We're excited today to announce the launch of the new Steam Preview Channel, an opportunity for players to test out the latest and greatest builds of Ara: History Untold as the team continues to add to the game post-launch.

This patch primarily includes further updates and balance changes to diplomacy and AI, but future patches will include larger scope balance adjustments, as well as other bigger changes and feature previews.

To access the Preview Channel: Right-Click the game from your Library and select "Properties"

Choose "Betas" from the list on the left, enter this code into the Private Betas field:
rDM3pfbn4q9Y5P6xNujX

Then select "Check Code"
If you've entered it correctly, you'll see a message that says "Success! Beta unlocked." You can then click "Opt into: preview - Preview of next release"

Once you've done that, you'll trigger an update, and you've effectively switched your game over to the Preview Channel.

• Although our goal will always be to upload high quality builds, due to the working nature of the Preview Channel you'll possibly encounter unique bugs, breaks, or other issues with the game, in those cases we greatly appreciate you sharing your experience with us so we can make sure it is resolved before the final release to the main channel.
  
• Existing Multiplayer Games will not work on the Preview Channel - however you can start new Multiplayer games with other players on the Preview Channel.
  
• It is not cross-save enabled with the main game channel, so any save games on the main channel will stay separate from your save games on preview channel.

Once you've entered the code, you'll continue to have access to the Preview Channel (pending other updates we make) - but you can switch back to the main channel at any time. To do so, head back to that Betas menu from the Properties menu of the game, click the "Select the Beta you would like to opt into" drop down menu and select "None". This will trigger another update, and move you back to the main channel. Going forward, to head back to the Preview Channel you'll just return to this same menu and select it from your list of betas.

We look forward to hearing your feedback on the preview build, whether that's in the:

• Ara: History Untold Discord Server[discord.gg]
  
• The Steam Community Forums
  
• The Ara: History Untold Website Forums[forums.arahistoryuntold.com]
  
• Any of our various social media platforms!

Thank you for playing!
- The Ara: History Untold Team

Along with balance changes, bug fixes, and quality of life updates, this release adds many new options for Diplomatic interactions with other nations to advance your agenda - as well as Nuclear Weapons!

• Bribe: Offer another player a gift of resources in exchange for them declaring war on a target Nation.
  
• Demand Tribute: Does another Nation have something you want? Through Demand Tribute, you can now demand a gift of specific items from other Players. [Not available with Human Players in multiplayer.]
  
• Military Aid: Send allies and enemies of your enemies support by giving them Units from your Reserves.
  
• Advisor Insights: Gain insight into another Nation's sentiments towards you or even get some information on their current plans regarding your nation through Advisor Insights available on the Diplomatic Screen with any Nation. [Not available with Human Players in multiplayer.]
  
• Diplomatic History: See how events throughout the game have shaped your Relationship with another Nation with the History log now available on the Diplomatic Screen with any Nation.
  
• Aggressive Negotiations: Unlock technologies in Act 3 to build nuclear weapons delivered via Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) as well as anti-missile defenses to protect your interests.

• The Resolute Scripture religion strength buff no longer affects non-player religions in majority cities
  
• Devout Discourse religious verse no longer applies to non-religious units
  
• Impulsive trait reduction to established relationships has been changed from 100 to 10

• Beginning the game in Act 2 or 3 now correctly populates evens
  
• “Of Gods and Soldiers” event now clearly indicates which City is affected by buffs or debuffs
  
• “Hearts and Minds” event rewards have been updated to be more distinct
  
• The Smithsonian Institution Act Goal will only occur in Act 3 when the triumph is available
  
• A warning notification now appears when attempting to claim a region already being claimed
  
• Difficulty level no longer alters City base Quality of Life stats

• Balanced the Supplies available for Dwellings and improved the consistency of their upgrades
  
• Updated the second Expert’s buff for the Industrial Fishing Farm
  
• Updated the buffs for the Angkor Wat Triumph
  
• Refineries, Library, and Print Shop have had their domains updated to be more accurate to how they are used
  
• Angkor Wat buff tooltip has been fixed to show that it buffs all shrines, regardless of City
  
• The Hotel and Pub have had their buffs limited to the intended scope and no longer apply to neighboring improvements
  
• Stable now accurately buffs harvest production of animal resources
  
• Upgrading Irrigated Farms to Industrial Farms no longer costs more than building one from scratch
  
• Mines can now be constructed before the Atomic Age after researching Bureaucracy
  
• The Amphitheater of El Jem can be constructed in the Early Middle Ages without War Chariots
  
• The Smithsonian Institution is no longer deprecated by Industrialization before being unlocked
  
• SAM Battery cost has been updated to better align with the production costs of Mobile SAM units
  
• Sacred Timple and City Temple have received unique icons
  
• Watchtowers, Castles, and SAM Batteries have had their categorization updated in the National Economy Screen

• Non-scout land units may be set to auto-explore but cannot claim Caches. This includes naval units as well.
  
• Oracle units now auto-explore both land and sea.
  
• While Fortified, Units capable of Indirect Fire will now automatically attack enemy Forces entering their range, but will not automatically fire on non-hostile tribes
  
• Damage taken during while in ‘Hunt Predator’ behavior has been updated based on the strength of the Force performing the hunt.
  
• Naval unit upgrade lines are now complete across all eras
  
• Units consistently maintain their movement over passable land
  
• Intercepting aircraft remain in the same region as the target forces
  
• Catapults and Swordsmen remain available after unlocking Bureaucracy
  
• Dragoons are now able to be created in the Machine Age
  
• Elephant Ballistae are now listed as a range unit and can Bombard
  
• Muster progress accurately shows the remaining time required

• Regions can be renamed
  
• Save game difficulty is shown on the Save Game menu
  
• Added options for Act culling: None, AI Only, and All
  
• Improvements can be filtered on the National Economy screen using Tags
  
• “Viscount” is no longer listed as the “Default” difficulty. The tooltip for “Prince” has been updated to show it is now the default difficulty
  
• Pause has been renamed to Time-out and Suspend is renamed to Pause which better represent the effect of each action
  
• Using arrow keys to navigate the Resources tab in the Encarta no longer shows pages out of order
  
• Names of undiscovered seas are now hidden under the Fog of War
  
• Selected Preset Map in Multiplayer Lobbies is now visible to all players
  
• Notifications no longer appear for relationship changes of unencountered nations
  
• Modding
  
• Improved subscription flow to prevent attempts to subscribe to mods without being logged in first
  
• Quality of life updates to Mod.io interface

• Alexander the Great’s leader trait now correctly prevents Pikeman and Lancers from being countered
  
• Removed the buff to Soap provided by Howard Florey’s ‘Medical Genius’ Leader Trait
  
• Harriet Tubman’s “Friend of the Oppressed” Leader Trait no longer references non-existent upgrades to Schools

• Cancelling a Slander action will now refund the correct amount of Prestige
  
• Added ‘Turns remaining’ to items received through Diplomacy, in Diplomatic Relations panel
  
• Peace Treaty proposals function correctly without displaying incorrect tool-tip messages about relationships

• Biscuits remain accessible in Act 3
  
• Updated the Rope’s third Accelerator to apply a meaningful Production bonus
  
• Production boosts and wealth costs for Sneakers ingredient slots have been updated to be more consistent

• Unlocking Mints is now required through Coinage before unlocking Coins
  
• Tooltip for Fermenting accurately describes its Food benefits

• AI more consistently choose beneficial Government Policies
  
• AI are more aggressive to hostile Tribes
  
• AI now starts more neutral and are less aggressive in Gift Giving
  
• AI are more likely to repair important Improvements while at War
  
• AI Nations no longer gift Reserve Units, but use the new Military Aid feature
  
• AI are less likely to raze a city with a Great Hearth
  
• AI are more likely to upgrade Dwellings and Residences

• Many Encarta articles and descriptions have received updates to their text to better match their in-game mechanics
  
• Fixed issues with stuttering when panning
  
• Utilizing the Time-out button no longer causes stalls during the “Actions Submitted, Waiting for Next Turn” phase
  
• Various missing or incorrect strings for display and screen narrator support, including updates for leader text and Encarta entries, have been corrected.
  
• Additional fixes/improvements/tweaks to text in all localized languages

• The Summary within the City Population UI no longer overlaps with the Leader Portrait when using Swedish.
  
• The Cancel Build Icon in Czech displays properly with a Text Scale of 125%.
  
• The Cancel Build Icon in Finnish now appears without overlapping.
  
• The Cancel Build UI and Icon in Dutch are properly aligned.
  
• Text in the Trade Agreement Screen is fully visible in Malay.
  
• Loading screen tips are displayed correctly in all languages when text scaling is set to 125%.
  
• The Vietnamese font now includes the missing Unicode character 1ef7 (ỷ).