BEHIND THE DEVELOPMENT
Development Log Building the world, refining its systems and fixing what gets in the way.
Development Log 45 Release Notes 0 45 entries · June–September 2026 · Oldest first
Browse all 45 development notes 001 Commander progression & hunt experience002 Rebel rewards & regional pacing003 Hunt sites stay inside their region004 Faster reactions to military losses005 Responding to a rising neighbour006 Defensive planning under pressure007 AI espionage uses its own network008 Rebel expeditions & emergency recall009 Mobilising for joint campaigns010 Conquest contributions & compensation011 Diplomatic credit & persistent debt012 Distinct country personalities013 A different political landscape each game014 Smoother army & spy movement015 Earlier access to replacement spies016 Espionage risk & readable success chances017 Spy exposure belongs to the observer018 Adjacent attacks & moving targets019 Selecting battles above city markers020 Retiring the old influence system021 Army placement & occupied hexes022 Army strength & accurate previews023 Commander guards & reinforcements024 Campaign orders after battle025 One silver balance026 Tax collection & payment reliability027 Housing & monthly population growth028 Settlement nameplates on the map029 Treasury access from the HUD030 Kingdom navigation & sorting031 Settlement directory & renaming032 Reports archive presentation033 Commander & official management034 Diplomacy directory & country dossiers035 Diplomatic relationships at a glance036 Spy network progression panel037 Building catalogue selection038 City windows that keep your place039 Construction costs & progress040 Settlement details adapt to their contents041 Build directly from the city list042 Battle summaries on the world map043 A clearer tactical board044 Unit cards & ability visibility045 Market readability & trade feedbackDEV LOG 001 2026-06-14
Commander progression & hunt experience Fixed Commander experience bars now fill correctly. Players assign the stat point earned on each commander level; AI commanders allocate theirs automatically. Units participating in victorious rebel hunts receive battle experience. Back to archive DEV LOG 002 2026-06-14
Rebel rewards & regional pacing Changed Hunt rewards roll item tiers individually instead of awarding a fixed tier. Slowed regional progression by increasing the early experience requirement and reducing battle-driven acceleration. Corrected clipped item names in the loot panel. Back to archive DEV LOG 003 2026-06-15
Hunt sites stay inside their region Fixed Rebel hunt sites use the same regional boundaries as settlements. The hunt map shows the departure settlement’s region, preventing distant cross-map destinations caused by misplaced sites. Back to archive DEV LOG 004 2026-06-26
Faster reactions to military losses Improved AI countries can begin replacing garrison losses on the day they occur. Corrected an overly broad trigger that repeatedly ordered recruitment even without a new loss. Back to archive DEV LOG 005 2026-06-26
Responding to a rising neighbour Added Added a proactive military response to rapidly growing, stronger neighbouring threats. Threat assessment includes field armies as well as garrisons, so deploying soldiers does not make military strength disappear from the calculation. Back to archive DEV LOG 006 2026-06-27
Defensive planning under pressure Development Introduced survival-focused decisions that weigh fortification, recruitment and their resource needs. A campaign simulation demonstrated an AI defender developing stone production and holding off a siege. Broader balance testing remained open. Back to archive DEV LOG 007 2026-06-29
AI espionage uses its own network Changed AI spy actions now check the owning country’s network level and target ownership. Building the first spy guild provides a starting agent and enough network progress to open early operations. Back to archive DEV LOG 008 2026-06-29
Rebel expeditions & emergency recall Improved AI hunt planning checks whether the available force can defeat its target and recalls the expedition when home is threatened. Reduced the growth of rebel boss forces to prevent higher-level hunts from becoming unreachable as regions developed. Back to archive DEV LOG 009 2026-07-02
Mobilising for joint campaigns Development Introduced campaign feasibility checks, a gathering stage and coordinated departure timing. Simulation comparisons showed fewer failed mobilisations; the system was enabled for continued development testing. Back to archive DEV LOG 010 2026-07-02
Conquest contributions & compensation Added Joint conquests account for participating countries when assigning compensation. Broken compensation commitments can create lasting diplomatic resentment. Back to archive DEV LOG 011 2026-07-02
Diplomatic credit & persistent debt Added Introduced lending decisions informed by creditworthiness. Debt records and repayments in transit were checked across saving and loading. Back to archive DEV LOG 012 2026-07-06
Distinct country personalities Added Introduced six AI personality families: balanced, aggressive, defensive, diplomatic, merchant and treacherous. Personalities influence recruitment, trade, alliances and campaign decisions, with variation within each family. Back to archive DEV LOG 013 2026-07-07
A different political landscape each game Changed Enabled country personalities by default for new games. Removed the fixed default world seed so new campaigns can produce different personality distributions. Back to archive DEV LOG 014 2026-07-11
Smoother army & spy movement Improved Armies and spies follow curved paths with smoother changes of direction. Spy arrival actions wait until the agent reaches the destination centre instead of firing halfway through the final hex. Back to archive DEV LOG 015 2026-07-16
Earlier access to replacement spies Changed Reduced spy training cost from 250 to 150. Moved the second spy slot to guild level 3 and increased the maximum guild capacity to five agents. The same capacity and cost rules apply to player and AI countries. Back to archive DEV LOG 016 2026-07-16
Espionage risk & readable success chances Changed Routine spy operations use diminishing returns for additional defenders rather than the full sum of every defender’s politics. Adjusted routine success and survival chances, and aligned displayed chances with the calculation. Assassination retains its stricter requirements and risk. Back to archive DEV LOG 017 2026-07-16
Spy exposure belongs to the observer Fixed A detected spy becomes visible to the country that discovered them, without revealing the agent to every other country. Exposed agents can continue their assignment with reduced effectiveness; detection no longer automatically forces flight. Targeted visibility checks confirmed that exposure to another country did not reveal a token to the player. Back to archive DEV LOG 018 2026-07-25
Adjacent attacks & moving targets Fixed Corrected oversized contact detection that could start an encounter before armies were adjacent. Attack orders recalculate their route when a target has moved away from the expected destination. Back to archive DEV LOG 019 2026-07-25
Selecting battles above city markers Fixed Map selection gives battle markers priority over overlapping army and settlement colliders. Cities remain selectable after the battle ends without disabling their colliders during combat. Back to archive DEV LOG 020 2026-07-30
Retiring the old influence system Changed Removed the unused influence currency and its obsolete noble-rank progression. Removed misleading influence rewards from battle reports and starting-character cards; kingdom progression remains the active progression system. Back to archive DEV LOG 021 2026-08-01
Army placement & occupied hexes Development Added shared placement checks for terrain, buildings, settlements and occupied hexes. Corrected armies stacking on one hex after battle. Army placement distinguishes heavy armies from light agents so spies cannot make a settlement impossible to besiege. Transit collisions and spy parking remained separate follow-up work. Back to archive DEV LOG 022 2026-08-03
Army strength & accurate previews Fixed Rebel army strength calculations now use current unit statistics instead of outdated tier estimates. Corrected garrison stat previews to display the effective statistics used by the game. Changed Recalibrated the starting strength budget for converted rebel forces. Back to archive DEV LOG 023 2026-08-05
Commander guards & reinforcements Fixed Removed an incorrect silver reserve that could prevent AI countries from recruiting commander guards. Corrected recruitment checks that rejected available idle population. Guard counts now stay in sync after combat and attrition; lost guards no longer remain in a commander’s displayed total. Improved Supply caravans can deliver replacement guards to field armies, subject to available guards, matching tier and commander capacity. Back to archive DEV LOG 024 2026-08-11
Campaign orders after battle Fixed Fixed a case where an AI army winning a battle on the way to a campaign target could leave an army without a continuing campaign order. Changed Victorious AI campaign armies return to the campaign decision process so their next action can be reassessed. Corrected readiness accounting so commander guards do not count as ordinary combat garrison troops. Back to archive DEV LOG 025 2026-09-12
One silver balance Changed Diplomacy, recruitment, espionage, merchants and blacksmithing now use the shared silver balance. Treasury previews now read the same balance as spending actions. Fixed Removed duplicate treasury accounting paths that could disagree with the actual silver held in storage. Protected treasury controls against overflow when displaying very large totals. Back to archive DEV LOG 026 2026-09-12
Tax collection & payment reliability Improved Unpaid tax receipts are preserved across saving and loading until collection succeeds. Tax collection is coordinated with the end of the day and saving to avoid processing the same receipt twice. Fixed Failed silver deliveries preserve their funds and cargo instead of consuming them. Loan transfers now check the recipient’s capacity before deducting funds or creating debt. Back to archive DEV LOG 027 2026-09-12
Housing & monthly population growth Changed New residents are admitted on a monthly schedule instead of through the previous daily growth process. Population capacity now reflects physical housing. Fixed Fixed a timing issue that could disrupt daily meal tracking in real-time mode. Monthly admissions no longer repeat after saving and loading. Losing housing does not automatically delete existing residents. Back to archive DEV LOG 028 2026-09-19
Settlement nameplates on the map Improved Applied an open-frame nameplate design with ownership colour and settlement badges. Checked long settlement names, renaming and map selection across camera and model combinations. Back to archive DEV LOG 029 2026-09-20
Treasury access from the HUD Improved Added a compact treasury control and popup to the top HUD. Refined large-number abbreviations and income-change spacing, and refreshed the display correctly when switching language. Back to archive DEV LOG 030 2026-09-20
Kingdom navigation & sorting Improved Applied the parchment, dark-text and burgundy treatment to the kingdom panel. Replaced text-like sorting marks with directional arrows and corrected selected-tab underlines. Refined hover states to avoid bright flashes when controls are first initialised. Back to archive DEV LOG 031 2026-09-20
Settlement directory & renaming Improved Updated the settlement list and rename dialog to the shared panel style. Checked filtered lists, scrolling, click targets and name-length limits without rebuilding the list unnecessarily. Back to archive DEV LOG 032 2026-09-20
Reports archive presentation Improved Refined report typography, parchment surfaces and tab presentation. Checked pending indicators, locked world-report controls and scrolling through long report cards. Report content itself remained unchanged. Back to archive DEV LOG 033 2026-09-20
Commander & official management Improved Reworked tab spacing, information placement and lower action controls in management panels. Corrected panel sizing and checked long names at multiple English and Turkish resolutions. Back to archive DEV LOG 034 2026-09-20
Diplomacy directory & country dossiers Improved Organised diplomacy into a country directory and a separate dossier area. Corrected overflowing coalition badges and relationship meters while preserving offers and diplomatic event displays. Back to archive DEV LOG 035 2026-09-20
Diplomatic relationships at a glance Fixed Moved relationship highlights around country flags for a clearer directory. Highlights use the relationship with the selected country, rather than always referring to the player. Active agreements take priority; neutral entries remain unlit. Back to archive DEV LOG 036 2026-09-20
Spy network progression panel Improved Reorganised network operations into a two-column layout with lock icons and clear unlocked states. Fixed live language refresh while preserving network-level requirements for operations. Back to archive DEV LOG 037 2026-09-20
Building catalogue selection Fixed Corrected an event-log layer that could block clicks on the building catalogue. Refined real building icons and costs, and preserved the catalogue position during language changes. Checked building, wall and gate selection and cancellation. Back to archive DEV LOG 038 2026-09-21
City windows that keep your place Fixed Closing a facility now returns you to the building inspection window instead of losing it. Escape closes the most recently opened city window first, matching the close button. Changing language preserves the open window order, position and list scroll position. Improved Made visibility checks consistent for nested city panels. Back to archive DEV LOG 039 2026-09-21
Construction costs & progress Improved Aligned resource icons, cost values, construction status and worker information. Building inspection uses the same effective costs and duration as construction. Checked cancellation refunds and prevented a stale listener from applying a second refund. Back to archive DEV LOG 040 2026-09-21
Settlement details adapt to their contents Improved Removed excessive fixed empty space from the settlement detail panel. Garrison and commander sections size to their contents, with scrolling for additional entries. Kept bottom actions consistently spaced and retained unit tier information in tooltips. Back to archive DEV LOG 041 2026-09-22
Build directly from the city list Added Build, upgrade and cancel actions are available directly on each building row. Improved Click a building’s name, icon, status, cost or row background to inspect it. Construction and inspection windows use the same action rules. Fixed Removed the duplicate cancel control while an order is active. Buildings at their maximum level display MAX with the action disabled. Back to archive DEV LOG 042 2026-09-27
Battle summaries on the world map Added Compact world-map summaries provide an entry point to field battles and sieges. Changed The tactical board opens when you select the battle indicator, rather than opening automatically. Replaced the previous battle medallion presentation with the compact summary layout. Fixed Improved battle-summary reconnection after loading an existing battle record. Back to archive DEV LOG 043 2026-09-27
A clearer tactical board Improved Refreshed the field-battle and siege board layout, with clearer tactical information and readable grid lines. Preserved skill icons and combat feedback, including critical hits, counterattacks and deaths. Fixed Battle boards now open at 1× speed and restore the previous world speed when closed. Fixed partially drawn grid lines and overflowing inspection headings. Fixed an error that could occur when leaving play while a battle board was still open. Back to archive DEV LOG 044 2026-09-28
Unit cards & ability visibility Added Introduced a shared unit-card presentation for garrison, army and unit-detail views. Added five visual rarity styles, separate from unit tier. Improved Unit statistics sit beside the portrait, with ability slots grouped below. Ability slots clear when switching to a unit with fewer abilities, preventing leftover icons. In progress Some portraits and ability icons still use temporary artwork. The new card presentation does not add new playable unit types. Back to archive DEV LOG 045 2026-09-28
Market readability & trade feedback Improved Refined the local market, merchant lobby and black market with coordinated frames, surfaces and clearer columns. Added clearer selected-row and rarity indicators. Long ability descriptions can be scrolled; multi-stat item details have more room. Trade history is available in a separate drawer, and price charts show data points and a day axis. Fixed Made trade errors more visible and separated caravan capacity into a stable display field. Improved text fitting at the tested English and Turkish resolutions, including large capacity values. Back to archive Back to the game