(LIVE) v2.0 Revolutions Update Changelog

[RammaStardock]

Ara: History Untold v2.0 is our biggest update yet, bringing major changes to how you shape and lead your civilization. The new Culture System lets you unlock over 40 traits and expand influence beyond your borders with Cultural Claims, while every civ now fields its own unique unit with custom artwork.

Leaders have been fully redesigned with distinct playstyles — from Genghis Khan turning battles into wealth to Elizabeth I extending Golden Ages through alliances. At the same time, the new Priority & Quota System takes the grind out of production, freeing you up to focus on big strategic choices.

Smarter AI, end-of-Act Tier Awards, performance boosts, streamlined tech trees, and more natural resources all combine to make v2.0 the most authentic and engaging version of Ara yet.

DISCLAIMER: Old saves are not valid on v2.0, games saved prior to v2.0 must be played in the v1.41 environment.

Major Update Summary

• Revolutionary Culture & Influence System
  
• Priority & Quota System Revolution
  
• Tier Awards & Progression System
  
• Unique Civilization Units
  
• Complete Leader Differentiation Overhaul
  
• Massive AI Improvements
  
• Cultural Conquests & Agitator Unit
  
• City Management Revolution
  
• Map Generation & World Systems
  
• Technology Tree & Research
  
• Buildings & Improvements
  
• Units & Combat
  
• Items & Resources
  
• Balance & Gameplay Changes
  
• Performance & Visual Improvements
  
• User Interface & Quality of Life
  
• Mod Support & Technical
  
• Misc.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
September 24th, 2025 v2.0 Changelog
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Revolutionary Culture & Influence System

Culture is now part of the game. A new civilization development mechanic providing strategic advancement options beyond traditional expansion.

Core Features

• Culture Quality of Life Stat: A new City Stat that can be affected by Improvements, Leader Traits, and Amenities
  
• Influence Generation: Influence is a new currency which Cities Generate based on their new Culture Stat
  
• Culture Shop Interface: Purchase permanent civilization bonuses with Influence
  
• 40+ Culture Traits: Permanent buffs that can boost Quality of Life Stats, reward Conquering Cities, affect Trade and more
  
• Cultural Claims: Territorial expansion beyond traditional borders, buying claims with Influence - this is a huge deal because before, you couldn't have a Las Vegas type city since getting new regions required cities to level up which required them to be self-sufficient in food
  
• Dynamic Pricing: Cost scaling based on player purchases rather than global competition
  
• AI Integration: Intelligent AI purchasing behavior scaled by difficulty level
  
• Notification System: Visual alerts when new purchases become available

Priority & Quota System Revolution

The Crafting Queue is GONE along with 90% of the micromanagement that came with it. It has been replaced by a Crafting priority and quota system. Just tell the game the stockpile level you want, what priority it is in the list and the game takes care of the rest.

Advanced Production Management System

• Priority-Based Queuing: Set crafting order with intelligent queue management
  
• Quota System: Define precise production targets (finite quotas or infinite)
  
• Job State Control: Full control with Disabled/Paused/Crafting states
  
• AI Integration: Enhanced AI nations utilize priority-based crafting strategically

Tier Awards & Progression System

At the end of the Act, players are rewarded with a new buff based on what tier they ended in.

Unique Civilization Units

• Every Nation now has a unique unit. The Mongols get the Horse Archers. Japan gets Samurai. Etc.
  
• Per-Nation Unique Units: Every civilization now commands unique historical forces, from Mongol Horse Archers to Japanese Samurai, adding tactical depth and flavor.
  
• Every playable civilization now features a unique unit with nation restrictions:
  
• Total: 44 unique civilization units with custom artwork and mechanics

Ancient Era

• Jaguar Warriors (Aztec Empire)
  
• Hoplite (Greece)
  
• Andes Slinger (Incan Empire)
  
• Kandake Warrior (Kush)
  
• Immortal (The First Persian Empire)
  
• Impi Warrior (Zulu)

Bronze Age

• Royal Chariots (Egypt)
  
• Asante Spearman (Ghana)
  
• Plains Horse Archers (Crow Nation)
  
• Levy Spearman (Assyria)

Iron Age

• Legionnaire (Rome)
  
• Camel Archer (Abbasid Caliphate)
  
• Cataphract (Byzantine Empire)
  
• Shotel Warrior (Ethiopia)
  
• Woad Warrior (Celts)
  
• Tomahawk Warrior (Cherokee)

Early Middle Ages

• Gaucho Cavalry (Argentina)
  
• English Longbow (England)
  
• Gendarme Knight (France)
  
• Khevsur Warrior (Georgia)
  
• Landsknecht (Germany)
  
• Teutonic Knight (Holy Roman Empire)
  
• Royal War Elephant (India)
  
• Condottiero (Italy)
  
• Samurai (Japan)
  
• Mangudai (Mongol Empire)
  
• Cataphract Horse Archer (Palmyrene Empire)
  
• Winged Hussar (Poland)
  
• Elephant Archer (Thailand)
  
• Chu Ko Nu (China)
  
• Sahel Cavalry (The Songhai Empire)

Renaissance Era & Beyond

• Mountie (Canada)
  
• Hwacha Rockets (Korea)
  
• Rurales Cavalry (Mexico)
  
• Cossack Cavalry (Russia)
  
• Conquistador (Spain)
  
• Llanero Cavalry (Venezuela)
  
• Digger Infantry (Australia)
  
• Minutemen (United States)
  
• Redoubt Infantry (Belgium)

Complete Leader Differentiation Overhaul

More Leader differentiation. A lot of new traits and abilities have been added on a per nation or per leader basis. The AI has also been updated to play differently based on which leader it is.

Every single leader in Ara: History Untold has been completely redesigned to improve distinctiveness, encourage a wider variety of play styles, and create more interactive than passive content. Rather than minor statistical variations, each leader now offers unique mechanical advantages that fundamentally change how their civilization develops and competes.

Major Leader Redesigns

Genghis Khan - Lord of the Steppes

• +2 Wealth for each Unit engaged in combat
  
• +10 Happiness and +20 Wealth in all Cities for 40 turns after conquering a City
  
• Traits: Aggressive, Vigilant, Protective, Disciplined

Ieyasu Tokugawa - Study Patience

• Cities gain +2 Production for each Force stationed in them while not at War
  
• +1 Golden Age Point for each turn since last combat while at War
  
• Traits: Aggressive, Paranoid, Traditional, Sage

Elizabeth I - Gloriana

• +1 turn duration to Golden Ages for each active Alliance
  
• +100% Tax Income during Golden Ages
  
• Traits: Seafaring, Paranoid, Charismatic, Stately

Ashoka - Conquest by Dharma

• +5 Religion Spread Distance in Cities for each Force stationed in them
  
• +2 Health for each Religion Improvement in your Cities
  
• Traits: Adventurous, Impulsive, Spiritual, Efficient

Catherine the Great - Siberian Expanse

• +10% Growth in all Cities per Alliance
  
• +4 Production in Cities during Golden Ages
  
• Traits: Persuasive, Charismatic, Lavish, Sage

Isabella I - New World

• +5 Production in non-Capital Cities at City Tier 10 or less
  
• +1 to all citizen stats in the Capital per City you control
  
• Traits: Adventurous, Seafaring, Mercantile, Spiritual

Harriet Tubman - Friend of the Oppressed

• +10 Happiness for each active Alliance
  
• +5 to all Quality of Life Stats for 20 Turns after gaining a Paragon
  
• Traits: Collaborative, Independent, Charitable, Resolute

Irene Sarantapechaina - Iconophile

• +0.01 Influence per religion convert per turn during Golden Ages
  
• +0.01 Gold per religion convert per turn during Golden Ages
  
• Traits: Aggressive, Lavish, Spiritual, Resolute

Cesare Beccaria - Tyrants Never Read

• +5% Research per Alliance
  
• +40 Base Relationship with other Nations during Golden Ages
  
• Traits: Pacifist, Collaborative, Stately, Sage

Alexander the Great - Hammer and Anvil

• +50 to all citizen stats in Capital while at city cap
  
• +4 Production to non-Capital Cities while at city cap
  
• Traits: Aggressive, Adventurous, Disciplined, Rash

George Washington - Minutemen

• +1 Unit Speed to Units for 5 turns after being attacked
  
• +5 Prestige for each City you control after winning a war
  
• Traits: Formidable, Independent, Aloof, Woodsman

Julius Caesar - Triumphant Legions

• Forces gain bonus Strength when they gain experience
  
• Earn Golden Age Points for each Unit defeated by Land Forces
  
• Traits: Unyielding, Bureaucratic, Disciplined, Stately

Boudicca - Lady of Vengeance

• +2% Force Strength per turn while in defensive war (non-civilian Units only)
  
• +1 Prestige per turn while at war with War Weariness below 50
  
• Traits: Formidable, Unyielding, Collaborative, Traditional

Charlemagne - Carolingian Renaissance

• +4 Research and +4 Wealth per Alliance
  
• +100 Influence when completing a Masterpiece or gaining a Paragon
  
• Traits: Lavish, Disciplined, Stately, Efficient

Confucius - Five Constant Virtues

• +10 Golden Age Progress after unlocking a Technology
  
• +25 Minimum Happiness, Education, Health, Wealth, and Aesthetics in all Cities
  
• Traits: Persuasive, Sage, Innovative, Learned

Haile Selassie - Lion of Judah

• +5% Force Strength per Alliance (non-civilian Units only)
  
• +1 Unit Speed when within 2 regions of another friendly Force (non-civilian Units only)
  
• Traits: Cunning, Collaborative, Disciplined, Resolute

Hildegard of Bingen - Sibyl of the Rhine

• +5 Religion Spread Distance for 20 turns after gaining a Paragon
  
• +2 Religion Spread Strength in Capital per City controlled
  
• Traits: Pacifist, Creative, Spiritual, Innovative

Jeanne d'Arc - Maid of Orleans

• +50 Prestige when Forces kill enemy Units in regions where your religion is dominant (non-civilian Units only)
  
• +25% Force Strength in regions where your religion is dominant (non-civilian Units only)
  
• Traits: Formidable, Impulsive, Spiritual, Resolute

Amanirenas - Land of the Bow

• +20% Strength to Ranged Units while Fortified
  
• +5 Force Strength for 20 turns after gaining a Paragon
  
• Traits: Adventurous, Aggressive, Formidable, Traditional

Nefertiti - Rays of the Aten

• +5 Prosperity from Farms on rivers
  
• +2 Base Relationship with other Nations per Culture Improvement in your Cities
  
• Traits: Persuasive, Lavish, Spiritual, Agrarian

Nicolaus Copernicus - Revolutionary Thought

• +5 Culture per Research Agreement in all Cities
  
• +20 Base Relationship with other Nations for 10 turns after researching a Technology
  
• Traits: Creative, Innovative, Efficient, Productive

Osh-Tisch - Bade Warrior

• +100% Force Heal Rate in owned regions (non-civilian Units only)
  
• +2 Health in all Cities per Land Force while at war
  
• Traits: Formidable, Traditional, Sage, Efficient

Otto von Bismarck - Blood and Iron

• +100% Improvement Production while at war
  
• +50% Force Strength during Golden Ages (non-civilian Units only)
  
• Traits: Aggressive, Stodgy, Disciplined, Sage

Pachacuti - Andean Masonry

• +100 Influence when winning a war
  
• +10% Capital Production per Land Force
  
• Traits: Unyielding, Spiritual, Agrarian, Perfectionist

Ram Khamhaeng - White Elephants

• +1 Religion Spread Distance per City controlled
  
• +2 Base Relationship with other Nations per Land Force
  
• Traits: Collaborative, Ambitious, Traditional, Spiritual

Sejong the Great - Hangul

• +100% Improvement Craft Rate for 30 turns after gaining a Masterpiece
  
• +100% Improvement Build Rate for 30 turns after gaining a Paragon
  
• Traits: Sage, Stately, Innovative, Efficient

Shaka - Buffalo Horns

• +4 Capital Production when engaging in combat
  
• +200% Force Heal Rate to all Forces while a Force is in Combat
  
• Traits: Aggressive, Disciplined, Productive, Perfectionist

Simon Bolivar - March on Bogota

• +40 Golden Age Points after conquering a City
  
• -50% Force Maintenance for 10 Turns after entering a War
  
• Traits: Cunning, Collaborative, Charismatic, Disciplined

Tamar the Great - Whom the Sun Serves

• +5 Masterpiece Create Rate during Golden Ages
  
• +1 Golden Age Progress per Alliance
  
• Traits: Unyielding, Independent, Spiritual, Creative

Wilma Mankiller - The Word for Water

• +10 Health per Alliance in all Cities
  
• +2 Culture per Paragon when all Paragons are tasked in all Cities
  
• Traits: Independent, Charitable, Traditional, Sage

Xerxes I - King of Kings

• +3 Production in non-Capital Cities
  
• +1 Golden Age Progress per City controlled
  
• Traits: Aggressive, Cunning, Ambitious, Rash

Yaa Asantewaa - Golden Protector

• +30% Force Strength for 20 turns after ending a war (non-civilian Units only)
  
• +2 Golden Age Progress per turn when War Weariness is 50 or higher
  
• Traits: Formidable, Independent, Traditional, Agrarian

Howard Florey - Medical Genius

• +10% Production in Cities with Health 70 or higher
  
• +5 Culture in Capital for each active Research Agreement
  
• Traits: Pacifist, Collaborative, Sage, Innovative

Itzcoatl - Flower Wars

• +1 Prestige for each Unit engaged in combat
  
• +100 Population growth in all Cities each turn a Force is in combat
  
• Traits: Aggressive, Disciplined, Spiritual, Perfectionist

John A. Macdonald - Boreal Forest

• +10 Harvest Production while not at War
  
• +5 Base Relationship with all other Nations for each turn since last combat while at War
  
• Traits: Adventurous, Pacifist, Stately, Woodsman

Leopold I - Nestor of Europe

• +5 to all Quality of Life stats in Capital for each Alliance maintained
  
• +2 Prestige a Turn for each active Alliance
  
• Traits: Adventurous, Charismatic, Mercantile, Efficient

Sappho - Tenth Muse

• +2 Golden Age Progress for each unassigned Paragon
  
• +5 Prestige per turn when all Paragons are tasked
  
• Traits: Persuasive, Creative, Traditional, Perfectionist

Sennacherib - Wolf on the Fold

• +50 Golden Age Progress after winning a war
  
• +100% Build Production for 10 turns in non-Capital Cities after winning a war
  
• Traits: Aggressive, Disciplined, Rash, Productive

Wu Zetian - Imperial Examinations

• +20 Prestige after gaining a Paragon
  
• +30 Base Relationship with Nations not at war with you each turn a Force is in combat
  
• Traits: Formidable, Cunning, Charismatic, Innovative

Yu Gwan-sun - Unbreakable

• +100% City Production when average Force Health is below 40%
  
• +5 Prestige each turn in a defensive war
  
• Traits: Paranoid, Charismatic, Persuasive, Charitable

Askia Mohammad I - Gold-Salt Trade

• +1 Religion Spread Distance for each active Trade Agreement
  
• +10 Gold per turn per Alliance
  
• Traits: Cunning, Mercantile, Spiritual, Resolute

Benito Juárez - Son of the People

• +1 turn duration to Golden Ages for each City controlled
  
• +200% Capital Population growth during Golden Ages
  
• Traits: Independent, Persuasive, Stately, Efficient

Leader Trait Redesigns

Military Domain Traits

• Adventurous: +1 Force Speed while not at War
  
• Aggressive: +50% Force Strength (non-civilian Units only) for 5 turns after declaring War
  
• Formidable: +50% Force Strength (non-civilian Units only) for 5 turns after War is declared on you
  
• Seafaring: +20 Prestige after a Sea Force defeats an enemy Force
  
• Vigilant: Forces in Combat gain +2 Sight
  
• Cunning: +10% Paragon spawn chance each turn a Force is in combat
  
• Patient: +25% Force Strength (non-civilian Units only) when War Weariness is over 50
  
• Pacifist: -10 Base Relationship with other Nations for 40 turns after declaring War, +25 Base Relationship with other Nations when not at War
  
• Practical: +1% Paragon spawn chance for each Military Improvement in your nation

Commerce Domain Traits

• Charismatic: +1 Golden Age Progress for each Trade Agreement and Research Agreement
  
• Charitable: -10 Prosperity in Capital, +2% Paragon Spawn Chance for each City in your nation
  
• Protective: +10% Trade Production for each Land Force you control
  
• Mercantile: +3 Merchants, +5 Base Relationship per Trade Agreement
  
• Lavish: +1 Merchant for each City controlled, +100 Base Relationship with other Nations

Government Domain Traits

• Collaborative: +2 Production in Capital for each active Alliance
  
• Bureaucratic: -5 Happiness in all non-Capital Cities, +2 Happiness and +2 Prosperity in Capital for each City controlled
  
• Impulsive: -10 Happiness in all Cities for 10 turns after declaring War, +20 Prestige each turn a Force is in combat for 10 turns after declaring War

Culture Domain Traits

• Creative: Improvements gain +2 Production for each Culture Improvement in their region
  
• Disciplined: Cities gain +5 Culture for each Military Improvement built in them
  
• Stately: Cities gain +5 Culture for each Government Improvement built in them
  
• Sage: Cities gain +5 Culture for each Science Improvement built in them
  
• Spiritual: Cities gain +5 Culture for each Religion Improvement built in them
  
• Traditional: +1% Paragon spawn chance for each Culture Improvement in your Capital

Industry Domain Traits

• Productive: +50% Build Production during Golden Ages
  
• Efficient: Improvements gain +2 Production per Industry Improvement in their region
  
• Perfectionist: +200% Craft Production to Industry Improvements during Golden Ages

Science Domain Traits

• Innovative: +1% Paragon spawn chance for each Science Improvement in your Capital
  
• Learned: +50% City Research during Golden Ages
  
• Rash: -5 turn duration to Golden Ages, +10 Production during Golden Ages

Religion Domain Traits

• Resolute: Cities gain +10% Religion Spread Strength for each Force stationed in them

Massive AI Improvements

Adaptive AI System (Prince+ Difficulty)

This is on by default but at Prince and higher player intelligence, the AI will up its game to play better. Uses a bit more CPU but probably not noticeable. Only activates if the player is winning and backs off if it starts to dominate to return to the actual difficulty level. Can be enabled/disabled at any time in the game options menu.

System Parameters

• Evaluation Frequency: Every 10 turns
  
• Activation: Prince+ difficulty when human leads in prestige
  
• UI Integration: Toggle option in game settings with tooltip

AI Resource Management Update

Ingredient Protection System
Prevents resource depletion with intelligent reserves:

• Core resources (Food, Wood, Stone): 1,000 unit reserve
  
• Money: 1,000 reserve, allows 5/turn spending
  
• Specialized resources: 50 unit threshold

Crisis Response System
Dynamic priority adjustments for resource shortages:

• Wood < 50: +10 priority bias
  
• Food < 25: +10 priority bias
  
• Happiness < 10: +8 priority bias
  
• Health < 15: +4.2 priority bias

AI Production Management Update

Priority Crafting Queue
Strategic item production with difficulty-based scaling:

• Easy: 10 item priority list
  
• Medium: 15 item priority list
  
• Hard+: 20 item priority list
  
• 10-turn persistence prevents indecisive changes

Reserve Saturation
Smarter military unit production based on actual needs:

• 0-5 reserves: 100% production
  
• 6-10 reserves: 50% production
  
• 11-15 reserves: 10% production
  
• 16+ reserves: 10% production

AI City Management

Improvement Priority Starvation System

• Prevents building types from being permanently neglected:
  
  • Tracks turns each improvement type waits
    
  • Applies exponential growth formula: turnsWaiting^(1+biasValue/10)

Amenity Selection
Intelligent city slot management based on population needs:

• Small cities focus on basic amenities
  
• Large cities pursue specialized benefits

AI Personality-Driven Diplomacy

Aggressive Leader Limitations:

• 30% reduction in positive standings
  
• 20% amplification of negative standings

Relationship Thresholds:

• Base: 500 relationship prevents war consideration
  
• Aggressive civs: Need 700+ relationship for friendship immunity
  
• Peaceful civs: Only need 400+ relationship for friendship immunity
  
• Trade Partner Protection: Non-aggressive civs won't attack active trade partners

AI Decision Making Update

• Enhanced Scoring System: 2x relationship weight increase. Trade deal penalty increased from -50 to -100
  
• Human Targeting: Reduced bias from +10 to +3
  Territory Bonuses: +30 for very close targets. +15 for nearby
  
• Cultural AI: Intelligent purchasing of Culture Traits and Claims
  
• Difficulty Scaling: AI behavior affected by difficulty level
  Advanced City Management: Dynamic food requirements. Smart resource valuation. Difficulty-based rival blocking
  
• Comprehensive Improvements: Enhanced planning, warfare AI, technology management, and nation coordination
  
• Smarter Peace Treaties: AI is smarter about handling peace offerings so it's not so easy to get out of a war you're losing
  
• AI is better at using Incite on other players: Intelligently picks the regions to target
  
• Items have updated AI alignments: Allows the AI to make better prioritization decisions
  
• Regions no longer owned by the AI: Can no longer be considered part of that AI's planning

Cultural Conquests & Agitator Unit

Starting in the Enlightenment era, players can train Agitator units who can use Cultural Influence to incite rebellions in adjacent regions controlled by other nations. This comes with a significant diplomatic effect.

Agitator Unit Features

• New specialist unit: Can incite rebellions in enemy regions
  
• Agitators allow the player to steal claimed (non-City Center) Regions adjacent to their borders
  
• Regional restrictions: Cannot convert actual city centers, just outlying regions

Diplomatic Consequences

• Inciting a rebellion in someone's region makes that player really, REALLY mad
  
• AI communication: Will let you know how ticked off they are that you incited one of their regions on the diplomacy screen
  
• Strategic targeting: AI is better at using Incite on other players - intelligently picks the regions to target

Incite Rebellion Effects

• Build order cancellation: If a region defects, all build orders previously given to that region are canceled
  
• Expert recovery: When a region is taken from another player, the experts that were in that region are added back to the city's pool
  
• Buff reset: Any buffs that a city was applying to a region that defects get reset once it defects

City Management Revolution

We have replaced the Terrain Info panel with a panel that shows all your cities with their stats. The terrain info now displayed on the bottom center of the screen based on where your mouse is.

City List Panel

Centralized overview replacing terrain info panel

New Self-Managing Options

Players can now allow the AI shop owners to self-manage their workshops, factories, and other city improvements on a per improvement basis. AI shop owners will choose what to craft, what the quota should be, what ingredients to use, and do so intelligently.

Players can order city improvements to let their owner (Nation AI citizen sim) run their own shop rather than setting up crafting manually

City Features

• Post level 16 cities get slightly more influence generation per level
  
• City razing: Players can now raze cities that they own (new button on screen)
  
• Soft city cap: Players (and AI) can settle new cities above the city cap, which is now a SOFT cap (significant quality of life penalty)
  
• Triumph bonuses: Several triumphs now boost the city cap
  
• AI citizen detection: AI citizens can detect if the player has manually slotted a given supply slot on an improvement and will not meddle with it after
  
• Manual supply configuration: Support for manually configuring a supply slot even with self-supply enabled

Map Generation & World Systems

New Map Generation System

Resources are placed in a more realistic way with some resources tending to cluster, some, like coffee, only spawning in one place and some not spawning near each other because they are competitors in the same niche.

Map Generation Features

• Resources are placed in a more realistic way with clustering and niche competition
  
• Rarity control: Pre-determines how many of a resource will be placed
  
• Initial placement: Resources placed randomly in compatible regions
  
• Clustering system: Subsequent resources use clustering bias (0-100% probability)
  
• Cluster limits: Respects cluster limits and maximum resources per cluster
  
• Geological realism: Creates realistic geological formations and agricultural regions
  
• Resource Exclusion System: Prevents incompatible resources from spawning near each other (e.g., Zebra and Bison separated)

Mod Friendly Parameters:

• MaxPlacementClusters: Global limit on separate geographic clusters (-1 = unlimited)
  
• ClusteringBias: Probability to place near existing clusters (0-100%)
  
• MaxInCluster: Maximum resources per individual cluster

New Map Types

• Terra Maps: New earth-like continent generation style, now the default for procedural maps
  
• Random Maps: Completely randomized continent layouts for maximum variety
  
• Improved Continental Maps: Better ocean placement allows for full world circumnavigation

Visual Map Features

• Subregions always visible: Subregions now displayed on the map as dotted lines
  
• Ships deployment: Ships that come out of dock will always deploy in a region adjacent to the open ocean and not a lake

Technology Tree & Research

Consolidated Tech Tree

Techs that were overly focused on one thing have been removed and consolidated into other techs. This improves game pacing (a lot) and gets rid of head scratching techs.

Technology Changes

• Special techs (like scenario techs) no longer show up in Encarta
  
• New technology: Revolutions - Capstone to Renaissance era, unlocks the Agitator unit
  
• Technology and unit rebalancing:
  
  • Schools moved to philosophy and no longer require books
    
  • Pikemen moved to Antiquities era
    
  • Trebuchets and Longbow moved to High medieval era
    
  • Industrialization obsoletes more primitive units
• Extensive technology tree rebalancing:
  
  • High medieval tech cost increased from 1100 to 1200
    
  • Renaissance cost increased from 1500 to 1600
    
  • Various items moved to different eras including Candles, Festival, Catapult, City walls, Telescopes, Observatory, Fertilizer, and others
• Starting Era Balance:
  
  • Fixed all difficulty starter kits to include proper technologies when starting in Act 2 or Act 3
    
  • Removed deprecated techs and added missing Renaissance technologies

Technology Tree Refinements

• Animal Husbandry: Animals requiring domestication moved here for revealing
  
• Rope Making: Moved to Bronze Age for better progression flow
  
• Comprehensive Balance Pass: Final adjustments to research progression and costs

Buildings & Improvements

Improvement Rebalancing

16 improvements overhauled to emphasize cultural development:

• Amphitheatre: Added +10 Culture buff
  
• Arcology: Enhanced to buff Culture with other QoL stats
  
• Cemetery: Reduced Happiness buff to +5, Added +5 Culture buff
  
• Community Garden: Added +5 Culture buff
  
• Exhibition Hall: Replaced Prosperity buff with +25 Culture buff
  
• Flower Field: Added +5 Culture buff
  
• Monument: Reduced Happiness buff to +10, Added +10 Culture buff
  
• Movie Studio: Added +15 Culture buff
  
• Art Gallery: Reduced Happiness buff to +5, Added +10 Culture buff
  
• Opera House: Added +20 Culture buff
  
• Palace: Enhanced to buff Culture with other QoL stats
  
• Radio Tower: Reduced Knowledge buff to +10, Added +10 Culture buff
  
• Reflecting Pool: Reduced Happiness buff to +15, Added +15 Culture buff
  
• Theater: Replaced Happiness buff with +15 Culture buff
  
• Topiary Park: Reduced Happiness buff to +10, Added +10 Culture buff
  
• Stonehenge: Replaced Security buff with +25 Culture buff

Building Improvements

• Mills: Provide a city-wide production bonus
  
• Various buff tweaks: To make improvements have a greater impact on city happiness
  
• Factory maintenance: Wood requirement reduced from 11 to 1, Weaver nation count increased from 3 to 8
  
• Furniture dwelling: Supply production buff increased from 0.1 to 0.5
  
• Lumbermill line: Of improvements provides a city-wide production buff
  
• Improved alignment: For key improvements for AI use
  
• Stonehenge: Removed duplicate Culture buff - now provides only one Culture bonus as intended

Building Costs Rebalanced

• Crafting Guild: Requires fewer resources to build
  
• Armory: Now costs Metal Ingots instead of Metal Tools, and Stone instead of Concrete
  
• Cement Plant: No longer requires Metal Tools
  
• Forge: Costs reworked to use Wood and Stone instead of Food
  
• Foundry: Redesigned to avoid requiring the Metal Ingots it produces
  
• Lamp Posts: Fixed category filtering - now properly appear under Security instead of Happiness

Units & Combat

• ICBM: Moved to rocketry
  
• Berserker: Significantly increased strength from 17 to 28 for better combat viability

Items & Resources

Item Changes

• Sculpting materials: Are now used in more recipes
  
• Baskets: When used as a city amenity, now provide 3 production
  
• Herbal medicine: Can be used as an ingredient for antibiotics

Resource and Economic Changes

• Nation Capacity: Cement Plants increased from 3 to 8
  
• Amenities Rebalance: Several Amenities changed to buff Culture instead of Happiness or Prosperity

Balance & Gameplay Changes

Government and City Management

• Adjusted city caps: For governments (Great Hearth now provides +1 to city cap)
  
• Reduced city cap bonuses: From governments to enhance Act tier significance
  
• Amenity slot cap: Reduced from 20 to 15 slots per city
  
• Regional claim costs: Reduced to balance overall claiming mechanics
  
• Predators: Can now be killed by non-scouts without taking damage but will no longer get the loot
  
• Slowed down amenity slots: Rate at which amenity slots are unlocked to track better with the pace of actual amenities becoming available
  
• Nation culling: Is back to being the default option; however, only the lowest 10% are removed

Difficulty and Starting Conditions

• Easier difficulty levels (Baron, Earl, Esquire, Marquess, Viscount) now start with grain near starting position
  
• Improved new player experience with guaranteed food access

Full Balance Pass

Everything from recipes to technology unlocks to improvement costs have received a revisit.

Performance & Visual Improvements

Performance Improvements

The game should play substantially faster, particularly late game. You're going to notice the performance and framerate difference first turn. It's that significant. Just move the camera. You'll see. You're going to be shocked.

Performance Optimizations

• GPU present system changed to be event based to reduce CPU use
  
• Improvements to terrain shaders to improve late game performance
  
• More use of multiple cores to improve framerate (late game)
  
• Power friendly: The engine has been updated to be less CPU intensive (we lose about 1fps from this) but your fans shouldn't go nuts now

Engine & Technical Fixes

• Updated CPU thread priorities to improve compatibility
  
• Implemented caching for high-performance timers to greatly improve performance
  
• Reduced GPU bandwidth usage to improve compatibility on NVIDIA cards
  
• Nation border caching for performance improvements
  
• Multi-core processor utilization enhancements
  
• Data Consistency: Removed references to deprecated technologies across all game files to prevent errors
  
• Save Game Stability: Fixed various crashes related to invalid data references

Visual Identity Update

• New Color Palette: Fresh visual scheme marking v2.0 era
  
• High DPI Support: Enhanced rendering for modern high-resolution displays
  
• Icon Consistency: Unified shadow effects and resolution across all resource icons
  
• Resolution Independent: UI adjusts to any size and shape (including ultra-wide displays)
  
• Smart UI scaling: Players can resize text and UI independently in Accessibility options
  
• UI is now high DPI aware and visually updated for easier reading
  
• Updated Nation Colors to better fit historical colors, improve readability, and reduce similar border colors

Graphics Updates

• Slight adjustment to army banner to not overlap living world army as much
  
• Fixed tanks being too tiny and horses too big when zoomed in
  
• Tank and other unit visibility shows further when zoomed out

User Interface & Quality of Life

Tooltip and UI System Overhaul

Major engine-level improvements to positioning, cursor avoidance, and user experience

Enhanced UI Features

• Adaptive tooltip offsets: Tooltips avoid being under the mouse cursor
  
• Spinny progress note on loading screen moved to bottom center
  
• More tooltips: Show "Lock with SHIFT key" to help players know they can lock tooltips
  
• Hold Shift support added for various tooltip interactions
  
• Selected "add project" button text made more readable
  
• Removed "talk to your advisors" tip
  
• Fixed tooltip showing on top of the unit we want to select
  
• Fixed amenity item tooltip overlapping city screen selections

Historical Trends Screen

In the Standings section of the game, players can now review the progress of the nation compared to other nations as line graphs. Categories including GDP, Research, Prestige, Population, etc.

The Statistics tab in the Standings panel now shows line graphs for every player at the same time, so you can see how you are doing relatively. New stats tracked per turn: Research, Military Power, Population, Regions controlled, Influence Generation, Gross National Product, National Production.

Standings screen's statistics tab now provides line graphs for a host of different stats such as military power, economy, production, etc.

Quality of Life Improvements

• Order Interrupted: No longer a blocking notification
  
• New Game Option: Let cities supply their own Amenities (OFF by default). If an Amenity runs out, the AI mayor can replace it with another amenity until the original returns to stock
  
• New reveal of resources chime: Adjusted to not repeat endlessly
  
• Lots of tooltip cleanup
  
• City banner disappears when player zooms in close enough (easier to admire the city without a big banner in the way)
  
• Adjustments to battle banners on the main map so they behave better as the player zooms out

UI Bug Fixes

• City List: Fixed missing tooltips on city entry icons
  
• Nation Statistics: Fixed crash when viewing graphs on the first turn
  
• National Economy: Fixed incorrect "Idle" status display for improvements on the first turn
  
• Asphalt Roads: Fixed grammar issue causing "A Asphalt Road" instead of "An Asphalt Road"

Mod Support & Technical

More Mod Friendly

The save game system has been updated to handle mods better

Mod Support

• Test Data updated for modders
  
• Changes to Modding:
  
  • If one mod is broken, we no longer disable all mods
    
  • Tolerant mode is now defined, allowing outdated mods to be loaded with default values
    
  • New flags for dealing with tolerant mode, including ignore unknown fields and use default values for missing data

Misc.

• Steam Review pop-up after playing for 400 turns

[qubytum]

I've just downloaded the game, launched it on my 27 inch 4k display and I do not have option there to choose 16:9 3840x2160 resolution, I only can select there 16:9 1920x1080 for some reason...

[qubytum]

Fixed by making this monitor the main one in the NvidiaApp and then relaunching the game. 4K is now available and god... Now the UI text looks super crisp, thank you, I've been waiting for that since release in 2024.

[qubytum]

So I have edited my review and made it positive now. Keep it up.

[RammaStardock]

We appreciate the feedback and support!

[Mackintosh]

Is there still no way to quickly move an item up or down the production queue? Why do I still have to manually click each building I want to upgrade? Am I that oblivious, or did you seriously not implement this yet? I've played for a few hours today, and I've already had enough. Still a clicking nightmare of a game. My hand hurts. Not touching it again until such basic things are improved upon.

[Draver]

Originally posted by Mackintosh:

Is there still no way to quickly move an item up or down the production queue? Why do I still have to manually click each building I want to upgrade? Am I that oblivious, or did you seriously not implement this yet? I've played for a few hours today, and I've already had enough. Still a clicking nightmare of a game. My hand hurts. Not touching it again until such basic things are improved upon.

Have you checked the National Economy screen ? You can do a lot from there even though upgrading stills needs to be done per building; but at least you can do it all from that one screen.

[Moomin]

I think it would be better if the production queue allowed multiple entries of the same item.
For example, it is currently impossible to set up something like: “Produce 5 baskets with the highest priority, then 5 plows, and once those are completed, continue producing baskets indefinitely.”
It is also not possible to specify: “Produce the first 5 baskets as quickly as possible using gold, but afterwards, produce baskets indefinitely without spending gold, even if production is slower.”

[Mackintosh]

Originally posted by Draver:

Have you checked the National Economy screen ? You can do a lot from there even though upgrading stills needs to be done per building; but at least you can do it all from that one screen.

Yes, I am aware you can do upgrades from the economy screen, but this doesn't address my main complaint, which is the unwieldiness of the production queue.

Why is there no key combo or even just a UI button to move an item to the top or the bottom of the city production queue? This is something that's in almost every game in this genre.

Why are new city productions queued behind special productions set to infinity? I can't even begin to count how many times I forgot about this and then discovered my oversight several turns later.

The same goes for crafting, click, click, click, oh no, I accidentally misclicked, and now it's gone down the queue instead of up, well, let's click click click again.

The level of babysitting and micromanagement required just with queues is infuriating. I don't mean to sound unappreciative of all the things you added with 2.0, but these are the basics of production-oriented game design.

[MachoMannRandySandvich]

where can i read more about how the crafting system works? right now it's not at all clear