Elemental: Fallen Enchantress

[LordMortis]

Can't find any word on the release today. Likely that means I get a good night sleep and more awake and alive for going out tomorrow night.

[LordMortis]

.85 is up and being downloaded.

[ColdSteel]

Finally I can get into the beta. Got it downloaded and installed and just finished the tutorial. So far so good. I'm really looking forward to trying this one out.

[LordMortis]

Played about five hours last night. Locked up once and crashed to desktop once.

Not a lot of new impressions (Give me what I assume will be all day Saturday and Sunday) but here's what's going on so far.

• Combat waits are non existent and I like that.
• Settlers can now see settle-able land from a long way away.
• Turn end now highlights green and you don't automatically go to the next turn without trying to get their twice.
• However there is something off that I can't put my finger on when it runs through units as I too often end up right
• clicking on a square to move the wrong unit.
• Difficulty has ramped up quite a bit, so much so that your hero should probably tool around early game with helper units and that's going to slow the game down considerably.
• Heroes level way slower.
• Single enemies get stuck on using spell effects and such. With no counterstrike they can act pretty stupid.
• Especially when range strikers seem to always run before shooting their bows and such.
• Caravans are gone and roads build themselves. I think I like this (so far) Caravans were annoying.
• I'd like to see more multi-stack critters for encounters. The tactical game feels week when it's my party against one thing most of the time.
• Questing seems lighter. I like the quests in the first round.
• Heroes can now only use four assorted items.
• With the pace of the game slowed down, I'm either not sure I like the computer player spamming towns or maybe I just don't understand why they get away with what they get away with. They seem to be ignored by critters wandering out of their lairs when I am not. But that might just be my lack of understanding.
• I'd like the picks to go away when you improve a resource. Seeing them makes me thing you still need to improve them.
• I'd like a bigger world and yet I think it necessary to as much, if not more stuff in play to keep the game pace going. I like the vastness of a HoMMIII or MoM world as opposed to the spammed up world's you get in Sid Meir styles of games.

I still don't really use magic and have pretty much only played the explore and lightly part of the expand game. I'm sure I had more impressions but that's what I remember off the top of my head from last night.

[ColdSteel]

Installed the new 0.86 patch that came out this afternoon and played for about 7 hours straight. It seemed like 5 minutes so that's a good sign. I had to rip myself away. So far I like it a lot. Got my ruler and his sole champion up to level 5. At war with one of my neighbors and took two of his cities and have killed him and his champions twice so far. Lots of good sport to be had.

The new patch fixes a bunch of quest problems and other issues so you should pick it up if you haven't already. The money fix was especially needed.

Fallen Enchantress patch 0.86
Bugs:
+ Fixed an issue with the [S_MONEY] and [L_MONEY] tags in conversations
+ Fixed the Assassins Blade quest
+ Fixed the Killing Jar quest
+ Fixed the Trolls quest
+ Fixed the Troupe of the Wind quest
+ Fixed the Slavers quest
+ Fixed the Varda quest
+ Added a shop value to the Staff of the Furnace
+ Fixed the tech requirement tags on champions
+ Fixed a bug generating the xp from enemies (not considering army size)
+ Fixed an issue keeping ranged units from doing damage in autoresolve
+ AI units comply with cooldown rules now
+ Mages (units with magic staves) do damage in autoresolve now
+ Fixed Amnesia
+ Spider Venom Sacks arent available in unit design
+ Fixed a crash from pressing "e" on a trained unit
+ Fixed an issue allowing you to cast spells if you had negative mana
+ Fixed an error in the rats in the Ruins 2 quest that can cause you to get infinite rewards

Balance:
+ Increased the xp given from quests
+ Draxus (Slavers quest) starts at 7th level
+ Pralius (Arena Quest) starts at 5th level
+ Increased the attack on the Air Elemental Spear
+ Decreased the damage on spears, boar spears and pikes slightly
+ Tweaked experience to provide more points for low level units
+ Defeated units will always provide at least their level in xp
+ Slightly more money from taxes (0/2/4/6/8/10% gildar from population instead of 0/1/3/5/7/10%)

Cosmetic:
+ Fixed a typo in the Abandoned House goodie hut
+ Fixed a typo in the Run Wild quest
+ Added descriptions to the Merchant trait

AI:
+ Tactical AI will look at who it can attack when it runs out of moves
+ AI is more liekly to counterspell enemy spells

[Butterknife]

I just cast the Spell of Making to win a game (challenging difficulty) using the latest patch. The game took about 460 turns, and I played for about 6-7 hours.

It is a great game. It has been improved tremendously from Elemental: The Original. AI is much better and I found the game far more fun to play. Playing this and Conquest of Elysium 3 at the same time is really interesting -- CoE3 is so much faster (and simpler) to play. Yet they are much the same -- create an empire, cast spells, find and recruit new units, and conquer your enemies. I think they will coexist nicely, though -- Elemental looks better, is more detailed, and feels more epic. CoE3 is fun for when I just want to play for 2 or 3 hours.

[ColdSteel]

Well, I just finished a long post and accidentially clicked on the BBCode guide link somehow and wiped out every last bit of it. How frustrating.

I agree it's already a great game. It's got the one-more-turn thing going big time. I also look forward to the modding possibilities. I'd love to do a Black Company mod with custom maps and campaign. I had a lot more to say but I'm damned if I'm retyping all that.

Short verison: They need to avoid nerfing all the fun items/abilities/spells/stuff in the game because a few dweebs cry about it on their boards. Singleplayer only games don't need that crap. And they still need to polish the rough UI edges like the unit selection/grouping/ungrouping. They need to fix the remaining threading issues and crashes too. If they do this, the game will be great fun to play for years. Looks like Kael, Brad and company may have actually pulled it off.

[tgb]

I just finished installing the latest patch. I'll take it for a spin if I can pull myself away from CK 2 and CoE 3.

[LordMortis]

I need to go get .86 because .85 is full of really bad memory leaks. Glad I checked here. I was going to put the game away again.

[tgb]

I started a couple of games and didn't get very far in any.

First of all, the game seems considerably harder, which is good, but a couple of time I started in a location where I was totally hosed from the get-go. I like the changes to the interface and graphics, and REALLY like the new summary screen that tells you where you stand for all the victory conditions. I DON'T like that selecting your leader also selects your faction. While there are obviously optimal combos, I liked that you could mix things up if you wanted, by having say, a builder leader in charge of a warrior faction.

Also in a couple of game my champion was jumped by a much more powerful creature. That's fine, as long as there is an option to try to avoid combat. The combat intro screen needs a "Flee" option when that happens.

[ColdSteel]

I started a couple of games and didn't get very far in any.

First of all, the game seems considerably harder, which is good, but a couple of time I started in a location where I was totally hosed from the get-go. I like the changes to the interface and graphics, and REALLY like the new summary screen that tells you where you stand for all the victory conditions. I DON'T like that selecting your leader also selects your faction. While there are obviously optimal combos, I liked that you could mix things up if you wanted, by having say, a builder leader in charge of a warrior faction.

Also in a couple of game my champion was jumped by a much more powerful creature. That's fine, as long as there is an option to try to avoid combat. The combat intro screen needs a "Flee" option when that happens.

For my first game I chose to create my own ruler. That let me customize him for looks, starting traits, spells, and equipment and select the faction I wanted (Tarth). You also have the option to create a new faction too if you want, I think.

You have to be careful how you explore, I've found. If I stay at least one square away from the powerful creatures, so far they've left me alone. If parked right next to them at end of turn, they attack you usually. I tried to attack anything classified as weak around my starting area to get XP. I gave my custom ruler a bow so I could kite weak/slow units so that helps if paired with a melee unit. Speaking of, if you don't find another champion to pair up with right away, build a militia or two from the start to team with, it really helps. I think the tactical combat is pretty darn fun now.

There is an "escape" spell that you get fairly early on (at least I did) that will allow your army to flee from combat on the tactical map.

It is random map creation so sometimes there's nothing to do but reroll the map to get a better starting position. Sounds like you might have run into that.

[Butterknife]

It isn't a big deal if your heroes get jumped and die. I often get my main character killed. It just puts them out of action for a while, you get them back later. Personally I like that the wandering monsters will sometimes get you or your enemy's armies, it can make some interesting "borders".

[LordMortis]

This version is hugely unstable on my machine... But I've been playing anyway.

AI is sloppy about picking stuff and taking care of its house.
I think the heroes may have been nerfed a little too much but I'm not sure. I like the game becoming more unit centric and forcing you to build a military to protect your borders and nurse your champions.
Not even at mid game where you get horse men a horse men unit of five guys are more powerful than everyone but my level 10 sovereign.
This might be because I play almost totally a strength based game though. Heroes might be meant for support rather than being the centers of combat. The only problem with that is the mana pool just can't support magic troops.

And this version is wildly unstable. I've had more out of memory errors and the horrible thing is a lot times they happen while you are saving the game precisely because you don't want to lose your progress.

And around mid game defending still gets slow.

Quests that spawn monster on mountain ranges are just stupid. And the worst part of it is you can't lower terrain (a way expensive spell) while a unit is sitting on it.

Still. I pretty just spent the last eight hours loading and reloading and reloading on a 7x6 map in the marathon style of game with all the enemies (10?) and I haven't even entered any of the green areas and am only about 1/4 of the way though the tech tree.

I don't get why the lairs leave the AI alone. It's frustrating to take over a thriving town right next to a deadly critter and its lair, figuring it must not care about the town, and then have come and trash the town after you take it. Even worse, it then makes the land unusable.

If there a spell to turn desolate land into something you can farm?

[mrvole]

With .86, I now see the potential the game has. It's not there yet, but it could get there by 1.0.
My notes on .86:
-Items need to be worth less money. I can keep my cities at 0% tax until the end game because of the revenue from selling items. With the nerf on heroes, there's no reason to not sell most items.
-Game crashes a fair amount now. I've had quite a few crashes when designing units.
-I'm quite pleased with how quickly the AI moves. Good job, Stardock.

Does terrain make any difference in tactical combat? I didn't notice any but wanted to be sure.

[TiLT]

-Items need to be worth less money. I can keep my cities at 0% tax until the end game because of the revenue from selling items. With the nerf on heroes, there's no reason to not sell most items.

That sure sounds like it's living up to the legacy of D&D, where heroes after a while get rich enough to destabilize the economies of entire continents just by selling and purchasing magic items.

[LordMortis]

Does terrain make any difference in tactical combat? I didn't notice any but wanted to be sure.

It makes a minor difference for movement. I've noticed that hills are limited in how you can get and down from though you seem to be able to attack from any way off of them. I don't know about attack and defense. I know that it's in the plan but I don't know if it's been implemented. If it has then I'd hope there is plan to show in the UI. I do like that you get the % chance to hit and estimated damage before you attack something.

I had a bunch of questions before I went to bed last night and have forgotten them all.

Is there a way to place your units when battle begins? I hate that impulsive guys always seem to be in a back line. How impulsive can you be when you have to go around the six other guys to charge forward?



Interesting thoughts on the money. I've never played with the economy yet and historically in these games finding the sweet spot is something I always do. I've been using my money to outfit my heroes and to buy new ones, though I suppose it's mostly unnecessary if you set up an efficient army. I do upgrade troops equipment, probably because I'm playing the long game, so growing attached to experienced units happens.

Which reminds me, is there a way to expand your troops when you move larger and larger groups? I like that upgrades are affordable now but they still aren't the best if you can't expand how many troops max out the unit. Not being able to the grow the stack is especially baffling when you can have a stack of 5 people go down to 1 and then it heals back up to five people over time. Why not pay to let it go up to 7 or 9 and then let it heal up to 7 or 9? The dynamic might already exist but I haven't seen it work that way or in any way.

Maybe I'll try a hero-less game soon and concentrate on building an ever growing and expendable army.

[Fretmute]

Maybe I'll try a hero-less game soon and concentrate on building an ever growing and expendable army.

I can't imagine trying it. Blizzard is just far too powerful to not have access to. With a couple of water nodes, and an Impulsive caster, you can one shot entire armies. I suspect that it'll eventually have to be nerfed a bit, because the fact that the damage is multiplied by the number of individuals in a group stack means that it always kills everyone, regardless of stack size. To top it off, the area of effect is just huge.

I wish that the recruit/quest leveling line of technologies were a bit cheaper, or that they were split into two separate lines. I can understand limiting my ability to recruit level 9 heroes, but the quest thing is kind of annoying. It doesn't matter a bit if you offer me an epic quest when I'm level 2, because I can't possibly complete it. Personally, I'd just unlock them all from the start.

It does seem to be coming along pretty nicely, overall. I think the experience nerf may have been a bit too much, but that's not ultimately a big deal. This version is certainly more unstable. I'd had two crashes in all of my time with the last version, and I had about one crash an hour playing yesterday.

My only other complaint is that resource limited troops (metal for armor, crystal for mages, etc) don't seem powerful enough to justify the fact that building one group of them wipes out 30 turns of collection. It's much more effective to just build a bunch of archers (no resources used!) instead of mages, and cheaper to boot. It seems like a stack of mounted plate wearing elite badassess ought to be a little more badass than they are. I'd buff items on troops a bit, if I could.

[LordMortis]

I can't imagine trying it. Blizzard is just far too powerful to not have access to.

I'm playing a largely spelless game right now. The only mana I use (currently) is the spell to imbue towns for extra research. I may change my judgement if the enemies ever use spells too effectively against me. As it goes my mana generation is slow and pulling from it for tactical spells doesn't work well for me. I've given my heroes 100% combat skills.

I also might wait for the next generation of game to pick up again to wait for more stability. Judging the game for way it plays is difficult when I spend so much time micromanaging save games.

[Fretmute]

As it goes my mana generation is slow and pulling from it for tactical spells doesn't work well for me.

I play the race that starts with shard harvesting (Pariden?) and spend the first X turns of the game spamming 5 pioneers. By the time that the critters/bad guys get around to knocking them out, I generally have a pretty solid supply of mana to go on . . . especially when it's only 18 mana to wipe out the entire enemy army.

[ydejin]

Does terrain make any difference in tactical combat? I didn't notice any but wanted to be sure.

Some of the maps have chokepoints, that can be used to advantage. OTOH there seem to be items present on the map which are only there to spice up the graphics and AFAICT don't actually impact the tactical combat. I was particularly disappointed in an arena fight where there were some barriers on the map -- looked like big spiked logs designed to block movement -- and it turned out that you could place units on top of the spiked log barriers just like any other square.

[ColdSteel]

Brad and company are running a new poll to see what areas of the beta we want them to improve with their limited resources. Go here and vote: http://www.elementalgame.com/journals

Poll categories are:

More Quests
Computer AI
More spells
Tactical battles
Performance
Stability
Faction differentiation
More random events
City Management

Friday Poll: Where to next!
Draginol Friday, March 02, 2012

We’ve got N resources and M things to work on. Based on your experiences with beta 2, where would you like N to go the most?

[Island Dog]

There was a media tour this week and some places have posted about what they saw of the previews of Fallen Enchantress.

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/167416/S ... e_game.php

http://www.rtsguru.com/article/2538/Ele ... -Fans.html

[tgb]

How close are we to this being baked (assuming the souffle doesn't collapse, like last time)?

[ColdSteel]

How close are we to this being baked (assuming the souffle doesn't collapse, like last time)?

- Beta 3 is currently scheduled to release on April 12.

- There will be a series of Beta 3 (3A, 3B, 3C, etc.) during the spring. This series will differentiate the factions, improve weapons, spells, tactical, AI.

- Beta 4 will be released sometime this summer. It will revamp city management (going to single tiles for cities with a MoM type city screen).

- There may be a beta 5 after that, they aren't sure yet.

- The game is currrently scheduled to be released sometime this fall.

So a long wait ahead, with lots yet to be done, which I think is great, personally.

[tgb]

That's fine. I'm in no hurry, and it sounds like they are getting it right this time.

[ydejin]

How close are we to this being baked (assuming the souffle doesn't collapse, like last time)?

The souffle is not going to collapse this time. I played the heck out of Beta one and it's already very tasty.

[JonathanStrange]

Q: Is Fallen Enchantress a Civ-style game with HOMMV elements? What one-sentence comparison would be apt?

[ColdSteel]

Q: Is Fallen Enchantress a Civ-style game with HOMMV elements? What one-sentence comparison would be apt?

No, it really doesn't have much of either a Civ or HoMM feel to me. The only HoMM things I can see as kind of similar are the mobs guarding loot locations on the map. Civ doesn't have tactical combat and HoMM's version is very, very different. I actually think it's shaping up as something kind of unique on it's own with the direction they're heading.

If you want one sentence, I think it's going to end up more like MoM with quests and unit creation added and without the extra plane. That said, the mix of stuff they have in there already gives it its own identity and feel which is unique to anything I've played before, really. I'm super excited about this game now and can't wait to try beta 3 to see what they've been doing with it over the past month or so. Thank god they went and got Kael. He really is that good.

[ydejin]

I'd agree with ColdSteel that it doesn't feel like HoMM at all and that the closest match really is MoM. The things I miss from MoM are the use of traditional fantasy races and the ability to custom craft extremely powerful magic weaponary. FE does support crafting magic weapons, but it's not custom build for specific heroes, instead if you unlock something in the tech tree you can buy copies for every Tom, Dick, and Harry -- including regular army units.

If you haven't played MoM, I'd say my second comparison would be either AoW2 (not 1, since IIRC 1 didn't allow building new cities) or FFH with the addition of tactical battles.

[Zarathud]

I enjoyed the latest beta version, even though there was a significant nerf to heroes. I'm a bit sad to see single tiles for cities, but I expect this will help make it easier to manage cities and avoid the cheese tactic of building a "city wall" along an enemy border.

[Island Dog]

How close are we to this being baked (assuming the souffle doesn't collapse, like last time)?

Basically...."when it's done".

[Jaymon]

The hero nerf has been difficult for me. Because they level up so slowly now, heroes are difficult to keep on the front line once the enemy reaches groups of 7,. And the back line heroes, the mages, since the ability to increase spell level is random, it can take several levels before they get the higher spells.
So I end up having heroes as a once trick option, "you job is to cast wither, then try not to get killed, mkay?"
And the AEO spells, yes you can grant that, but a three turn casting time, ugh. "We are up against 10 squads, quick, cast fireball", fight ensues. "ok, fireball ready, hey where did everybody go?

Maybe I am playing it wrong, but it sure seems like archers with initiative boosts are the ultimate killing machines.

[LordMortis]

The hero nerf has been difficult for me. Because they level up so slowly now, heroes are difficult to keep on the front line once the enemy reaches groups of 7,. And the back line heroes, the mages, since the ability to increase spell level is random, it can take several levels before they get the higher spells.
So I end up having heroes as a once trick option, "you job is to cast wither, then try not to get killed, mkay?"
And the AEO spells, yes you can grant that, but a three turn casting time, ugh. "We are up against 10 squads, quick, cast fireball", fight ensues. "ok, fireball ready, hey where did everybody go?

Maybe I am playing it wrong, but it sure seems like archers with initiative boosts are the ultimate killing machines.

I'm a fan of mounted troops. Initiative and movement will eat archers alive every time.

[Jaymon]

I will try that on my next play, focus on mounted units with movement and initiative, rather than archers, see how that changes the game.

[Island Dog]

A new Dev Diary video is out.

http://youtu.be/FYZlTpsefyg

[Fretmute]

I will try that on my next play, focus on mounted units with movement and initiative, rather than archers, see how that changes the game.

Focusing on mounted units is kind of hard, given that horses are a commodity. The true power of archers is that you can churn out bunches of them, because they don't require obscure resources.

[Jaymon]

I also run into issues when using a mixed group. There melee guys get stuck in the back, and the first turn is spent trying to get around and in front of the archers. maybe there is a way to specify which units are going to be in front during the tactical combat, but i haven't found it yet.

[Jaymon]

A new Dev Diary video is out.

http://youtu.be/FYZlTpsefyg

This link, I am not sure it links to what you think it links to.

[ColdSteel]

Beta 0.90 is up!!!

Massive number of changes. Kael also says there are many more that aren't in the log.

CHANGE LOG

New Features:

+ Altar- Gets access to the Athican Leather Curiass (increased defense and fire resistance), Fending Blade (shortsword that increases Dodge) and the Athican Longsword (longsword that allows 2 counterattacks per turn). All Altar units get +10% experience.

+ Resoln- All wraith units get -1 hit point per level but heal a hit point each time they kill an opponent.

+ Tarth- Tarth units get +2 to Attack an Initiative when in armies of 3 or smaller. Tarth has access to the Heartwood Shortbow (higher attack and initiative than a normal shortbow), Ithuane Longbow (higher attack and initiative than a normal longbow and it doesn’t require metal) and the Ram's Horn Longbow (high attack and initiative than the Yew Longbow, it doesn't require metal and it has 50% armor piercing). All tarth units can move though forests, swamps, hills and rivers at normal movement rates. Tarth crafts Masterwork chainmail instead of Plate Mail at Heavy Armor. Masterwork Chainmail doesn't provide as much defense but is lighter and quicker to produce.

+ Krax- Krax units are +10 Defense when under 50% of their hit points. Krax has access to 1 handed versions of all the craftable spears. Karavox gains the Silver Tongue ability which allows him flip trained units to his side in tactical combat by spending influence. Krax also gets the Bronze Shield, a round shield that gives additional Dodge vs Ranged attacks.

+ Magnar- All Quendar units get 25% Fire Resistance. Magnar can craft Scar Stones which give their units +1 fire attack. They have access to the Cull the Weak (sacrifice a unit in combat to heal the caster and recover some mana), Death Lash (boost a units stst in combat but the unit is killed at the end of combat) and Candlecloak (you army is wreathed in fire, damaging any that attack them) spells. Men or Fallen units defeated by Magnar are added as population to their cities. Magnar can train slave units that are cheap, and weak but don't require wages. Magnar cannot construct growth improvements (inns, festivals, etc)

+ Gilden- All Ironeer units have +1 hit points per level and +30 Spell Resistance. It costs 50% more mana for them to cast tactical spells. Markin improves the defense of all gilden units by 25%. Gilden crafts Light Plate Mail at Armor instead of Chain Mail. Light Plate Mail has a better defense than chain mail but is heavier and harder to produce. Gilden upgrades their units for half the normal cost. Gilden has access to the Golem Shield (an increidably heavy tower shield), War Club (a club with an additional attack bonus vs men and fallen), the Battle Hammer (a warhammer with higher attack) and the Sledge (a one handed Maul). Gilden can construct Iron Golem units that have a very high defense and hit points, but a weak attack (compared to their production cost).

+ Pariden- All Amarian units get a bonus to their stats based on the shards you control. Pariden gets access to the Sindarian Staff (which gives bonus dodge) and the Leht staff (which fires lightning). Pariden has access to the Tome of the Inferno, Tome of the Mountain, Tome of the Waves and Tome of the Wind, which add the Fire Apprentice, Earth Apprentice, etc abilities to the unit that uses them. These tomes are unlocked at the Sorcery tech. (it's worth a trip to Pariden cities if you are on good terms with them and they unlocked Sorcery to buy some tomes for your champions).

+ Yitrhil- All trogs get +20 weight capacity. Yithril trained units start off at 2nd level. Yithril cannot use ranged weapons but they get access to the Trog Battleaxe (a Battleaxe with armor piercing) and the Great Axe (a Great Sword replacement with higher attack and backswing). Verga's Warlord background also gives -50% to unit wages.

+ Added the Autodefend ability- whenever a unit doesn't use their attack action (casting a spell, attacking, anything except moving) they are "Defending" and get a bonus to Defense. The amount of this bonus can be modified by traist or equipment (like shields)

+ Added the Tribute treaty- Offer to pay a percent of your income to an AI player to avoid war or push an AI player to pay you tribute each turn

+ Added the Surrender treaty- Force a player to concead, destroying their empire and giving you their sovereign as a champion in your service

+ Knowledge Trading- Everytime you research a tech 10% of that techs cost is added to your Military, Civilization or Magic knowledge (depending on what type of tech it was). This knowledge can be traded to other players (or traded from them) and is added as free resource to a random tech you could research in that category.

+ Added the Amulet of Haste item- craftable accessory, +2 initiative

+ Added the Belt of Speed item- craftable accessory, +1 initiative

+ Added the Enchanted Hammers spell- +3 prod per material in the target city

+ Added the Defender levelup traits- bonus to the defensive bonus when autodefending

+ Added the Lethal levelup traits- They increase attackget unit, but that unit is killed t the end of battle

+ Added the Silence spell- target unit cant cast spells for 3 turns, unless they resist

+ Added the Bless City spell- Reduces the unrest in the city, it can be cast multiple times but has a very high mana cost

+ Added the Urxen blood trait which gives +2 Attack when in armies of 5 or more

+ Added the Broken Spirit trait (for surrendered sovereigns)

+ Added the Assassins Tools faction ability- Gives access to the Poison Vial (additional poison damage on every attack), Scimitar (lognsword with counterattack and backswing) and the Skath Claw (Broadsword with increased attack and initiative)

+ Added the Potential 1, 2 and 3 champion levelup traits (increased xp)

+ Added Spell Resistance 2 and 3 champion levelup traits

+ Added the Monument improvement (+1 ZoC)

+ Added the Bazaar, an improvement unlocked by the Legacy of Serrane faction ability that gives +10% gold

+ Added the Gift of Iron spell (tactical spell that stoneskins your entire army)

+ Changed Accuracy to be a straight percentage chance to hit an opponent, minus the defenders dodge. Also did the same for Spell Mastery versus Magic Resist, which are essentially magic accuracy and magic dodge (respectively).

+ Added the Ring of Life- craftable accessory, +3 Hit points

+ Added the Tidal Wave spell- do high damage to enemy armies that are near water

+ Added the Treasury Vault improvement- World achievement, +1% interest on the treasury every turn

+ Every player gets their own worker thread (aka: performance ++)

+ Added the Immune to Counterattack trait

+ Added the Counterspell spell- Allows you to cancel a spell in the process of being cast (unless the target resists)

+ Units from resources (ogres, skaths etc) are now spawned automatically from the resources instead of being trained in cities

+ Added the Smelter improvement- +50% metal

+ Added the Foundry improvement- +50% crystal

+ Added a Strategic version of the Wellspring spell (heals all units in an army)

+ New type of damage: Ping. This is when a unit hits another unit, is stopped by armor but still does 1 tactical battle damage. (Ping damage displayed as "Klink" in battle)

+ Added the Alchemy tech

+ Added the Book of Flames, Book of Stones and Book of Frost techs- they have a 33% chance of appearing each game and they unlock spells of their type

+ Added the Dispel Enchantment spell- dispels random curse on target city

+ Added the Flame Wave spell- does fire damage to all enemies

+ Added the Frozen Bones spell- lowers the initiative of all units in target city (curse)

+ Added the Incinerate City spells- does damage to all units in target city (curse)

+ Added the Token of the Wolf- item that summons a wolf to join you

+ Added the Iron Works improvement- World achievement, Increases faction prestige by 1 and research by 2 per material

+ Added the Conclave improvement- Requires 30 influence to build, increases faction prestige by 1 and research by 10%.

+ Added the Alchemist Lab improvement- Converts 1 crystal to 0.5 metal and 0.5 influence per turn.

+ Added the Cleric improvement- Requires 10 crystal, reduces unrest and increases city growth.

+ Added the Festival improvement- Increases growth by 2 when city is idle, requires 20 diplomatic capital (this should probably be a player achievement)

+ Added the Sage improvement- faction achievement, provides 1 research plus a 10% research for city

+ Added the Scholar's Guild improvement- faction achievement, Increases city research by 25% when city is idle. Requires diplomatic capital.

+ Added the Spit Fire ability- Ignys ability to breath fire

+ Added the Aegis Robe- Magical robe that offers reasonable defense

+ Added the Dark Wizard lair and an upgraded version

+ Added the Beastlord sovereign background- Allows the player to use the Tame spell to try to capture anything with a Beast race

+ Added raze outpost action, and hooked up hotkey "X" to raze a selected outpost if applicable

+ Added the Hobble ability- Normal attack that slows the victim for 3 turns

+ Added the Frostborn trait- Slows victims that are struck

+ Added the Order of Asok Lair- Occasionally spawns troublesome knights, players that capture and build camps here can recruit knights

+ Added the Secluded Pool goodie hut- heals units that visit

+ Players can also recruit Hunters from mercenary camps

+ Added the Call Slag spell- Summons a slag into battle

+ Added the Call Uteran spell- Summons a great cave bear into battle

+ Added the Chain Lightning spell- Does a random amount of lightning damage to all enemies with an area of effect

+ Added the Demonic Ally spell- Summons a demon into battle

+ You can now equip items from the found item popup

+ Lots of things I'm sure I've forgotten



Balance:

+ Added loot to the Ignys lair

+ Modified some costs so that loot is worth more

+ Default max army size reduced from 5 to 4

+ Alchemist quest gives an Ophidian instead of crystal

+ Added +2 Research per turn to Inspiration

+ Spearman gained through a quest have been pimped out

+ Kulan loses the Quick and Cruel traits

+ Archers gained through a quest have been pimped out

+ Chosen have lowered tech requirements

+ Spears moved from Standing Army to Training

+ Max accessories reduced from 4 to 3

+ Administration and Cooperation gain +1 army size

+ Training loses +1 army size

+ Arcane Mastery unlocks the Tireless March spell (+1 moves for the effected army)

+ Acrobat ability gives +2 Dodge per Level

+ Deflect Missiles gives +20 Dodge vs ranged attacks instead of +5

+ Discipline gives +1 Spell Resistance per level and +1 Accuracy per level

+ Dodge bonuses from the Guardian ability have been increased

+ Loremaster 3 gives +4 research instead of +3

+ Medic requires 3rd level

+ Prodigy gives +5/10/15 to spell mastery instead of +3/4/5

+ Vital Strike 3 gives +4 to critical chance and +40% crit damage

+ Iron golems can't ride mounts (peta complained)

+ Reduced Wither to -1 attack instead of -2

+ Reduced metal costs on armor slightly

+ Increased the initiative of Banished Ogres

+ Reduced the frequency of crystal from 2 per player to 1.5 per player

+ Increased distances between resources slightly

+ Reduced shards slightly

+ Attunement trait gives +2 mana per turn instead of +40 mana

+ Adepts faction ability gives + 40 mana

+ All players start the game with 40 mana

+ Hunter sovereign background gives +50% attack vs Beasts instead of +25%.

+ Scholars tech gives +10% research along with starting with the Knowledge tech

+ Changed city building so that tiles must be adjacent (diagnol is not adjacent)

+ Trainer ability gives +5%, 10% and 15% xp to the army instead of +10%, 15% and 25%

+ Champion Alisa gains the Bash ability

+ Champion Badra starts with the Potential ability

+ Champion Hannis gets Bash instead of Charge

+ Champion Craul Gravehands gets Bash instead of Tough and Strength

+ Champion Irieal gets the True Strike ability

+ Champion Kunsetti Kava gets the Crushing Blow ability

+ Champion Lith Seratta gets the True Strike ability

+ Champion Magar gets the Underdog ability

+ Champion Miruca gets the Water1 ability

+ Champion Othollo gets the Potential 1 and 2 ability and loses Vital Strike

+ Champion Shannon of Vurthela gets the Quick ability

+ Champion Vaerwynn gets the Life2 ability

+ Champion Kallus Hairto gets the Dodge 1 ability

+ Champion Nochd Nightbringer gets the Lethal 1 ability

+ Champion Miredesi gets the Evoker ability

+ City level 2 happens at 40 population instead of 60 population

+ Libraries give +20% research instead of +10%

+ Schools give +20% research instead of +10%

+ Increased min traits from 3 to 4

+ Increased the casting cost of Blight

+ Champions don’t have staves anymore, who wants to recruit a guy with a stick

+ Defender preconstructed units all get the Defender and Tough traits

+ Path of the Assassin gives +1 crit chance per level instead of +3 crit chance

+ Path of the Defender gives +1 hit point per level instead of +10 hit points

+ What does a pastry filled with fruit or meat and 3.14159 have in common?

+ Path of the Mage no longer gives +3 spell mastery

+ They are both pie

+ Apiary, Watermill and Orchard moved from Restoration to Agriculture

+ Berserk spell now boosts attack but does damage to the target every turn

+ The Monks Staff also allows a counterattack

+ Removed weight and added minor defense value to magical robes

+ Added influence costs to all the monster recruitment camps

+ Compasses now grant normal movement for the army in forests and swamps

+ Changed Calm (Life and Water) to Devotion (Life and Fire)

+ Mantle of Oceans now requires water 2 and life 2 instead of water 4

+ Quendar Warg Riders switched to slaves

+ Tarth scout is hidden in the setup lists (since all tarth units are effectively scouts)

+ Civics increases Faction Prestige by +1

+ City hubs get archer defenders at city level 2

+ Rebalanced all armor and weapon weights.

+ Bakeries now increase the food per grain by 2 in every city

+ Band of the Berserker gives +3 Attack and does 1 damage per turn the unit is in tactical

+ Rebalanced all monsters to magnify strengths and weaknesses. Resistance and vulnerability to different damage types, counterattacks, immune to counterattacks, critical chance and other differentiators have been liberally spread around

+ Adventurer’s Boon trait gives +10 hit points

+ All swords have counterattack

+ Spears make the wielder immune to counterattack

+ Darkling Shaman, Dark Wizards, Troll Shamans, Haunters, Wilding Shamans and Ritualists can cast counterspell

+ Increased Slow penalty from -2 to -4 to init

+ Increased Stoneskin from +2 (+3 per earth shard) to defense to +10 (+5 per earth shard)

+ Tremor removes all Dodge from effected target instead of -4 to Defense

+ Moved the Boar Spear from Weaponry to Blacksmithing

+ Added <MinTurnsToConstructOrTrain> to ElementalDefs.xml, set to 3, to define the number of turns a unit or improvement must be in production, regardless of the production per turn of the city

+ Rage gives +8 attack when under 25% hit points (instead of +3 str and dex when under 50% hit points)

+ Chain mail gives +100% defense vs cutting (instead of +50%)

+ Plate mail gives +100% defense vs blunt (instead of +50%)

+ Battle Cry allows all your units to act immediately

+ Blindness gets 1 casting time and reduces accuracy and dodge by 50% (instead of 25%)

+ Confusion causes a unit to do full damage to itself

+ Curse and Mass Curse gain 1 casting time and remove all the targets defense for 3 turns

+ Deadly Bite has a 5 turn cooldown and does triple damage (instead of 3 turns and double damage)

+ Champion Diruna and Gayln gain the confusion ability

+ Sion’s now require Influence to train

+ Selling items back to the shop reduces the value to 10% (was 50%).

+ Modified the tactical map choosing code to be less inclined to choosing larger tactical maps

+ Constructing on remote resources now costs 10 gold

+ Most improvements no longer have any maint. costs

+ Barracks requires 10 metal to construct, increases initaitive by 2. No upkeep cost.

+ Barracks requires training to construct.

+ Bell Towers no longer increase ZOC

+ Brewery Maint. cost reduced from 3 per turn to 1 per turn.

+ ZOC increases now only occur by city level or in explicit improvements.

+ Command Posts require 10 metal to construct, maint reduces from 2 to 1.

+ Merchants provide 1 gildar per material

+ Palaces, Tower of Dominion and Theaters no longer increase the ZoC

+ Spears do 33% armor piercing, Boar Spears do 50% and Pikes do 66% (formorlly all were 66%)

+ Clay PIts are more common

+ Gold Deposits are less common

+ Switched the place of Logistics and Drills to move 5 man groups later in the tree

+ The Snake Oil quests doesn’t give a magic item anymore (since the chest will already have one)

+ Diplomat ability also starts the player with some influence

+ Token of the Best Friend gives a level 2 instead of a level 1 dog

+ Token of the Golem gives a level 3 instead of a level 2 sand golem

+ Reduced darkling warriors and wilding warriors to crude spears instead of spears

+ Increased the level from the Bandits gained from the Bandit Lord sovereign background from 1 to 2

+ Increased the bonus mounts given vs ranged attacks

+ Increased the mana cost of Birth of Summer and Bloom of Twilight

+ Champion Drakmir gains the Hobble ability

+ Champion Irsa starts with an Ignys Longbow instead of an Axe

+ Champion Norak starts with a Longbow instead of a Broadsword

+ Champion Rittresa starts with Water 2, Forstborn and a Ring of the Glacier instead of Earth 1 and a Ring of Embers

+ Champion Thannata starts with a Lightning Longbow instead of a Shadow Dagger

+ Amount of quest locations spawned in the world is now modified by the number of players (so that less are on smaller maps and more are on large maps)

+ Impulsive requires Path of the Assassin

+ Reduced the base level of the Shadow Warg from 3 to 2

+ Champion Adant Verris gains the Chain Lightning ability

+ Champion Arando gains 2 Defender guards

+ Champion Arvyn gains 2 Defender guards

+ Champion As a’Zoth gains 2 Battleborn guards

+ Champion Bibiyana gains an Assassin Demon guard

+ Champion Csilla starts with Impulsive

+ Champion Edmynn gains 2 Blades of Athica guards

+ Champion Evgenya gains a Fire Elemental guard

+ Champion Fairgenn gains 2 Mage guards

+ Champion Fairgenn gets a Legendary Longsword instead of a Longsword

+ Champion Giavanna gains 2 Mage guards

+ Champion Gwenneth gains 2 Ice Warg guards

+ Champion Hergettia gains a Slag guard

+ Champion Hergettia gains the Call Slag ability

+ Champion Hyargu the Loremaster gains a Death Demon guard

+ Champion Hyargu the Loremaster gains the Demonic Ally ability

+ Champion Linnaid gains a Cave Bear guard

+ Champion Linnaid gains the Call Uteran ability

+ Champion Lochar gains a Fire Elemental guard

+ Champion Magyushk the Adept gains an Assassin Demon guard

+ Champion Mayriam gains 2 Ignys guards

+ Champion Naegach the Stonecutter gains a Cave Bear guard

+ Champion Naegach the Stonecutter gains the Call Uteran ability

+ Champion Nikonus gains 2 Soldier guards

+ Champion Ninues gains 2 Clan of the Crow guards

+ Champion Njodur gains 2 Oak Guard guards

+ Champion Norii the Quick gains a Plaguestalker guard

+ Champion Norii the Quick gains the Chain Lightning ability

+ Champion Nosmina gains an Ice Elemental guard

+ Champion Pralius gains the Call Slag ability

+ Champion Rhyllida gains 2 Chosen guards

+ Champion Rittresa gains 2 Defender guards

+ Champion Rostya gains 2 Unfalling Legion guards

+ Champion Roydrik gains 2 Destiny's Guard guards

+ Champion Lady Sculla gains 2 Chosen guards

+ Champion Soldaig the Undefeated gains 2 Chosen guards

+ Champion Sullene gains 2 Darkling Warrior guards

+ Champion Tann the Dragonborn gains a Drake guard

+ Champion Thannata gains 2 Ignys guards

+ Champion Tsomok the Blade gains 2 Harbingers of War guards

+ Champion Uze Terraki the Edar gains 2 Mire Skath guards

+ Champion Vallindo gains 2 Baron guards

+ Champion Verette gains a Defender and Archer guard

+ Champion Yamira gains 2 Silver Swordsmen guards

+ Increased the init penalty on bows by 2

+ Champion Endis Steelhand can now build roads

+ Champion Gaylyn the Gray can now build roads

+ Rebalanced weapon damage increasing the amount between tiers, blubs do less, tier 1 does slightly less, tier 2 does slightly more, tier 3 does significantly more

+ Rebalanced weapon production, generally going down (if you have access to better weapons, you should use them)

+ Champions can now be recruited if they are adjacent to one of your cities





Cosmetic:

+ Resist Cold, Fire, Lightning and Poison show up in unit atrr’s now

+ Faction-specific equipment is now displayed on the choose sovereign screen

+ Changed the metal color of Gilden, Magnar, Capitar and Resoln

+ New Magnar skin color

+ New Magnar heads and horns

+ Ogres occasionally roar on the main map and wolves occasionally howl

+ Lots of new spell effects

+ Made it so that hitting the ESC key will dismiss the battle resolution window

+ Made it so that hitting ESC will dismiss city details wind

+ Increased margin for screen threshold to move the camera on a selected unit

+ Slowed animation speed on auto-resolve

+ If visible, monsters and other players will use quick battle instead of instant battle (so you'll see the battle on the screen)

+ New Splash Screen

+ Recruitment gold doesn’t show a decimal anymore

+ Any place where a single unit's (not army's) or unit type's attack stat is shown, it now uses the icon of the primary attack type, with physical attack types getting precedence if there is a tie

+ In most places where a single unit's or unit type's defense display stat is shown, it now shows a green-backed icon if there is a physical sub-type with a higher defense value that piercing, and a green-backed icon if there is a lower one

+ The Tarth have been forced to hand over their semi-colons

+ Removed metal colors from the custom sovereigns (so they inherit from the faction)

+ New item type info card and unit defense stat breakdown info card

+ The raze sound effect is played when one of your units razes another player's improvements now

+ Fixed lots of Entering Foreign Territory tags since now they offer the choice to leave or declare war

+ Fixed numerous quest typoes and misppelings

+ Switched to updated road graphics (skips the lowest level one) so they are more visible on the map

+ Thinner outlines (from 4.7 to 2.0 centi-pixels)

+ New and higher resolution terrain textures (partial replacement, we have more to do here)

+ We automatically anti-alias specific screens

+ Removed skin and metal color form all preconstructed units (so they use the factions instead)

+ Diplomatic Capital is now called Influence

+ Added a notification for when a champion is no longer immobilized.

+ New sexier objective card for quest objectives

+ Fixed the [S_Capital_City] tag

+ Fixed a bug that caused defenders to be left standing on the same tile at the conclusion of a battle in which the attackers use the escape spell to end the battle.

+ Pubs no longer improve the food from grain

+ Fixed bug where changing the tactical animation speed via the buttons on the tactical wnd had no effect.

+ A player's end-game score now gets a bonus of +(10*AIIntelligenceFactor)% for each opponent in the game

+ Added a line to the tech info cards to show required techs from different tech categories

+ Added a line to the spell info cards showing range, if it's non-infinite

+ In the tech tree wnd, generic unlock entries of things like treaties now include a description in the tooltip, instead of just a name

+ Death flybacks now fan out

+ The history log graph has been made a bit less smooth to show more changes

+ If players disable the zoom limiter, they can now get much, much closer to the map

+ Leveling up a city doesn't create a notification on the right side anymore

+ Scenic Views renamed Prestigious Locations

+ Added strings for warning player that their enchantments are about to be canceled due to lack of mana, and notifying them when that happens

+ Added a warning (which I've set to pop up no more than once every 10 turns) that warns the local player if they have negative gold, and gives them suggestions on how to fix that

+ Added code so that non-champion units can move over quests, and they get prompted the first time it happens to say that only champions or sovereigns can get quests

+ Caravans now don't show up in the empire tree regardless of if they are trading

+ The grid now defaults to being off

+ Renamed a bunch of champions

+ Fixed references to the Pit of Lost Voices

+ Mousing over a unit in a tactical battle highlights each of his entries in the tactical initiative list, and vice versa (if you hover over one of those entries, it will highlight the tile the actual unit is on)

+ Tile yields show up on the main map if you have a pioneer selected

+ The train unit wnd no longer shows decimals when displaying the production points required to train a unit

+ If player retires, they can see all the graphs and score still



AI:

+ When wars start, the players tend to be wary of making peace at first

+ Tribute affects relations

+ AI intelligently handles tribute valuations

+ Set the default AI difficulty to Easy

+ Monsters somewhat more aggressive

+ Guardian monsters return to their point of origin more reliably

+ Increased AI threat evaluation radius (thanks to multithreading, can do more complex algorithms)

+ AI smarter about building city improvements

+ Expansionists better about building pioneers

+ Fixed various bugs that kept AI from expanding as it should

+ Fixed various bugs that would result in the AI not building troops

+ Fixed bug that caused AI players to always curse human player

+ Fixed bug that caused an AI to target tiles that were too close to a city resulting in the AI unable to expand

+ AI more aggressive about upgrading its units

+ AI more conservative in money management

+ AI more selective in training units

+ AI pioneers evaluate shards placement

+ Guardian monsters less likely to move off their lairs to attack units

+ Guardian monsters more aggressively return to their point of origin

+ Wandering monsters more aggressive

+ AI modifies its research priorities based on what resources it has (crystal vs. metal vs. influence)

+ AI becomes more concerned with players who are conquering other players

+ AI less likely to declare war early game

+ AI balances your military power vs. how it realy feels about you when deciding when to go to war (before they'd only go to war with you if they had sufficient military power)

+ AI armies with pioneers are more likely to build outposts

+ AI armies that are in a larger army group will split off to found cities / build outposts if the opportunity exists

+ AI armies that are in a larger army group will split off to attack a weaker unit if the opportunity presents itself

+ AI can now "see" monster lair goodie huts

+ AI will construct outposts that are closer together

+ AI looks for "conquest mongers" when evaluating relations

+ AI armies more aggressive about founding new cities if they have pioneers (to avoid having big armies full of pioneers)

+ AI armies more likely to reinforce a nearby city if it sees a threat

+ If a unit decides it isn't going to move towards an enemy in tactical battle, it is more likely to try to use its magical abilities

+ Fixed tactical bug where combat abilities weren't used

+ Lots of AI tweaks for tactical battles



Bugs:

+ Fixed the Moriah’s Lost Spell Book quest

+ Fixed handle leak

+ Fixed a bug where modifiers with an upgradeable value (ie. 2 fire attack +2 per fireshard) would sometimes be wrong for a turn when you first load a gamesave.

+ Fixed two divide by zero crashes that were occuring if a spells priority is 0. Now it adds one to the priority returned from the spell before using it in a rand operation.

+ Fixed an issue with items that gave fire/cold and lightning resistance giving the incorrect amount

+ Fixed Nature’s Cloak to apply the resistances correctly

+ Fixed bug where particle effects for spells would play in the fog of war

+ Fixed bug where particles attached to weapons would remain if unit went under fog of war

+ Fixed bug in tactical battles where the tooltips on any popped-up windows would flicker and fight with tooltips on the map view window

+ Fixed a hang in tactical battles for spells automatically cast at the start of battle, if they happened to have a cast time.

+ Fixed a hang in tactical battles for when groups counter attack

+ Fixed bugs that allowed the next turn to go on while monsters were still moving

+ Fixed LOTS and LOTS of crash bugs due to multiple threads accessing a resource

+ Fixed bug that caused the camera to move to view a non-player battle

+ Fixed bug where parented spell effect particles were showing up at 0,0 world cords

+ Fixed the Refined Arcana tech (it now correctly gives +25% mana)

+ Fixed bug where the first time the "more actions" popup came up, it was empty

+ Fixed tactical bug with autoplay, where it still waited for the user to pick their spell target for delayed cast spells.

+ Fixed bug where if you killed units on the strategic map (like with a spell), their gfx would remain for a turn.

+ Fixed tactical bug, where if you were channelling a spell (and doing your spell idle animation), but then were hit, you would be taken out of spell idle.

+ Strategic spells with a cooldown no longer ask for a caster

+ Fixed bug with disappearing sovereigns when you alt-tab on choose sovereign screen in Desktop resolution mode

+ Fixed the Gambler's Strike ability.

+ Fixed a bug where auto-target spells with a cast time, like Wither, would hang the battle.

+ Fixed several bugs in the unit design wnd having to do with switching between unit types that have different stats and item support

+ Fixed an issue keeping units form upgrading to champions greaves

+ Fixed an issue keeping units form upgrading to champions helm

+ Fixed an issue keeping units form upgrading to champions vambraces

+ Fixed an issue causing staff wielding mages to upgrade to melee weapons

+ Fixed bug where AI was able to ignore casting times on tactical spells

+ Fixed bug in tactical while picking a spell target, where spell radius was often incorrect.

+ Removed a conversation dialog that used the [KINGDOM_POWER] and [EMPIRE_POWER] (neither exists)

+ Fixed bug where notifications could overlap other windows

+ Fixed bugs with counter-attack in autoresolve

+ Fixed an issue allowing fire resistance potions, growth potions, blizzard scrolls, escape scrolls, summon air elemental scrolls and silver flutes to be used from the main map

+ If some of your champs die in battle, but you later cast the escape spell, the dead champs will now be injured and get to stay with the army, rather than being sent to a city to recover (which is what happens when you outright lose the battle).

+ Fixed issues with the tactical battle speed controls on the tactical wnd and the setting in the options screen not always being in synch with each other.

+ Fixed bug in the end game screens where, if a player was killed, the game saved, and then loaded before going to the end screens, the medallions for that player would show up as blank because their sovereign no longer exists

+ Added unit levels to the trade equipment wnd, and fixed a bug where the bottom half of the screen didn't tint to the faction color like the top half

+ Capturing a city now clears buildings from the building queue along with training units

+ Also fixed a bug where razing a city was not reimbursing the player for units and buildings in the queue

+ Fixed several bugs with the create sovereign screen, most notably not setting enough info when the faction was changed so that the race and stats were messed up, and screen editing orders that let fallen have life spells and kingdom death spells, and crashes on quitting the game

+ Fixed the Singing Forge ability

+ Fixed an issue causing the design button to not be available if a campaign or tutorial is played before a sandbox game

+ Fixed bug with applying a spell effect when a unit hits or is hit with melee. If the spell is not supposed to stack, the code was not honoring that. So you'd get enemies that Shrink every single time you'd hit them with Sculla's mace, for example.

+ Fixed several bugs with titan's breath moving you onto an invalid tile in tactical, and bugs where if you got hit with titan's breath during a battle, it would also blow you back a tile on the strategic map too.

+ Fixed tactical AI bug that prevented AI from casting spells that used a CalcDamage XML function (like fireball)

+ Fixed bug where you'd get loot from champs that died in battle, but don't actually die, because they have a city to retreat to. Now you will not get loot from those guys unless they are permanently killed in the battle.

+ Fixed a bug where an attacking a cave bear would freeze the battle when he tried to maul.

+ Random events work

+ Items can correctly be useable in tactical or strategic now

+ Fixed bug in the kingdom victory screen where big invalid numbers would show up if you reached the turn limit and decided to keep playing

+ Fixed bug where requesting destroyed improvements to play a sound when destroyed wouldn't work because the sound being referenced didn't exist

+ Fixed some issues causing AI units to start without the leather armor they were supposed to have

+ Fixed an issue keeping any monster above spawn rating 10 form showing up in the Hiergamenon



Things Removed:

+ General Carrodus is no longer a sovereign. Players can still create a custom Capitar sovereign if they want. Carrodus still exists in the game as a high level champion.

+ Kul-al-Kulan is no longer a sovereign. Players can still create a custom Umber sovereign if they want. Kulan still exists in the game as a high level champion.

+ Strength, Intelligence, Constitution and Dexterity. Now traits, items and spells directly affect the game effecting stats (dodge, attack, etc) instead of using these middleman stats

+ Removed the Fortress and University improvements

+ Removed the Restoration tech (Knowledge becomes a level 1 tech)

+ Removed the Enlightenment tech (Derek- Knowledge techs at the end of the tree don’t make sense, I don’t know what I was thinking)

+ Removed the Fortresses tech

+ Removed the Formations tech (its lone +1 army size unlock was moved to War Colleges)

[tgb]

Gonna have to take this for a spin later.