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