1st Update!

Major Update Is Out Now! New Features, Improved AI, UI Changes, and More!

Hello everyone!

I'm still working on this mostly solo, so a lot of my time has been spent playing, testing, fixing issues, and figuring out how to make the game better. This is a pretty large 1st update, with a lot of changes focused on making the game easier to get into, improving existing systems, and finally implementing features that weren't quite finished before release.

One of the biggest focuses of this update was making the world feel more alive and easier to follow. Great People have been reworked into actual characters on the map, civilizations now progress through a more dynamic historical timeline, and you'll receive notifications when other nations enter new eras. We've also improved the AI, added more historical technologies, expanded diplomacy and citizen demands, and made managing cities easier with automated governors, manual citizen assignments, and a new Simple Mode for players who prefer a more relaxed experience.

We've also spent a lot of time improving scenarios, fixing missing cities, balancing units and the economy, improving pathfinding, and addressing bugs. Larger scenarios should be more stable, turns can now process faster with a new processing option, and there's even a history replay at the end of each game so you can watch how your world developed. The space race has also been improved, along with strategic resources, military combat, financial aid, and a lot more. Overall, the game should look a little different, play a little differently, and hopefully feel much more complete.

Important: This update will likely require starting a new game, as older saves may not be compatible. Unfortunately, with the amount of changes made, this was difficult to avoid. I'm hoping this will be the only update that requires this, and I'll be working to make sure future updates remain compatible with existing saves.

There are still bugs to fix and things to improve, but I'm feeling pretty good about where the game is heading! The demo is currently available on itch.io, and the Steam demo is just waiting on approval, so hopefully that will be available in the next couple of days.

Thanks again for all the support and feedback! It really does help, and I'm excited to keep improving the game. As always, feedback, suggestions, and bug reports are welcome. Hope you enjoy the update!

Demo coming soon to steam. For now demo is available on itch,io.

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Full Changelog Below:

Gameplay and New Features

• Added Simple Mode with automated systems to make the game easier for new players.
• Completely reworked Great People into characters that exist on the map, provide bonuses, retire, and can be captured or killed.
• Improved the council system with automatic assignments of the best available people.
• Added dynamic year progression that adjusts based on technological advancements around the world.
• Added new technologies to several eras to improve historical progression.
• Added civilization era notifications and a current era display.
• Added a history replay at the end of each game.
• Expanded game statistics, events, and leaderboards with military casualties, civilian casualties, best cities, wealth, and more.

Cities and Economy

• Added manual citizen tile assignments and tile yield previews.
• Added automated city governors with customizable production priorities.
• Added castles for the Medieval and Renaissance eras.
• Added the ability to sell buildings directly from the production screen.
• Rebalanced unit prices, production costs, and the overall economy.
• Expanded strategic resource requirements for military units, particularly modern units.
• Resources now greatly improve production speed, but units can still be trained without them at a much higher cost.
• Strategic resources can now appear over time on maps that lack sufficient resources.
• Added international financial aid and loans between civilizations.
• Improved AI financial management and added notifications for struggling nations.
• Financial assistance now contributes to diplomatic victory.

AI and Military

• Improved AI settlement behavior to prevent civilizations from wandering without founding cities.
• Improved long distance pathfinding and reduced unnecessary naval travel by land units.
• Improved AI targeting of vulnerable workers, artillery, Great People, and other capturable units.
• Improved barbarian behavior toward capturable units.
• Rebalanced unit attack and defense values across different military types.
• Improved AI protection of Great People.
• Improved AI space exploration and probe usage.
• Improved military box selection to select only military units and leave defenders in cities.
• Improved battle visibility during turn processing, allowing players to follow battles in explored territory.
• Forts can now intercept enemy aircraft.
• Combined airborne infantry and paratroopers into one unit.

Scenarios and Historical Improvements

• Improved terrain, coastlines, peninsulas, and city placement across multiple scenarios.
• Added missing historical cities, including locations in Eastern Europe and London in applicable scenarios.
• Added historically appropriate Great People to scenarios.
• Historical commanders such as Napoleon and Alexander now begin their campaigns as military leaders and can respawn in their capitals after being captured.

Space Race

• Fixed issues preventing the space race from working correctly.
• Spaceships can now launch from any city production screen once all components are completed.
• Added launch success percentages based on civilization science output.
• Failed launches now require ten turns before another attempt.
• Improved AI space exploration and science gathering.

Diplomacy and Citizens

• Expanded citizen demands involving religion, wars, trade embargoes, and government officials.
• Citizens may now demand religious changes when one religion becomes dominant.
• Citizens can demand the replacement of unpopular governors, leaders, and council members.
• Added diplomatic aid and loan options for civilizations facing wars, disasters, or financial problems.
• Improved pricing and balancing for exchanging space charts and other diplomatic items.

Performance and UI

• Added a Very Fast turn processing option for regular gameplay and auto turn.
• Simplified AI processing in this mode to reduce turn times on larger maps and later stages of the game.
• Improved the main menu layout and accessibility.
• Improved visibility of battles and city labels during turn processing.
• Fixed graphical issues with unit sprite positioning.
• Improved overall interface clarity and accessibility.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed AI civilizations failing to settle their first city.
• Addressed a freeze affecting some larger scenarios around turns eight to ten. Additional testing is still needed.
• Fixed units incorrectly showing no movement points remaining.
• Fixed aircraft rebasing issues.
• Fixed workers displaying advanced improvements before the required technologies were researched.
• Fixed several unit combat balancing issues.
• Fixed pricing issues with diplomatic trades.
• Fixed multiple scenario map and city placement issues.
• Improved unit pathfinding to avoid unnecessary water routes.

Important Save Game Notice

This update will likely require starting a new game. Older saves may not be compatible due to the number of changes made. Future updates will aim to maintain compatibility with existing saves.

Thanks again for everyone's support and feedback. More improvements and fixes are on the way!