Age of Empires II – Patch 5.3! Performance Improvements, Campaign Fixes & Balance Changes

Improved Network Speeds:

• Removed the added network delay on game start
• Tuned the calculations involving network speed granularity to address the issue players were seeing where the game felt too fast or too slow
• Lowered the minimum command delay to allow max performance on faster machines
• Improved the throttling system to allow for faster network speeds (where applicable)
• In game ping/lag icons have been updated to appear in the correct situations
  • Yellow ping circles appear for players above 200ms ping
  • Red ping circles appear for players above 400ms ping (previously 700ms)
  • Turtle icons appear for each player that cannot maintain 90% of the simulation frame rate (previously only showed for the slowest player)

Community Focused Bug Fixes:

• Repeatedly pressing hot keys during loading screens will no longer crash
• Using standard AI and the original dataset will no longer randomly crash
• Removing a unit from a queue should no longer randomly crash
• Spectators opening the tech tree in the game lobby should no longer crash
• Repeatedly loading into treaty mode games will no longer crash
• Monk tool tip should no longer crash in Russian localization
• Saving during a game should no longer cause a desync when watching the replay
• Unit selection circles now behave correctly when unloading transport ships
• Line of sight circles should now correctly follow units (in rare cases they would be misaligned)
• Villagers should no longer stop and attack wolves (ordering a move command will now take priority so users can move villagers if desired)
• Player units should be less likely to get stuck in forests or teleport through walls
• Full Random should no longer select maps that players do not own
• Rise of Rajas main menu music should now randomly be selected
• Custom campaigns should now unlock in order rather that always being unlocked by default
• Custom campaign instruction images should now display correctly
• Custom campaign instruction scrollbar should now display correctly and not hide text
• Loading a saved campaign file and completing the scenario should now correctly unlock the next scenario

Community Focused AI Improvements:

• AI Huns housing bonus should now function correctly with the original dataset
• AI pathing around walls and gates is improved to avoid teleporting through them
• AI should now attack correctly and no longer freeze during a game
• AI improvements when sn-enable-patrol-attack set to 1
  • Soldiers should no longer get stuck in animation loops
  • Soldiers should now attack the wonder correctly
  • Villagers should now respond to weak units attacking
  • Villagers should now attack towers correctly inside town-size

Campaign Fixes:

• Saladin 2: Allied trade carts now travel to the correct markets.
• Dracula 4: The mission now advances correctly after the first objective has been completed.
• Dracula 4: The mission no longer stalls due to an issue with an AI monk during the Poenari cinematic.
• Sforza 1: The player should now be rewarded with soldiers after completing Guitano’s sidequest.
• Sforza 3: Cosmetic changes have been made so that the path to the monastery appears open but the gameplay is not adversely affected.
• Sforza 3: The resign rules of the AI have been improved so that the player no longer has to destroy every enemy asset.
• Dos Pilas: Some triggers have been overhauled to ensure a smoother playing experience.
• Prithviraj 2: The scenario now will complete properly even if the purple player is the last to be defeated.
• Sundjata 4: The objective where the player must rescue a princess now functions as intended.
• Sundjata 5: The difficulty has been altered to make the playing experience easier.
• Yodit 2: The enemy AI has been overhauled so that it functions and attacks correctly.
• Yodit 3: The triggers now function correctly when Dagnajan reaches the mountain pass.
• Yodit 3: The ending dialogue now appears as intended.
• Yodit 3: The Begemder AI has been edited so that it is less difficult to defeat.
• Yodit 4: A bug preventing players from completing the quest of conquering the nearby tribes has been fixed.
• Yodit 4: All stelae now provide the player with resources.
• Yodit 4: Stelae now correctly change ownership to the AI when the AI has troops next to them.
• Yodit 5: The petard trigger has been amended so that it will not fire twice.
• Le Loi 5: The enemy AI now attacks properly.
• Bayinnaung 1: Custom cinematics have been removed from the scenario data so that the proper cinematics now appear.

Balance Improvements:

• Malay cheaper fishing ship cost removed
• Malay Battle elephants 25% cheaper (rather than 20%)
• Malay age up bonus decreased from 100% to 80%
• Elite Rattan Archers +1 bonus attack vs infantry removed
• Elite Camel Archers +1 bonus attack vs infantry removed
• Elite Karambit warrior pierce armor reduced from 2 to 1
• Arquebus speed modifier on bombard cannons and bombard towers removed
• Harbors reload time increased from 2.5s to 3s
• Harbors HP reduced from 2200 to 2000 (docks are 1800)
• Elite Arambai search radius increased by 2 (so they target easier)