Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition — Update 9476

The Age III: DE Inaugural Event!

🌟 December 8 – December 15 🌟

Welcome, one and all, to the FIRST Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition challenge event! As the first of many events to come, you’re invited to jump into Age III to complete challenges, unlock brand-new profile icons, and let us know what YOU think about the INAUGURAL EVENT!

We’ve created seven challenges for you to try and complete over the course of the next week! You will need to come back each day to unlock and complete the next challenge in the series of events. Each you complete unlocks a new treasure: an exclusive profile icon for you to show off using the new Profile Avatar system that just landed in Age III: DE:

New Rewards!

Starting TODAY through DECEMBER 15, complete daily in-game tasks to unlock event-themed goodies:

Each of the following challenges must be unlocked in order and on separate days:

Keep it Forever!

If you sign in to Xbox Live during the event, you’ll get to keep all the profile icons you achieve over the next two weeks! Sign in, earn your rewards, and enjoy the celebration!

We hope you enjoy the Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition Inaugural Event!  Again, don’t forget to sign into Xbox Live to ensure you keep everything you unlock!

—The Age of Empires Team

♦     ♦     ♦

Event F.A.Q.

Swedish Home City Customization

Thirty-six (36) new options are now available for you to unlock and customize Stockholm—the Swedish Home City! Choose from building upgrades, new citizens, beautification, and other elements to make the Swedes YOURS!

• Customize six different buildings: New World Trading Company, Military Academy, Cathedral, Manufacturing Plant, Harbor
• Three new skyboxes are unlockable for your Home City!
• Three color variants available for the different buildings!
• …and more!

In addition to beatification, Home City shipments can now be seen departing for the new world when you order them. There’s no better time to pick up the new civ and make them the jewel of the world!

Visible Casual Rank on Profile

A new badge has been added for all players that displays the number of casual games they’ve played and their win percent over the last 30 days.

• Mouse over a player’s name to view that player’s performance in their casual games.
• When browsing the casual game lobby, the average rank of the match is displayed.
• Stars represent how many multiplayer matches the player has played.
• Chevrons represent the percentage of games the player has won.

This offers insight into the abilities of each player as you form custom lobbies—offering tools to help you balance your matches for a more enjoyable experience!

Profile Avatars

You can now choose from 10 different avatar images to set as your profile picture! Even better? You can also unlock new, exclusive images during special events (such as the one happening right now), with the release of future updates, and other (mysterious) ways as the game continues to grow!

Don’t forget to sign into Xbox Live whenever you unlock a new image; it’s the only way to save unlocks to your permanent Age of Empires profile!

Stability & Performance

• Streamlined the multiplayer code when one player begins falling behind others in the match. This should improve the performance of multiplayer games for those experiencing slowdowns as a result of this circumstance.
• Fixed a prevalent crash triggered by the AI on the Silk Road and Large Silk Road maps.
• Fixed a crash in the Microsoft Store version of the game related to the license check failing. Impacted players are now warned when the failure occurs.
• Fixed a bug which would cause the frame rate to limit itself to just below the intended threshold (i.e. getting 57 FPS where 60 FPS was expected).
• Fixed an “out of sync” error triggered when all players would select ‘Random Personality’ in a multiplayer game.
• Fixed several “out of sync” errors related to model mismatches. Bonus: this fix also slightly improves the performance of the game.
• Fixed a hang in the particle system which would occur most often (though not exclusively) in the late game of multiplayer matches.
• Game animations are now purged from memory when exiting a match in order to prevent leaks.
• Fixed a memory corruption error that would cause the game to crash on exit.
• Implemented significant optimizations to the tech tree.
• Implemented optimizations to the  UI resource panel where certain string manipulations could tank the game’s performance.
• Optimized legacy UI code which could cause significant slowdowns after resigning from a match.

Graphics

• Added missing idle animations to the Donkey.
• Debris and other violently detached pieces of the  War Junk will now disconnect and disappear from the ship model as intended.
• Fixed an animation hitch for the ship anchored in the Ottoman Home City.
• Recovered banners which had gone missing when unlocked and adorned by the German Cathedral in Berlin.
• The Portuguese  Cassador unit now has a walk animation to prevent it from awkwardly sliding when set to defend an area.

UI

• Adjusted the Defeated chat group so it can only be used and read by players who were defeated or resigned from the game.
• Updated Ká:nien to display the correct character portrait in the ‘Through the Andes’ (Blood, Ice & Steel, Act III) scenario.
• The tooltips for unit tactics will now (properly) display the Default hotkeys (as opposed to the Legacy hotkeys) when using the Default key bindings.
• Ranking tooltips will no longer truncate certain text in non-English languages.
• Removed the  Armor Plating upgrade from the technology trees of Native American civilizations, as it is not available to them in the game.
• Corrected the Swede tech tree to display their Royal Guard units in the same manner as other civilizations: with the unit’s common name first, followed by the civilization-specific name in (brackets).
• Additional fixes to prevent the Chinese War Academy from losing access to half of their technology buttons if Hill Fort was researched before receiving the Confucius’ Gift shipment.
• Fixed a bug where certain “disabled” abilities would continue to display on the command panel during Treaty games.
• Fixed pagination logic issues which prevented the correct display and navigation of the in-game Leaderboards. (Time for ranks 52-99 to shine!)
• Updated the leaderboard to remove the need for scrolling before navigating to consecutive pages. The list now scales to fit the vertical space, which varies in length depending on the resolution of your screen.
• Corrected the tooltip of the Teepee: “Provides a hit point boost to nearby military units and a gathering rate boost to nearby economic units.” ▶ “Provides a hit point boost to nearby military units.”
• Corrected the description of the  Community Plaza: “Task Villagers on the Community Plaza to perform powerful ceremony.” ▶ “Task Villagers on the Community Plaza to perform powerful ceremonies.”
• Updated the Inca Stronghold tooltip to no longer (erroneously) imply that artillery can be garrisoned: “A powerful military building that can train and garrison all military units to strengthen its attack.” ▶ “A powerful defensive fortification that can train all Inca military units. Garrisoned units strengthen its attack.”
• Updated the tooltip of the Surströmming card to better-describe the functionality of Fish Crates: “Ships 2 Fish Crates, which provide more Food over time. You can have up to 8 Fish Crates in play at any one time.”
• Updated the tooltip of the Swedish Barrage card to better-describe its effect: “From a medium range, Mortars can now also target nearby enemy units with an exceptional splash damage attack.”
• Updated the tooltip of the Indian Royal Green Jackets card to capture its full effect: “Gurkhas deal more damage to Heavy Infantry. Each tech at the Consulate grants additional Gurkhas for free, +1 Villager.”
• The Native American Allies card available to the Canadians following a Revolution now accurately describes which Native American groups will lend their support.
• The Native Warrior Carib Blowgunners now display the proper “Elite,” “Champion,” or “Legendary” prefix when the corresponding upgrades are researched.
• The tooltip of the Carib Ambush Party upgrade now correctly states that it grants benefits to ALL Hero types rather than exclusively to Explorers.
• The tooltip of the Tupi Animal Lore upgrade now correctly states that it benefits Heroes rather than Town Centers.

Settings

• Added a tooltip to explain the Show Game Time option in the UI Options menu.
• Added the ability to limit FPS in the Graphics Options menu.
• The “Allow Conflicts” setting must now be applied rather than being switched on or off via a radio button.
• Updated the display of options sliders so that text appears on the top while the slider appears on the bottom. This is to prevent the pointer from obscuring the numeric values.

Campaign Missions

• Last City of the Inca (Act III: Steel): Kamcha houses are now properly assigned to the Inca (green) team rather than the Gaia team.
• Last City of the Inca (Act III: Steel): Replaced a house which allowed the player to research the Traveling Merchant unit.

Historical Battles

• Christopher Da Gama’s Expedition (1542): Now correctly displays the enemy civilization as the Somalians rather than the Portuguese.
• New Orleans: Fixed mismatched audio and text lines that would play during the scenario.

General

• Fixed a bug where Ending Relations with the British or Ottomans via the  Consulate would not properly remove the full benefits granted by the ally.
• Native Embassies are now constructed by Heroes instead of Villagers. This prevents an issue where Town Centers would be pushed off the build menu for some Villagers when too many buildings were unlocked.

Adjusted the British Allies available to the Chinese and Indian civilizations at the  Consulate as follows:

• Now grants its +7% hp bonus to units tagged as “Land Military” rather than multiple, different categories. This fixes an issue where certain units would receive the bonus twice (such as “Shock Infantry”), and ensures that all eligible units—as indicated by the tooltip—now receive the bonus: such as Heroes, Pets, and other previously-overlooked groups. The effects of Japanese Isolation have been adjusted accordingly.
• 2 Surgeons: Adjusted the cost from 300 ▶ 250 Export.

UNITS

 Surgeon: Reduced healing rate from 20 ▶ 15 hp/s. Note that this is still +5 hp/s over the legacy game.
 Surgeon: Adjusted the cost from 300 ▶ 225 coin.
 Surgeon: Experience bounties adjusted to account for the above changes.

UPGRADES

 Mission Fervor: Now properly applies to ALL healing units, as intended.
 Fasting (Sufi Mosque): Now properly improves ALL gathering rates, as intended.

• Mustangs (Cheyenne): Now improves ALL cavalry-type units, as intended.
• Mustangs (Cheyenne): Reduced the bonus speed from 10% ▶ 5%.
• Mapuche Warrior Societies: Now properly improves Native Warrior  Bolas Riders delivered by shipments.

The Aztecs

NEW UNIQUE UNIT!
Added a new unit, the Eagle Scout:

UNITS & BUILDINGS

War Chief: Reworked the Cauchic Ascension ability: “A powerful area attack that inflicts great damage against Treasure Guardians and temporarily improves your War Chief’s attack speed.” (60-second cooldown).
War Chief: Can now train Eagle Scouts. They have a build limit of 5 and take 7 seconds to train.
Warrior Priest: Now deals triple damage to Treasure Guardians by default, since Cauchic Ascension no longer applies to allied units.
Jaguar Prowl Knight: Shock Infantry multiplier corrected from 2 ▶ 1.6x.

The Dutch

CARDS

• Medicine (II): Fixed a bug where Dutch Settlers would cost 85 coin, -15 food after shipping the card, thus allowing them to add food to the stockpile whenever a Settler was queued.

The Germans

CIVILIZATION

• The required experience per Home City shipment has been corrected from 107% ▶ 110%, as intended.

CARDS

• Grenade Launchers: Now properly delivers 3 Uhlans upon completion. Note that changes to the original card will automatically remove it from any deck(s) upon launching the game; remember to re-add this card to your deck(s) before deploying them to the field.

The Inca

UNITS & BUILDINGS

Kancha Houses have been adjusted as follows:

• Increased the starting Food trickle from 0.5 ▶ 0.6 food/second.
• Reduced the benefit granted by Chincha Brewing, which now increases the Food trickle from 1.0 ▶ 0.9 food/second.

Bolas Warriors have been adjusted as follows:

• Reduced population cost from 2 ▶ 1.
• Increased range from 12 ▶ 14.
• Now properly inflict 1.6x damage to Rattan Shields. The benefits of the Colla Support card have been adjusted accordingly.
• Fixed an issue which prevented additional melee attack multipliers granted by the Colla Support card from being displayed on the Bolas Warrior’s stat panel.

Macemen have been adjusted as follows:

• Increased speed from 4 ▶ 4.25.
• Reduced the time to train from 55 ▶ 48 seconds.

Chincha Rafts have been adjusted as follows:

• Increased health from 550 ▶ 575.
• Reduced the health boost provided by the Chincha Support card from 30% ▶ 20%.
• Reduced the distance of its ranged attack from 28 ▶ 25.
• Reduced the range of its siege attack from 32 ▶ 25.
• The range of both attacks now improves by +2 upon reaching the Fortress and Industrial Ages.
• Fixed an issue which would cause ranged attacks to inflict more damage to land units than intended.

 Priestess has been adjusted as follows:

• Reduced population cost from 2 ▶ 1 while also reducing their Community Plaza work rate from 2 ▶ 1.5.
• All cards and politicians which deliver Priestesses now ship additional unit(s) to provide additional workers and Conversion opportunities to your army. As an example, the 1 Priestess (I) card has been changed to 2 Priestesses (I), effectively representing an overall work rate improvement from 2 ▶ 3, as well as +1 Conversion ability over previous builds.
• Overall, these changes will improve the strength of early Priestess booms while making the Conversion ability more useful in both the early- and late-game.

 Kallankas have been adjusted as follows:

• Increased the build limit from 3 ▶ 4.
• Increased experience bounties from 30 ▶ 60 (build) and 60 ▶ 120 (kill).
• Note that the population of garrisoned units is actually reduced by -1; it is not fully removed.

Other Incan unit changes:

 Stronghold: Corrected the radius of the “range ring” to properly reflect the building’s range.
 Chasquis: Fixed an issue which resulted in Chasquis training significantly faster than intended after sending the Couriers shipment.

UPGRADES

• Thunderbolts of Illapa (Stronghold): Moved from the Fortress to the Industrial Age.
• Totora Reeds (Dock): Changed the amount of time to increment the number of additional, free Chincha Rafts and Fishing Boats delivered from every 4 ▶ 5 minutes.
• The Elite, Champion, and Legendary upgrades for  Jungle Bowmen and  Bolas Warriors no longer improve the range of their siege attack, only their ranged attack.

The Indians

CIVILIZATION

• Increased the required experience per shipment from 106% ▶ 107%. This change aims to slightly reduce the overall strength of the civilization to address the *well* above-average win percentages in both Ranked and Casual matches.

UPGRADES

Adjusted the Ottoman  Consulate as follows:

• The line-of-sight bonus non applies to ALL non-naval units and buildings—with the exception of walls—as indicated by the tooltip.

The Japanese

UNITS & BUILDINGS

 Yamabushi: Fixed an issue that allowed Yamabushi and Consulate Yamabushi units to garrison inside buildings.

The Lakota

UNITS & BUILDINGS

 War Chief: Increased the cooldown of the Berserk Attack special ability from 45 ▶ 55 seconds.

UPGRADES

We’ve made a significant change to the time it takes to advance Ages using The Messenger:

• The Messenger (II): increased the time to advance to the Commerce Age via The Messenger from 30 ▶ 40 seconds.

This change is aimed at addressing a prevalent “opening” strategy that was contributing to the civilization having the highest win percentage out of all civs, across all game sizes, and in both Ranked and Casual matches. We will be monitoring the impact of this change and will make additional adjustments as necessary.

The Ottomans

CARDS

• All cards which improve  Janissaries now also improve  Nizam Fusiliers.
• Silk Road: Now improves the resource totals of ALL crates, whereas it previously ignored new Crates of 400 Coin and 400 Wood. The Nanban Trade technology has been adjusted accordingly.

The Portuguese

UNITS & BUILDINGS

 Town Center: Increased build experience from 0 ▶ 100 experience.

This change affects all civilizations, but is primarily aimed at improving the Portuguese “early game”—which has contributed to a below-average win rate, particularly in 1v1 matches. The free  Covered Wagons granted by their civilization bonus will give them access to this experience early in the game.

The Lakota Town Center has been adjusted accordingly.

CARDS

Two changes have been made to the Artillery Hit Points (III) card for the purpose of Treaty balance:

• Artillery Hit Points (III): Reduced the bonus hit points granted to Artillery from +20% ▶ +15% hit points.
• Artillery Hit Points (III): Increased the bonus hit points granted to Explosive Throwers from +20% ▶ +30% hit points.

The Spanish

UPGRADES

• The Adventurer (Politician): Reduced the number of Crossbowmen delivered from 9 ▶ 8.

CARDS

• Spanish Gold: Now properly delivers a bonus 400 coin crate with ALL shipments. This addresses an issue where new cards (such as Grenade Launchers) and those accessible after a Revolution would not benefit from the bonus.

7 Mapuche Bolas Riders: Bolas Riders can now be properly trained from military buildings after gaining access to this card following a Chilean Revolution.

The Swedes

UNITS & BUILDINGS

Carolean: Now properly inflict 1.3x damage to Rattan Shields. The benefits of the Platoon Fire (III) card have been adjusted accordingly.
 Hakkapelit: Increased hp from 230 ▶ 240.

CARDS
The following changes were made for the purposes of Treaty Balance:

• Oxenstierna Reforms (I): Reduced the conversion rate of coin to food from 1.4x ▶ 1.3x.
• Finnhorses (IV): Reduced the bonus hp granted to Hussars from +30% ▶ +25%.
• Barrage (IV): Damage dealt by the Mortar’s Barrage Attack reduced from 50 ▶ 40.
• Barrage (IV): Range of the Mortar’s Barrage Attack reduced from 32 ▶ 30.

General

• Updated the Carib Blowgunner (Haiti Revolution) and Mapuche Bolas Rider (Chilean Revolution) cards to clarify that the units become trainable upon acquisition of the cards.

Chile

• The Mapuche Bolas Rider (Chilean Revolution) card now properly enables the production of Mapuche Bolas Riders rather than Elite Bolas Riders.

General

Added a new “Treaty Maps” random set, which contains the following maps:

• Andes – Upper (x3)
• Central Plain
• Dakota
• Deccan
• Fertile Crescent
• Gran Chaco
• Mexico
• Orinoco (x2)
• Ozarks
• Pampas Sierras
• Punjab

The “Team Game Maps” random set has been adjusted as follows:

• Removed Andes Upper
• Removed Himalayas – Upper
• Removed New England
• Removed Ozarks
• Removed Painted Desert
• Added Araucania
• Added Mexico
• Added Mongolia
• Added Patagonia
• Added Parallel Rivers

The following maps have been temporarily removed from the Random Map sets so as to prevent them from being selected by the AI, which has not adequately prepared for the human challenge:

• Amazonia
• Caribbean
• Ceylon

When the AI training montage is complete, they will return to the battlegrounds for a rematch!

Map Balance

• Baja California: Fixed a bug in Nomad games where Covered Wagons (or the equivalent unit) would occasionally fail to spawn for all players.
• Fertile Crescent: Increased the size of the ‘starting hunt’ by +2 Ibex.
• Fertile Crescent: The ‘second hunt’ now consistently spawns 11 animals, whereas it previously varied between 11 and 12.
• Mongolia: Balanced out the creature spawns around the map. Herds in the south now contain more animals while those in the north have been thinned.
• Punjab: Doubled the restriction radius around Town Centers which prevents the construction of Mango Groves.