Old World update #138

[The_J]

The next update is out, #138 https://mohawkgames.com/2025/08/27/old-world-update-138/
(I somehow seem to regularly miss a few )

Changes Overview

• New map size
• Multiple Victory adjustments
• AI improvements

Design

• Duel map size is now smaller (45×45) and defaults to 2 players
• Added new map size Tiny, which is the same size as the old Duel
• Maximum Number of Opponents allowed is now set per map size at twice the default number of players
• Random map size can no longer result in an actual map size that is too small to accommodate the chosen number of players
• Added new Ultra-wide aspect ratio option to MP setup (map width is 40% of map height)
• Each Victory condition is disabled for other players after first being achieved
• It is no longer possible to lose the game after being the first to complete a victory condition
• Tribes, Raiders, Rebels and Barbarians now more likely to pillage improvements and attack units rather than cities
• All members of a team with a nation allied to a tribe can found cities on that tribe’s sites, for an extra cost
• The AI avoids founding a religion for a certain number of turns, depending on AI aggression and development levels
• The AI can no longer start with improvements that are required for founding a religion (Shrines and Pastures)
• Units that are no longer hidden because of an effect being removed remain hidden until they move or attack
• Hidden scouts no longer get bounced several tiles away just to remain hidden in Trees
• Make Peace/Alliance with a Tribe ambitions no longer require tribe contact and don’t fail if the last contacted tribe is eliminated
• Adad-Guppi and Ramesses II cannot die for the first 50 years (Wonders and Dynasties)
• Slum improvements are now Urban (Behind the Throne)
• Added new map script Desolation, a fertile land with deserts that expand over time (Wrath of Gods)
• Occurrences no longer change terrain on a tile with an improvement (excluding roads) to a terrain type that is not supported by that improvement (Wrath of Gods)
• Occurrences no longer remove roads when changing terrain to a type that doesn’t support roads, unless impassable (Wrath of Gods)
• Added new Sacrifice Courtier goal to the Wrath of Gods scenario
• Drought raid event in the Wrath of Gods scenario can no longer occur in the first 20 turns or at all on Weak Tribe Level

Programming

• AI improvements:
• Pathfinder enhancements
• Improved movement plans on congested maps
• Combat tactics improvements
• Fixed AI being less aggressive against other players than intended
• Improved attacks out of staging areas
• Founds cities for protection instead of retreating
• Less likely to retreat healthy units after attacking in the same area
• Better accounting for enemy power when allocating units to city defense and attack staging
• Anchored ships are higher priority targets
• More urgent repair of pillaged improvements
• Revised specialist and improvement building priorities

• Other programming changes:
• Minor performance improvements
• Occurrences are processed for each player separately during their turn
• New game loading screen no longer waits for the prehistory to finish, improving load times on fast machines
• Expanded and tweaked wording of warning of potential crashes on Raptor Lake CPUs
• Owned DLCs on GoG are now cached in memory after receiving ownership
• Better handling of modded XML paths on Windows

UI

• Victory screen is updated when a player has met one of the victory conditions
• Victory popup on game over mentions the last victory earned instead of the first
• Score threshold for victory no longer shown after double/points victory achieved
• Net yield tooltip now groups yields that subtract from each other (affects mods only)
• Added loading screen hint about Advanced Help Text
• Specialist help text without the advanced help text option now includes a simple yield total in the place of net modified yields
• Cleaned up culture help text
• Player and tribe tooltips no longer show relationship with unmet entities
• Replaced icons for Strength and Weakness
• Removed tile change notifications from game log
• Localization text updates
• More UI related actions allowed during another players turn (i.e. renaming cities, setting reminders)
• Cloud notification emails no longer show details in Summary section if they appear in another category
• Network games are now removed from the Current Games list for eliminated players

Bugs Fixed

• Fixed 11th ambition / 2nd National ambition sometimes getting offered
• Fixed null reference on exit to menu
• Fixed tooltips clearing unnecessarily between turns
• Fixed governor icon not updating after losing control of a city
• Fixed tile recommendation icon interactability when tile status is active
• Fixed possible crash if a mod eliminates a council position
• Fixed tile border expansion when using the Game Editor
• Fixed leader trait achievements not working when new leader already has trait
• Fixed AI behavior for congested battlefields
• Fixed pinned characters being shared between players
• Fixed some game editor actions not working when it’s not the active player’s turn
• Fixed AI building too many forts and in bad locations
• Fixed incorrect AI danger calculations
• Fixed Caravan animation being affected by “Follow AI moves” setting
• Fixes to Multiple Continents map script
• Fixed trigger text for some city culture events
• Fixed assign governor tooltip showing incorrect opinion change
• Fixed some duplicate titles in cloud email notifications
• Fixed caravan missions not being able to be completed through unrevealed territory
• Fixed governor project reminders not being dismissable
• Fixed toggle buttons closing reminders panel
• Fixed yield previews showing for improvement placement on invalid tiles with map tacks
• Fixed custom overlay not restoring properly after hovering to build a road
• Fixed a city site assignment bug that could result in AI cities on higher development levels not being grouped together
• Fixed null icon in eliminated player text on MP game tooltips
• Fixed cities not being able to be razed in no-character mode
• Fixed AI sometimes not clearing or claiming city sites
• Fixed net yield change tooltip for adjacent improvement modifiers
• Fixed events incorrectly showing origin of foreign occurrence
• Fixed display of family tab when large numbers of luxuries are sent to family
• Fixed helptext performance issue
• Fixed units sometimes not getting bounced from occurrence impassable tiles
• Fixed XP floating text sometimes not appearing
• Fixed map scripts allowing unreachable non-boundary tiles
• Fixed missing Tribal Truce and Peace missions in No Characters
• Fixed ethnicity helptext issue in Heroes of the Aegean 6
• Fixed Kingship god icon positioning (Wrath of Gods)
• Fixed global Occurrences (e.g. Drought, Plague) being more frequent than intended (Wrath of Gods)
• Text and event fixes

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

Looks like a meaty release. Slowing the AI from founding super early religions sounds like the thing I'm likely to notice most (unless the AI improvements result in me keeping my butt kicked more regularly).