Good day and happy April, battle historians!

This month’s introduces a ton of new changes and features to the game, some new civilization tweaks to bring some of the powerhouses into line (while lifting up some of the weaker civs), and an all new event for you to unlock new profile icons and skins for your account. Here are some of the big highlights:

• A brand-new “Display Future Technologies” UI feature!
  
• New and improved grid overlay options!
  
• Building and unit icons now match the player’s color.
  
• Various balance changes and fixes for civilizations, units, and maps!
  
• Various matchmaking fixes and improvements.
  
• Get your siege on during the Medieval Technologies Event!

There’s a little something for everyone in this month’s release, though we’re not done yet; there is plenty more still in the works for Age of Empires II, including plenty of projects and fixes that we can’t wait to share with you. For now, we want to hear what you think about today’s build, as well as what you’d like to see included in the next update. Come join us on any one (or all) of our social channels and get involved in the conversation!

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Update 36906 Discussion

We hope everyone is continuing to stay safe during these challenging times! Stay healthy, and we’ll see you on the battlefield! ❤

—The Age of Empires Team

While there is plenty of fixes and features coming with today’s build, here are some of the highlights to look for in the April update:


Come one, come all! The GREATEST MEDIEVAL TECHNOLOGIES EVENT is here to spotlight some of the most intimidating inventions in human history! From the evolution of siege technology to the advent of the crossbow, gunpowder, and even the defensive tools used to protect against these new technologies, we’re taking a closer look at the weapons of war that helped define and redefine the battlefields of their time.



This month, you can play and complete challenges in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition to permanently unlock new icons, never before seen cheat codes, and cosmetics celebrating the greatest medieval technologies!

• Three new Profile Icons!
  
• Two new Cheat Codes!
  
  • “Going Above and Beyond:” Stack the benefits of your research up to 256 times
    
  • “Tech Tech One Two Free:“ Why wait for invention when you can just remove those pesky research costs
• Three exclusive visual mods!
  
  • Launch larger projectiles from Onagers, Mangonel, and Siege Onagers
    
  • Show off your might with Golden Bombard Cannons
    
  • Pew-pew in style with new tracer effects for the Hand Cannoneer, Janissary, and Conquistador

Today through May 13, check back in-game to complete daily challenges and unlock all the new content:

🎯 Sign into Xbox Live.
🏆 Unlocks the Crossbow profile icon.

🎯 Train three Arbalesters in a single game.
🏆 Unlocks the ‘Going Above and Beyond’ cheat code.

🎯 Research the Chain Mail technology.
🏆 Unlocks the Golden Bombard Cannon profile icon and the ‘larger Onagers projectiles’ mod.

🎯 Train three Fast Fire Ships in a single game.
🏆 Unlocks the ‘gold skin for Bombard Cannon’ mod.

🎯 Train three Bombard Cannons in a single game.
🏆 Unlocks the Hand Cannon profile icon and the ‘tracer effects for gunpowder units’ mod.

🎯 Destroy an enemy Castle with a Trebuchet.
🏆 Unlocks the ‘Tech Tech One Two Free’ cheat code.

Don’t forget to log into Xbox Live at some point during the event to keep the mods, profile icons, and cheat codes you unlock during the event!

We hope you enjoy the best that medieval history has to provide: both with the celebration AND with Age of Empires II!

• Fixed various crashes which could be triggered when spectating games.
  
• Fixed various one-off crashes.

• The game client will no longer download additional localized versions of the Art of War videos other than the selected language and English (as a backup). Excess variants have been removed, reducing the total size of the game’s installation by ~5GB.

• Fixed an issue where HD AI could not be selected as the AI Difficulty when using any language other than English.
  
• Added new hotkeys to select all Markets, all Blacksmiths, and all Universities.
  
• Added a new “Dynamic Grid” option to the setting menu. This allows players to customize the shade and visual intensity of the grid that shows up in-game, as well as the circumstances under which it is displayed—such as when placing buildings, ordering ranged units, etc.
  
  
  
  
• Fixed an issue where Organ Guns were not always classified as siege weapons, thus allowing them to be converted without the Redemption technology.
  
• Recorded games no longer break as soon as a player quits, drops, crashes, or otherwise departs from a match.
  
• Implemented additional tracking and safeguards to defend against cheat programs.

We’ve made the transition to a new chat filtration back-end with the aim of better accommodating the needs of the Age community. This update provides a less intrusive, more consistent experience across all platforms.

• Updated the profanity filter to be far less restrictive of normal and contextual (i.e. Age of Empires-specific) chat.

As with everything else, this is a system that will continue to see changes and adjustments based on feedback from the community:

• If it still feels too disruptive, let us know.
  
• If it is censoring “normal” conversation, let us know!

Keep the feedback coming, and thanks for continuing to work with us as we fine-tune the system!

• The Age of Empires achievement—which requires players to win a match with every civilization—no longer requires players to also win with the “Random” civilization option.
  
• The Pitched Battle achievement is now correctly awarded when players complete ‘The Field of Blood’ mission (in the Pachacuti campaign) without constructing walls.

• The civilization bonuses which provide additional villagers to the Chinese and Mayans and a bonus llama to the Incas have been disabled in the Empire Wars game mode.
  
• Fishermen can now drop food they’ve collected at Docks.
  
• Fire Galley: Increased the training time from 60 to 65 seconds.
  
• Keshik [Standard & Elite]: Converted Keshiks now properly generate gold for their new overlords.

• Can no longer research and train Paladins.
  
• The Stirrups technology now affects all cavalry units, not just Light Cavalry and Konniks.

• Torsion Engines: Increased the width of upgraded Scorpion projectiles from 0.3 to 0.5 tiles.

• Now receive the Loom technology for free as a civilization bonus.

• As a civilization bonus, Fisherman now work 10% faster rather than working 15% faster and carrying +15 food.

• Fishing Ships now correctly cost -15% wood (instead of -15 wood). This effectively raises the cost from 60 to 64 wood.

• Reduced the work rate of Farmers by 3%.
  
• Can no longer train Bombard Cannons.

UNITS

• Leitis [Standard & Elite]: Adjusted the training cost from 50 food, 80 gold to 70 food, 50 gold.
  
• Leitis: Reduced training time from 23 to 20 seconds.
  
• Elite Leitis: Reduced training time from 20 to 18 seconds.

TECHNOLOGIES

• Tower Shields: Reduced the cost to research from 800 to 500 food.
  
• Tower Shields: Increased the bonus pierce armor provided to Spearmen and Skirmishers from +1 to +2.

• Harbors now (properly) receive the benefits of Chemistry, Murder Holes, and Heated Shot when Thalassocracy is researched before any of these technologies.

• Removed the bonus to the work speed of Town Centers and Docks in the Dark Age. They now work: 10% faster (Feudal Age) → 15% faster (Castle Age) → 20% faster (Imperial Age)

• Boyar [Standard & Elite]: Reduced speed from 1.4 to 1.3.
  
• Boyar [Standard & Elite]: Increased pierce armor by +1.

• Flaming Camels now benefit from the +5 attack vs. buildings bonus provided by an Indian ally.

• As a civilization bonus, Barracks and Stable units now receive a +1 melee armor bonus in the Castle and Imperial Age (+2 total).
  
• Teutonic Knight: Increased speed from 0.7 to 0.8.

• Starting villagers and herdable animals should no longer spawn on the same tile.
  
• Reduced the number of wolves on all maps where they spawn.
  
• Distant cows and buffalo no longer appear in a single group on standard maps. They are now split into two groups comprised of two and one animal.

The elevation points have been revised and re-balanced on the following maps:

• Arabia
  
• Baltic
  
• Budapest
  
• Cenotes
  
• City of Lakes
  
• Coastal
  
• Continental
  
• Crater Lake
  
• Enemy Archipelago
  
• Farout
  
• Fortress
  
• Four Lakes
  
• Ghost Lake
  
• Gold Rush (Partially)
  
• Hideout
  
• Highland
  
• Hill Fort
  
• InnerCircle
  
• Journey South
  
• JungleLanes
  
• Lombardia
  
• Mediterranean
  
• Migration
  
• Mongolia
  
• MotherLand
  
• Nomad
  
• Oasis
  
• OpenPlains
  
• Ring of Water
  
• Rivers
  
• Scandinavia
  
• Socotra
  
• Serengeti
  
• SnakePit
  
• Team Islands
  
• The Eye
  
• Valley
  
• YingYang
  
• Yucatan

• Acropolis: Fixed a rare bug where the starting stone nodes could fail to spawn.
  
• Acropolis: Separated the original 7-tile gold group into one 4-tile and one 3-tile gold group.
  
• Acropolis: Separated the original 5-tile stone group into one 3-tile and one 2-tile stone group.
  
• Acropolis: The additional gold and stone nodes located in the lowlands are now more evenly distributed between players.
  
• Acropolis: Relic spawns have also been adjusted for balance.
  
• Acropolis: Forest generation has been adjusted for balance.
  
• Acropolis: Adjusted the spawn locations of distant huntable animals to provide a better balance between all players.
  
• Acropolis: The upper edges of the rocky slopes have been modified so buildings can be constructed more easily.
  
• Acropolis: Additional seasons have been added for greater variety in the map.
  
• Alpine Lakes: Forage bushes have been added to improve food production on the map.
  
• Alpine Lakes: Additional lakes have frozen over in effort to balance the availability of map resources.
  
• Alpine Lakes: The distribution of gold and stone nodes has been updated for 1v1 play.
  
• Bogland: “Bogland” terrain—which is unsuitable for buildings—no longer appears within each player’s immediate vicinity.
  
• Golden Swamp: Four forage bushes will now spawn for each player.
  
• Golden Swamp: Reduced the density of fish nodes throughout the map.
  
• Golden Swamp: Re-balanced the node spawns on the central island when playing on a 3-player map.
  
• Hideout: Fixed an issue where a player could sometimes spawn too deep in the forest.
  
• Hideout: Forage Bushes should no longer grow where they block gates.
  
• Hideout: Extra gold and stone nodes have been adjusted for balance.
  
• Hill Fort: Player starting locations are now spaced more consistently from each other, as well as where they begin in the map.
  
• Hill Fort: All huntable animals now appear consistently within the walls.
  
• Hill Fort: Bases are now always surrounded by Fortified Palisade Walls.
  
• Lombardia: Fixed a rare bug where one of the starting Town Centers could appear on the edge of the map.
  
• Mediterranean: Extra sheep no longer appear when resources are set to ultra or infinite.
  
• Migration: Reduced the number of cliffs spawned throughout the map.
  
• Migration: Fixed a bug where the starting resource nodes would occasionally fail to spawn.
  
• Mountain Ridge: Increased the number of gold nodes and Ibex that spawn on the mountaintop.
  
• Mountain Ridge: Terrain unsuitable for buildings has been moved further from the starting base spawns.
  
• Mountain Ridge: Starting gold clusters have been increased to 6 and 4 tiles, respectively.
  
• Mountain Ridge: Starting stone clusters have been decreased from 4 to 3 tiles.
  
• Mountain Ridge: Player gold and stone nodes spawn closer to their starting bases.
  
• Nile Delta: Players now start with a Transport Ship.
  
• Nile Delta: The outer lands have been slightly enlarged and now spawn with mild elevation levels.
  
• Serengeti: Forests have been re-balanced to not only scale with the map size, but to ensure that all players start with forests nearby.
  
• Serengeti: Increased the number of starting gold clusters from 2 to 3. (The third gold cluster can be found further away from the player’s base.)
  
• Serengeti: Far gold has been split into smaller clusters with 2 tiles per group.
  
• Serengeti: Reduced the total area covered by quicksand, making it easier to build on the map.
  
• Serengeti: Updated nearby huntable animals to include 5 Zebras and 3 Ostriches per player.
  
• Serengeti: Lakes have been adjusted to avoid spawning in players’ starting areas.
  
• Serengeti: Elevation has been generally reduced to provide more tactical flexibility.

• Maps using resource_delta will now accurately display HP bars over resources.
  
• Increased the limit of objects and lands that can be generated through RMS from 99 to 100,000.
  
• Added enable_balanced_elevation command to improve hill generation in Random Map Scripts.
  
• Added effect_amount to modify resource values (such a starting resources) through RMS.

We’ve implemented various improvements to improve how matches are formed, spectated, and discovered in Age of Empires II:

• If the Team Together setting is enabled, Team Positions will now randomly choose whether each team is placed in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction with the rest of their team. This is done regardless of how other teams are placed on the battlefield.
  
• Players are now notified when a match is found if they are browsing the tech tree while matchmaking.
  
• Increased the spectator delay for ranked games to 2 minutes.
  
• Lobbies that are swapped from private to public visibility after creation will now properly display in the lobby browser.
  
• The “No games found” message no longer misinforms players when the Lobby Browser is still loading the list of available games.
  
• Fixed an issue where custom maps were occasionally not selectable when setting up a game.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Civilization button would become unavailable after leaving a ranked match
  
• Fixed a rare issue where a game lobby would not update properly if a player entered and then left the lobby.

During last week’s maintenance, several fixes were implemented to improve the multiplayer experience:

• Implemented improvements to how ranked teams are formed. When searching for a match as a pre-made team, the system was inadvertently using the sum rather than the average rating of all party members. This resulted in the system creating imbalanced matches.
  
• Updated the lobby list to display more than 50 game lobbies.

The 1v1 map pool is as follows:

• Arabia
  
• Arena
  
• Four Lakes
  
• Golden Swamp
  
• Islands
  
• Hill Fort
  
• MegaRandom
  
• Nomad
  
• Serengeti

The Team map pool is as follows:

• Arabia
  
• Arena
  
• Black Forest
  
• Golden Swamp
  
• Hill Fort
  
• MegaRandom
  
• Nomad
  
• Oasis
  
• Scandinavia

• Fixed a rare issue where in-game sounds would stop playing for some users after playing several consecutive matches without restarting the client.

• Units no longer stutter-step when chasing other units.
  
• Fixed an issue where lumberjacks would sometimes choose the (much longer) path less traveled when moving to chop a tree.
  
• Fixed a rare issue where large groups of units would scatter when disturbed after being idle for a long period of time.

• up-modify-group-flag InConstOn now works with values greater than 1.
  
• object-data-progress-type now returns 0 if no action is currently being performed.
  
• Added object-data-full-distance, object-data-tile-position and object-data-tile-inverse.

• Units, buildings, and technologies that are not yet available to research or train are now displayed with a darkened icon in the command panel. (This new UI feature can be enabled or disabled in the game settings.)
  
  
  
  
• Building and unit icons will now reflect their player color instead of always appearing as blue.
  
• The Market sell and buy buttons will now update automatically as resource quantities change.
  
• The Flaming Camel button no longer conflicts with the “Go back to work” button in the Castle.
  
• Swapping between players while watching a recorded game no longer resets the map visibility setting.
  
• Spectator Mode: Players are now ordered by teams and then by their player name in the spectator status area rather than by score. This should make it easier to track what’s happening in large team games—where score-based sorting constantly rearranges the UI.

• Color Correction mods are now supported.
  
• Fixed an issue where some modded campaigns would not display their title and/or mission icons as intended.

• Making changes to the terrain/elevation of a map no longer causes performance hitches on larger maps.
  
• The Change Ownership trigger now correctly resets a Wonder countdown timer.

◆ ONGOING INVESTIGATION ◆

As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates. Here is a brief overview of some of the issues that have been raised for which we are actively working on solutions:

• DISCONNECTS: During the month of May, we’ll be implementing fixes for the connection issues which have been causing certain players to disconnect early on in their multiplayer matches. As always, we will be keeping a close eye on the situation following the update and will continue to collect information about any issues that arise or persist after the changes.
  
• LATENCY: We’re generally seeing latency issues begin to improve, but this is another area we’ll be monitoring closely as we continue to make back-end and forward-facing improvements to the game.
  
• LOCALIZATION/TRANSLATION ISSUES: We’ve been working through the reported and known translation bugs over the past several weeks, and you should begin seeing those results show up in the game now and in the coming months. These reports are a high priority for us, so keep them coming!
  
• PERFORMANCE: Performance continues to be a top priority, and we’ve been working on several big improvements that we can’t wait to share with you. We hope to have something to share in the month (and months) to come.

For other known issues, please visit this page to see what’s being tracked!

:alertalert: DISCLAIMER

Please note that this list is subject to change, and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

The Main Event is here! The finals of Red Bull Wololo, the latest Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition 1v1 tournament, take place this week—and you can watch every second of the upcoming action.

Played using a custom version of the Empire Wars game mode, Wololo promises an action-packed weekend of high-level, innovative gameplay and a new world of competitive strategies.

Made up of the top eight players from Hidden Cup 3 and eight new qualifiers (four from each of the two qualifying weekends), the Main Event will see competitors battle it out for the €20,000 prize pool, and will be played from the 30th of April through to the 3rd of May.

Don’t miss a moment of the action by visiting the official Red Bull Twitch stream.

The Invited:

• TheViper
  
• Hera
  
• TaToH
  
• Dogao
  
• Liereyy
  
• DauT
  
• Mr_Yo
  
• MbL

The Qualifiers:

• Nicov
  
• ACCM
  
• LaaaaaN
  
• slam
  
• Villese
  
• F1Re
  
• Vinchester
  
• TheMax

Watch the finals live at the official Red Bull Twitch stream on the 30th, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of May with your hosts ZeroEmpires, while T90, Nili, and Dave will be providing the match commentary.

• Thursday, 30 April @ 13:00 GMT: Round of 16
  
• Friday, 01 May @ 13:00 GMT: Round of 16
  
• Saturday, 02 May @ 13:00 GMT: Quarterfinals
  
• Sunday, 03 May @ 13:00 GMT: Semifinals & Grand Final

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Tuesday, April 22 @ 1:00p PT / 4:00p ET / 20:00 UTC (Countdown)
EST. DOWNTIME: 2 HOURS

• Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
  
• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)

• Age of Empires: DE: Implementing fixes for missing game lobbies.
  
• Age of Empires II: DE: Implementing improvements for ELO balancing in ranked matchmaking.
  
• Age of Empires II: DE: Updating multiplayer lobby list to display more lobbies.
  
• Updates to mitigate the brief server outages during these times of increased load.

Good day, everyone! This coming Wednesday, April 22nd, we will be taking the multiplayer servers down for maintenance.

:alertalert: During this time, you will still be able to launch the game but will not be able to matchmake or access any other online features.

The downtime is expected to last two hours while we implement and test the fixes. We’ll update this thread with any new information or updates to the schedule as they arise. This is also where we’ll announce the all clear when the maintenance is complete.

Thank you for your patience!

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Tuesday, April 07 @ NOON PT / 3:00p ET / 19:00 UTC (Countdown)
EST. DOWNTIME: No Anticipated Downtime
SERVER TESTING: ~60-90 Minutes

GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED:

• Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
  
• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)

SERVERS AFFECTED:

• WestUS2

DETAILS:
Good day, everyone; I hope you’re enjoying the Spring Event! This coming Tuesday, April 7, we will be updating the matchmaking servers. This should have no impact on your game or matchmaking experience, though we will be running additional testing and monitoring the results immediately following the update. If you do experience any unusual lag or loss of connectivity to the game around this time, please let us know in a comment below.

The total maintenance window should only last about one hour, though we will be closely monitoring the situation in case we need to make additional changes. We’ll update this thread with any new information or updates to the schedule. This is also where we’ll announce the all clear when the maintenance is complete.

Thank you for your patience!

Pick up Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition for 10% off during the Age of Empires Franchise Sale.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/813780/Age_of_Empires_II_Definitive_Edition/
You can also save up to 75% on other titles in the Age of Empires franchise now through April 6!

Welcome, one and all, to a very colorful day in Age! It's Springtime: when the warmth of the sunshine and parting of the clouds fuels our excitement for the season's activities. Please join us as we celebrate the flower-blooming season with the upcoming Spring Celebration Event, and we hope you enjoy this preview of what is to come in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition!



Complete the in-game tasks within the time limit, and reap the rewards of the Spring Celebration Event, including:

• Four new profile icons
  
• A new mod to replace player colors with a saturated color palette during the event.
  
• New Spring Menu background during the event.
  
• Five blooming mods to celebrate in style!

Here's the full list of game tasks and rewards for the Spring Celebration Event:

• Sign into Xbox Live: Unlocks the Spring Woad Raider and Spring Helmet profile icon.
  
• Research Hand Cart: Unlocks the lush town center mod and the Spring Villager profile icon.
  
• Build a Trade Cart: Unlocks pink petal berry bushes mod and Spring Teuton Knight profile icon.
  
• Build at least 5 farms in a single game: Unlocks the lush terrain mod.
  
• Gather at least 2020 food in a single game: Unlocks the floral explosions for petards and demolition ships mod.
  
• Reach at least 100 population: Unlocks all arrows replaced by flowers mod.

On top of that, if you sign in to Xbox Live during the Event, you'll get to keep all of the mods and profile icons you've unlocked!

We hope you enjoy the breathe of fresh air through all of your trying, hard fought battles! See you in the fields soon!

—The Age of Empires Team



Download the Spring Celebration Wallpaper: 1920X1080 ♦ 1920X1200 ♦ 3000X1266

Happy Monday, everyone! We hope you’re staying healthy and happy, and think we have just the thing to help you part the clouds of March: a new UPDATE and a new CELEBRATION to bring the best of Spring straight into your home!

Along with the fixes and balance changes that accompany any game update, the team has been working on several new systems for Age of Empires II. Today, you get to enjoy the many fruits (3 – Food please!) of their labor:

• Four brand-new Art of War missions to hone your skills!
  
• Unique 1v1 and Team map pools in ranked matchmaking!
  
• Two brand new maps: Four Lakes and Golden Swamp!
  
• A new Profile Hub now available via the main menu!
  
• The ability to view ELO in unranked lobbies!
  
• Various balance changes—including a new unique unit for the Tatars!
  
• The SPRING CELEBRATION EVENT! (Be outside while you stay inside!)
  
• …and much more!

There are still plenty of cool features and fixes in the works for April—thanks in large part to the outstanding community members who have stepped up with their feedback and bug reports over the past few months. Your contributions play a big part in determining what to work on next; so, if you have not already, come join us on any (or all) of our official discussion channels and jump into the conversation:

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Update 36202 Discussion

There’s also no better time to be a part of the Age of Empires II community—and this is only the beginning of our journey! The game has come a *long* way in four months, and we still have plenty of territory to explore, relics to capture, battles to win, and wonders to build as our community continues to grow. For now (and from all of us): stay safe, stay healthy, and we hope the March Update helps you enjoy your time inside.

We’ll see you on the battlefield!

—The Age of Empires Team

While there is plenty for you to enjoy and celebrate in today’s build, here are some of the highlights to look for in the March update:


As has become tradition, we’re celebrating the month and the start of the Spring season with the SPRING CELEBRATION EVENT! This month, we’re bringing the warmth, sunshine, and spirit of the Spring season straight to you—a much needed breath of fresh air while you’re stuck inside! Here’s what’s changing during the celebration:

• Four new Profile Icons.
  
• A new mod to replace player colors with a saturated color palette during the event.
  
• New Spring Menu background art during the event.
  
• Five blooming mods to celebrate the season in style.

Today through April 14 , come back and complete daily challenges to unlock new profile icons and mods:

• Sign into Xbox Live: Unlocks the Spring Woad Raider and Spring Helmet profile icon.
  
• Research Hand Cart: Unlocks the ‘lush town center mod’ and the Spring Villager profile icon.
  
• Build a Trade Cart: Unlocks ‘pink petal berry bushes mod’ and Spring Teuton Knight profile icon.
  
• Build at least 5 farms in a single game: Unlocks the ‘lush terrain’ mod.
  
• Gather at least 2020 food in a single game: Unlocks the ‘floral explosions’ (for Petards and Demo Ships) mod.
  
• Reach at least 100 population: Unlocks the ‘arrows replaced by flowers’ mod.

As a bonus, we’re also making the PHOTON MAN challenge available as a bonus task for those who missed it during our Anniversary Event. This time, you can unlock it even if you own one game on the Windows Store and the other on Steam; simply log into your Xbox Live account in both games and complete the achievement to enjoy the classic cheat unit in Age of Empires II:

• Earn the “21st Century” Achievement in Age of Empires: Definitive Edition: Unlocks the Photon-Man cheat code, permanently!

And as a double-super-bonus: log in with your Xbox Live account during the event to keep *ALL* the mods and Profile icons you unlock… FOR-EV-ER! Pretty great, right? We hope you enjoy the Spring Celebration Event, and look forward to seeing you on the battle flower fields!


The Art of War missions are short challenges designed to help players who are looking to learn the base mechanics of Age of Empires II. The original five challenges helped lay the groundwork of your civilization: teaching you how to build an economy, grow your civilization rapidly, raise an army, defend against aggression from your opponents, and quickly progress through the Ages.

Today, four brand-new missions have been added as we continue to build on the knowledge that will help you prevail in Age of Empires:

• Land Battle: Learn about unit counters and basic maneuvers on the battlefield.
  
• Destroying a Castle: Learn about early siege attacks against fortified positions.
  
• Naval Battle: Learn about water combat and how to prevail on the high seas.
  
• Battle Formations: Learn when and how to use formations to keep your troops alive and outmaneuver the enemy

Give them a try, and then keep practicing until you can achieve a Gold medal in each challenge; this will ensure that you have the fundamentals you need to succeed on the live battlefield!

• Fixed an issue where discovering the Bombard Cannons on Genghis Khan - Mission 3 ("Into China") would crash the client.
  
• Fixed a variety of one-off crashes.
  
• Fixed various issues when transferring restored game files.

• Reduced the file size of assets by 1GB, and by an additional 1GB for players running the Enhanced Graphics Pack DLC.
  
• Continued improvements to how VRAM and RAM is utilized when running the game.
  
• Implemented various performance improvements.

• Auto-Scout is now available for all horse and camel variants of the initial Scout unit.
  
• Fixed an issue where right-clicking to attack a specific enemy in a mixed army could result in insubordination by the ordered units.
  
• Fixed a legacy issue where units tasked to attack ground would sometimes ignore the command and attack the closest enemy unit instead.
  
• Fixed an issue where defensive structures would sometimes stop attacking targets.
  
• Packed Trebuchets which auto-pack and then chase another Trebuchet (target) can no longer instantly destroy the enemy Trebuchet without unpacking.
  
• Selecting more than one control group using Shift no longer merges them into one group by default. A new Shift Group Appending option has been added to enable or disable this behavior.
  
• Attack ground is no longer available for Trebuchets when playing Treaty.
  
• Fixed a rare issue where Siege Towers could be used to move units across terrain obstructions such as cliffs.
  
• Furor Celtica now applies to Rams and Siege Towers which have units garrisoned inside.

• Steppe Lancer [Standard & Elite]: Increased the base attack of both the standard and elite unit by +1.

• No longer have access to the Redemption technology.

• No longer have access to the Redemption technology.
  
• Can now research the Capped Ram upgrade in the Castle Age as a civilization bonus.
  
• Kipchak [Standard & Elite]: Now fire +1 extra arrow.
  
• Steppe Husbandry: Now grants its benefits to Steppe Lancers.
  
• Steppe Husbandry: Now reduces the training time of Scout Cavalry, Cavalry Archers, and Steppe Lancers by 50% (was 80%).

• No longer have access to the Arson technology.
  
• The civilization bonus affecting the cost of infantry units has now been staggered per Age: 20% cheaper (Dark Age) → 25% cheaper (Feudal Age) → 30% cheaper (Castle Age) → 35% cheaper (Imperial Age)
  
• The civilization bonus boosting infantry attack vs. buildings now increments by +1 attack per Age (starting in the Feudal Age).

• Now gain the Thumb Ring technology for free as a civilization bonus.
  
• Keshik: Reduced the training time from 23 to 16 seconds.
  
• Elite Keshik: Reduced the training time from 20 to 14 seconds.
  
• Silk Armor: Now grants its benefits to Steppe Lancers.
  
• Timurid Siegecraft: Increased the bonus range granted to Trebuchets from +1 to +2.
  
• Timurid Siegecraft: Now makes the new Flaming Camel unit available when researched—a fast-moving Petard with bonuses vs. mounted units and elephants.

Four brand-new missions have been added to the Art of War tutorials:

• Land Battle: Learn about unit counters and basic maneuvers!
  
• Battle Formations: Learn when and how to use formations effectively!
  
• Naval Battle: Learn about amphibious combat and how to prevail on the high seas!
  
• Destroying a Castle: Learn about early siege attacks against fortified positions!

In addition to these new missions, we’ve implemented the following:

• Added localized versions of the Art of War introduction videos for all supported audio languages.
  
• Booming: Players can now properly advance to the Imperial Age after building two Castle Age buildings, rather than having to build a Castle.
  
• Booming: Fixed a separate issue where players could advance to the Imperial Age without constructing the prerequisite buildings.
  
• Rushing the Enemy: The kill counter will now increment properly as soon as you start killing enemy villagers.

• Fixed various instances where the dialogue text and voiceover audio did not agree during the Dracula campaign.

• Predators will no longer spawn on top of Relics.

• Alpine Lakes: Updated the map to ensure a more consistent and fair distribution of resources: including hills, forests, and lakes.
  
• Alpine Lakes: Each player will now start with one close lake and two small forests. Each close lake contains four deep fish within the reach of shore fishermen.
  
• Alpine Lakes: In addition to fish and herdables, players now start with an extra boar.
  
• Arabia: Reduced the number and length of cliffs that spawn on the map, allowing for more open gameplay.
  
• Arabia: Extra gold and stone deposits have been adjusted to distribute more evenly amongst the players.
  
• Arena: Deer now always appear within the bounds of the player walls.
  
• Arena: Fixed a bug where, on occasion, only four Relics would appear on a tiny map (instead of five).
  
• Arena: Adjusted the number of Relics spawned to match other maps. Six-player maps will now spawn 7 Relics, and eight-player maps will spawn 8 Relics.
  
• Hideout: Extra gold and stone deposits have been adjusted to distribute more evenly amongst the players.
  
• Hideout: Adjusted the distance of stone and gold deposits to prevent them from blocking gates.
  
• Hideout: Altered the way the map is generated to prevent player bases from overlapping.
  
• Hideout: Guaranteed that one pile of stone now always appears within the walls of each player’s base.
  
• Hideout: Boars will now consistently spawn inside of the player’s base.
  
• Hideout: Groups of Deer will now either appear entirely within the walls (50% of the time) or well outside of them.
  
• Megarandom: Added new map variations to make better use of the Mangrove Shallows/Forests terrain.
  
• Megarandom: Adjusted the balance of deer spawns to ensure an average of 4 deer per player.
  
• Megarandom: Fixed several bugs that caused issues with the generation of gold and stone.
  
• Megarandom: Increased the amount of starting gold spawned on the Empire Wars game mode.

• Added a tooltip to game lobbies that provides a detailed look at any player’s stats: including their rating, rank, wins, losses, and win percentage.

• The Technology Tree can now be viewed while in the matchmaking queue. (And there was much rejoicing…!)
  
• The number of spectators and Game ID are now displayed while spectating a match.
  
• Added the ability to pick your player color in ranked matchmaking. This now also controls your starting team position based on the selected color.
  
• Teams in ranked matchmaking now delegate their map bans to the party leader.
  
• Updated the default team selection from “-“ to “?” in multiplayer lobbies.
  
• Team Positions can no longer be selected when playing custom scenarios.
  
• Two new maps inspired by the community—Four Lakes and Golden Swamp—are now available in the Random Map selection screen by default.
  
• Fixed an issue where custom scenario lobbies would incorrectly display the previously-selected Random Map as the location.
  
• Fixed an issue where the game would run slower for players than for spectators.
  
• Implemented additional tracking and safeguards to defend against cheat programs.

• The ranked map pool is now unique depending on whether you’re playing 1v1 or as a Team. Nine total maps are still available in both modes: six that are playable in both, and three exclusive maps that only appear in the 1v1 or Team queue.

The 1v1 map pool is as follows:

• Acropolis
  
• Arabia
  
• Arena
  
• Four Lakes
  
• Mediterranean
  
• MegaRandom
  
• Golden Swamp
  
• Hideout
  
• Nomad

The Team map pool is as follows:

• Arabia
  
• Arena
  
• Black Forest
  
• Lombardia
  
• MegaRandom
  
• Golden Swamp
  
• Hideout
  
• Nomad
  
• Team Islands

• The Slavs, Magyars, Lithuanians, and Bulgarians now have a unique set of sails for their ships.
  
• Vietnamese Transport Ships now use the correct set of sails.
  
• Sea Gates now have destruction animations.
  
• Imperial Camels no longer wield their shields upside down when walking.
  
• Terrain grid lines are now less intrusive.
  
• Updated the visual look of Relics.

• Indian Villagers no longer say ♪ “attack” ♪ when tasked to move.
  
• Properly limited how gunpower sounds are played when too many of them are triggered at the same time.

• Improved the effectiveness of AI players on the Hamburger map.
  
• Fixed a rare issue where AI-controlled players would continue to send unit commands after resigning or being defeated.
  
• Fixed an issue where AI-controlled players would play too passively before reaching the Imperial Age.
  
• Fixed an issue where the AI would occasionally resign too early in team games.
  
• Fixed a rare issue where AI players would send tribute to the host player rather than the player that requested the resources.
  
• Fixed a rare issue where AI-controlled players would build excessive numbers of military buildings.
  
• Fixed a rare issue where explorer units would occasionally fall idle.

• Fixed an issue where units would be paralyzed with fear instead of properly fleeing enemy aggressors.
  
• Fixed an issue where Bombard Cannons would fail to interrupt their attack-move under certain circumstances.
  
• Fixed a rare issue where a trapped scout using auto-scout could cause the game to lag.

• Siege weapons are no longer affected by sn-task-ungrouped-soldiers.
  
• unit-type-count-total now counts additional objects in the unit queue.
  
• up-pending-objects now counts additional objects in the unit queue.
  
• up-garrison now accepts unit lines.
  
• up-modify-group-flag can now be used to select and see which units are in what group.
  
• up-find-remote can now find building foundations.
  
• sn-allow-civilian-defense set to 0 and sn-allow-civilian-offense set to ≥1 will no longer make villagers retreat.

• Added a new Player Profile hub where you can view your game stats and collections. This is accessible directly from the main menu!
  
• Fixed a rare issue where chat messages were sometimes not sent to everyone.
  
• Shift-clicking a stack of units in the building queue now decreases the queued total by 5.
  
• All herdable cows will now show the correct message in the UI when found.
  
• The minimap now updates correctly when switching between players using hotkeys while watching a recorded game.
  
• The Map Seed is now visible in the objectives panel for spectated and recorded games. This information is useful when reporting issues with a randomly generated map.
  
• The game no longer inserts a “/” in front of non-taunt numbers when the /Taunts option is turned off.
  
• The Chieftains technology no longer displays an incorrect description in the notification area when researched.

• Palette mods are now possible.
  
• It is now possible to use OPUS encoded WEM files in audio mods.

• The Play Sound trigger effect now works with custom sounds.
  
• Added a unique model for the Heavy Swordsman.
  
• Fixed an issue where some random maps did not appear in the Scenario Editor’s “random map list.”

As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates. Here is a brief overview of some of the issues that have been raised for which we are actively working on solutions:

• LATENCY & DISCONNECTS: The connectivity and stability of the game are still our top priority. While we continue to implement advancements and prevention measures with each new build, we’re always on the lookout for issues that impact your ability to play. We are continuing to keep a close eye on the reports of input latency, server issues, and disconnects, and will continue doing everything we can to get these resolved for as many people as possible.
  
• PERFORMANCE: Speed is everything in AoE2:DE, and we want to ensure that the game makes the most of your hardware setup. We are continuing to make gains wherever possible, and will continue to work on raising the bar month after month.
  
• TEXT FILTERING: We’ve heard your cries and seen the ***** **** ** ******; and the team is investigating solutions that not only (more accurately) reflect the communication style of the community, but give us more control over where we set the bar both now and into the future. Watch for more updates to come!
  
• LOCALIZATION/TRANSLATION ISSUES: The community has done a fantastic job compiling lists of areas in the game where the translation is incorrect, missing, or could use improvement. We are watching for your reports on our official forum and will continue to implement solutions as they come our way! Keep it up!
  
• GAME BALANCE (incl. AUTO-SCOUTING): With the rich variety of civilizations in the game, there will always be room for adjustments to the balance of power. This also goes for new features—such as auto-scouting—where we will continue to see what can be done to strike a balance between accessibility for new players and mastery by veterans in the game.

For other known issues, please visit this page to see what’s being tracked!

DISCLAIMER

Please note that this list is subject to change, and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Multiplayer Servers)
WHEN: Tuesday, March 31 @ 1:00p PT / 4:00p ET / 20:00 UTC
ESTIMATED DOWNTIME: 2 hours

GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED:

• Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
  
• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)

DETAILS:
Hello everyone! We will be taking the multiplayer servers down for maintenance this Tuesday, March 31, to make updates.

:alertalert: While you will still be able to launch the game, you will not be able to matchmake or access any other online features while we work on the servers.

The downtime is expected to last TWO HOURS. While the servers are down, we’ll update this thread with any new information, updates, or changes to the schedule. This is also where we’ll announce the all clear when the maintenance is complete.

Thank you for your patience!

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Multiplayer Servers)
WHEN: Saturday March 21 @ 4:00 PT / 7:00p ET / 23:00 UTC
ESTIMATED DOWNTIME: TWO HOURS

GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED:

• Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
  
• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)

DETAILS:
We've hit record concurrency today and we'll be running some reactive server maintenance to make sure everyone can play. This may take at least TWO HOURS, during which Multiplayer will be unavailable for Age DE and Age 2 DE. We'll let you know when MP services are back up and thank you for your patience.

:alertalert: While you will still be able to launch the game, you will not be able to matchmake or access any other online features while the servers are offline.

Maintenance should take approximately TWO HOURS. We'll update this thread with any new information, updates, or changes to the schedule as we work; this is also where we'll announce the all clear when the maintenance is complete.

Thank you for your patience!