased from 0.5 ▶ 0.6
  • Capped Ram garrison capacity increased from 5 ▶ 6
  • (Elite) Battle Elephant Line of Sight increased from 4 (5) ▶ 7 (8)
  • Elite Battle Elephant upgrade cost reduced from 1200 food 900 gold ▶ 1100 food 700 gold
  • Gillnets gather rate reduced from 25% ▶ 20%
  • Stone Shaft Mining cost reduced from 200 food 150 wood ▶ 175 food 75 wood
  • Gold Shaft Mining cost reduced from 200 food 150 wood ▶ 175 food 75 wood
  • Sanctity cost increased from 120 gold ▶ 175 gold
  • Heavy Scorpion HP increased from 50 ▶ 55
  • Fish Traps now receive anti-building damage (10 class 11 armor and 0 class 21 armor)

  Bohemians

  • Hussite Wagon frame delay decreased from 30 ▶ 20

  Britons

  • Receive Gambesons

  Bulgarians

  • Dismounted Konnik base armor increased from 0/0 ▶ 2/1
  • Elite Dismounted Konnik base armor increased from 0/1 ▶ 2/2

  Burmese

  • Elite Arambai attack reduced from 15 ▶ 14
  • (Elite) Arambai now properly affected by Chemistry instead of only using a graphic change to the projectile
  • Manipur Cavalry moved to Castle Age
  • Manipur Cavalry cost reduced from 400 food 400 gold ▶ 300 food 300 gold
  • Manipur Cavalry effect reduced from Cavalry deals +5 bonus attack vs. archers ▶ Cavalry deals +4 bonus attack vs. archers
  • Howdah moved to Imperial Age

  Byzantines

  • Greek Fire changed from Fire Ships +1 range, Bombard Towers +0.5 Blast Radius ▶ Fire Ships +1 range, Dromons’ and Bombard Towers’ blast radius increased.
  • Bombard Towers now deals 25% damage in radius, no longer deal friendly fire damage.

  Chinese

  • Technology discount civilization bonus reduced from 10%/15%/20% ▶ 5%/10%/15% in Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.

  Hindustanis

  • Lose access to Guilds.
  • Grand Trunk Road cost reduced from 400 food 400 wood ▶ 250 food 200 wood
  • Grand Trunk Road now also reduces the trading fee to 10%
  • (Elite) Ghulam attack increased from 8 (10) ▶ 9 (11)
  • (Elite) Ghulam HP increased from 55 (65) ▶ 60 (70)

  Italians

  • Pavise cost changed from 300 food and 150 gold ▶ 200 wood 150 gold

  Koreans

  • Military units (except siege) cost -20% wood civilization bonus changed ▶ Archers and Infantry cost -50% wood, Warships cost -20% wood
  • (Elite) War Wagon base cost adjusted to 200 wood 60 gold (unchanged after the wood discount)
  • (Elite) Turtle Ships affected by Siege Engineers

  Magyars

  • Team Bonus changed from foot archers +2 Line of Sight ▶ Cavalry Archers trained 25% faster

  Malay

  • Lose access to Gambesons

  Malians

  • Gold Miners drop off more gold civiliation bonus reduced from 15% ▶ 10%

  Persians

  • (Elite) War Elephant Line of Sight increased from 4 (5) ▶ 7 (8)

  > Developer Note: Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: changes are on the horizon for Persians.

  Portuguese

  • Feitoria cost increased from 250 gold 250 stone ▶ 350 gold 300 stone

  Romans

  • Galley-line +1 attack civilization bonus removed
  • War Galleys +1/+1 armor, Galleons and Dromons +2/+2 armor civilization bonus changed ▶ Galley-line and Dromons +1/+1 armor
  • Ballistas no longer grants attack speed to the Galley-line
  • Ballistas now grants +2 attack to the Galley-line in addition to Scorpion attack speed
  • (Elite) Centurion formation position moved behind infantry units instead of in front of them
  • Romans enabled for Ranked Play!

  Slavs

  • Lose access to Fervor
  • New Bonus: Monks move +20% faster

  Turks

  • Janissary attack range reduced from 8 ▶ 7 (Elite Janissary unchanged)

  Vietnamese

  • Economy technologies now also research 100% faster
  • Imperial Skirmisher upgrade cost reduced from 300 wood 450 gold ▶ 300 wood 300 gold

  Return of Rome

  General

  • Slingers are now affected by Alchemy technology as intended
  • Fixed the attribute values for several units:
    • Hoplite, Phalangite, Centurion – reload time 2 ▶ 1.5
    • Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry, Cataphract – reload time 1.3 ▶ 1.5
    • Heavy Catapult – blast width 2 ▶ 1.2

  Lac Viet

  • Ballista receives +2 armor (in addition to Archery Range units)

  Macedonians

  • 25% siege discount now applies to Ballista as intended

  ---

  Random Maps

  Map Balance

  • Amazon Tunnel:
    • Fixed an issue where player’s gold mines could fail to generate or generate next to another player.
  • Arabia:
    • Reintroduced the Asian, European and American themes.
    • Boars may now generate again on some map themes.
    • Gazelles now occasionally generate on some map themes.
    • Ponds have been entirely removed from player forests. They may still appear in neutral forests on the map.
    • The forest generation around players has been modified to create slightly more open generations.
    • Prey huntable animals have been pushed further away from the players.
  • Michi:
    • Players now start with 9 villagers and 2 houses.
    • Explored map visibility is now used in ranked games.

  ---

  Lobbies and Matchmaking

  General

  • The rotation of the Ranked Maps Pool happening every two weeks around 01:00 am UTC will now happen around 08:00 am UTC instead.
  • Due to long queues times and low activity making it difficult to find matches, Empire Wars and Battle Royale game modes have been removed from the Quick Play Menu on PC, and Empire Wars has been removed from the Quick Play Menu on Xbox.
  • Changed the population setting for Return of Rome ranked games (both 1v1 and TG) to 250 instead of 200.
  • Fixed an issue where the reset and randomize buttons weren’t disabled in ranked lobbies.

  ---

  AI

  General

  • Fixed an engine bug which caused AI villagers to idle after constructing a building if the villager was facing a corner of the building.
  • AI now slings the correct player in response to taunt 58.
  • AI researches Royal Heirs and Greek Fire under correct conditions.
  • Extreme difficultly: Fixed an issue with the group micro evaluation function. This allows the AI to properly consider unit upgrades when deciding whether to take a fight involving ranged units.
  • Fixed an issue where camps may be placed on inaccessible islands or forest gaps in explored maps.
  • Fixed an issue where AI occasionally built fewer mining camps then intended.

  Return of Rome

  • If betrayed when locked teams are off, the AI will match the new diplomatic stance after a delay or if it is attacked.
  • AI will ask for wood if it doesn’t have sufficient wood to place a market in response to taunts.
  • AI now counters units in Tool Age to a greater extent than before.
  • AI now builds a greater number of watch towers for defense with more intelligent placement for the initial tower.
  • AI now no longer suffers from idle villagers on very high population limits.
  • Improved the AI’s ability to play very high and very low population limits in general.
  • Fixed a bug where the AI may not obtain the prerequisite buildings for Iron Age, particularly if it was Macedonians.
  • Fixed a bug where fire galleys were not included in the AI’s water attacks.
  • Fixed a bug where the AI occasionally did not attack despite being near full population.
  • Fixed a bug where on Hard or Hardest difficultly the AI would unintentionally pick Fast Bronze strategies more often than intended.
  • AI now considers Inland a mixed map instead of a full water map. In addition, the minimum area of water required for the AI to build a dock and contest it has been increased.

  Scripting

  • Fixed a bug where my-unique-unit was undefined for Vikings.
  • my-unique-research and my-second-unique-research now always refer to the Imperial Age unique tech and Castle Age unique tech respectively.
  • Fortified wall and Ballista tower are now correctly included in wall-line and tower-line respectively.
  • Added XS support for AI, allowing AIs to store more information (including between games) and perform more advanced mathematical calculations.
    • Use (include “script.xs”) command to load a XS script.
    • Use xs-script-call “function name” to call a XS function. This can be used as a fact or an action. It is not necessary to defconst the function name.
    • Use xsGetGoal(integer) and xsGetStrategicNumber(integer) to read a goal and SN respectively.
    • Use xsSetGoal(goal ID, value) and xsSetStrategicNumber(sn ID, value) to set a goal and SN respectively. The value must be an integer.
    • AIs can also store information using commands such as xsWriteInt(). However, it is important that before opening the file, xsSetContextPlayer() is set to the player number, and the same command is used to reset it back to -1 before closing the file again.

  ---

  Modding

  General

  • Changing in-game music now works properly in Return of Rome mods.
  • Power up task now provides the same speed increase regardless of the unit having its speed increased by a technology or not.
  • Added a new flag 4 for Blast Attack Level attribute which can disable friendly damage for ranged units with blast attack.
  • Power up tasks with round power up area now display round range indicator if it is enabled.
  • Buldings with power up tasks can no longer receive invalid commands from right-clicking on units specified in the power up task data.
  • Audio mods now work properly when Windows username and/or modname have special characters while not having UTF-8 enabled in the system.
  • Modifying Idle Graphic IDs of a unit by trigger or technology effects now immediately updates the current graphic/animation.
  • Fixed an issue where data mods containing hotkeys.json could cause reset of hotkey settings for the unmodified game. Now such data mods will create their own uniquely named .hkp files.

  Scenario Editor

  • Enable Technology trigger no longer disables technology for other players.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

• Addressed issues with units sliding backwards while attacking.
• Fixed an issue where the Custom Scenario filter option did not show up in the Lobby & Spectator Browsers.
• Fixed an issue where the Grey AI player would instantly get defeated at the start of the second Hautevilles scenario.
• Fixed an issue where the Back to Work command did not reliably send villagers back to the last task assigned.
• Fixed an issue where villagers which were luring a boar were walking needlessly curved/zagged paths.
• Fixed an issue where grouped units could turn immobile temporarily.
• Fixed an issue where monks could sometimes walk forward after a successful conversion.
• Fixed an issue where ranged units would occasionally walk forward instead of shooting visible enemy units.
• Fixed an issue where Caravanserais unintentionally healed additional types of units, rather than just trade carts.
• Fixed an issue with monks sometimes not healing nearby units when idle.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a crash when opening AoE II: DE links for spectating.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a crash when setting hotkeys.
• Fixed an issue where only up to 4 units were released upon the death of the unit they were garrisoned in (ex: Siege Tower).
• Fixed an issue where the player dropdown menu and score did not update properly when spectating.

Return of Rome

• Fixed issues where the Escape key would not fully function in the Lobby Browser and Spectate Games tabs.
• Fixed an issue where the Persian tech tree would show that they could make chariots.
• Fixed an issue where the ‘Extreme’ difficulty AI player may get its soldiers stuck at an enemy wall.
• Rebalanced AI player difficulty to be noticeably easier to beat on lower difficulty levels.
• Fixed an issue where AI could fail to stop attacking when desired.
• Fixed an issue where AI player transport behavior would be incorrectly disabled.
• Fixed localized voice over issues with the Pyrrhus campaign.
• Fixed an issue where in-game sounds could become muffled.
• Fixed an issue where the population cap of the 4th Pyrrhus campaign mission, Savior of the Greeks, was higher than intended.
• Fixed an issue where most Watch Towers didn’t show fire particles when controlled by an enemy.
• D3 mode now allows Solid Farms to be toggled off.

General

• Fixed various issues leading to crashes when joining lobbies.
• Fixed an issue where various UI mods would cause the game to get stuck loading into matches.
• Fixed an issue that prevented dialogue during campaigns.
• Fixed an issue where Lobby Sorting would not properly function.
• Fixed an issue where Lobby Search would not properly function.
• Fixed an issue where players could not select a player when spectating or watching recorded games.
• Fixed an issue where pregame chats were not being displayed correctly and were only being sent to team members.
• Fixed an issue where campaign voice-over audio would not properly switch languages.
• Fixed an issue where Cannon Galleons incorrectly showed up as available for Goths.
• Garrison buttons are no longer displayed for units which are unable to garrison into buildings or siege units.

• Fixed various data issues in AoE II: DE

  • Legionary receives +4 attack vs Condottieri (same bonus as vs infantry)
  • Dromon loses unique unit armor class
  • Villagers no longer repair ships and siege units faster than intended
  • Research Percent in the post-game statistics screen now only takes actually available technologies into account to display the accurate value; Resulting in 100% with all available technologies researched.

>

Return of Rome

• Fixed an issue where the Return of Rome Custom Scenario File Browser would show Age of Empires II: DE scenarios.
• Fixed an issue where the Return of Rome main menu buttons would not appear.
• Removed Random Walk from Elephants to make Elephants easier to find.
• Fixed issues with Ruin generation.
• Fixed an issue that would cause asserts when creating a multiplayer lobby.
• Fixed an issue where the Return of Rome Main Menu would default back to the AoE II: DE colors.
• Changed the Sargon campaign difficulty icon to One Sword.
• Fixed an issue where the default dataset for campaign screens had a misleading name.
• Fixed an issue where the Medusa cheat did not affect all villagers.
• Fixed an issue where certain stats between AoE II: DE and Return of Rome were inconsistent.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Return of Rome mods to have custom campaign slides, resulting in a black screen.
• Fixed an issue where Return of Rome mods did not support custom sounds.
• Fixed an issue where Return of Rome game lobbies defaulted to Low in Resources settings.
• Fixed a UI-only issue: Wheel tooltip now mentions the correct villager speed increase (60%).

• Fixed various data issues affecting balance in Return of Rome:

  • Gate construction time reduced from 70s to 35s
  • Broad Swordsman HP changed from 70 to 80
  • Long Swordsman HP changed from 80 to 100
  • Cataphract HP changed from 220 to 240
  • Palmyran Villagers receive +1P armor as well from the civilization bonus
  • Elephant movement speed changed from 0.83 to 0.85
  • Stone Thrower, Catapult, Heavy Catapult projectile speed increased from 2.49 to 3.49
  • Catapult Trireme, Juggernaut projectile speed increased from 2.573 to 3.49
  • Helepolis projectile speed reduced from 7.2 to 4.067

• Added missing balance changes from the last AoE: DE patch. The missing changes were:

  • Assyrian get Alchemy.
  • Babylonian get Chain Mail Armors.
  • Long sword upgrade cost to 240 F, 100 G.
  • Elephant Archers +15 G cost (back to their original game cost of 180 F, 60 G).
  • Ballista 15% faster attack speed (2.7 reload time in AoE: DE)
  • Helepolis -300 F upgrade cost (now 1200 F, 1000 W), +5 attack (now 45).
  • Legion HP reduced to 140 (from 160).
  • Chariot units’ conversion resistance modifier reduced to 2 (from 8).

>

Xbox

• Fixed an issue where graphic settings weren’t saved on Xbox One.
• Fixed an issue where a crash would occur if players signed out while changing to Return of Rome on Xbox.
• Fixed an issue where messages would move around the screen during the tutorial.
• Fixed an issue where pressing LB would open a menu wheel that was not intractable.
• Fixed an issue where LB and RB would not delete a unit, but instead, would open a menu wheel.
• Fixed an issue where a crash could occur at the start of the game if quick commands were used before the game started.
• Fixed an issue where the Juggernaut upgrade could be found twice at Docks.

Minor updates for the ingame menu and XBOX pass

Base Game

Audio

• All regional Trade Carts now use the appropriate sound effects.
• Thirisadai receives the firing sound.
• When clicking Start Game in a SP/MP lobby, the Civilization Jingle will no longer overlap with Lobby or In-Game Music.
• Taunts now correctly reduce the volume of music for the duration of them playing.

UI

• Dying economy units can no longer be counted as workers or idle.
• Turbo Mode state is now displayed in the standard game Objectives.
• The tooltip for Monument victory banner now displays the correct text.
• Formation buttons are no longer displayed if in the current unit selection there is only one formation-supporting unit.

Hotkeys

• Readded Change Weapon hotkey entry to Unit Commands group.

---

Gameplay

Fixes

• The area healing effect (used by Caravanserai and Stronghold unique technology) no longer stacks from several effect-providing buildings next to each other.

---

Campaign Missions

• Alaric and Attila Campaigns have been updated to include the new Romans civilization where appropriate.
• Saladin 5: ‘Jihad!’: Tyre civilization has been changed to Sicilians, now matching the Co-Op version.

---

Balance Changes

General

• New regional unit: Dromon [cost: 175 wood 150 gold]

  • Anti-building siege warship with long range and area of effect attack, but cannot attack enemies at close range. Effective vs. buildings and large groups of units
  • Available in Imperial Age to Byzantines, Goths, Huns, and Romans

• (Elite) Cannon Galleon now benefits from Siege Engineers technology

Bengalis

• Elephant units converted from a Bengali player no longer lose their bonus conversion resistance

Byzantines

• Receive Dromon
• Lose (Elite) Cannon Galleon
• Fire ship 25% attack speed bonus now also applies to Dromon

Goths

• Receive Dromon
• Lose Cannon Galleon

 Huns

• Receive Dromon

 Romans

New Civilization available with purchase of Return of Rome DLC!

> Note: Romans are not initially available for ranked multiplayer, but will in the near future.

Infantry Civilization

Civilization Bonuses:

• Villagers gather, build, and repair 5% faster
• Galley-line +1 attack
• War Galleys +1/+1P armor, Galleons and Dromons +2/+2P armor
• Infantry receives double effect from Blacksmith armor upgrades
• Scorpions cost -60% gold and benefit from Ballistics research

Unique Units:

Centurion [cost: 75 food 85 gold]

Roman Unique Cavalry Unit, trained at Castle. Increases movement speed by 10% (15% Elite) and attack speed by 25% (33% Elite) of Militia-line units in 10 (12 Elite) tile radius. The effect does not stack for multiple Centurions.

Legionary [cost: 60 food 20 gold]

Roman Unique Infantry Unit, replaces Two-Handed Swordsman/Champion at the Barracks. Has additional bonus damage vs Infantry.

Unique Technologies:

• Ballistas [cost: 400 wood 300 gold]
  • Scorpions and Galley-line fire 33% faster
• Comitatenses [cost: 700 food 800 gold]
  • Militia-line, Knight-line, and Centurions train 50% faster and receive a 5 damage charge attack

Team Bonus:

Scorpion-line minimum range reduced

---

Random Maps

Map Balance

• BR Fall of Rome: Changed gaia civilization to Romans.
• BR Battle On Ice: Added gaia Crusader Knights to the middle.

Random Map Scripting

• nomad_resources parameter now reimburses the Town Center’s cost (with the cost bonuses taken into account) instead of always adding 275 wood and 100 stone to the starting resources.

---

Modding

Data Mod Support

• It is now possible to modify previously hardcoded civilization settings in civilizations.json file:
  • The amount of civilizations in the data mod (the minimum number of non-gaia civilizations that can be present is 1; the current maximum is the amount of civilizations in the official dataset)
  • Civilization interface style (used in the interface material names)
  • Civilization name string IDs and AI leader name string range
  • Internal civilization names used by the technology tree, future items display, and civilization icon and emblem widgetui material names
  • Image file names used by the civilization selection and loading screens
  • Civilization loading symbols, unique unit and technology IDs for AIs
• It is now possible to include custom widgetui/icons.json and widgetui/materials.json files in data mods.
• It is now possible to include custom hotkeys and hotkey groups through hotkeys.json in data mods.
• It is now possible to define custom drop site rules through dropsites.json in data mods.
• It is now possible to define custom button action definitions through buttons.json in data mods.
• It is now possible to define custom audio file or sound event mappings for UI sounds through sounds.json in data mods.
• It is now possible to define custom random map pools through maps.json in data mods.
• Fixed an issue where civTechTrees.json and futuravailableunits.json included in data mods were not loaded.
• Custom audio files that are not data-bound can now also be used in scenarios that are part of data mods.
  • Custom music and audio overrides can now be included in data mods. Lobby music, if included, will play immediately as soon as the custom dataset is applied.
• Mod-specific loading symbols can now be defined for AIs in AIConsts.json file and for random maps in the string 8739.

General

• It is now possible to include widgetui/morematerials.json in a non-data mod which will add material definitions on top of the original materials.json file.
• Technology tree width now properly reflects the amount of content in the technology tree.
• Allowed adding items to the technology tree with Age ID parameter set to -1, which can be used as displayed requirements for other items, but won’t have their own displayed nodes.
• Added new parameters to techtreepreviewpanel.json to control previously hardcoded settings:
  • UnitId – sets the unit ID which icon will be displayed instead of the technology’s icon
  • CivIds – specifies for which civilization the item will be displayed
  • ExcludeCivs – show the item for all civilizations except the ones specified by CivIds
  • TeamBonus – used for team bonus items
  • FullTechTree – display the item for all civilizations in full tech tree mode, not only for specificed in CivIds
• Allowed 4-staged items in the technology tree preview
• Units with the same string ID and class will now be selected together by double-click.
• Carried by villagers resources will be deposited into the player’s stockpile upon garrisoning into a building if this building is in drop_site_list in dropsites.json.
• The behavior of predator animal class units is now controlled by Combat Level attribute: 1: boar-like, 4: wolf-like.
• Command panel button 15 in all buildings and buttons 6, 11 in Market can now be used by units and technologies.
• Allowed sprite variations for building objects with several angles in their graphics.
• Added new attributes to control previously hardcoded properties:
  • Minimum Conversion Time Modifier (adds to the minimum time to convert the unit).
  • Maximum Conversion Time Modifier (adds to the maximum time to convert the unit).
  • Conversion Chance Modifier (reduces the chance to convert the unit per conversion roll).
  • Formation Category (0: not using formation, 1: mobile, 2: body, 3: ranged, 4: long ranged, 5: protected).
  • Formation Spacing (controls the spacing between units when in formation).
  • Blast Damage (multiplier to the percentage of blast damage the non-directly targeted units receive if positive value, fixed number damage if negative).
• Allowed modifying several more unit attributes by Effect Amount, Modify Attribute trigger effect and technologies in data. Check tooltips in Advanced Genie Editor for more information about them.
  • Can be Built on (see AGE).
  • Foundation Terrain (see AGE).
  • Graphic IDs for Attack, Standing, 2nd Standing, Dying, Undead, Walking, Running, Special graphics.
• The appearance of items in Units → Other tab in scenario editor can now be controlled by the new Hide in Editor attribute flag 2.
• Removed Blast Attack Level attribute flags 4, 8, 16, 32 as their functionality is now handled by the new Blast Damage attribute.
• Allowed defining convert, repair, and heal tasks for specific units and classes which will be used instead of the default task.
• Work value 1 set to 0 in repair and heal tasks will disallow repairing/healing of the specified unit or class.
• Added additional options for the convert tasks:
  • Work range allows to set the conversion range which is different from the default range.
  • Unused Resource can now be used to choose the required for conversion resource. Having more than 0 value of the assigned resource allows the conversion, more than 1 allows to use the default range instead of the range specified in work range field.
  • Search wait time field allows setting the string ID of the notification which will be shown if conversion is not allowed (when having 0 of the conversion requirement resource).
• Added a new task 155 which allows units to provide power up to other units. The unit has to have Combat Ability flag 32 in order for the task to function. The available settings:
  • Unit or Class – unit or class to affect with power up.
  • Search wait time – attribute ID to increase; currently supported: attack (9), reload time (10), work rate (13), regeneration rate (109), movement speed (5).
  • Work value 1 – attribute increase at the maximum power up.
  • Work value 2 – units required for the maximum power up.
  • Work range – range of the effect.
  • Target diplomacy – players whose objects will be affected.
  • Unused flag – flags to enable additional settings, can be combined with each other. 1: use the amount in work value 1 as multiplier, 2: round area of power up, 4: display the range indicator.
• Allowed using 32-bit numbers for technology name and description IDs.
• Enable Tech command type used by Effect Amount (ID 7, -8 for gaia) has been replaced by Spawn Unit, which functions similarly to the data version of this effect type.
• Modify Technology effect is now able to set the state of technology. It can be used to disable, enable, force enable or research the specified technology ID.
• Relic-requiring technologies are no longer hardcoded to IDs 699-703 (used by the Lithuanian cavalry attack bonus). To receive this functionality a technology needs to have its first cost type set to Relics Captured.
• The unit cost addition (multiplying the cost attributes by -1) or removal (multiplying the cost attributes by -2) can now be used by technology effects in data.
• Fixed an issue where the enemy versions of Modify Tech, Spawn Unit, and Upgrade Unit effect types were not affecting enemy players during treaty.
• Expanded the functionality of Full Tech Mode technology attribute to be able to restrict the technology to the specific game setting. Negating the number will disable the technology in this setting. The currently available conditions:
  • 2: Random Map
  • 3: Death Match
  • 4: Empire Wars or Empire Wars Mode
  • 5: Wonder Race
  • 6: Defend the Wonder
  • 7: Sudden Death or Sudden Death Mode
  • 8: King of the Hill
  • 9: Capture the Relic
  • 10: Battle Royale
  • 11: Regicide
  • 12: Turbo Mode
  • 13: Scenario or Campaign game
  • 14: Regicide Mode
  • 15: Scenario Editor
  • 16: D3
  • 17: Solid Farms
  • 18: Shared Exploration
  • 19: Default Starting Resources
  • 20: Low Starting Resources
  • 21: Medium Starting Resources
  • 22: High Starting Resources
  • 23: Ultra-High Starting Resources
  • 24: Infinite Starting Resources
  • 25: Random Starting Resources

Scenario Editor

• Added Gazelle – a new prey animal unit.
• Previously existing Centurion and Legionary units have been renamed into Imperial Centurion and Imperial Legionary.

XS Scripting

• Fixed an issue where units were not getting upgraded correctly by xsEffectAmount command.

---

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Return of RomeBuild Spotlight

New Civilization

 Lac Viet

Building Set: East Asian

Archer Civilization

Bonuses

• Foragers gather 20% faster
• Military units created 25% faster
• Archery Range units +2 Melee Armor

Team Bonus: Houses and farms build 50% faster

Missing technologies: Aristocracy, Mysticism, Polytheism, Afterlife, Fanaticism, Monotheism, Chain Mail Infantry, Tower Shield, Siegecraft, Engineering, Urbanization.

Missing units: Phalangite, Legion, Camel Rider, Cataphract, Helepolis, Ballista Tower, Fire Galley, Juggernaut

New Game Mode

• D3
  • This rule set reduces rush tactics and allows players to start their early game more robustly, only allowing fighting with a single unit until entering the Bronze Age, ensuring players reach later Ages for equal battles.  This rule set also bans walls and towers, making for exciting match ups later in the game.
• New lobby settings

New Technologies

• City Watch: 300f – Bronze Age/Government Center – All Buildings +3 LoS
• Conscription: 450f 250g – Iron Age/Government Center – All units trained 25% faster
• Urbanization: 350w 150s – Iron Age/Government Center – Houses provide double population space (from 4 → 8)
• Theocracy: 400g – replaces Sacrifice – Only one priest must rest after a successful conversion.

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Gameplay

High Level Gameplay Adjustments

• Resource exchange added to the market
• New unit: Trader (75w, 60g) – A land trader that generates gold by traveling to allied markets. Requires wheel.
• Naval Trade adjusted, now no longer requires a resource exchange nor trade goods stockpiling at the docks (aoe1 naval trade). Now functions the same as AoE2 where each trip generates gold.
• Trade Boat moved to Bronze Age, cost changed to 75w, 60g.
• Villager garrison available at the town center now, does not provide any defensive arrows from garrisoned units.
• Villager garrison available at towers now, does not provide any defensive arrows from garrisoned units.
• Tech Requirements for unit upgrades have been removed (i.e. needing fanaticism for legionary)
• Added Gates
• Units may garrison into the building they created upon production, maximum of 10 per building. Units garrisoned this way may not go back into the building after, this functions by setting the rally point of the military building to itself.
• Villagers gathering shorefish can now deposit fish at the docks.

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Balance Changes

Ranked Available in Return of Rome

> Ranked lobbies and leaderboards will be available in Return of Rome.

Tool Age Unit Balance

• Scout: +3 Bonus Damage vs Ranged Units
• Scout: +1 Pierce Armor
• Axeman: +1 Pierce Armor
• Axeman: +4 Bonus Damage vs Scouts/All Cavalry
• Bowman: +2 Bonus damage vs Melee Infantry
• Watch Towers: Damage increased from 3 → 5

Bronze Age Unit Balance

• Sentry Towers: Damage increased from 4 → 6

Iron Age Balance

The splash radius of these units is changed in data to reflect the differences in tile size (without these changes the splash radius is massive)

• Reduce Splash radius of Scythe Chariots from 1.5 → .75

> Note: This is to accommodate new unit sizes/tile sizes in formations.

• Reduce Splash radius of Elephants and Armored Elephants

> Note: This is to accommodate new unit size/tile sizes in formations.

• Guard Tower: Damage increased from 6 → 8
• Ballista Tower: Damage decreased from 20 → 18

Civilization Bonuses

The general goal of these changes is to expand the civilization bonuses to have more depth, with the further addition of Team bonuses.

Assyrians:

• Siege unit upgrades -50% cost
• Team Bonus: Siege Workshops work 20% faster

Babylonians:

• Chariots +1 Pierce Armor
• Team Bonus: Builders work 10% faster

Carthaginian:

• Nobility free (requires Government Center)
• Team bonus: Fire galleys +1 Pierce Armor

Choson:

• Team Bonus: Walls +4 LoS

Egyptians:

• Team Bonus: Priests +1 Pierce Armor

Greek:

• Receive Polytheism and Astrology free with first temple
• Team Bonus: Markets cost -50% wood

Hittite:

• Wheel 50% cost and research time
• Team Bonus: Towers provide +4 population space

Macedonian:

• Team Bonus: Houses +25 HP

Minoan:

• Farms +60 food changed to farmers work 10% faster
• Team Bonus: Docks cost -20% wood

Palmyran:

• Traders return 20% more gold
• Team bonus: Technologies research 30% faster

Persian:

• Triremes fire 25% faster changed to Warships fire 15/20/25% faster in Tool/Bronze/Iron Age.
• Walls cost -20% stone
• Gain access to Ballistics
• Team Bonus: Stables work 20% faster

Phoenician:

• Docks +4 LoS, +150 HP
• Team Bonus: Archers +2 LoS

Roman:

• Ballista/Helepolis +1 Range
• Team Bonus: Priests heal 50% faster

Shang:

• Cavalry-line attacks 10% faster
• Gain access to Ballistics
• Team Bonus: Town centers provide +4 population space

Sumerian:

• Camels +1 Pierce Armor
• Team Bonus: Town Centers cost -25% wood

Yamato:

• Villagers move 10% faster replaced with fishing boats gather 20% faster
• Stable and Archery Range upgrades -30% cost
• Team Bonus: Stables and Archery Ranges cost -33% wood.

Stability & Performance

• Game no longer crashes upon closing the title after exiting a Multiplayer match while a monk holds a relic.

Hotkeys

• Fixed an issue where command group selection wasn’t firing unless shift group appending was enabled.
• Toggle Idle Pointer hotkey now works properly.

Xbox

• Fixed an issue where trees were invisible and un-targetable on Xbox when the Small Trees option was enabled in the settings.

Gameplay

General

• Bombard Towers now have 100% accuracy instead of 92% accuracy when Greek Fire is researched, as intended.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where units may not be added back to a formation after killing a target or going idle.
• Fixed an issue where walls always had lower selection priority than nearby objects.
• Fixed an issue to prevent Villagers blocking themselves when building palisade walls or stone walls, leaving gaps and sometimes staying idle.
• Units no longer stop attacking enemy foundations once the building is complete.
• Villagers no longer continue walking to Town Centers and garrison when the town bell has been activated again.
• New sheep no longer get unintentionally killed by Villagers when ungarrisoning from the Town Center.
• Collide & Correct has been disabled to prevent units from accidentally scattering.

Civilization Balance

Portuguese

Organ Guns

• Fixed an issue where Organ Guns would largely ignore hill bonuses/penalties
• Fixed an issue where converted Elite Organ Guns would deal the damage of unupgraded Organ Guns unless the player had researched the Elite upgrade themselves
• Fixed an issue where Organ Guns missed shots would only deal half damage instead of the intended full damage
• Fixed an issue that prevented Organ Gun projectiles from dispersing properly
• Fixed an issue that caused Organ Guns projectiles to pass between units without hitting them
• Increased projectile dispersion from 0.25 to 0.6
• Reduced the number of projectiles from 6 to 5 (7 to 6 for Elite)
• (Elite) Organ Gun gain +1 damage against Skirmishers

AI

Scripting

• Up-path-distance 0 now returns the correct value instead of always returning 65535.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Hotfix

Xbox

• Fixed an issue where villagers would stop their automated tasks to help build when queueing multiple buildings, requiring the player to re-assign all villagers.

Stability & Performance

• Fixed crashes related to Empire Wars.

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where units could pass through palisades/walls/buildings.

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Xbox/X Cloud

Stability & Performance

• The game no longer crashes when pressing the town bell button after a town center was destroyed. 
• The game no longer crashes when switching repeatedly between Xbox home and the game application.
• The game no longer crashes while viewing the map pool screen while in the Ranked menu.
• Addressed a crash that could occur while toggling cross-input matchmaking on or off.

General

• Fixed the find menu from opening when trying to navigate the cheats/quick taunt menu.
• Addressed UI issues around 3v3 and 4v4 matches and lobbies on Xbox One/Xbox One S/Xbox One X.
• Fixed issue where site-based command would not pick the closest unit.

UI

• Increased the size of the enlarged mini-map by 1.75x to improve the readability of the mini-map from a distance. The enlarged mini-map is accessible on the Console UI by holding down the right bumper on your controller.
• Fixed an issue where the Find Buildings menu could pop up instead of the cheats menu when using a controller.

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where villagers would not build foundations when queuing multiple building foundations with Villager Priorities enabled using a controller.

Game

• Max zoom on console has increased from 1.25 to 3.
• In-game voice chat now has a toggle in the audio settings menu.

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Civilization Balance

General

• Siege/Armored Elephant – HP reduced from 200 ▶ 180 / 250 ▶ 220
• Siege Elephant – Cavalry Armor increased from 8 ▶ 10, Elephant Armor increased from 18 ▶ 20, and Ram armor decreased from 2 ▶ 0

Bohemians

• Houfnice – upgrade cost increased from 950 food / 750 gold ▶ 1100 food / 800 gold
• Houfnice – blast radius decreased from 0.8 ▶ 0.7

Burgundians

• Economic upgrades discount reduced from 40% ▶ 33%

 Gurjaras

• Elite Chakram Throwers now deal the intended 1 bonus damage vs Condottieri
• Corrected rounding errors in the bonus damage of some units:
  • Hussar bonus vs Monks increased from 16 ▶ 17
  • Camel Rider bonus vs Camels increased from 6 ▶ 7
  • Heavy Camel Rider bonus vs Cavalry decreased from 26 ▶ 25
  • Armored Elephant bonus vs Buildings increased from 97 ▶ 100
  • Armored Elephant bonus vs Siege increased from 32 ▶ 33
  • Genitour bonus vs Archers increased from 5 ▶ 6
  • Elite Genitour bonus vs Archers increased from 6 ▶ 7

Hindustanis

• Villagers cost discount reduced from 10/15/20/25% ▶ 5/10/15/20% in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age

Poles

• Folwark – Instant food conversion decreased from 10% ▶ 8%

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Modding

Scenario Editor

• Fixed armor and attack attributes in custom scenarios, retroactively fixing custom-made maps.
• Fixed crashes when clicking the Reset button in Scenario Editor.
• Fixed an issue where Set Object did not always work properly.

Patch got cancelled after 8 hours due to performance issues.

Stability & Performance

• Various fixes to prevent game crashes.
• Fixed an issue where some recorded games generated after October #71094 patch were out of sync.

UI

• Icon for “Fortress” in the Map Pool Vote menu is now correct.
• When a player changes the map in the lobby settings, the map size does not reset to tiny anymore.

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Gameplay

Fixes

• Shrivamsha riders cannot block splash damage of nearby units anymore.
• Chain commands now works properly when commanding multiple monks.
• Fixed an issue where units garrisoned in allied buildings could not be ungarrisoned.

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Civilization Balance

General

• The Shared LoS setting is now on by default on for all matchmaking modes including lobby games.
• Parthian Tactics now give the same anti-spearman bonus increase (+2) to Cavalry Archers as to other mounted archer units.
• Heavy Cavalry Archer anti-spearman attack increased from 2 ▶ 4.
• Battle Elephant cost reduced from 120 food 70 gold ▶ 110 food 70 gold.
• Slingers attack 17% faster after researching Thumb Ring.

Burmese

• Parthian Tactics applies to Arambai.

Byzantines

• Fixed an issue where Cataphracts with Logistica were dealing less than intended damage to Condottieri.

Gurjaras

• Mounted unit bonus damage changed from 40% ▶ 20% in Feudal / 30% in Castle / and 40% in Imperial.
• Chakram and Elite Chakram Damage reduced from 5 ▶ 3 (6 ▶ 4 Elite).
• Chakram Pass-through damage increased from 50% ▶ 100%.
• Elite Chakram +1 Bonus damage vs Infantry.

Hindustanis

• Camel Attack speed bonus reduced from 25% ▶ 20%.

Khmer

• Fixed an issue where (Elite) Ballista Elephants were not resistant to armor-ignoring damage.

Poles

• Stone miner bonus reduced from 50% ▶ 33% gold generation.

Portuguese

• New Team Bonus – Technologies Research 25% faster (excluding Age Up).
• New Civ Bonus (replaces faster tech civ bonus) – Foragers generate a trickle of wood (33%).

Tatars

• Fixed an issue where Flaming Camels were not receiving the intended (+40%) anti-building bonus damage increase from Siege Engineers.

Vikings

• Warship discount bonus no longer affects Transport Ships.

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Random Maps

General

• Fixed an issue were one player might get 1 less buffalo than the other on Golden Swamp.
• Fixed an issue were one player might get only 1 Ibex instead of 3 on Arena.
• In Land Nomad, large forests should now stay away from edges a little more consistently on 4v4, to prevent unexpected situation such as villagers being trapped into a wood line.