Hey Everyone, And we are back with our Week 2 update, that we`ve been rolling out over the past week. And this is a good one! To start things of we were able to make a major breakthrough with performance in RTS mode. Now in almost all battles and town build up you should have perfect 60 FPS on most machines. We`ve also reworked the sound engine - greatly improving immersion into battles - now each weapon hit or arrow can be heard with hundreds of sounds FX playing at once. We have also added a new playable nation - and it`s the biggest one in-game - the Ottoman Empire. It presents a very challenging start, as the rules of the Ottoman Empire controls countless cities and hamlets and overthrowing him is really challenging. In addition we fixed majority of remaining bugs, the only major issue left now is the occasional crash when changing levels - but at least now all the progress will be saved even if this rare bug strikes. There`s a lot of other updates, fixes especially when it comes to large town level design and art. With that said - lets take a look at what exactly today’s update (game version 1.03) has in store (please keep in mind I`m only listing bigger changes) [b]PERFORMANCE[/b] [list] [*] Major performance boost in all game modes. [*] Game now delivers 60 FPS performance on the vast majority of systems. [*] Fixed all lag when moving the camera in RTS mode. [*] Fixed all lag when selecting a lot of units. [/list] [b]MAJOR BUG FIXES[/b] [list] [*] Fixed major issue with losing a battle in the first minute if the AI enemy was significantly more powerful. [*] If the game crashes during the loading screen, all progress in the previous battle will now be saved. [*] AI will only build wall defenses on hard difficulty or in skirmish mode, fixing a lot of issues for new players. [*] Wall-mounted siege weapons now properly destroy when walls or towers are destroyed beneath them. [/list] [b]BIG SOUND REWORK[/b] [list] [*] Reworked the audio engine with major improvements. [*] During combat, all unit sounds can now be heard, including guns, bows, and swords clashing. [*] Major improvement to the quality and volume of all SFX during combat and other situations. [/list] [b]NEW NATIONS[/b] [list] [*] Ottoman Empire added as a new playable nation [/list] [b]NEW FEATURES[/b] [list] [*] Wall defenses convert when the wall is captured. [*] When the player changes diplomacy status with a nation from peace to war, all town and army banners update on the world map. [*] Cavalry now always runs, making trampling units much easier. [/list] [b]ART UPDATES[/b] [list] [*] Reworked the last of the units that didn’t have proper Renaissance period armor. [*] Major rework of Billman and Arquebusier units. [*] Improved the look of the stone walls in the western set. [*] Made trees look much better in RTS mode without visual glitches. [*] New animation for desert palm trees that greatly improves their appearance. [/list] [b]LARGE TOWN UPGRADE[/b] [list] [*] Major large-town level update. [*] Major redesign of Caen town design. [*] Greatly reduced lag when attacking large towns. [*] Major improvements to all desert large towns. [/list] [b]ARMY CAMPS UPDATED[/b] [list] [*] Fixed issue with army vs. army player camps having buildings rotated incorrectly. [*] Greatly improved the look of all siege and army camps. [/list] [b]OTHER FIXES OF NOTE[/b] [list] [*] Prologue tutorial now shows correct unit portraits. [*] Second world map prologue scenario fixed. [*] Slower RTS mode camera scroll speed. [*] Cannons are now better at staying on target when targeting walls. [*] All infantry operating all types of cannons now properly play all animations, including walking. [/list]