Update 36202

Update 36202 is a patch in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, released on March 30, 2020. It introduced four The Art of War scenarios, two random maps, and a new unique unit - the Flaming Camel.

Game stability Edit

• Fixed an issue where discovering the Bombard Cannons on Into China would crash the client.
• Fixed a variety of one-off crashes.
• Fixed various issues when transferring restored game files.

Performance Edit

• Reduced the file size of assets by 1GB, and by an additional 1GB for players running the Enhanced Graphics Pack DLC.
• Continued improvements to how VRAM and RAM is utilized when running the game.
• Implemented various performance improvements.

Gameplay Edit

• Auto-Scout is now available for all horse and camel variants of the initial Scout unit.
• Fixed an issue where right-clicking to attack a specific enemy in a mixed army could result in insubordination by the ordered units.
• Fixed a legacy issue where units tasked to attack ground would sometimes ignore the command and attack the closest enemy unit instead.
• Fixed an issue where defensive structures would sometimes stop attacking targets.
• Packed Trebuchets which auto-pack and then chase another Trebuchet (target) can no longer instantly destroy the enemy Trebuchet without unpacking.
• Selecting more than one control group using Shift no longer merges them into one group by default. A new Shift Group Appending option has been added to enable or disable this behavior.
• Attack ground is no longer available for Trebuchets when playing Treaty.
• Fixed a rare issue where Siege Towers could be used to move units across terrain obstructions such as cliffs.
• Furor Celtica now applies to rams and Siege Towers which have units garrisoned inside.

Civilization balance Edit

General Edit

• Steppe Lancer [Standard & Elite]: Increased the base attack of both the standard and elite unit by +1.

Chinese Edit

• No longer have access to the Redemption technology.

Cumans Edit

• No longer have access to the Redemption technology.
• Can now research the Capped Ram upgrade in the Castle Age.
• Kipchak [Standard & Elite]: Now fire +1 extra arrow.
• Steppe Husbandry: Now grants its benefits to Steppe Lancers. Now reduces the training time of Scout Cavalry, Cavalry Archers, and Steppe Lancers by 100% (was 400%).

Goths Edit

• No longer have access to the Arson technology.
• The civilization bonus affecting the cost of infantry units has now been staggered per Age: 20% cheaper → 25% cheaper → 30% cheaper → 35% cheaper.
• The civilization bonus boosting infantry attack vs. buildings now increments by +1 attack per Age (starting in the Feudal Age).

Tatars Edit

• Now gain the Thumb Ring technology for free as a civilization bonus.
• Keshik: Reduced the training time from 23 to 16 seconds.
• Elite Keshik: Reduced the training time from 20 to 14 seconds.
• Silk Armor: Now grants its benefits to Steppe Lancers.
• Timurid Siegecraft: Increased the bonus range granted to Trebuchets from +1 to +2. Now makes the new Flaming Camel unit available when researched — a fast-moving Petard with bonuses vs. mounted units and elephants.

Campaigns Edit

The Art of War Edit

Four scenarios have been added:

• Land Battle: Learn about unit counters and basic maneuvers!
• Battle Formations: Learn when and how to use formations effectively!
• Naval Battle: Learn about amphibious combat and how to prevail on the high seas!
• Destroying a Castle: Learn about early siege attacks against fortified positions!

In addition, changes have been implemented to existing scenarios:

• Added localized versions of the introduction videos for all supported audio languages.
• Booming: Players can now properly advance to the Imperial Age after building two Castle Age buildings, rather than having to build a Castle. Fixed a separate issue where players could advance to the Imperial Age without constructing the prerequisite buildings.
• Rushing the Enemy: The kill counter will now increment properly as soon as the player starts killing enemy Villagers.

Campaign scenarios Edit

• Fixed various instances where the dialogue text and voiceover audio did not agree during the Dracula campaign.

Random maps Edit

General Edit

• Predators will no longer spawn on top of Relics.

Maps Edit

• Alpine Lakes: Updated the map to ensure a more consistent and fair distribution of resources, including hills, forests, and lakes. Each player will now start with one close lake and two small forests. Each close lake contains four deep fish within the reach of shore fishermen. In addition to fish and herdables, players now start with an extra Boar.
• Arabia: Reduced the number and length of cliffs that spawn on the map, allowing for more open gameplay. Extra gold and stone deposits have been adjusted to distribute more evenly amongst the players.
• Arena: Deer now always appear within the bounds of the player walls. Fixed a bug where, on occasion, only four Relics would appear on a tiny map (instead of five). Adjusted the number of Relics spawned to match other maps. Six-player maps will now spawn 7 Relics, and eight-player maps will spawn 8 Relics.
• Hideout: Extra gold and stone deposits have been adjusted to distribute more evenly amongst the players. Adjusted the distance of stone and gold deposits to prevent them from blocking gates. Altered the way the map is generated to prevent player bases from overlapping. Guaranteed that one pile of stone now always appears within the walls of each player’s base. Boars will now consistently spawn inside of the player's base. Groups of Deer will now either appear entirely within the walls (50% of the time) or well outside of them.
• MegaRandom: Added new map variations to make better use of the Mangrove Shallows/Forests terrain. Adjusted the balance of deer spawns to ensure an average of 4 deer per player. Fixed several bugs that caused issues with the generation of gold and stone. Increased the amount of starting gold spawned on the Empire Wars game mode.

Lobbies and matchmaking Edit

General Edit

• Added a tooltip to game lobbies that provides a detailed look at any player's stats, including their rating, rank, wins, losses, and win percentage.
• The technology tree can now be viewed while in the matchmaking queue.
• The number of spectators and Game ID are now displayed while spectating a match.
• Added the ability to pick player color in ranked matchmaking. This now also controls the player's starting team position based on the selected color.
• Teams in ranked matchmaking now delegate their map bans to the party leader.
• Updated the default team selection from "-" to "?" in multiplayer lobbies.
• Team Positions can no longer be selected when playing custom scenarios.
• Two new maps inspired by the community — Four Lakes and Golden Swamp — are now available in the random map selection screen by default.
• Fixed an issue where custom scenario lobbies would incorrectly display the previously-selected random map as the location.
• Fixed an issue where the game would run slower for players than for spectators.
• Implemented additional tracking and safeguards to defend against cheat programs.

Ranked map rotation Edit

• The ranked map pool is now unique depending on whether the player is playing 1v1 or as a team. Nine total maps are still available in both modes: six that are playable in both, and three exclusive maps that only appear in the 1v1 or team queue.

The 1v1 map pool is as follows:

• Acropolis
• Arabia
• Arena
• Four Lakes
• Mediterranean
• MegaRandom
• Golden Swamp
• Hideout
• Nomad

The team map pool is as follows:

• Arabia
• Arena
• Black Forest
• Lombardia
• MegaRandom
• Golden Swamp
• Hideout
• Nomad
• Team Islands

Graphics Edit

• The Slavs, Magyars, Lithuanians, and Bulgarians now have a unique set of sails for their ships.
• Vietnamese Transport Ships now use the correct set of sails.
• Sea Gates now have destruction animations.
• Imperial Camels no longer wield their shields upside down when walking.
• Terrain grid lines are now less intrusive.
• Updated the visual look of Relics.

Audio Edit

• Indians Villagers no longer say "attack" when tasked to move.
• Properly limited how gunpowder sounds are played when too many of them are triggered at the same time.

AI Edit

General Edit

• Improved the effectiveness of AI players on the Hamburger map.
• Fixed a rare issue where AI-controlled players would continue to send unit commands after resigning or being defeated.
• Fixed an issue where AI-controlled players would play too passively before reaching the Imperial Age.
• Fixed an issue where the AI would occasionally resign too early in team games.
• Fixed a rare issue where AI players would send tribute to the host player rather than the player that requested the resources.
• Fixed a rare issue where AI-controlled players would build excessive numbers of military buildings.
• Fixed a rare issue where explorer units would occasionally fall idle.

Pathfinding Edit

• Fixed an issue where units would be paralyzed with fear instead of properly fleeing enemy aggressors.
• Fixed an issue where Bombard Cannons would fail to interrupt their attack-move under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a rare issue where a trapped scout using auto-scout could cause the game to lag.

Scripting Edit

• Siege weapons are no longer affected by sn-task-ungrouped-soldiers.
• unit-type-count-total now counts additional objects in the unit queue.
• up-pending-objects now counts additional objects in the unit queue.
• up-garrison now accepts unit lines.
• up-modify-group-flag can now be used to select and see which units are in what group.
• up-find-remote can now find building foundations.
• sn-allow-civilian-defense set to 0 and sn-allow-civilian-offense set to ≥1 will no longer make villagers retreat.

UI Edit

• Added a new Player Profile hub where players can your game stats and collections. This is accessible directly from the main menu!
• Fixed a rare issue where chat messages were sometimes not sent to everyone.
• Shift-clicking a stack of units in the building queue now decreases the queued total by 5.
• All herdable Cows will now show the correct message in the UI when found.
• The minimap now updates correctly when switching between players using hotkeys while watching a recorded game.
• The Map Seed is now visible in the objectives panel for spectated and recorded games. This information is useful when reporting issues with a randomly generated map.
• The game no longer inserts a "/" in front of non-taunt numbers when the /Taunts option is turned off.
• The Chieftains technology no longer displays an incorrect description in the notification area when researched.

Modding Edit

General Edit

• Palette mods are now possible.
• It is now possible to use OPUS encoded WEM files in audio mods.

Scenario Editor Edit

• The Play Sound trigger effect now works with custom sounds.
• Added a unique model for the Heavy Swordsman.
• Fixed an issue where some random maps did not appear in the Scenario Editor's "random map list."