Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy
Stronghold: Warlords
Summer & Autumn Roadmap Revealed
[previewyoutube="U5qxWHtRquA;full"] Earlier this week we released our latest update for Stronghold: Warlords, alongside the reveal of our next content roadmap! Now available on Steam, Version 1.5 introduced a host of bug fixes and general improvements requested by players, while the reveal of our summer and autumn roadmap details our planned updates over the next few months:
Having now completed our Spring/Summer content roadmap, which added many requested features and improvements to the core Warlords experience, it's time to move onto our second phase of post-launch development. Our initial content plan addressed feedback received at launch, which was tracked and discussed internally before the roadmap reveal. This included frequent requests for new AI opponents, which led to the addition of Sun Tzu, but also changes to AI behaviour and other fixes and improvements that needed attention post launch. We built on this soon after with other pre-planned features, such as the addition of Free Build AI Invasions, our first Skirmish Trail, new warlords, the Samurai Lancer unit and more.
As we progress to our second planned phase of content we decided to kick this off with a general fixes and improvements update, sticking largely to bug fixes while also looking at other tweaks that could be made in the time available to us after launching v1.4. Now that this update is out in the wild, we can turn our focus back to new content, one of the most common requests from players, along with continuing work on optimisations. We'll continue to grow the AI roster with the addition of Kublai Khan, while also adding new maps, a second skirmish trail, the new Wolf warlord, Thunderbomb Thrower unit, a classic Stronghold map pack and other unannounced additions!
We hope this next stage of content for Stronghold: Warlords sounds exciting and brings the game more in line with your hopes for it post-release. As a studio we'll continue to build out the game with extra features, while also introducing requested tweaks and polish expected of such a long running and beloved series. Everyone at the studio would like to thank you for your continued interest in and passion for Stronghold, which we'll continue to improve in both Warlords and future titles.
Wall attachments (Arrow Turret, Ballista Tower etc) now have their full build cost refunded if removed by deleting/placing adjacent walls.
Fix for troops dropping down inside walls after gates or towers were destroyed.
Fixed engine tower healthbars not decreasing when taking damage.
Fixed a rare issue where areas of the player estate would stop the player from building after a section of walls were destroyed.
Walls attached to towers now take damage as normal instead of passing all damage to the tower.
Walls attached to towers can now be deleted as normal.
Fixed an issue where repairing damaged walls around towers made them unpathable.
Fixed an issue where damaged but still pathable walls would become unpathable after loading a save game.
Fixed troops getting stuck in unpathable positions on walls after a repair.
Fixed damaged walls attached to stairs creating a path through walls.
Fixed troops sometimes walking off damaged walls at tower exits onto the ground.
Fixed wall attachments clipping through gates and towers when placed adjacent on diagonal walls.
Fix for troops falling down into walls attached to the barracks.
Laddermen in formations will now spread out more evenly on walls.
General Fixes
Fixed an issue where Crossbowmen would fire at troops at the edge of their range but do no damage.
Fixed formatting in Warlord edict tooltips.
Fixed an issue where housing would rotate extremely fast when clicking and holding the mouse button during placement.
Fixed an issue where the edge of the map would tear due to rivers.
Fixed rocket launchers playing the audio of siege equipment wheels after being fired.
Fixed an issue where units could not be selected/deselected on the HUD in certain positions.
Stopped unit selection circles persisting after troops were disbanded.
Stopped the audio of thunder playing indefinitely after a lightning event.
Fixed the Made Per Day reporting for Clothes.
Fixed incorrect audio being played when using archer’s volley fire.
Stopped the Allies/Greatest Lord Panel staying open after changing the map.
ESC Button no longer functions when viewing the mission briefing screen.
Fixed incorrect mission briefing being shown after loading a save.
Buy/sell button now shows the correct gold deducted when holding the SHIFT key to buy/sell more goods.
Border of goods summary panel fixed.
Added a scrollbar to the Freebuild map listing.
Stopped water from rice farms appearing through flames.
Fixed Greatest Lord panel showing the incorrect player avatar with certain avatars selected.
Fixed the Warlord selection wheel in the skirmish lobby being empty after loading a save.
Fixed Ninjas having no burn animation.
Fixed an issue where Ninjas would gracefully slide along the floor after throwing shurikens.
Stopped progress circles still showing after cancelling edicts.
Stopped walls clipping through stairs after a repair.
Fix for player name text highlighting.
Fixed influence panel help tooltip and text.
Fixed mission narration sometimes playing during loading when restarting a mission.
Various stability improvements.
Some minor optimisations.
Map Editor
Fixed the Map Editor freezing and becoming unresponsive when closing.
Fixed some textures in the scenario editor not appearing.
Updated some resource icons.
Stopped troop bounding boxes becoming misaligned when placing/deleting walls and buildings.
Skirmish Trail Update - Now Live!
[previewyoutube="dWki5r4ohZs;full"]
Today's Skirmish Trail Update introduces the game’s first ‘skirmish trail’, a series of challenging missions with unique conditions to overcome and achieve victory. Other features added in v1.4 include a new cavalry unit, two additional AI warlords, the return of a popular building for healing units and two extra multiplayer maps!
Added a new game mode; the Skirmish Trail. - A set of skirmishes against different foes across a range of maps. Each mission will present its own set of challenges as you strive to complete the trail.
Added new unit; the Samurai Lancer - A fast, heavily armoured support unit with a light attack. Nearby mounted units will deal increased damage to enemies.
Added 2 new Warlords; the Beetle and the Bear. - The Beetle is not to be underestimated. Although defense is his specialty, his healing skills and armor shipments make him a valuable component in any offensive strategy. - None can match the power of the Bear. His armies are expensive but you will be rewarded for your investment. Increases the range of Imperial Bannerman’s buff ability.
Added new building; the Field Hospital - The Field Hospital can only be built by the Beetle Warlord. When the edict is activated, the Beetle Warlord will build a Field Hospital within his lands. - Any allied troops standing within the vicinity of the Field Hospital will be slowly healed over time. Upgrading the Beetle will increase the amount of healing given to troops.
Added 2 new skirmish maps: - Guarded Crossings. While the northern player has plenty of land to build in, the other two players must keep a close eye on each other as they race to capture the surrounding Warlords. - Ascendance. Some lords are more equal than others. You may have been given similar lands but it will soon be obvious who truly has the favour of the sun.
Added some missing pathing tiles to Down River
Updates to Flows Like Time: - Added more details and decorations to the map
Updates to Unfavourable Odds: - The southern player has more space in their estate and a small amount of stone - The northern player now has saltpetre in their estate - Added more details and decorations to the map
Updates to Princes and Paupers: - Improved the free pathfinding area to better match the open ground in estates - Added saltpetre and iron to the north-eastern estate - Added saltpetre to the south-eastern and south-western estates
General fixes
Addressed multiple situations which may have resulted in the game crashing
Fixed an issue that could cause warlord armies to become stuck when targeting a defeated player in campaign missions
Fixed a bug that could cause troops in formations to run backwards when they were ahead of the rest of the formation
When towers are destroyed, troops standing on them will now instantly fall to the ground rather than animating in mid-air first
Siege weapons emerging from the siege camp will no longer move somewhere if it requires passing through a gate
Walls with hoardings or turrets attached can no longer be docked by laddermen
Troops in siege towers can no longer capture nearby gatehouses
Fixed an issue that could make area target indicators visible when loading a save
Fixed an issue that caused two siege towers to be briefly visible after a siege tower docked
Troops in siege towers no longer judder about while the siege tower is moving and are much better at staying at their correct positions inside the tower
Fixed an issue causing siege tower passengers to jump backwards a few meters when the tower is docked
Siege projectiles (including diseased animals) are now able to hit troops standing on the top floor of keeps, rather than colliding with the keep roof
Ranged units are now able to fire projectiles directly at barricades and now attack them at range when commanded to target them
Fixed an issue that could cause new turrets to be placed when warlord castles repair, when the original turrets had not been destroyed
Warlord Launch Attack and Request Relief Force edicts can no longer be triggered in peace time
Fixed an issue that could cause troops defending warlord castles to move to the wrong positions after loading a save
Fixed a bug that was preventing warlord castles being upgraded via edicts if they were assigned a level above zero in the map editor
Fixed an issue where Warlord’s castles would have multiple instances of certain buildings placed on the same spot after upgrading/repairing
Siege Camps placed via Warlords edicts are now destroyed when the Warlord changes owner
Fixed the peace time remaining icon not showing correctly
Added AI difficulty to Skirmish loading screens
Stability improvements
AI Improvements
Boosted the extra gold income for Extreme mode skirmish AI by 30% to provide more of a challenge
Skirmish AI now wait for minimum intervals before upgrading captured warlords, based on the warlord rank
AI armies are now more accurate at scanning for enemy units and buildings, based on the unit composition of the army
AI armies are better at noticing when they can capture nearby warlords
In skirmish games, AI Auxiliary Archers, Blowpipe Tribesmen and Fire Lancers will now attempt to retreat from enemy troops that get too close when on Hard or Extreme difficulty
Fixed a case where the AI could get stuck unable to train enough troops to attack if it had run out of town space
Fixed a bug where the AI would get stuck endlessly trying to place a silk chain building
Fixed a bug that could prevent the AI from completing its castle if it has no stone in its estate
Map Editor
Added a new toolbar option to toggle Shadows visibility, in the Options menu
The Landscape brushes are now displayed in a grid
Enabled the “Remove entities at origin” tool
Art of War Campaign DLC
[previewyoutube="UzmPG_Mysh0;full"] Today we released both version 1.3 of Stronghold: Warlords and our first DLC, The Art of War Campaign! Now available at 10% off during launch week, Warlords' first DLC adds six missions to the base game and two brand new warlords for use in the DLC campaign, skirmish mode and online multiplayer.
Beginning in the ashes of the Western Zhou dynasty and culminating in the Battle of Boju, The Art of War Campaign is designed for series veterans and skilled warlords alike. The six new missions feature fresh challenges and historical conflict, with players experiencing several years from Sun Tzu's legendary exploits, new tactical scenarios and stronghold sieges. Face new challenges as Sun Tzu’s story progresses with new maps, gameplay and the addition of two brand new warlords!
The Rat and Panda Warlords introduce a new tactical challenge to Warlords' core gameplay. Subdue your enemy without lifting a finger using their new perks, edicts and upgrades or indeed team up to combine your military prowess and conquer rival lords using a joint attack force. Cause mischief with the Rat Warlord with effective early game skirmishes or bide your time with the Panda, who combines unique anti-archer protection with industry-boosting edicts.
Our version 1.3 update was also released earlier today for owners of the base game. Adding another round of optimisations, fixes, AI improvements and our first official map pack, this new update is part of our long term commitment to updating Warlords in 2021.
In terms of content today's new maps invite players to battle the elements among thick jungle hills on Thunder Strikes, construct castles to their heart's content on Lost Kingdoms' larger build areas and skirmish across river crossings in Flows Like Time. This is the first of several map packs coming this year, so let us know what you think in the comments below as we continue to iterate on player feedback with each update.
Please Note: The Art of War Campaign is downloadable add-on content, requiring the full Stronghold: Warlords game to play. Players who own the DLC may host multiplayer games with those who do not, giving them access to the Rat and Panda Warlords for the duration of their match.
Removed time limit from mission 1 and 5 of the Sun Tzu DLC campaign
Fixed an issue where buffs were not applied to surrounding troops from save games or when pre-placed in maps.
Note: The healthbar indicator for buffs will not show when loading saves or if the General/Imperial Bannerman are pre-placed in maps, but the buffs are active. We will address the healthbar indicators in a future update.
Added icon to diplomacy map showing progress of ongoing castle upgrade orders
Icons above Warlords keeps now show active orders
Roads now appear through gatehouses when connected
Multiple troops can now be recruited with one-click
Hold SHIFT when recruiting to recruit up to 5 troops
Hold CTRL when recruiting to recruit the maximum number of available troops
Added 3 new skirmish maps
Thunder Strikes - Thick jungle, heavy rain and dark skies await for two rivals to carve a path into the annals of history.
Flows Like Time - Troubled waters, past grievances and dissent among local lords paint a picture here. Will you side with old enemies to oppose larger foes, or take on all enemies with the aid of your subjects?
Lost Kingdoms - Nature has reclaimed this long forgotten land, where empires once stood and wars of the ages were fought.
General fixes
Fixed a bug with the way the Tiger’s perk was being applied
Buildings in warlord castles no longer build below ground if the warlord isn't placed on an exact plateau
Fixed an issue with roads counting as connected between buildings when road tiles are diagonally adjacent
Fixed a bug that would allow troops in invasions get stuck on the edge of unpathable areas after spawning
Troops standing on keeps, walls and towers will no longer auto-attack enemy troops which are at the same height but on a different building
Laddermen and siege towers can no longer dock at walls broken down to an unpathable level
Troops ordered to target enemy docked ladders are much better at deciding whether push the ladder off the wall or attack it from the ground
Fixed a bug that would allow troops to push ladders from walls even if they failed to reach the correct position on the wall
Fixed an incorrect shader assignments with Bastions
Fixed river and sea around map edges
Fixed incorrect graphics on goods panel
Fixed Japanese text to be left-aligned in several places
Fixed saved games with wide character names not saving correctly
Fixed a bug where siege equipment sounds would loop permanently
Added handling for French-Canadian keyboard input
Fixed a crash that could occur when a Warlord kneeled
AI Improvements
Skirmish AI no longer gets stuck when using the West spawn point in Lord’s Peak
Fixed a bug where cavalry and siege weapons in invasions could end up stuck on top of gatehouses if they spawned very close by
Invasions moving to a target now look further ahead to see if there are obstacles in the way
Invasions which spawn close to their form up marker will now immediately move to attack their final target
Fixed some issues with AI armies sometimes not checking for nearby enemies correctly while travelling. We have further improvements in the pipeline here to make the AI more intelligent about how far to scan based on which units it has in its army.
AI troops that are attacking walls will now consider re-targeting to other attack targets
Fixed some issues where blocking walls would not always be picked up by AI armies during combat
Melee troops in AI armies will now consider attacking more kinds of buildings in combat, reducing the likelihood they will have to wait for ranged or siege units to finish attacking. They will also no longer target enemy fire oxen, rocket launchers or any target where there’s a fire close by.
If there are ladders or siege towers in an AI clan which are moving up to enemy walls to dock, foot soldiers will now move up to where they expect the walls to be docked rather than standing still
Invasions with trebuchets are less liable to get stuck waiting for the trebuchet to finish attacking a target while the army is still a long way away from the enemy
Map Editor
Scenario editor events are no longer capped at Day 100
Added a new “Player has Lord” scenario condition
Added a new “Purge Estates” scenario action. This removes all buildings and units belonging to the player, just as if the player had been defeated in a skirmish game.
Achievements
We have set ‘Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn’ to hidden for now. This will be reworked and replaced with a different achievement in a future update.
New Post-Launch Q&A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru6Qe76T3kE We have just released our first post-launch Stronghold community Q&A, covering both Stronghold: Warlords and other past, present and future titles in the series. Today Nick runs a gauntlet of both our most common post-release questions and a series of dastardly challenges, posed by resident Firefly Videographer and celebrity chef Aaron Hayden. So if you've ever wanted to see us inhale a bowl of spicy noodles, draw fellow Firefly staff or impersonate classic Stronghold characters then boy we do have the video for you! As always please enjoy watching us embarrass ourselves while simultaneously answering your questions about the future of Firefly, Warlords and the Stronghold series.
Got a question not featured in today's post-release Q&A? Worry not! We've taken the liberty of including all other community questions (to which we currently have answers) in the video's description, to ensure no voice goes unheard. If you have further questions having watched today's video then please head over to the official Stronghold Discord, where developers and fellow players will be happy to discuss the series. You can also sign up to the Firefly Studios newsletter for the latest Stronghold news and inclusion in other initiatives such as player surveys, giveaways and beta invites.
We hope you enjoy this new Q&A as we look forward to the future of the Stronghold series. With version 1.3 releasing on Tuesday May 18th, adding new maps and improvements to the game, we're just getting started with Stronghold: Warlords. New AI, units, warlords, game features, single and multiplayer content are planned for introduction in a series of free updates in 2021 along with new DLC, starting with next week's 'The Art of War Campaign' which adds six missions and two new warlords to the base game.
Please stay tuned for updates to our content roadmap for Stronghold: Warlords in 2021, as well as updates on the Stronghold series as a whole. Thanks for playing!
While we finalize our v1.3 update and first DLC 'The Art of War', both coming to Stronghold: Warlords on May 18th, we're taking some time to dive into the complex history of skirmishes and battles surrounding its protagonist Sun Tzu. So to ensure you're the most studied strategist out there before loading up the new six mission historical campaign (or diving into our upcoming free map pack) please enjoy this crash course in ancient Chinese history!
Our tale begins with the inception of Wu during the Spring and Autumn period, running all the way through to the epic Battle of Boju. Sun Tzu was not only one of the most fascinating (and controversial!) figures of Chinese warfare, but also the supposed author of a military strategy guide which has survived and enduring through the ages. Our new DLC is based on his operations within the war of states Wu and Chu and related exploits worthy of digital recreation. After all who says you can't learn some exciting world history alongside optimisations, new maps and quality of life updates for your games?
If you enjoyed today's video, our updates to the game since launch and would like to suggest future Stronghold content on our YouTube channel please let us know! Post in the comments below and we'll keep all suggestions in mind for video content throughout 2021. For now please enjoy our latest v1.2 content update, look forward to v1.3 on May 18th and more Stronghold: Warlords updates in the coming weeks and months.
Today Stronghold: Warlords gets its first major content update with the release of v1.2! Adding requested features such as a new AI opponent (Sun Tzu), AI invasions in Free Build mode, a new Free Build map, general fixes and AI improvements, this update is now available to all players.
Fixed an issue where Sun Tzu would "block" in his weapon workshops
Fixed missing Hideyoshi icon in skirmish lobbies
Fixed stuck starting troops in "Princes and Paupers"
Fixed small gatehouse incorrectly showing road tiles when placed
Build Number: v1.2.20394 (Original Release)
Updates
Added Sun Tzu AI Lord
Added the Freebuild panel, allowing players to do the following in Freebuild:
Launch invasions
Acquire free gold and diplomacy points
Turn on Events
Added new Freebuild map ‘Hillside Fortress’
Turrets and engine platforms can no longer be placed on walls standing on unpathable terrain
Roads can now be connected through gatehouses when tiles are placed on both ends of the gatehouse.
Note: road pieces will not appear visibly underneath gates, we are working on this for the next update.
Greatly improved the appearance of ponds
General fixes
Fixed the landscape textures sometimes disappearing when task switching or changing resolution
Fixed the Diplomacy Map not scaling properly on ultrawide resolutions
Fixed a crash that could occur when weapon workshops were destroyed by fire
Water is no longer visible off the edges of Open Plains and Wide Open Plains
Added some missing pathing tiles on Jungle Clearing
Walls, roads and gunpowder trails can no longer be placed in rivers, ponds or seas
Fixed the wrong scribe speech sometimes being played when selecting work buildings with missing workers
Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause troops in rabble formation move backwards when targeting enemies
Fixed knocked back troops being able to move if given a command momentarily before the knockback began
Fixed a case where ninjas could get stuck when jumping off/onto walls just on the edge of a cliff
Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred due to gatehouse flags being removed
Fix for the Keep roofs not hiding when Lords were atop them
Vertical Sync is now On by default when first launching the game
Added functionality to allow users to change keyboard input language while in-game
Better support for languages that use non-Latin characters
Player estates now show the relevant Lord’s name in campaign missions
General and Lord units now use a pickaxe when destroying walls
Campaign
Fixed a missing Qin Shi Huang line in Armies of Yan
AI Improvements
Edicts are picked slightly more reliably on normal difficulty
The AI now prioritises more expensive attack edicts when it has a high diplomacy point income
The AI is better at steadily upgrading warlords as its own castle grows
Fixed a bug that could let the AI block off the top of stairs with buildings
The AI starts building weapons workshops slightly earlier
AIs that do not use tea will now sell all their tea automatically
Fixed a case where the AI could get stuck if it ran out of food and had no more workers on rice fields. The AI will now turn other work buildings to sleep if it needs workers on rice fields quickly.
Fixed a case where attacking armies could get stuck moving to a warlord estate before a siege camp has been placed in it
Fixed an issue with the AI not correctly detecting when it needs iron for troop weapons
Weapons workshops are now placed in a layout which makes it harder for workers to get stuck due to the building layout
Addressed some issues where troops in attacking armies could get stuck, in particular when caught on armoury roofs
Fixed a case where armies could get stuck because they were trying to assemble at a target siege camp position on an enemy estate
Fixed the "free gold per minute" parameter to correctly allow AIs to be modded to receive extra gold
The amount of gold AIs receive on Extreme difficulty can now also be modded by a parameter called “extreme_free_gold_percentage”
Map Editor
Fixed the keyboard keys moving the camera when the scenario editor is open
Further increased the render distance
The Dragon Gate left and right pieces can now be placed separately as individual objects
New control icons
New Skirmish Map
- Added a new map 'Wide Open Plains' - a rework of Open Plains with 4 larger player estates and 1 Warlord
EX Difficulty, Increased Troop Limit, New Map & More!
Added Extreme! difficulty to both Skirmish and Campaign modes. (Note: Extreme! difficulty in skirmish will give the AI an unfair gold advantage.)
Total troop limit in skirmish/multiplayer is increased. Example: troop limit in a 2 player game is increased from 200 to 300.
Added 2 new large keeps, Mongol Yurt and Tribal.
Selecting alternative skins for player’s Lord model will also change their keep type.
Updated Japanese voice lines for barracks troops.
Added diplomacy points to overall resource settings in Skirmish lobbies.
Motion blur can now be disabled/enabled via a setting stored in options.xml. (default is for it to be enabled.)
The minimap can now be configured to rotate/face North and scale to fit inside its box by default via new settings in options.xml.
Added a new 2 player skirmish map: Riverbend. Expect a tense push and pull battle as both players vie for control of the warlords guarding the path to their opponent's castle.
General fixes
Fix for saves crashing on Load due to incorrect refcounts. (Note: Old corrupt saves will still crash on load, but new saves will now Load correctly.)
Fixed “Defending Our Lands” from the Genghis Khan campaign so that it correctly shows the build menu.
Fix for pathfinding obstacles sometimes not clearing after walls are destroyed. This addresses mortars sometimes not being able to path through destroyed walls in ‘The Battle of Yehuling’.
Changed ruins on ‘Heart of an Empire’ and ‘Fortunes’ in the Economic Campaign to fix blocked mission progress. Please note existing saves from these missions will use old ruins types.
Fix for triangular wall pieces sometimes lingering around after adjacent square pieces have been destroyed.
Triangular wall pieces are now broken down more consistently to match the damage level of adjacent square walls (this has no effect on balance but gives a clearer impression of how damaged a section of wall is).
Lord portraits now appear correctly for MP/Skirmish human player non-AI skins in various UI places.
Increased fade distance of buildings on fire.
Updated popularity report formatting to accommodate longer localization texts.
Overhauled the ninja pathfinding system to handle many map and building layouts that could not previously be navigated.
Fixed an issue that could cause groups of Mongolian Horsemen to jostle back and forth after moving to a position.
Fixes for a number of cases where troops could get stuck (especially in gates) and not be able to move again.
Ballistas can no longer attempt to attack defensive stone buildings.
Fixed an issue where troops could get stuck repeatedly failing to attack warlord workers in melee.
Fixed an issue where actors would hover briefly before landing during their knockback animation.
Fixed an issue where actors could get stuck just on the edge of unpathable terrain after being knocked back.
Troops in rabble formation are more reliable at moving to target enemy units on rooftops.
Balance changes
Halved warrior monk area attack damage to 500, doubled cooldown time to 60 seconds.
Adjusted the way splash damage is applied to walls from siege projectiles, to make overall damage more consistent across diagonal and non-diagonal walls.
Warlords
Repair and Upgrade Castle edicts can no longer be used when the enemy is very close to the castle. If triggered before the enemy approaches, they will still finish if the enemy comes into range during the edict.
Warlord shipments now only display messages on their first and last shipment, in which they report Current/Total goods sent.
Added an icon to the diplomacy map for ongoing instant attacks.
AI Improvements
General
AI Lords now use their own respective keeps in Skirmish games.
Added several new overlord taunts.
Town
Many improvements to AI town building, including smarter positioning of different building types, fixes for several cases where the building layout could result in stuck workers, and increased maximum distance that buildings can be placed from the keep.
Improved granary placement to be more central inside the castle, making it better protected from attacks.
Fixed several issues with turrets and engine platforms not attaching to walls correctly.
The AI is better at calculating how many of each type of work building it needs to build its economy and train an army.
Fixed a bug that could get the AI stuck trying to build an embassy when it already had the max amount allowed.
Strategy
The AI now takes the number of players on their team into account when choosing whether to target an enemy player or warlord, allowing them to prioritise enemy players earlier in free-for-all games.
The AI is now more likely to target the warlord closest to them over other warlords.
The AI no longer attempts to influence warlords on Easy difficulty.
There’s now a minimum time before the AI will attack any target, which varies by difficulty.
Harder AIs now better at picking Warlord Edicts and issue them more often.
When at very high gold levels, the AI will now aim for triple its normal popularity to get peasants spawning faster.
Castle
Defensive troops, turrets and engine platforms are now positioned more intelligently based on the direction to the closest enemy player.
Fixed an issue that could cause castles not to build when spawn points are rotated.
Fix for defensive troops on Genghis’ castle walls sometimes getting stuck.
Tweaked the tower positions in Hideyoshi’s castle.
Defensive troops now spend less time running back and forth between different positions on the walls.
On Easy difficulty the AI now only builds a single layer of castle walls.
Armies
The AI is now more willing to buy weapons to train troops when needed, to preserve the desired unit composition of their army.
Improved the balance of Barracks and Academy troops the AI will train, whether or not they have weapons available.
Fewer troops are now kept in reserve, allowing the AI to attack faster and with larger numbers when up to their troop limit.
Improved the distribution of different troop types in the types of armies sent out.
After capturing a warlord, armies will now sometimes guard the warlord for a period of time before moving to attack a new target.
Armies that encounter an enemy keep on route to their target will now switch targets rather than continuing to their original target.
Armies are better at navigating through allied estates to reach their target.
Fixes for several cases where armies could get stuck while moving to their target or reforming.
The AI will now more reliably start attacking with siege armies based on the number of attacks already made and their own economic development.
Armies are better at tracking enemy lords who have moved away from their keeps.
Fixed an issue that could stop attacks being launched once the AI reached their troop limit.
Fixed several issues with the placement of forward siege camps in Warlord estates.
Improved the AI’s ability to coincide Warlord attack edicts with their own attacks.
Expensive troops such as Generals and Samurai are no longer held back to guard siege weapons.
Fire oxen and rocket launchers no longer target warlord town buildings.
Armies made up of horse archers and other cavalry now have a strong preference to tail other armies when they can, given they tend to be ineffective against enemy warlords by themselves.
If individual troops in an AI army are unable to join the rest of the army for too long, they’ll now suicide in order to avoid the whole army getting stuck.
Improved AI handling of rocket launchers, to avoid firing in areas that may set the ground under their own troops on fire.
Genghis now sieges with more mortars and fewer rocket launchers.
Map Editor
Added support for WASD/arrow key camera movement (with ctrl for faster movement) and Q/E keys to rotate the camera.
The camera can now pitch closer to zero/ninety degrees, for easier editing.
Increased the render distance.
Spawn points now move up/down if the landscape tool is used underneath them.
Notes
We have set the achievement ‘Thucing Phantastic’ to hidden for now as it is not tracking correctly. This will be addressed in a future update.
While we have fixed the issue that was corrupting saves, old save games that were previously crashing on load will still crash. Saves made in newly started missions are fixed.
