Hello Everyone,
This week’s update is one of the biggest so far — the world map AI has been completely reworked, making diplomacy, war, and late-game strategy far more dynamic and challenging.
Nations will now actively declare wars, form alliances, and create coalitions against stronger powers — including the player. You’ll see large-scale rivalries and shifting power balances, with major factions conquering each other and reshaping the map over time. The late game now feels alive, unpredictable, and much harder to dominate.
Alongside the AI overhaul, today’s update includes dozens of important fixes, improvements, and balance changes across both the world map and RTS modes. In addition, all Slavic and Muslim nations now have culturally accurate Lords and Kings, with 18 new portraits added.
Thank you all for continuing to send reports and feedback — every update brings the game closer to the polished experience we’ve all been working toward.
And now, here are the full notes for Update #11:
World Map AI Reworked
Major improvement to how AI handles diplomacy and attacks in mid to late game
World map nations will now actively engage in politics, declaring war on each other and on the player in some situations
AI players are now much more aggressive in late game, often resulting in several superpowers conquering other nations
Major nations will actively fight among each other (for example, England can destroy France)
Nations will form coalitions to attack the player in mid to late game if the player becomes too strong
Late game diplomatic difficulty rebalanced to be much more challenging
Fixed all situations where AI players had no enemies
Fixed AI armies that would sit idle near cities
Eliminated exploits allowing the player to remove all enemies through diplomacy
Major Fixes and Improvements
Restored windowed mode (patched to live earlier last week)
Fixed major exploit allowing players to loot towns indefinitely
Auto-resolved battles now consume food, similar to RTS battles
Fixed major issue where building and unit pop-ups were missing information on required technologies
Fixed occasional issue with large towns loading with zero resources
Fixed issue with livestock and cavalry climbing onto palisade walls
Fixed major diplomacy issue where AI nations could be at war with the player while the player was not at war with them
Fixed diplomacy issues in Sandbox mode where some nations traded with enemies at campaign start
Fixed Sandbox mode startup issue where some nations had no enemies
Fixed issue with Oil Pot spawning on the ground
Art Updates
Added 12 new Slavic lords and Kings
All Slavic Lords now have a proper Slavic culture portrait
All 18 new Muslim lords and Kings added
All Muslim Lords now have a proper Muslim culture portrait
Minor Bug Fixes
Fixed missing information on the RTS victory screen showing ? marks
Player gates no longer open automatically after victory in RTS battles
AI players will now retreat and stop attacks after losing an RTS battle
Fixed delay in resource display when entering large towns
Decks and bridges in large towns are now darker and more natural-looking
Cavalry diamond formation now correctly increases trample damage
Fixed twitching animation on destroyed fire carts
Peasant "Gather Food" button now targets cows as well as chickens
Updated descriptions for Fletcher building and research technologies
Updated Pilgrim Hospital and Herbalist descriptions for clarity
Fixed Ballista description mentioning iron requirement incorrectly
Fixed Damascus lacking correct number of building plots, causing buildings to disappear
Fixed a dozen other world map cities with incorrect building plot setups
Balancing Changes
Knight Command’s Rally Horn ability greatly boosted – now lasts twice as long
Monk’s Pray ability greatly boosted – now lasts twice as long
Market building in RTS mode now generates (and consumes) resources 30% faster
Significantly reduced basic and elite Spear unit resistance to arrows
Fletcher building now locked until researched
Improved the effect of Herbalists and Hospitals on healing garrisons and nearby armies on the world map
