New (Minor) Features for v1.555

• Added new Seek Inspiration spell that’s unlocked from the start of the new game (you will need to restart your games to get it). Casting the spell resets the research skill book, allowing you to pick different things.
• Inflict XXX abilities and abilities that debuff melee attackers (Static Shield, Fearsome, etc) now display the strength of the resistance check used to check if the debuff will be applied on the unit panel and in the tome of wonders
• Most spells now list the resistance strength used to apply debuffs

Fixes

• Wild Magic Master starting skill now correctly states that it grants 10 casting points per Heart, not 5.
• Fixed an issue where the AI would cast Desecration in battles against large numbers of undead units, inadvertently buffing the enemy more than it was buffing itself.
• Fixed a crash caused by clicking on an icon for a spell affecting a city, after the city had been absorbed as a vassal
• If a non-necromancer surrenders to a necromancer, their throne city will now be occupied after it’s transferred, to the stop the necromancer player having a living city (the same already happens if necromancer players surrender to non-necros)
• If a city has negative population growth, then that negative value will no longer be shrunk due to the city having its growth constrained
• Interfaces will no longer list information on what types of terrain units like if the unit is undead.
• Fixed an issue that meant independent AI would allow you to sometimes repeatedly target the same unit without responding
• Fixed an issue where the AI would get stuck forever in siege battles because a unit was stood next to an enemy with first strike, and couldn’t act without dying
• Fixed the tactical AI not using cannons to destroy walls in siege battles
• Fixed Invoke Death not granting experience for killing targets
• Fixed an issue where teleporting into a gate would stop it from opening
• Fixed a missing error message when a player tried to use phase or a similar ability with an embarked unit on a boat
• Fixed Human Cavalry getting extra medals when produced from cities after getting race upgrade that grants them the Fast Learner ability
• Elven Court map 3: Nomlik now has Rot to counter the machines (you have to start from map 2 in order to get it).
• Fixed a crash caused by necromancer players taking over rebelling cities from other players
• Fixed a crash caused by accepting certain quests in the campaign when loading from a save that was created before the latest patch was released
• Forge Blast will no longer apply it’s happiness and race happiness penalties twice per cast
• Cities running the Install Throne operation now produce income
• Fixed crash when capturing city with scorched earth active
• Fixed an issue in the tactical AI where it would sometimes be reckless with cavalry when it wasn’t supposed to be
• Fixed an issue where resurrected heroes wouldn’t become archliches if Harbingers Of Death was researched
• Spiritual Freedom and Embrace Darkness will no longer appear as rewards in Lost Libraries
• Domain of the Sun now overrides Goblin Economic race governance 3 as it should.
• Fixed various issues that caused combat replays to break
• The All Knowing empire quest will now only give a good aligned specialization to a player if they already have a good aligned one, and don’t have shadowborn. Similar rules added for Neutral and Evil specializations.
• Altar Of Bound souls will now work with undead units
• Added a new message to the interface to explain when an ability doesn’t cost action points to be used
• Undying Army, Desecration, Dark Gift and Gift Of Nekron can no longer be stacked with themselves in combat (e.g. You can no longer cast Desecration 3 times for a +9 resistance bonus)
• Fixed an issue where the AI would wait for the player to approach when it was the attacker instead of the defender.
• Fishing now works correctly.
• If your leader falls in battle, and is then resurrected, you will now be able to cast spells with them again in that battle
• The “let me know when you are ready to talk” option is disabled for indy cities with disabled interactions.
• AI will no longer surender when it lost a big battle it was the attacker in
• Fixed issue where button would say ‘start’ when it it should say ‘next’
• Fixed issue where AI would take over cities which it was not allowed to (campaign only fix)
• Fixed issue with race happiness modifier descriptions from spells
• Hotseat top bar does not show leader names anymore, always lists it as ‘unknown’
• Fixed scaling of icon for Units Offer to Join event
• Fixed issue where move order event would not go away when the army had changed owner (campaign only fix)
• Regenerate is now listed as “Regenerate” in tooltips, instead of +1000 hp regeneration.
• AI will no longer be attacked by indies when building beacons.
• AI will no longer declare war on players the moment they queue up their first beacon.
• Path Of Life will now function correctly
• Mind Controlling a unit who’s using Absorb Pain (or Pledge Of Protection) will now cancel the Absorb Pain relationship.
• Human Economic 4 now properly gives 15 production, like the description says (it was giving 10)
• Loading a save where a unit is stood on a reflecting pool will no longer glitch
• Fixed an issue that prevented leaders getting skills from Lost Libraries while their hero was in the void
• Folk Hero now properly gives a discount to city diplomacy costs
• Suppress Nature will no longer be a starting spell
• The AI will no longer use spells that damage cities while defending it’s own cities
• Creating a cadavers from dead ghouls will no longer give you ghouled cadavers
• Fixed players being able to disband units from the Entering Battle screen
• Fixed an issue where the tactical AI would never use any of the reanimate undead abilities
• Fixed Cosmic Happening Crimson Star description & wrong polish string.
• Multiple small translation fixes

Balance Tweaks

• Black Lightning is now much more likely to apply Broken Spirit (strength is now 16, instead of 11)
• Tigran Exalted now costs 160 gold like the other Exalted (was 170 gold)
• Fixed Tigran Evangelist getting the wrong damage upgrades as it leveled up
• Frostling Death Bringer now costs 150 gold, like other Death Bringers (was 160 gold)
• Goblin Reanimator now has an extra +2 blight damage on melee attacks as well as on its ranged attacks
• Bone Collector now has melee strength 15 (was 14), Killing Momentum (so you can kill something and then eat it in the same turn), Demolisher x 2 (double bonus vs machines and walls) and Reinforced instead of Projectile Resistance.
• Dark Gift now gives +2 physical damage to ranged attacks that already do physical damage as well as melee attacks (was +2 physical damage to melee attacks only)
• Draconian Elders can now use Dragon Ancestry on themselves
• Orc Shock Trooper now gets War Cry on Bronze Medal (was Armor Piercing)
• Orc Priest now gets Blight Protection on Silver instead of Frost Protection
• Fairy Charm upgrade in the Sylvan Court now costs 80 gold (was 160)
• Fangir’s Stone Ward in Giant Dwellings now gives +4 defense, +2 resistance to all units, but doesn’t reduce their move points (was +5 defense, +3 resistance, -16 move points)
• Tigran Shamans and Mystics are now Immune To Mind Control after they’ve transformed
• Cause Fear is now on a 2 turn cooldown (was once per battle)
• Immolating Touch is now on a 1 turn cooldown (was once per battle)
• Inflict Ghoul Curse will no longer affect dragons
• Well Of Souls and Lich Aura will now affect creatures Of Magical Origin (but not incorporeal ones)
• Embrace Darkness, Spiritual Freedom and Scales Of Fortune now affect Machines and Boats
• Frostling Harpooner now no longer has Fishing as a bronze medal upgrade (he has it by default).
• Heart structures no longer buff your ally’s units as well as your own
• Effigy of the Lich king now grants Necromantic Aura
• Tiger’s Eye Ring now grants Invigorate and Mark Blood Sacrifice, instead of Slip Away.
• Frost Queen’s Crown now also grants 200% frost resistance
• Boars now have 44hp (was 40) and Fast Healing
• Wargs now have Wetlands Walking and First Strike
• Blight Tusk Boar now have Wetlands Walking
• Felhorse now has 8 physical attack, 2 fire attack (was 8 physical only)
• Tigran Prowler is now tier 2 (was 1) has 52 hit points (was 48), cost is 80 gold (was 60).
• Tigran Military 1 now reduces prowler cost by 20 gold (was 15)
• Tigran Apprentice now costs 95 gold and 20 mana (was 105 gold and 25 mana)
• Tigran Economic 1 and Human Economic 1 now both give a 25% discount to settlers (was 15 and 20% respectively)
• Revive Instinct no longer works on the undead
• Spiritual Freedom, Scales Of Fortune and Embrace Darkness now remove Dedicated to XXX abilities from creatures in dwellings, and replace them with new ones.
• Necromancers now get a 35% fixed bonus to race governance XP
• Frostling Raider now has 9 Defense instead of 10.
• Frostling White Witch now has Inflict Frostbite on Silver Medal and Freezing Touch instead of Infict Freezing on Gold Medal.
• Human Civic Guard now has Fast Embark and Volunteer.
• High Elf Swordsman now has 9 defense instead of 8 (with Armor, this results in 11 defense instead of 10), First Strike on Gold Medal and Inflict Bleeding Wounds is now on Bronze instead of Gold.
• Draconian Bard now has 7 base physical melee damage like the other Bards.
• Deathbringers are now Armored, their defense remains unchanged
• Frostling Monster Hunter now has base 12 DEF like the other Monster Hunters.
• Improved the buffs granted by the Meditate ability
• Tigran Economic 5 now gives 20 production instead of 10 knowledge for each laboratory
• Draconian Economic 5 now gives 200 city happiness, not 100
• High Elf Economic 3 now gives 7 extra knowledge to Laboratories and Observatories
• High Elf Economic 4 now gives 8 mana per mana node
• Archangels are no longer ghoulable (Fallen Angels and Chthonic are)
• Spiritual Freedom is now tier 2, 140 knowledge same as the equivalent Grey Guard and Shadowbord spells (was tier 4, 400 knowledge)
• Sorcerer’s Conflux now generates +5 mana/turn.
• Fixed recruit cost of some Rogue class units
• Fixed recruit cost of some Warlord units
• Fixed recruit cost of Halfling, Tigran & Frostling class units (to match title races)
• Rogue Plague of Brigands tweaked chance to summon Scoundrel, and Warg instead of Assassins (summon strength isn’t changed)
• Rogue Plague of Brigands added missing Halfling, Tigran & Frostling rogue units to summon set (if requierd DLC is present)
• Sun Spear is now short range (was medium), does 4 fire/4 physical damage (was 7/7), has no ranged falloff, cooldown 2 turns (was 1 turn)
• Sun Spear is now a free action, and can be used without spending any action points.
• Sun Guard now has 48hp (was 45) and resistance 8 (was 7). Cost is now 60g (was 55).
• Phantasm Warrior now has resistance 9 (was 8)
• Chaos Rift will no longer summon Wisps or Zephyr birds.
• Sorcerer’s Conflux now generates +5 mana/turn.
• Mermaid now costs 70 gold (was 80). Mermaids can now evolve into Sirens.
• Human Longswordman now has attack 12 (was 11), and Guard Breaker on Gold medal (was Inflict Bleeding Wounds)
• Big Beetle now has demolisher x2 for a double bonus.
• Human Military 3 now correctly affects all Cavalry type units (including human heroes and manticore riders).
• Human Military 2 now only affects Human Cavalry and gives a visible ability in the unit panel (before it was affecting Knights as well)
• Dread Reaper now has 8 spirit/8 blight/8 frost damage (was 8 physical/4 blight/8 frost)
• Invoke Death will now work on Elementals
• Goblin Death Bringer now gets Inflict Weakened at gold, damage is 10 physical, 6 blight (was 13 physical, 3 blight)
• Goblin Manticore Rider now gets Inflict Weakened
• Goblin Military 5 now grants units Inflict Weakened instead of Inflict Severely Poisoned
• Inflict Despair is now strength 10 (was 11)
• Despair now applies -200 morale (was -300)
• Goblin Death Bringer now gets Inflict Weakened at gold, damage is 10 physical, 6 blight (was 13 physical, 3 blight)
• Goblin Manticore Rider now gets Inflict Weakened
• Goblin Military 5 now grants units Inflict Weakened instead of Inflict Severely Poisoned
• Inflict Despair is now strength 10 (was 11)
• Despair now applies -200 morale (was -300)
• Juggernaut now has Inflict Immolation on Gold, Free Movement is now on Bronze.
• Fixed High Elf Mounted Archer not having Shoot Longbow (again)
• Tigran Martyr now has Inflict Bleeding Wounds
• Tigran Exalted now has Blood Thirsty
• Tigran Apprentice now has magic bolts at 5/5 damage (was Fairy Fire at 3/3/3 damage), level ups have been modified to fit
• Frostling Mounted Archer now has 6 physical/5frost melee damage (was 10 physical)
• Draconian Death Bringer now has Improved Wall Climbing
• Orc Martyr now has Throw Javelin instead of Throw Stones
• Human Martyr now has Spirit Blast instead of Throw Stones, level ups have been modified to fit. Cost is 15 mana (was 10 mana)
• Draconian Exalted now has Charge like the Charger and Flyer, cost is 170 gold (was 160)
• Dwarf Exalted now has Shield, base cost is 170 gold (was 160)
• Orc Bard now has Razor Projectiles
• Draconian Scoundrel now has Improved Wall Climbing
• Dwarf Scoundrel now has Armored, for a new defense of 10 (was 9), base cost is 50 (was 45)
• Dwarf Succubus now has Projectilw Resistance base cost is 175 gold (was 170)
• Orc Scoundrel now has Throw Javelin, not shoot light crossbow
• Orc Monster Hunter now has Throw Javelin instead of Shoot Light Crossbow and sprint, cost is 80 gold (was 70)
• Dwarf Mounted Archer now has Armored, for a new defense of 12 (was 11), no price change (he was already 5 gold too expensive)
• Goblin Mounted Archer now has Overwhelm, base cost is 105gold (was 100)
• Orc Phalanx now has War Cry, cost is 145 (was 140)
• Dwarf Hunter now has Armored, for a new defense of 11 (was 10), base cost is now 80gold (was 75 gold)
• Halfling Scoundrel now has Slingshot
• Halfling Hunter now has Monster Slayer
• Trolls now have Wall Crushing

Graphics Issues

• Enabled mesh streaming for all units/heroes/accessories
• Optimized particle spawn-count for low/medium game-settings
• Skinning- and texture-fixes for frostling units
• Fixed 3d cities’ shading in unit panel background
• Several unit scaling adjustments
• Fixed some leader/mount clipping issues
• Fine tuned unit scales in unit-panel
• New skin decorations now work on all halfling classes
• Great birds don’t disappear anymore on water hexes on world map
• Fixed PFX flicker on mana-nodes and some other structures
• Shoot pistol/rifle PFX on spider/beetle hero mount now behaves as expected
• Fixed road texture-clipping next to deep water coastlines
• Fixed blinking lights on Heart structures
• Goblin and dwarf class units’ hands now have proper finger-detail
• Made all poses available to all races in the leader editor
• The Arcane Arrows ability now uses the correct fire bow animation, instead of the fault throw something animation.