Preview: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – Update 95810

New! Achievements List

Stability & Performance

• Fixed an issue where game crashes when creating a lobby using Restore Multiplayer Game.
• Fixed an issue where game sometimes crashes when clicking the Return of Rome Multiplayer button.

Graphics

• Fixed a graphical issue where various Palm Trees have black sections in their textures.
• Fixed the issues with death and decay animations for Slinger, Man-at-Arms, Female Forager.
• Imperial Camel saddle cloth texture no is no longer incorrect on one of the angles.
• Magyar Huszar spear is no longer slightly cut off on several unit animations.
• Fixed a graphical issue where Chariot Archer had doubled bow.
• Male Woodcutters no longer lack idle animations on all except one angle.
• Babylonian Wonder destruction animation no longer turns invisible close to the end.
• Added visual trails to bullet projectiles.

Audio

• Fixed an issue where Priest had the wrong creation sound.
• Romans units no longer have slightly distorted voice audio.

UI

• The UI graphics and fonts filter which was introduced in Update 90260 and later known as WIDGETUI_FILTER, is now available as in-game options on PC platforms under the Graphics tab:
  • Anti-Alias UI: Select to smoothen graphics (such as icons) in certain parts of the UI, on resolutions other than 4K. Disabling may increase performance. (Medium, High, Ultra presets)
  • Anti-Alias Text: Select to smoothen text in certain parts of the UI, on resolutions other than 4K. Disabling may increase performance when Smooth Serif Font is off. (High, Ultra presets)
• Smooth Serif Font has been restored to its original look (from before Update 90260) when Anti-Alias Text is off.
• Sea walls now have their own icon.
• Army tents now have their own icon in Return of Rome.
• The Ranked UI button in Return of Rome now uses the intended artwork.
• Updated some wrong artworks from the History section with the proper ones.
• Added the “Off” and “High” volume indicators on the narrator volume bar.
• Chatbox is no longer visible in 1v1 quickplay games. Additionally, chatbox is now visible when in party with at least 2 members on the quickplay screen, to match with Xbox behaviour.
• Age of Empires campaigns now have a unique campaign group icon.
• Changed the color of buttons in Scenario Editor in Return of Rome mode to blue.
• All Return of Rome cheat units now have their own icons.
• Sogdian Cataphract icon no longer incorrectly indicates hero glow on the unit.

Hotkeys

• Toggle Health Bar hotkey no longer affects Idle Pointer display.

Xbox

• Fixed a crash that was occurring while accepting an invitation from another player under certain circumstances.
• Fixed an issue where randomizing lobby settings automatically scrolls down the Game Settings menu.
• Fixed an issue where the banned and preferred maps on the Quick Play menu disappear under certain circumstances.
• Fixed an issue where AI Difficulty is set back to Standard when starting a queue in Quick Play.
• Fixed a graphical issue on the Rally Point flag.
• Fixed an issue where the Quick Find Naval Units button for Transport Ships was not activating properly when relevant ships were on the field in Return of Rome.
• The Building Range Indicators are no longer drawn incorrectly and inconsistently.
• Spearman-Line units are now included in the Command Menu Shortcuts for Donjons as intended.
• Fixed an issue where Villagers queued in the Town Center were separated based on gender.
• The save and load game pages now show the remaining cloud capacity.
• Fixed an issue where Monk’s Heal command no longer heals units.
• Controller buttons in Return of Rome mode now have blue color (instead of red like in Age of Empires II).
• Fixed an issue where Toggle Idle Pointers hotkey has no effect.
• Added the previously missing player icons which are rewarded for winning as Roman civilization.
• Fixed an issue where players are unable to repair transport ships.

Pathfinding

• Legacy short path finder has been replaced by a new algorithm in all game modes, including Multiplayer (in previous versions, this was only enabled in Single Player mode for testing purposes).
• Units controlled by human players now have a reduced timeout before attacking new units.
• When Units attack gates they now move to the center of the gate.
• Improved where units can spawn from when using gather points.
• Fixed an issue where units can freeze during a battle after receiving a patrol or attack move command.
• Fixed an issue where units after being tasked to attack enemy units of specific class can retarget to enemy units of another class.
• Fixed an issue where Villagers sometimes go the opposite way after receiving a move command.

Fixes

• Fixed a regression where the Mangonel’s projectile is ignoring elevation information if the Mangonel is deleted before the projectile reaches the target.
• Fixed an issue where the buildings in the player line of sight were disappearing from Minimap at a certain distance.
• Fixed an issue where Farms highlight are visible and clickable through fog of war.
• Fixed an issue where partially scouted Town Centers do not remain in the fog of war unlike other buildings.
• Fixed an issue where Wonders do not keep the player alive on Conquest victory condition.

Art of War

• Early Economy: Player now starts with 150 wood instead of 140 wood.

Campaign Missions

• Barbarossa#1: Holy Roman Emperor: Fixed an issue where enemy AI are not attacking Stone Walls.
• Historical Battles: Manzikert: Fixed an issue where the blue player was taking too long to resign after being defeated.
• Dracula#2: The Return of the Dragon: Fixed an issue where Local Inhabitants Monastery has incorrect health value listed.
• Hautevilles#2: Roger in Sicily: Fixed an issue where Roger Bosso doesn’t level up when fighting.
• Jan Zizka#4: The Golden City: Fixed an issue where Emperor Sigismund was not attacking as and when intended.
• Tamerlane#5: Scourge of the Levant: Changed civilizations of Cilician Armenia and Georgia to Armenians and Georgians, respectively.

General

• Elite (and Imperial) Skirmisher bonus attack vs. spearman armor class increased from 3 ▶ 4
• (Elite) Genitour bonus attack vs. spearman armor class increased from 2 ▶ 3
• (Elite) Battle Elephant base movement speed increased from 0.85 ▶ 0.88
• Monks functionality:
  • Conversion attempts will now take 1 second to disrupt the current task of a villager, instead of instantly inducing fleeing behavior.
  • Monks will no longer retain conversion cycle charges when switching between buildings and units.

Developer Note: The monk changes are intended to fix a few exploits around monk usage. It is no longer possible for a single monk to prevent an important structure from being built by spam clicking enemy villagers to interrupt their task. Furthermore, since buildings are more resistant to conversion than units, it was possible to ‘charge’ conversion on a building and then quickly switch to a unit for an instant conversion. Switching from a building to a unit will now restart the monk’s conversion progress. Switching between units will still retain conversion progress as usual.

Celts

• Gain Ring Archer Armor.

Japanese

• New Bonus: Cavalry Archers +2 attack vs. Archers.

Magyars

• Magyar Huszar cost changed from 80 food 10 gold ▶ 35 food 45 gold.
• Magyar Huszar HP increased from 70 ▶ 75.
• (Elite) Magyar Huszar train time reduced from 16 seconds ▶ 14 seconds.
• Corvinian Army effect changed from Magyar Huszar cost no gold ▶ Magyar Huszar gold cost is replaced by additional food cost.

Persians

The Persians are receiving a massive update to their gameplay and bonuses. Listed below is the new civilization overview including both the new changes and legacy bonuses.

Civilization Bonuses:

• Start the game with +50 food, +50 wood
• Town Centers and Docks have 2x hit points and work +5%/+10%/+15%/+20% faster in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age
• Cavalry generate 5 gold when killing enemy military units
• Parthian Tactics available in Castle Age
• Can build Caravanserai in Imperial Age

Unique Units:

• War Elephant (Very Big Elephant, enjoys scenic trips down the river in a transport ship)
• Savar (Unique upgrade to the Cavalier, powerful all-purpose cavalry with attack bonus vs. Archers)

Unique Technologies

• Kamandaran (Archer-line gold cost is replaced by additional wood cost)
• Citadels (Castles receive -25% bonus damage, arrows replaced with bullets which deal +4 attack, +3 attack vs. infantry, and +3 attack vs. rams)

Team Bonus

• Knights +2 attack vs. Archers.

Other Changes:

• (Elite) War Elephant attack bonus vs. standard buildings and stone buildings increased from 7 (10) ▶ 30.
• (Elite) War Elephant base movement speed increased from 0.6 ▶ 0.8.
• Elite War Elephant upgrade cost reduced from 1600 food 1200 gold ▶ 1350 food 800 gold.

Poles

• Lose access to Guilds.

Romans

• (Elite) Centurion aura effect for faster attacking Militia-line reduced from 25% (33%) faster attack speed ▶ 20% faster attack speed.

Saracens

• Camel Units +10 HP civilization bonus changed ▶ Camel Units +25% HP.
• (Elite) Mameluke HP increased from 65 (80) ▶ 80 (90).
• Zealotry unique tech replaced with Bimaristan (300 wood 200 gold).
  • Monks automatically heal multiple nearby units.

Slavs

• Farmers work faster civilization bonus increased from 10% ▶ 15%.

Map Balance

• Aftermath:
  • Fixed an issue where 5 Players Aftermath doesn’t generate Trade Workshop.
  • Trade Workshop resource generation rate -33% in Dark Age, +50% in Castle Age and another +50% in Imperial Age.
• Amazon Tunnel: The gold mine generation in the map middle is now more fair in 1v1 games.
• Bohemia: Fixed an issue where Bridges spawn with large numbers of trees on them.
• Border Stones: Fixed an issue where the stone mines wall has gaps of varying size.
• Coastal Forest: Fixed an issue where all 4 players starting locations are incorrectly spread across the map in FFA.
• Golden Pit: Relic generation is now more fair when using specific game settings.
• Highland (Return of Rome): improved the distributions of resources when player count exceeds map size recommendation.
• Mongolia: Fixed an issue where Players will spawn with many Barracks in Empire Wars when using specific game settings.
• Wade: Fixed an issue where Extreme AI is able attack an invisible shoreline blocker units.

Random Map Scripting

• Added the new cliff_type parameter for cliff generation, which allows selecting the type of the cliffs to be used on the map. Available options: CT_GRANITE (default setting), CT_DESERT, CT_SNOW.

General

• Fixed an issue where the selected map on the lobby map was reset to Coastal after changing the game mode and refusing to use the recommended settings.
• Fixed a regression on the Rematch function.

General

• Fixed an issue where AI players units are able to pass through gates under certain circumstances.
• Khmer AI now retreats low HP villagers to houses if they won’t get to the Town Center in time.

General

• Fixed an issue where custom campaigns are not tracking player progress correctly.
• Value of Resource 270 now determines the repair cost of siege weapons and ships.
• Value of Resource 271 now determines the repair cost of buildings.
• Value of Resource 272 now allows to modify the damage received by own units when attacked from higher elevation.
• Value of Resource 273 now allows to modify the damage received by own units when attacked from lower elevation.
• Allowed military units to have conversion ability if they have conversion tasks and the value of resource 279 for the player is higher than 0. The conversion button will appear on the 15th button ID in the command panel; the hotkey can be modified in Military Units hotkey group. The conversion range of military units is controlled by Work Range value in their conversion tasks plus the value of resource 280. Value of Resource 281 determines the conversion success chance per conversion round. Value of Resource 282 determines the faith recharge rate after a successful conversion.
• Units can now be spawned garrisoned if at the moment of spawning the value of resource 283 for the player is higher than 0.
• Allowed military units to heal other units similar to Monks if they have heal tasks.
• Added new Combat Ability attribute flag 64 which allows the unit with power up tasks to power up itself (receiving power up from the units set in the power up tasks). If the unit has several power up tasks, all except the first task need to have Auto Search attribute set to 1.
• Allowed making objects with solid obstruction (for example buildings) passable by setting their Unit Size Z attribute to 0.

Scenario Editor

• The maximum length of text that can be entered in a Script Call effect box has been increased from 256 to 500,000.
• Added 10 placeholder technologies without effects. To become researchable, they need to be enabled by a trigger effect and assigned the location and button ID by another trigger effect.
• Added second variations (different rotations) to all 3 Pavilions.
• Added two new cliff variations – Desert and Snow.
• Added smaller Bridge A/B pieces, allowing more control over the bridge shape.

Investigation

As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates. Here is a brief update from our Production team regarding some of what is still in the works:

• The Voice Over of the 4 Age of Empires campaigns intro/outro in Return of Rome is only in English for now (but the texts are localized). The Localized Voice Over with be added in the next update.

For other known issues, please visit this page to see what’s being tracked!