JUNE 14th PUP Update

Not a dev, but we got an update to the PUP notes. Original post can be found here: Steam Community :: Error

We’re bringing a new patch (v. 17381) to the Age of Empires IV June 2022 Public Update Preview (PUP)! This patch includes a few key fixes and adjustments based on observations from the PUP that will carry over into the official release of the Season Two update.

In addition to this patch, which you’ll update via the Steam client, we’ll also be making some changes to the Ranked and Quick Match map pools via a Server-Side Patch this afternoon. This is to make sure that Server-Side Patches continue to allow for more agile and flexible changes to be made, including when it comes to the map line-up and Map Preference System.

As part of this effort, we’ll be decommissioning the previous PUP build, meaning you’ll need to take the latest client patch (v. 17381) to continue onward in the PUP!

Thank you everyone for your participation! Please continue to report bugs and provide feedback here on the Steam PUP forum. Happy gaming!

Release Notes – Build 17381

Below is a list of the major changes to this build from the original PUP Release Notes. Please be aware that this is not a comprehensive list of changes and is subject to further change before the official release of Season Two.

Updates to New Features

  • Player Color Picker
    • Fixed an issue where a player’s chosen color could become unset when loading into a Quick Play match.
  • Map Preference System
    • Resolved many of the localization issues with the Map Filter buttons that were previously listed in Known Issues.
    • Fixed a Known Issue where the “High Resource” category would not have the blue icon signaling that a player had downvoted a map in that category.

New Known Issues

  • Not All Hotkeys are Remappable
    • We are aware of an issue with Remappable Hotkeys where certain hotkeys remain tied to their original layout. This includes the Construction Menu for the Abbasid, garrison-related building commands, and a few other inconsistencies. We are tracking this issue on our backend now.

Map Rotation

As part of this patch update, we are adjusting the maps that can be found in Quick Matches and Ranked to align with what will be available in Season Two. While Ranked is closed within the PUP itself, we are interested in hearing feedback about these upcoming map options. You can test out any of these new and updated maps from custom lobbies.

Ranked Maps for Season Two:

  • Altai
  • Dry Arabia
  • High View
  • Hill and Dale
  • Lipany
  • Mongolian Heights (updated!)
  • King of the Hill (now in Ranked!)
  • Ancient Spires (updated!)
  • The Pit (new map!)

Quick Match Maps for Season Two (available in PUP now):

  • Altai
  • Dry Arabia
  • High View
  • Hill and Dale
  • Lipany
  • Mongolian Heights
  • Ancient Spires
  • Black Forest
  • Boulder Bay
  • Confluence
  • French Pass
  • King of the Hill
  • Mountain Pass
  • Nagari
  • Danube River
  • The Pit (new map!)
  • MegaRandom (now in Quick Match!)

Bug Fixes & Balance Updates

  • Fixed a file pathway issue for Mods that were trying to publish to the PUP Build.
  • Fixed an issue where giving a sheep the move command while near your scout could result in the sheep converting to neutral.
  • Resolved a former Known Issue with the spawn areas for the Black Forest map, where 1v1 matches on the micro map size could cause the Town Center to spawn underwater, as well as gold veins and stone outcroppings to not spawn near player start at all.
  • Resolved a previously Known Issue where the Landmarks of players who crashed, surrendered, or quit would prevent the new Landmark Victory conditions from being met.

Abbasid (ABB)

  • Golden Age Tier 1 bonus changed from +10% gather rate to +15% gather rate.
    • Developer Note: Abbasid is a successful civilization late game, but we’ve been noticing they still struggle early. This boost should help them be more competitive in the early states and makes hitting the first golden age tier more rewarding.
  • Resolved a previously Known Issue where Camel Archers could have their attack animation interrupted.

Chinese (CHI)

  • The Imperial Academy Landmark can now train Imperial Officials.
    • Developer Note: This change allows China to train additional villagers at the town center, giving them access to more strategic paths early in the game.

French (FRE)

  • Chivalry cost increased from 50 Wood 125 Gold to 100 Wood 200 Gold.
    • Developer Note: French Knights are a very strong harassment tool early on and can constantly re-engage with the Chivalry tech. We love this playstyle but want there to be a bigger sacrifice and more strategic consideration for when to invest in Chivalry.

Rus (RUS)

10 Likes

Soooo dev be listening? Slowly but surely china will make a comeback to greatness!!! And french got nerfed!!!

The mere fact that IO can now be trained at the imperial Academy means IO are effectively bonus productivity units and NO LONGER A VILLAGER!!! THIS IS HUGE. This is akin to delhi producing scholars at the dome of faith. This means IF you lose an IO, yes its 150 resources lost (a BIG deal) but it now NOT also another 20s TC time especially during Song Dynasty villager production time.

Lastly this means China will have even more villagers to supervise inside the same window of time in current patch. And I dare say my suggested IO-less fast feudal opener will become meta :triumph:.

4 Likes

Ok nice good change but where is the rest?

1 Like

Amazing changes, nothing too radical but definetively the direction i want to see.
Great update devs!

2 Likes

Awesome, effectively making China a little stronger in its weakest Feudal Age, GJ dev!

2 Likes

Great change! It was so sick when civ with the strongest Feudal II units had so many free eco bonuses, and cheap tech to regenerate their OP unit

2 Likes

Agree. And now French will have 2 options: or you going in more Horses with big T3 delay, or you try to eco boom with less or non harass.

Is this the first time Chinese gets buffed without a single nerf?

This is exactly what was needed. Chinese was worthless in Age I and Age II, being forced to play for mid to lategame because there is no way to keep up with the amount of economic bonuses of other factions.

The entire Chinese siege has been nerfed sufficiently by reducing siege HP by about 50% while also reducing the repair rate to 1/4th of what it used to be. Bombards backed up by villager repair was how Chinese beat other civs in lategame. Now this will no longer be possible. The range nerfs are overdone and unnessesary. They must not go through.

Nest of Bees have less range than Mangonels and lost their bonus range from upgrade. They also have more minimum range than Mangonels, meaning they won’t shoot at units closing in. Nest of Bees are still worse Mangonels and now they got nerfed again.

Grenadiers already went from 4.8 range to 3.0, cost more due to Spirit way changes and deal less damage.

Yuan Dynasty is a giant waste of ressources for months now and no one has been using it because Pagodas got nerfed and don’t benefit from Tithe Barns. The movement speed isn’t worth 1800 ressources and Fire Lancers are worse than Horsemen. With less armor, less speed and the same amount of HP.

1 Like

You forgot about Bbq/TR which have win rates in the 60% across the rankings. So china suffered via standard meta play from feudal to late castle (14 to 30min games). This change will help meta play but it will also make TR even stronger since this is basically a flat eco buff early!!

This is a patch to the PUP still not the final form of the patch.

Sadly we won’t see how those changes affect the high elo until patch day.

  • Because the open weekly Wololo qualifications are on the official version most high elo players who decide to qualify don’t play the PUP.

  • But i like that they make adjustments to it based on feedback.

I think its 2nd time first was basically quickly after patch where they give some IO love but after that nerf nerf nerf nerf nerf nerf nerf nerf.

3 Likes

English still suck :frowning:

yea and I think after the patch it gets worse