Update # 4 - Balancing

We have another big update for you this week - and the main focus is balancing.

This update makes major improvements to trade, diplomacy, AI attacks, research prices, unit upkeep, building upkeep, food consumption, loot rewards, and the overall campaign economy. Trade routes should now feel more rewarding, rare goods like Silk and Spice are more valuable in the right markets, and trade agreements have been improved across many nations.

Home City recruitment also received a major upgrade. Home Cities now offer many more world map recruitment options, can create hamlet units like Horse Carts and Livestock, and have updated unit rosters for Slavic, Muslim, and Western cultures.

We`ve also added several UI improvements, especially for RTS mode and the world map. Units and buildings now show more useful information, including upkeep, happiness, and bonuses, while trade and recruitment windows now pause the game outside of the tutorial.

In addition, this update includes stronger campaign pacing, revised building progression, better hamlet defenses, and several important Home City and world map fixes.

And once again - thank you so much for the reports, feedback, and support during Early Access!

And now, here are the full notes for Update #4:

Home City Unit Recruitment

• Home City now gives a lot more world map unit recruitment options, up to 30

• Home City can now also create hamlet units, like Horse Carts and Livestock

• Changed the roster of units for Slavic, Muslim, and Western cultures

• Added Siege Ram to world map recruitment for Western and Slavic factions

• Town Hall units trained on the world map now use the Town Hall`s level

Other New Features

• Increasing building level now reduces upkeep

• Level 5 hamlets now allow outer stone wall construction in RTS and on the world map for non-Slavic nations

• Newly created armies now start with more units: 2 Peasants, 2 Horse Carts, and 1 Cow

UI Improvements

• In RTS mode, units now show upkeep when mousing over the unit portrait

• In RTS mode, buildings now show upkeep, happiness, and other bonuses when mousing over a building icon

• Trade windows on the world map now pause the game when opened, except during the tutorial

• Recruit Units window on the world map now pauses the game when opened, except during the tutorial

• Reworked happiness tooltip for world map town UI

• Happiness tooltip now explains that happy citizens produce more resources, while unhappy citizens stop all work

Trade Balancing

• Major rebalancing and polish to the city trade system

• Major rebalancing and polish to city trade agreements

• A lot more cities now pay great prices for Silk and Spice

• Buying common goods in Western Europe and selling them in the Middle East is now a lot more profitable

• Long-distance trade routes, like selling Silk and Spice in faraway English markets, are now a lot more profitable

• A lot more variety in goods purchased and sold around cities in the Mediterranean

• Reworked a lot of trade agreements for various nations - they now seek rare goods more often, like Spice and Silk

• Trade agreements now generate up to 30% more income

• Major trade goods production rebalance - building upkeep reduced by 30% on average

AI Balancing

• Rebalanced the frequency of AI attacks on the player on the world map

• Primary enemies like Pisa will attack the player about one third less often

• Other nations that the player goes to war with will now attack more often

Other Balancing

• Reduced silver upkeep for Swordsmen

• Increased silver upkeep for Crossbowmen, Longbowmen, and Veteran Crossbowmen

• Increased food consumption of basic infantry and ranged units

• Revised research prices - they no longer require huge amounts of trade goods for late-game technologies

• Increased RTS construction time for all trade goods buildings

• Greatly reduced Renown income from churches, Herbalists, and other buildings

• Reduced population upset from various buildings like Silver Mines, Lumber Camps, etc.

• Looting corpses now generates mostly silver instead of silver and wood

• Looting corpses now gives 3-5X more silver, depending on unit tier

Bug Fixes

• Fixed various issues with disabled buildings on the world map

• Added a lot more spawn markers for Home Cities in the worker category

• Fixed a bug in Home City where workers could appear far away from the Town Hall on level load