Build 26403598

Our second major update is now live.

Your officers have stats, traits and histories, but when you sat down to talk with one of them, a sworn brother and a stranger got the same buttons and the same lines. A marriage was a number that reached 80 and then went quiet. This update gives the people around you a voice, adds twenty historical women to the roster, and brings three new events that happen to your household.

Officers who sound like themselves

An audience now opens with a line that fits the officer and the moment. A wounded officer talks about the wound. One who just won a fight mentions it. One who feels passed over tells you so. Every gift now names what you are giving, chosen for the person receiving it: a horn-backed bow for a fighter, bamboo scrolls for a strategist, a jade hairpin for a wife.

Sworn kin and spouses

Your spouse, your sworn brothers and the companion you swore a personal oath with now have audiences of their own. Each opens with a new scene, "Between brothers" by a campfire or "At home" by lamplight, and their actions read as what you would do with them: share a jar of wine, sit by the fire, spar. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei call Liu Bei "Elder Brother", and a wife addresses her husband as 夫君 in Chinese. The marriage and oath buttons, which no longer apply to that person, give way to a single line about your bond.

Court moments and requests from your spouse and sworn kin are written in their voice too, and the marriage, oath and joining scenes now change with the officer's temperament. Five new scenes come with this part of the update.

Twenty historical women join the roster

The roster grows to 167 officers. Fifteen of the new officers serve a court in 196, among them Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao and Bu Lianshi with Sun Ce, Xin Xianying and Lady Liu with Yuan Shao, and Lady Ding and Lady Huan with Cao Cao. Five start free and can be recruited: Lady Huang at Xiangyang, Zhao E at Wuwei, Tang Ji at Xuchang, Zhang Chunhua at Luoyang and Guo Nüwang at Ye. Each has a new portrait, a biography and family ties. Saved campaigns keep the roster they started with, so you will meet them in a new campaign.

Three events for your household

These come up in single-player campaigns, each once per campaign, and each opens with its own scene.

• The Rival Suitor. While you are unmarried, a rival courts the officer you are closest to and calls out anyone who objects. Fight the duel yourself in the arena, name a champion, propose on the spot if they would accept, or step aside. Lose, or step aside, and they marry the rival.
• The Abduction. Some time after your wedding, a Yellow Turban host carries off your spouse and demands a ransom that grows with your realm. Pay it, ride to the rescue in a battle you can command yourself, or send your sworn kin. Wait too long and your spouse escapes alone, wounded, and does not forget it.
• The Spouse's Plea. When you go to war with the house your spouse came from, they ask you to make peace for their family's sake. Make a truce, let them write home, or refuse.

Fixes found along the way

Names that begin with a common English word, such as Lady Gan or Sun Qian, no longer lose their capital letter on buttons and labels.

What we would like to hear

The Chinese text in this update is new, and we would welcome corrections from Chinese-speaking players. If an officer's line feels wrong for them, or an event arrives at a bad moment, tell us who it was and what was happening. A save file helps us see it.

Thank you for playing, and for the reports that keep shaping the game.