We've added Grand Projects, a new mechanic that challenges you to take part in global ventures throughout the game. It puts your economy to the test: a major undertaking with generous rewards. Just keep an eye on your rivals, other settlements eager to demonstrate their economic strength.
You'll find the new mechanic in a tab on the Trade Map. The start of a project will also be announced on the main game screen. We've prepared 5 different projects:
This project appears midway through the second tier. The rewards are:
additional granary storage capacity
a temporary bonus that removes the need for food
food for peasants and craftsmen
vials containing the food miracle
This project appears in the Scholars' era. The rewards are:
a bonus that lets priests cleanse houses faster
Faith Points
This project appears in the Elite era. The rewards are:
a permanent reduction in the number of craftsmen required by production buildings
This project appears towards the end of the third tier. The rewards are:
a temporary bonus to scholars' happiness
a temporary bonus to Research Points generation
manuscripts
card packs
This project appears towards the end of the game. The rewards are:
a bonus that makes priests stronger in combat against Yaoguai
Faith Points
divine blessings (Nuwa's blessing, Wukong's blessing, Ao Guang's blessing)
There is a preparation period after a project is unlocked. Projects will also appear in existing saves if you've already unlocked the associated technology, so you'll be able to take on these challenges too.
You can now create your own blessing orbs with a new mechanic available as one of the choices after completing the Jade Emperor monument. Its panel is available through a tab on the Gods' Island, in the Altar's Blessings tab, and in Blessing Buildings.
The Blessing Forge offers two modes:
This mode lets you merge two or three orbs into a new one, choosing its effect from a list. You can create an orb that reduces any need, or one that increases production and reduces the workforce required to produce any resource. The new orb's stats depend on the combined quality of the orbs used.
In enhancement mode, you can improve an orb's stats, add a resource for it to affect, or add a unique effect:
Protection from fires
Protection from Yaoguai
Protection from epidemics
Increased housing capacity
Upgrades and effects are random.
The forge comes at a cost: merging uses Faith Points, while enhancing uses gold. In return, it lets you craft powerful custom orbs, reaching the new Mythic quality, which cannot be obtained any other way.
We've changed the fertility system. Every map now has its own unique soil fertility, with greater variation based on the terrain.
Unlocking animal husbandry technology lets you produce compost. You can distribute it after unlocking the Composter in the technology tree.
Rations has been moved to the tier choice that previously offered Fertility. Blessing Forge now takes the place previously occupied by Rations.
Fertility will remain unchanged in existing saves to preserve compatibility. If you previously selected Fertility in your save, you'll receive another mechanic from the tier choices to compensate for its removal.
The oxen bonus has been expanded and now also affects the coal and water mill bonuses.
We've also added a new bonus that reduces resource consumption in production buildings.
Choosing the Improvement Office when advancing to the next tier will now grant a unique card that lets you enable two bonuses at the same time.
Based on suggestions from our community, we've made significant changes to this mechanic. Invasions now begin with portals appearing, from which Yaoguai emerge. Their strength varies, and their numbers depend on your city's population.
Yaoguai attack your buildings even when religious buildings are present. These buildings now recruit priests, who fight the intruders directly within their temples' range.
Religious buildings have different numbers of priests: a Shrine has one, while the Grand Celestial Tower has six. You can increase their numbers by adding the Sacred Assembly card.
Simply being near a religious building is no longer enough to protect your city: the number of priests within range matters. The Religious Filter shows not only whether a house is within temple range, but also how many priests can repel an attack at that location.
In response to requests from our community, we've expanded the tool so you can move an entire area or a group of buildings together with their infrastructure.
We've added more filters to make managing your city easier.
Active Cards filter. Shows which buildings contain cards and how many.
Coal Booster filter. Shows which buildings have the improvement purchased and where it is enabled, making your coal supplies easier to manage.
Warehouse occupancy filter.
Water Mill filter. Shows which buildings have the Water Mill improvement purchased and which have it active.
Oxen Assistance filter. Shows which buildings have the Oxen Assistance improvement purchased and which have it active.
Improved the appearance of rice fields
Improved the appearance of the terrain.
The resource trend indicator now shows a building's full production capacity when its output storage is full.
Rebalanced caravan costs.
Merit from monuments is now counted correctly after loading a game.
Rebalanced improvement values.
Improvements now increase a building's operating costs.
In first-person mode (FPP), sounds now play relative to the player's position instead of coming from "outer space".
Added crowd sounds that vary with building density
The resource trend for compost is now displayed correctly.
Adjusted the Merit-based bonus thresholds for card generation.
Reduced the Composter's range
Added the Soybean Farm to the Blessing of Fields.
The Academy's resource bonus states are now saved correctly.
The Academy's Red Ink bonus is now separate for manuscripts and cards. As a result, the Academy consumes more Red Ink when operating at full capacity.
Reduced the Scared Demons bonus (Wukong's bonus that lowers the chance of Yaoguai appearing).
Harmonized Workforce (production from neighboring houses) no longer causes crashes and is correctly taken into account when placing new buildings.
Fixed a crash when placing an extension to the Gardens.
Increased the Research Points bonus from academic buildings (from 10% to 20%).
Improved the appearance of some roofs.
Fixed the camera rotation value applied after confirming settings.
Many small changes to improve how the game runs.
After updating the game, some players may experience a crash when trying to continue their game or load a save from the list. We haven't found a definitive solution yet, so if you encounter this issue, please try the following steps:
Verify the integrity of the game files through Steam
If verification doesn't resolve the issue, delete your most recent save
Contact the developers
If you don't need to continue your current playthrough, start a new game