Hey Everyone,
We`re back with our fourth weekly update - and this one brings massive improvements to visuals, unit clarity, balancing, and overall world map gameplay.
The biggest highlight is a full visual upgrade for all Western units - with new art for every humanoid and mounted unit. It`s now much easier to tell different nations apart, and units no longer blend into the environment as much. Mounted units, weapons, shields, and even horses have all been updated for sharper contrast and better detail.
Separate mentions goes to fixing of last remaining crashing bugs - especially during level transition.
We`ve also adjusted the RTS camera to allow closer zoom, which helps distinguish friend from foe more clearly during battle. Other RTS changes include major performance boosts, increased combat pace, and better visual indicators for enemies of the same nation.
The world map has seen major improvements too - including a western expansion, making Spain fully playable; visual upgrades and a long list of balance changes for resource income, army food use, building upgrades, and more.
AI behavior has been upgraded across the board - armies are more aggressive, defenders launch attacks more frequently, and auto-resolve now delivers fairer results. We`ve also squashed a long list of bugs, from pathfinding issues to unit visuals at night.
Thanks again for all your feedback and support - and stay tuned for next week’s update. Details of today`s major update are below (keep in mind we`re only listing the biggest changes here). So let’s take a look at what our fourth update (game version 0.27) has in store
RTS Unity and Art Upgrades
- New unit art for all Western humanoid and mounted units
- Easier to distinguish units of different nations
- Reduced blending of units with the environment
- Improved brightness and contrast for horse textures
- Heavy swordsman now carries a shield
- Polished designs for some weapons and shields
- Enemy portraits now have better visibility
- Village houses now display lit windows at night
- Hamlets look significantly better at night
- Palisade gatehouse now has visible flags
Engine Bug Fixes
- Final fix for remaining crash CTD issues
- Resolved startup issues with incorrect or ultra-high resolutions - often setting 5k+ resolutions
- Fixed ultra-bright display bug effecting some players on high resolutions
- Fixed missing and incorrect resolution options in settings
- Fixed wall pathfinding issues in hamlets
- Fixed visual bug with fire torches on healed units at night
RTS Mode Changes
- Increased minimum zoom level in RTS mode
- Easier to tell player units from enemies in RTS battles
- RTS enemy units of the same nation now display a redder heraldry with an At War sword symbol
- Faster game speeds are now noticeably faster; slower speeds are slower
- All RTS levels now load 30% faster
- Combat flow is ~20% faster overall
- Projectile weapons (arrows, stones, etc.) now travel 20-30% faster
- Increased unit collision to max - significantly affects combat dynamics
- Disabled confusing wall cursor icon (crossed-out ladder)
World Map Improvements
- World map expanded to make Spain fully playable
- Added paper map edge to the west side of the world map
- Improved appearance of player army and town banners
- World map fog added on lowest zoom level
- Max upgrade level for buildings set to 3 (same as RTS)
- Building upgrade costs now match between RTS and world map
- Demolishing buildings now returns wood and stone
- Trade with small nations now gives at least 100 silver per month
- Sandbox now starts with a Knight Commander army
- Fixed At War display on city/hamlet banners
- Text shadows standardized across At War, Civil War, and Outlaw UI
- Tutorial island near Scotland no longer disrupts army pathing
- Acre is now a port city
Gameplay Bug Fixes
- Removed RTS UI lag (especially during unit selection)
- Fixed excessive food drain for armies without Knight Commander
- Fixed tutorial bug if player captures second hamlet early
- Victory cinematic now plays after becoming King in Sandbox
- Sandbox King selection now shows crown visuals
- Improved nighttime palisade wall visuals
- Fixed armies without Knight Commander having extremely high RTS battle food drain
World Map AI Changes
- Fixed major issues where AI nations would end up making peace with everyone in late game
- Very small kingdoms now properly spawn armies and engage in wars
- Increased strength of early game AI armies - which are no longer really weak during the first yet
- Fixed all issues armies wandering near target but not attacking
- AI will attack player and each other a lot more now
- Improved targeting logic - AI is a lot more strategic with picking targets
- AI armies will select a new weaker target city - if the city they were heading to got reinforced
- Fixed issue where cities thought they had armies when they didn’t
- Fixed AI armies just sitting on the map without a target
- AI more effectively captures large cities
Combat AI Changes
- AI now builds wall defenses on Medium and Hard difficulties
- More variety in AI wall defenses - wall catapults, trebuchets, ballistias and oil pots
- AI won’t task siege units outside when defending hamlets
- AI no longer trains incorrect units from older KW games
- Various improvements to AI defensive construction behavior
Auto-Resolve Overhaul
- Recalculated strength values for all armies and cities
- Stone walls add 20 strength; palisade walls add 10
- Unit level now adds 20% strength (down from 33%)
- Hamlets and cities have 25–50 lower base strength
- Auto-resolve is more fair and balanced overall
- Removed exploit where large armies would earn excessive silver from small fights
- Auto-resolve now calculates victory using only defender’s strength
Balancing Adjustments
- Reduced silver rewards from army vs army battles
- First few research tech prices increased
- More starting silver in Sandbox mode
- Reduced initial personal time in new campaigns
- Balanced food drain during battles
- Knight Commander armies now consume food during battles (previously disabled)
- Faster passive food generation for cows and chickens
- Light cavalry boosted across all stats
- Sheep silver generation on world map reduced
- Masonry and Stone Mine now generate more stone
- Rebalanced building upgrade costs (generally increased)
- Mercenary unit list re-ordered to be more logical
- Scotland no longer trades with England while at war
- Toulouse now has a second enemy: Barcelona
- Leinster now starts at war with Gwynedd
- Fixed England trading with France and Brittany while at war
- Fixed France trading with Brittany while at war
- Fixed early siege victories being too easy when AI rides out