Sprite Update Patch notes - Coming Tomorrow 16/6/2026
Triumph Studios
System Update: Empire Development Tree
The Empire Development Tree has been updated and significantly expanded. Over time the way that the tree was originally designed no longer matches the way that game has evolved. Empire Skills now represent a broader interpretation of their affinities and provide a better expression of your faction.
Added new mutually exclusive Skills for almost every Skill in the Empire Development Tree All Rites have changed from Once per Game to Repeating
When a Rite is used its Affinity Requirements Increase and the accumulated Affinity is reset.
Updated or Removed all preexisting Empire Development Skills & Rites Improved Readability of the Tree
Empire Rites have a new shape to better differentiate between them and regular skills Mutually Exclusive Skills show a Lock icon when inspecting them Skill Tooltips list Mutual Exclusive Skills
With the exception of Skills from the General Branch, any owned Empire Skill in your current games will be removed and the Imperium costs refunded.
Associated Updates
Updated all City Structures with appropriate Structure Tags Added the Guild Slot System which allows multiple Guilds to be built in a City Society Trait “Merciless Slavers”
Now gives the new Turncoat Masters empire skill Now gives a 25% discount on recruiting captured and dominated units
Society Trait “Keepers of Knowledge” - Now gives Seeing Stones instead of All Seeing
System Update: Teams
Teams have always been about providing an easy way to work together towards Victory, without having to go through the various Diplomatic Requirements. However this also meant all Diplomacy between Teams would be turned off. With these two new settings you can still team up at game start, without losing out on diplomatic intricacies.
The Teams Settings is now a Dropdown instead of a Checkbox Added two new Settings to Teams in Advanced Settings
Alliance - Team members start in a full alliance with each other. Once the game begins, Rulers are free to leave the alliance if they wish. Overlords - One player in each team is assigned the overlord, while the other players are his vassals. The overlord has control over diplomacy, and vassals may not leave the team without their permission.
Which Player is the Overlord can be set in the Player Slot Settings
New Content: Wizard King Customization
Secrets of the Archmages is all about the Wizard Kings, and there’s no better way to acknowledge this than with new Drip. New Wizard King customization items are available in the Base Game as well as owners of a variety of DLC’s.
Added Customization Items for Wizard Kings
Helmet
Warlord (Male/Female) Painbringer (Female)
Outfits
Phantasm Warrior (Male) Pyre Templar (Male) Warlord (Male) Pyromancer (Female) Constrictor (Female) Geomancer (Female) Painbringer (Female)
Capes
Pyre Templar Warlord
Pantheon
Increased the Save Data Size for Pantheons. Pantheon Saves can now contain up to 300 Rulers. Added Pantheon Content
4 Evermore Items
Item Forge Skin - Merlin’s Tome Item Forge Infusion - Magic Shield Back Item - Astral Magic Circle Banner Icon - The Leviathan
5 Obbadoth Items
Item Forge Skin - Ysariel’s Sword Item Forge Skin - Karissa’s Inferno Orb Back Item - Chaos Magic Circle Exotic Mount - Inferno Hound Mounts Banner Icon - The Beast
4 Duatha Items
Customization Item - Hambinger’s Bird Back Item - Arachna’s Spider Legs Back Item - Nature Magic Circle Banner Icon - The Mistwalker
2 Wizard King Items
Cat Ears & Tail Arachna’s Crown
Culture Update: Reavers
The Reavers were our first DLC Culture, closing out 2023 with the Empires & Ashes Expansion. Since then we’ve introduced the concept of Sub Cultures and generally improved our Culture Designs. The Reaver's World Map Gameplay has had a problem of being too restricted and narrow, impacting diplomatic gameplay much more harshly than intended. With the Reaver Rework we are making them much more two dimensional and bringing them up to snuff.
Imperial Reavers
Affinities: Chaos + Materium.
Theme: Conquest feeds the Empire’s expansion and prosperity.
Combat Focus: Overwhelming ranged firepower, using Focused Aggression to bring targets down.
Imperial Reavers build tall, without regard for allies or enemies alike. Conquest grants them the resources needed to empower their mighty Imperial Cities beyond what others are capable of. An Imperial Reaver’s Throne City will be a jewel worth conquering indeed.
World Map Gameplay - War Spoils
Gain Warspoils through:
Defeating units belonging to Free Cities, Dwellings, or Empires. (Scales with Tier) Conquering Cities Pillaging Provinces
Use Warspoils to:
Construct unique City Structures that empower cities in unique ways. Convert Subdued units after combat Draft Cannon units
City Structures
Mana Forge (Same as previous)
Replaces the Shrine +10 Mana +5 Structure Production
Lodestone Foundry (Same as previous)
Replaces the Mana Obelisk +15 Mana +10 Structure Production
Imperial Academy (Replaces Extraction Nexus)
Unique Tier 3 City Structure Units garrisoned in this city gain +15 XP per turn +20 Knowledge
Imperial Warfactory (Replaces Reaver Manufactorum)
Special Province Improvement Counts as Quarry +10 Structure Production +10 Draft per adjacent Quarry, Forester or Mine
War Trophies (Repeatable)
Tier X City Structure Costs 100 Warspoils to build (250 Production) +10 Stability +20 Food +10 Structure Production +10 Gold
Research Skills
Engraving of Focus - Unit Enchantment
Non-Culture Units gains Focussed Aggression
Designate Target - Combat Spell
Target enemy unit suffers 2x Marked and 90% chance to suffer 1x Immobilized
Suppressing Barrage - Combat Spell
Enemy units in the target 1-hex Radius AoE suffer 10 Physical Damage and are knocked out of Defense mode.
Combat Gameplay - Focused Aggression
Ranged or Magic attacks deal +10% damage per stack of Marked on the target. Melee attacks inflict Marked, Single Shot Melee Abilities inflict 2 Stacks of Marked
Unit Lineup
The lineup remains the same, although the Overseer’s base attack and the Magelock Cannon had their damage buffed.
T1 Observer: Scout T1 Harrier: Skirmisher
New Passive “Slip Away”
T1 Mercenary: Polearm
Drive Back - Now enters Defense Mode after use
T2 Overseer: Support | Optional Mounted
Increased Damage from 10 to 14 Removed Chance to inflict Blind
T2 Magelock: Ranged T3 Dragoon: Skirmisher | Mounted
Harrying Shot - Now has a 1 Turn Cooldown
T3 Magelock Cannon: Ranged
Increased Damage from 30 to 40 Can now Fire while engaged
Federate Reavers
Affinities: Order + Materium
Theme: Alliances and Vassals are power, diversity is strength.
Combat Focus: Fielding a balanced roster of Vassal units alongside their own
Federate Reavers grow wide across the map, not through direct control, but through a strong network of Vassals they establish or create through conquest. They command many Vassals, gaining increased benefits from completing bounties and defeating infestations.
World Map Gameplay - Favors
Gain Favors through:
Defeating Marauders (Scales with Tier) Destroying Infestations Maintaining Vassals at max Allegiance
Use Favors to:
Improve the Allegiance of Vassals Nullify the Grievances of other Empires using the Declaration of Debt Trade with Free Cities Rush War Coordination with Vassals Rally the Lieges
City Structures
Mana Forge (Same as previous)
Replaces the Shrine +10 Mana +5 Structure Production
Lodestone Foundry (Same as previous)
Replaces the Mana Obelisk +15 Mana +10 Structure Production
Extraction Nexus
Unique Tier 3 Unique Structure +5 Gold per SPI +5 Mana per SPI
Reaver Manufactorum
Special Province Improvement Counts as Mine +10 Gold +5 Gold per Vassal of the owner empire
Research Skills
Banner of the Federation - Unit Enchantment
Non-culture Units that do not have Federate Levy gain Federate Soldier
Revitalizing Alliance - Combat Spell
Target friendly unit
Heals for 10 HP Units with Federate Soldier:
Heal +5HP for all friendly unit with Federate Levy in battle
Units with Federate Levy:
Heal +5HP for all friendly unit with Federate Soldier in battle
This effect then jumps to another target in range 3 up to 2 times.
Sundering Barrage - Combat Spell
Enemy units in the target 1-hex Radius AoE suffer 15 Physical Damage and 90% chance to suffer Sundered Defense..
Combat Gameplay - Federate Levy/Soldier
Units from this Player’s Culture gain Federal Soldier:
This unit gains +10 max HP for each Federal Levy in its Army. Grants +2 XP per turn to Federal Levy units in their Army each strategic turn. Gain +20% Accuracy and Damage against units adjacent to Federal Levy units.
Units recruited from Vassals through Rally of the Lieges and friendly units belonging to Vassals gain Federal Levy:
Support Abilities heal Federate Soldier Units for +20% Temporary Hit Points This unit gains +10 max HP for each Federal Soldier in their Army. Grants +2 XP per turn to Federal Soldier units in their Army each strategic turn. Adjacent Enemy units suffer “Engaged by Levies.”
Attacks made by Federal Soldier units gain +20% accuracy and +20% damage against this unit.
Unit Lineup
The lineup is half the same, but all units will receive an art pass to visually represent them as less-evil aesthetic variants of Reavers.
T1 Observer: Scout T1 Pistoleer: Skirmisher | Optional Mounted
Melee Strike - Base Attack Shoot Magelock Pistol - Active Ability
Single Action Missile, Range 4, 1 Turn Cooldown Deals 20 Physical Damage
Coordination - Passive
This unit gains +20% Critical Hit chance against Engaged targets.
Versatile Skirmisher - Passive
T1 Mercenary: Polearm
Drive Back - Swapped Fire Damage for Spirit Damage Drive Back - Now enters Defense Mode after use
T2 Sapper: Support | Optional Mounted
Sundering Blast - Base Attack
Single Action Magic, Range 4 Deals 14 Spirit Damage 90% chance to inflict Sundered Armor
Demolition Blast - Active Ability
Single Action Magic, Range 3, 2 Turn Cooldown Deals 30 Physical Damage to target Obstacle Units inside of obstacles suffer 2x Sundered Defense Has Demolisher
Patch Up - Active Ability
T2 Magelock: Ranged T3 Breacher: Magic Fighter | Optional Mounted
Magic Strike - Base Attack
Repeating Action Magic, Melee Range Deals 15 Physical Damage
Breaching Shot
Single Action Magic, 2 Hex Cone, 2 Turn Cooldown Deals 20 Spirit Damage Base 90% chance to apply Sundered Defense. Base 90% chance to apply Sundered Resistance Has Breaching
Reinforced - Passive
T3 Magelock Cannon: Ranged
Increased Damage from 30 to 40 Can now Fire while engaged
New Feature: Narrative Content Filter
This Setting, added in the Realm Content tab of the Advanced Realm Creation Settings, provides additional control over what kind of Narrative Content can appear during a game.
Added a new Section in Realm Content for Narrative Content The following types of Content can be controlled
Toll of Seasons - A happening where fey invaders enter your realm and attack your cities. Cosmic Happenings - A large collection of global happenings that affect the whole world with economic, terraforming and combat effects. Intrigue Happenings - A small collection of happenings based around AI controlled lords being replaced by other characters. Wandering Merchants - A collection of events that spawn shops for players to buy things during gameplay Lost Souls - A collection of quests that can be triggered by moving an army onto a wandering lost soul unit.
Associated Updates
Removed the following Realm Traits:
Toll of Seasons Unfolding Mysteries
Removed the “Disabled” option from the Happening Intensity setting. This will now be handled by the Narrative Content Filters.
Combat AI
Made improvements to reduce the likelihood of AI using Healing Abilities on units that don’t need it
Adjusted the bookcases & statues in the Archon Observatory Ancient Wonder to fade when they block vision of your units. Removed stone obstacle that was in front of the deployment zone of the Blossom Orchard TC map Reduced the amount of bats particles in the Sunless Lands Theme to improve performance Big optimization pass on textures used in the environment Added 2 Dreadlock Hairstyles for Female Humans
Updated “Undo Movement” Logic - Damaging obstacles now blocks undoing movement
This also fixes Fiery Wake incorrectly blocking Undo Movement
Debuff “Subdued” - Can now be Dispelled Buff “Haste” - No longer grants Very Fast Movement instead it increased Combat Speed by 1 Debuff “Slowed” - No longer grants Slow Movement instead it reduces Combat Speed by 1 Debuff “Life Seed”
Reduced Temporary HP healed from 20 to 15 Can now Stack up to 3 Times
Passive “Watchful” - Renamed to Vigilant Obstacle “Lucky Sunflower” - No longer grants Lucky, instead it grants Fortune
Feudal
Unit “Knight” - New ability “Knight’s Challenge”
Range 6, Debuff, Once per Battle Challenge a Target Unit. Target Unit takes 50% increased Damage and deals 50% Reduced Damage
Mystic
School of Potential
City Structure “Academy of Potential” - Now affects Magic Fighter units
School of Attunement
Astral Echoes gained from unlocking Research Skills reduced from 20 per tier to 5 per tier
Industrious
Unit “Bastion” - Defensive Sweep is no longer base
Primal
The Primal Culture’s Introduction Quest has been reworked to help players keep better track of how many Dens they need to secure and that they need to produce the Temple of their subculture. Unit “Charger” - Cleaving Charge is no longer base
Oathbound
Unit “Warbound” - Infernal Blaze is now Magic, not Melee Unit “Avenger” - Radiant Slash is now Magic, not Melee Unit “Peacebringer” - Arrow of Harmony is now Missile, not Magic
Nomads
Increased the resource incomes of Wonder Essences, except for Knowledge (Ancient Manuscripts) and Draft (Seed Pods) income.
Mana Stores (Conduit)
Bronze - Increased from 1 Mana to 2 Silver - Increased from 2 Mana to 4 Gold - Increased from 3 Mana to 6
Food Stockpiles (Farms)
Bronze - Increased from 3 Food to 5 Silver - Increased from 6 Food to 10 Gold - Increased from 9 Food to 15
Rare Materials (Quarry)
Bronze - Increased from 2 Production to 3 Silver - Increased from 4 Production to 6 Gold - Increased from 6 Production to 9
Treasure Trove (Mine)
Bronze - Increased from 1 Gold to 2 Silver - Increase from 2 Gold to 4 Gold - Increased from 3 Gold to 6
Gaining a new Tome via Scripts now delays unlocking the next Tome by 2 Research cycles.
Added new Exotic Mount Traits
Bone, Fire & Frost Wyvern Mounts for Base Game Owners Gold & Obsidian Wyvern Mounts for Dragon Dawn Owners Infernal Juggernaut Mount for Primal Fury Owners
Added new Magic Starting Weapons - Grimoires
These Magic Weapons grant Heroes access to the Spike and Rebuke Abilities from Eldritch Sovereign Weapons
Form Trait “Nightmare Mounts” - Now grants Lava Walk Society Trait “Chosen Destroyers” - Now grants Total War Society Trait “Scions of Evil”
Now grants Total War Now can also grant a starting Polearm Unit Can now be used by Reaver and Oathsworn
Updated Laryssa Mirabilis to Federated Reaver AI players should have less issues with picking up the Vision of Promise and Vision of Ruin quests, as well as completing them.
Unit Recruitment to Free Cities will now get cancelled when the City is Occupied.
Ambitions
Major Ambition “Shepherd”
Now includes Fey Units for its completion requirements Passive “Druid” - Now also affects Fey units
Vampires
Added a 3 Turn Cooldown to the Devour Action - this cooldown is unique per Hero. Active Ability “Mesmerizing Bite” - Domination now lasts until the end of combat, as intended Passive “Rose Knight Guardian” - No longer works in Water or Lava combat Active Ability “Gravemarch” - Can now be used by multiple players in the same battle at once.
Dragon Lord
Sumuskira the Grovetender “Mass Rejuvenation” - Increased cooldown increased from 1 Turn to 3. Signature Skill “Elder of Shadow” - No longer incorrectly grants Undying Signature Skill “Elder of Nature” - No longer triggers from Auto Spells
Ritualist
Active Ability “Rite of Restoration”
No longer has the Support ability tag Changed from Once per Combat to a 3 Turn Cooldown Increased Healing from 10 Temporary HP to 20
Active Ability “Rite of Vigil”
No longer has the Support ability tag Changed from Once per Combat to a 3 Turn Cooldown
Active Ability “Rite of Fury”
No longer has the Support ability tag Changed from Once per Combat to a 3 Turn Cooldown
Active Ability “Reincarnate”
Removed the Mana Cost for recruiting reincarnated Units Changed from a Full Action to a Single Action
Battlesaint
Active Ability “Battlefield Restoration” - No longer has the Support tag Active Ability “Warding Bond” - Now has the Support tag
Defender
Active Ability “Warding Bond” - Now has the Support tag
Warlock
Active Ability “Hex Pact”
Now has the Magic Weapon tag Initial Cast of the ability can be modified
Active Ability “Curse”
Now has the Magic Weapon tag Now can be Modified
Added support for Bengali, Devanagari, and Thai scripts, including new fonts so these languages display correctly. Settings for human player slots are now saved as well The system will no longer allow players to place multiple Siege Projects that block each other, such as Construct Onagers and Construct Bombard The Tome Selection screen of Faction Creation now shows which of the Tome Skills will be unlocked at game start. Spell Upkeep per Unit is now included in Spell Tooltips in the Research Screen and the Encyclopedia. Standard Primary Weapon’s tooltip now shows that the item can be equipped by an Elder Vampire alongside Champions and Wizard Kings Combat Spells now show applicable requirements when inspecting the Spell Book on the World Map
Controller
In the Advanced World Setup, the restore defaults button on controllers will now be blocked if the Slot Settings panel is open. Similarly, pressing the back button will close the panel instead of closing the whole Advanced World Setup. Updated the Province Annexation flow on controller to include Teleporter Pins, allowing smoother annexation of Provinces on other Layers.
Added new Item Forge Weapons - Grimoire
These Magic Weapons grant Heroes access to the Spike and Rebuke Abilities from Eldritch Sovereign Weapons
Bone Wyvern Mounts are now Tier 3 and give +4 Blight Protection The Heavy Crossbow, Skypiercer and Ricochet now use the standard Piercing modifier instead of bypassing 5 defense Active Ability Infusion “Animate Flora” - Changed from a Free Action to a Single Action on a 4 Turn Cooldown
Added a search bar to the Resource Inspector to filter properties by name or value Added a transform gizmo to the Modularity System in Resource Editor Added a script function to reset unit pools on the UnitSpawner Added support for linking RMG "Flavor Override" settings to map traits Added support for multi-editing of resource link lists Improved the Structure Replacement Selection menu to match the Resource Link List Selection Dialog style Improved slope painting in Level Editor — the checkbox wheel has been removed, painting now happens triangle by triangle in both Tactical and Strategic maps Improved the Localized String Dialog Window's key/value table to be resizable and show full cell content Improved Resource Editor to remember your last resource selection between reloads and refreshes Improved Resource Editor to allow clearing links with the 'Delete' key. Some exceptions may apply. View Preferences for Resource Editor, Content Editor, and Level Editor are now saved between sessions Improved Level Editor to hide deprecated Themes, Overlays, and DecoTypes Fixed an issue where returning to the editor after opening a modularity component caused scrollbars to stop working Fixed the "Num Groups For Tier Up" setting not being adjustable by mods
Added Sanitization to Custom Realm Names. Allow Custom Realm Names to be shown in Multiplayer Games Fixed an issue in multiplayer…
This announcement was originally published by Triumph Studios on Steam on Jun 15, 2026.
Open the original on Steam
