New Lobby System, Custom Skirmishes, PvP Team Battles, Ladder Season 5

Ladder Season 5 Begins!

• Ladder rankings reset

• Your best Season 4 ranking can still be showcased using the distinct Season 4 badges

New Multiplayer Lobbies

• Multiplayer games are now organized through lobbies

• Click "Quick Play" to immediately join Ranked lobby or create one if one isn't available

• Private lobbies - set your lobby to private and share its join code with friends

• Steam friends can join your lobby directly through Steam

New Single-player Skirmish Lobbies

• Single-player skirmish setup now uses a lobby setup similar to multiplayer

• Add bots individually and configure each bot's civilization, difficulty, and aggressiveness

• Assign players and bots to teams manually - uneven teams (like 2v3) are supported

Team Play for Multiplayer and Single-player

• PvP team battles now supported

• Cooperative mode has been merged into Teams Mode. Move and attack orders are immediate if all humans are on the same team.

• Chat with multiplayer teammates by pressing the "/" key

• Allied units can now occupy the same hex

• Units can enter and garrison allied cities

• Units can embark from allied cities with a Harbor

• Units heal in allied territory at the same rate as in their own territory

Experimental AI

A new Experimental bot difficulty is now available. We're experimenting with machine learning based on the behavior of human multiplayer players. Experimental bots do not receive any bonuses. This AI is a work in progress - its current version it will still not be a major challenge for experienced players. We'd love to hear your feedback as we continue to develop it!

• New "Experimental" option in bot difficulty settings, also selectable per bot in skirmish

• Receives no bonuses

• Currently provides a challenge between Normal and Hard AI difficulties

Misc

• Steam Deck readability improvements

• Various performance improvements