This update also brings everything from 0.9.5.1814 ("Voices, riders and ships that fight like ships"), which was tested but never released on its own.
New in 1815
- Battles run much faster: the game stopped re-checking the whole scene every frame, and fog of war and dungeon darkness each draw as one piece. Big castle maps went from 40 to 120 frames a second.
- The game starts faster: Battle Setup opens in under a second, and the Reference Library is built the first time you open it.
- A long pause, such as drawing a large map, now shows a notice instead of a frozen screen.
- The War Table: the Campaigns tab opens on a new browser with each campaign's chapters, progress and length at a glance.
- Losing a campaign chapter to the computer no longer counts as a win, and each chapter opens with its story page before the battle.
- Mounted archers shoot from the saddle: 27 riders, from the Saracen Horse Archers to the Sisters of the Glade, had been fighting only in melee.
- Boarding is fought out on the ship's own deck, painted with its hold and captain's cabin, after the grappling hooks pull the hulls together.
- Ships keep a clear lane between them and never overlap, and deck guns line both rails again.
- 52 more unit pictures change when the unit is wounded, stunned or killed, stand-in pictures were replaced with each unit's own art, and townsfolk are part of the base game.
- Story cards wait for their scene and play after it, instead of one hiding the other.
- Each nation has its houndmasters, and the computer's keepers loose their hounds.
- Chests can hold a trap or a monster as well as treasure.
- A captain who falls below a portal loses the battle above.
- Your progress is saved safely at every chapter, so a crash can't corrupt it.
- Flood water foams at its edges and leaves wet ground, snow settles only on the board, and villagers no longer appear on sea islets.
- The Greek Fire Fleet called from the sea arrives as a real flagship.
- Drop-down lists in Settings, Battle Setup and the LAN lobby fit their options in the Medieval theme.
- The scoreboard in the corner is easier to read: each player's row is clear text on a plain dark panel, in both themes.
- Windowed mode opens as a real window instead of filling the screen.
- Night battles and the first clash of each battle run more smoothly.
- The "whoever holds the ford" battle opening now plays only on maps that have a ford.
- Battle Setup's army strips show long allegiance names without covering the points, and the Marketplace has its own menu icon.
Also in this update (from 1814)
- Units answer when you select them, give them orders or send them into the attack, and clerics speak their blessings. Every kind of soldier has its own voice.
- Eaters of the Dead: Ahmad and the Northmen have their own voices, and the Wendol roar like bears and ride screaming horses.
- Knights on horseback show the mounted card again, and the card changes when they are wounded, stunned or unhorsed. Stunned dragons look hurt.
- 24 named characters have their own portraits, and the Ember Drake and twelve other units are cut out cleanly with no white box behind them.
- The battle bar is easier to use: bigger, evenly spaced buttons, and the action strip keeps clear of the board.
- Touch screens are supported (Settings > Touch: Auto, On or Off), with a new Training Grounds lesson, Playing by Touch.
- Move and placement highlights show again, a little lighter so the map stays readable.
- Ships fight like ships: they turn as they move forward, line up for a broadside, ram, board and capture, sink with smoke and splintering wood, and carry visible crews.
- The computer lands troops from its ships on a free beach, and ships bombard castle walls.
- Every Dangers & Wonders wonder was tested in battle, and five were fixed: the Wild Hunt, Fyrd Muster, the Ancient Grove, Grove's Bind and a wonder that wins the battle all work as described.
- Wonders take their sea form when called over water. Sky Brood has its own dragon art.
- Thick gas blocks sight and arrows, lava cools into rock, windmill sails turn and siege impacts leave visible scars.
- Each battle opens with a scene that suits the field (a coast, a river or a castle), and dozens of new moment cards mark the turning points.
- Captive leaders' story cards now appear at the right moment in The Maid of Orleans, The Sable Cross and The Friar's Scepter.
- The Codex was checked page by page against the rules: 750 pages corrected and nearly 600 now illustrated.
- A recruited neutral shows whose side it is on.
- Sheep stay out of the water.
- Fixed: a scenario boss could fight with no strength at all, and the Fire Knight's lines played for other burning foes.
- Multiplayer: a joining player no longer sees the map's people twice, and can ram and board too.
- The battle-start terrain draws a little faster.
DLC updates (download automatically if you own them)
- Eaters of the Dead: Melchisidek and the Volva have their own portraits, the Wendol and the hounds show when they are stunned, and the Codex and chapter story pictures are refreshed.
- The Sable Cross: 24 Order units show when they are stunned and have refreshed art, with an updated Codex.
- The Maid of Orleans: new art for Adhemar of Anjou and Hugues of Montlhery, stun pictures, and an updated Codex.
- The Friar's Scepter: 16 units show when they are stunned, and the Cave Wendol join the bestiary.
- Dangers and Wonders: the wonder units show their full new art when hurt, stunned or slain, and the War Mammoth of Kernow finally wears his new look.
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