Battle AI
AI battle mechanics still need plenty of work but I've worked through a few distinct issues.
- Enemy armies are no longer blind to their sides and rear. They track threats across the whole battlefield, and unengaged squads wheel to brace against cavalry charges from the flanks
- How quickly an army reacts depends on its lord. Disciplined commanders respond in a couple of seconds, reckless ones take much longer
- Defensive armies now always keep a reserve and commit it when their line starts to thin
- Archers hold proper firing positions just behind their shield wall instead of drifting far to the rear
- Shield walls form wider and shallower, closer to how a player-drawn wall looks
- Skirmishing horse archers now circle and harass naturally instead of backing into the map edge
- Fixed a formation bug that offset every squad's ordered position, which could leave whole armies fighting out of position
Caravans
- Escort size now reflects the goods a caravan actually carries. Lightly loaded caravans travel light, rich cargo brings serious protection
- Robbing a caravan yields most of its goods and a share of its coin. Some is always lost in the fight
Fixes
- Fixed the encounter screen becoming stuck against armies with many unit types. Long rosters now scroll and the buttons always stay on screen
- Fixed diagonal artifacts on UI panels on some graphics cards
- Fixed panels overflowing the screen at higher UI scale settings
- Fixed the welcome popup buttons hanging below the panel frame
- Rocks no longer draw on top of soldiers. Like trees, they fade out when units are behind or in front of them
- Fixed a crash that could occur when ordering units mid battle
Interface
- Upgrade buttons now use the same instant parchment tooltips as the rest of the army screen, including a clear breakdown of what is missing when an upgrade is unavailable