Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition — Update 13088

### **GAME**
[hr]
[/hr]##### **Stability & Performance**


*  Disabled the execution of superfluous code when it’s not required in order to prevent out-of-sync errors caused by numerical operation issues.
*  Fixed performance issues caused by misidentifying maps which feature cave terrain.
*  Fixed a crash triggered when a mod challenge reward fails to subscribe to the targeted mod.
*  Fixed a potential memory issue when exiting a Home City.
*  Fixed a potential memory corruption in the unit grouping code.

##### **Graphics**


*  The Cathedral in the Spanish Home City (Seville) now displays the proper banners when unlocked and applied.
*  Fixed an issue where trees on the **Arctic Territories** map would “breathe” in unsettling synchronization rather than waving their branches all natural and tree-like.
*  Fixed an issue in the Swedish Home City (Stockholm) where the bases of several lamp posts would flicker noticeably when certain customization options were selected.
*  Urumi units will now be holding shields when placed in the Scenario Editor.
*  Updated the icon of the British Consulate.

##### **UI**


*  The **leaderboard** is now capable of fetching more than 200 entries total, and will now progressively load the next block of 200 entries as you progress through the list. Note that, as a result of this change, the “First” and “Last” button will now jump forward or backwards 10 pages rather than going to the very beginning or end of the list.
*  The **Objectives** panel will now be automatically hidden when there are no objectives to be displayed.
*  Added the ability to view the map or progress to the postgame screen from the Victory/Defeat endgame panel.
*  Players on the **Steam** version of the game will now see their Steam Profile Name displayed in the upper-right corner on the home screen.
*  Added a button to the home screen that allows you to jump to your player profile.
*  Fixed an incorrect vertical offset when displaying Chinese characters that resulted in numbers being displayed higher than the rest of the characters.
*  The technology tree has been renamed to **“Deck Tree”** during campaign missions, as it displays the cards rather than the technologies and units available during the mission.
*  Updated the French tech tree to display their unique unit, **Coureurs Des Bois**, in place of Settlers.
*  Updated the Indian tech tree to properly display the wood cost of building Villagers rather than food.
*  Added a missing text string to the Edo campaign tech tree.
*  Corrected the map image of the **Saguenay** map to display the correct number of Mines (11 rather than 10).
*  Added optional tooltips to the Apply/Discard and Yes/No modals that appear throughout the game.
*  Added some missing icons when non-Hero units have something to say during the campaign.
*  **Maceman:** Hid redundant stats.

##### **Settings**


*  **Windowed Mode** has been renamed to **Display Mode** in the Graphics options.
*  When running in Windowed Display Mode, the window size can now be selected from a dropdown list in addition to being manually resized using the mouse.

##### **Event Challenges**


*  Fixed the countdown timers of in-game events to ensure the event and challenges are in sync.
*  Added a text string reminding participants that previous challenges must be completed for consecutive challenges to be unlocked.


### **GAMEPLAY**
[hr]
[/hr]##### **General**


*  Placing a structure on top of a wall that has not been fully constructed is now far less likely. If you do manage to do so, the wall will no longer be passible.
*  Implemented partial safeguards to ensure that a Trading Post can still be constructed even when an enemy unit is adjacent to the socket.
*  Added hotkey support to train **Black Riders** and **Swiss Pikemen** units at Forts.
*  Added hotkey support to train **Fusilier** and **Highlander** units at the Barracks and Blockhouses.
*  **Chasqui:** Can now construct Town Centers and Trading Posts when obtained via an Incan ally.

##### **Exploit Prevention**


*  Closed an exploit which could be used to **Revolt** and **Age Up** at the same time.
*  Disabled the use of the **recorded game controls** outside of replays and spectating, as a potential exploit fix.
*  Disabled the use of several fog-of-war functions during multiplayer games to prevent exploitation.
*  Fixed a “Dop-Box” exploit where Doppelsoldner’s could be tightly packed around an Explorer, similar to the “Cav-Box” exploit.

##### **Fixes**


*  Fixed a bug where removing a card from an active deck would instead remove the adjacent card.
*  Fixed an issue where **Priestesses** will continue to try converting an enemy who, at some point during the process, was killed.
*  Fixed a bug which prevented the cycling through buildings within a control group if a **Consulate** or **Big Button** structure was also a part of that group.
*  Fixed a certain type of tree which would not fall on the Alaska and Rockies maps.
*  Fixed an issue which would allow AI prompts to be sent by human players.


### **CAMPAIGN**
[hr]
[/hr]##### **Historical Battles**


*  **Algiers:** Fixed instances where ships from the blockade would break the line to retreat and heal at the Docks.
*  **Chuvash Cape:** Goats are now able to be rescued from the pen across from the southern Trading Post.

##### **Campaign Missions**


*  Fixed an issue which would cause the _Asian Dynasties_ Acts I and II to reset when playing Act III.
*  **Blood, Ice, Steel (Act II):** Updated the **Manufacturing Plant** and **Harbor** (and their respective icons) to display the correct cosmetics when the Boston Home City is updated during the campaign.
*  **Clearing the Road (Act I): **Players are no longer able to control fish.
*  **Last City of the Inca (Act III):** Fixed an issue where the Incan ally would spawn too many units and trivialize the scenario.


### **CIVILIZATION BALANCE**
[hr]
[/hr]##### **General**

**🡒 UNITS & BUILDINGS**

*  **AbstractCoyoteMan:** The game now refers to this unit class as **“Hand Shock Infantry”** when displaying the effects of upgrades, similar to the “Hand Cavalry” classification. Content affected by this change has been adjusted accordingly.
*  **Rattan Shields** and **Tiger Claws** have been assigned the **Hand Shock Infantry** tag.
*  **Frontier Fortifications:** Corrected Shock Infantry multipliers from **1.5x ▶ 1.3x**.
*  **Native Scout** and **Chasqui:** Their damage deficiency versus Villagers is now removed upon sending the **Advanced Scouts** or **Aymara** support card, as opposed to being automatically improved upon reaching the Commerce Age.
*  **Pirate**: Corrected Shock Infantry multiplier from **4x ▶ 2.8**x.
*  **Privateer:** Following a revolution as the **Barbary States**, the Privateer can now properly train Falconets, Culverins, and all units trainable via the Galleon.
*  **Tiger Claw:** An erroneous “Infantry” tag has been removed from the unit. This means they are no longer countered by Artillery and other units which normally counter Infantry, but rather act as Shock Infantry within the counter system.

**🡒 CARDS**
The **Extensive Fortifications** cards which enable additional **Frontier Fortifications** to be constructed (such as Outposts, War Huts, Castles, Nobles Huts and so on) has been adjusted as follows:

*  A variant of the card is now available to ALL civilizations.
*  Access to the card has been moved from the Commerce Age to the **Exploration Age**.
*  Cards now increase the build limits by **+100%**, effectively doubling the number of Frontier defenses that can be built.
*  The **+25% bonus** to hit points granted to Outposts now applies to ALL fortifications, including **Walls** and **Forts**.
*  Adjusted the tooltip text to better communicate the behavior and strengths of the cards.

##### **The Inca**

**🡒 UNITS & BUILDINGS**
The following adjustments have been made to the **Maceman** unit:

*  Fixed a bug which prevented them from using their **snare** ability.
*  Siege attack is now properly halved when in Cover mode.
*  Can now target Naval units.

Other updates:

*  **Chasqui:** Can no longer construct **Native Embassies** for the purpose of Treaty balance.
*  **Kallanka:** Updated the unit types which can be garrisoned to prevent certain military units from being left out. (_Note that AbstractArtillery units are still left out_.)
*  **Plumed Spearman:** Reduced Siege attack damage from **42 ▶ 35**. This change is largely aimed at making “base trades” less effective in team games while creating opportunities for siege units such as the **Huaraca** and **Maceman** to be used.

**🡒 CARDS**

*  7 Bolas Warriors (III) ▶ **8 Bolas Warriors (III)**
*  INF 6 Bolas Warriors (III) ▶ **INF 7 Bolas Warriors (III)**
*  13 Bolas Warriors (IV) ▶ **16 Bolas Warriors (IV)**

##### **The Indians**

**🡒 CARDS**

*  **Professional Handlers:** Now decreases the population cost of **Siege Elephants** from **-1 ▶ -2**, for the purpose of Treaty balance.
*  **Professional Handlers:** Fixed a bug which caused **Native Warriors** and **Heroes** to begin costing more population.

##### **The Ottomans**

**🡒 CARDS**

*  **TEAM Team Defenses (III):** Now delivers **Military Wagons** rather than Outpost Wagons.

The above change closes an exploit which allowed the Villagers of non-European civilizations to construct up to seven Outposts _in addition to_ their own Frontier Fortifications. Military Wagons can be used to construct any military structure normally available to the civilization.

##### **The Spanish**

**🡒 UPGRADES**

*  **The Logistician (II):** Now benefits all Exploration Age shipments as well as **Improved Buildings, Hot Air Balloons, Native Lore**, and **Extensive Fortifications**.

The **Papal Guard** politician has been adjusted as follows:

*  Now enables **Guard Crossbowmen** and **Pikemen** upgrades to be researched at **no cost** rather than activating them and their prerequisites instantly.
*  Reduces the cost of the **Royal Guard** upgrade from **1000 wood, 1000 coin ▶ 300 wood, 300 coin**.
*  Where applicable: reduces the cost of other Guard upgrades for Hand Infantry—such as those for Halberdiers and Doppelsolders—to **300 wood, 300 coin**.

These changes to **Papal Guard** affect all civilizations, but are largely aimed at reducing the strength of the Spanish “fast Industrial” strategies while simultaneously improving its usefulness to other civilizations. As always, we will be watching to see the impact this has on gameplay.

##### **The Swedes**

**🡒 CIVILIZATION**

*  Added a **wood crate** and removed a **food crate** from the starting resource piles.
*  **Jaegers, Black Riders**, and **Landsknechts** can now be recruited from the Saloon as a default civilization feature.

**🡒 UNITS & BUILDINGS**
The **Torp** has been adjusted as follows:

*  Increased the placement restriction radius from **5 ▶ 7.8**. This not only reduces the number of Torps that can be built around a single mine to **4**, but will generally require Sweden to spread their Torps out over a wider area of the map.
*  Cost increased from **115 ▶ 125 wood**.
*  Reduced the amount of food in spawned Berry Bushes from **150 ▶ 125 food**.
*  Berry Bushes now have a build limit of **30** to prevent the body-blocking of enemies during long matches, such as in a FFA.
*  Berry Bushes now respect rally points, allowing them to be planted in more convenient directions, if desired.

The **Carolean** has been adjusted as follows:

*  Range increased from **10 ▶ 12**.
*  Veteran, Guard, and Imperial upgrades no longer grant +1 range.
*  **Snaplock (card):** Reduced the bonus range granted from **+4 ▶ +3**.
*  **Platoon Fire (card):** Reduced the Heavy Cavalry multiplayer from **+1 ▶ +0.7x**. Shock Infantry adjusted accordingly.
*  Caroleans no longer inflict bonus damage to Light Ranged Cavalry.

Additional unit balance changes:

*  **Hakkapelit:** Increased ranged resistance from **10% ▶ 20%**. The Harquebusier has been adjusted accordingly.
*  **Leather Cannon:** Can now be trained from Forts, as intended.

**🡒 UPGRADES**

*  **Mercenary Contractor (III):** Now allows **Jaegers** and **Black Riders** to be trained from regular military buildings.

**🡒 CARDS**

*  [NEW] **3 Hussars (II)**
*  All **“Contract”** cards now unlock the ability to recruit any Mercenaries they deliver from regular military buildings. Related hotkeys have been adjusted accordingly.
*  **Contract Fusiliers (II):** Reduced the cost from **700 ▶ 400 coin**, and reduced the number of Fusiliers delivered from **4 ▶ 3**. Since Caroleans no longer counter Light Ranged Cavalry, this change aims to make Fusiliers (which do) more accessible in the Commerce Age without changing the overall resource value of the shipment.
*  **Engelsberg Ironworks:** Reduced the coin gathering rate bonus from **+125% ▶ 100%**.
*  **Blackberries:** Can now be re-sent upon reaching the Imperial Age.

The **Blueberries** card has been reworked in an effort to more effectively achieve its original design goals:

*  **Blueberries:** Now transforms all pre-existing Torp Berry Bushes into Blueberry Bushes.

This should be useful in two ways: as a “greedy” early booming tactic, or as a way to make Torps which were deconstructed and rebuilt in new locations (after depleting their original resources) more rewarding.

### **RANDOM MAPS**
[hr]
[/hr]##### **General**


*  The **Trade Monopoly** win condition is now (correctly) available on maps with **2** Trading Posts, rather than the previous requirement of 3.
*  The **Trade Monopoly** win condition is no longer available in Treaty; only in Standard rulesets.
*  Added an **Ending Age** option to skirmish and casual multiplayer game settings which allows you to cap the Age to which you can advance during a match.

Added a **Starting Resources** option to Skirmish and multiplayer Supremacy games. This allows you to choose from the following options when setting up a match:

*  **Standard:** 0 food, 0 wood, 0 coin + Crates
*  **Medium:** 1,000 food, 1,000 wood, 1,00 coin + Crates
*  **High:** 20,000 food, 20,000 wood, 20,000 coin + Crates
*  **Ultra:** 100,000 food, 100,000 wood, 100,000 coin + Crates
*  **Infinite:** 900,000 food, 900,000 wood 900,000 coin + Crates
*  **Random:** Everyone starts with the same, random amount between 0 and 20,000 of each resource.

##### **Map Balance**


*  **Bayou:** Added a small “starting” group of Turkeys for each player.
*  **Carolina:** Removed one of the crates that spawns on the desert island.
*  **Carolina:** Fixed a bug that could prevent whales from spawning on the map.
*  **Central Plain:** Fixed a bug which prevented the **Trade Cart** upgrade from being researchable at the Trading Post.
*  **Central Plain:** Fixed a bug which could prevent Trading Route sockets from spawning.
*  **Central Plain:** Increased the total available food in a 1v1 matchup from **56000 ▶ 64000** and balanced herd sizes around the map. Proportional adjustments have been made to Team games.
*  **Indochina:** The Inca now properly spawn with a **Community Plaza** instead of a Saloon.
*  **Patagonia:** Added an additional whale node and additional fish to the sea.
*  Fixed a bug where shipments delivering **Carib Blowgunners** could not be sent if a Carib Settlement was present on the map.


### **LOBBIES & MATCHMAKING**
[hr]
[/hr]
*  Ranked Treaty and Team Games will now pick from their own map pools.
*  Added a **Host Game** button to the Browse Games multiplayer screen.
*  The **“All Regions”** option of the **Region** filter now displays games from ALL regions.
*  Added a new option for **“Closest Region”** to find games from the nearest server bank.
*  Selecting **Random Civ** in a multiplayer match will now display the Home City level as **“?”** rather than displaying the level of the last-played city.
*  The ability to set a custom scenario as “free-for-all,” as well as the ability to manually adjust the teams, civilizations, or colors, is now accessible when setting up a custom matchmaking lobby. **Please note that—depending on the scenario—certain triggers or gameplay elements that are dependent on specific teams or civilizations can cause the scenario/game to feel unbalanced, prevent it from being playable or completable, and/or can cause the game to be unplayable.** We will continue investigating ways to empower creators and prevent compatibility issues in the future.
*  Tuned the network “catch-up code” to accommodate slower CPU’s that need to skip frames to stay in-sync with the game simulation.


### **AI**
[hr]
[/hr]
*  Improved how computer players balance resources during their games. Fishing Boats are now calculated, and AI will now attempt to optimize their total collection rate.
*  Improved the AI’s ability to react and defend against siege units.
*  Implemented a fix for Player 2 remaining idle for the duration of a match.
*  Fixed an edge case which would result in the AI prioritizing the collection of the wrong resources at the wrong time.
*  Military upgrades will now be researched more often by computer players.
*  The AI will now avoid sending military-themed unit cards while a Treaty is still active.
*  AI-controlled players will now train additional Fishing Boats when land resources are running low.
*  Fixed issues which prevented AI-controlled players from whaling.
*  Implemented additional fixes to prevent AI Villagers from prioritizing distant hunt and mines rather than occupying open slots at nearby Mills and Estates.
*  Implemented a fix to ensure that native civilizations can fully utilize their naval units.
*  Fixed instances where units would get stuck during their attacks.
*  Fixed an issue where the AI would constantly check the research cost of certain items.


### **MODDING**
[hr]
[/hr]
*  The game will now correctly read and reference popcorn particle files (.pkfx) saved in mod directories.
*  Added text to the main menu displaying mods in the process of downloading.
*  Fixed a text encoding bug which would result in the name, description, author, and other text elements of mods to display incorrectly in non-English languages, such as Hindi.
*  Fixed an issue where maps in the selection dropdown would fail to refresh as intended when running certain mods.



[hr][/hr]```###      ◆ ONGOING INVESTIGATION ◆
```[hr][/hr]As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates. Here is a brief update from our Production team regarding some of what is still in the works:

*  **Attack-Move Optimization and Fixes:** A prevalent topic of discussion, the team is digging into the issue and looking for ways to ensure that it performs as expected in all circumstances. Watch for updates in upcoming builds!
*  **Improving MOD Support for Custom Maps and Scenarios:** We want to continue providing new tools and options for both mod-creators and mod-enjoyers! This includes the exploration into improving how custom maps and scenarios are implemented into the game, so stay tuned for more.
*  **Stuck Units:** We are continuing to review your reports to see if, when, and where this issue is still occurring. If you catch this in your games, please create or add to a thread on the [official forum](https://steamcommunity.com/app/933110/discussions/1/) with a note of the **name of the map**, the **area** and/or **object**, and a **screenshot** highlighting exactly where the unit got stuck. (Thank you!)
*  **Crashes:** As always, the stability of the game continues to be a focus. If you are experiencing [crashes, disconnects, drops, performance problems, or other technical issues](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/technical-issue-contact-support/102087) which affect your experience, please [contact our support team](https://support.ageofempires.com/hc/categories/360004101511-Age-of-Empires-III-Definitive-Edition) so they can help you and collect information for our team.
*  **WINDOWS STORE: Crash when clicking Mods tab:** We are aware of an issue where the mods page will crash for Windows Store users, and will be working on a hotfix for the issue once we have a better grasp of the problem.
*  **Community-reported issues:** As was noted in the first post (above), your reports are crucial to our prioritization and implementation of fixes and features in the game. [Keep them coming!](https://steamcommunity.com/app/933110/discussions/1/)

For other known issues, please visit [this page](https://support.ageofempires.com/hc/articles/360051018451-Known-Issues-and-Solutions) to see what’s being tracked!
> Note that this list is subject to change and should not be considered a _comprehensive_ list of every known issue we’re tracking. The above is provided as insight into the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our [social channels](https://twitter.com/ageofempires).

[hr][/hr]```###           ◆ MOD WARNING ◆
```[hr][/hr]> Please note that custom mods may not be compatible with the latest game update. If you are experiencing issues launching or playing the game after downloading the new build, try [disabling your installed mods](https://www.ageofempires.com/mods) before trying again.

Still having trouble? Visit our [support page](https://support.ageofempires.com/hc/)!