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A big update. You can now turn the view, replays finally get proper playback controls, you can place a whole row of buildings in one go, and the balance between archers, cavalry and siege has been reworked.

Turn the view#

Rotate the view in quarter turns with Ctrl+Q and Ctrl+E, so you can look behind buildings and walls. The minimap turns with you.

Replays you can control#

Replays now have playback controls at the bottom of the screen: pause, three slow-motion speeds (0.25×, 0.5×, 0.75×) and three fast-forward speeds (2×, 4×, 8×). Use + and - to change speed, 0 for normal speed and P to pause. There is also a timeline, just like a video: see how far along you are, and click or drag anywhere to jump forward or back.

Drag to build#

Pick a building and drag across the map to place a whole row, with two tiles between each building. Use the mouse wheel while dragging to change the gap (0 to 5), and hold Ctrl for a full block. Buildings you can't afford turn red and are skipped.

Archers, cavalry and siege#

• Archers and gunpowder troops now deal only 30% damage to buildings, so a mass of archers can no longer flatten a whole base on its own. Bring infantry or siege.
• Knights, cuirassiers, dragoons and lancers hit archers and gunmen much harder, so cavalry is a real answer to massed ranged units in the later ages too.
• Infantry now moves as fast as archers, so archers can no longer simply walk away from them.
• Battering rams take only a quarter of the damage from arrows and bullets, so a single tower can no longer stop them. Catapults, trebuchets and cannons take half.
• Battering rams only attack buildings and no longer get distracted by soldiers.
• Cavalry deals half damage to buildings. Tearing down a base is a job for infantry and siege.

A smarter computer#

The computer adapts to all this: it trains cavalry against massed archers, never builds an army of only archers, and sends its archers at your soldiers instead of your buildings. Its infantry now properly attacks your town center too, and it upgrades its army properly, including the troops already in the field.

Smaller things#

• In the lobby and skirmish setup, hover over a civilization to see what makes it different: its trait, bonuses, unique unit and what it starts with.
• Drop-down lists in the lobby no longer disappear behind the map preview.
• When you are signed in to Steam, you always play under your Steam name, in the lobby, in matches and on the leaderboard.
• Units get stuck far less often on buildings and forests, and soldiers no longer shuffle back and forth next to their rally point.
• Zooming with the mouse wheel works again during a match.

0.4.3 and 0.5.0 can't play online together, so make sure everyone has updated.