Vauban Update and Para Bellum Wonder Pack

[Saxo Grammaticus]

NEXT UPDATE PREVIEW - VAUBAN BETA [per @Catoninetales_Amplitude on G2G]​

We know many of you have been eagerly waiting for more news about Humankind, and today it's finally time to tell you about what's coming next.

The next update, named the Vauban update, will be released on April 26th and will include several quality-of-life improvements based on ideas suggested by our players, alongside further bugfixes and performance optimization. Let’s take a look at some of the key elements:

• Demand/Renounce All Buttons: For your convenience we have added new “Renounce All” and “Demand All” buttons on the Crisis tab of the Diplomacy screen to deal with all grievances at once. It’s never been so easy to forgive and forget... or worse.
• Auto-resolve Improvements: We’ve added a preview of the damage your units will take when you hover your cursor over the auto-resolve button. Additionally, we’ve made some small changes to the auto-resolve formula to better reflect army compositions and terrain.

• Steam Workshop: While we originally opted for mod.io as a solution that works across multiple storefronts, we have seen many requests from Steam users to implement Steam Workshop support. With the Vauban update, you can get your mods from either Mod.io or the Steam Workshop as you prefer, and the modding tools will be updated to allow you to upload mods directly to either. However, please keep in mind that this will not be available during the beta.
• AI Improvements: We’ve worked on how the AI manages Faith, Influence, and early expansion. They should compete better with you now.

• Hôtel de Ville de Bruxelles: The new Cultural Wonder unlocked in the Amplified 2023 Community Challenge is available now.
• Cultural Wonder Improvements: We know players would often place Cultural Wonders far outside their cities to take advantage of their exploitations. With the Vauban update, we’re adding adjacency bonuses to many wonders to encourage you to incorporate them into your city planning. Additionally, wonders are now cheaper to claim, and you can even renounce your claim if you change your mind about a wonder.

Hôtel de Ville de Bruxelles - Early Modern Era +4 Money on Maker's Quarters in this city +4 Industry on Market Quarters in this city Bonus Fame (+50) when completing a Wonder Upon construction of the wonder, earn 50 Fame per Cultural Wonders you've claimed so far

Cultural Wonder Changes

Spoiler :

New effects highlighted in purple; balancing still subject to change:

Wonder	Before	Now
	Temple of Artemis +40 Stability +20 Faith +10 Health regeneration on Units Exotic: Your Units ignore movement penalties from Forests.	+40 Stability +20 Faith +10 Health regen on Units Exotic : Your Units ignore movement penalties from Forests Synergy: +4 Faith per adjacent Quarter" +2CS on Ranged Units
	Stonehenge +10 Food per Coreligionist State +5 Stability per Coreligionist State +40 Stability +20 Faith +5 Stability on Coreligionist State Capital +5% Food on Coreligionist State Capital	+20 Food per Coreligionist State +10 Stability per Coreligionist State +40 Stability +20 Faith +5 Stability on Coreligionist State Capital +5% Food on Coreligionist State Capital
	Statue of Zeus +40 Stability +20 Faith +5% Money per Alliance on Empire +10 Stability on City or Outpost	+40 Stability +20 Faith +5% Money per Alliance on Empire +15 Stability on City or Outpost Synergy: +5 Money per adjacent Market Quarter
	Colossus of Rhodes Exotic: Militia are not lost over time during Sieges +20 Stability	Exotic: Militia are not lost over time during Sieges +20 Stability +50% Militia Units spawned when City is under Siege +2CS on Militia Synergy: +15 Industry per adjacent Harbour
	Mausoleum at Halicarnassus +20 Stability +2 Science per District on City or Outpost	+20 Stability +2 Science per District on City or Outpost Synergy: +2 Influence per adjacent District
	Lady Mary of Zion +5 Faith per Number of enacted Civics +40 Stability +20 Faith	+5 Faith per enacted Civic +40 Stability +20 Faith +5 Influence on Religious District on all cities Synergy: +5 Faith per adjacent District
	Pyramid of the Sun (Cultures of Latin America) +40 Stability +20 Faith +2 Food on each Territory of the City	+40 Stability +20 Faith +2 Food on this Territory's Districts and exploitations Synergy: +4 food per adjacent Farmer Quarter
	Forbidden City +25 War Support increased when going to war +20 Stability	+25 War Support increased when going to war +20 Stability -10 War support threshold on surprise war -20 War support threshold on formal war Synergy: +3 stability per adjacent District
	Todaiji +40 Stability +20 Faith +20% turns before being converted by other's Religion on City or Outpost	+40 Stability +20 Faith +20% turns before being converted by other's Religion on City or Outpost +1 Industry per State Religion Follower in the City is built Synergy: +5 Faith per adjacent Forest or Rocky Forest
	Notre Dame de Paris +1 Faith per technology researched +40 Stability +20 Faith	+1 Faith per technology researched +40 Stability +20 Faith +5 Science per adjacent Research Quarter
	Great Mosque of Djenne (Cultures of Africa) +40 Stability +20 Faith +5% Additional Fame gain bonus multiplier on Empire Exotic: Unlocks repeatable ""Crépissage"" on City with the Wonder	+40 Stability +20 Faith +5% Additional Fame gain bonus multiplier on Empire Exotic: Unlocks repeatable ""Crépissage"" on City with the Wonder Synergy: +4 Industry per adjacent Quarter
	Topkapi Palace +20 Stability +5% Industry on City or Outpost +100% Production (on City or Outpost) toward any Shared Project (National Project, Holy Site or Artificial Wonder)	+20 Stability +5% Industry on City or Outpost +100% Production (on City or Outpost) toward any Shared Project (National Project, Holy Site or Artificial Wonder) Synergy: +5 Influence per adjacent Maker Quarter
	St. Basilic Cathedral +1 Faith per District +40 Stability +20 Faith	+1 Faith per District +40 Stability +20 Faith Synergy: +5 Influence per adjacent District
	Saint Mary of Flower +10 Influence per Territory under State Religion +40 Stability +20 Faith	+10 Influence per Territory under State Religion +40 Stability +20 Faith Synergy: +5 science per adjacent Common Quarter
	Versailles Palace (Together We Rule) +20 Stability -20% Leverage Action Cost +20% Leverage Action Cost for Diplomatic Relations	+20 Stability -20% Leverage Action Cost +20% Leverage Action Cost for Diplomatic Relations Synergy: +5 stability per adjacent Common Quarter
	Eiffel Tower +20 Stability +1 Industry per Population on all Cities	+20 Stability +1 Industry per Population on all Cities Synergy: +5 Industry per adjacent Research Quarter
	BigBen +20 Stability +5% Science per alliance on Empire +10% Science on Capital	+20 Stability +5% Science per alliance on Empire +10% Science on Capital Synergy: +3 Science per adjacent Market Quarter Synergy: +8 Science per adjacent City Center Synergy: +8 Science per adjacent Administrative Center
	Empire State building +20 Stability +20% Money generated from on-going Trade on all Cities	+20 Stability +20% Money generated from on-going Trade on all Cities Synergy: +6 Money per adjacent Market Quarter
	Maracana Stadium (Cultures of Latin America) +20 Stability Exotic: Stadium dedication event (choice of extra money, influence or stability)	+20 Stability Exotic: Stadium dedication event (choice of extra money, influence or stability) Synergy: +8 Influence per adjacent Common Quarter
	Congress of Humankind (Together We Rule) +20 Stability +50%International Sway on Empire	+20 Stability +50%International Sway on Empire Synergy: +5% International Sway if built next to an Embassy

In addition to these major improvements, the Vauban update includes many other Quality of Life additions (some inspired by ideas and feedback from the community) and bugfixes. For example, we’ve added pre-game settings for territory size and how much information the Fame leaderboard shows, added a kill count on units, and placing Cultural Wonders now shows you a preview of the yields. We’ve also adjusted the trigger conditions of many rare events to make it more likely for you to see events you have not seen before. Finally, we’ve also worked on optimization, so the game should run better on lower spec hardware now.

And the best news: You can already try this update right now on Steam! Just right-click the game in your library to access the properties, go to the betas tab, and select the update_preview branch. However, you may encounter some bugs; please check the Known Issues before reporting them.

We look forward to hearing from you what you think about these changes and improvements!

 

[Saxo Grammaticus]

PARA BELLUM WONDER PACK AND VAUBAN UPDATE [per @Catoninetales_Amplitude on G2G]​

Our first expansion Together We Rule focused on diplomacy and cooperation, with a touch of subterfuge, but any experienced 4X player can tell you that it’s virtually guaranteed you will come to blows with your neighbors sooner or later. So the Para Bellum Wonders Pack and Vauban Update focus more on military efforts, with the DLC adding six new cultural wonders that should help you in your conflicts across the ages, whether you are fending off jealous neighbors or expanding your own empire.

The Para Bellum Wonders Pack adds one new cultural wonder per era:

• Stables of Pi Ramesses - The city of Pi-Ramesses became the capital of Egypt during Ramesses’ II reign in the 14th century BCE. The Pharaoh’s stables were the headquarters of the Chariot Troops of the King and could accommodate and train up to 460 horses.
• Colosseum - The Amphitheatrum Flavium remained the biggest Roman construction until the Empire’s end. The Colosseum was surrounded by gladiator schools and their inauguration games.
• Citadel of Alamut - Built in the ninth century on a dramatic mountain overhang, the Citadel of Alamut was taken over by Hassan as-Sabbah in 1090. Under his rule, this isolated stronghold became the center of the Nizari Ismaili state.
• Hôtel des Invalides - The Hôtel des Invalides was built in the late 17th century on the orders of France’s Louis XIV. Designed to host some of the many injured soldiers and veterans in need, it included rooms, refectories, and a dedicated hospital for its residents. 
• Kaiserliche Werft  - Founded in 1869, Wilhelmshaven Imperial Shipyard was the biggest German shipyard specialized in building warships. At the turn of the 20th century, the site’s nearly 20,000 workers produced some of the era’s largest warships. 
• The Pentagon - Built during WWII, the Pentagon is an administrative building that houses the United States Department of Defense. It employs more than 20,000 people on-site to coordinate the missions of the country’s 1.3 million active-duty service members.

The Para Bellum Wonder Pack is free to claim (and keep) on Steam, Epic Game Store, and Microsoft Store until May 10th! After that, you can still pick it up for just 2.99€/$2.99/£2.49.

Spoiler PARA BELLUM WONDERS (click to expand) :

	Era 1 - Stables of Pi-Ramesses +1 Horse Deposit +1 Land movement speed -25% cost for Cavalry and Land Vehicle -25% upkeep for Cavalry and Land Vehicle +2 Combat Strength on Cavalry and Land Vehicle
	Era 2 - Colosseum -50% stability penalty on empire during all out war +5% money on empire per declared war +5% money on empire per received war +4 stability per adjacent district On war, narrative event: Choice 1) Generate the most recent 2 Militia units on city with Colosseum Choice 2) give +10 War Support against the opponent
	Era 3 - Citadel of Alamut + 10 Faith per adjacent mountain + 10 stealth max for all stealth units -25% cost for stealth units +4 Combat Strength on ambush +1 Detection on empire Apply “Marked” status on all revealed stealth armies on empire at the beginning of the turn. “Marked”: Similar to “lost at sea”; If the unit begin their next turn in the territory of the Citadel’s owner, they are destroyed
	Era 4 - Hôtel des Invalides Units can regenerate outside their own territories for half their regeneration +1 Combat Strength on units with veterancy lvl 1 or above Disband unit: gain 100 money per unit the disbanded unit had destroyed Disband units outside their own territories still give the pop back to capital
	Era 5 - Whilelmshaven Werft Coastal water only Works as harbor +20 industry per harbor in your empire Naval Spawn point -25% industry cost on naval units on empire Allow repair action with money inside the empire at half the price for naval units
	Era 6 – The Pentagon +20 Fortification for all districts on empire -25% cost on units with bombardment action Allow bombardment action 1 more time for all units (naval/land/aerial) with the bombardment ability

Alongside the Para Bellum Wonders Pack, we are releasing the Vauban Update, focused on quality of life improvements:

• Steam Workshop: While we originally opted for mod.io as a solution that works across multiple storefronts, we have seen many requests from Steam users to implement Steam Workshop support. With the Vauban update, you can get your mods from either Mod.io or the Steam Workshop as you prefer, and the modding tools will be updated to allow you to upload mods directly to either.
  For now, we consider the Steam Workshop support to be in beta testing until we can ensure reliability.
• Demand/Renounce All Buttons: For your convenience we have added new “Renounce All” and “Demand All” buttons on the Crisis tab of the Diplomacy screen to deal with all grievances at once. It’s never been so easy to forgive and forget... or worse.
• Auto-resolve Improvements: We’ve added a preview of the damage your units will take when you hover your cursor over the auto-resolve button. Additionally, we’ve made some small changes to the auto-resolve formula to better reflect army compositions and terrain.
• Cultural Wonder Improvements: We know players would often place Cultural Wonders far outside their cities to take advantage of their exploitations. With the Vauban update, we’re adding adjacency bonuses to many wonders to encourage you to incorporate them into your city planning. Additionally, you can now renounce your claim if you change your mind about a wonder.
• Brussels Town Hall: The new Cultural Wonder unlocked in the Amplified 2023 Community Challenge is available now.
• AI Improvements: We’ve worked on how the AI manages Faith, Influence, and early expansion. They should compete better with you now.

Era 4 – Brussels Town Hall +10 Influence per Adjacent District +15 Industry per adjacent Market Quarter +15 Money per adjacent Makers Quarters Passive: Bonus Fame (+50) when completing a Wonder Upon construction of the wonder, earn 50 Fame per Cultural Wonder you've claimed so far

The Update also includes various other quality of life improvements, bugfixes, and optimization that should improve performance especially on lower spec hardware. You can find the full changelog at the bottom of this post.

If you want to hear the devs talk more about this Update and DLC, or as a couple of questions, join us on twitch.tv/AmplitudeStudios tomorrow, Thursday the 27th, at 6PM CEST.

And don’t forget, if you want peace, prepare for war!

Spoiler VAUBAN UPDATE CHANGELOG (click to expand) :

[1.0.22.3819] "Vauban Update" Version Notes

ADDITION - Para Bellum Wonders Pack

Includes 6 new cultural wonders

• The Stables of Pi-Ramesses
• The Colosseum
• The Citadel of Alamut
• The Hôtel des Invalides
• The Kaiserliche Werft
• The Pentagon

CHANGES AND ADDITIONS FROM COMMUNITY IDEAS (THANKS!)

• Display of damage preview on Army Panel when hovering the Instant Resolve button.
• Added a "Demand all / Renounce all" button for grievances.
• Added a "Kill Count" info on units.
• Added a preview of FIMSI yields given by Cultural Wonders.
• Added a new "Territory Size" world generation option.
• Added a game option to play with the leaderboard hidden.
• Players now see their own username when inside multiplayer lobbies.

MAJOR CHANGES AND ADDITIONS

• New Cultural Wonder: Brussels Town Hall.
• Wonders: Rebalance of the effects of some existing cultural wonders, and addition of synergies with other districts (see dedicated post).
• Improved the trigger conditions of narrative events, so that rare events appear more often, and frequent events less often.
• A.I. improvements: Claiming of Territories and general expansion behavior major overhaul.
• General Performance improvements, especially on lower-end configs and late game, for CPU, GPU and RAM usage.

OTHER CHANGES AND ADDITIONS

• Wonders: Wonders Influence Claim cost rebalance: Claim cost grows more quickly per claimed wonder
• Wonders: Added a way to renounce a claimed Cultural Wonder (invested Influence is lost though).
• Wonders: The "Built to Last" deed now provides 100 Fame.
• Battles "Instant Resolve": Algorithm improvements (it now better respects the number of battle rounds and the size of battles)
• Battles "Instant Resolve": Added feedback on what the Instant Resolve button does.
• A.I. Faith and Influence management improvements.
• Fame leaderboard improvements: Current Era is now displayed, and fallen empires are greyed-out.
• Overall harmonization changes in texts and localization.
• Added visual Fx to the Independant People panel.
• TWR: Added visual Fx to the Congress Of Humankind and the Embassies panels.
• Neolithic improvements: All Curiosities now generate Influence during the Neolithic.
• Neolithic improvements: Created a notification to remind the rules of the Neolithic.
• Neolithic improvements: Changed the icon of unknown Strategic Resources.
• Added more details in which order Mods are applied on Saves in the Loading screen.

FIXES OF ISSUES SPOTTED BY THE COMMUNITY (THANKS, AGAIN!)

• Fixed an issue where sometimes the game performance can drop beause it uses too much of the graphic card power.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a pending turn after a quick load.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a pending turn when having demands between Vassal and Liege.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a pending turn when AI was ambushing the player in rare occasions.
• Fixed instabilities when sending more than 30 gifts to an other Empire.
• Fixed instabilities that could block Independent People's lifespan and corrupt the save.
• Fixed an issue where Curiosities sometimes behaved weirdly during the map generation.
• Fixed an issue where Loading a save file made after triggering the End Screen was disabling the “Continue Game” button.
• Fixed an issue where Empires in Neolithic could have diplomatic relation with Independent People.
• Fixed an issue where placeholder text was displayed for locked Embassy actions.
• Fixed an issue where AI would not claim territory on islands.
• Fixed an issue where an exploit that was possible when refusing grievances and demands after a war.
• Fixed an issue where the "All detection" option in the Stealth Layer would not show enemy empire's detection sources.
• Fixed an issue where the first 2 civics requirements would not correspond to their description in the encyclopedia.
• Fixed an issue where placing a garrison while "War Slaves" was active would not provide influence.
• Fixed an issue where the Da Vinci Event player icon would not display properly in the tooltips.
• Fixed an issue where Italian and Turkish languages were not present when trying to change Humankind's language from Steam game properties.
• Update Preview: Fixed an issue where bonus effect description was missing in the Luxury Resources tooltips.
• Update Preview: Fixed an issue where the Culture icon overlapped with a button when building foreign units and wonders.

OTHER FIXES

• Fixed an issue where, in multiplayer, the game could softlock when the host was losing internet connection while in loading screen.
• Fixed an issue where Independent people only spawned Era-3 and Era-4 units in Era-5 and Era-6.
• Fixed an issue where, rarely, the Interface would disappear and lock the player in a battle.
• Fixed an issue where the Game was remaining stuck in "Cloud Syncing" on rare occasions.
• Fixed an issue where National Projects with Exclusion zone of one tile around them could be build near districts.
• Fixed an issue where Assimilating Independent People would makes their armies disappear in some occasions.
• Fixed an issue where Lightning's Aerial Stealth was not working as described.
• Fixed an issue where incorrect text was displayed when gifting less than 20 Money or Influence.
• Fixed an issue where Independent people lifespan could be stuck on 1 Turn left.
• Fixed an issue where no Lifespan gain was displayed when using Power Investor on exploited Deposits by Independent People.
• Fixed an issue where the Empire stability may not correspond to the actual stability of your only city.
• Fixed an issue where players were still allowed to try placing a district within a battlefield (but it was not added to the queue).
• Fixed an exploit where presence of Armies from other Empires hidden by the fog of war could be revealed using Outpost Relocation.
• Fixed an issue where Ocean were still appearing after setting "Land Percentage" world generation setting to 100%.
• Fixed the "Economic Elephant" legacy trait.
• Fixed an issue where "Stealth Activity Detection" notification could pop up randomly.
• Fixed an issue where counter for Resources Bought\Available would not display Resources already owned when they are resold.
• Fixed an issue where the FIMS gains preview did not count the Foggara Emblematic District bonus when building a Farmer's Quarter.
• Fixed an issue where negative Influence was not feedbacked in red (as the money currently is).
• Fixed an issue where Local Pollution calculation was wrong when there was a Pollution diminishing effect.
• Fixed an issue where the Player had control over the camera during the Nuclear Strike cinematic.
• Fixed an issue where enabling and cancelling any "Irreligion" civic choice would cause the Religion screen to disappear.
• Fixed an issue where custom names were put back to default when reloading a save file
• Fixed an issue where Mandatory Action button was not sending you to an Alliance offer if clicked while already in the Diplomacy tab.
• Fixed an issue where Liberated city lifespan were not updating the following turns.
• Fixed an issue where "Customary Laws" seemed enacted when first unlocking the "Legitimacy" Civic.
• Fixed an issue where the Hangings Gardens were not mentioning the Luxury Resource on which they activated the wondrous effect.
• Fixed several minor issues on images, SFx and texts and improved various tooltips, notifications and tutorial hints.

FIXES SINCE THE LAUNCH OF THE UPDATE PREVIEW (THANKS A LOT!)

• Update Preview: Fixed Placeholder text in the Narrative Event "The Faded Lady".
• Update Preview: Fixed an issue where a typo was displayed when Disbanding Units after building Les Invalides.
• Update Preview: Fixed a typo in Les Invalides' tooltip.

TOGETHER WE RULE FIXES

• Fixed an issue where "Provided by" was displayed in the Cultural Wonders' tooltips when no Embassy was built yet.
• Fixed an issue where Embassy's notifications did not have a button for disabling them.
• Fixed an inconsistency on the background of inactive buttons in the Embassy
• Fixed an issue where Incorrect Patronage gain was displayed in Envoy's status tooltip.
• Update Preview: Fixed an issue where values inside the International Sway tooltip could sometimes be wrong.

MAC

• Fixed an issue where attempting to create clouds could result in instabilities.

 

[Siptah]

That's a really great update. Haven't played in a while and the AI rubbed that in looking forward to the next round.

 

[Saxo Grammaticus]

I haven't been able to play since Together We Rule, but the AI expansion comparison gives me something to look forward to.

 

[Blake00]

Very nice content! Humankind is also on sale with a whopping 80% discount which is nice timing to go with the new content!