What is new in version 1.0

• Successful attacks on limbs increase the victim's Fatigue, based on the damage received. You can find more details in the tooltip of the specific Attack. This should serve the double purpose of offering a new tactical option and reducing the length of duels. It might need fine tuning, feedback is appreciated as always.
  
• The difficulty coefficient of each body part is no longer partially randomized after each round.
  
• Thumbs have been replaced with something more decipherable.
  
• You can press Control to view Attributes and Skills during text events.
  
• It is no longer possible to skip your turn in the first round of combat because of low Quickness.
  
• It is no longer possible to skip two turns in a row if a character's Stance is full.
  
• The first time you show good leadership when attacked by slingers in a specific random encounter, there is a chance to increase one or more of your mental Attributes. Only the first time for each game.
  
• A little more text as been added to the initial part of the epilogue, based on the money you have accumulated. If you have less than 2500 denarii, it is the same as before. Above 2500, 5000, 7500 and 10000 denarii, you will see a slighly different description of how you fared right after your return from Greece.
  
• The damage of all weapons has been increased by 1.
  
• The influence of Strength on damage as been reduced a bit. The overall effect of this change and the one above is that weak and average characters will do a little more damage than before. Characters with high Strength shouldn't notice a significant difference, unless they are very close to the human limit of 99. Even then, they lose very little because of the increased base damage of weapons.
  
• The damage protection of all armors has been increased by 1.
  
• Enemies you meet after a rotation are likely to be more fatigued than in previous versions.
  
• The Rally action of the phalanx has a cooldown and won't happen more than once per "cycle".
  
• The AI parameters of the phalanx have been tweaked. It is more likely to attack, especially when the player is vulnerable.
  
• You can now view previous messages during text events, in case you suddenly find yourself clicking through a branch you have never visited before, after playing the game many times.
  
• The help section of the Equipment screen contains an explanation of weapon Handiness.
  
• The cost of Skill enhancements has been decreased from 4000 to 3500.
  
• Ultra rare items with quality 7 are back in the inventories of merchants and camp followers.
  
• Foraging missions can no longer happen more than once after each battle.
  
• Armillae are easier to win right after landing in Africa and at Zama.
  
• There is a new option to use keyboard and mouse on desktop computers and laptops with a touch screen.
  
• Fixed: sound effects not affected by volume settings in the score assignment screen.
  
• Fixed: several typos and mistakes.
  
• Fixed: the Veteran achievement not unlocking when you finish the game.
  
• Several other minor changes.
  

Features and changes

• You can now modify your equipment during some battle phases, if circumstances allow. There is an icon on the Inventory button to point out that you can view your equipment but cannot change it.
  
• Equipment penalties are suspended if you visit the Numidian camp, since you are supposed to be under disguise and without your usual equipment.
  
• If you meet a patrol of spearmen during a random event, you'll no longer get a cup if you attack along with your men and defeat one of them. Also, the fight times out after about 35 rounds. You'll still get a cup if you kill their leader in single combat.
  
• It is slightly more difficult to train your skills above 63, but you should barely notice. By the end of part eight, I can still consistently train my legionary to be more skilled than any enemy he can face up to that point.
  
• The length of Lull phases is no longer partly random.
  
• The cost in points of all the equipment pieces that can be acquired during the Character Enhancement phase has been reduced. The only exception is the Chain Mail.
  
• The bonus to your Centurion Opinion at the beginning of the second campaign is Consul Opinion*2 instead of Consul Opinion*3.
  

Fixes

• Fixed a potential freeze during the “harsh winter” random event.
  
• Improved the way some attempts to cheat are handled.
  

Features and changes

• Added an option to make combat go slower or faster than normal.
  
• Added a VSync option to limit the FPS rate. This is enabled by default.
  
• Added an introductory note that appears on the first character creation screen. It should help new players to get an idea of what to expect.
  
• The tutorial part about the “thumbs up/down” indicator has been expanded a little to provide an explanation. Unfortunately, in the tutorial I have to be as concise as possible or players could get bored and skip it, missing important information.
  
• If you kill the leader of the mercenaries in a settlement during a foraging mission, you are rewarded with a Cup.
  
• The bracelet stolen from the enemy camp yields 121 denarii instead of 28 if you share the profit with Nasidius. If you kill Nasidius and take it all for yourself (your Virtue has to be pretty low for this option to show up), you get 242 denarii instead of 56.
  
• Changed “Malus” to a more understandable “Penalty” in item descriptions.
  
• The max quality of items generated in shops is now capped at 6 instead of 8.
  
• The base damage of spears has been reduced to 4-15 from 5-16.
  
• The Awareness penalty of Etrusco-Corinthian helmets has been reduced from 5 to 4.
  

Fixes

• Himilco is now correctly shown on the list of vanquished enemies.
  
• A crash happening after you return part of the supplies to the villagers after defeating the mercenaries should be fixed.
  
• During foot races you are correctly told when the second lap begins.
  

• The weight of Attitude in combat has been increased by 60%. A very defensive Attitude won't make you 100% safe, but it should improve your survival rate. Remember that Attitude is a double-edged weapon: if you are aggressive, you will see your chance to hit go up, but you will be more exposed than before, so be careful.
  
• The probability to improve your mental Attributes after leading a successful foraging mission or after a display of good leadership has been increased. The chance of
• not* improving any Attribute is now about 20%; it was 35% before this change. As always, the odds of improving will gradually go down as your current values grow more distant from the initial ones; this process is so slow that you probably won't notice any difference for a while.
  
• Attributes that are suffering penalties due to equipment are highlighted in red.
  
• One of the branches of the battle at the end of Part V, specifically the one that involves staying in the ranks, lacked an appropriate reduction of Fatigue at the end. Now you should get a little rest before the next onslaught.
  
• There are two new random events. One of them only triggers if you have the rank of optio.
  
• The sound effect for shield blocks has been changed.
  
• I have made some changes to the engine regarding the way the Hall of Fame and saved games are handled.
  

• You can use hotkeys to select combat actions and activities during the "Lull" phase. You can press Ctrl at any time to highlight the available hotkeys.
  
• Combat Tutorial: the first time you enter the melee phase of a fight, you will see a detailed tutorial. It is automatically disabled when closed, but can be reactivated in the Options dialogue.
  
• Shared kills: when an enemy has suffered any kind of successful attack from both you and an ally (resisted Feints and Shield attacks do not count as successful), it won't matter who landed the killing blow: the kill is always counted as
• shared*. All bonuses and points are halved (and rounded up, where necessary). This makes combat with allies feel more cooperative, as the "race" for the killing blow was admittedly frustrating.
  
• There's a new Help in the Character screen.
  

• An alert will appear three rounds before a rotation happens.
  
• In addition to the above, if you reduce an opponent's health to less than half its full value when you are rotated, you will receive half the bonuses for a kill (rounded up). The opponent will also figure in your list of vanquished enemies with the prefix *Wounded*.
  The only circumstance in which this does not apply is if a companion helped in the fight. In other words, a vanquished entry that is both
• Shared* and
• Wounded* won't count, as that would be way too cheap (it's a very rare scenario anyway.).
  

• The Help shown during foraging missions should be more informative.
  
• The minimum amount of settlements appearing has been increased by 1, while the Intellect influence on the time spent to gather supplies and the Awareness influence on the collected amount of supplies have been halved. With these changes, the overall difficulty shouldn't change for expert player, but it should be more accessible to new players.
  
• It is now rarer to skip two or more combat rounds in a row (i.e. the Quickness check is much easier to pass after the first failure).
  
• The militiamen in the very first fight have "Content" Morale instead of "High". This should make the battle a little easier.
  
• The Shield Skill check used in the "safe" option when assaulting the walls of New Carthage is now easier than before.
  
• The frontal assault during the second battle lasts two rotations instead of three.
  
• In the alternative route of the same battle, the Fatigue penalty for failing the Endurance check during the flanking maneuver has been reduced.
  
• The Morale penalty you receive for failing to understand what's going on at Ilipa has been reduced.
  
• The loss of Morale after wounds is now constant rather than random.
  
• The "bandits" random event won't trigger unless you have a Rank or your Sword and Shield Skills are both at least 35.