Update 87863 is a patch in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome, released on 28 June 2023. This update enabled Romans for Ranked Play. The patch notes teased "changes are on the horizon for Persians." and the return of event scenarios in the summer.
The patch was tested in a PUP in June. Change to the Franks bonus for gathering speed for berries and the removal of the extra attack against Skirmishers of the Ratha did not carry over to the update.
Game[]
Stability & Performance[]
- Fixed an issue where the game was crashing after using backslashes in the Browse Mods search bar.
- Fixed an issue where researching Wheelbarrow/Hand Cart after Flemish Revolution was causing a crash.
- Fixed an issue to prevent a crash to occur if a player attempts to create a Co-Op Campaign lobby while in Return of Rome mode.
- Fixed an issue where the game would crash when a player accepts a lobby invite that has altered settings.
- Fixed a rare issue where the game could crash when making edits to hotkeys during an ongoing game.
- Users are now limited to sending 10 messages over 10 seconds, to prevent spam messages from being sent rapidly, causing the game to crash. Also, empty messages wont be sent anymore as intended.
Achievements[]
- Fixed various Steam Achievements texts and icons.
Graphics[]
- Assigned the correct graphic to the Imperial Centurion decay animation.
- Relic glow effect is no longer dimmed in fog of war.
- Idle Pointer no longer appears when villagers/fishing ships die.
- Reduced the size of the pots on farms in Return of Rome.
- Added graphics for single and double pole flags in Return of Rome.
Audio[]
- Barracks and Archery Range now have the proper construction sound in Return of Rome.
UI[]
- Fixed various text issues in Return of Rome.
- Fixed various outdated strings in campaigns due to Roman civilization addition.
- Added two missing "Spectate with Capture Age" buttons in Return of Rome replays and escape menus.
- Adjustments have been made in the Campaign sword rating to better reflect the difficulty of some campaigns.
- Adjustments have been made on the map recommendations/filters.
- Added missing Return of Rome filter option to the game filter dropdown.
- Return of Rome tech tree has been updated to show fortified gates as disabled for civilizations with unavailable fortified walls.
- Fixed an issue where incorrect icons were displayed for towers in technology tree preview for Koreans.
- Return of Rome tech tree now shows the correct price for Archer Chain Mail.
- Improved the way the warning message at the bottom of in-game UI is displayed.
- The global queue icons of units which can't be trained because of the housing/population limit now receive the red glow if the current population is lower than the maximum supported.
- Cuman, Tatar and Lithuanian AI players now use their correct leader names.
Hotkeys[]
- Fixed an issue where pressing space bar to confirm the action to send resources in the diplomacy menu was not working anymore.
- Tab key no longer causes UI lock up when used for cycle commands.
Xbox[]
- Fixed various stability issues on Xbox.
- Fixed various UI issues, strings and wrong/missing icons on Xbox.
- Fixed various issues while using the Keyboard and Mouse inputs.
- B button now cancels queued farms/fishtraps as intended, instead of adding more of them in the queue.
- Singleplayer game will now be paused when Xbox sign in dialog appears.
- Wall foundations can now be selected even if they are covered by the Fog of War as intended.
- Panning speed now scales based on zoom level.
- Restarting games from loaded saves no longer creates a completely different map.
- Fixed an issue where sound objects were not correctly getting freed up, leading to loss of most in-game sounds after 1–2 hours of active gameplay.
- Fixed an issue where the stereo panning of a unit-bound sound would never update along with the unit's movements.
Gameplay[]
Fixes[]
- On Xbox, villagers will no longer attempt to harvest from garrisoned livestock units.
- On Xbox, rally points from the Site Command menu can now be created properly for buildings that are off screen.
- Fixed an issue where Monks in group, without "Theocracy", weren't all losing faith after a successful conversion.
- Defensive buildings do not continue firing at units that have moved out of range.
- The Return of Rome Priest's site command to heal units works now as intended on Xbox.
- Waypoint flags now get properly removed regardless of the mouse options selected.
- Shift queueing attack is now working correctly, instead of having units getting stuck after killing their first shift queued target.
- Fixed a parity issue on Xbox where Franks unique techs were age swapped.
- Fixed an issue where Town Center sometimes weren't firing at enemy units properly.
- Own/ally units in "Defensive" and "Stand Ground" stance or with "Guard" or "Follow" order don't obstruct building foundations anymore, preventing construction.
- Fixed an issue where units were unable to move when using Guard stance.
- Transport Ships no longer fail to unload all units at once if there is enough space to unload.
Campaign[]
Campaign scenarios[]
- Dracula #2: The Return of the Dragon
- The convertible buildings can no longer be deleted.
- Yodit #4: Broken Stelae
- Fixed an issue where starting forces would not change their loyalty to the player.
- Jadwiga #1: The Matter of the Crown
- On Xbox, the Jadwiga unit no longer have the healing icon present when hovering over an injured ally unit.
- Pyrrhus #1: A Second Alexander
- AI error no longer occurs on the start.
- The bridges by Demetrius camp are no longer on fire.
- The other enemy players are now more likely to help Antiochus out when the player is destroying his Stables.
- Some of the player's starting Houses are changed to Army Tents.
- Antiochus now starts with some Cavalry, to ensure he always has some level of defense.
- Antiochus also makes a last ditch defense effort when he has lost most of his stables on higher difficulty levels.
- Fixed a bug where the enemy forces would keep walking away from Antigonus' camp during the finale, if the player destroyed Antiochus' Stables before the player's allies fell back to defensive lines.
- Antigonus no longer builds Storage Pits close to the enemy lines.
- Lysimachus no longer researches Centurion or Iron Age armor/attack upgrades.
- Antiochus no longer gets Scale Armor for Cavalry on Easy or Moderate.
- Antigonus spawns a few extra defenders as a last ditch effort, if his camp gets overrun before the finale.
- Flags now mark out the Stables the player needs to destroy.
- The final enemy push is now less intense on all difficulty levels.
- Moved a tower so that the player can see the nearest gold mines from the start.
- Gave Antigonus a Storage Pit by a good wood line.
- Minor AI updates.
- Ensured stable counter isn't activated twice, which could previously cause issues in rare circumstances.
- Pyrrhus #2: The Many Kings of Macedon
- The victory message now has its proper dialogue sound playing.
- Neoptolemus no longer tries to steal the player's gold mines when he's allied to the player.
- The player now gets some resources for defeating Neoptolemus.
- Demetrius' transport is no longer on fire.
- Minor AI updates.
- Pyrrhus #3: Pyrrhic Victories
- Rome's villagers no longer gather gold from Asculum's camp.
- Minor AI updates.
- Pyrrhus #4: Savior of the Greeks
- Added scout section about the Carthaginian Suppliers.
- Blocked an unintended path by a mountain.
- Minor AI updates.
- Pyrrhus #5: Sisyphus
- Rotated some out-of-season brown bushes so that they are now green.
- Fixed a rare bug where the dialogue for defeating all enemy factions would play even if the player achieved victory the standard way (by protecting the allied Wonder).
Changes in difficulty ratings[]
The following campaigns had their difficulty ratings changed (this was not mentioned in the patch notes):
- Bari: 3 → 2
- Sforza: 3 → 2
- Tariq ibn Ziyad: 1 → 2
- Francisco de Almeida: 2 → 3
- Suryavarman I: 2 → 1
- Ivaylo: 2 → 3
- Jan Zizka: 3 → 2
- Babur: 2 → 1
Balance changes (Age of Empires II)[]
General[]
- Battering Ram move speed increased from 0.5 to 0.6
- Battering Ram garrison capacity increased from 4 to 6
- Capped Ram move speed increased from 0.5 to 0.6
- Capped Ram garrison capacity increased from 5 to 6
- (Elite) Battle Elephant Line of Sight increased from 4 (5) to 7 (8)
- Elite Battle Elephant upgrade cost reduced from 1200 food, 900 gold to 1100 food, 700 gold
- Gillnets gather rate reduced from 25% to 20%
- Stone Shaft Mining cost reduced from 200 food, 150 wood to 175 food, 75 wood
- Gold Shaft Mining cost reduced from 200 food, 150 wood to 175 food, 75 wood
- Sanctity cost increased from 120 gold to 175 gold
- Heavy Scorpion HP increased from 50 to 55
- Fish Traps now receive anti-building damage (10 class 11 armor and 0 class 21 armor)
Bohemians[]
- Hussite Wagon frame delay decreased from 30 to 20
Britons[]
- Receive Gambesons
Bulgarians[]
- Dismounted Konnik base armor increased from 0/0 to 2/1
- Elite Dismounted Konnik base armor increased from 0/1 to 2/2
Burmese[]
- Elite Arambai attack reduced from 15 to 14
- (Elite) Arambai now properly affected by Chemistry instead of only using a graphic change to the projectile
- Manipur Cavalry moved to Castle Age
- Manipur Cavalry cost reduced from 400 food, 400 gold to 300 food, 300 gold
- Manipur Cavalry effect reduced from Cavalry deals +5 bonus attack vs. archers to Cavalry deals +4 bonus attack vs. archers
- Howdah moved to Imperial Age
Byzantines[]
| “ | Greek Fire changed from Fire Ships +1 range, Bombard Towers +0.5 Blast Radius to Fire Ships +1 range, Dromons' and Bombard Towers' blast radius increased. | ” |
| —Patch description | ||
- Simplified change: Greek Fire now also increases blast radius of Dromons (other effects unchanged)
- Bombard Towers now deals 25% damage in radius, no longer deal friendly fire damage.
Chinese[]
- Technology discount civilization bonus reduced from 10%/15%/20% to 5%/10%/15% in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
Hindustanis[]
- Lose access to Guilds.
- Grand Trunk Road cost reduced from 400 food, 400 wood to 250 food, 200 wood
- Grand Trunk Road now also reduces the trading fee to 10%
- (Elite) Ghulam attack increased from 8 (10) to 9 (11)
- (Elite) Ghulam HP increased from 55 (65) to 60 (70)
Italians[]
Koreans[]
- Military units (except siege) cost -20% wood civilization bonus changed to Archers and Infantry cost -50% wood, Warships cost -20% wood (the latter is unchanged)
- (Elite) War Wagon base cost adjusted to 200 wood, 60 gold (unchanged after the wood discount)
- (Elite) Turtle Ships affected by Siege Engineers
Magyars[]
- Team Bonus changed from foot archers +2 Line of Sight to mounted archers trained 25% faster
Malay[]
- Lose access to Gambesons
Malians[]
- Gold Miners drop off more gold civilization bonus reduced from 15% to 10%
Persians[]
- (Elite) War Elephant Line of Sight increased from 4 (5) to 7 (8)
Portuguese[]
Romans[]
- Galley-line +1 attack civilization bonus removed
- War Galleys +1/+1 armor, Galleons and Dromons +2/+2 armor civilization bonus changed to Galley-line and Dromons +1/+1 armor
- Ballistas no longer grants attack speed to the Galley-line
- Ballistas now grants +2 attack to the Galley-line in addition to Scorpion attack speed
- (Elite) Centurion formation position moved behind infantry units instead of in front of them
Slavs[]
Turks[]
- Janissary attack range reduced from 8 to 7 (Elite Janissary unchanged)
Vietnamese[]
- Economy technologies now also research 100% faster
- Imperial Skirmisher upgrade cost reduced from 300 wood, 450 gold to 300 wood, 300 gold
Balance changes (Age of Empires)[]
General[]
- Slingers are now affected by Alchemy technology as intended
- Fixed the attribute values for several units:
- Hoplite, Phalangite, Centurion – reload time 2 to 1.5
- Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry, Cataphract – reload time 1.3 to 1.5
- Heavy Catapult – blast width 2 to 1.2
Lac Viet[]
- Ballista receives +2 armor (in addition to Archery Range units)
Macedonians[]
- 25% siege discount now applies to Ballista as intended
Random Maps[]
Map Balance[]
- Amazon Tunnel:
- Fixed an issue where player's gold mines could fail to generate or generate next to another player.
- Arabia:
- Reintroduced the Asian, European and American themes.
- Boars may now generate again on some map themes.
- Gazelles now occasionally generate on some map themes.
- Ponds have been entirely removed from player forests. They may still appear in neutral forests on the map.
- The forest generation around players has been modified to create slightly more open generations. Prey huntable animals have been pushed further away from the players.
- Michi:
- Players now start with 9 villagers and 2 houses.
- Explored map visibility is now used in ranked games.
Lobbies and Matchmaking[]
General[]
- The rotation of the Ranked Maps Pool happening every two weeks around 01:00 am UTC will now happen around 08:00 am UTC instead.
- Due to long queues times and low activity making it difficult to find matches, Empire Wars and Battle Royale game modes have been removed from the Quick Play Menu on PC, and Empire Wars has been removed from the Quick Play Menu on Xbox.
- Changed the population setting for Return of Rome ranked games (both 1v1 and TG) to 250 instead of 200.
- Fixed an issue where the reset and randomize buttons weren't disabled in ranked lobbies.
AI[]
General[]
- Fixed an engine bug which caused AI villagers to idle after constructing a building if the villager was facing a corner of the building.
- AI now slings the correct player in response to taunt 58.
- AI researches Royal Heirs and Greek Fire under correct conditions.
- Extreme difficultly: Fixed an issue with the group micro evaluation function. This allows the AI to properly consider unit upgrades when deciding whether to take a fight involving ranged units.
- Fixed an issue where camps may be placed on inaccessible islands or forest gaps in explored maps.
- Fixed an issue where AI occasionally built fewer mining camps then intended.
Return of Rome[]
- If betrayed when locked teams are off, the AI will match the new diplomatic stance after a delay or if it is attacked.
- AI will ask for wood if it doesn't have sufficient wood to place a market in response to taunts.
- AI now counters units in the Tool Age to a greater extent than before.
- AI now builds a greater number of watch towers for defense with more intelligent placement for the initial tower.
- AI now no longer suffers from idle villagers on very high population limits.
- Improved the AI's ability to play very high and very low population limits in general.
- Fixed a bug where the AI may not obtain the prerequisite buildings for Iron Age, particularly if it was Macedonians.
- Fixed a bug where fire galleys were not included in the AI's water attacks.
- Fixed a bug where the AI occasionally did not attack despite being near full population.
- Fixed a bug where on Hard or Hardest difficultly the AI would unintentionally pick Fast Bronze strategies more often than intended.
- AI now considers Inland a mixed map instead of a full water map. In addition, the minimum area of water required for the AI to build a dock and contest it has been increased.
Scripting[]
- Fixed a bug where my-unique-unit was undefined for Vikings.
- my-unique-research and my-second-unique-research now always refer to the Imperial Age unique tech and Castle Age unique tech respectively.
- Fortified wall and Ballista tower are now correctly included in wall-line and tower-line respectively.
- Added XS support for AI, allowing AIs to store more information (including between games) and perform more advanced mathematical calculations.
- Use (include "script.xs") command to load a XS script.
- Use xs-script-call "function name" to call a XS function. This can be used as a fact or an action. It is not necessary to defconst the function name.
- Use xsGetGoal(integer) and xsGetStrategicNumber(integer) to read a goal and SN respectively.
- Use xsSetGoal(goal ID, value) and xsSetStrategicNumber(sn ID, value) to set a goal and SN respectively. The value must be an integer.
- AIs can also store information using commands such as xsWriteInt(). However, it is important that before opening the file, xsSetContextPlayer() is set to the player number, and the same command is used to reset it back to -1 before closing the file again.
Modding[]
General[]
- Changing in-game music now works properly in Return of Rome mods.
- Power up task now provides the same speed increase regardless of the unit having its speed increased by a technology or not.
- Added a new flag 4 for Blast Attack Level attribute which can disable friendly damage for ranged units with blast attack.
- Power up tasks with round power up area now display round range indicator if it is enabled.
- Buldings with power up tasks can no longer receive invalid commands from right-clicking on units specified in the power up task data.
- Audio mods now work properly when Windows username and/or modname have special characters while not having UTF-8 enabled in the system.
- Modifying Idle Graphic IDs of a unit by trigger or technology effects now immediately updates the current graphic/animation.
- Fixed an issue where data mods containing hotkeys.json could cause reset of hotkey settings for the unmodified game. Now such data mods will create their own uniquely named .hkp files.
Scenario Editor[]
- Enable Technology trigger no longer disables technology for other players.
