This major addition to the game content includes the long-awaited espionage system (spying, infiltration and pillaging). It also includes an entire Major Faction, the Forgotten, whose gameplay is based on espionage.

CHANGES AND ADDITIONS [All versions]

• Added a new game option in order to show/mask the empire information and curves displayed in-game.
• Added the ability to whisper to a known player by clicking on his/her status sector in the End Turn panel.
• Added a new tab in the options: controls can be redefined.
• Added new controls:
  
  • Bottom of all construction queues: you can now add an improvement at the bottom of the construction queue of all your cities by pressing CTRL when you click on the chosen improvement.
  • Top of all construction queues: you can now add an improvement at the top of the construction queue of all your cities by pressing SHIFT when you click on the wanted improvement.
  • Top of one construction queue: you can now add an improvement at the top of the construction queue of a city by pressing ALT when you click on the chosen improvement.
• Added several new key bindings.
• AI now takes into account the market-value of luxury and strategic resources in diplomacy.
• Remove retreat possibility when being in a besieged district.
• +1 on unit military upkeep when in armies.
• "Fragile Health" and "Make Trade not War" trait costs have been increased.
• Added City Upkeep to a couple of Improvements where it was still missing.
• Added a confirmation message to hero assignment in case the army is made of Privateers.
• Impacted with gamespeed the time required to reach the max value of Research and Commercial agreements bonus.
• Reduced "Fast" Game Speed multiplier on Luxury and Strategic Resource Production (from 2 to 1.5).
• Added the Sharp Sense capacity to shields.
• Changed Titanium Shields Damage bonus (5%/10%/20%) to a 5%/10%/20% Life bonus.
• Decreased Damage bonus granted by Glassteel on weapons (-50%).
• Decreased Attack bonus granted by Titanium on weapons (-50%).
• Tweaked Movement bonus granted by Improved Movement capacity on Iron Talismans:
  
  • Tier1: +1 Map Movement, +1 Battle Movement, +3 Initiative.
  • Tier2: +2 Map Movement, +1 Battle Movement, +5 Initiative.
  • Tier3: +3 Map Movement, +1 Battle Movement, +7 Initiative.
• Increased bonus granted by Glory of Death capacity on Titanium Talismans:
  
  • Tier1: +0.5 Morale per adjacent enemy.
  • Tier2: +1 Morale per adjacent enemy.
  • Tier3: +1.5 Morale per adjacent enemy.
• Reduced Vision bonuses granted by Improved Vision capacity on Iron rings:
  
  • Tier1: Improved Vision 1 (+1 vision) + Sharp Sense 1.
  • Tier2: Improved Vision 1 (+1 vision) + Sharp Sense 2.
  • Tier3: Improved Vision 2 (+2 vision) + Sharp Sense 3.
• Reduced Damage bonus granted by Improved Damage capacity on Titanium rings: Tier1: +10% / Tier2: +20% / Tier3: +30%.
• Reduced Initiative bonus granted by Improved Initiative capacity on Glassteel rings: Tier1: +10% / Tier2: +20% / Tier3: +30%.
• Tweaked contextual damage bonus granted by Retaliation capacity on Palladian Talismans: Tier1: +15% / Tier2: +30% / Tier3: +60%.
• Increased Army Defence bonus granted by Adamantian Insignia, to Tier1: +5 & +15% / Tier2: +10 & +30% / Tier3: +15 & +40%.
• Increased Army Attack bonus granted by Palladian Insignia, to Tier1: +15% / Tier2: +30% / Tier3: +40%.
• Increased Unit Defence bonus granted by the Adamantian Ring, to Tier1: +25% / Tier2: +50% / Tier3: +75%.
• Increased Unit Attack bonus granted by the Palladian Ring, to Tier1: +25% / Tier2: +50% / Tier3: +75%.
• Increased Unit Strike-Back Damage bonus granted by the Palladian Talisman, to Tier1: +30% / Tier2: +50% / Tier3: +70%.
• Reduced by 30% the base price of Heroes on market.
• Increased by 30% healing cost when a hero gets disabled.
• Multiplied by 2 instead of 3 Healing speed bonus from the Hero Skill Fast Healer Level 1 and Level 2.
• Removed all Food references in the Broken Lords' empire plans and added new options instead.
• Doubled the Era 1 research bonus granted by the Quest reward of the first Broken Lords quest chapter.
• Decreased a bit the amount of Dust required in step 2 of the first Broken Lords quest chapter.
• Increased by 2 Life Drain capacity bonus of the Broken Lords Ryder.
• Reduced from 50% to 35% of Damage value the Dust Bishop Healer capacity.
• Decrease to 15% Healing Halo capacity bonus.
• Reduced by 30% Damage base attribute value of Drider, Eyeless Ones and Drakkens Heroes.
• In addition to militia and fortification, Cultists now have one additional Militia slot compared to other factions.
• Reduced from 50% to 35% the bonuses granted by the 2 Cultists quest Items called "The Wordless Will" and "Order of Isiver".
• Reduced from 25% to 20% resources extracted from region deposits by converted Cultists villages.
• Removed information displayed in the Empire Bonuses Screen due to game speed.

CHANGES AND ADDITIONS [Guardians]

• Decreased by 2 the effect of the Guardian earthquake on tiles that are not the target.
• Tweaked the "Minor Faction, Major Pain" cooperation quest.

IMPORTANT FIXES [All versions]

• Fixed a desync caused when a user joins the AI slot of a progress in session.
• Fixed an issue where an assert message is generated for the user multiple times during the late stages of a session.
• Fixed an issue where a skippable assert generated at the beginning of every turn during late-game in a session.

FIXES [Guardians]

GUARDIANS CONTENT PACK

• Fixed an issue where the Era 1 "Visionary Leader" deed does not complete on 10/10 progress if achieved by killing multiple armies in one combat.
• Fixed an issue where the Era 1 "Wealth Harvester" objective 2 deed can be completed by activating Vaulters boosters.
• Fixed an issue where the Necrophage sacrifice counts as a luxury booster in the "Wealth Harvester" achievement.
• Fixed an issue where the Era 2 "Warrior's Warrior" deed will not gain any progress when killing armies during a city assault.
• Fixed an issue where the Cultists can no longer achieve the Era 3 "Market Alchemist" deed.
• Fixed an issue where resources do not count towards the "Market Alchemist" deed after they have been activated as a holy resource.
• Fixed an issue where the Legendary Buildings do not count as districts for the Era 5 Economic deed.
• Fixed an issue where none of the available automated governors build national buildings.
• Fixed an issue where the Vaulters teleport has the graphics effect which indicates the range of the Air Guardian teleport action.
• Fixed an issue where the Roving Clan empire loses the ability to rebuild Legendary Buildings after using "Setseke ho!" ability multiple times.
• Fixed an issue where the "Master of markets" trade deed progression indicator is not updated after the trade routes income has been recalculated.
• Fixed an issue where misleading information is displayed as the first objective for the 2nd era "Master of markets" legendary deed.
• Fixed an issue where regular quest armies come in as reinforcements for the Colossus spawned in the "A test of strength global" quest although they have different banners.
• Fixed an issue with the Warriors' Warrior deed.
• Fixed issues where Deeds cannot be completed with Vaulters and Cultists factions.

FIXES [All versions]

AI

• Fixed an issue where AI major factions do not equip units with accessory items in custom unit designs.
• Fixed an issue where the AI empires value Influence too much.
• Fixed an issue where the AI does not value cities enough in diplomatic negotiations.
• Fixed an issue where AI empires don't use Titanium.
• Fixed an issue where AI does not retrofit anymore.
• Fixed an issue where the "aggression during cold war" AI feedback can be received during war.
• Fixed an issue where Settlers in queue can block the growth of AI if the construction becomes infinite.
• Fixed an issue where the automated governor builds the water and river improvements without having the terrain requirements met.
• Fixed an issue where automated governors do not attempt to upgrade districts or city centres.

BATTLE

• Fixed an issue where the "Increased Fire 3" did not properly increase the attack of its target.
• Fixed an issue where units cannot be transferred onto city tiles during a siege.
• Fixed an issue where Privateer armies 3D models are not removed from the Battle Field Area once the battle begins.
• Fixed an issue where the "force move a unit" command is not functional.
• Fixed an issue where the combat notification is displayed whenever assaulting a defenceless city.
• Fixed an issue where if the besieging army uses the "Retreat" action the siege will not be broken.
• Fixed an issue where the Combat Strength Ratio Bar does not update when the user selects or deselects reinforcements.

DIPLOMACY

• Fixed an issue where players can use trade in diplomacy as an exploit to take control of an AI's capital city.
• Fixed an issue where spamming compliments increased chances to win a diplomatic victory.
• Fixed an issue where the owner of a privateer army is discovered in the diplomacy screen when reaching the line of sight of another Empire.
• Fixed an issue where the First Encounter notification is misleading when discovering an empire using Privateers.
• Fixed an issue where the host receives a "Declare war" notification if the client declares war by trying to attack/siege a city.
• Fixed an issue where the host receives the "Declare War" notification if a client attacks another major faction with an army which is not on a tile near the attacked unit or city.

FACTIONS

• Fixed an issue where expansion disapproval technologies are incorrectly removed from custom factions.
• Fixed an issue where the Empire and Expansion tier 4 plan has no effect on the Broken Lords.
• Fixed an issue where Necrophages Militia units do not have the "Disease immunity" capacity.
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip for the Ardent Mages "Incantation of Defence" will display only the level 1 effect of the spell.
• Fixed an issue where the Wild Walkers Chapter 2.1 reward "Visions of Glory" does not increase the empire's influence each time a district or a legendary building is built.

GUI

• Fixed an issue where the mods notification increases in size after the user closes it and enters the Mods menu a second time.
• Fixed an issue where the user is not informed about how he/she can use the in-game chat options.
• Fixed an issue where the Expansion Construction Bubbles are displayed on the Adventure Map even when the city is not selected.
• Fixed an issue where capacities overlap UI elements when there are 12 or more, in the Hero screen.
• Fixed an issue where strategies cannot be changed in manual combat if units have more than 12 capacities.
• Fixed an issue with the Loot label of the Encounter Result Panel.
• Fixed an issue where the Heal army button overlaps the armies in the military screen.
• Fixed an issue where unchecking auto popup notifications from the options menu does not uncheck the button in the notifications.
• Fixed an issue where the bankruptcy adjustments notification displayed false information when the user did not have the "Mercenary market" technology.
• Fixed an issue where the bankruptcy adjustments notification displayed false information when buildings were destroyed.
• Fixed an issue where world shape options are not properly greyed out on Tiny and Huge World Sizes.
• Fixed an issue where the Land percentage options are not properly greyed out for the Huge Map size.
• Fixed an issue where the Normal and Hard World difficulties are not greyed out although they are not functional in the "Advanced world settings screen" when the AI difficulty is set to "Newbie".
• Fixed an issue where the Hard World difficulty is not greyed out although it is not functional in the "Advanced world settings screen" when the AI difficulty is set to "Easy".
• Fixed an issue where the Easy World difficulty is not greyed out although it is not functional in the "Advanced world settings screen" when the AI difficulty is set to "Endless".
• Fixed an issue where the world size is changed from "Random" to "Small" or "Normal" inside the new game screen when changing the number of empires.
• Fixed an issue where Privateers army owner can be revealed with end turn button info.
• Fixed an issue where MP advanced settings are not working when looking at them in the lobby.
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip of the "Double Or Nothing" skill displays false information.
• Fixed an issue where the "Press a key" text is displayed after pressing Shift, Alt or Ctrl in order to create a 2 key combination.
• Fixed an issue where the multi-targeting command is not available in the controls list.
• Fixed an issue where the End Deployment and End Targeting Phases cannot be activated through use of the keyboard.
• Fixed an issue where the Default key for Move Camera Right is "R".
• Fixed an issue where there is no separate key command which makes an army continue their queued orders.
• Fixed an issue where the End Combat Phase function of the End the turn button is not mentioned in the Controls screen.
• Fixed an issue where there is no separate key command which makes an army continue their queued orders.
• Fixed an issue where the user is not informed that the number luxury resource types is affected by the world size settings.
• Fixed an issue where the Mezari affinity is not greyed out in the faction editor screen if the content is unavailable.
• Fixed an issue where the Mezari Custom faction is not removed from the affinity selection drop down list when the "Dungeon of the Endless Crystal pack" DLC is disabled.
• Fixed an issue where no confirmation message is displayed when users want to assign heroes to privateer armies.
• Fixed an issue where inactive mods do not display their status on the left of the "available mods" list.
• Fixed an issue where there is no "Ascending-Descending" arrow indicator on the sorting buttons located in the "Save/Load" panel.
• Fixed an issue where there is no "Ascending-Descending" arrow indicator on the sorting buttons located in the "City List" screen.
• Fixed an issue where there is no "Ascending-Descending" arrow indicator on the sorting buttons located in the "Military" screen.
• Fixed an issue where there is no "Ascending-Descending" arrow indicator on the sorting buttons located in the "Trade Routes" panel.

HEROES / UNITS

• Fixed an issue where an army remains stuck after merging it with another army which has no more movement points.
• Fixed an issue where units were not properly levelled-up according to Eras depending on Game speed.
• Fixed an issue where Settlers can be trained without having cities incur the Food penalty during training.
• Fixed an issue where the winter vision penalty for cities is not removed by governors with the "Cold operator" skill immediately after being assigned.
• Fixed an issue where the first level of the "One Step Ahead" skill effect does not apply.
• Fixed an issue where Heroes can remain stuck in the infiltration process if the infiltrated city is besieged.
• Fixed an issue where when loading a save, heroes have twice their skills descriptor.
• Fixed an issue where Settlers cannot be destroyed or sold after razing captured cities.
• Fixed an issue where the Spare Quiver skill doesn't give an extra accessory slot.
• Fixed an issue where privateer armies display the quest banner instead of a default roaming army banner.
• Fixed an issue where privateer armies are displayed as friendly if allied or at peace with their owner.
• Fixed an issue where the privateer armies tooltip will display its army name on mouseover.
• Fixed an issue where the Damage Bonus from the Retaliation 1 and 3 capacities is not applied.

MISC.

• Fixed an issue where achievements can be unlocked via a mod.
• Fixed an issue where the BFF achievement does not work.
• Fixed an issue where multiple empires are spawned on the same island when setting the "Empire Spawn" to "Ideal FIDS placement", "Close" and "Chaotic" while using the "Scattered" generation preset.
• Fixed several issues in the texts.

QUESTS

• Fixed an issue where Quest items are under-performing compared to normal items due to how percentile statistic values are calculated.
• Fixed an issue where Heroes obtained through quests always start at level 1.
• Fixed an issue where effects of global events do not disappear after X turns.
• Fixed an issue where exploring quests targeted ruins does not grant the experience bonus.
• Fixed an issue where parleying with quest targeted villages does not grant the experience bonus.
• Fixed an issue where ruins marked by quests cannot be searched for loot without completing the quest objective.
• Fixed an issue where the Broken Lords Chapter 2 "Our Baser Nature" step 1 and 2 quests do not have a quest tracker.
• Fixed an issue where the Chapter 3 of the Ardent Mages faction quest has no progress counter in the quest objectives.
• Fixed an issue where the Chapter 6 step 1 of the Ardent Mages faction quest has no progress counter in the quest objectives.
• Fixed an issue where the Cultist chapter 1 step 1 "uncertain beginnings" quest objective does not have a tracking method.
• Fixed an issue where there is no info at all on where is the army to destroy in chapter 4 Cultists.
• Fixed an issue where the Drakkens Chapter 3 "Resolutely Forward" step 1 quest does not have a tracker.
• Fixed an issue where the Drakkens Chapter 3 "Resolutely Forward" step 1 objective counter is counting the technologies from the wrong era.
• Fixed an issue where Necrophages first quest doesn't choose a region where villages are already destroyed.