Version: 1.0.19369
Balancing Changes
- Wood camp footprint reduced to 2x3 tiles
- Wood camp cost reduced to 10 Wood
- Updated starting troops for all AI Lords
- Updated All AI Lords' castles
- AI Lords will now randomly select their castle size and rotation when starting custom skirmish or multiplayer games
- AI Lords will now most likely build the largest castle size they can within the available free space in custom skirmish and multiplayer -games
- Skirmish trail missions rebalanced to curb rushing the AI Lords
- Breath of the Infidel: Pit of Despair
- Desert Heat: Isolation
- Way of the Warrior: Lord of the Desert, The Two Brothers, Hope Springs
- A Trail of Tears: Mighty River, Predator, Sands of Time
- Hell's Teeth: The Peninsula, To the Summit
Bug Fixes
- Added support for changing available keyboard layouts using ALT+SHIFT
- Fixed a slowdown caused by no trees/wood being available on the map for woodcutters.
- Fixed players receiving popularity bonus for multiple food types when rations set to 0
- Fixed players estates being changed on the minimap when they were added/removed from a team
- Fixed players that are not in a team in skirmish and multiplayer games not being kicked out on game start
- Fixed multiplayer game lobby not showing correct values for clients when they first join the game
- Fixed Greatest Lord screen being available in non-skirmish missions
- Fixed Ranger's animation and props
- Fixed an exploit where wood camps placed for free could refund goods upon being deleted
- Fixed village estates colour issues in map editor
- Fixed an exploit with placing barricades too close to enemy walls
- Fixed various crashes
Version: 1.0.19266
Multiplayer
- Players can now invite other players to join them via Steam
- When a player quits or surrenders in a multiplayer game or their connection times out, their castle will now be removed from the game
- The multiplayer lobby browser has been changed to show games not just within your region but also neighbouring regions by default following feedback from players
- A 'Show High Latency Games' filter has been added to the lobby browser to allow players to see worldwide games. WARNING: non-local multiplayer games are likely to suffer from high latency.
General
- When deleting walls, stone is now returned to the stockpile
- Free single column walls exploit fixed
- Browsing save games and maps now works when using a Documents path located on a network share
- Improvements have been made to the Repair/Delete tools following feedback from players
- Extra hotkeys have been implemented (see online manual for full list)
- Siege equipment stationed within the siege camp can now be targeted by archers
- The building count limits are now correctly applied to the main building panel after a lord dies
- The correct amount of gold is now removed for all difficulties of the 'Kerak' pre-order campaign mission.
- The Sergeant-At-Arms now buffs troops armour by 25%, down from 50%
- Goods sent and received between allies are now tracked correctly in end game stats
- Various localisation fixes
Version: 1.0.19093
- Fixed a crash with events spawning in estates without a location/destination marker
- Fixed an issue where players would get dropped out of multiplayer games while task switched for extended periods
Version: 1.0.19574
Added:
- Added new skirmish map "The Breath of Life"
- Stats page for all units and buildings - available here: http://www.strongholdcrusader2.com/stats.html
- Added tooltips to all troop command buttons
- Added well sprite for minimap
- Anti-cheat protection implemented
Balancing Change:
- Re-balanced map "Close Encounters"
- Rebalanced Trail missions
- Desert Heat - Isolation
- Way of the Warrior - Hope Springs
- Trebuchet damage halved
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed help icons which were not linked to correct help file pages
- Lobby type (Public, Friends/Invite) now displayed correctly for clients
- Fixed being able to move troops into neutral estates during peacetime using the minimap
- Fixed gatehouse continuing to be captured once enemy troops are no longer on top of it
- Fixed an exploit where player Lords could be pushed out of the playable area
- Fixed walls not being built at correct plateau heights which created various wall bugs
- Fixed engine tower armour values so that they now take the correct amount of damage from different attacks
- Fixed rally points being visible for enemy and/or ally players in multiplayer
- Fixed an issue where saves and resyncs would not work when using a custom map sent to clients through the multiplayer lobby
- Fixed knights dismounting before crossing bridges
- Fixed Iron mine workers dying when Iron Mine is deleted/destroyed
- Fixed various crash and sync issues
Version: 1.0.19791
Added:
- Improvements to various cursors and their hotspots.
- Multiplayer games remain listed in the Lobby when in progress, but display a crossed swords icon in the Locked column.
- Friend's or ‘Invite Only’ games are now correctly displayed as Locked in the Multiplayer lobby.
- Enemy units and buildings are now highlighted red when targeted by selected player's units.
Bug Fixes:
- Numerous optimisations for group pathfinding.
- Several fixes for curved movement in formations.
- Optimised collision checks for pathfinding.
- Fixed slowdown when woodcutters are searching for new trees.
- Fixed crash which occurred occasionally when Mantlets and other siege equipment moved over Man Traps (Thanks FireRanger!).
- Enemy peasants and workers no longer prevent players from building if they are too close during Peacetime.
- Braziers no longer block access to walls when placed at the Atop of stairs.
- Fixed an issue where kicking players in Skirmish Lobbies would sometimes kick the wrong player.
- Lord death will now result in defeat in Sandbox missions.
- Fixed Restart Mission not working in Sandbox missions.
- Fixed an issue where invasions in custom maps would sometimes get stuck when trying to target the player's Lord
- Fixed melee troops not being able to attack engine towers when they were placed inside a section of wall.
Version: 1.0.19791
Added:
- Improvements to various cursors and their hotspots.
- Multiplayer games remain listed in the Lobby when in progress, but display a crossed swords icon in the Locked column.
- Friend's or ‘Invite Only’ games are now correctly displayed as Locked in the Multiplayer lobby.
- Enemy units and buildings are now highlighted red when targeted by selected player's units.
Bug Fixes:
- Numerous optimisations for group pathfinding.
- Several fixes for curved movement in formations.
- Optimised collision checks for pathfinding.
- Fixed slowdown when woodcutters are searching for new trees.
- Fixed crash which occurred occasionally when Mantlets and other siege equipment moved over Man Traps
- Enemy peasants and workers no longer prevent players from building if they are too close during Peacetime.
- Braziers no longer block access to walls when placed at the Atop of stairs.
- Fixed an issue where kicking players in Skirmish Lobbies would sometimes kick the wrong player.
- Lord death will now result in defeat in Sandbox missions.
- Fixed Restart Mission not working in Sandbox missions.
- Fixed an issue where invasions in custom maps would sometimes get stuck when trying to target the player's Lord
- Fixed melee troops not being able to attack engine towers when they were placed inside a section of wall.
Version: 1.0.19800
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed bug which allowed more than the maximum number of players to join a multiplayer lobby.
Version: 1.0.20091
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed issues of latency affecting some computers, and an issue where the game would hang on the Firefly logo on some computers
Version: 1.0.20143
Added:
- Added a new customisable Stock Bar which displays all resources, food and weapons in the top left corner of the game. This allows players to easily keep track of their stocks without having to look in the stockpile, granary and armoury.
- Implemented options for inverting camera rotation
- Implemented an option for locking the cursor to the window when in windowed mode.
Version: 1.0.20907
Gameplay Changes:
- Added: Four new skirmish/multiplayer maps
- Most AI castles have been reworked, so they build up more efficiently and intelligently
- Changes to AI build orders and building limits to account for the new AI building system in place
- The AI has a completely reworked system for dividing up its gold intelligently between troops, buildings and resources
- AIs will now capture villages according to their individual frequencies
- The Sultana now uses assassins to attack other players in skirmish games
- Up and down arrow keys can now be used to scroll through maps in the skirmish lobby
- Tower Mantlet, Tower Ballista, and Tower Haybale Launchers are now limited to 5 of each type per estate
- The number of goods carried in each CartHorse load is now set individually for each good type, instead of per storage building
-
Man trap balance changes:
- Duration reduced from 6 to 3 seconds
- Siege weapons no longer trigger the trap, but will receive damage if soldiers trigger it
- Passengers of vehicles (war wagons) no longer trigger or receive damage from man traps
- Whirling Dervish splash damage reduced by 25%
- Inns, Mosques, and Churches are now limited to one each per estate (Note that this does not apply to Sandbox mode)
- Capture points will no longer be contested by a capturing player's allies entering the capture radius. The player that first began capturing the flag will gain control of the estate or gatehouse normally unless contested by enemy troops.
- Allied AI lords now coordinate their capture of Village Estates more carefully, and can now call off or redirect the forces if appropriate.
-
The Knights mounting horses system has been overhauled:
- Horses now appear directly at the knights' positions, rather than having to run in from long distances first
- Fixed a number of cases where mounting horses and knights could get stuck, including with legacy save games
- Improved the Speech and UI feedback from knights when mounting fails or succeeds
- Fixed knights not restoring their attack scans after mounting
- Added hotkey "V" to select the Market (double-tap to move the camera to it) (Existing hotkeys to go to individual market pages: SHIFT+G, SHIFT+H, SHIFT+J for the granary, stockpile, armoury market pages still functional)
-
Troop control and formation movement have been overhauled to look and feel much better:
- A number of performance optimizations have been added to all troop movement and formation control
- Troops select form-up positions much more accurately
- Troops now hold their relative positions much better in all formations
- Formations turn more smoothly and adjust their heading while following moving targets
- When ordered to attack an enemy unit, all formations hold their shape better, and troops on the outskirts will engage other enemies as expected
- This greatly improves the interaction of large armies attacking each other in formations such as box & line
- This fixes an issue where nearby troops would wait idly by if the commanded attack target was already fully surrounded
- Box and line formation members will now stay together when ordered to attack enemy units, as expected
- An exception is made for units that have their sprint ability activated in this way-- they will sprint at full speed and leave the formation behind in this case
- Sprinting units include Macemen, Whirling Dervishes, and Sassanid Knights
- Rabble formation (default)
- Responds more quickly and holds its shape much better. Troops turn on the spot and move right away after initial form-up.
- Note that in this formation troops move at their own pace and don't wait for one another.
- Box formation
- This formation keeps all members together at the slowest member units' pace
- Missile units now attempt to stay in the center for protection.
- Pikemen are placed on the very outside if possible
- Now forms up much more accurately, starting off slower and accelerating so troops can reach their positions
- Now allows the slowest units to keep pace much better in most cases
- Addressed a number of cases where faster units would get ahead and turn around
- Now attempts to make course adjustments and rotate without swapping formation position slots
- When units are leaving combat, this formation will attempt to retreat a bit before re-forming
- Line formation
- Has had the same enhancements as Box Formation, except that the formation is spread out in a wider shape
- Knights now mount horses instantly, rather than waiting for the horse to run from its stables to the knight’s position in order to mount.
- Knights cost 200 gold, from 150.
- Crusader Grand Towers cost 220 stone, from 180
- Whirling Dervish cost increased to 150 gold from 140, spin attack damage reduced to 15 from 20
- Catapult damage reduced to 850, from 950
- Warwolf damage reduced to 1600, from 1800
- Crossbowman damage reduced to 3600, from 4000
- A number of the original trails have been rebalanced to account for the improved AI
Bug Fixes
- Fixed player Lord selection in Custom Skirmish and multiplayer lobbies to include all available Lord avatars.
- Fixed cost of diagonal walls being cheaper than those of straight walls
- Fixed an issue where ranged troops could sometimes shoot through diagonal walls
- Fixed village estate carter horses crossing bridges
- Fixed an issue where workers could not path through village estates during Peacetime.
- When patrolling, troops now reset formation form-up time to allow box/line to reform normally when reversing direction
- Fix for carter horses that were unable to deliver to a stockpile with one of it's entrance blocked off
- Fixed an issue where AI's mantlets would not leave the siege camp
- Small changes and fixes to several skirmish maps
- Fixed an issue where AI enemies would get stuck packing and unpacking trebuchets repeatedly
- Healers will no longer heal engine tower units
- Fixed an issue where players could place walls in captured village estates
- Fixed a bug where pitch ditches could linger and burn endlessly
- Fixed certain Lords entering a T-Pose occasionally when idling
- Fixed a crash that could occur in rare cases where AI attempted to place a workshop building off an estate
- Fixed Scribe settings for minimum interval on the emigrate speech
- Fixed multiple buildings being selectable when using shift+click or shift+marquee in certain ways
-
Multiplayer lobby browser:
- The number of players x/y in a given game is now updated during gameplay to show "Alive Players" / "Starting Players" including AI
- Before the match, only humans and available human slots are shown, since the host can easily change the AI lords and they will not block humans from joining
- Fixed certain hotkeys functioning when the game was task switched in fullscreen modes
- Fixed the Apothecary unit using default unit rules instead of his own
- Fixed siege equipment requiring but not deducting multiple peasants when built
- Building and Unit build buttons no longer function if the game is paused, preventing issues with lingering building proxies and enqueued troops tying up peasants who have not yet arrived.
- Fixed the unit orders buttons' tooltips sometimes popping/sticking open if the button function was changed, even if the mouse had left the button
- Fixed an issue where the Lobby's Advanced Options menu would stay open if a prior game was started without closing it first
- Siege Equipment is now always in "Hold Ground" stance to match its behaviour
- Set VSync to always enable in the Map Editor to prevent excess rendering
- Fixed Greatest Lord screen being disabled upon loading a custom skirmish game from a story game
- Fixed area-of-effect indicator particles sometimes lingering in the world when their owner had died
- Fixed the building tooltip remaining open if cancelling a build via a hotkey
- Fixed potential crash problems with the invasion and siege controllers
- Various performance optimisations
- Added low water detail option
- Added a no shadows option
Version: 1.0.21103
Added
- Easy AI: Players can now choose an easier difficulty setting in both the Skirmish Trails and Custom Skirmish game modes. Each AI Lord's difficulty can be set individually in Custom Skirmish games. AI difficulty settings are not available in multiplayer games.
- Sandbox Invasions: Players can now launch an invasion at their own will, and test their castles against 19 different invasions of various sizes and difficulties. Invasions can be launched from the Sandbox panel in Sandbox mode.
- Faction selection: Players can now choose to play as Crusader or Arabic factions in the Skirmish trails and Sandbox in the Options/Profile screen.
-
3 new skirmish/multiplayer maps
- Volcano (4)
- The Forest (2)
- Interlocked (6)
-
2 new Sandbox maps
- The Beach
- Empty Desert
-
1 bonus skirmish map
- Middle East (6)
Bug fixes
- Fixed troops auto-attacking carter horses and peasants in unowned estates.*
- Fixed a case where Assassins siege clans could get stuck due to an unclimbable wall.
- Fixed an issue where loading a save of a sandbox map could lead to a dead end after defeat.
- Fixed incorrect building, troop and trading availability in Learning Campaigns.
- Fixed an issue where Oil pot Thrower could sometimes throw with infinite range.
- Fixed rare crash caused by a Lord dying in a fire.
- Fixed rare crashed caused by troops attempting to follow a dead actor.
- Some mouse input optimisations.
Version: 1.0.21195
Added
-
3 new skirmish/multiplayer maps:
- Hopeless (3)
- Attacks on All Sides (4)
- Lion's Share (6)
Bug fixes
- AI troops will now destroy Outposts and Lion's Dens which attack them.
- Fixed a minor bug where peasants would not take available jobs if workers are killed.
- Fixed troops and peasants displacement when placing buildings on top of them.
- Some minor input optimisations
- Price of selling candles reduced to 5 gold for 10 candles, down from 8 gold for 10.
Version 1.0.21393
Bug fixes
- CPU load has been reduced and frame rates improved, particularly in the case of machines with low specs or slower single-core performance.
- Multiplayer performance has been optimised to allow lower-spec machines that were struggling in large games to now hold better frame rates and remain responsive for players.
- Work has been done to run more tasks in secondary processes to make better use of multiple CPU cores. Note that the loads on other cores are typically not high but they collectively remove substantial overhead from the main core.
- Improved game simulation speed throttling
- Reduced general simulation rates
- Reworked object tracking and spatial searching
- Improved line-of-sight checking
- Drastically reduced animation-driven event overhead
- Dynamic physics and rubble detail scaling
- Tuned model animation and level-of-detail maintenance overhead
- Amortized more simulation calculations across multiple frames
- Replaced some high-overhead middleware functions with custom code
Added
-
4 new skirmish/multiplayer maps
- The Trench (6)
- Large Clover Leaf (4)
- Barren Wastes (8)
- Tick Tock (6)
-
2 new Sandbox maps
- Confluences
- Dangerous lands
Version 1.0.21417
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug where AI's castle placement could be offset by one tile
- Fixed the bakery's destruction physics.
- Fixed a bug which could cause troop production to become queued past the number of free peasants available.
Version 1.0.21612
Added
-
3 new skirmish/multiplayer maps
- Tight corner (2)
- Outposts (3)
- Mountain climb (5)
Bug Fixes
- Addressed a case where AIs using a bread economy would never increase their rations rate beyond 1 if they had no active wheat farms.
- Made 3-D searches by type more efficient
- Fix for AI getting stuck trying to build hovels.
- Fix for AI harass clans getting stuck, especially within a home base.
- Moved missile troops stationed on towers to earlier turns in castle build queue for various AI Lords.
- Added a parameter to all the AI troop groups, so they get reduced accordingly by the per-player troop limits in skirmish games.
- Fixed an issue where Bakers could get stuck in the granary and would not return to their work building.
- Fixed a bug where AI lords would not fully use their maximum troop counts.
- Fixed an issue where AI Lords would not request or trade weapons which they require.
- Troops will no longer walk outside of enclosed castle walls to engage troops on the other side.
- Fix for catapults attacking incorrect targets if their intended target was beyond their range.
- Fixed sliding crossbowmen.
- Fixed rabble formation soldiers frequently running backwards to re-join slower units even though they're supposed to be separate.
- Fixed a recently introduced issue where missile units and siege equipment would frequently change to nearby targets other than the one they were commanded to attack.
- Fixed an errant UI test key.
- Fixed troops on inclines not receiving the buff from Sergeant-At-Arms and Slave Driver units.
- Fixed stairs not setting the GUI panel when selected.
- Added The Hermit & Emperor as playable avatars for owners of the DLC.
- Reduced the number of simulation cycles that workers would sometimes stand idle between tasks.
Version 1.0.22365
Added
-
7 new skirmish/multiplayer maps:
- Deep in Trouble (3)
- Lakes (4)
- Across the chasm (7)
- Malicious lands (2)
- In the Shallows (6)
- The Star (6)
- The Ravine (2)
-
1 new Sandbox map
- The Bridge of Dawn
Bug fixes
- Fixed an issue where Archers would not reacquire their targets is they lost line of sight but remained within their scan ranges
- Mounted units can no longer board war wagons
- Turned off Healer's scans when they are moving
- Fixed missing destruction models
- War wagons now move to their rally points correctly
- Fixed an issue where horse archers would sometimes freeze in mid-air when killed
- Fixed Inn and Church popularity bonuses working when there was no worker at the building
- Allies in MP games can now see each other's assassins
- War wagons now require 2 peasants to recruit
- Various other minor bug fixes
- Various optimisations
Version 1.0.22449
Bug Fixes
- Added tooltips to in game shields
- Improved movement and usability of Oil Tippers
- Fixed Friend/Invite Only lobbies kicking players out
- Fixed certain actors that are not allowed onto towers warping onto them if they were standing on ground where a tower is placed. They are now warped to the side instead.
- Improved movement and placement for troops on wall buildings such as stairs and barracks
- Grid overlay in Map Editor no longer appears red everywhere outside the Player 1 estate
- Fixed siege equipment and mounted units inability to be moved onto bridges.
- Pathfinding optimisations
- Fixed a bug where player resource production would decrease in larger skirmish games (thanks FireRanger!)
- Fixed not being able to publish to Steam Workshop from the Map Editor
Version 1.0.22616
Added
-
3 new skirmish/multiplayer maps
- Ruins (4)
- Mirage (8)
- Three Rivers (2)
-
Sandbox map
- The Fork
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where user maps with pre-placed assassin units could crash on load
- Implemented a number of fixes and optimizations to prevent variations in worker productivity during large games
- Fixed an issue where the pathfinding thread could gain a backlog of path requests from workers, resulting in workers waiting in place for noticeable periods of time. This would sometimes have a large impact on game economy productivity when there were large numbers of active workers.
- Optimised the pathfinding priority system to reduce the impact on frame rates
- Implemented a caching system for worker pathfinding to drastically reduce the need to generate new paths. Keep and barracks paths are also cached and reused.
- Special attention has been given to woodcutters, due to their importance to the economy
- Fixed an issue where one player's woodcutters could set unreachable trees to be momentarily ignored and it would incorrectly affect all players' woodcutters
- Reduced the number of paths that woodcutters require to complete their work cycles
- Woodcutters should generally spend significantly less time searching for trees due to the path fixes
- Fixed emigrating peasants jumping up to the keep's rooftop
- Fixed an issue where disbanded troops or dismissed workers could join the campfire even when the maximum number of campfire spots (24) were already assigned to other peasants
- This could cause issues with new workers taking jobs
- These peasants will now remain available for new jobs until they reach the campfire, where they will emigrate if there is still no spot for them.
Version: N/A - Small update
Added
-
Skirmish Maps:
- Around the cross (4)
- A long river (8)
- Fire fight (2)
Version: 1.0.22670
Bug fixes
- Fixed the "Fetchez La Vache" achievement
- Including an options_override file for players with issues saving game options. See below for details.
Version: 1.0.22684
Bug fixes
- The Jackal & The Khan avatars are now available in Skirmish & Multiplayer games (if you own the DLC).
- Fixed a bug that prevented walls being deleted in the Map Editor (use the "Delete" button on the top of the editor, then ctrl+click on walls)