Hey all!

v1.4 is now live on Humble and the main Steam branch.

As promised in my previous update there have been some big changes to diplomacy, described in detail in my previous update and summarized below in the patch notes. The new goodies are still a bit rough and no doubt there are some exploits in there but Ill continue refining the mechanics in future updates. The basic idea is to make it possible to engage more proactively on the diplomatic scene and its now very much possible to get other leaders to do your bidding, especially the new minor tribes. On the other hand having your units or borders close to another leader will damage your relations with them so the bonuses you can earn through Emissaries and gifts might be necessary to keep your neighbors happy. Diplomacy is now very focused on war, but this feels appropriate for the dark ages.

v1.4 also also includes fixes for several common crash bugs. If you run into any bugs please email me at contact@conifergames.com with a description of the issue and save files which reproduce it and Ill try to get things fixed in the next update. Unfortunately the changes in v1.4 are quite significant under the hood so old save files are no longer compatible. The new additions have also increased the turn times a bit more than I'd like and I'll be taking a look at that soon. In v1.5+ Ill be refining the diplomacy mechanics and focusing more on the AI so stay tuned for that as well.

Thanks for your interest in the game and great feedback over the years! Its been a fun project and theres still more to come.

- Jon


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MAJOR FEATURES

- Diplomacy system has been greatly updated. 'Emissaries' and 'gifts' now allow Relationship Level (RL) and Influence to be improved with other leaders, and it's now fairly easy to get leaders to attack one another. Neutral structures have been replaced with minor tribes. Factions close to one another now have an RL penalty, representing the natural competition over land and influence, and the penalty increases with proximity. Good luck out there!


MAJOR BUGS FIXED

- Fixed common crash when bandits would capture an AI unit that belonged to an ongoing operation.

- Fixed 'Update_ConfigButtons' crash in Professions Screen.

- Fixed crash when unit captured from bandits could still hold onto an invalid BanditPillageTarget.


MINOR BUGS FIXED

- Fixed exploit where wraining a clan in a profession in the same discipline would give it a free level.