Today we unleash Age of Wonders v1.6! This free update includes an overhaul to Random Maps, which now features greatly enhanced Underground experience. Other improvements include balance and interface fixes, enhanced AI, loading screen tips and a Tutorial for beginning players. V1.6 is available now on Steam and GoG!



Improvements

New Optional Tutorial for beginning players added to the start of the Elven Court Campaign.

Tooltips for city upgrades will now list applicable income bonuses from Race Governance upgrades and skills (like Arcane Study)

Added preview popups to inform the player when they’re about to move their unit over a hazard in tactical combat

Cities now have 6 production slots, not 5

The AI will now cancel summoning spells if you mind control the summoned unit

If you select an engaged archer, and move the archer out of engagement, the system will automatically select the archer’s ranged ability once the unit has stoppped moving.

TOW city upgrade pages now show racial variants of units this upgrade unlocks, as well as racial versions of the structures the upgrade leads to.

Added sound effect when receiving chat message

Added a new page in the ToW for the race governance for each race

Helpful tips are now displayed in loading screens

Implemented click to continue on the loading screen (people who want to read the tip have enough time to do so, and others can skip it to get to their game fast).

Undead and Machine units under the control of more difficult AIs (Lord and above) will now regenerate a small number of hit points each turn on the world map, when the player isn’t watching.

Added a color blind option to the graphics tab, which changes the tiles in TC

Added a line to the damage preview to show when a unit is getting a ranged bonus from standing on a wall

Added links to Grey Guard, Keeper and Shadowborn to the main Specialization tome of wonders page.

You can now send message from diplomacy screen even when you have already made a trade this turn

Independent heroes will now sometimes cast spells in battle

The (optional) new tutorial is added to the start of the Elven Court Campaign, where Sundren joins Werlac to the isle of Aldor to safeguard the royal tombs.

Random Map Generation

Each player can now select on which map layer to start during the leader selection phase:

Default: Surface Layer for most races. 50% chance for Underground Layer for Dwarves and Goblins Surface: Start on the Surface Layer. Underground: Start on the Underground Layer. Random: Start on either Surface Layer or Underground Layer (50% chance for either).

Underground no longer contains independent cities that dislike or hate Subterannean. Exception: If a player chose a race that dislikes or hates Subterannean, then independent cities of the same race can still spawn in a limited area nearby that player.

Underground structures and pickups amount and distribution is now more like that of the surface land type map.

Underground no longer ‘shrinks’ by adding large amounts of Rock Cavern Walls.

Underground now has Dirt Cavern Walls that are more likely to create a useful passage when dug through.

Underground underwent various tweaks for improving overlay distribution (i.e. Dense Vegetation, Wetlands, Barrens, etc).

Reduced size of underground pocket area that was generated around cave exits (especially noticeable in larger map sizes).

Fixed bug in where the ‘Shrine of the Skull Lord’, ‘Trading Post’ and ‘Flowrock Quarry’ structures were sometimes locked in by cavern walls.

Fixed bug where structures nearby the edge of the map were sometimes locked in by Cavern Walls.

Fixed bug where structures nearby a river were sometimes locked in by Cavern Walls.

Fixed bug where the spawn position for dwarves sometimes had too many adjacent Cavern Walls which did not leave space for spawning units.

Fixed bug where underground players sometimes spawn very close-by/under another player on the surface.

Fixed bug where random generated roads would sometimes lead to nowhere.

Geography sliders should have a more significant effect on random generated maps of all map types.

Water and lava rivers in random ganerated maps are more likely to be classified as badass.

Underground maps are less likely to block corridors with structures (this is to help the AI, and to speed up underground scouting)

Increased amount of global pick ups from 20 to 25 on Medium Size Default Settings, for larger maps this scales up accordingly.

Increased the difference between ‘few’ and ‘many’ for the amount of resource sites being generated

In random maps with underground, players can now choose on which layer their empires will start

Bug Fixes

Fixed some issues that were causing the AI to be very passive with how it would try and acquire cities as vassals

Fixed Seek Inspiration icon

Fixed a rare issue where the interface let you trigger an ability that only affects the casting unit when the ability couldn’t affect the unit.

Fixed an issue where units with pass wall could end up stuck on walls when using abilities that targeted corpses.

Units can no longer be hit by attacks of opportunity when moving through obstacles (using pass wall or floating)

Fixed an issue where phase, pounce and shadow step could take units out of the map

Units can no longer pounce onto retreat zones

Units can now flee combat by phasing/shadow stepping onto retreat zones

Tome of Wonders was updated to reflect correctly that Tigrans hate blight (instead of dislike).

Added note that the Item Forge cannot be built in campaigns.

Fixed an issue where the ghoul rendering effect wouldn’t work on mounted heroes in the unit panel

Added information to descriptions of some abiities and spells to indicate the units they won’t affect (Backstab, Life Steal, Life Drain, Webbing Touch, Greater Webbing Touch, Revitalize, Quick Dash)

Fixed an issue where the trespass dialogue would cancel road building

Tactical AI will no longer use touch abilities that paralyze a target (Stunning Touch, Webbing Wouch, etc) on units that are already paralyzed

Fixed an issue where looping production would allow you to get multiple settlers at half price

Fixed an issue that caused the tactical AI to never cast spells

Fixed an issue that caused flying units to get stuck when flying through big clumps of units (like Eldirtch horrors) which could make tactical combat get stuck.

Invoke Death will now properly reduce the hit points of embarked units

Changed Deteriorated description to show it cannot be dispelled.

Voluntary Union now affects the time needed for necromancer’s to absorb dead cities

Fixed an issue where creating a map in the editor with multiple layers, and then rearranging the order of those layers could cause issues when the map was loaded in game.

Fixed a rare bug that meant forts/cities that had been captured by independent players would have walls that remained damaged forever

Fixed an issue where spells wouldn’t be canceled when a player was defeated

Fixed an issue where units wouldn’t evolve when embarked

Fixed an issue where upgrades that had been given to cities in the editor would be re-added to cities each time the game was loaded from a save game (so a user could sell a preplaced city upgrade, and then save/load to get it back for free)

When starting with metropolises, necromancer cities will now have Embalmer’s Guilds instead of Store Houses.

Fixed an issue where a resurging unit wouldn’t come back to life when its owner’s ally won the battle, but its owner lost all their own units

Fixed an issue where Black Plague PFX wouldn’t play when the target was on a different level to the city receiving the population

Fixed an issue that could lead to players getting no specializations as a reward for completing the All Knowing Quest

Fixed an issue caused by a target unit dying via absorb pain as a unit moved down a path towards it to use an ability on it

Cities affected by Seeds Of Distrust will no longer sometimes offer peace/vassalage voluntarily when you first meet them

Shrines and Inns will no longer have defenders when placed in the domains of independent structures by the RMG

Fixed non-english text for Halfling Military Upgrade 1

Independent units (i.e. roaming units and indy/vassal city guards) no longer autodetect stealthed units. Due to a technical limitation, a stealthed unit will be revealed to ALL indy units if stands directly next to ANY indy unit.

Unstable Transformation can no longer be cast on leaders

Pledge Of Protection can no longer be dispelled (it was possible before to dispel the defence buff, but not the absorb pain link)

Fixed an issue where terraforming would cause cloverfields to use the wrong model

Fixed an issue that prevented terraforming magic working on forest cells that were being terraformed using the Terraformer skill.

Fixed an issue where the web model for webbed units would disappear under the ground

The words “Show Proposal” has been converted to translatable text, so it should properly appear in foreign languages once we complete translation

Leaders will no longer suffer morale penalties from Dedicated To XXX abilities.

Fixed an issue when disembarking juggernauts near forests on coasts

Unit flags now disappear the instant a unit dies in tactical combat

Fixed issue where the freeze achievement would only be triggered when Throw Iceball was used. Now triggers for other abilities too.

When a player takes over a city, negative city spells/debuffs are cancelled if that player isn’t at war with you. (previously spells were cancelled only if that player has an alliance with you)

Fixed an issue where a happiness event panel displayed the wrong text in the header.

If there aren’t any available skills anymore, research breakthroughs won’t get triggered.

Fixed issue where User Content would not show up for some players.

Fixed crash when spam clicking done button in leader customization screen

Fixed incorrect text on victory screen when opponent razed his throne city

Leader colors which are in use are now correctly reset when the leader setup is cancelled

fixed age of death causing quests to fail

Fixed issue when absorbing a dead city, it would become living again.

Added the correct population growth number in the city tooltip

Fixed Healing Ability description

Demolisher Ability no longer stacks in the Item Forge

Armor of Divine Regeneration typo fixed

Theocrat Armageddon now has correct English description

Fixed an issue where units given as rewards from quests would sometimes spawn in diggable walls if they had tunneling.

Fix bug where seasoned achievements was unlock when hero reached level 5

Fixed a rare glitch where the system would generate a “This unit needs move orders” event for units with no move points

Fixed an issue where the AI wouldn’t cast certain spells, like Summon Banshee

Fixed an issue where a unit would be able to charge multiple times per turn, if it used Killing Momentum, Quick Dash or a similar ability

Fixed an issue where a unit would be able to attack while guarding, if it used Killing Momentum, Quick Dash or a similar ability after Pounce or Defensive Strike

Fixed the icon for auto combat in TC

Fixed missing painting tab for subterranean painting in the level editor

Fixed unit backgrounds for units which are water based.

Fixed checkbox for wait for gpu in the graphics options menu and for the launcher

Fixed an issue where the well of souls wouldn’t give population while recharging

Fixed an issue where the tooltip for a settler wouldn’t correctly display the city’s minimum population when playing on a different game speed

Tweaked tactical AI to make it better at using the Sun Spear ability

Fixed an issue where losing a leader or vital campaign hero in battle would cause you to lose the game, even though the unit had resurgence from the Phoenix Warrior spell

Fixed an issue where necromancer players with the Phylactery spell couldn’t cast spells in combat whe their leaders were dead

Fixed an issue where a heroes would have incorrect buffs/debuffs from city domains when they became archliches

Founding a city on a fort now cancels upgrades to that fort and refunds spent gold

It’s no longer possible to upgrade a fort while a city is being founded inside it

Fixed a rare issue where a cadaver dying on a seal at the same moment new elementals spawned would put those elementals under the control of the cadaver’s owner

Fixed a crash in PBEM caused by egg items hatching for any player apart from the first one

Fixed an issue where immobilized units wouldn’t use melee attacks while under AI control

Fixed an issue where leaders using DLC features would be permanently deleted if the DLC was disabled

Fixed an issue where resurrecting a unit on a wall hex wouldn’t give the unit the “Standing on a wall” stat penalty

Fixed missing shortcut (Ctrl + X) for disabling/enabling unit banners

Fixed issue where the Free City Upgrade and Treasure Pickup Found event windows would get canceled when entering tactical combat. Now they’re displayed again after combat ends.

Improved loading tip display time for long loading tips.

Chat window doesn’t overlay loading tips in multiplayer loading screens

The AI now pays less attention to the size of your armies when considering if it will accept an alliance (this should make it easier to get alliances on higher difficulties, where typically the AI will refuse alliances because it thinks you’re too weak)

The AI is now more likely to offer an alliance to a player if its in trouble, even its relation with that player isn’t very good

Fixed an issue where changing terrain with Path Of XXX abilities would sometimes leave sections of terrain untouched around the edges of each hex

Castle of the Lich King selection sound now respects the ambient volume slider.

Reduced the number of instances that can play simultaneously for magic and event audio to prevent sudden peaks in volume.

Added missing flying audio for the draconian pikemen

Removed code that stopped the Tactical AI using the Horned Gods summon ability if it was too outnumbered

Fixed a glitch which allowed units to get charge bonuses after moving two hexes, instead of 3

Fixed description of Charge to list 3 hexes, not 4.

Fixed issue where meet messages was being shown for player who had been defeated this turn

Fixed a crash when campaign save hero script was being used with map specified heroes

Added missing drowning and incineration icons, so you now have a nice picture to look at after unequiping your mount at the wrong moment.

Fixed an issue where you could cast Inspect Plague on another player’s city without triggering a war declaration

Tigran Cities now give quests.

Added support for the strategic AI to not cast city growth spells on metropolises

Fixed issues where various damage bonuses weren’t affecting damage to obstacles, like walls and gates

Fixed an issue where picking up a cartographers tent underground would reveal cities above ground, when below ground cities were closer

Fixed an issue where creating a cadaver on a wall wouldn’t apply the wallclimbing penalty

Spells/abilities that do not work in water battles, now do not work in lava battles either

Stopped enemies in AI Raid and Brigand behavior targeting concealed units (should prevent roaming units sniping concealed scouts. Really this time!)

Fixed a crash that occurred when accepting the surrender of an AI player

Fixed an issue where a concealed unit wouldn’t be properly revealed on the world map when the terrain it was stood in changed

Fixed Flame Tanks spawning for Frostlings in battle start maps (now you’ll get Frost Tanks)

Fixed Golems spawning for Halflings in battle start maps (now you’ll get Party Robots)

User content does not download automatically (from Steam Workshop) at start up of the Launcher anymore. Instead the an icon becomes visible to indicate an update is available, wherafter a button needs to be clicked to synchronize the local files with the files that are subscribed to on the Steam Workshop.

Units that spawn to attack unit beacons now form clumps, rather than being scattered around the city (this prevents an error where half the units spawn on the wrong side of a river/lavaflow and can’t reach the city, breaking the AI).

Fixed an issue where boats would always come before heroes in stacks

Renamed Lich Aura to Archlich and hid the Archlich ability in the unit panel, so Archlich heroes wouldn’t have 3 separate abilities for the same thing in the unit panel

Fixed buff spells being canceled when vassal city is absorbed

Fixed spells like Glyphs Of Warding and Hallowed Domain affecting your units when they move through the domain of a vassal belonging to your ally

Fixed the Free Unit Helper system still running in local hotseat games

Changed (Dread Reaper) Faucheur terrible to Faucheuse in French

Fixed an issue where your leader dying would cancel spells being cast even if the player had Phylactery researched

Fixed bug in the random map generator where the starting city ‘Town’ had the wrong domain size.

Fixed Music FadeIn/FadeOut in load screen

Fixed incorrect button placement on end turn confirmation when an army still has movepoints

Fixed Item Forge Fire Musket from displaying twice

Balance Changes