Graphics and styles, elliptical ship shapes, movement, balance

In this update the scene graphics have been improved, and experimental rendering styles and a brightness setting have been added. Many water units now have an elliptical shape instead of a circular one — collisions and hits are counted against the hull rather than against the circle drawn around it. Movement has been reworked: horsemen, fast vehicles and ships now accelerate and turn smoothly while moving, and chases finally make sense — the pursuer cuts the target off along its course, and a shooter backs off exactly far enough to turn and fire. Slow on hit has been split into two tiers on the principle that it is the explosion that slows: an advance is now stopped by artillery rather than by oncoming tanks. The spear line has received a damage bonus against cavalry.

General

• Scene graphics have been improved
• Experimental graphics styles have been added
• A brightness setting has been added
• Many water units now have an elliptical shape instead of a circular one — this affects both collisions and hits on them
• The game has been optimized
• Background asset loading has been improved — the simplified look of objects is shown less often
• Units unloading from a transport or a building no longer appear on top of each other
• Watching a match from all players' perspective no longer reveals the fog of war of the animal faction
• Unit movement has been improved:
  • Horsemen, fast wheeled vehicles and many ships now accelerate and brake smoothly, and turns follow an arc — on the move, without stopping and rotating in place
  • Units push each other more neatly in a crowd
  • When chasing a fleeing target, a unit moves to intercept along its course instead of trailing behind it
  • During a chase, a shooter backs off exactly as far as it needs to turn around and get a shot off

Modding

• Damage properties now support excluding targets by tags: a buff or debuff can be skipped for the chosen target types
• Heavy vehicles received a separate Heavy vehicle tag — previously a tank and an armored car were indistinguishable by tags

Bug Fixes

• Sakura attacking over water sometimes did not crash, but levelled out and returned to flight
• A unit started its attack too late, overshooting the target's attack radius
• Translations fixed and completed in all 25 languages
• Other issues fixed

Balance

• Slow on hit has been split into two tiers. Artillery, mortars, naval and stationary guns, demolition charges, the Anti-tank rifle and Tank Maus now slow all ground vehicles, including tanks. Grenades, grenade launchers, aerial bombs, the guns of all other tanks and light vehicles slow ground targets except tanks

Early Europe

• Spearman: damage against cavalry increased from 5 to 8
• Heavy spearman: damage against cavalry increased from 6 to 9

Early Asia

• Spearman: damage against cavalry increased from 5 to 8
• Heavy spearman: damage against cavalry increased from 10 to 15

Western Europe

• Pikeman: damage against cavalry increased from 10 to 15

Eastern Europe

• Pikeman: damage against cavalry increased from 9 to 14

Western Asia

• Azap: damage against cavalry increased from 7 to 11

Eastern Asia

• Ashigaru: damage against cavalry increased from 8 to 12
• Harquebusier: damage increased from 18 to 19

Abstract Country

• Fighter: health increased from 300 to 360

Germany

• Attack aircraft He 51: turn rate increased by 48%
• Me.262: population cost reduced from 8 to 6; its hits now slow tanks as well

India

• Elephant-trench mortar: attack interval reduced from 8 to 7.2 sec.

Russian Empire

• Death's Scythe: splash area reduced by 17%