September 2002

New Features
1) Enabled console commands added on MP menus (excluding LAN). The commands are:
#ignore - to ignore all chat from that player
#unignore - to see their chat again
#ban - to stop that player joining any game you host
#kick - to kick a player from the lobby of your game (host only)
#afk - to tell people you're away from your keyboard
2) Messages added to report players hosting games, joining or leaving rooms.
3) Console command to ban a player from joining any game you host added.
4) Added 'z' and 'x' to switch off drawing certain types on the campaign map.
5) Added 'c' to show status of trade routes on the campaign map.
6) There is now a limit on the number of artillery units in a rebellion.
7) AI will take accessibility of walls into account when deciding where to bombard in a castle assault.
8) Allowed ability to specify ground textures for battle maps.
9) Turned off keyboard typing sound in MP menus.
10) In Glorious Achievements: when multiple factions have around the same points as the player, it's now easier to distinguish who has more points.
11) In MP 'T' is now used to talk to everyone (except in French, see below), 'Y' is to talk to allies only.
12) In MP in the French language version only 'M' is talk to everyone.

Compatibility

1) Millennium G400 - Graphic corruption beneath the arrow cursor in the single player game (when navigating the map)/gray horizontal line that shows up on the screen fixed.
2) Millennium G400 - When the player is loading into the 2D campaign map and hits the 'ESC' key for any reason, the game will now no longer show the red load bar and the map at the same time.
3) Radeon 7200 - Improved loading and delays on strategic map when selecting units, provinces, after year-end sequence.

Improvements

Single Player Improvements

1) Campaign map stability improved. This includes issues addressed for specific cases.
2) Savegame reliability increased greatly.
3) Windows 2000 support fixed. Occasional instability was previously noticed.
4) Artillery is now working when cycled as reinforcements.
6) Finish game results processing improved.
7) The header text no longer overlaps the text in the 'could not uncover secret vice message' when attempting to uncover a secret vice of a general with a spy.
8) Crusades now pathfinding correctly.
9) The brother of a king now gets a "son matures" event generated for him if he doesn't come of age before the succession (of his older brother).
10) Fleets escaping from a sea battle do so at their own speed.
11) Fleet AI has been tweaked to increase number of trade routes.
12) Removed the ability to build more than one of certain unique buildings in your provinces. Was possible to build, for instance, 2 Grand Mosques at the same time.
13) Tweaked Crusade AI.
14) Multiple famines in the same region no longer occur.
15) Siege time of a castle is now longer.
16) "Loyalty traffic light" is now always up to date.
17) Mode to mode hang bug - caused by attempting tutorial after starting campaign game is fixed.
18) Mode to mode hang bug - caused by attempting campaign after starting tutorial is fixed.
19) Fixed replays not working properly when bringing on reinforcements in battles.
20) Fixed right-clicking on a ship to bring up info parchment and occasionally producing a blank parchment.
21) Re-enabled log files.
22) If a fight drags on for a long time, then the factors start to get increased until one or other of the combatants dies.
23) The AI should is more careful with its generals and kings in combat.
24) The AI plays more dynamically with its cavalry. It'll often break off from combat against infantry, and either charge back, or attack at another point.
25) Improved replay stability.
26) The Trade income penalty now has an effect when one of the Vices and Virtues a general may have is Venal. This gives a -20% penalty to both Trade income and Agricultural income.
27) On the third year round in the campaign tutorial, the missing red button on the information window is now added.
28) Transition between early and high, high and late periods: if the player has any units (such as the king/princes/royal knights) being retrained/upgraded when the time period changes, the units will no longer be lost.
29) All the listed vices and virtues will now affect the Generals immediately, not randomly.
30) Game Options tab on the Mini Map (if they turn "Show Computer Moves" off) bug fixed.
31) When "Show computer moves" is on (and by pressing End Turn) the computer moves will now be shown.
32) When reinforcements are called during a 3D battle, the new units are now able to use the Group function to place them into a group with other reinforced units.
33) All non-intended factions (including muslim factions) can no longer build swiss pikemen.
34) After installing the game, if the user attempts to launch the game in 16 colors a message will appear stating that the game needs to be in 256 colors or better to run properly, the game will not output an illegal operation.
35) The Vice/Virtue "True Zealot" - that was listed as giving the owner +30% Zeal in whichever province he is in - now changes the Zeal in his home province (where he is governor) when the general in question is elsewhere.
36) The Vice/Virtue "Very nervous" now properly gives a +1 bonus to acumen when this is assigned.
37) The Vice/Virtue "Master of numbers" gives a +3 bonus to acumen correctly.
38) The Vice/Virtue "Fanatic" gives a +40% bonus to the zeal of governed provinces correctly.
39) When playing a catholic faction full campaign, the player is now unable to build multiple cathedrals and gain the excess income from each cathedral.
40) Upon winning a Historical Campaign Battle if you select the first option, Replay Battle, and then quit from that battle, your progress is no longer lost.
41) If the player has the widescreen option on, they can now see the tooltips.
42) Remaining unit(s) can no longer be grouped by itself/themselves.
43) Glory goals: You can now see exactly how many points each faction has in total - previously you could only see the height of the bars (which isn't precise enough for you to be sure) or go to each faction in turn and count up the red dots for each goal.
44) Playing a High period Russian campaign, the player starts with an armourer's guild in two provinces and the units granted to the player all have silver shields. This now functions correctly.
45) In a Late or High period campaign with the Danish, the player can now build/train the correct ships.
46) The leaders' portraits will now not be able show the same picture when a new leader takes the throne or the same as any other faction at that time.
47) The Golden Horde Emerge panel now says "...None are safe from this new threat. A number of other rebellions in progress have declared their allegiance to this faction."
48) Inquisitors trying your mercenaries for heresy now say mercenaries or your faction name instead of rebels.
49) If you have a general that, due to vices, has a negative valour on the battlefield, the negative number representation will now be shown correctly.
50) Famine messages no longer shown more than once.
51) AI will now pick a balanced force of their best units as the initial 16
52) AI can withdraw beaten up units so that a fresh reinforcement can come on.
53) All the player's artillery pieces are chosen in the initial 16.
54) Buildings now correctly give valour upgrades.
55) Rebellions no longer produce troops that require technology that the faction in question does not possess. If the player prefers the old style rebels this can be turned off with the command switch -old_rebels.
56) Some changes to unit balancing.

Multiplayer Improvements

1) Improved GameSpy logon / logoff speed & friendliness.
2) Improved GameSpy connection menu to clarify CD key entry (you do not have to enter it for every game).
3) Fixed game list / player list refresh problems.
4) A warning is added to the Host MP Game menu to remind hosts that they can't host from behind a firewall or router.
5) Improved 'logon failure' messages on GameSpy login.
6) Improved performance & refresh rate on game lobby.
7) Game now redirects people to Activision site after they register a GameSpy account through the game.
8) Game now correctly handles multiple MP games with the same server name.
9) Game now remembers selected player name in chatrooms (previously it kept dropping back to 'Room', making private conversations tricky).
10) Game now correctly updates 'playing' status for players after they finish an MP game.
11) Player's army no longer routed if he drops from an MP game.
12) Fixed booting of people with the same CD key (so it always happens).
13) Game now sends useful game results to GameSpy server at the end of an MP game.
14) Various fixes made to make replays work better for MP games.
15) Addition of faction vs. same faction MP battles.
16) Various crashout problems fixed on internet menus and in MP battles.
17) Improved tolerance if someone crashes out or disconnects while battlemap is loading.
18) Enabled battle mouseover text after deployment but before battle starts.