Old World (pka Ten Crowns) from Soren Johnson

I’m usually happy to get the “make elder specialists” Ambition. By the time such an Ambition shows up, it’s typically taking me a couple years to make an apprentice, and maybe 4 or 5 years to make the elder. Not a big deal at all.

Also, I’ve won all my games with Ambitions. I have yet to win a Score victory. I think Ambitions are more fun. Sure, occasionally an Ambition is difficult or impossible, but usually they’re feasible for me, even on higher difficulties. In the Magnificent game of the week, I had a shot at winning on Ambitions; I completed 6 but was on the verge of #7s and 8 when I lost.

All that said, one truly impossible Ambition would indeed halt progress until my leader kicks the bucket. In such a case, should I consider abdicating?

So I guess the test branch is still broken? Just captured a Roman city and the box that opens up to assign which family gets it, while certainly larger than I recall it being when it worked, doesn’t now actually give you a choice on which family. It’s like the box where the three choices would be is cut off so you can’t see it.

This btw does appear to be game breaking as you can’t end the turn.

Supposedly, closing the popup and hitting 5 works (but this will be fixed on Monday).

Just to be clear, closing the popup and hitting 5 just gets you past this or allows you to still choose a family?

Gets you past it

Ok, cool. I saved where I ran into it, so I’ll load back up and hit 5 and carry on. Just curious, and I’m sure I’ll find out when I do it, is it random then which family gets assigned of the three?

How do forts work and how have you used them? The in-game help just says Heal 1 and “Prevents barbarian respawning”. I only recently realized that a worker can build a fort anywhere (except, I assume, inside someone else’s borders).

I’ve not built any yet, I’ll be interested in hearing what you make of them if you do. My typical solution for barbarians is taking them out and building a city where they used to be because I’ve usually got expansion on the brain and they’re the handiest way to get to city sites.

I don’t know how Forts work either. I built a couple forts in my Magnificent game, in which I was worried about barbarians for much longer than usual. I put them on borders facing barbarian areas, but I’m not sure whether they had any effect on respawns. The forts weren’t attacked, so I didn’t get to see them in action, but then again maybe that means they did their job?

I’ve never used them but they would come in handy assaulting enemy cities I guess. But protracted skirmishing doesn’t work unless you have catapults to outrange.

I’m currently trying at war with Persia. I couldn’t damage them enough while they attacked Rome and Rome is now dead, leaving just me. Gulp. They haven’t attacked me but I know they have 10-20 units to my 5.

Many thanks for adding the new victory condition!

I fired up my current campaign I’ve got going and don’t see a new victory condition, could be I’m just being slow as it was just a quick glance because I was curious.

Do I need to start a new campaign in order to see it?

Design
A Double Victory condition has been added
This triggers when you have double the VP of your nearest competitor and at least half the target number of VP
The Steel tech and Battleline tech have swapped places on the Tech Tree
Axeman and Maceman abilities have swapped (Axeman now have the arc attack, and Maceman now have the anti-infantry ability)
The strength values for these units have been adjusted
Axeman now also have a bonus against Polearm units
Some techs have been renamed
The Strategy tech has been renamed to Windlass
The Windlass tech has been renamed to Cogwheel
Orthodoxy now allows Disciples to purge Non-State Religions
State Religion cities now yield +4 Civics (Down from +5)
Greek’s Unique Units (Hoplite and Phalangite) now have the Polearm unit trait
Certain traits can now affect family opinions
The Famous trait now gives -25% Specialist Costs
A new unit promotion has been added
Heckler: +20% vs a unit with a General
Maintenance modifiers for most effects have been reduced
Connected, Stronghold, Citadel and Palace 20% → 10%
Citadel Growth reduced 20% → 10%
Shrines now give the Healer promotion (+1HP/Year) instead of Herbalist
AI archetypes now affect likeliness to declare war
Earlier specialists (Acolyte, Monk, Priest, Officer, Poet) cost less Civics to build
Trader family workers can build multiple roads per Year
Barbarian Strength (a setting that can be adjusted during game setup) will now influence how likely it is that tribes will declare war on you
Most money event rewards have been rebalanced
Changing a city governor now costs 5 orders
Roads no longer require a connection to a trade network
Suggested tile improvement options no longer include multiples of the same improvement class
The Family Gifts mission that Chancellors can do will now show the player an event informing them of the outcome of that mission

Personally, I am intrigued at the idea that traits can now affect family opinions. Seems like that is a good direction to be going.

Oh, so it’s not formally spelled out in the victory condition tab? But in effect there’s a mercy rule now.

🤗2345

That’s so cryptic I don’t even know what it means. But given the happy face I’m guessing I should be impressed and congratulate you.

They have definitely ramped up the power of the barbs, at least when playing on a difficulty level where they are rated as strong. And quite realistically, it is the number being generated, not the power of any individual unit. Definitely like the direction this is going.

I also like the direction this is heading. I’m looking forward to trying out the new patch later today. @FinnegansFather has already posted the most important patch notes; here’s a link to the complete list, which also includes new events, art, UI tweaks, and bug fixes. https://oldworldwiki.org/wiki/0.1.38739 Details embedded below:

Full patch notes

Design[edit]

  • A Double Victory condition has been added
  • This triggers when you have double the VP of your nearest competitor and at least half the target number of VP
  • The Steel tech and Battleline tech have swapped places on the Tech Tree
  • Axeman and Maceman abilities have swapped (Axeman now have the arc attack, and Maceman now have the anti-infantry ability)
  • The strength values for these units have been adjusted
  • Axeman now also have a bonus against Polearm units
  • Some techs have been renamed
  • The Strategy tech has been renamed to Windlass
  • The Windlass tech has been renamed to Cogwheel
  • Orthodoxy now allows Disciples to purge Non-State Religions
  • State Religion cities now yield +4 Civics (Down from +5)
  • Greek’s Unique Units (Hoplite and Phalangite) now have the Polearm unit trait
  • Certain traits can now affect family opinions
  • The Famous trait now gives -25% Specialist Costs
  • A new unit promotion has been added
  • Heckler: +20% vs a unit with a General
  • Maintenance modifiers for most effects have been reduced
  • Connected, Stronghold, Citadel and Palace 20% -> 10%
  • Citadel Growth reduced 20% -> 10%
  • Shrines now give the Healer promotion (+1HP/Year) instead of Herbalist
  • AI archetypes now affect likeliness to declare war
  • Earlier specialists (Acolyte, Monk, Priest, Officer, Poet) cost less Civics to build
  • Trader family workers can build multiple roads per Year
  • Barbarian Strength (a setting that can be adjusted during game setup) will now influence how likely it is that tribes will declare war on you
  • Most money event rewards have been rebalanced
  • Changing a city governor now costs 5 orders
  • Roads no longer require a connection to a trade network
  • Suggested tile improvement options no longer include multiples of the same improvement class
  • The Family Gifts mission that Chancellors can do will now show the player an event informing them of the outcome of that mission

Art[edit]

  • Cattle have received idle animations
  • Some unit and specialist icons have received updates
  • The Onager unit icon has been updated
  • The Acolyte, Rancher, and Woodcutter Specialist icons have been updated
  • The following unit promotion icons have been updated
  • Sniping
  • Hardy
  • Some tech tree icons have moved around or been updated to account for tech tree changes
  • Tribe crest icons have been updated
  • A new icon has been added to indicate when a city is idle
  • The icon for the Colosseum has been updated
  • The model for the Onager unit has been updated
  • The model for the Odeon has received some minor updates
  • The model for the Amphitheater has been updated
  • Various events have been updated with new art

UI[edit]

  • The single player setup screen has received some updates
  • There is now a ‘Premade Map’ option available, with a new map included called ‘The Old World’
  • Players can now set AI aggression during game setup
  • AI aggression determines how aggressive the opponents will be towards you
  • Players can now use Shift + Tab to reverse cycle through units and decisions
  • Mercenary units (and other free units received from events) are no longer associated with any families
  • Event decisions that reward a random trait will now produce an additional pop up to inform the player of what trait was received
  • The Choose Research pop up will now update or close after things are selected via the Tech Tree screen
  • The tech tree spacing will now adjust based on aspect ratio
  • There is a known issue with this feature where the Tech Tree spacing will not update after your resolution is changed. To fix this, save the game, then quit and relaunch. Upon reloading the tech tree spacing should be updated to match your new resolution settings.
  • Luxury action buttons have had their text updates to give the options available more clarity
  • The City Build queue has received some minor updates
  • The close button present on units/projects present in the build queue has been updated
  • There is now an arrow button between each queued item, allowing players to move things that are later in the queue to the beginning of the queue
  • Updated help text regarding specialist cost reductions
  • The window size of the file browser has been increased
  • Graphics options present in the settings menu have been updated with tooltip text
  • Graphics preset option has been moved to the top of the menu, as it determines all other settings
  • Some UI elements have received minor updates to reduce clipping issues

New Events[edit]

  • Traitorous Tutor
  • Your servants discover that your heir and their tutor are missing
  • This event will start an event chain
  • Impatience
  • Your family has some disagreements regarding your ruling style
  • A Keen Eye
  • Your spies are bickering about a rival nation and you offer a solution
  • Secret Strike
  • Your spies suggest a plot to put your enemies at odds with one another
  • Rousing Words
  • The latest recruits have finished their training and you are tasked with giving an inspirational speech to send them off
  • In Your Honor
  • Your Chancellor returns with good news after delivering gifts to one of your families
  • Devoted Followers
  • Your family is grateful for the gifts delivered by your Chancellor, and asks for additional support to a cause they are devoted to
  • Unexpected Feelings
  • Your Chancellor delivers some gifts to one of your founding families, and a member of that family mistakes the intention behind the gift
  • What is Art?
  • Your family appreciated the gifts sent by your Chancellor, and decide to send you a gift in return
  • Chastened
  • Your Chancellor attempts to bring gifts to a family, but it doesn’t work out as expected
  • Delivery Mistake
  • The gifts you intended to send to one family were mistakenly delivered to another family
  • Moment of Weakness
  • While engaged in war with a foreign nation, a different nation arrives in court to make demands
  • Denouncement
  • Your family is unhappy with another nation’s decision to adopt a certain law, and demands you denounce them
  • Ongoing Alliance
  • A nation reaches out to you after your coronation to discuss terms for maintaining the alliance between your nations
  • Heated Debate
  • One of your families asks you to denounce another nation for following a different religion
  • Family Politics
  • After receiving some gifts from your Chancellor, a member of the family visits you in court
  • A Time to Reap
  • A courtier arrives in court to inform you of a decision they’ve made
  • Entrails
  • An augur requests to do a spiritual reading for you
  • This event will start an event chain
  • The Court Mourns
  • Your nation mourns after the death of a Courtier
  • Disturbing the Peace
  • The heir of your rival is caught disturbing the peace
  • Outrage in [City]
  • Outbreaks of violence have erupted in one of your cities
  • Rekindled Passion
  • You are in a miserable stupor and the royal household suggests solutions that may help
  • Translations
  • One of your families requests that you translate foreign texts into your own language
  • Educating Our Women
  • Your elites voice concerns over educating women to be their equals
  • Freed Slave
  • A philosopher comes to you to discuss how they feel about slavery
  • Tutorial events have been added for Spearman and Maceman units

Miscellaneous Changes[edit]

  • Date and time are now listed with save information in the file browser
  • The Map Editor has received a few minor updates
  • Support for Custom User Translation mods has been added
  • Players will need to create a ‘Translations’ folder in their Documents\My Games\OldWorld directory - Custom User Translation mods will go into this folder

Bug Fixes[edit]

  • Fixed an issue where conquered cities could not be assigned to a family
  • Fixed an issue where the family marriage mission would fail to fire sometimes
  • Fixed an issue where the character upgrade pop up would have no options to choose from
  • Fixed an issue where the Anchor and Unlimber cooldown icons were swapped for boat units and certain siege units
  • Fixed an issue where some character actions were incorrectly being hidden
  • Fixed an issue where luxury action buttons were mislabeled, also fixed their text positioning
  • Fixed an issue where tech tree status icons were inconsistent sizes
  • Fixed some issues with dead characters
  • Fixed some issues with map settings present on the game setup screen
  • Fixed an issue where a blank space would appear after character names when their family crest wasn’t shown
  • Fixed an issue where some map editor tools buttons weren’t being highlighted correctly
  • Fixed an issue where some event titles appeared incorrectly in the game log
  • Fixed an issue with options toggles
  • Fixed an issue where the legitimacy icon would overlap with Legitimacy text
  • More work has been done to address performance issues
  • Fixed some issues with performance on game start up
  • Fixed various event issues
  • Fixed various error messages that could occur

Probably a side-effect of continuing a game in yesterday’s patch: all the commodity prices in my game dropped to between 2 and 5. I foresee a sudden jump in wonder construction as all the nations scoop up stone at 2gp.

Sweet!