Latest Releases

The latest release history in reverse chronological order.

2024-02-23: Update 4.43.378 - FAST Tournaments & Improved Menu UI

• Tournaments: there is now the option to create tournaments for FAST games. An indicator by the chat has been added to show if one has to be aware that the tournament can have multiple rounds. Please advice on other hints required (as needed)?
• UI: multiplayer section directly lists joinable games with option to create new games. The announcements and existing games are now available above the chat.
• UI: improved the multiplayer account settings to make them more compact (clarity).
• UI: improved layout, fonts, etc. of misc. other UI components to make them more streamlined (clarity). Generally, things were moved, not removed.
• Passwords: indicator if a password was set when logging in via e.g. Steam (to show if one needs to be set for cross-platform login). Only works for new accounts!
• Fair-Play: Duels cannot be started early (a second player needs to join).
• Victory UI: improved layout for team-games.
• Victory UI: shows if a game was rated or not.
• Victory UI: also provides info about map used (via link).
• Victory UI: info [i] button added with a few more details (e.g. when/if entries are deleted).
• Scenario UI: coloring of buttons updated (more harmonic).
• Input: long-touch delay decreased from 1100ms to 500ms (e.g. for showing tooltips & popup menus).
• Manual: info added that clans are currently limited to 64 members max.
• Steam DLC: should now also be added to an account and work cross-platform (trial implementation).
• Login Problems: updated the error popup with a suggestion to reboot and a link to the actual server status (for verification).
• Moderation: admin terminal moved into admin controller.
• Translations: option to not show the translation by the original English if the translation is e.g. not 95% complete. See "Language Requirement" option in settings.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Credits: listing eos4j & discord-game-sdk4j.
• Maintenance: improved logging for the game updater service.
• Maintenance: limiting the AI calculations for very large maps with lots of factions to 3 minutes on the server.
• Maintenance: remotes.conf without port number (auto-determined).
• Maintenance: improved handling of URLs, HTTP(s), WS(S), hosts and ports (clarity).
• Maintenance: improved common code in play and map management (reduced duplications across games).
• Bugfix Server: reducing broker service disk space from 20GB to 8GB.

2024-01-03: Update 4.42.369 - Victory Table, Fertility Festivals & DUEL Rating

• Victories: there is now a list of last victories available for regular games as well as official minor & major events (accessible via multiplayer screen).
• Balancing: Fertility Festivals do not reset when the owner of a province changes. That means abandoning and re-capturing the province will not allow doing a Fertility Festival right away anymore (unless the timer has previously elapsed).
• Team Games: for private games, there is no restriction for clan members as to which team they play in.
• Ratings: new DUEL & DUEL/SLOW rating added. Will get rated if you play a duel.
• UI: Province selection also shows pillage information if the image is pillaged (remaining turns in red).
• UI: Province info popup in-game now also shows how many troops are on a province (not just the owner). Good for when e.g. multiple ships are on a single province.
• UI: Optimized the dual-column layout (more for the main component).
• UI: Condensed the AI setup options to be more compact (UI clarity). Just expand to get the full options (they have not been removed!).
• UI: Scenario listing update without a popup (directly listed when a map gets selected).
• UI: scenario filter also filters the actual scenarios.
• UI/Scenario Icons: increased the size to better show how the scenario looks like (scenario selection).
• Menu UI: moved the game statistics into the [Modding] section.
• Modding: please update your maps to have the larger scenario icon format.
• Statistics: user statistics, i.e. how many players are ONLINE over a day/weak/year are now available (recording just started, so older statistics are currently not available).
• Statistics: showing how many newly registered accounts per the past 24h hours also (in addition of daily unique users).
• Menu UI: slightly improved title headers.
• Menu UI: slightly darker BG images (castle scene).
• Account Management: additional final warning popup added when one wants to erase an account. Accounts cannot be restored!!!
• Moderation: the "Admin Guide" now contains a section about featuring maps with points of consideration.
• Moderation: "TOP" games are not considered as unfair games given they are mandatory for top players (relationship table).
• Moderation: deletion of active/ongoing games are now shown as notification in the moderator area.
• Moderation: minor streamlining for Admin Terminal.
• Language: word censor updated with a few more words.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• OpenBSD/etc.: general support for OpenBSD, FreeBSD and NetBSD (needs the generic version from the website to run). Also needs proper natives supplied by the player in addition (currently not out of the box).
• Maintenance: TeaVM backend for webapp updated to 1.0.0-b8 (from b6).
• Maintenance: simplified server startup config (DB, DB-DAEMON, HTTP on/off)
• Maintenance: unused imports removed (code cleanup).
• Maintenance: for multiplayer, removed the option to set the weekdays and hours per day where a game can be played. Removes the potential of early game removal (inactive timer).
• Bugfix: text files can now also be opened on Mac OS X.
• Bugfix: sound FX & music converted to mono (from stereo) as needed.
• Bugfix: System tray notifications disabled on Steam as they can cause problems during updates or uninstalls.
• Bugfix: update for render pool updater, i.e. making sure only actively run once (not multiple times).
• Bugfix: making sure the tutorial completion is successfully recorded!
• Bugfix: calculation of max. clan players for team games was wrong.
• Bugfix Crashes: increased max. memory to 1536MB (from 768MB).

2023-11-05: Update 4.41.363 - Maintenance Release with Bugfixes

• Team Games: more clan players allowed if a game is password protected.
• Main Wall: limitation removed for new accounts, i.e. they can now post right away (no wait of 30 days!).
• Screenshot Button: long-touch (or long-press) also activates the camera button that takes screenshots even if a popup is above the button.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Maintenance: auto-submitting latest release notes to Reddit.
• Maintenance: auto-uploading latest translation text after update.
• Maintenance: improved logging of WARN or ERROR (reduced normal errors to INFO).
• Maintenance: setting server max. memory now automatically based on device memory available.
• Maintenance: disabled the option on the server to stop showing full stacktraces for null pointers if duplicates.
• Maintenance: auto-restart of server services in case they get killed (e.g. low memory).
• Maintenance: update to run servers on ARM64.
• Maintenance: update to run servers on Debian 12.
• Maintenance: updated hardware info utility (OSHI 6.4.5).
• Maintenance: libGDX library updated to 1.12.1 (maintenance release).
• Maintenance: gdx-pay library updated to 1.3.6.
• Maintenance: Google Play next generation "Player IDs" enabled.
• Development: editor button on menu "Home" screen (during development for easy access).
• Bugfix: Clipboard was broken and didn't work anymore (missing jmod for datatransfer added).
• Bugfix: missing jmod modules added.
• Bugfix Crashes: when no logged-in account could be detected.
• Bugfix Crashes: when allocating direct ByteBuffer and receiving an out of memory error (now replaced with error image and logging).
• Bugfix Crashes: when initializing a game and the account was 'null'.
• Bugfix Crashes: sorting the active games list could crash due to violating general contract for sort.
• Bugfix Crashes: when receiving information about a joined game (and user was 'null').
• Bugfix Crashes: trying to send wall message when the user account is 'null'.

2023-07-21: Update 4.40.357 - Fair-Play, Clan & Bugfixes

• Grace Period: there is a 1 turn grace period for when someone joins a rated game when no rating points are assessed if the player is eliminated within that period.
• Team Games: for fair-play, sending and requesting assets is not possible anymore across teams. You can only send assets to your team members (or receive from team members).
• Clan Games: clan members are placed into the same team if they play a game with random join option.
• Clan Games: clan members need to join the same team as their clan mates when going into a team game.
• Clan Games: max. number of clan members for teams games needs to be equal or smaller to the average team size (fairplay).
• Clan Owners: owners cannot expel or change privileges of other owners.
• Clan Owners: owners can now leave the clans if there's another owner on the clan.
• Clan Owners: owners cannot leave the clan if there are other players and there is no other owner. They need to designate another owner before leaving.
• Clan Owners: owners leaving the clan and being the last members means the clan will get deleted after a confirmation.
• Clan Member (or not): now also shown in friend's list.
• Clan Member (or not): also showing for teams (e.g. moderators).
• Clan Member (or not): also showing in search.
• Teaming Flag: will be ignored & hidden if a player joins a clan. The regular clan rules will apply and the teaming flag will have no effect.
• Fullscreen Mode: auto-fullscreen mode at startup when run via Steam (unless it's not the first time you run the game).
• Sound FX: max. simultaneous sound FX increased to 64 (from 32) to make sure all relevant ones can be played.
• Cutscene Music: the music volume for cutscenes can now be adjusted manually.
• Audio Output: it's now possible to select the desired audio output channel in the game's settings, i.e. which speakers etc. (desktop only)!
• Home Indicator: home indicator hidden be default on iOS.
• Immersive Mode: immersive mode by default on Android.
• Game Guide: ONLINE Policy section updated, explaining that you generally shouldn't buy accounts (you carry full responsibility and also should notify the moderators).
• Settings: option to enable or disabled handicaps by default in newly created games (rather than manually adjusting them every time).
• Settings: "Join Anytime" option in settings which determines the default for new games you create, i.e. if they are unlimited as to when other players can join.
• Chat Bans: moderator accounts cannot be banned from the chat by regular players (e.g. that created a game).
• Moderator Email: now available via the "Moderators" group profile!
• Manual: In-Game FAQ updated to let everyone know that randomly banning players in the chat goes against the fair-play policy amongst other.
• Manual: Clans playing team games should join the same team. Joining opposing teams on purpose will be appropriately handled by the moderators.
• Language: missing texts added for official maps of Africa and the Mini World conquest (so the texts can be translated also).
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• UI: "Search Utility" popup now auto-focus the text cursor in the input field when the popup is opened.
• UI: larger file selector.
• Pending Translations (Moderators): original and translated messages can now be copied (via popup menu).
• Performance: speed update for misc. functions to reduce ANRs.
• Moderation: password resets by moderators are now displayed in the moderator notifications (password is obviously not displayed).
• Moderation: remark added to disabled accounts, i.e. the cannot login, but the login attempt will still show up in the logs.
• Maintenance: news DB & I/O removed as it isn't used anymore.
• Maintenance: improved compression for main font file (about 35% smaller).
• Maintenance: WebGL's gdx-teavm updated to 1.0.0-b5 (teavm 0.9.0-dev-4).
• Maintenance: WebSockets updated to Draft 6455.
• Maintenance: Jetty updated to 9.4.51.
• Maintenance: Steam SDK updated to 1.57.
• Maintenance: steamworks4j library update to 1.10.0-SNAPSHOT (latest 2023-06-04).
• Maintenance: using getAuthTicketForWebApi() for login on Steam.
• Maintenance: Droid login functionality upgraded from 20.4.0 to 20.5.0.
• Maintenance: Droid AppCompat version updated to 1.6.1 (from 1.2.0).
• Maintenance: Google Play Billing library upgraded to 6.0.0 (from 5.0.0).
• Maintenance: disabling registration on server during automated lab-tests (e.g. Firebase).
• Maintenance: compiling to Java 8 (on Desktop) using Java 17 (updated obfuscation).
• Maintenance: i18n-parser updated to 3.0.0 (from 2.1-SNAPSHOT).
• Maintenance: update for development and test mode functionality (code clarity & customization).
• Maintenance: getdown deployment speed up by uplading a zipped file (instead of many single files).
• Maintenance: GeoIP database updated (latest version).
• Maintenance: improved logging when there is a library linkage problem (e.g. JARs missing or wrong).
• Maintenance: libGDX backend updated to version 1.12.0 (from 1.11.0).
• Maintenance: updated LWJGL library from 3.3.2 (from 3.3.1).
• Maintenance: minimum iOS version now 11.0 (no support for older versions due to missing support by Apple).
• Maintenance: iOS binaries now all 64bit (32bit support dropped by Apple).
• Bugfix: fixing vulnerability for Google Play login. See https://www.cybersecurity-help.cz/vdb/SB2022061720
• Bugfix: high-precision calculations in shader to prevent blurry font rendering.
• Bugfix: improved handling when a music file is not found (we check for file beforehand).
• Bugfix: selecting monospaced font keeps the text monospaced (e.g. admin terminal).
• Bugfix: platforms without monospaced font would show monospaced text blank (instead of the default font).
• Bugfix: when being in a game and opening another game, the previous "Nation Information" popup window stay on the screen.
• Bugfix: threading update for screenshot taking (prevents ANRs).
• Bugfix: cutting long country names in statistics (so they don't overflow to next line).
• Bugfix: Permissions fix for latest Android SDK version 33 (should now be able to select images).
• Bugfix: players already in a clan cannot create a new clan (they will need to leave their current clan first).
• Bugfix: iOS Apps were not running on Mac OS X Silicon (M1, M2 etc.). Search path for libraries updated.
• Bugfix: also keeping track if failed login attempts via provider, i.e. when no username/password but platform-based login was used (fail after 3 attempts).
• Bugfix: earlier check making sure banned accounts don't enter matchmaker games (failed too late).
• Bugfix: improved audio on desktop (should not stop anymore).
• Bugfix: stereo audio on desktop can now be played on mono output devices.
• Bugfix: Cron scheduler wasn't working properly during winter-summer time switches.
• Bugfix Crashes: making sure the game doesn't crash if the game had an old icon-array but new code (array out of index exception).
• Bugfix Crashes: game would crash on Droid when the achievements client couldn't be initialized at startup.
• Bugfix Crashes: making sure we don't open the user popup if there is no logged-in user.
• Bugfix Crashes: when tournament advancement status could not be determined, i.e. 'null'.
• Bugfix Crashes: when the monospaced font could not be loaded (continuing without).
• Bugfix Crashes: removed "installscript_osx.vdf" from the Steam binary because it has become obsolete and some stuff was causing problems on Mac OS M1/M2 (symlink)!
• Bugfix Crashes: Universal Binaries for Mac OS should now work on both AMD64 and ARM64 (M1, M2) architectures.
• Bugfix Crashes: when exiting the application and disposing observers which haven't been registered yet.

2023-03-01: Update 4.39.344 - Map Filter, Game Listing, Formatting

• UI: map filter allowing to search locally installed map scenarios by number of players, teams and if balanced or not.
• UI: minor update for rankings table coloring.
• TOP Ranked: the TOP-3 ranked players in the slow section now have 31 days (instead of 28 days) to play a game to not have their rating decrease automatically.
• Game Listing: the spectators/watch panel has now a [List All...] button that lists all the games in the system across all the servers.
• Modding: modding instructions moved from website directly into the game (so they can also be translated).
• Steam Browser: now disabled and the game uses a regular browser to open link (some stuff just doesn't work right with the Steam browser).
• Formatting: support for monospaced texts integrated (ASCII only). Code tags "{MONO}" which is new, and "{CODE}" which is now working.
• Formatting: support for color multiplication inside a text when using {TINT:...|M}.
• Disabling AI: rated games require the AI to be enabled in multiplayer games for balancing reasons. If the AI option is disabled, a game needs to be set to non-rated.
• Release History: now shown within the game via settings screen under "History".
• Release/Latest: the latest release information is now shown if you are running a new version and there is versioning information available.
• Announcement Board: moved the announcement link data to a different table, so announcement will appear blank/different until everyone has the latest version.
• Announcement for New Releases: the announcements for the latest update are now auto-generated for both the player and moderator walls.
• Language: font updated with additional glyphs for rendering.
• Language: re-formatted instructions for translations, API access, modding and such.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: minor spelling fixes.
• Moderation: Executives can now also delete quick join games and games created via event system.
• Maintenance: build system updated to gradle 7.6 (from 6.9.2).
• Bugfix: approving (or rejecting) a large number of transactions could result in a network timeout because it took too long.
• Bugfix: bugfix for certain HTTP calls having GET/POST and Content-Type wrongly defined.
• Bugfix: improper screen context size when application exited fullscreen mode via outside call (not from within game).
• Bugfix Crashes: some potential crashes at boot of the game identified and fixed.
• Bugfix Crashes: re-try starting the application with OpenGL ES 2.0 ANGLE ON or OFF (if the other method fails and the application crashes).

2023-01-12: Update 4.38.341 - Achievements for Android & iOS

• Achievements: added to Android & iOS.
• Font: missing glyphs added to bitmap font for misc. languages.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: to prevent abuse, the translation system is now only available to accounts that are 3 days or older (not new accounts).
• Maintenance: main server moved to Hetzner.
• Maintenance: Jetty server updated to 9.4.49.
• Maintenance: login functionality on Droid updated to latest auth-method (potentially reduces problems when logging in?).
• Maintenance: betting setup option also removed from events setup (moderator function).
• Maintenance: Droid updated the use app bundles (*.aab).
• Bugfix: Trophies also awarded for e.g. 1 vs. 1 tournaments.
• Bugfix: turns would update too quickly for invalid turn restrictions (e.g. when a game was just to update on Thursday).
• Bugfix Crashes: while saving unknown file extensions.
• Bugfix Crashes: when viewing LIVE standings with ELO.

2022-10-06: Update 4.37.335 - Server API & Website Updated

• Website: Rankings now available on the website at http://www.ageofconquest.com/ranking.html
• Website: Release history now available on the website at http://www.ageofconquest.com/history.html
• Website: Server status now available on the website http://www.ageofconquest.com/status.html
• API Addition: .../arr/[,] can be used to query a list with given IDs (e.g. for querying users). See API documentation for details.
• API Addition: option to query standings table and ratings of users. See API documentation for details.
• API Addition: profile query now also returns links (if available).
• API: profile pictures are now served cached for 30 minutes.
• UI: tutorial info panel now animated with '>' pointing to the location.
• UI: tutorial info panel has no an animated comic figure.
• Markup: the markdown code for strikethrough has been changed from '--' to '~~'.
• Markup: italic text can now be marked using "*|italic|*".
• Admin Guide: the information how to access the moderator inbox has been moved from the pinned post into the admin guide. It's the "Moderator Email" section.
• Discord Game SDK: integrated so the status is correctly displayed in Discord. There is also an option to spectate or join games now.
• SSL: All websites now switched to secure http, i.e. "https://...".
• SSL: Redirect to secure site at https://... automatically (.htaccess).
• SSL: Error reporter, if chosen to be used, now also uses SSL when sending a report (mail.php).
• Audio: asynchronous audio library now on Droid to improve performance.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: some of the supported localizations now also listed for the app store (iOS).
• Launcher: better auto-detection how the game is launched (e.g. itch or gj).
• Steam Binary | IMPORTANT: I updated the Steam binary to better support Mac OS on M1 CPU. It's possible that the update inside Steam doesn't properly work, especially on Windows. Please uninstall the game first, then reboot and then reinstall if you are having problems. In some cases, also delete "jre" directory inside the game's folder inside Steam before reinstalling it. Sorry for the troubles.
• Maintenance: reducing jars required when running the status bar daemon (less likely to not work).
• Maintenance: improved performance when outputting FPS, MEM etc. overlays.
• Maintenance: migrated the map download server to a new provider due to cost & misc. (Hetzner).
• Internal: boot-animation now based on internal video clip format (more customizable).
• Internal: ROOT-only option to modify bundles (e.g. re-assign owner).
• Bugfix: status bar notifier not working anymore (desktop).
• Bugfix: connection error to Steam API prevented players from logging in (API call rewritten from direct socket call to URL connection).
• Bugfix: Server doesn't store initial username as "Contact Name" anymore (wasn't really intended).
• Bugfix Crashes: if the clipboard couldn't be obtained.

2022-09-19: Update 4.36.326 - Improved Compression & Misc. Improvements

• Update Required: if you are running a version of the game older than half a year you will need to UPGRADE the game if you login to the server. Older versions cannot handle the new image compression algorithms. Please upgrade. Sorry for the inconvenience.
• Compression Images: Image data is now better compressed. That includes everything from map images to avatars to awards etc. Reduces network I/O.
• Compression for Maps: Map files are now better compressed reducing download size. Please update your map and upload an update so your map is smaller for others.
• Official Maps: updated all the official maps with the latest compression (the file sizes are now smaller to download).
• Multiplayer: invite option for friends to SOLO games is now gone (for obvious reasons).
• Intro Tutorial: made it more clear on which mouse button to use when attacking another province.
• UI: FPS or memory consumption display can now be turned ON/OFF anytime (without exiting the game).
• Graphics System: changed to using the ANGLE wrapper for OpenGL starting with just Windows 10+ (instead of Windows 8+).
• Keyboard: shortcuts 'M' and 'N' for chat removed as they interfere with other key bindings. Use ENTER (or ENTER+SHIFT) instead.
• Manual: manual updated explaining that "Blackmail" is not acceptable behavior.
• Manual: explained that multiplayer games can potentially be deleted by the moderators (e.g. ganging in non-gang games, farming of rating points etc.).
• Manual: explained in more detail that circumventing the spam filter via modified binary might result in appropriate actions against a player.
• API: added more details when the API for "play" and "game" gets queried.
• API: functionality "ro-enrol" added to query users as to which "play" and "game they are enrolled in, including their status (e.g. if turn was entered).
• API: manual updated with latest information how to access "ro-enrol" for plays and games.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: renamed "Eye Candy" to "Level of Detail" (for clarity).
• Moderators: please verify the fix for the team tournament (e.g. clan championship) does properly keep the players in their teams after the 1. round. Sorry for the inconvenience.
• Maintenance: Mac OS X signing certificate updated (till 2027-02).
• Maintenance: updated to Google Billing 5.0.0 (from 4.0.0).
• Maintenance: updated Droid to version 13 (API 33).
• Internal: internal mail notifier for server status updated to port 465.
• Bugfix: the team tournaments (e.g. clan championship) did shuffle the players after the 1. round by mistake.
• Bugfix: tooltips in menu screens also show when scroll panel is activated.
• Bugfix: election result for "recognition" (victory) would display the numbers wrong if some of the factions that voted were eliminated. There doesn't seem a bug in who won or not, i.e. just a display issue.
• Bugfix: asking to join a war against an eliminated faction would result in a declaration of war against the already eliminated faction.
• Bugfix: custom keyboard mappings weren't properly saved resetting them when the game was restarted.
• Bugfix: map does not continue scrolling when the game window is out of focus.

2022-06-07: Update 4.35.324 - Steam DLC, Hosting Games now Free, UI Improvements & Bugfixes

• Steam DLC "All Maps & Modding": the game can now be also purchased also via the "All Maps & Modding" DLC. This includes everything for single player including hotseat or playing against the AI. Also includes modding. This covers the same as the corresponding "All Maps & Modding" that is available in-game.
• Hosting Games: hosting games over the official servers is now free. The original goal was to cover hosting fees but also encourage players to join other players' games. Given hosting games is now free, giving 5 coins per day to each player isn't really needed anymore and the amount has been reduced to 1 coin a day.
• Official Events: there was a bug in the verification code preventing an official event game from being started ('null' pointer).
• Private Messages: there is now a dropdown allowing to select how a message is to be sent. E.g. via clan or moderator etc.
• Buying & Selling Provinces: the buttons now go with a factor of 10x (ditto sending or requesting gold).
• Display Scaling: the display scale factor setting had the scale into the wrong direction. It's now fixed. If you had it set before, it was reset due prevent problems. Please re-apply your setting again, sorry for the inconvenience.
• UI: tutorial hint panels updated.
• UI: export options for avatars and other images updated to also allow to export animated avatars in their internal format.
• Tooltip Delay: reduced the default from 1000ms to 800ms. Also, the tooltip delay can now be adjusted inside the game's settings.
• Mouse Middle Button: the mouse middle button (if available; possibly "merged" with mouse wheel) allows dragging the map when pressed.
• Key Binding: F10 will now bring up the game menu with settings & exit option when pressed in-game.
• Formatting: {SKEW} tag now formats text in italics.
• Manual: slight wording update to happiness penalties regarding to war (clarity).
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: misc. spelling bugfixes.
• Language: improved descriptions for "All Maps & Modding" and "Modded Maps". For "Modded Maps" you get ALL the modded maps (not just a single map). It just excludes official maps.
• Admin Function: ID blocks now allow max. one wildcard character '*'.
• Maintenance: memory consumption of RenderPool reduced (capped the cached items).
• Steam API: update the API calls to the Steam servers from v1 to v2/v3 with support for 64bit. Potentially resolves problems?
• Sponsoring Maps (for others): fee reduced to 99 (from 500).
• Betting: the option now has been removed.
• Maintenance: updated the backend libGDX library to 1.11.0 (LWJGL at 3.3.1). If you are on Mac OS X, you might have to re-install the binary if you got it (a) via itch.io or (b) our website. Sorry for the inconvenience!
• Maintenance: legacy product IDs renamed from "official:#..." to "pack:# ..." and "idol:# ...".
• Droid: "uiMode" added to "configChanges" to prevent restart of app when docked or undocked.
• Bugfix: properly disposing GUI atlas, i.e. box-selection (minor).
• Bugfix: application not shutting down when status bar notification was turned on (desktop).
• Bugfix: ANGLE OpenGL wrapper only used starting with Windows 8+ (to prevent problems on older operating systems).
• Bugfix: logging in didn't work with database error for some users if certain data was over 64 characters (database column too small).
• Bugfix: input field is not handling CTRL+V if image.
• Bugfix: input field focus removed when hidden.
• Bugfix: clan-2-clan messaging wasn't properly working.
• Bugfix: purchase & refund confirmation emails could results in error messages (if the email address was wrong).
• Bugfix: we cannot declare war or send message otherwise to eliminated factions.
• Bugfix: we cannot swap to a faction that is already eliminated (preventing endless-loop).
• Bugfix: tooltip for awards properly reset when touch is gone (could stay visible for long-touch!). Fixes https://www.reddit.com/r/retrocommander/comments/v0xptx/bug_report_screen_forgot_to_redraw_after_popup/
• Bugfix: TAB-key could change the keyboard focus preventing the map to be scrolled via ASDW and arrow keys.
• Bugfix Crashes: when the server went down and one tried to download the latest translations (developer only one affected).
• Bugfix Crashes: if Steam wasn't properly setup and relevant code couldn't be linked.
• Bugfix Crashes: making sure UI doesn't crash when elements are layouted while they are removed at the same time (Advanced Tutorial).

2022-03-27: Update 4.34.320 - UI Updates & Misc. Minor Updates

• Graphics Driver (Windows): updated the graphics driver on Windows to use DirectX via ANGLE framework (wrapper for OpenGL ES 2.0). The performance appears to be the same (not slower). However, on the upside, most if not all graphics issues, especially crashes on Windows due to driver problems, should now be resolved.
• Steam Windows Binary 64bit ONLY: updated the requirement to run the game to 64bit (32bit Windows binary is gone). The reason for the change is that the new ANGLE drivers didn't properly work on 32bit. Based on the Steam hardware survey only 0.38% of players should be affected. If you can't run the game anymore, please use the official binaries provided on the website instead (there is still 32bit). Sorry for the inconvenience.
• Kicking from Game: in addition to AFK-players, the owner of a game (and moderators) can now kick any players from a game as long as the game hasn't started yet.
• AFK: deleted and disabled accounts are now also considered AFK for obvious reasons.
• Tag "1VS1": renamed to "DUEL" as it's not necessary a 1 vs. 1 but a game involving 2 players.
• Clan & Blocked Players: players that have been blocked by a clan are not able to send requests to join that clan anymore.
• UI: touch-scrolling of text now more ergonomic with a scroll factor of 1.75x.
• UI: wall posts now show a link to all the decorations available (for easy of use).
• UI: wall posts show the remaining characters also.
• UI: game wall not shown for password-protected game until a player has joined (with password).
• UI: offering or requesting gold from another faction will go in steps of +/-10 (instead of +/-1) to reduce the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Network I/O: reduced the number of data packets that are sent to improve networking (e.g. official event-polling reduced by a factor of 6x).
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Translation Guide: encouragement added to have players fix existing translated texts also.
• Map Download: download speeds increased.
• Game Guide: updated the "Code of Conduct" section with more details and a large list of examples of what behaviors are not tolerated.
• Game Guide: updated the section regarding nation-wide festivals for happiness and population growth.
• Game Guide: simplified text markup in addition to tags explained in manual.
• Rating Guide: explained how the clan ratings are calculated.
• Avatar Builder: now with 4-bit alpha for better compression.
• Word Censor: updated with additional words.
• Sponsoring Coins: to prevent abuse, sponsoring coins in only possible for accounts that show a purchase.
• Screenshots: all screenshots taking via camera button or ALT+F1 now follow the same naming.
• Translation Admin: better detection of bad translations (moderation option).
• Moderation: moderators are now required to have secure network I/O turned on when they login (for security).
• Moderation: access statistics such as IP addresses are now obfuscated for regular moderators (for privacy).
• Internal: auto-setup & event games are now setup via system account (not creator account), to prevent potential problems.
• Maintenance: misc. improvements in code for synthetic accessor methods.
• Maintenance: better tracking of translation errors for the misc. translation systems.
• Maintenance: latest Steamworks4J 1.9.0 integrated.
• Bugfix: map preview images wouldn't show if the version didn't exactly match what was in the database.
• Bugfix: user's name in chat could appear blank if the font didn't support the characters.
• Bugfix: event listing was showing an already active event in the upcoming section.
• Bugfix: zoom panel wasn't pixel-perfect for bad zoom factors.
• Bugfix: scroll bars still working when continuing dragging outside of scroll area.
• Bugfix: text cursor position would not properly work (left/right arrow key) due to unit conversion not being reciprocal.
• Bugfix Crashes: enabling notifications would crash.
• Bugfix Crashes: during login when account data wasn't fully loaded yet.
• Bugfix Crashes: improved synchronization for RenderPool.

2022-02-22: Update 4.33.314 - Sponsored Maps & [HERD]

• Sponsored Maps: it is now possible to sponsor maps for multiplayer games (per game). That means everyone incl. players that do not have the map are able to join! One can for example sponsor the "World Map" allowing everyone to play it for the game. Please note, this only works for players that upgraded to the latest version of the game! Be advised to probably best wait a few days for FAST-games before you use the feature (until all have the latest version).
• Sponsoring Awards: new multiplayer awards added, i.e. (1) for sponsoring a map and (2) sponsoring 1000+ coins for a game. They will be shown in the user's profile after a game has started.
• Ranking System: [1VS1] 1 vs. 1 games are not counted as [GANG]-ranked.
• Ranking System: [HUGE] games with large number of players are not counted as [GANG]-ranked (e.g. championship event).
• Ranking System: [GANG] games that are not ranked as [GANG] are designated as [HERD] in game listings.
• Ranking System: updated the categories to make it clearer that neither [1VS1] nor [TEAM] are counted as gang-ranked.
• Ranking System: moved the information about game types from the general game guide to the ranking system guide so it is all explained in one place.
• Chat Broadcasts: old game broadcasts removed. Please upgrade if you still want to broadcast your games in the chat.
• Chat Broadcasts: indicating also if a game sponsors a map or coins (excludes betting).
• Quick Join: slightly increased the required min. players to setup another quick join game after one was just created.
• Lone Wolf FAST-Server: updated to allow solo games incl. max. 1/clan again (rather than '0').
• Events Popup: streamlined the events display to be more readable. It now also shows more upcoming events.
• Ranking System: [GANG]/[SLOW] ranking added due to popular request.
• Rankings Table: now shows the TOP-100 also on mobile.
• TOP-100 & Ranked Events: updated incl. icons and awards.
• Game Info Popup: shows the category under which the game is rated also (for clarity).
• Game Info Popup: link added for the map used, which opens the preview images for a map (so one knows what map is played before entering a game).
• Events: longhaul games can now be scheduled 2x per month as needed (rather than just 1x).
• Events: CRON option updated to also allow limiting to 1.&3. or 2.&4. week (e.g. to schedule longhaul 2x per month).
• Tournament Trophies: trophies for tournaments and leagues are only given out if at least 7+ players joined.
• Tournaments: increased cost of creating tournaments from 100 to 250.
• Option "Military Upkeep": for new games, each game now declares if the game has the "military upkeep" option (MU) available in the game or not.
• Game Manual: made it specifically clear that award-farming is against the fair-play policy also.
• Game Manual: setting up games for personal gain only is not acceptable.
• Game Manual: explaining undefined and unclear rules. Ask us if you are unsure.
• Game Manual: sponsoring info moved from events popup into game manual.
• Game Manual: information about bug reporting and a new bug bounty program with cash-payout (serious bugs only) added.
• Coin Icons: added to misc. places in the UI for clarity.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Moderating: only name changes of players that are flagged or restricted are reported now (rather than everyone) to cut down on noise.
• Maintenance: unused variable removed for map renderer.
• Bugfix: viewed games could appear on one's list of joined games (prematurely added to list).
• Bugfix: event icons now also show in the event when it was actually created (image wasn't copied).
• Bugfix: usernames for random games shown before joining once the game has started.
• Bugfix: panel for random join had minimum width too large causing it to render wrong when joining a game in progress.
• Bugfix: showing replacement characters as needed if display name cannot be rendered (missing font glyphs).
• Bugfix: links in the match-making chat panel were not working (e.g. user links).
• Bugfix Crashes: when initializing mouse capture system (error better swallowed).

2022-02-15: Update 4.32.311 - Ranking System & Broadcasts

• Top Ranked Player (TOP-3): in order to foster competition, the TOP-3 players in each ranking (non-team only for now) need to compete in order to preverse their rating. They need to play an official TOP-100 event every so often, otherwise, they will receive a -2.5% rating penalty for failing to participate. Players in question will receive a notification by the system once the enter TOP-3. Please read the ratings guide (by the rankings table).
• Gang-Rating & Ranking: category [GANG] added that has ratings & rankings for ganging-type games.
• Game Broadcasts (Chat): re-formatted again to be better readable (with proper line breaks).
• Game Broadcasts: [LONE] means lone wolf games (no clans), [SOLE] means max. 1/clan and [GANG] is open to everyone.
• Game Broadcasts/Icons: please note, until everyone has upgraded to the latest version of the game, icons for game broadcasts can be wrong (even if you have the latest version).
• Game Invites: private message game invites streamlined so they match the chat.
• Game Setup (Multiplayer): games can now be restricted to ranked players. Including which players with selected min. & max. ranks are allowed to join. Similar to rating restrictions.
• Event Setup (Moderators): game events can now be restricted to ranked players. Including which players with selected min. & max. ranks are allowed to join. Similar to rating restrictions.
• Quick Join Games: they are now better advertised in chat (with number of current players that joined).
• Quick Join Games: after a new quick-join game was just created, the service tries to wait for a little longer initially trying to find a larger pool of players (if possible).
• Friends & Clan Server: sets the minimum default to '2' for max. per clan given the assumption is one plays with friends.
• Player's Games Listings: show incognito games also once they are over!
• Player Listing: player listing for games improved with colors and abbrevations.
• Player Listing & AFK & Kicking: game owners and moderators can now remove AFK-players before a game starts if they want to do so.
• Player Listing for "Incognito": now visible to moderators also (for moderation).
• Copying Links: improved copying of game and user links by already wrapping them into the correct tag.
• Game Info Popup: shows the rating and ranking limitations now also.
• Ranking System: information popup added that explains how it works.
• Ranking System: preventing ELO & award-farming by making sure each game actually has a valid human end condition.
• Ranking System: placeholder AI cannot be used for rated games.
• Ranking System: the ratings for SOLO/SLOW were scaled too high, so the SOLO/SLOW ratings were scaled by a factor of 85% around 900. If you are above 900, the rating went down, up otherwise.
• Reporting Games: reporting games is now possible for all type of games.
• Final Game Statistics: lists the initial monetary assets at the beginning of the game under "Income Statistics" (for verification). Will only display for new games, but not already existing games.
• Game Manual: artificially farming rating points is now considered illegal and we reserve the right to lower player's ratings and flag the accounts in question.
• Game Manual: updated to make it clear that playing with friends (or clan-mates) in incognito games is not acceptable and offending players will be flagged.
• Tournaments: dropdown list for tournaments now allows selecting all the numbers between 2-10000.
• Downloaded Maps: UI updated so they can now both be searched and sorted.
• Translation Center: improved the check & warning when you are trying to translate to a language which you shouldn't.
• Asset Loading: there is now a loading indicator at the start of the game in the menu screens. It indicates that assets are still loaded in the background.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: bugfix for double-spaces in manual (should have been a single space).
• Game Manual: explained the chat broadcast tags [LONE], [SOLO] and [GANG].
• Maintenance: games restored from backup don't update right away, but are scheduled to update later (after 1x time per turn) to give everyone the chance to properly re-enter their turns.
• Maintenance: updated Droid to OS version 12 (API Level 31)
• Bugfix Investigation: checked why some translations could not be submitted. No bugs found. Please make sure the line breaks & tags all match. Also, please read the translation guide if you are not sure. Thanks!
• Bugfix: game API returns the 1. frame of an animation, if an image is animated (rather than the full BG).
• Bugfix: max. turn selection when showing joinable games didn't work anymore.
• Bugfix: max./clan selection when showing joinable games didn't work anymore.
• Bugfix: misc. fixes for RTF document export (background fill & private characters).
• Bugfix: game rankings were wrong by listing some eliminated players ahead of still active players.
• Bugfix Crashes: when looking at games list without being properly logged in.
• Bugfix Crashes: not being able to properly initialize constructor for room configuration (complex initialization).

2022-01-29: Update 4.31.309 - Update for Multiplayer Games

• Teaming Marker: players that have been found in solo games playing with friends will be tagged with "Teaming". That will prevent players to join solo games. This is not a punishment, playing with friends is fine, but the marker prevents players from mistakenly joining solo games.
• Password Protected Games: they are NOT checked anymore if players violate the max. clan players/game rule. Given they are private and someone has a password, it can be joined no matter what.
• Game Broadcasts (Chat): reformatted the game broadcasts in the chat to be more readable (also can now fully be translated).
• Server Time: chat command /time added which returns the date & time on the server (it's generally in UTC).
• Server Time: using the deoration {TIME:} will replace the UTC-time to the local time for the person that is viewing the text.
• Copy/Paste: copying the link for an user is now supported also (user://...). Available when right-clicking (or long-pressing) on a user's username in the profile popup.
• Copy/Paste: copying the link for a game now is available also (top/right corner button next to the title of a game).
• Game UI: game listing now also indicates which games are intended for teaming or no.
• Game UI: made some popups taller on larger screens, so more is visible if possible without scrolling.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: misc. textual updates for clarity in admin section.
• Game Manual: added instructions on what the escape characters are for the tags, i.e. ^[ and ^].
• Game Manual: account status icons listed with their corresponding meaning.
• Admin Guide: updated the "Cheat Investigation" section with more detail what is cheating and what is not.
• Moderators: investigation tool updated to better list shared games.
• Bugfix: user administration panel updated to all fits nicely even on small screens (moderators).
• Bugfix: game links can now also be posted on the wall and properly function (i.e. the open the popup).
• Bugfix: quick join games didn't work properly. The index didn't increment properly, preventing new games from being created when an existing game already existed.
• Bugfix Crashes: investigation popup could crash.

2022-01-25: Update 4.30.306 - Maintenance Update incl. Changes for Multiplayer

• Teaming Accounts: family members and friends playing together will now be marked as "Teaming". This is not a punishment, but rather to foster fair-play towards solo players. Same as for clan players, those accounts are restricted to the friends and clan section.
• Multiplayer Games: game creators can now pin game-wall posts (or delete offending messages by players).
• Family & Friends: there are now additional checks in place to prevent friends & family to play together in solo-games. It's against our fair-play rule. Please join games in the clan & friends section instead if you want to play together.
• Family & Friends: there is now internal tracking to identify friends playing together outside officially being in either (a) a clan or (b) marked as team-player.
• Lone Wolf Server (Multiplayer): clan-players are now prevented from joining (improving fairness).
• Username Changes: username changes are now available for all types of accounts (incl. guest accounts). You can change your username for free during the first 24h, after that any changes are paid. Giving free username changes has been a lot of busywork for the moderators, that's why the policy has changed. Sorry for the inconvenience.
• Username Changes/New Accounts: usernames can now be changed freely during the 24h after account creation.
• Username Changes/Old accounts: if you have an older account, and you didn't get a free name change, you have till March 31, 2022 to get your name changed. After that, changing the name is a paid feature. Please contact the moderators with your username if you want to change it. Any messages requesting to change the username without an actual username given will be ignored.
• Clan Names: can now be changed also.
• Account Verification: requires username and password now, so people remember what they used and also change the password in case it was auto-generated.
• Flagged Accounts: are now prevented from posting in the chat (abuse and manner).
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Investigated: province sales & not being to use assets. The assets can only be used for non-static orders (or in the next turn).
• Investigated (reported by Hustla): 1. place finisher didn't properly get the 1. place award and ratings. Problem not found and not able to reproduce (sorting checked).
• UI: improved the copy/paste popup for text messages. Should now work always also on touch screens using long-touch.
• UI: minor update for dropdown list (better alignment).
• UI: awards will not be capped at "999+" anymore and show larger number also.
• UI: map scroll speed can be adjusted (in game's settings).
• Mouse: option to capture the mouse cursor in the window added (defaults to fullscreen only for now).
• Game Manual: updated the section regarding clans, friends & family members to let them know they should not join games designated to solo players.
• Game Manual: updated to explain limitations for e.g. provinces sales. Assets can't be used for static orders.
• Game Manual: lists the available text decorations for the game (moved out of admin guide into regular manual).
• Game Manual: RTF export now supports images and is better formatted.
• Internal: collection ArrayList replaced with faster internal implementation.
• Internal: minor performance update due to better utilization of suitable collection classes (no auto-boxing).
• Internal: fail-safes added for chat server (string checks).
• Admin Guide: information that we cannot hand out passwords for players that cannot log in. They need to remember.
• Admin Guide: update for flagging section (effects on players).
• Admin Guide: there is now the option to mark players as "Teaming". This is not a punishment, it simply forces friends & family members to play in the friends and clan section.
• Moderating: player-created games can be deleted by the owner or Executive members.
• Moderating: incognito games a player is in are shown to moderators also.
• Moderating/Investigations: streamlined the interface by grouping related and also adding additional options & information.
• Maintenance: location lookup database updated.
• Backup: changed the backup interval to daily. Please note, some servers will be down for a few minutes daily around UTC 9:00 and UTC 9:30 to perform the backup. Sorry for the inconvenience.
• Bugfix(?): deselecting a selected text when pressing the ENTER key. Prevents sending empty messages!
• Bugfix: under some circumstances, a dead faction could still give e.g. -1% permanent negative happiness due to a declaration of war that was created directly after it perished.
• Bugfix: animated GIF export using ALT+F2 not properly working (transparent color problem).
• Bugfix: looping text in Arabic had spaces added which resulted in the text to be wrongly rendered.
• Bugfix Clan Rating: the bottom instead of the top player ratings were taken to calculate the average clan rating.
• Bugfix Attempt: mail system timeouts by better synchronization (mail deletion).
• Bugfix: retaining images could result in the callback not be called causing a locked screen.
• Bugfix: some smilies including the '|' character didn't render due to the parser believing it to be a control character.
• Bugfix: parsing the {RISE} tag parameters took the wrong index [1] instead of [0].
• Bugfix: improved parsing of country/language to obtain correct store (especially Droid for CN).
• Bugfix: moderators can now force-add a user to a clan (was failing if no clan request was pending also).
• Bugfix: countdown timer value was written wrong for certain hour-values (e.g. 1080).
• Bugfix: proper text escaping for error message when creating a tournament or so. Won't show "" anymore.
• Bugfix Crashes: game could crash when being shut down due to still executing actions after everything is disposed.
• Bugfix Crashes: game could crash if start up in fullscreen mode was enabled.
• Bugfix Freezes: fixed some problems while installing file handlers on Mac OS X (cause freezes due to starting on 1. thread requirement).

2021-11-16: Update 4.29.301 - Spectator Mode

• Spectating: other people's games can now be viewed once they are (1) set to publicly viewable (2) finished (3) or you have spectator permission.
• Spectator Mode: players can now set games to publicly viewable, i.e. everyone can go and see a game being played.
• Spectators Group: there is now a new group that once joined allows viewing games. This is designed for streamers (e.g. YouTube, Twitch etc.) that want to show games live/recorded.
• Spectators UI: lists all the games that can be watched.
• Renamed "Officers" Group: now called "Executives".
• Renamed "Managers" Group: now called "Moderators".
• Clan Ratings: need a minimum of 4 players to get a rating for a clan.
• Betting Games: at least 4+ players spots are required for betting-type games.
• UI /w Touch: long-push brings up the tooltip if there is any (for relevant buttons).
• UI Text Animations: misc. text animations such as shine added.
• Window Title (Windows): shows indicators for loading and active games/messages.
• Renaming a Protectorate: this functionality has been disabled due to abuse in multiplayer games.
• Mailbox: the topic list doesn't "randomly" shift anymore while reading/marking messages as done.
• Language: the game now supports both Cyrillic and Latin scripts for Serbian.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: updated with latest glyph list.
• Language: translation texts added for "Large Europe" map also.
• Language: spelling fix for "Portuguese" (not Portugese).
• Translation Center: making sure the line breaks match the original text.
• Translation Center: verifying punctuations for translations also (latin).
• Moderating: moderators can now view users in incognito games as long as they are not part of it.
• Admin Guide: text decorations listed to help moderating.
• Admin Guide: moderator guidelines updated how to proceed on punishment for bad language, ganging etc.
• Maintenance: misc. code cleanup incl. 'final' and 'arraycopy'.
• Maintenance: streamlined the UI layout functionality for "min(w)" or "min(h)".
• Maintenance: keyboard handling updated to be consistent and correct.
• Maintenance: directory for translations moved to 'txt' (to exclude it from the IDE).
• Maintenance: compression added for future releases (map bundles).
• Performance: 32bit and 64bit integer square root functions now run 5x-9x faster than original.
• Deployment: 'getdown' auto update functionality updated to 1.8.6 (both for client & server).
• Deployment: 'getdown' function updated on Mac OS to better integrate with the operating system (no splash screen but direct).
• Server Logging: preventing non-relevant Bitronix warning to show (Transaction Manager).
• Bugfix: clan ratings didn't show in the listing because the time for the rating wasn't updated (i.e. considered old an ignored).
• Bugfix: potential bugfix for errors on desktop (multiple threads entering the render-pool only method).
• Bugfix: making sure music is played from render thread (in-game 'lead' buttons).
• Bugfix: emoticon parsing should now also work when the come just before a line break.
• Bugfix: music when game has ended only plays 1x (the first time). It doesn't start playing again.
• Bugfix: relative time on Droid was wrong resulting in game time displays to be off (now using SystemClock.elapsedRealtime()).
• Bugfix: report image popup had scaled x-axis due to inproper layout (should now always be correct proportional).
• Bugfix: statistics were not showing if there was a 'null' country or language in the list.
• Bugfix: when entering a password for a password-protected game, the wrong mouse cursor (wait-cursor) was shown.
• Bugfix: prevent OpenGL invalid value errors if glScissor(...) had negative width.
• Bugfix Bitset: data stored in a bitset wasn't handled correctly resulting in bugs (e.g. fog of war vision).
• Bugfix Crashes: when we couldn't load files and tried to free memory (some require to be called via render-thread!)
• Bugfix Crashes: when the language selection popup could not be opened.
• Bugfix Crashes: when logging in and account data was not ready, i.e. 'null'.
• Bugfix Crashes: when login information was not available but queried (for showing the start game button).
• Bugfix Crashes: when initial window size was still '0' and we tried to divide using it.
• Bugfix Crashes: when the window was resize too disproportional causing a too wide or tall texture buffer to be requested.

2021-08-17: Update 4.28.293 - Multiplayer & Networking Improvements inc. Misc. Bugfixes

• Multiplayer: the games listing now also show the turn number (next to the timer).
• Multiplayer: the games listing has now a easier to read timer by combining the days into the hours.
• Multiplayer: the joinable games list now also shows the map icon.
• Multiplayer (Bugfix): tournaments with a start date set should not be auto-deleted anymore!
• Single Player: Hotseat allows to enter more than 4 custom player names now.
• Single Player: female head icon added (if gender female is chosen during game setup).
• Balancing: marked on of the scenarios as unbalanced in the official "Ancient Europe" map.
• Map Modding: new template.ZIP uploaded that also allows Cavemen & Zombies to build watch towers.
• Maps Updated: added watch tower to some of the factions that had them missing (e.g. Asian).
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: fixed and updated the translations for the language names.
• Language: Azerbaijani and Swedish added!
• Language: Missing texts for large map of Europe added.
• Tutorial: slight graphics update for tutorial tooltips (/w 'tutor' person).
• Chat & Anon. Games: listing players is now disabled (for anonymization).
• Name Censor: updated and some texts removed.
• ONLINE Status (potential Bugfix): improved the synchronization to try make it work more reliably.
• ONLINE Status: now slightly flashing in blue to make it more clear that the blue ring means someone is online.
• Username: there now is an option at 1. login to change the username if logged in via 3rd party providers.
• Verify Button: disabled for guest account (please choose a proper username first).
• Networking: provider-based accounts can be re-created as new accounts starting from scratch if they have been deleted.
• Country List: country list updated incl. addition of "Arab League".
• Performance: performance update for AI and game calculations, rendering in general (method calls replaced by directly accessing member variables).
• Camera Button: not active when another panel is on top of it.
• Moderation: game viewing for moderators now also shows the diplomacy for each nation.
• Server Notifications (internal for dev.): reduce for download server warnings (not important).
• Backend Library: backend libGDX library updated to 1.10.0.
• Backend Server: updated the internal error notification system to the latest version (mail send).
• Networking: moved from 'certbot-auto' to 'certbot' for letsencrypt due to deprecation (Server HTTPS Support).
• Purchasing: updated billing library on Droid to 4.0.0 (from 3.0.0).
• Bugfix 101 vs. 100: a fair battle where one faction has higher troop numbers will always keep at least 1 soldier alive.
• Bugfix Server: updater could get stuck if a game was deleted and would show all games as "Updating..." (updater thread ended prematurely).
• Bugfix: chat commands are properly handled now even if chat is in minimal mode.
• Bugfix: fixed misc. freezes on Mac OS X when e.g. trying to copy/paste text.
• Bugfix: personal my games listing didn't include incognito games.
• Bugfix: making sure camera button is not triggered when closing the province view popup.
• Bugfix: making sure the top notch/display cutout doesn't interfere with the game (potential iOS fix).
• Bugfix: dropdown list for target FPS was showing the wrong selection previously unlimited was chosen (configuration).
• Bugfix: purchases on Droid where being confirmed every time the game was started from new.
• Bugfix: keyboard focus removal wasn't properly wired and instead request focus for unsuitable panels (possibly resulting in crashes?).
• Bugfix Freezes (ANRs): when waiting for purchase results (proper synchronization added).
• Bugfix Crashes: for parsing chess moves.
• Bugfix Crashes: running music files via render-thread to fix potential crashed (bad synchronization).
• Bugfix Crashes: wait-loop was in main thread causing ANRs on Droid (purchase restores).
• Bugfix Crashes: when viewing a game (moderator function).
• Bugfix Crashes: for when querying a focused component that has already been removed.
• Bugfix Crashes: preventing crashes when the music player crashes in the background (Desktop).
• Bugfix Crashes: when chess engine was disposed but still utilized.
• Bugfix Crashes: if user name editing had a 'null' user account.

2021-03-02: Update 4.27.281 - User Interface Overhaul

• Menu UI: All menu screens updated & streamlined (a.k.a. "Lipstick on a Pig").
• Menu & Game UI: improved to accomodate non-English texts that are longer. Some streamlining also.
• Chat (in-Game): Chat messages are now shown on the left edge of the screen by default (if the chat panel is closed). Text messages can by types via ENTER-key or selecting the chat button if the chat is closed.
• Sword Up/Down Indicator: fixed the game to make sure kings don't die, if the winning army has a higher bonus (as indicated in the UI).
• Competitions: Tournaments and leagues are now restricted to prevent games to last longer than 90 days (so the tournaments can eventually end and are not blocked).
• Quick Join: Games now start earlier. Also, they are advertised in the chat and can be joined by other players later.
• Game Setup: the minimum turn duration for games is now 30 turns (was 20 before) to prevent abuse.
• Modding: max. map size increased to 4000x4000px (from 4000x3000px).
• Language: translation center move to [Modding] --> [Customize] section.
• Language: fixed Arabic/Persian rendering of text.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• In-Game Messaging: preventing overlong in-game messages by limiting them to 512 characters at max (to prevent slowness/crashes).
• Clan Invites: clans can now send invites to players asking them to join their clan.
• Manual: explained that declaring war against a nation that isn't bordering your lands is resulting in a higher happiness penalty.
• Chess: time per turn is now 60 seconds for chat-chess (not 90 seconds).
• UI Update: game listings condensed for clarity, i.e. clutter removed.
• UI Update: some stuff from the menu screens moved into popups so they can be accessed from everywhere. E.g. tournament lobby can be access from within games now also.
• UI Update: loading indicator for misc. images, such as account images. The image loading is deferred to speed up loading of data.
• UI Update: single player achievement list condensed to make it look better (less distractive).
• UI Search Utility: can now search users by country also. Also added a separate search dialog.
• UI Cursor: wait-cursor displayed where appropriate. Also, the mouse cursor should now work on Linux as well?
• UI Popup Menu: aligned so the top/left corner is where the mouse/touch is located (not cenered around it).
• Camera for Screenshots: now works everywhere even when hidden behind other popups (disable as needed via settings).
• Keyboard: Key mappings update with additional keys for e.g. Numpad.
• Networking: now using HTTPS by default (can be turned off in the game's setting).
• Networking: network I/O improved by prioritizing non-imagery data and combining image objects that are loaded together.
• Networking: default image size reduced for small avatars when loaded over the network (25% of original size now).
• Networking: joinable games list should now load faster by not loading data already available (joined games).
• Networking Bugfix: some images where loaded more than once right after each other due to bad caching.
• Networking: configuration for cleartext connections updated on Droid (separate file security configuration)
• Cheat Detection: emulator check updated (@Moderators: some could be false positive, so be wary!)
• Cheat Detection: moderators are now capable of seeing in-game fund transfers.
• Moderation Maps & Translations: it's not available directly in the moderator interface.
• Moderation Guide: section with information about privacy added. @Moderators: MUST read!
• Droid Login: fixed to fall back to Google Services if undefined.
• Map Downloads: custom listing of (1) FREE Maps and (2) Featured maps added. Also simplified the UI and removed clutter.
• Map Downloads: deferred map icon loading until later to speed up displaying the list of available maps. Other improvements also to reduce network calls.
• Backend: upgraded to libGDX 1.9.13 which contains misc. bugfixes and improvements.
• Backend: upgraded to LWJGL3 as the desktop backend (better handling of Retina displays). If you are on Mac OS X, please download the latest installer for the game to continue working.
• Crashing: the game now properly crashes during boot up so error messages are clearly missing and indicating what's wrong, incl. reporting.
• Crash Reporter: fixed to also show up (not hidden) in special circumstances where the render context was changed.
• Linux ARM Support: with the new LWJGL3 backend, the game should support Linux ARM 32 and 64 bit. It should work on e.g. Raspberry Pi (untested).
• Linux 32bit (non-ARM): due to missing libraries, support for x86 Linux has been dropped. Replaced by Linux ARM 32 and 64bit support. Linux support for AMD 64bit still works fine.
• Performance: game boot-up speed and other functionality speed up! :)
• Performance: default FPS is not unlimited anymore (considering possible side effects).
• Boot Screen: simplified & speed up by just using the Noble Master logo.
• Maintenance: misc. comparable functions fixed (some were even wrong/buggy).
• Maintenance: sort algorithms and collections streamlined (slightly more performant).
• GDPR/etc. Compliance: the game now allows to view all data collected and also permanently delete a user account (via account settings).
• Server: making sure that auto-created display names are not too long (capped further).
• Server: logging updated for when games are deleted to make sure all refunds are given. Also added internal tests for system function.
• AI & Fast Rating Reset: on 2020-12-27/etc. I reset the fast rating. They weren't properly working anymore cause by me adjusting the AI ratings to make them more fair. At least that's what I though.
• AI Rating: now internally limited to a max. value and max/min increase to prevent rating table problems.
• Downloading Data: improved error output when e.g. downloading spreadsheet data on mobile (i.e. not available).
• Bugfix: Chat scrolling fixed. The popup menu marked the mouse button as handled even when it didn't preventing the scroll pane to not properly react.
• Bugfix Festivals: Festivals due to being executed out of order could potentially distribute money to later non-existing provinces. Will now distribute to exact provinces at that time. Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrUp7ixxFU4
• Bugfix Recruting: Troops are still recruited if a faction doesn't have enough cash, but with reduced numbers (rather than '0'). Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrUp7ixxFU4
• Bugfix Ancient Europe: the default map had a missing link between a land province and a water province (11<->110). This has now been fixed.
• Bugfix Screenshots: they are not saved in a fixed location. Reporting players with screenshots should now always show the actual list of screenshots (not blank anymore).
• Bugfix Rating History: making sure it doesn't overshoot the graph area.
• Bugfix Crashes: when changing the username (profile picture wasn't properly retained).
• Bugfix Crashes: file selection broken and could result in crashes.
• Bugfix Crashes: viewing games could crash (moderator option).
• Bugfix Crashes: pausing/resuming application.

2020-10-27: Update 4.26.257 - Networking and Chat incl. Chat-Chess

• Chess: there is now a chat bot for the main chat allowing plays of humans vs. AI.
• Chess: there now is a chess popup to play single player against the AI (via modding section).
• Chat Synchronization: speed of chat system slightly increased to reduce delays.
• Networking Fix: Multiple devices could not connect to the same server from the same network. Parameter "net.ipv4.tcp_tw_recycle" disabled which can/will cause problems connecting from the same NAT/Router with different devices.
• Manual/FAQ: indicated that political, religious or generally ideological messages are not desired and will be deleted as we see fit. This is a game, not a forum. Nothing good has ever come out of it.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language/Updated: plural rules link (for translators).
• Language/Removed: legacy translation option details (obsolete for a while now).
• Language: rendering of Persian text fixed.
• Language: render glyphs updated with latest.
• Username Change: cost increased to prevent abuse. Also logged by system.
• Clan Membership Requests: the notification counter is only show to a clan's admin or owner (they are the only ones being able to the handle the notification anyway).
• Investigated: exploit for province trade. Can not reproduce, works as expected.
• Maintenance: odd code removed that sometimes didn't call glTexImage2D causing mipmapping not to work.
• Maintenance: latest version for Droid login & purchasing system.
• Bugfix: Mouse handling updated to ignore and not hijack any other than just the 2 buttons the game is using.
• Bugfix: chat input focus reset if chat is hidden (to give back keyboard control).
• Bugfix: Steam Overlay on Mac OS X now working again (entitlements were missing).
• Bugfix: Chat command for "/list" was called "/dude" by mistake in the help section.
• Bugfix: not being able to click on a multiplayer game and go there anymore (even from menu screens).
• Bugfix Modding: maldefined animations would result in errors due to out of bound coordinates when creating a new map bundle.

2020-07-28: Update 4.25.254 - Performance and UI Update, Bugfixes

• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• UI Update: dialog notification icons updated (minor).
• UI Loading: popped up loading indicator now animated too (to make clear the game is still running and not frozen).
• Internal: improved image compression to reduce download size (via 'pngout').
• Internal: OpenGL depth buffer disabled (not needed for game).
• Internal: purchasing system updated /w latest versions and some fixed (to make sure all purchases are properly applied).
• Account Creation: disable account creation if a user already has an account. Please contact the moderators if you'd like a name change.
• Game Setup Refunds via Deletion: game setup fees in coins are fully refunded if a game is deleted before it has started.
• Performance Update: disabled some stuff from still running in the background when not visible.
• Performance Update: changed some of the collection classes to ones that use less memory.
• Bugfix: sending reports for players did crash/not attach image (underlying dialog was closed & image release before it could be processed).
• Bugfix: game updater would not run on server if 1. initialization failed.
• Bugfix: input dialog was closed prematurely in a few places resulting in incorrect behaviors.
• Bugfix: making sure crash reports are sent via render-thread (possibly crashing otherwise).
• Bugfix: properly showing coin balance of '100' when a new account is registered (rather than '0').
• Bugfix/Admin: rejecting maps didn't work (new dialog was instantiated from previous dialog which got closed).
• Bugfix Server: backup didn't properly close SSH connection after completion (leaving open processes).
• Bugfix Crashes: when image use for reporting hat dimensions 0x0px (division by '0').
• Bugfix Crashes: making sure all relevant assets are loaded when creating a new game (possibly caused crashes?).
• Bugfix Crashes: closing dialogs before they were created ('null'-pointer exception).
• Bugfix Crashes: when matter details were displayed to user and 'null'.
• Bugfix Crashes: when accepting a member to a clan and the team definition was 'null'.
• Bugfix Crashes: listing a non-existing game (maybe just deleted).

2020-05-13: Update 4.24.249 - Watch Tower Mode, Clan Management, UI & Bugfixes

• Game Modus: "Watch Tower" mode added, when selected, only allows seeing neighbor provinces via watch towers. Check the "Watch Tower" checkbox during game setup!
• Mesopotamia Map: new free "Timurid Conquest" scenario added. Provided by timurpodcast.com.
• Modern Map Scenarios (Official Maps): missing watch tower added!
• Clan Management: option to download all the clan member's list in spreadsheet format including ratings.
• Clan Rating: we only rate clans with 2+ players and take the top 8 players to calculate the average.
• UI: improved layouting for languages that have longer texts (compared to English).
• Sponsoring: possible for password protected games also if account shows a purchase.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: improved translatable texts.
• Language: map story text properly translated for tutorial.
• Language: further check to make sure tags have been properly used during translations.
• Font Rendering: improved output for long texts that are missing spaces.
• Networking: timeout for loading games list slightly increased to reduces errors for slow connections.
• Networking: additional buffering added for network I/O.
• Keyboard: ENTER button action added for certain popups (wasn't working before).
• Game Server: game update speed improved to reduce "lag"!
• Internal: GUIColor is now "XUITint".
• Internal: other GUI* components streamlined (combined/moved).
• Internal: combined VN & Version objects.
• Internal: server backups now via SFTP.
• Internal: server reboot time improved by ~5 minutes by skipping remote backup check and running it in later thread.
• Internal: Misc. cleanup for (Byte)Buffer position(...) and clear()/flip() functions.
• Bugfix: for some languages, the nation, diplomacy, etc. buttons in-game would not be clickable. Caused by too long texts in the background messing up layouting.
• Bugfix: Language Center would not properly layout for large texts on portrait screen.
• Bugfix: if text-color parsing fails, we ignore (rather than error out).
• Bugfix: randomly setup games could potentially double-join the same user if network problems were encountered during joining.
• Bugfix: function keys F1-F4 were working at times when they shouldn't (panels shouldn't have opened).
• Bugfix: server bugfix that should fix a problem where games didn't update, i.e. stuck. Slow startup could prevent the initialization to properly run the first time but not re-try a second time.
• Bugfix Crashes: when trying to send a private message while not logged in.
• Bugfix Crashes: custom nation setup popup would crash if not all the image data was loaded.
• Bugfix Crashes: when play-state wasn't properly initialized yet.
• Bugfix Crashes: if no installed maps were found.
• Bugfix Crashes: disposing assets after game ended.
• Bugfix Crashes: partly unsupported SDK function IntBuffer.limit(...) replaced /w clear()!
• Bugfix Crashes: disposing non-existing texture (OpenGL backend).

2020-02-25: Update 4.23.244 - Clan Rankings, UI Improvements, Bugfixes incl. Bugfixes for Crashes

• Clan Ranking: clans are now ranked also and get a separate rating based on the average of all the clan members. Please note it will take a while until the first player of a clan gets a ranking to have it appear. The rankings table takes another few hours to update thereafter.
• In-Game Guide: contains the email address to reach us immediately in case the server goes down & no moderators can be reached to assist.
• Large World Map: "Zombie Apocalypse" scenario added :)
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: Swedish removed for now. Was very low quality, sorry for that!
• Language: missing translation texts added (Medieval Europe map).
• Language: Credits section translated where feasible (missing translation keys added).
• UI: "Quick Join" match-making service now shows the connected users.
• UI: Split Screen & Multi-Window support for Droid.
• UI: App Icon updated (adaptive icon on Droid).
• UI: Dropdown list now remembers last scroll position for the 2.+ time.
• UI: Dropdown list updated to not notify listener if selection is manually set (buggy?).
• UI: UI components updated that revert to English if text is too long (due to bad translation).
• UI: Improved Error output while connecting from a country that might have blocked the game's IPs (e.g. Russia).
• Admin Guide: "DELETED" account explained, i.e. removal due to e.g. GDPR request.
• Server API: documentation updated with bugfix and 'get-size'.
• Server Monitoring: monitoring server still accepts connections & auto-reboots if not.
• Server Monitoring: logging # of connections also (DDoS detection).
• Server Backend: Jetty updated to latest version!
• Bugfix: improved error report when login via provider failed. If you have troubles, please contact us with the error details.
• Bugfix Server: better handling of malformatted requests (response code).
• Bugfix Crashes: when worker was 'null' (render-thread).
• Bugfix Crashes: when playing music (ANR).
• Bugfix Crashes: loading limited fallback font if loading the default font crashes.
• Bugfix Crashes: executing threads on render-pool.
• Bugfix Crashes: if group graphic was not available (i.e. 'null').
• Bugfix Crashes: if map panel wasn't created yet (i.e. 'null').
• Bugfix Crashes: bit shift '1 << 30' potentially produced error due to race condition?
• Bugfix Crashes: crash while trying to send a message to another nation (dropdown problem).
• Bugfix Crashes: when not properly initialized yet (play state).

2020-01-07: Update 4.22.241 - AI Runs Faster & Maintenance

• AI: runs in background to pre-calculate actions (while the player is entering actions).
• Manual/Guide: Fair-Play policy explained. No bribes or other unfair behavior. Players that use unfair tactics not part of a game will be appropriately punished.
• Modding: template.ZIP updated with latest nations and flags.
• Ancient Europe Map: "Barbarian Invasion" renamed to "Hun Invasion".
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: missing translation texts added.
• Language: inappropriate translations removed (Greek).
• Cheat Detection: improved detection for players using multiple accounts.
• UI: Notifications can now be copied to the clipboard.
• Maintenance: libGDX backend updated to 1.9.10.
• Bugfix Crashes: removed 'null' exception (possibly error still happens?).
• Bugfix Crashes: when a previous input wasn't applied yet (we should output an error now).
• Bugfix Crashes: proper synchronization blocks added when adding assets during loading.
• Bugfix Crashes: when formatting a text (possibly fixes strange exception).
• Bugfix Crashes: when an exception was 'null'.
• Bugfix Crashes: when music player couldn't properly be paused/stopped.
• Bugfix Crashes: asset loading reworked to prevent crashes and stuck loading screens.

2019-12-17: Update 4.21.239 - Balancing, Maintenance and Bugfixes

• Balancing "Fake Wars": attacking distant nations (not at border) will have a -10% happiness penalty added when declaring war. Also helps sea nations against new war declarations from afar nations.
• Balancing/Declaration of War: reduced the initial 1x penalty for declaration of war, multiplied by number of enemies the other nations is at war with already, from -8% to -6%. In other words, the penalty to declare war is reduced.
• Sending Gold: sending gold to other nations did not always work in cases where your actual gold amount was less than what you proposed to send (due to WEGO). The game now internally adjusts the gold amount to match your actual treasury, so the action will always execute.
• Declaring War: capped at -99% (no more -106%).
• Cross-Platform Login: error output improved for players that fail to login cross-platform!
• Incognito Games: now advertised anonymously in the chat (without the user's name).
• Game Bootup: improved application startup time to take less time to go to the menu screen!
• Game Bootup: additional indication of loading progress via bar (progress).
• App Icon Updated: now the knight's head!
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Crash Reporting: now also contains system information.
• Moderating: the "Abuse" flag now has the same effect as unverified accounts, i.e. no participation in sponsoring and betting games (moderator manual updated also).
• Moderating: accounts cannot be unverified anymore (verified accounts are considered legit accounts even if caught cheating).
• Maintenance: reduced DB calls when updating an account (deadlock problems on server).
• Maintenance: update for NTP time utility to better handle failures (server).
• Maintenance: making DB backup more resilient from crashes (e.g. when remote location is inaccessible).
• Bugfix: catching of crashes improved, so they can be submitted and fixed.
• Bugfix: account verification button wasn't always shown.
• Bugfix Crashes: if there was no country, the proxy setup panel would crash during construction.
• Bugfix Crashes: disposing the play screen (some elements weren't initialized yet but we tried to dispose).
• Bugfix Crashes: reporting to the same handler twice (rather than once) during startup.

2019-10-30: Update 4.20.237 - Maintenance Release: App Bootup & misc.

• App Bootup: improved loading speed of game. Secondary assets are loaded in background allowing to enter the home screen much faster.
• Rankings: clan button re-instated that is shown for players that are in a clan (previously removed but added again due to it being requested :-).
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Clan Notifications: notification for clan member actions (e.g. role changes/removals) now also list the user that made the change.
• Investigated: deleted wall messages that still appear for other players: due to caching, deleted wall message will still show for players that have seen it before it got deleted. Won't fix for now.
• Investigated: scrolling a panel while an onscreen keyboard was visible and offsets the screen (reported by Eogum). The scroll view scrolls in mysterious ways at first glance, but actually it works as intended. The system tries to keep the text input within view so one can see the contents while typing :)
• Integration itch.io: started showing rating option (if user likes to do it).
• Server Side: Geo IP lookup database updated (able to resolve previously missing addresses).
• Server Side: account deletion improved (deletes all relevant data also).
• Internal: account modus "DELETED" added.
• Maintenance: improved error handling/output for text parsing (decorated strings).
• Maintenance: replace legacy android.support /w androidx library.
• Bugfix: translation approvals/rejections did not always work, i.e. no approval was done (server wrongly assume one of the lists was sorted, but it wasn't).
• Bugfix: application exit now properly releases audio resources (proper native cleanup on desktop).
• Bugfix: increased allowed screen aspect ration to improve scaling on full screen (Droid).
• Bugfix: using a new minus '-' sign with same format as the '+' sing which ended up not showing because it wasn't included in the bitmap font.
• Bugfix (Server): reduced deadlocks accessing the database and cache (using separate caches now for separate request).
• Bugfix: code & logging update for when the server becomes stuck and doesn't update games anymore.
• Bugfix Crashes: if proxy detection failed (will just not work, rather than crash!).
• Bugfix Crashes: storing loaded image data via render-thread (should reduce crashes?).
• Bugfix Crashes: reduced the max. number of simultaneous sounds that can be played at same time (fixes ANRs on e.g. Droid?).
• Bugfix Crashes: error reporting possible now if the app crashes during startup (error got swallowed before).
• Bugfix Crashes: preventing the data loader to report results twice (potentially resulting in crashes).

2019-09-04: Update 4.19.224 - Balancing Ganging/Fake Wars, Pinned Posts

• Balancing addressing "Ganging" and "Fake Wars": in addition to 1x penalties when declaring war, there is now a per turn penalty for wars you have started. For each declaration of war on a given nation, a happiness penalty of -1% (capped at -3%) is applied every turn. The penalty is only applied if you were amongst the ones declaring war against a nation.
• Balancing: a player that has been war declared upon, will NOT receive happiness losses anymore for lost battles. Only an aggressor, i.e. player that declared war on someone, can lose happiness for battles lost against that other player.
• Balancing: additional pending update for happiness (fake wars). Need to wait until most clients are up-to-date to make LIVE (will come next update).
• Manual Updated: "Diplomacy (per turn)" explains the new diplomacy system were penalties for wars are applied each turn for declaring war (in addition to 1x penalties).
• Manual Updated: further explained what is considered an unfair game setup, may it be by a player or clan.
• AI: updated to work with new happiness system (penalties per turn).
• Networking (sync. errors): improve synchronization reducing "Syncing Errors" due to high latency connections.
• Networking (performance): code improvement removing dubious 'synchronization' blocks and also properly releasing connections after usage.
• Pinned Posts (for Wall): the wall now supports pinned posts! This is now available for the main wall, plus clan/team walls. Only members with correct permissions can pin or unpin wall posts. If you are running an old version of the game, please upgrade. The game won't crash, but due to pinned posts, the wall will not always appear to work correctly (little bit funky).
• Clan Icon: the user's head image-button now shows a clan icon (star within a circle) to indicate a player is in a clan. If there is space the clan's name is shown next to the username. Only available for displays where the clan information was loaded (might not be loaded everywhere).
• GUI: some label's brightness/contrast has been slightly increased for better visibility (easier to read).
• GUI: main user communication popup now taller if you are on a bigger screen.
• GUI: option to copy wall posts with formatting code also (rather than just the text).
• GUI: misc. minor UI tweaks & adjustments.
• Modding: checkboxes added to set defaults for scenarios. Includes fog of war ON/OFF and commando unit ON/OFF (by default) for each scenario.
• Modding: open travel options ON/OFF (ditto game setup) is now added as default behavior that can be customized for each scenario.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Spelling: misc. minor fixes (also in code/documentation).
• Max. FPS (Frames/Second): updated to 120 FPS max. for foreground rendering (if the monitor supports it).
• Maintenance: backend libGDX library updated to version 1.9.9.
• Maintenance: internal code cleanup/misc. refactorings.
• Maintenance: legacy code removed. If you are running an old version (6+ months) of the game, please upgrade. You will not be able to connect otherwise anymore.
• Performance: memory usage reduced/optimized.
• Clan Restrictions/Member Recruitment: the previous restrictions have been removed. Please note, clans ending up with more clan players in game than allowed on constant basis will be reprimanded.
• Clan Member Recruitment: manual updated to explain that repeatedly violating the rules ending up with more clan players in a game will have consequences for a clan and its leaders.
• Moderators: Officers are now able to delete games that have not started yet (e.g. games setup in bad faith).
• Steam: separate 32bit & 64bit Linux builds now available for download (should work on 64bit systems where it didn't work before).
• Server: updated/improved RAID disk array monitoring (detection if missing also).
• Bugfix: mouse wheel and rollover effects should now work properly on all devices where supported.
• Bugfix: potential bugfix loading assets in render-thread during boot (potentially prevents it being stuck during startup?).
• Bugfix: potentially fixes app hanging/crashing during purchasing (especially iOS). gdx-pay library updated.
• Bugfix: pending translation count was different from the correct value (auto-fixing functionality added).
• Bugfix: wall message loading could sometimes get stuck for bad connections (should now properly continue).
• Bugfix (server): database column wasn't big enough for some data resulting in errors during purchases.
• Bugfix Crashes: using a bad internet connection!
• Bugfix Crashes: bugfix crashes when viewing detail information for an invalid player (info was 'null' resulting in crashes).
• Bugfix Crashes: while viewing user profile without all data being available (crashing trying to access 'null'-data).
• Bugfix Crashes: when system environment could not be determined.

2019-06-20: Update 4.18.211 - Networking, Modding & Maintenance

• AI Difficulty: AI difficulty is now listed in multiplayer game info panel (only for new games).
• Data I/O: updated writing and reading of data to use less memory (byte instead of 4-bytes in some cases). If you run a ~1+ year old version, then please upgrade, you won't be able to connect otherwise.
• Network I/O: improved login speed by loading all information at same time (rather than 1-by-1).
• Network I/O: improved speed in general by loading multiple objects at the same time (rather than 1-by-1).
• Modding: max. travel distance for ships can be adjusted (between 1 and 3 tiles).
• Modding: Story allows for links now using the {LINK:...}...{/LINK} tag.
• Language: option to translate to Latin American Spanish (in addition to Spanish/Spain).
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Client: upgraded to latest backend (e.g. Android 9.0/SDK 28).
• Server: upgraded login and purchase verification version (Google Authentication and Publisher v03).
• Bugfix: elections would reset diplomacy even for games were diplomacy was turned off (and prevent nations from being attacked).
• Bugfix: nation customization popup during game setup would be too wide for portrait view displays.
• Bugfix: old JVM would not have the proper SSL certificates (removed the check to accept any).
• Bugfix: installer for Mac fixed (stopped working on latest Mac OS).
• Bugfix: potential issue synchronizing render/UI-thread with other threads (potentially prevents crashes).
• Bugfix Crashes: when the branding image wasn't loaded but used for rendering.
• Bugfix Crashes: threads not properly synchronized (render pool).
• Bugfix Crashes: when internal time wasn't properly initialized (not epoch time).

2019-03-19: Update 4.17.206 - Web API, Networking, GUI & Misc.

• Province Dropdown: now also sortable if ready by population or happiness festival!
• Web API (Beta): allows accessing the Age of Conquest servers via REST and JSON. Currently querying of user accounts, chat and game servers supported. More to come. "API Reference" is available from the in-game guide. This is stable but still beta, i.e. please provide feedback.
• Manual: troubleshooting guide updated with what to do during connection errors.
• Manual: contains a link to the server monitor at https://status.ageofconquest.com which shows current server statuses.
• Server Uptime: a status page for all relevant servers is now available at https://status.ageofconquest.com and shows current status and uptime.
• GUI: transitional effects/tweens updated and streamlined for dialog and panel fade-in/out.
• GUI: options dialog updated with additional configurations available directly within the game.
• GUI: keyboard shortcuts information better integrated.
• GUI: minor other updates & adjustments.
• GUI: swapped the "Single Player" and "Multiplayer" button for the fun of it :)
• Tournaments: setting up a tournament, will NOT require to set a tournament icon anymore!
• Main Wall: players posting messages to the main wall are limited to max. 1 message per hour.
• Settings (Keys): some of the keyboard shortcuts can be edited :)
• Network I/O: we now have a dedicated proxy server for players from Russia in case some servers don't work.
• Network I/O: game now allows setting a proxy server in case you have trouble connecting normally (e.g. blocked). Edit "Network I/O: Proxy" in the game's settings.
• Network I/O: option to switch to non-binary transfer mode. Might resolve connection problems with certain firewalls? Disable "Network I/O: Binary" in the settings!
• Network I/O: server now properly returns no-cache header to prevent potential networking problems.
• Network I/O: basic secure networking support via Let's Encrypt. For testing, enable "Network I/O: Secure" in the game's settings & report back to the developer.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: Microsoft Translator updated to latest version 3.0.
• Balancing: Unlimited number of actions points cannot be used for rated or betting type games.
• Moderators: Admin Guide now contains the moderator email address listed with explanation when/how to use it.
• Moderators: Officers can now add members to a clan even though they can't join normally (via Admin Terminal/Officer Function ONLY).
• Moderators: Officers can now see more details to products & bargains in the catalog.
• Moderators: Server Status link also displayed on "Server Dashboard".
• Moderators: You need to enable "Network I/O: Secure" in the game's settings. You'll get a blinking warning displayed otherwise.
• Bugfix: pending messages from eliminated nations would linger around.
• Bugfix: active game server cache wasn't properly reset after a re-login (still pointing to old servers).
• Bugfix: silencing an account would not work on the chat (cache was indefinite until a server was rebooted).
• Bugfix/Images in Moderator Inbox: retaining images viewed via moderator inbox outside of internal image atlas (to prevent errors/allow larger images to be viewed).
• Bugfix Admin: "Admin" button for moderators mapped to statistics (instead of admin).
• Bugfix Admin: cheat investigation mails are now sent properly from the moderator mailbox (not moderator's private mailbox).
• Bugfix Crashes: executing background worker with 'null'-worker.
• Bugfix Crashes: pressing the CAMERA button while not initialized yet.
• Bugfix Crashes: continuing loading even if user preferences could not be initialized.
• Bugfix Crashes: if internet connection had errors/resulting in bad game data (bad firewall?).
• Bugfix Crashes: while refreshing 'decree' dialog after a new turn became available ('null' pointer for player).
• Bugfix Crashes: during cheat detection, the for-loop took the wrong maximum (going over array limit).

2019-01-22: Update 4.16.198 - Custom Nation Names, GUI, Misc. & Bugfixes

• Custom Nation: option to rename your nation or one of your protectorates. The option is available via [EDIT] button on a nations overview popup.
• Modding: template.ZIP updated with watch towers for other nations (e.g. Asian/etc.). Wasn't properly working before. Download form here: http://www.ageofconquest.com/modding.html
• Camera/Screenshots: screenshots can be taken via ALT+F1 (desktop) and the CAMERA button (mobile device).
• Download Speeds: improved performance when downloading maps (both server & client).
• Clan Icons: please re-upload! Icons have been re-centered and need to be re-uploaded for improved centering in button/bordered view. Sorry for the inconvenience.
• GUI: Multiplayer rankings & statistics button moved (to the left button section).
• GUI: minor improvements to look & feel.
• Manual: policy for usernames added (e.g. nothing offensive/impersonation etc.).
• Manual: multiple account policy added: generally not permitted. You have a 10-day grace period from the post date of this message to report to the moderator team. Otherwise, accounts will be closed.
• Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: glyphs for Armenian, Espreanto, Japanese and Chinese added/updated.
• Wall/Main Message Board: flagged, unverified or new accounts are prevented from posting. Also, additional check added making sure a message is not spam.
• Chat: function '/random' added which does a global coin flip and returns either "Heads" or "Tails".
• Multiplayer/Clans: clan filter improved by allowing selection of max. players/clan in joinable games list.
• Multiplayer/Clans: game listing shows clan games first for clan players (and non-clan games first for non-clan players).
• Multiplayer/Clans: non-clan players that create a multiplayer game, will have the max. 1/clan option set by default during creation (rather than 'unlimited').
• Multiplayer/Clans: strict enforcement added making sure players (a) cannot join a game and (b) change clans which would break the 'max. clan players/game' rule.
• Multiplayer/Clans: game information now also properly displays the max. players per clan if it is limited (rather than during sign up).
• Multiplayer/Clans: TOP100 clan-ONLY event added (monthly /w 24h per turn). New award added also :)
• Multiplayer/Clans: games that are ended are now ignored when verifying if a player can join a clan or not (due to max. clan player/game rule).
• Multiplayer/Games: warning popup for non-clan players that try to join a clan game (via chat).
• Multiplayer/Games: game servers don't use IPv6 anymore to prevent problems when IPv6 goes down (for whatever reason?).
• Multiplayer/Games: chat adverts for games now also show "clan" if it's a clan related game with 2+ clan players.
• Reporting: reporting a user for manner, cheating or for spam now requires a screenshot during submission of the report.
• Performance & Memory: misc. minor optimizations to use less memory and increase FPS.
• Sing-In Dialog: increased login timeout to reduce potential problems logging in (?).
• Sign-In Dialog: error message improved for when sign-in failed (e.g. invalid permissions on Android).
• Bugfix: opinion dropdown (single player/AI opinions) didn't work anymore. Panel not properly refreshed.
• Bugfix: language detection was borked, i.e. not returning detected languages at all (server).
• Bugfix GUI: events display in portrait mode had too much content.
• Bugfix Events: duplicate official multiplayer events were created by simply editing an event.
• Bugfix Watch Towers: can only build max. 1 watch tower per province.
• Bugfix Watch Towers: editor fixed to show correct watch tower selection when multiple options are available.
• Bugfix Crashes: when requesting permissions ('null' pointer).
• Bugfix Crashes: for background music player (accessing disposed music object for playing).
• Bugfix Crashes: while observing the final standing in a game the player did not participate.
• Bugfix Crashes: while converting an integer value to another incompatible type during messaging/other nations.

2018-11-14: Update 4.15.193 - Diplomacy Exploit, Server Updat & misc.

• Manual Updated: combat math was explained wrongly. Please refer to the updated in-game section "Combat" for details.
• Diplomacy Exploit: cancelling & re-establishing a relation would give a happiness bonus without any penalties (code & loophole fixed). Reported by "wxystad".
• Auto-Translator: better detection of languages (and re-detection if possible).
• Auto-Translator: fixed rendering of original text in popup (wrong decoding).
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Privacy Policy: added to the manual (last page).
• Code Optimized: HEX/color value parsing.
• Server Uptime: improved server reboots to prevent them from sometimes getting stuck rebooting (force-reboot added after timeout).
• Server IPv6: added to servers who had them still missing (game & download servers).
• Server Backend: updated the newest version (Jetty 9.2.26).
• Bugfix Incognito Mode: player name could still be clicked & viewed while joining/leaving a game. Reported by "wxystad".
• Bugfix Cheat Code: invalid troops would be assigned to the nation, resulting in a too long build list (e.g. fantasy map).
• Bugfix Screenshots: would not work on all platforms due to invalid permissions (e.g. Android).
• Bugfix Crashes: when statistics system was not available & statistics updated.
• Bugfix Crashes: while setting up new multiplayer game while not properly being logged in.
• Bugfix Crashes: while submitting a translation in the translation center.
• Bugfix Crashes: while disposing unused image buffers.
• Bugfix Crashes: during invalid game setup (no humans in game).
• Bugfix Crashes: while auto-submitting actions.
• Bugfix Crashes: while adjusting volume & number of sounds is changed (sync-issue).
• Bugfix Crashes: while rendering games listing when data was not all properly loaded.

2018-09-16: Update 4.14.190 - Auto Translation for Chat, Troop Selection

• Troop Selection: additional buttons to select [25%], [50%] or [100%] of troops directly!
• Asset Transfers: the game now shows recently accepted monetary assets requested and sent to other nations. Can be viewed by clicking the [Transfers]-link in a nations information popup screen.
• Events Replay: showing a user's display name (not username) during events display in multiplayer games.
• Annihilation Goal: number of provinces owned are counted also.
• Gifted Purchases: the invoices list now also shows the player that has received a gifted purchase (if applicable), rather than just "gifted".
• Translations for Chat (Automatic): you can now configure foreign language chat messages to be translated to your own language automatically. :-D There is support for MyMemory, Yandex.Translate, Google Translate and Microsoft Translator. Some will need you to obtain an API key beforehand.
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Map Downloads: internal map download manager improved (better memory/network IO).
• Bugfix Opinion: the average opinion calculation also included eliminated nations (now only still alive nations considered).
• Bugfix Crashes: while layouting image that had 0-size (division by 0).
• Bugfix Crashes: during strange text alignment error (logging instead now).
• Bugfix Crashes: finding glyph position where the transformation matrix could not be inverted.
• Bugfix Crashes: while not being able to parse the ratings due to null pointer exception.
• Bugfix Crashes: while editing a game name (admin function).
• Bugfix Crashes: when game stats were not properly initialized (i.e. 'null').
• Bugfix Crashes: while the translator enum wasn't properly initialized (partly 'null').
• Bugfix Crashes: while updating game that hasn't had all GUI panels fully initialized yet.

2018-07-26: Update 4.13.189 - Incognito, Translations, UI & Misc.

• Incognito Games: game owner is now hidden also (unless you are a moderator).
• Team Tournaments: bugfix for wrong team assignments after the 2. round in a team tournament. The players where randomized by mistake. Should possibly fix the bug (unless there is more?).
• Team Tournaments: improved assignement of clan members to teams giving priority to teams that have signed up with a correct number of players (divisible by team size).
• Coin Betting: max. amount is now 5 coins (to prevent abuse).
• Menu Screens: slightly improved the GUI/layout (especially single player section).
• Load Screen/Indicators: added progress-% indicators for (a) creating new games and (b) loading existing games.
• Device Vibrations: can now be turned off while unchecking "Device Vibrations" in the game's settings.
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Translations: missing glyphs for Greek & Chinese added.
• Translations Fixed: translations for Indonesian/Greek/Polish fixed, i.e. shortened for overlong texts.
• Translations Chat (Automatic): I implemented a translation system that auto-translates texts to a player's local language. Will be available with the next major update :)
• Admin: functionality to rename games added (via game information popup).
• Admin Guide: updated to ensure moderator accounts have a secure password (introduction).
• Admin Terminal: bugfix for permission system.
• Server Maintenance: logging improved to track changes better.
• Bugfix "Recognition": the leader for the recognition ballet would always get the -30% penalty, even though only e.g. 1 nation voted nay!
• Bugfix Cursor: text input cursor wasn't blinking anymore.
• Bugfix Chat: underline below username was extended too far during incognito games.
• Bugfix Images: proxy images would partly not properly be loaded causing bad side effects.
• Bugfix Timestamp: wasn't properly working anymore for all platforms (e.g. problems on Android).
• Bugfix L & F: look and feel not always properly updated (due to GUIDropdown crashes) after loading.
• Bugfix Crashes: when applying new look & feel to dropdown (wrong class cast).
• Bugfix Crashes: opening city view when there is not owner (or became neutral).
• Bugfix Crashes: when map panel wasn't properly initialized yet.
• Bugfix Crashes: accessing component of map object that wasn't available (component was 'null').
• Bugfix Crashes: when device time was set far in the past.

2018-05-15: Update 4.12.185 - Font Improvement, IPv6, Performance, Fixes

• Font Update/Type: changed to a distance field font to allow for better look while scaled. Font hinting implemented also. Issues might arise :-/
• Font Update/Size: slightly increased the font to make it more readable.
• Font Issues: there might be some issues for Thai/other where markers/etc. are not placed correct. Please contact me to help me fix! Sorry for the problems & thanks for helping :)
• GUI: did some re-alignment of texts for various panels. Please let me know if there are some that are still wrong.
• Nation Listing: selection a nation does not close the panel below.
• Networking: main server now supports connection via IPv6 (in addition to IPv4).
• Re-Labeling: saying "None Joined" instead of "No Games" to reduce confusion!
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Investigated: not being able to copy/paste messages via long-click or right-click. Not able to reproduce: works fine!?
• Performance: texture/image storage optimized (memory usage reduced).
• Performance: reduced texture storage while loading city views (just loading the 1. city view ground images now that will be shared amongst all the cities).
• Maintenance: misc. internal code changes/refactoring to improve code.
• Maintenance: upgraded to target API level 27 (8.1) on Android.
• Bugfix King Movement: updated the movement of the king to stay behind in all cases if not ordered to move in the first place.
• Bugfix Sound/Music: sound & music is turned off when the game disappears into the background.
• Bugfix Text Wrapping: the text would not always be properly wrapped, especially scaled text (overflows in next text).
• Bugfix Text Length: some texts were too long. Cut the texts with "..." if too long to display.
• Bugfix Multiplayer Events: the team event didn't work due to bad variable naming.
• Bugfix Crashes: when opening link in email program/browser (internal platform error).
• Bugfix Crashes: for downloadable map listing during refresh (GUI child not properly removed).
• Bugfix Crashes: string builder (bug in JVM?)
• Bugfix Crashes: while disposing resources.
• Bugfix Crashes: by hogging the render-thread too long while loading images, the game could be killed by the OS (ANR problem).
• Bugfix Crashes: showing recent single player achievements when data could not be loaded.
• Bugfix Crashes: GUI element was instantiated with wrong look & feel producing casting exception.
• Bugfix Crashes: while using the background music player while already disposed (logging only now).
• Bugfix Crashes: while someone disjoined a game and player's info wasn't loaded yet.
• Bugfix Crashes: improved image loading to prevent crashes due to sync-error while selecting a texture atlas.

2018-04-03: Update 4.11.182 - Attack Indicators, Chat, Cheating & misc.

• Attack Boni/Indicators: Up/Down pointing swords are shown on enemy targets to indicate if an attack is likely to succeed or not (based on current troops/defenses/kings).
• Chat Messaging for Teams (in-game teams): use "@team " to send a message to all your team members in a game. Only available for team games.
• Chat Messaging for Clans: use "@clan " to send a message to all clan members in the chat. Only available to clan members.
• Chat: will now fade in if the multiplayer section is entered if it was previously hidden. Can be disabled in the game's settings's by unchecking "Open Chat when Activated".
• Game Info: popup that shows basic info when clicking on a game now also has a [Players...]-button that lists all the players in the game (without having to go to the game).
• Cheating: we have added additional tools to investigate players using multiple accounts. We will flag/close accounts without warning. Please be vary.
• Cheating/Guide Updated:You if you have only 1 device available to play the game, please share only 1 single account amongst all the players in your household, i.e. a sort of "family account".
• Guide Updated: explaining the up/down swords indicating if an attack is good/bad.
• Province Naming: reduced to 24 characters max. (from 36 characters max.).
• Achievements: the "Win against Inhuman AI" achievement can now also be acquired playing the "Annihilation" type objective.
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Admin/Cheat Investigations: global cheat search functionality (via Admin/Controller/[Investigate...]).
• Admin/Cheat Investigations: improved data lookup to find better matches.
• Admin Guide: updated with penalty guidelines for cheating & bad manner (similar forum).
• Memory Management: reduced memory consumption and memory fragmentation (less crashes due to out of memory errors).
• Networking: upgraded to a newer JVM (from version 7 to 8). Download the latest binary to upgrade.
• Networking: removed the option to prefer the IPv4 stack (using DNS now). Might reduce connection problems? Download the latest binary to upgrade.
• Networking/Performance: reduced data I/O while login in by about 100kb (faster logins/less timeouts).
• Networking/Performance: reduced data I/O to and from server by 5 bytes.
• Networking/Maintenance: integrated the latest networking libraries (Apache).
• Server Backend: players can not also be queried by their internal ID.
• Server Backend: internally used query functions added (e.g. for purchases/etc.).
• Maintenance: misc. code cleanup (internally/no visible effects).
• Bugfix: AI was trying to sell someone else's province :)
• Bugfix: map overview mini-views were too tall for certain maps overlapping GUI.
• Bugfix: onscreen keyboard was not always properly hidden when focus was lost!
• Bugfix: selecting the ">" button on an already selected mail topic would make the GUI jump-scroll to a different position (now fixed).
• Bugfix: preventing tournament events to be played on disabled/non-live servers.
• Bugfix: the game could get stuck during startup when not all the installed maps could properly be loaded (synchronization error!?).
• Bugfix: error reporter would not collect DEBUG-information, thus preventing it to report errors that were recorded as DEBUG (instead of higher level).
• Bugfix Crashes: fixed multiple areas where GUI was modified outside the UI render thread (fixes misc. crashes).
• Bugfix Crashes: selecting "viewed" for message received on same turn (logging error now instead of crashing).
• Bugfix Crashes: while marking a message as read and the next turn already started.
• Bugfix Crashes: opening user account/communication panel while not yet initialized or already disposed.
• Bugfix Crashes: while no research icon was defined (via editor).
• Bugfix Crashes: when user profile was still being loaded and accessed at the same time.
• Bugfix Crashes: when an action could not be animated (just logging error now).
• Bugfix Crashes: additional error output for framebuffer errors to investigate later (OpenGL).
• Bugfix Crashes: when a game info returned was 'null' (maybe just deleted?).
• Bugfix Crashes: not adjusting local game-timer to server time if offset is more than 10 years (will produce overflows/crashes).

2018-02-07: Update 4.10.179 - City Naming, Achievements, Combat Math

• City Naming: functionality to name and rename settlements. Comes with happiness bonus.
• Combat Math: updated combat to combine troops before attacking or defending. Will resolve the "180 vs. 181 problem".
• Province Labelling: popups will now show a province name, e.g. "Province 17" instead of the default type, i.e. just "earth".
• Player Name: for single player games, instead of "Player", the player name can name be selected during game setup!
• Achievements: "Challenger" and "Responder" achievements added. They will be given when an election is held, respectively while voting on an election. Loosely based on http://steamcommunity.com/app/338810/discussions/0/1489992713702634015/
• Clan-ONLY Games: there is now an option to prevent "Non-Clan Players" to join a game (via game setup). That allows both (a) player created games and (b) general events to be limited to clans only for e.g. the clan's championship.
• iPhone X: the game now supports the full screen size (not cropped anymore).
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Translations: updated glyphs for rendering added (mostly Chinese & Japanese).
• Spelling: misc. fixes (English).
• Admin/Moderator: map rejections allow to write a rejection message too now.
• Payment Methods: players in China can now pay using 'Alipay'!
• Login & Passwords: improved error output for wrong or missing passwords as well as email recovery.
• Backend System: updated backend libGDX to 1.9.8.
• Bugfix Censor: wasn't always properly detecting words that need censoring.
• Bugfix Crashes: showing the join-game panel (while it wasn't created yet).
• Bugfix Crashes: while checking if there are still unviewed events during event display.
• Bugfix Crashes: while holding festival and and next turn just started to be loaded.
• Bugfix Crashes: when device vibration (Android/iOS) crashed due to insufficient permissions.
• Bugfix Crashes: when latest room information was 'null' (ignoring missing data now).

2017-12-12: Update 4.9.178 - Maintenance Release /w Bugfixes

• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Bugfix Crashes: handling events when a GUI panel/input got detached from the view.
• Bugfix Crashes: pressing the BACK/ESC button during initialization.
• Bugfix Crashes: reporting mouse events when there is no mouse/no mouse listener available.

2017-12-07: Update 4.8.176 - AI Messaging, Clan Ranks, GUI, Bugfixes

• AI Messaging: a set of pre-defined messages can now be sent to the AI.
• Clans: custom clan ranks/naming implemented. Each member can be given a custom title.
• Game Links/Listing: there now is a popup that shows additional details to a game before going to the actual game.
• Province Listing: there are now quick-access buttons for Inauguration, Happiness and Fertility Festivals (less clicks). Matches the keyboard shortcuts below.
• Keyboard Shortcuts: they following keys are now available while in the city listing while a city is selected: 'G'=InauGuration Festival, 'H'=Happiness Festival and 'F'=Fertility Festival.
• Incognito Games: ONLINE status is hidden while playing an incognito/anonymized game to reduce likelyhood of finding the player. I.e. blue ring is not shown.
• Banned Players: banned players are now prevented from continuing their existing games. Order submission is disabled. Please keep the game fair for everyone and behave appropriately or else.
• Game Deletions: games deleted by mistake/malicious intent, can now be restored by the moderator team. Please note, this functionality is only available for games that were in progress (i.e. have started).
• GUI: dropdown list now always scrolls to the selected item if any.
• GUI/Touch Screen: zooming and dragging of map improved. Now also allows dragging using 2-fingers.
• GUI: minor fixes for layouting (e.g. for very long texts that don't show properly).
• Guide: Keyboard shortcut list updated, i.e. keys G, F & H added.
• Guide: copyrighted materials and what you can use further explained. I.e. no "Westeros" etc. maps unless you obtain permission.
• Guide/Modding: clarification added, i.e. assets that have been created by a player, it means that the copyright stays with the player. However, by uploading, for obvious reasons, you permit for your assets to be used within the context of the game.
• Map Loading: improved map loading by correctly skipping unused parts of a map bundle (e.g. really skipping the unused scenarios). Should reduce memory errors/crashes.
• Serializer: redundant versioning removed. Reduced memory usage an less file and networking I/O.
• Server: max. number of slow games increased to 1024 (from 512) for the official longhaul server.
• Server: some configurations updated. Should respond quicker now depending on server load (Jetty config updated).
• Server: bugfix for NTP-time sync; (a) will continue trying and (b) find better match.
• Cheating: additional checks added to detect players using multiple accounts via MAC spoofing.
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Language: misc. spelling fixes.
• Admin Guide: additional information added regarding MAC spoofing.
• Admin Guide: section about game administration added.
• Admin/Investigated: blocking moderators will prevent them from viewing a game. No bug found, i.e. works as expected and moderators can still view games as needed even if they have been block (only joining is blocked).
• Bugfix Modding: an error message "error loading bundle"/"too many parts returned" was shown when loading a map in the editor. It's not fixed. Caused by not closing the input stream reading a map.
• Bugfix Crash Reporter: the crash reporter would not always properly reset (removing old listeners/etc.) resulting on being unable to report a crash.
• Bugfix Logging in with Multiple Accounts (i.e. cheating in most cases): properly reset the mail-panel when login with a different account.
• Bugfix Crashes: opening the profile view for a clan while not properly initialized.
• Bugfix Crashes: on Windows XP, creating a buffered image could fail and produce crashes. The crashes should be gone for those cases.

2017-11-09: Update 4.7.174 - Maintenance & Bugfix Release

• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Keyboard Input: reworked, which should also result in less problems getting the map to scrolling using e.g. the arrow keys.
• Server: switched to a new faster main server, i.e. network configuration updated.
• Bugfix Save-Games: the saved games list would sometimes not load at all if 1 of the save files was corrupted. The game will now ignore corrupted save files and still list all the games.
• Bugfix Multiplayer: the game listing overview would say "Wait (dead)" while a player was still actively playing in a tournament, i.e. not eliminated!
• Bugfix Crashes: comparing player to each other while one player was 'null'.
• Bugfix Crashes: when not properly logged in.
• Bugfix Crashes: when player was not properly set in-game and notifications were polled.

2017-10-31: Update 4.6.171 - GUI Update, Incognito Games, Keyboard

• Diplomacy (setup): during game setup, if a scenario had teams, all teams and non-team nations would be at war with each other by default when the game starts. Existing diplomacy settings were not honored. The setup has changed so existing diplomacy is honored as long as not every nation is assigned to a team. Resolves "The World Wars" problem.
• AI Fixes: division by 0 could cause the AI not to execute certain orders and not move at all during a turn.
• Random Inquires: now disabled by default, even for single player matches (for now).
• Portrait Orientation: the game now fully works in portrait orientation. Please note, if there are some popups/etc. that cannot be closed (i.e. I forgot to optimize for PORTRAIT orientation), go and change the screen to landscape orientation and it should work as before.
• GUI: overhaul of main GUI look. Removed clutter, increased space and improved centering.
• GUI: re-arranged the multiplayer create/join game screens to make it more clear how to play multiplayer (hopefully?).
• GUI/In-Game: dialogs updated with new look. Also updated misc. other panels.
• GUI/In-Game: slightly shrunk the top/center in-game GUI to increase map view!
• GUI/In-Game: the random Inquires tab is now hidden if not actually used, i.e. for pretty much all multiplayer games.
• End Turn Dialog: now shows what's missing, e.g. unread notifications or no actions entered.
• Incognito Games: invitation buttons are now gone (to prevent inviting friends).
• Incognito Games: now hidden if a player's games list is viewed.
• Incognito Games: real name is now hidden an replaced with "Incognito: [Color] [Animal]". Please note, the color and animal are different for each users, to make it harder to invite friends to the same game.
• Keyboard Shortcuts: ESC or BACK buttons now also close dialogs/popups and can be used to navigate, i.e. going 1 step back.
• Keyboard Shortcuts: ESC+SHIFT to enter/exit fullscreen mode (was ESC without shift before).
• Full Inputs: per default, now all the input buttons, incl. the back-button are shown. If you'd like a minified view, enable the "Minified Options" in the game's settings.
• Input Slider: is now disabled by default. If you'd like the slider rather than the +/- buttons, then enable the "Input Slider" option in the game's settings.
• Manual/FAQ: tournaments and leagues explained in further detail.
• Manual/FAQ: coordinating outside of incognito mode games is considered bad practice and we reserve the right to take action.
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Translator: the scenario story was not properly wrapped in the translator, making the [i18n]-keys visible.
• Spelling Fixes: misc.
• Performance update: loading of private messages should now be faster. All at once rather than 1-by-1.
• Performance Update (minor): text manipulations now use less memory and are faster (text replacements).
• Performance Map Download-Server: memory consumption reduced.
• Bugfix Rated Team-Games: previously, due to a bug, it was not possible to setup rated team games. Should be fixed now.
• Bugfix Crashes: creating the overview map could produce crashes on bad graphics/OpenGL drivers. Instead, the game will now just show a blank overview map. Please update your graphics drivers if you have the problem!
• Bugfix Crashes: not being able to load a bundle will result in an error (rather than a crash).
• Bugfix Crashes: if room list wasn't loaded properly and 'null'.

2017-10-10: Update 4.5.168 - Statistics, GUI, Miscellaneous and Bugfixes

• Statistics: there is now a screen showing the active players from the past 24h. Statistics include (a) countries, (b) languages and more.
• GUI: compacted the user account specific GUIs into one popup to reduce clutter.
• GUI: compacted the chat interface to be just chat-related to reduce clutter.
• GUI: centered some of the dialogs that were off-center (noticeable especially on small screens).
• GUI: update for mail panels to remember & scroll to the correct positions as needed.
• GUI: misc. minor improvements & fixes.
• Balancing: This is to increase order execution fairness. A player will always get the next possible movement/attack order executed (skipped orders for the player are ignored before moving on to the next player). That way, a player should always get at least one order executed, reducing the likelyhood of a player not being able to move at all during a turn. As suggested by 'nudelsoup'.
• Window Position: enable the "Remember Window Position" option in the game to have the game window open at the same place the next time.
• Reporting Games: is only shown for anonymous games now! Please report the players, not the game!
• Chat Texts: texts such as "Game is open to join" are now translated to the player's local language setting (not in the language of the player that created the game anymore).
• Banned or Silenced Users: cannot send message via clan anymore (only direct messages to the moderators group are now possible).
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Translations: warning display if parameters such as {0}/{1}/... are missing.
• Texts: misc. spelling bugfixes (English).
• Texts: "Message Board" renamed to "Announcements"
• Texts: "peasants" changed to "population" for modern scenarios (1900+).
• Admins: moderators are given permission to create rated and betting games for custom games.
• Admin Guide: unverified accounts explained, i.e. not to be used for betting and cannot sponsor games!
• Graphics Memory: reduce graphics memory usage when loading large maps (-17%!).
• Memory Management (Crashes): largely reduced memory usage when loading specific scenarios from a map bundle. Should reduce crashes due to out of memory errors!
• Bugfix: Inauguration Parties could not be held if a city was taken over and an inauguration party was held previously by someone else!
• Bugfix: Broadcast button for tournaments and leagues was always disabled. Should now be enabled correctly!
• Bugfix Crashes: parameter replacements, e.g. {0}, for translated strings could produce crashes in rare cases.

2017-09-19: Update 4.4.166 - Nation Select, Guide Export, Ratings, misc.

• Nation Selection (setup): nations can now directly be selected on the map by clicking on a nation one wants to play!
• Nation Customization: if nations and/or teams are customized during game setup, games can only be played as unrated multiplayer matches.
• Incognito Games: private messaging/clan center disabled during incognito mode games!
• Game's Guide: the guide can now be copied to the clipboard or saved as RTF-file (~simple word document) to allow printing/reading outside the game.
• Game's Guide: rating classification moved from rating tooltip into the Guide (tooltip is gone).
• Game's Translation & Admin Guide: ditto regular guide can be saved as RTF-file (and then e.g. printed if desired).
• ONLINE Status: blue ring is now also show in a user's profile popup view when the user is ONLINE!
• Rating: the volatility (and number of games played) is now shown in the history popup only (to reduce GUI clutter & confusion!)
• Rating Analysis: move the "Analysis" tab for multiplayer into the game info popup, i.e. [Analysis...] button.
• Broadcast Button: games can only be broadcasted until turn 12!
• Modding: story input now supports multi-language input. Scenario stories can be added for multiple languages.
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Translations: missing glyphs for Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai added!
• Texts: misc. spelling bugfixes (English).
• Memory Consumption (debug): option to turn on display of memory consumption in settings via "Render Memory".
• Memory Consumption (debug): pressing ALT+F7 should garbage collect unused memory, i.e. reduce memory footprint.
• Bugfix: "Missed 2 Turns" (during Blitz): the latest release should now make sure you only miss the turn you are actually too late to submit orders to the server (instead of 2 full turns in a row). Let me know how that goes?
• Bugfix: errors loading large maps (due to out of memory errors), e.g. the world map should maybe be gone. Improved memory management of the game.
• Bugfix Crashes: when main thread-based I/O interface was null (not properly synchronized).
• Bugfix Crashes: while loading/displaying the planned events list.
• Bugfix Crashes: while modding province that has already been removed.

2017-08-22: Update 4.3.165 - UI Fixes, Clan Options, Networking, etc.

• Game Option: sending or requesting monetary funds (sending/getting help) can now disabled via game setup. Disable "Trading Assets" (advanced game setup options).
• Balancing: transaction fee for sending help (gold) to other nations reduced to a -10% fee (was -25% previously).
• UI: reduced the brightness of the yellow in-game GUI. Sorry, it was too distracting!
• UI: scenario selection popup window updated.
• UI: misc. fixes for alignment horizontal/vertical.
• Upcoming Game Timer: the upcoming game timer now refreshes every so often & shows when a game becomes available to play (no refresh previously).
• Networking: improved networking for fast games when the main server (login & main chat) is e.g. down for maintenance. Reduces errors submitting orders.
• Networking: improved performance for fast games. Reduced DB/networking for smoother performance.
• Translation Keys: to show the translation keys in the user interface, (1) go to settings and (2) enable the checkbox "Translation Keys".
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Clan Profile: shows the level for each member also (even if not part of a clan).
• Clans: in the clan settings there is now an option to disable new requests to join a clan (uncheck the checkbox).
• Clans: removing a player from a clan also shows the required elapsed time also (72h).
• Unverified Users: cannot participate in betting games anymore. Please contact the moderators to have your account verified.
• Unverified Users: there now is a [Verify...] button on the accounts settings (cog-button chat). It will send a verification request to the moderators.
• Tutorial: optimized for small screens, i.e. making sure everything is properly visible.
• Error Reporting: ALT+F8 allows reporting app log files to the developer, to e.g. have bugs fixed.
• Error Reporting: Enable "Error Reporting" in the game's settings to enable pushing the top/left corner of the game's screen to popup an error reporter. Should work even if the game appears stuck (in most cases).
• Modding: error output improved when map digest became too large (need to reduce number of scenarios).
• Admin IP and ID Bans: functionality improved for better banning of repeated cheating accounts (less manual labor).
• Admin IP and ID Bans: admin guide updated. Please read!
• Admin Terminal: admin guide updated. Please read!
• Admin Investigations: shows if an account is disabled in the list now also, i.e. '-'.
• Bugfix: map download counter should now be properly hidden when outside of scroll panel view.
• Bugfix: map counter showing download count now properly refreshes if map downloads have completed.
• Bugfix: cancelled purchases were partly considered valid and applied to a user's account.
• Bugfix: BiDi text rendering was partly broken, i.e. the L2R/etc. markers ignored. Arabic/Hebrew should now display correctly (as before).
• Bugfix Crashes: while building troops/watch tower while the GUI was already disposed.
• Bugfix Crashes: during private messaging while the network was already disposed.
• Bugfix Crashes: editing the events could cause crashes when pressing the (+) button too quickly (admin function).
• Bugfix Crashes: possible bugfix for crashes when logging in via Google Play.
• Bugfix Crashes: music was not properly retained and threw an error (defaults to silent rather than crash now).
• Bugfix Crashes: while modding and a combat/combat bonus was not found, an error is output.
• Bugfix Crashes: clicking on user field (probably hidden?) when no user was set for an existing translation.

2017-08-08: Update 4.2.162 - Incognito Mode, Balancing, UI & Fixes

• Incognito Mode: games can now played anonymously by setting the "Incognito Mode" checkbox during game setup!
• Random Games: the nation you join is hidden as long as the game has not started. That's to avoid confusion!
• Balancing: a transaction fee of -25% is assessed for transfer of funds from one nation to the other.
• UI Font: main UI font updated :)
• UI Game: new in-game UI look! :-D
• UI Game: misc. alignment and other minor fixes.
• UI: misc. fixes for text wrapping/scroll wrapping.
• Inactive Games (multiplayer): games where all players are inactive, they will end prematurely. That's to speed up tournaments & leagues with games that only have inactive players.
• Networking: switched networking over to DNS to support connecting via IPv6 networks.
• Modding: latest template ZIP uploaded for modded maps. Please update to that latest version which has a few additional nations. http://www.ageofconquest.com/modding.html
• Modding: editor will now output an error when testing/uploading for maps that have (a) unconnected provinces or (b) very tiny provinces (to prevent problems when playing the map).
• Modding: removing/updating background music for maps will not throw an error anymore while trying to upload a map update (removed backwards-compatibility check!)
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Performance: touch-detection on Windows has caused considerable slowdown during rendering (lagging). It's now disabled. Go to [Settings] and enable "Onscreen Keyboard" if you are in touch-mode and require a keyboard.
• Performance: GUI object allocation reduced (using default object for padding/etc. if possible).
• Server: updated to prevent tampering with games by e.g. negative coin sponsoring.
• Bugfix Listing: the game sometimes gets stuck listing downloaded maps. Improved retaining/releasing of temporary images that could potentially result in never-ending loading loop.
• Bugfix Crashes: while entering actions (e.g. changing governors checkbox) while not being properly joined to a game.
• Bugfix Crashes: loading the clan messages while network was not available.
• Bugfix Crashes: during game listing some data was 'null' producing a crash.
• Bugfix Crashes: if app version number could not be determined, it defaults to 0.0.0 (instead of 'null').

2017-07-18: Update 4.1.159 - Joining Games, Game Setup & misc.

• Diplomacy Setup: the game now allows setting the starting condition of a game to all nations allied at game start or at an x-turn ceasefire when the game beings (Advanced Options / Starting Diplomacy)!
• Disjoining Rated Games: you cannot disjoin rated games anymore (in addition to disjoining betting games).
• Joining Games: the chat now also shows which nation a player has joined a game as!
• Joinable Games/Game Type Abbreviations: the joinable games list shows abbrevations for the various games and their game modes, e.g. "nK" for "no king".
• Joinable Games/Filter Permanent: the game now stores the latest search/filter settings for joinable games. That way you only need to apply some of the settings once and they stick for the next time when you come back.
• Joinable Games/Setup: additional information if game is "Total War", "Total Peace", "All Allies" or "Ceasefire X Turns" (only available for newly created games!)
• Fast Games (Blitz): improved handling of order/action submissions to server by also accepting "older" orders (less problems during bad network connections).
• Fast Games (Blitz): server threads increased 8x. Should potentially improve connections to Blitz-servers!?
• Version Checker: the game will check if the game client version is up-to-date and will output a warning if you are running an old version of the game. Although older versions work fine, some game-play features for multiplayer might not always work as intended (e.g. parameters changed).
• Versioning: I will start updating the "minor" versions in MAJOR.MINOR.BUILD (e.g. the "1" in 4.1.237) if you are advised to upgrade. Increased minor versions indicates that some parameters/etc. have changed which can effect game-play. Running older versions in single player is fine, but using older versions in multiplayer can have negative side effects.
• Rankings Table: the standings for the FAST/non-Team are now loaded automatically when opening the rankings screen.
• AI Ratings: improved averaging of AI rating with tendency to lower bounds (multiplayer ratings).
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Translations: latest render glyphs added that were missing (Chinese).
• Guide/Texts: some minor spelling fixes!
• Admin Guide: usernames vs. display names explained and also how to change a username when a player requests it.
• Admin Guide: how to handle accounts that are found cheating/bad manner and are to be banned but show purchases.
• Admin/Terminal: option to rename username (not only display names added) via "-x-rename-username:".
• Admin/Terminal: outputting account settings also when querying user accounts.
• Hacking: additional checks added on server side (purchases).
• Backend (libGDX): latest release 1.9.6/7-SNAPSHOT integrated!
• Bugfix Scrolling Wall & Mail: due to the "improved" translation popup, scrolling didn't work anymore. Should be fixed!
• Bugfix ONLINE Status: the online status of players was not always being synced correctly (especially if network was out). The ONLINE status of players should not display correctly.
• Bugfix ELO Analysis: should now correctly show the ratings and statistics in the ELO analysis tab (rather than 900/500 for everyone).
• Bugfix ELO Display: rank slightly moved to the right to prevent overlap.
• Bugfix Windows 10: touch-screen popup will not show anymore if a device is not in table/touch-screen mode.
• Bugfix Custom Onscreen Keyboard: didn't re-layout properly when text went over to the 2. line.
• Bugfix Map Downloads: didn't properly work on iOS (stuck at 0%).
• Bugfix Default Music Volume: set to 80% (50% was not loud enough).
• Bugfix Crashes: account status could not properly be determined and was 'null'.
• Bugfix Crashes: vertex buffer increased to 32 (from 24) to attempt to reduce crashes ("remaining() < size" error)!?
• Bugfix Crashes: by calling uninitialized floating point abstraction (construct).

2017-06-29: Update 4.0.158 - Ratings, Online Status, misc. other Updates

• Largeness Display (Settlements): the settlement graphic will now update if the population increased or declines (rather than increasing only).
• Nation Dialog: now also shows the total troops count if visible, i.e. for self, protectorates and allies after a delay.
• Ratings Reworked: there are now ratings for (a) fast games, (b) fast games /w teams, (c) slow games and (d) slow games /w teams.
• Ratings History: a history is kept of previous ratings & can be graphed over time (max. 10 years). For each month 3 data points are recorded: 1.-10., 11.-20. and 21.-*.
• Ratings: volatility now both increases & decreases.
• Friend/Player Status: players that are connected to the game have their profile icon shown in a BLUE ring (rather than golden!) :-D
• Friends/Team Members: are now sorted by online & last online status :)
• AI on Inhuman: targeting of commando-units/kings improved :-P
• AI & Submission Demands: now more slightly more likely to accept to become a protectorate if the other nation is quite a lot larger.
• "King Dead Bug": a king/ruler will survive if the battle was won even though the king's army perished.
• "King Disappearing Bug": there was an additional check missing if a king was eliminated in cases where territory revolted, became neutral and eliminated a king.
• "Join War Penalty": for open travel, there now also is a -50% happiness penalty when accepting to join a war where the player already has troops on the territory! See for reference:
• Award Medals/Trophies: medals & trophies are now only given out for rated games!
• Account Mode: "banned" added. A banned player can still access purchasing information but not create/join games or send messages except the moderators team. Minimal account functions only.
• Installed Maps: display formatting improved (update date).
• Guide "Actions & Events": further information added that explains how strong/weak nations are determined, i.e. using the standings at the previous turn.
• Guide "Diplomacy": 20% of the protectorate's gross income goes to the protector.
• Guide: new rule regarding teasing others and entrapment. Please refrain from agitating other players.
• Guide: what to do when going on vacation.
• Guide: what will happen to compromised accounts and players spreading private account information.
• Translation Popup: using onRelease (instead of onPress) now to open the translation popup menu.
• Translation Popup: long-presses on touch-screens now bring up translation options for Chat, Wall and In-Game Messages.
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Translations: render glyphs for Chinese updated.
• Multiplayer Dashboard: "LIVE Games" and "Slow Games" buttons added. Might reduce confusion how to find multiplayer games?
• Administration: in-game text messaging is now disabled for SILENCED accounts.
• Administration: private messaging (outside games) is now disabled for SILENCED accounts, except contacting the moderators group.
• Reporting: reporting of games (rather than just players) functionality added. Click on the [Report...] button in a multiplayer game to report it.
• Reporting: min. character length reduced to 50 (from 100 characters).
• Downloadable Map Count: count-bubble will now update the count after a map download has finished (was only refreshing every 30 min. before).
• Modding: Confirm dialog added when removing a nation from a scenario.
• Performance Tweaking: to prevent frozen displays/ANRs.
• Performance Tweaking: number of sound FX in memory doubled.
• Admin Guide: updated to include information of how to handle your personal inbox.
• Admin Guide: information added in regards to the upcoming incognito mode (future release).
• Admin Guide: information to new "banned" account status as compared to "silenced".
• Bugfix Crashes: trying to play disposed audio file (null pointer exception).
• Bugfix Crashes: clicking the enhance key (keyboard) and panel was 'null'.
• Bugfix Crashes: during troop movements, when troops where 'null' (cause unknown???).

2017-05-30: Update 4.0.157 - Maintenance Release /w Latest Translations

• Inauguration Parties: should now also work for provinces that have been taken over by capturing/eliminating another king.
• Joinable Games: can now be filtered by maps that a player has installed/not installed also (in addition for single maps ONLY).
• Banned Accounts: this has now be renamed to "silenced", i.e. a previously banned account was just silenced from posting on walls and chat.
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Performance Tuning (Freezing): should run slightly faster during event display and potentially prevent freezes. At the same time, the AI should update faster as well. Should also reduce ANRs on Android.
• Manual Updated: public shaming, slander, defamation and such are not tolerated in the game anymore. We value everyone's privacy highly.
• Code Cleanup: obsolete code removed from game.
• Bugfix Crashes: divisions by 0 during animations.
• Bugfix Crashes: music not properly loaded.
• Bugfix Crashes: while not properly being able to join game ('null'-pointer error).
• Bugfix Crashes (Android): large heap requested which should reduce crashes by out of memory errors!?

2017-05-16: Update 4.0.156 - Statistics Updated, Protectorate Strips etc

• End Game Statistics: Happiness & Population graphs added (will have no data missing for games that have already started!).
• End Game Statistics: Total Income & Expenses listed for each nation (will have no data missing for games that have already started!).
• Event Dialog GUI: improved & also added graph which shows progress over time.
• Protectorate Stripes: stripes now colored in the protector's color (non-white). :-D
• Clan Management: there now is a [Join]-button on each clan's profile to make joining the clan easier for others!
• Guide/Modding Updated: section about which assets we accept for modded maps, i.e. "Public Domain", "CC0" or "CC-BY".
• Translations: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
• Translations/Glyphs: missing Romanian & Chinese letters added.
• Translation Warning: you will now be warned if you are translating a language you are most likely non-native in. Also, please read the instructions!
• Translation Instructions: updated what we consider ban-worthy offenses. Translating isn't about use or you, it's to provide high-quality texts in other languages for players that are not fluent in English - Thanks!
• Translation Center Bugfix: very long texts could throw an error. The database wasn't able to index the text. Should be fixed now!
• Starting Games Early (multiplayer): confirmation dialog added so a game is not started early by mistake.
• Disjoining Rated Games: volatility will not change anymore when disjoining a rated game!
• Bugfix Gifting: gifting maps/coins/etc. was broken. The error "no access" is gone & you should be able to gift to other players again.
• Bugfix Stripe (purchasing): should now properly output an error for double purchases.
• Bugfix Freezes: games would sometimes not update due to duplicate IDs causing crashes.
• Bugfix Crashes (Modding): pressing key while no scenario was selected (rare occurance).
• Bugfix Crashes: during game setup (not everything was initialized fully when called).
• Bugfix Crashes: showing the number of available maps for download (count "bubble").

2017-05-02: Update 4.0.154 - Map Rating, Sorting, Searching & misc.

• Random Games (single player): a new dialog allows selection of AI difficulty and objective now!
• Messaging: the messaging system now shows the unread count by default (ditto it was before). To enable the [Done] button to mark messages as read manually, go into your account settings (via cog-icon in chat) and enable the [Done] button. That way, you can track messages better you haven't responded to.
• Chat Broadcasts: shows the turn number also if a game has started (shows nothing if still in setup).
• Map Downloads: maps can now be rated :-D
• Map Downloads: maps can now (a) be sorted and (b) be searched by name :-D
• Map Downloads: display improved for small screens. Also fixed for large screens (line breaks).
• Maximum Turn: the new minimum max. turn that can be selected is 20 (was 10 before), to prevent people from gambling the system.
• Minimum Turn Duration for Slow/Longhaul Games: minimum is now 8h/turn (compared to 12h/turn before). Please be aware that if you sleep more than 8h per day, you will potentially lose games!
• Mobile (iOS/Android): auto-submit speed up by 3 seconds, i.e. is 3 seconds earlier to make up for slow internet connections.
• Provinces/GUI: dropdown list added to allow sorting provinces by either (a) population size or (b) happiness.
• View Games: button renamed to "Play Games" -- hopefully players will be able to find games now!?
• Translations: updating existing translations will only pay 1 coin per fix (independent of the word count) to combat false submissions to gain coins only.
• Translations: the last author for an existing translation will be listed if the information is available. That's to track down players that submit bad translations. Be wary!
• Translations: latest translations added. Thanks :-D
• Translations: glyph list updated (some missing Chinese characters added).
• Translations: "Albanian" added, which is now also available for translations!
• AI Bugfix: first nation in a game would not move at all in first turn under certain circumstances.
• AI Bugfix: the AI would not do anything if there were no settlements available in a map.
• Volume Slider (Music/Sound FX): adjusted to better represent the actual volume (changed from linear to exponential!).
• Admin Function (moderators): query promo deal redeem status information via terminal.
• Admin Function (moderators): functionality to view a user's purchases (should not give "no access" anymore).
• Admin Function (Officers/Dev ONLY): option to add/subtract coins from an account via terminal.
• Admin Function (Officers/Dev ONLY): option to add/remove products from an account via terminal.
• Bugfix Crashes: clicking the auto-translation button in the language center.
• Bugfix Crashes: adding a 'null'-GUI child to a GUI group was crashing the game (ignoring it now).
• Bugfix Crashes: when displaying the final results screen (and some users were 'null').
• Bugfix Crashes: when changing commerce tax levels (entry was not ready yet/gone already).
• Bugfix Crashes: would crash on Android sometimes during signing/logging in.

2017-04-11: Update 4.0.153 - Japan Maps & misc. minor Updates

• Japan Maps: two new official maps "Feudal Japan" and "Japan & Korea". :-D
• AI Balancing: the AI is playing a lot less aggressive now on lower difficulty levels. Also, there was a bug making the AI declare war even on the Casual/Easy levels.
• Team Games: Diplomacy & Elections are disabled by default for team-game scenarios. You can re-enable those options during game setup via advanced options if desired!
• Private Messaging: the private message inbox shows an unread message count also for each message that has the [Done] button active (to track read but pending messages). Click the [Done] button to mark as handled. If this is
• GUI Fixes: the top/centered main HUD during game-play was preventing some map-clicks from passing through. That should now be fixed and the provinces close to the main HUD at the top/center are now selectable.
• Modding: after play-testing a map, the game will return to the editor (rather than the menu screens).
• Modding: allows adding a different commando-unit icon besides the crown-icon for each nation. E.g. Samurai Helmet for Japan map :-D
• Translations: latest translations added. Thanks :-D
• Translation Glyphs: update for Hebrew & Chinese.
• Translation Thai: bugfix attempt rendering character 0x0E48.
• Admin (Officers): promo code generator also offers 250 coin promos (use for name changes as needed!).
• Bugfix Crashes: when opening a multiplayer game when not logged in (Steam redirect).
• Bugfix Crashes: changing the audio volume (maybe fixed!?)
• Bugfix Crashes: while removing non-existing image from texture atlas.

2017-03-28: Update 4.0.152 - End Screen Stats, Map Shading, Balancing

• Game Ended Screen: the end-game screen is now vastly improved with various additional statistics & better layouting :-D
• Game Ended/Player Eliminated: some basic statistics stay now enabled and can still be accessed, i.e. the analysis and objective.
• Balancing/Team Games: due to the many player requests, I have re-enabled (a) diplomacy and (b) elections by default. Please turn off as needed :-P
• Balancing/Administration Cost: changed formula for the administration cost to 1/sqrt(x) where x is proportional to the population/nation size. As a positive (hopefully), if you hold a fertility festival, the income should now always increase (and not go down).
• Overview Map: can now be opened & closed.
• Overview Map: there is a button that switches the map display between nation-based coloring and diplomacy-based coloring.
• Rankings Table: now also shows the clan's (if any) a user does belong to :-D
• Rankings Table: the rankings table now looks at updated ratings in the past 60 days (was 14 days before) when building the new rankings table.
• Sponsoring: games can now sponsor 1., 2. and 3. places (not only the 1. place finisher).
• Betting Coins: the amount can now be split between the top 3 players if desired (rather than just winner-takes-all).
• AI Exploit: AI was accepting to become a protectorate to easily. This is now disabled for multiplayer games & has a smaller likelihood to be accepted in single player matches.
• Cost for name change: now 250 coins (was 1000 coins). Please note, for a first name change, simply message the moderators and we will change it at no cost!
• Cost for new clan (already previously applied): now 500 coins (was 2000 coins).
• Clan Message Board: clan members with status ACTOR or higher can delete messages from the clan message board now!
• Banning from Game Chat: game-creators can only ban players for 7 minutes in their in-game chat (to prevent abuse).
• Guide: administration cost explained in further details (see section "Economy" in the Guide).
• Guide/FAQ: text updated for rating inflations when playing against the AI (don't do it or else).
• Guide/FAQ: speaking other languages besides English in the chat/wall/etc. It's OK, but using English fosters cross-cultural communication.
• Guide/FAQ: please be nice to the moderators, they are not out to get you!
• Guest Login: you don't need to enter your old password when setting a new password as you won't know the guest password (was auto-created).
• Translations: latest translations added. Thanks :-D
• Font/Small: mini font size slightly increased to make it more readable.
• Fixes: misc. spelling corrected.
• Admin Function: we have now the option to add comments to user profiles (e.g. why we flagged or banned them etc.).
• Admin Function: query function added to locate a player's user accounts for those who have forgotten their login information (if you have an invoice ID, we can now locate your username).
• Admin Guide: guide updated on how to write admin comments for flagged, banned or disabled users.
• Bugfix: Moderator messages (via inbox) cannot be blocked and are delivered even if the moderator group has been blocked by a user.
• Bugfix: mouse cursor for touch-scroll didn't always properly reset to mouse-pointer (was still 'the hand').
• Bugfix Server: password recovery via email didn't work (was loading mail-server settings from wrong configuration file).
• Bugfix Crashes: game would crash at startup while failing to display error dialog when the GUI wasn't loaded yet. Might still fail with the original error though?

2017-03-14: Update 4.0.151 - Pricing Changes (incl. Coins), GUI & misc.

• Pricing Changes: +5 coins/login per day (instead of +1), +10 coins/login on Monday (instead of +6), -5 coins to CREATE multiplayer games (instead of -2). Maps are USD 1.- respectively 100 coins cheaper.
• Pricing Changes/Reasoning: the new system will allow you to get new maps for free earlier. You will be able to obtain the e.g. mini world map now priced at 100 coins within 20 days (i.e. 20 logins) instead of 6 months compared to the old system. Although the cost of creating new games has increased, the coins per days has increased 5-fold replenishing coin balances quicker.
• Android/iOS: pinch-zoom functionality implemented for map :)
• Camera Movement: speed increased ~3x to actually arrive at the action location before the action ends :)
• Redo-Button for Blitz: the [Redo]-button for Blitz games is gone. It causes potential synchronization issues. Use the Undo-ALL button in-game instead.
• Disjoining Games: the disjoin has an additional checkbox now that needs to be selected to disjoin to prevent accidential game disjoins!
• Rated Games: only count as rated if 2+ human players are playing.
• Clan Memberships: there now is a 72h period in which a player cannot leave or be kicked from a clan (to prevent abuse).
• Clan Memberships/Guide: please note that joining/disjoining a clan to circumvent the clan restrictions can get your account flagged or more (see Guide for details).
• Rankings: the Top 100 rankings can now be downloaded as a comma-delimited CSV text file. Click the [Download]-button on the rankings page!
• Messaging: messages sent to and from the "Moderators" group cannot be blocked. Otherwise we are not able to respond to inquiries!
• Guide: laymen's description added to how the rating system works (where it links to the Wikipedia's Glicko rating system page).
• Translations: latest translations added. Thanks :-D
• Admin Option: moderators can now ban players from the chat for an arbitrary number of minutes as needed (not limited to 7 minutes only anymore).
• Admin Option: moderators have now the option to manually adjust player's ratings (for players trying to manually inflate their ratings).
• Admin Option: moderators have now the option to manually adjust a player's awards.
• Bugfix Chat: some usernames were non-clickable in chat (parsing fixed).
• Bugfix Steam: allowing multiple games using the libGDX-backend to access Steam functions at the same time (before, Steam wouldn't work for a 2nd game that is running).
• Bugfix Tournaments: tournament game setup could break if a perfect number of players would join, e.g. 180 players for a 30 players per game and 5 players advancing.
• Bugfix Crashes: during game startup (loading inventory).

2017-02-28: Update 4.0.150 - AI Updated, News/Events, Translations

• AI Normal, Hard & Inhuman: improved happiness/population management. Should be stronger!
• AI/Inhuman: slightly more angry towards human players :-P
• Domination Goal/Objective: protectorates count 100% towards victory points. Also, if captured & enabled, nations are converted to protectorate states.
• Joinable Blitz/Fast Games: the list now refreshes every 15 seconds while you are on the open games page :-D
• Joinable Games List: can now be sorted by (a) players, (b) latest and (c) name of the games.
• Exploit Fixed: only human players count for betting games (no more coin farming).
• Event Calendar: shows blinking indicator light if events are upcoming very "soon"!
• News Section: there is now a latest news section above the public wall (multiplayer).
• Chat Game Broadcasts: limited to 2.5 minute interval (was 2 minutes before). This is to reduce spamming.
• Hiding ONLINE Status: there is now an additional setting to hide your online status. It currently hides your presence in the main chat only (you will still be counted though). This does not affect game-related chats. Also, posting in the chat still works, so don't post if you don't want to get caught. Anyhow, this is a preparation for an upcoming feature showing online status information of friends/players in general.
• Banned Players: they can still create games (re-enabled).
• Manual/Guide: contains examples and additional details on how to calculate attacks and defenses.
• Translation Center/Instructions: do NOT translate tags or the special plural form markers.
• Translations: latest translations added. Thanks :-D
• Translations: glyph-list updated (e.g. Lithuanian characters added).
• Spelling fixes (misc.).
• Performance: slight performance update (rendering speed/not checking screen density every loop).
• Server: tracking improved & security hardened (failed logins/account creation).
• Server: inactive users (no login for 6+ months) will have their profile picture reset to none. That's to reclaim database disk space. This has no negative side effect beside a player that didn't play for a very long time to have to re-create their profile image. All other data including ratings etc. will be preserved.
• Modding Wiki: moved to a static page (as I was the only one editting anyway).
• Bugfix AI: happiness sorter was not correct (loked very minor!?).
• Bugfix Translations: error that no valid translation was provided fixed (rare cases).
• Bugfix Crashes: translation center (login change).

2017-02-14: Update 4.0.149 - AI/Fortifications, Blocked Users, Guide...

• Balancing Fortifications (Walled Cities): neutral troops inside a walled city will now also get a fortification bonus (+100%). The walls previously had no effect on those troops.
• Blocked Users: if you have blocked a player, the player will not be able to join your games anymore.
• Clan Settings added: option to turn off game invites now available for clans as well!
• AI Updated: should handle fortifications of provinces better.
• Manual Updated: upkeep cost is 5 gold per 100 units. Separately calculated for each provinces and always >=1.
• Manual Updated: instructions to cross-platform login added (also shown below e.g. "Login via Steam" button on login dialog!)
• Manual Updated: coin refunds for multiplayer games explained.
• Manual Updated: spreading lies or rumors (your account might be flagged, banned or disabled).
• Manual Updated: aggressive clan recruiting from other clans is considered bad behavior and we reserve the right to take appropriate actions.
• Manual Updated: auto-deletion of multiplayer games explained.
• Android Notification Light: color can be set or turned OFF completely.
• Translations: latest translations integrated - Thanks for the help :-D
• Translations: plural forms for numbers added. Please read the updated translation instructions and also refer to the corresponding definitions for your language as needed here: http://www.unicode.org/cldr/charts/latest/supplemental/language_plural_rules.html
• Language Glyphs: missing glyphs added (Chinese, Serbian/Cyrillic, etc.)
• Spelling: misc. bugfixes.
• Events Calendar Updated: more space for upcoming events.
• FPS-Counter: reduced in size.
• Admin Settings added: option to turn off game invites.
• Admin Guide Updated (admins only): some more information about approving/rejecting translations.
• Admin Events Setup: option to limit events by number of clan players.
• Bugfix: Joining/Disjoing a game will not re-broadcast a game in the chat. Please use the [Announce in Chat]-button once enough time has elapsed.
• Bugfix for Keyboard/iOS: the keyboard offset was wrongly calculated on iPhone displacing the screen too little. Should be fixed now.
• Bugfix Crashes: translation center.
• Bugfix Crashes: on Windows NT the custom mouse cursor could produce crashes (should be fixed now?)

2017-02-01: Update 4.0.148 - Disable Invites & Latest Translations/Chars

• Game Invites: option to block game invites. Select the (Cog)-button in the chat, then [Settings...] and uncheck "Receive Invites".
• Languages: Missing Glyphs added (Chinese/Persian/Malay/etc.).
• Languages: Latest translations added - Thanks for all the help :-D
• Translation Center: shows the keys (instead of the texts) in the key-list. They should provide more context!
• Translation Center/Text Input: now show special characters for unsupported/not integrated characters. See updated manual for details.
• Server: Performance Update (JMS/ActiveMQ).
• Admin/Translation Center: improved diff-rendering (when formatting marks were present).
• Admin/Translation Center: user option to ban from translating (checkbox added!)
• Bugfix Crashes: custom onscreen keyboard text wasn't properly synced to actual text.
• Bugfix Crashes: while parsing "recursive" text, i.e. the game becomes unresponsive.

2017-01-28: Update 4.0.147 - Translation & Render-Glyphs Updated

• Coin Display: additional refresh calls added to properly refresh the coin-balance.
• Coin Notification: will be sent to a player that has won a game and received coins.
• Translations: latest translations added -- Thanks for all the help guys! :-D
• Translation Center: if just one text was rejected, it will be shown in the rejection notification.
• Translation Center: I reworked the server. Submitting/etc. should go a lot smoother (no more timeouts). Please report problems if they persist?
• Translation Center: info bubble now also shows % completion (for relevant user's language).
• Translation/Render Glyphs: Ukrainian/Vietnamese/Hebrew/etc. render-glyphs added (some were missing).
• Chat Function "/chess": it prints a chessboard (nothing else at the moment).
• Admin/Translation Center: now shows diffs also for updated texts.
• Bugfix Laptops /w Touch-Screen: the onscreen keyboard will now properly pop up if entering text & in touch-mode.
• Bugfix Login via Google Play: updated the backend libraries & implemented some fixes for possible crashes.
• Bugfix Server: catching leaked DB connection.
• Bugfix Crashes: when onscreen keyboard was closed after a GUI component was already released.
• Bugfix Crashes: for copy/paste and text entry in non-system onscreen keyboard.
• Bugfix Crashes: due to background music player disposing already gone objects.

2017-01-25: Update 4.0.141 - Translation Center, Rated Games Restricted

• Balancing: only map scenarios marked as "Balanced" can be used to create (a) rated or (b) gambling games.
• Balancing for "Capture the Flag" & "Offense/Defense" goals: those modes default to unbalanced and cannot be used in rated/gambling-type games anymore (too much abuse!).
• Balancing/Modding: all map scenarios default to unbalanced! Please re-upload your map with the corresponding balanced scenarios marked as "Balanced"! They will be not able to be used for rated/gambling games otherwise.
• Translation Center: the game has now a translation center build in :-D If you want to help, please open the translation center & provide translations for your native language. You'll get coins for accepted translations :-D
• Translations via Android/iOS: the game now default to the system's onscreen keyboard, that means, you can also do voice-translations! Speak your translation & it will appear in the text box. Just fixup errors & submit :-D
• Arabic/Hebrew Rendering & Text Input: I did an overhaul over the bidirectional rendering engine. It should work a lot better. Please report problems - Thanks :-D
• Bidirectional Cursor Input: to support Arabic & Hebrew text input, the input cursor is now bi-directional (can be turned off).
• Banned Users/Games: banned users cannot create games anymore (join will still work).
• GUI Performance: improved performance where lots of items out of view were still rendered (send to GPU). They are now not rendered.
• GUI Scrolling: scrolling was slowing down rendering (fixed a bug that did a re-layout every frame during scroll-moving).
• GUI/Awards: clicking on the awards now brings the tooltip also (e.g. useful if you are on a touch-screen!).
• Steam: now shows "rich presence" & players can join someone's game directly without invite (advertised in Steam-chat!) :-D
• Steam/Language Default: is now the game's default language (ignoring the system setting).
• Steam Backend: changed to Steamworks4J 1.6.1 (was old PuppyGames library previously)
• Moderating (Admin ONLY): looking at an account now always queries the database for the latest information (reseting the cache). If a user is e.g. "banned" it will now show!
• System Onscreen-Keyboard: integrated for Android & iOS (mostly working). Go to [Settings] and enable the "Onscreen Keyboard: System" to disable if you have problems.
• Translation Updated - Polish: thanks :-D
• Bugfix Saving As...: saving maps or exporting shapes didn't allow to select a file name anymore.
• Bugfix GUI: Toast-messages such as "Downloads Finished" are now properly displayed above everything incl. popups (so they are visible).
• Bugfix Purchasing (Steam): purchases would only work the 1. time & then get stuck with the "purchasing..." overlay.
• Bugfix Crashes: local awards list not matching with obtained awards.

2017-01-10: Update 4.0.140 - Awards Added, Balancing, Upkeep, GUI & more

• Top Rated Profile Award (monthly): the top rated player each month will receive a new trophy in their profile :-D
• Profile Award - Activity: if a player is active during the month, +1 Viral award will be handed out :-D
• Profile Award - Modding: for players that submitted maps & got their map accepted.
• Profile Awards - "Supporter" & "Sugar Daddy": for Supporters & Sugar Daddies (that made purchases and gave out gifts to other players).
• Accounts in Bad Standing: disabled, banned or flagged accounts will now show an icon over their profile picture to warn others :-D
• Balancing Administration: the cost is now based on f(x) = -x^3 + 3x^2. The previous function used a circle equation to determine costs which would result in the cost suddenly to skyrocket and the abruptly resolve to linear. Please note that administration will increase a few gold for smaller nations!
• Decree Icons: they are now shown on the province overview & city views. Indicate if a decree can be executed or not (non grayed out). Please note, you need to download the latest map versions to see them.
• Decree Icons/Modding: please download the latest template.ZIP & apply the bundle.config to your map to have them contain decree icons!
• Military Upkeep: there is no an option to enable/disable adjustable military upkeep. If disabled, military upkeep is fixed at 100%. If enabled, troops can grow/shrink depending on the level of upkeep selected (like before).
• Military Upkeep/Modding: please uncheck the parameter "Military Upkeep" (new checkbox), to disable the option by default for your map! It's on by default.
• Military Upkeep: I have adjusted all the "noblemaster" maps to have adjustable military upkeep disabled by default (you can enable it still during game setup if desired)!
• Game Status (multiplayer): re-ordered so games where you are alive are listed higher up than games were you were already eliminated.
• Game Deletions (auto): non-ended/ongoing games are not deleted as quickly as ended games.
• Multiplayer Policy: please note that (a) scamming players by repeatedly setting up unfair games and (b) false advertisement of games is not tolerated anymore (Guide updated).
• GUI/Menu: improved incl. the top bar which is now narrower.
• GUI Input: Bugfix for text-selection in text-input (position was thought to be centered while it wasn't). Also, newline now should work correctly :)
• GUI Input: up/down cursor-key should now work :-D
• GUI Input: now supports text selection, copy/paste etc.
• Admin Terminal: interface improved (moderators ONLY).
• Server: monitoring updated (Admin only). Emergency mode added to allow logs when services could not be instantiated.
• Server: performance update during reboot (backup was slow - increased speed by moving backup finalization outside). Also using Liquibase 3.5.3 which should be faster.
• Server: backend updated (Jetty 9.2.20 + ActiveMQ 5.14.3)
• Bugfix/Saved Games Listing: for some players the games wouldn't show (load the list forever). That's because an empty files could break the loading of the files list.
• Bugfix League-Results: only the 1. player that finished was recognized, the other players were added to the wrong table :-/
• Bugfix Spelling: loose - lose!
• Bugfix Language Detection & Selection (Locale): was not working correctly for some corner cases.
• Bugfix Crashes: Server Dashboard when Blitz-Servers are down.
• Bugfix Crashes: when notice-manager was null (i.e. not logged in/connected).

2016-12-27: Update 4.0.139 - Strict Diplomacy, Exploits & Bugfixes

• Diplomacy Option "Strict": for strict diplomacy (default), it means protectorates with the same protector cannot go to war with each other. Existing wars stop.
• Diplomacy Protectorates: Protectorates cannot change their protector (only cancel the relation). Other nations cannot ask existing protectorates to switch their protector.
• Diplomacy/Peace to Alliance: there is no more penalty when upgrading a relation from Peace to an Alliance.
• Exploit/Recruiting (used in Cheating?): improved verification of number of troops when recruiting. Fixes a bug also when the AI was recruiting too many troops from a provinces resulting in 0 population.
• Exploit/Disband (used in Cheating?): improved verification of number of troops to disband. Potentially was used to artificially increase population sizes!
• Message Board on Multiplayer Dashboard: there is now a minimum 25 character requirement for the message board. You won't be able to post until you wrote at least 25 character. Don't spam or your account will be banned!
• Camera Button: it's now visible below all the other panels to allow clicking on them (e.g. being able to close the diplomacy panel).
• GUI/Tax Season Notification: now takes you directly to the finances panel to adjust taxes.
• GUI Improvements: long nation names/etc. are now abbreviated with an ellipsis...
• Server Maintenance/Improvements: misc. to simplify updates.
• Server Dashboard (Admin only): improved /w additional statistics.
• Bugfix Messages: messages of eliminated nations are not delivered anymore.
• Bugfix Crashes/Editor (Modding): will now throw an error if an invent/estate definition is missing.
• Bugfix Crashes: when a game was already deleted & game-information was being reloaded!

2016-12-20: Update 4.0.138 - Open Travel (Friendly), New Servers, etc.

• Game Option: Open travel through friendly territory! If enabled, you can move troops through ally/protectorate territory. If your troops are caught on non-friendly territory, you will get a penalty each turn for those troops.
• Modding/Editor: additional template parameters added (defaults) that can be adjusted for a map.
• Modding template.ZIP: I improved some of the asset loading (please download the latest template.ZIP from the Wiki).
• GUI Improvement: the lone & sad "Villages" tab has now been moved into the first admin panel & the button removed.
• GUI for Chat + In-Game Info (multiplayer): refined.
• GUI: misc. refinements & other improvements (less clutter, better organized).
• Joinable Games List: required ELO min & max rating for a game displayed also (if set).
• Joined Longhaul Games: exiting a longhaul game will go back directly to the other longhaul games (rather than the multiplayer dashboard).
• Networking: performance update while loading games lists (prevented multiple loading of same/not loading images where not needed).
• Client: improved file loading/listing & tried to make it more smooth (System.gc() removed). Might produce problems???
• Server: additional Longhaul-server added (capped at 512 games max).
• Server: separate map download server: downloads are now at maximum speed! :-D
• Game Auto-Deletion: faster for games that have ended.
• Bugfix Camera Functionality: they file paths were not always correct on all platforms.
• Bugfix Auto-Deletion of Scheduled Events: some auto-started games from the event system would delete automatically in some cases due to mistakenly thinking the games were inactive!
• Bugfix Tournament Table: was still showing "running..." for tournaments that were already over.
• Bugfix Parser: when parsing links and email addresses.
• Bugfix Crashes: while selecting/hovering over links.
• Bugfix Crashes: when showing game information that became unavailable ('null').

2016-12-13: Update 4.0.136 - Quick Join & Scheduled Events :)

• Quick Join (BETA!): There is now a [Quick Join] button which will auto-setup games for players! No more searching for games, just enter the pool and wait for enough players to join. Games will begin as soon as enough players are waiting in the pool. :)
• Scheduled Events (BETA!): We now have scheduled events! We will kick it off with "Mayhem Thursday". Throughout the day, we will have scheduled fast games every 3h! Other events TBD. Please note this is still considered a late BETA, so please be warned!
• Tournament/League Pages: improved incl. LIVE-stats!
• In-Game Walls: please note that for tournaments & leagues the wall will now show the overall discussions (not just for that game).
• In-Game Information: showing the tournament/league info also!
• Medals & Trophies: giving out tournament/league trophies & more game-awards now.
• Ranks based on Olympics format: if there are e.g. 2 players sharing the 1. place the third player will be placed in 3. place (not 2.).
• Game Invites: show the map name also now!
• Editor/Modding: nation icons are now cropped, so they always appear rounded (you don't need to do it yourself anymore).
• Admin Inbox/Pictures: there is now a "Save As..." function to save pictures. Some pictures are too large to display, so saving them to the hard drive first is the option to go.
• Admin Guide updated: sections "Pool Setup" & "Moderator Groups".
• Server: performance & deadlock improvements (DB).
• Bugfix Crashes/Editor: should report missing module.config parameters (NULL-nation/league) when updating creating a map.

2016-12-07: Update 4.0.135 - Diplomacy Exploit, Networking & Bugfixes

• Diplomacy Exploit (Fixed!): the system limits a player to max. 1 diplomatic message to another nation (at a time). This prevents artificially inflating your happiness. If multiple mutual requests are accepted between 2 nations, only the first request is accepted and the second one will not be applied.
• Tournaments/Leagues: Announcement button added to tournament/league lobby (to invite player).
• Broadcasting icons update for games & tournaments/leagues.
• Networking: slightly faster game listing (joined/joinable).
• Bugfix: Legend fixed (there are no endless games in AOC).
• Bugfix (Admin): refreshing/updating a user account should refresh the display correctly (no double).
• Bugfix for Background Daemon (Android/iOS).
• Bugfix Crashes (Android): added "screenSize" to the AndroidManifest.xml to prevent the app from being destroyed during screen exit!
• Bugfix Crashes (another attempt): when the cash-manager was 'null' it would result in crashes (when the game started???).

2016-12-01: Update 4.0.134 - Improved Multiplayer Listing, Emots, etc.

• Desktop N-Key: does not show population sizes anymore (except in editor). Please use the statistical overview map instead!
• Smilies: "/emots" lists all the available smilies!
• Smilies added (see /emots!) :-D
• Game Listing (multiplayer): reworked all the panels to combine rooms/make more sense (hopefully) :-D
• Game Listing (multiplayer): show a '*' for games where clans are allowed.
• Game Filter (joinable games): can be filtered by clan/no clan also.
• AI Bugfix: does not ask to join war for nations that are already dead!
• Download Latch: will be hidden during game-play (no worries, will still continue downloading in BG!)
• Tournaments/Leagues: a notification with the final standings will be sent to the owner/creator once a tournament or league ends!
• Graphics: optimized (shrunk in size).
• Bugfix: Tournaments/Leagues that have already started are hidden from the joinable games list!
• Bugfix Crashes: connection I/O objects were not properly synchronized resulting in crashes (bugfix attempt).

2016-11-16: Update 4.0.133 - Balancing Diplo Exploit, Revolts & Undo ALL

• Diplomacy Exploit (fixed): 2+ players could switch between e.g. Ceasefires & Alliances continuously to artificially increase their happiness without any penalty. Additional happiness penalties added to prevent the exploit/cheat.
• Balancing Revolts: all revolting provinces will become neutral if "Random Incidents" is turned off (default for multiplayer). Revolting provinces will not be assigned to other nations anymore.
• Happiness Display: calculates the average happiness based on the population size (rather than a province average).
• Undo-ALL Button added (during action input :-D)
• Translation Keys: missing keys added (mostly for the awards).
• Translation Tool "Apropy": the translation section contains a link now to "Apropy" a translation tool developed by Andris, a player of the game :-D (in case you are not too happy about Attesoro!).
• Translation HU: updated - Thanks :-D
• Graphics/GUI optimized (smaller in size).
• Internal Update: Server/Inventory.
• Bugfix ESC-Key (Fullscreen): only exits fullscreen for ESC-key now!!!
• Bugfix Crashes: when image was not retained/already released but rendered.

2016-11-04: Update 4.0.132 - AI Trading & Misc. Bugfixes

• AI: does now do province trading & respond better to requests sent :-D
• ESC-key can be used to exit fullscreen mode.
• Username Generator for new logins (server): random numbers added to make them more unique. Please contact the moderators team to have your display name changed as needed!
• Translation HU: Thanks :-D
• Translation ZH: Thanks :-D
• Bugfix: improved error output when uploading other people's maps.
• Bugfix Reports: if images were too large, they could not be added to the DB resulting in an error (fixed to reduce images in colors to allow for better compression).
• Bugfix Manual: Fertility festival can be held every 6 months (not every year as was originally stated in the manual).
• Bugfix Crashes: when using the editor (and look-information was not available).
• Bugfix Crashes: when opening user information but information was not available.
• Bugfix Crashes: when looking at a user's games list when not logged in.
• Bugfix Crashes: initial capacity for dropdown was less than 0 resulting in an error during array creation.

2016-10-07: Update 4.0.131 - Maintenance: Texture/Images & Income Cache

• Moderator Guide: information to moderator inbox added.
• Bugfix Income/Expenses: parameters were not properly cached producing incorrect outputs.
• Bugfix Attempt/Missing Textures: textures are now force-uploaded/flushed to the graphics GPU, to make sure they upload before the original texture data is disposed.
• Bugfix Crashes: when no nations (i.e. 0) were selected and the defense-objective selected.

2016-09-29: Update 4.0.130 - Buying & Selling of Provinces

• Provinces/Offer to Buy: you can now make offers to other nations to buy their provinces.
• Provinces/Offer to Sell: you can now offer your provinces to other nations to buy.
• Province Trading & Happiness: There is a -10% happiness penalty giving away a province. There is a -2% happiness penalty for adding new provinces into your realm. If provinces added to a nation are not next to an existing province, the trade will give an additional -20% happiness penalty for both nations involved in the trade.
• Modding: there is now an option to enable/disable open travel per default for a map bundle (Modding -> Template -> Parameters). If you have an older map, please uncheck the box and re-upload the map to have it be closed travel by default (e.g. Jacob719).
• Manual Updated: we allow one display name change for free. Please contact the moderators team if you desire to do so.
• Manual Updated: information for "unverified" users.
• Manual Updated: information for reviewers/streamers.
• Admin Guide: added (for moderator eyes ONLY).
• Bugfix: elections/diplomacy disabled for team-games (doesn't make sense with it turned ON)
• Bugfix Texts: "no member" changed to "no teams" (profile popup).
• Bugfix Building Troops: if a nation had too much gold, it wasn't able anymore to build troops on its territory (integer overflow).
• Bugfix Map Download (Fantasy Map): wasn't working for some players! - previously uploaded as bugfix!
• Bugfix FPS Limiter: resetting to unlimited when re-opening Settings screen.
• Bugfix Clan Manager: now also shows unread wall message count (missing code added).

2016-09-14: Update 4.0.128 - Compatibility & Stability Updated

• Manual Updated: code of conduct refined (playing in teams/rules).
• Manual Updated: how to become a moderator added to FAQ.
• Manual Updated: explained the rating system, i.e. link to "Glicko Rating System" added (Wikipedia).
• Manual Updated: spamming in chat/message boards.
• Broadcast Button: increased the span to 2 minutes (from 42 seconds).
• Language Updated: Greek - Thanks :-D
• Language Updated: Russian - Thanks :-D
• Compatibility (backward & forward): I have to delay the province trading feature request as this would crash on older versions of the game. Will be available with the next update.
• Bugfix AI: will not ask to join wars if the other nation is already eliminated.
• Bugfix Sponsoring: if a game is deleted during initialization, all the sponsored coins will be returned.
• Bugfix Coin Display: coins will be properly refreshed when a game was deleted!
• Bugfix Crashes: for the defense goal, a nation not taking part was sometimes selected making the game crash.
• Bugfix Crashes: when network wasn't correctly configured.
• Sorry for the many updates. I am trying to fix bugs, I hope you understand.

2016-09-13: Update 4.0.127 - Maintenance (Bugfixes, Language, Manual)

• Manual: FAQ integrated into manual.
• Manual/FAQ: ELO volatility expained (number next to rating).
• Admin: right-clicking on a user's username in the profile popup will allow copying it to the clipboard!
• Language Italian: updated - Thanks :-D
• Language Russian: updated - Thanks :-D
• Server/Tournaments: re-worked to allow more players to participate. The max. is now 10000 players per tournament. Possibly more but difficult to test. :)
• Server: internal changes (modularization). The map download server will eventually be separate giving a big speed boost for map downloads.
• Client: internal changes (backwards & forward compatibility). This is for the upcoming province buy/sell option and should prevent crashes in older clients.
• Bugfix Editor: editing neutral provinces.
• Bugfix Invite Panel: when no friends were found, rendering was off.
• Bugfix League and Tournaments /w Team-Play: randomization option is internally turned off (messes up groups/teams otherwise).
• Bugfix Server: team-league had a bug preventing games from being setup (assignment of teams was broken).
• Bugfix FPS Limiter: should work now!?
• Bugfix Crashes: pasting text from clipboard while there was nothing (in the clipboard).
• Bugfix Crashes: while modding and the overview image is not working (why?).
• Bugfix Crashes: while rendering the map while it wasn't initialized yet (null pointer exception)[/list]

2016-09-02: Update 4.0.124 - Custom Nation & Team Setup, Balancing

• Balancing Walls: city walls cannot be built when happiness is <50%. Also, bugfix for when a city was taken, it wasn't possible to build walls (fixed now).
• Balancing Pillaging: -20% population penality also for provinces that got pillaged!
• Render FPS Limiter: if you are running on a battery powered device, please reduce the FPS to e.g. 30 to increase battery life.
• Setup Nations & Teams: games can now be customized by nations & teams available in the game. Select the [Customize...] button during setup :-D
• Setup Pillaging & Abandoning: they can now be disabled during game setup preventing people from pillaging and/or abandoning a province.
• Setup for # of Players: also added additional options such as 24, 28 etc.
• Setup for # of Clan-Players: please use to limit the number of clan players in a game. The new "Lone Wolf" server allows for a max. of 1 player per clan only!
• Tourneys/League: invite-button to tournaments & leagues! Ditto before, you need to add players to your friends list first to be able to invite.
• Tourneys/League: admin button to start early if desired (owner of tournament/league can decide).
• Manual/FAQ: Section added "Clan Spamming & Ganging Up". Please read!
• Manual/FAQ: Section added "Stalking Players". Please read!
• Manual/FAQ: Section added "Rating Inflation (by only playing against the AI)".
• Avatar Right-Click: saves the avatar to the clipboard if desired.
• Language SL: added (partly complete) - Thanks :-D
• Language HU: added - Thanks :-D
• Language PL: updated - Thanks :-D
• Server: auto-deletion updated to 6x the turn duration.
• Servers/Blitz: I replaced 2 of the servers with 1 more powerful one. Please note that I can add more servers in the future. It makes it more easy to maintain if there are less server on my part.
• Server: reboot stability improved. Cleaning broken records to provide stable restart functionality.
• Server: disk & RAID-monitoring added (to detect problems early).
• Bugfix Team-Play (Clans): there was a bug putting players in the wrong team (non-clan related). Please re-sign up for the team-competition (Quit & Join).
• Bugfix Crashes: opening the nation's finance popup.
• Bugfix Crashes: during game update.
• Bugfix Crashes: while Steam was not connected (but assumed to be connected).

2016-08-26: Update 4.0.123 - League, AI Update & Smileys

• League-Play (round-robin tournament): each competitor competes against each other competitor. 2 points will be awarded for victories, 1 point for draws.
• AI: improved. Also made the AI properly use ships now. Especially Sparta in the Starter Bundle should actually move not just stay at the same place.
• Emoticons/Smileys: are now displayed in wall posts & private messages as well.
• Translations: missing map names added (official maps only).
• Engine (Game): updated to libGDX 1.9.4
• Server: logging updated.
• Bugfix Team-Play: clan-players for competitions (tourney & league) are no assigned to the same team if it is a team-game.
• Bugfix Images: making sure only valid images can be selected (various modding functions) so they are now crashes from strange image formats.
• Bugfix Crashes: "Auto-init shouldn't fail.". Will ignore error and continue (as game is already started & should work fine!?)
• Bugfix Crashes: sending game invites (when there are no friends in the list).
• Bugfix Crashes: retaining images (unsupported formats).
• Bugfix Crashes: reading mail messages.

2016-08-12: Update 4.0.121 - No Diplomacy Option, Download Speed+, misc.

• Game Option: No Diplomacy/Eternal War: if diplomacy is disabled during game setup (Advanced Option), all nations start off at war (fixed). Team-members are allied with each other. Also now, diplomacy is disabled by default for team games (can be re-enabled).
• Game Option (multiplayer): There is now an option to lock games for new players after a certain number of turns (defaults to 7 turns). That will prevent late-joiners to take over larger AI nations later in games.
• Editor/Modding: neutral troops for neutral provinces can now be placed directly (click on neutral province).
• Invites: [Invite All...] option added for friends list :)
• Downloads: throttle reduced (should download faster now).
• Language: Russian updated - Thanks :-D
• Bugfix: resetting the settings didn't properly work.
• Bugfix/Linux: networking parameters.
• Bugfix Attempt: directories for storaging screenshots appeared wrong. Should work now???

2016-08-02: Update 4.0.120 - Free Modding, Gifting & Screen Captures

• Modding: is now FREE. Note however, if you ever decide to upload your map, you need to have "Modding" purchased beforehand.
• Modding/Editor: now allows placing & adjusting ships per water-tile. Add a ship on the tile, then edit the tile.
• Gifting: you can now gift products to other players. In your friends list press the cog-icon for the corresponding friend select "Gift...".
• Camera: functionality to add screenshots added (for reporting, e.g. bad language/cheating) :-D
• Reporting Function: now allows sending screenshots/images :-D
• Purchases: there is now a popup that shows all the purchases/invoices for a user (in chat, select the [Cog]-button then go to the "Products" tab!).
• Cheating: warning popup added for players that use multiple accounts while playing. Please note, if you want to play against family, the game supports hotseat via single player!
• Cheat Investigations: improved tools for the moderators (via user-admin panel).
• Manual: updated description for turn-order.
• Manual/FAQ: now explains that cheating using multiple accounts is not tolerated. Accounts will be closed without warning.
• Language: Portuguese/Brazil updated!
• Language: missing nations added to translation file (e.g. Hungary).
• Bugfix: if two kings eliminated each other, the map became inconsistent with one nation remaining without a king.
• Bugfix Crashes: showing the nation options dialog (taxes etc.)
• Bugfix Crashes: when music couldn't properly be retained (now defaults to silent rather than a crash).

2016-07-23: Update 4.0.119 - Cheating Update & Server Performance

• Game Details: the owner is now listed an a game's details as well (when you go into the game).
• Cheating/Betting: you cannot disjoin a betting-game anymore after it started.
• Cheating: additional checks added on server-side.
• Server Backend: performance update.
• Censor: updated.
• Bugfix: randomizing starting positions didn't consider non-open nations.
• Bugfix Freezes/Chat: when text wasn't properly formatted.

2016-07-14: Update 4.0.118 - Faster AI Option & Fixes for Cheating

• AI Updater: option "Fast AI Updates" in settings allowing faster (but less exact) AI updates for single player games.
• Cheating: Password protected games cannot be sponsored, with betting or rated (unless they are created by an administrator).
• Cheating the System: Minimum Turns for Capture the Flag is 7 turns (was 1 turn).
• Cheating the System: "Guest-*" users cannot participate in betting games.
• Profile Picture Editor: cropped to fit within circle (admin-ONLY option).
• Server/Cheating Bugfix (previous): submitting an in-game support request with a negative amount of gold (using a cheat engine) would make it possible for one player to gain large amounts of gold.
• Translation: Portuguese/Brazil updated - Thanks :-D

2016-07-08: Update 4.0.117 - Multiplayer Fees: Reduced for Public Games

• Multiplayer Fees (Creating new Games): Reduced to 2 coins for public games. Private games cost 10 coins to setup. All realms now have the option for both public & private games!
• User Profile Popup: shows team-members for clans & team memberships for users.
• User Profile Popup: has a [Games] button which shows all the games a player has joined :-D
• User Profile Popup: shows the average rating for clans.
• Chat "/list": lists all the users that are ONLINE in the chat.
• Chat "/list admins": lists all the moderators that are ONLINE in the chat.
• Chat "/ping ": to show if a user is ONLINE/offline.
• Mailbox: search function for clans added.
• Language: French updated - Thanks :-D
• Bugfix: spelling (clan center stuff)!
• Bugfix Crashes: opening other user profiles without being logged in.
• Bugfix Crashes/Modding: when adding preview images that are too large.
• Bugfix Crashes: target/attack selection.
• Bugfix Crashes: when input listener was 'null'.
• Bugfix Crashes: when effect-emitter was 'null' (why?).

2016-06-30: Update 4.0.115 - Clan Center

• Clan Center added :-D
• Clans/Players that play together: please form a clan!
• Clans Disallowed for Games: Disable the "Clans Allowed" checkbox to prevent clans from joining your game.
• Notifications: when a user was added/removed from a group (e.g. moderators/clan).
• Achievements: Inhuman victory only available for game-type "Supremacy" (to prevent cheating the achievement system).
• Bugfix Attempt: wall count properly reset once the wall is being read.
• Bugfix Manual: elections (50% -> 40% /w 5% lead).
• Bugfix Spelling.

2016-06-22: Update 4.0.114 - Game Invites & GUI

• Game Invites implemented for in-game friends :-D
• Friends List: mutual friends are now showing using a heart-symbol.
• User Profiles: additional options added. :)
• Look & Feel streamlined (should start slightly faster too).
• Blocked Users: cannot send messages to blocked users anymore.
• Bugfix Crashes: while opening the dropdown list via button-press while not attached to GUI.
• Bugfix Unread Wall Message Count: will now refresh directly :)
• Bugfix Messaging: didn't work if it was the 1. message sent to someone else!

2016-06-16: Update 4.0.113 - Friends List & misc.

• Friends list added :-D
• Notification system added (in-game only). Will notify for map approvals/rejections, if you got banned/flagged etc.
• Functionality: searching users (so they can be contacted/added to personal friends list).
• Functionality: mail button to contact moderators.
• Translation: French updated - Thanks :-D
• Translation: Russian updated - Thanks :-D
• Steam notifications: moved to bottom/left (doesn't block as many buttons).
• Bugfix Linux: the game should now run also on newer versions of Linux (e.g. Ubuntu 16.04 64bits, Debian Sid 64bit etc).

2016-06-10: Update 4.0.112 - Balancing: Protectorates & Allies

• Balancing: A protectorate's protector points now only count 10% (previously 29%) towards victory.
• Balancing: -40% happiness penalty if you accept another nations protectorate request (or send a request to another nation).
• Balancing: Allies have shared fog of war vision after a relation has been established for 5 turns or longer.
• Private Messaging: loading indicator (while loading messages)
• Map Modding: map modder will get notifications if a map has been Approved -OR- Rejected.
• GUI improvement: private messaging.
• Reporting Players: minimum description is now required.
• Bugfix Crashes: when not logged in and opening a info user popup.

2016-06-09: Update 4.0.109 - PM Update & Moderator Tools

• Messaging: line breaks possible using SHIFT + ENTER.
• Private Messaging: shows the username if it's the admin-group (multiple users per group).
• Private Messaging: messages can be deleted (personal only).
• Private Messaging & Wall: improved post-time formatting :)
• Notifications (background daemon): also reports the unread message count.
• Moderator Tools: tools to directly update (ban, disable etc.) user accounts.
• Bugfix (Black Screen): error when music could not be instantiated prevented the game from running (OpenAL error).

2016-06-07: Update 4.0.108 - Private Messaging & Reporting

• Private Messaging added: Friends list & inviting players to games is still in the works (coming "soon").
• Reporting Functionality added for cheating/bad language/spamming. Messages will show up in the moderators inbox.
• Language: Dutch updated! - Thanks :-D
• Language: Greek updated! - Thanks :-D
• Bugfix Crashes: when the next screen was faded in twice (double-click?).
• Bugfix Crashes: while deleting in-game messages.

2016-06-04: Update 4.0.107 - Balancing: Elections & Team-Games, Bugfixes

• Spectator Mode: to view games from a 3rd-party perspective. This is designed for (a) streamers and (b) moderators of the game. Please contact me if you want to stream games where you are not playing.
• Update for Elections: global leader is now determined if he/she has at least 40% of territory and the next player behind has at least a 5% difference to the leader (was at >=35% for next player before).
• Update for Team-Games (multiplayer ONLY): player count cannot be reduced (to prevent unfair advantages).
• In-Game Messages: they can be translated as well now (ditto chat & wall). Use the right-mouse button :-D
• Language: German updated (some fixes)
• Bugfix Joining (non-random/client): the dropdown list will now show the nations that are fully alive and are not dead (extra checks added).
• Bugfix Random Join (Server): joining a nation that is already dead!
• Bugfix Analysis Table: should now show the correct values & also not crash anymore!
• Bugfix Game Loader: game list forever loading in single player (e.g. due to previous crash/corrupted files)

2016-05-31: Update 4.0.105 - Chat/Wall Translations, no Protectorates

• Chat & Wall Translation: right-click on the chat or wall to copy the text to the clipboard or have it translated via browser :-D
• Game Setup Option: king captures can now be disabled during game setup. Disable the checkbox "Commando Unit - Captures" in the advanced option. Rulers which's king has been captured will be eliminated instead (i.e. not converted to protectorate).
• Modding/Editor: preventing images that have the wrong dimension (nation pictures etc.). Also fixes crashes.
• Censor Updated: "assume" etc. should now display correctly.
• Language: update for Turkish. - Thanks :-D
• Language: update for Georgian. - Thanks :-D
• Language: update for Italian (A-D). - Thanks :-D
• Language: update for Dutch. - Thanks :-D
• Language: update for Arabic. - Thanks :-D
• Language: update for German.
• GUI Slider: area of sensitivity increased.
• Bugfix Undo-Action (Caching): some values such as happiness weren't properly cached resulting in events not being executed and wrong display of gold etc.
• Bugfix Random Games: the default difficulty set in the settings is now used to create random games (was always on Normal previously).
• Bugfix Animation: death animation also always been shown at top/left of map.
• Bugfix Crashes: when removing the strongest nations from a map.
• Bugfix Crashes: purchase restores.
• Bugfix Crashes: displaying messages while they were 'null' (but why?)
• Bugfix Crashes: displaying ELO analysis table.
• Bugfix Crashes: while starting a game (single player).
• Bugfix Freezes: while skipping events.

2016-05-24: Update 4.0.103 - Team Speak, AI, Fixes & Languages

• Team Speak: information added. Anyone can contact. To form team/participate in tournaments, please contact JSCOMackenzie!
• AI Difficulty: default can be set via [Setting]. Also made the EASY-difficulty easier (less likely to attack a player).
• Tournament: now also shows # of advancing/players per game.
• Language: Finnish updated :-D - Thanks!
• Language: Turkish updated :-D - Thanks!
• Crash Reporter: updated to include log output also.
• Server Update: improved logging & tracking.
• Bugfix AFK/late joiners: made sure to tag the player as non-AFK (prevents order-submission problems).
• Bugfix AFK/game start: making sure to reset the players (otherwise if a player was inactive from the start AFK-detection didn't work).
• Bugfix Auto-Submit: making sure sub-dialogs/popups are closed properly also.
• Bugfix Crashes: while unable to load achievements (will continue normally now).
• Bugfix Crashes: in music & sound player.
• Bugfix Crashes: showing latest ranking changes (in-game).
• Bugfix Crashes: opening the "Analysis" tab.
• Bugfix Crashes: while updating tax settings (data was null).
• Bugfix Crashes: removing unused nations for offense/defense objective would remove the defender as well.

2016-05-20: Update 4.0.102 - Modding & Bugfixes

• Map Downloads: map previews included. Only for maps that have preview images defined.
• Modding: map screenshots in the format 600x400 need to be provided for all future maps & updates thereof :)
• Modding: editor now outputs an error if you have not set a custom map icon (the default 80x80px red one needs to be replaced).
• Bugfix: defense effect +100% correctly shown when fortifying villages (showed +50% incorrectly).
• Bugfix: broken downloads (e.g. if a new version was uploaded during download) will go away after 15 minutes.
• Bugfix Crashes: when music object was already disposed & requested play.
• Bugfix Crashes: when music object was 'null' & volume was adjusted.
• Bugfix Crashes: dropdown list.
• Bugfix Crashes: handling files.
• Bugfix Crashes: while setting up a new game.
• Bugfix Crashes: parsing account information.
• Bugfix Crashes: showing the analysis tab (in-game).
• Bugfix Crashes: rendering overview map while input not available.
• Bugfix Crashes: rendering animations.
• Bugfix Crashes: when marking info as read right when the game updates (multiplayer).

2016-05-17: Update 4.0.101 - AFK, Balancing & Crash Bugfixes

• AFK (Away from Keyboard): players that do not enter any orders will be considered inactive after 3 turns or 3x turn duration (whichever is longer). WEGO-Fast will ignore those players. The get back into the game, a player will have to force-submit his orders by pressing [End Turn] with at least one valid action to be recognized as "active" again.
• Balancing: no revolts for recently acquired provinces (1 turn).
• Balancing: revolts can be prevented by (a) the king or (b) sufficient troops on a province. See the manual for details ("Help & Info").
• Balancing: walls are destroyed when a province is taken by another nation.
• Balancing: walls have now a defense bonus of +100% (previously +50%)
• Balancing: king has now an offense bonus of +100% (previously +30%). The defense bonus is unchanged at +30%.
• Balancing: nation-wide and local festivals for happiness & population growth re-balanced. Nation-wide festival are now always cheaper than local festivals combined.
• Supremacy Objective: shows in details how victory points are calculated.
• Ranking (ELO): the actual rank is now shown when clicking on the user profile (below ELO Rating). Please note, only the first 1000 players get ranked!
• Modding: support for fake 3D-overlay (troops moving over & under e.g. a bridge).
• Rooms for Blitz: separate timing & purpose - ALSO: for clan/private games, use the new room - Thanks!
• Room "Longhaul": minimum turn duration reduced to 12h+/turn!
• Crash Reporter: improved.
• Bugfix/Game Decrees: the "Distribute Money" is now restricted to 1x per turn per province (some maps had the old values).
• Bugfix/Game Updater: captured kings with no province left caused problems.
• Bugfix Crashes: when music player was already disposed.
• Bugfix Crashes: giving out awards.
• Bugfix Crashes: saving achievements.
• Bugfix Crashes: saving user configuration.
• Bugfix Crashes: when multiplayer game got deleted.
• Bugfix Crashes: while loading corrupted image data.
• Bugfix Crashes: multiplayer/loading the latest game data.
• Bugfix Crashes: starting a new map download (when one is active already).
• Bugfix Crashes: joining or disjoining a game.
• Bugfix Crashes: when a GUI popup was closed and a button pressed at the very same instant.
• Bugfix Crashes: text arguments are 'null'
• Bugfix Crashes: division by 0 while layouting scroll panel.
• Bugfix Crashes: adding months to current time object (invalid days).

2016-05-13: Update 4.0.98 - Steam Invites, Balancing & Bugfixes

• Steam Invites: it's done. I would consider it a late BETA! Please provided suggestions for improvement.
• Balancing: Nation-Wide Festival to inc. Happiness: +30% more expensive, 3.0 action points now (was 2.0).
• Balancing: Nation-Wide Festival for Population Growth: 5.0 action points now (was 2.0).
• Broadcasts: will now also prevent a game from auto-deletion! NOTE: a game will usually be auto-deleted after inactivity of 3x turn duration (minimum 15 minutes). Broadcasting the game will reset the timer. Don't SPAM!
• Game Links: they now work too if you are already in a game and want to go to another one (clicking on game-link in chat!)
• Manual ("Help & Info"): did some fixes addressing the latest balancing done.
• Combat Bugfix/Ships: they were getting the -30% attack penalty also when attacking other ships.
• Combat/Balancing: extra-bonus for larger armies removed (to reduce confusion). Also please note, if boni are involved the resulting numbers are adjusted proportionally not absolute.
• Achievement/Explorer: fixed - will now be handed out when making a treaty with another culture (e.g. Western /w Asian or vice-versa).
• Tooltip/Happiness: explains the number in parentheses, i.e. the minimum happiness.
• GUI/Games List: shows the map icons now too.
• GUI/Right Mouse Clicks - Bugfix: while waiting for the next turn, a right mouse button click would trigger to restart the same turn!
• Modding Bugfix: maps didn't upload & got stuck uploading forever (EOF not reported making the game wait forever).
• Pillage Bugfix: recruiting not anymore possible for villages that have been pillaged.
• Updater Bugfix: could end up in an endless-loop when a king was captured.
• Networking update: using a connection pool for HTTP-connections. Might reduce timeouts/connection problems?
• Crash-Bugfix: for games where nations where removed once the game started, it could cause a crash (index ot ouf bounds exception)!
• Server Logging: improved to track down errors (re-Blitz/01 crash on Wednesday).
• Crash-Reporter bugfixed.

2016-05-11: Update 4.0.97 - Balancing: Nation/Fertility Festival, Revolt

• Balancing: fertility festivals can now be held nation-wide (every 6 turns).
• Balancing: declaring war on more than 1 nation per turn will give happiness penalties of -10% for each additional war declared (cumulative).
• Balancing: diplomatic responses are always executed BEFORE any movement actions now.
• Balancing: revolts will now always happen once a province reaches 0% happiness. Revolt risk increased as well. Having your king on a province will prevent it from revolting.
• GUI/Happiness: the minimum happiness is show next to the average happiness: "% (%)"
• GUI: fire animation for cities is now ONLY shown when a city is under pillage cooldown.
• GUI: Crosshair updated for selected province inside the overview map; should now be a lot more visible.
• 2+ Kings Captured at the same time: bugfixed to correctly resolve.
• Languages: glyph list updated with missing characters.
• Capture-the-Flag Bugfix Attempt: I changed some stuff around. It works for me locally. If the problem happens again, please let me know!
• Achievement Bugfix: awards where given looking at the turn before (rather than the actual result).
• Networking Update: forcing IP v4 Stack (the app might have used IP v6 which wouldn't work if your internet connection doesn't support it).
• Email Address parsing (chat/wall): bugfixed!

2016-05-09: Update 4.0.94 - Balancing Ships, Multiplayer Timer, misc.

• Balancing: ship attacks are now -30% weakened.
• Multiplayer: notification beep sound FX 15 seconds before a turn is up!
• Multiplayer: timing updated for auto-submission of orders (slightly increased the pre-send time and shortened retries)
• Tournaments (e.g. Championship): has now functionality to observe games. Please note, the list still comes up empty as the tournament hasn't started yet. May 17 :-D
• Map Editor: automatic color-palette reduction to reduce image size (if needed). Size errors should be gone. If the result isn't pleasing, please use e.g. Gimp to pre-process before you add.
• Cheating (via Memory Hacks): additional verification added to server-side to reject invalid orders (negative/impossible values - various).
• Rating Volatility: reset to 1000 for players that force-disjoin games (that's in addition to the -13% rating penalty).
• Link Parser (Chat + Wall): bugfixes to properly parse & display links.
• Language Spanish: updated - Thanks :-D
• Language Greek: updated - Thanks :-D
• Admins: can delete games they started (exempt from cheat-prevention check).
• Crash-Bugfix: while creating a new game the game could something crash (GUI updated out of render-thread).
• Server Update: reduces deadlocks/improves multiplayer game-play performance (updated yesterday/Sunday and today).

2016-05-06: Update 4.0.93 - Random Joins, Sync-Bugfix, Setup Defaults

• Game Setup Defaults: can now be adjusted via [Settings]. So new games you setup will adhere to the settings specified there.
• Random Joins: will now randomly place people after the game has started as well. Optimized the user interface too.
• Store Pages: reworked to make it more clear what you get.
• Store Pages: admins can now feature maps! :-D
• Time-Sync Bugfix (NTP): client & server could get out of sync ending up in orders being submitted too late.
• Freezes/Crashes: I update some code which could potentially cause freezes/crashes due to the music player. This might also potentially give a performance increase!

2016-05-03: Update 4.0.92 - New Game Modes, French, Networking/Crashes

• Game Option "Total War": all nations are at war with each other when the game start (enable during game setup).
• Game Option "Total Peace": all nations are at peace with each other when the game start (enable during game setup).
• Game Option "Happiness OFF": play without happiness, i.e. it fixed at 100%. Certain options, e.g. festivals and such are obviously not available.
• GUI Improvement: re-organized the games Home Screen/Modding (clutter removed etc.)
• Translations: French is done! - Thanks :-D
• Tutorial 1 Updated: also mentions the +30% attack/defense bonus.
• Networking/Server: bugs fixed where players where not joined/disjoined from a game properly.
• Crashes: improvements for crashes (might update little bit slower).
• Error Output: improved for networking problems. For everyone having problems connecting, I am looking at it. Please send log files/etc. to help me troubleshoot.

2016-04-30: Update 4.0.91 - Balancing, Game-Mechanic Bugfixes, ELO

• Balancing: protectorates now count 100% towards victory (previously 41%).
• Balancing: leader vote comes up if leader has at least 40% of total territory with everyone else 35% or less (previously: 51%/40%).
• Game Setup Details: clicking on the Game-Info (***-icon) also shows game setup, i.e. if random, no king, max turns, goal type etc. Limitations: for games already setup, some of the information is missing (-> Longhaul games).
• Tutorial: explained the importance of the king! Sorry, completely forgot to actual add it to tutorial 1. That's why everyone is unhappy! :-/
• Game Autostart: games will now start if a certain number of people have joined (even if not full). Can be changed during game setup.
• Ratings: have now a time associated with it (to clear inactive players from the rankings in the future).
• Settings: you can now turn on/off the default for the commando/king-option. If you create new games that option will be looked at to either enable/disable automatically.
• Password Protected Rooms: now show "Private OK" in the room listing if password-protected games ("friend games") are possible!
• Client Performance update ("volatile" declarations removed where possible).
• Game Updater/Bugfix: I fixed some internal errors preventing game-orders from being executed.
• Game Mechanics/Bugfix: one nation had several protectors (invalid). Please note the bug fill prevent it from happening in the future but existing games still will continue with it.
• Game Mechanics/Bugfix: king + defense now adds up to a +80% bonus (was 1.3 * 1.5 = 95% before). Switched from multiplications to addition.
• Game Mechanics/Bugfix: ceasefires should now work correctly when requested and accepted by other player.
• Client Bugfix: IME text input should now be working!
• Permission Bugfix for Moderators: can now delete all wall messages as needed!
• Server bugfix: errors prevented a game from properly ending (null pointer exception while handling final standings).

2016-04-28: Update 4.0.89 - Map Handling, Networking & Crashes

• Room Listing: periodically updates connected users & number of games for each room.
• Networking: slight performance update (threads reduced).
• Networking: improved joining/disjoining of games & optimized re-send methods.
• Map Handling: bugfixed & updated to better track incompatible maps played (prevent crashes).
• Server performance update for fast games (reduced calls to database where not needed for Blitz).
• Server caching improved for games and joined users.
• Server bugfixes for game updater/joining/disjoining.

2016-04-26: Update 4.0.87 - Bugfixes & Language Updates

• Editor: updated to limit to max. image size for performance/compatibility.
• Language: Arabic updated.
• Language: Russian updated.
• Crash Bugfix: link-parsing failed producing a crash.
• Crash Bugfix/Editor: when removing provinces (list not yet updated, returning invalid index)
• Server Performance: reduced number of calls to database to make playing smoother (fast games).
• Server Bugfix: /ban function now works again in global chat.
• Server Bugfix: clearing old login records should now work (& not crash anymore).

2016-04-25: Update 4.0.86 - In-Game Chat, Balancing & Bugfixes

• Game Chat: now available is a separate chat for each game created. The creator of a game has ban-privileges for the chat. :-D
• Game Play/Balancing: weakest nations now move first (previously strongest nations)!
• Turn Lengths: 2.5 min. / turn games possible also now (added to the dropdown list).
• Game Broadcasts: limited to 42 seconds now (previously 10 seconds) to limit game-announcement spamming in the chat!
• Language: Greek translation updated - Thanks :-D
• Error output: improved when loading games & the game was deleted.
• Buying coins: clicking on the coin-button (upper/right) corner gives the option to purchase coins if desired.
• Performance chat: the underline (for links) was rendered from separate texture sheet making it increadibly slow (too many texture switches). Using the same texture-sheet now.
• Rendering and Bitmap Font: performance improved in general!
• Bugfix: preventing crashes while setting a color correction filter (when shader can not be compiled).
• Server: improved logging to troubleshoot bugs/problems.
• Server Bugfix: increased data column for storing game results (some games didn't make it before).

2016-04-25: Update 4.0.85 - Networking, Game Broadcasts, Crash-Bugfixes

• Game re-Broadcast in Chat: now available in the popup dialog in-game :-D
• Chat /tint: color name can now be used as well.
• Chat Smiley added (animated): :roll:
• Game-Room: descriptions simplified, i.e. renamed (previously).
• Text-parser (chat/wall): improved/partly fixed to handle special-case situation.
• Language: Russian updated - Thanks :-D
• Multiplayer/Networking Update: should be slightly faster while waiting for the next turn (server & client timing adjusted).
• Bugfix: movement input & confirm end turn dialog close now when orders were auto-submitted.
• Bugfix: provinces are flashing again when selecting a nation to join!
• Bugfix/Crashes: when opening the Analysis tab (should be working now).
• Bugfix/Crashes: game data not properly synchronized outside render-thread (75% likelihood of fix).

2016-04-22: Update 4.0.84 - Chat, ELO, Networking & other Bugfixes

• ELO Bugfixes. Some ratings went out of hand due to a bug where the volatility raised when someone force-disjoined a game. Some ratings have been re-adjusted due to the bug.
• ELO Calculator: updated with latest fixes (courtesy of Kran :-D).
• Leave-button added for game's joined/other state (to remove confusion how to exit but not disjoin a game)
• Connection Timeouts: increased from 5 to 10 seconds (empty games lists should be gone).
• Server-Tuning: should now runner better for larger number of connected players (thread count x2).
• Server-Tuning: will skip errors during update to allow other processes/games to continue (e.g. connection to main server broken).
• Language: Georgian added (party only!) - Thanks :-D
• Language Support: Thai, Devanagari & others. Please email me if you want letters to be added (type or copy/paste them right into the email!)
• Black Screen @ Startup (Steam): when the Steam achievements couldn't get loaded, the game was waiting with black screen. Works OFFLINE as well now!
• Editor (Maps): will prevent & warn if provinces/tiles of too small surface area are created.
• Bugfix/Offline: Game works OFFLINE as well: ditto "Black Screen" above!
• Bugfix/Crash: opening incompatible maps should not crash anymore but show you the error message (e.g. maps removed from system & re-uploaded as new map).
• Bugfix/Chat: number of joined user (chat game announement) is now correctly displayed (+1 off!)
• Bugfix/Chat: banned user is correctly displayed in chat now incl. the user who banned him/her!
• Bugfix/Chat: chat commands now work when /tint was enabled.
• Bugfix/Chat: after 75+ people in the chat people joining/leaving the chat are all hidden.
• Bugfix/Server: backups stopped working due to broken FTP-connection (fixed!)

2016-04-21: Update 4.0.83 - Chat System, ELO Calculator & Bugfixes

• ELO Calculator: we are now using an algorithm provided by Kran that is calculating the new ratings. We'll fine-tune it in the next few days also.
• ELO Scaling: the old ELO-calculator went out of hand. Ratings drifted too far, so I have adjusted them back to more normal values! Please note that your rating has been scaled towards 900.000. If you were below 900, your rating went up, above 900 your rating went down. Your rank is still the SAME! If you were 1. place, you are still in first place etc. Only the relative rating has changed.
• Chat System: completely overhauled. Allows banning users now. Also, you can set a text-color for yourself using /tint <6-hex rgb> also instead of typing it every time. :-P
• Chat System: link rollover effect fixed & functionality to be able to click on usernames to view each users information.
• Chat per Game: I'll add a game-chat for each game soon too. The chat-system rework I did will allow now each game to have their own chat room. Wait a couple of days :)
• Language: Greek added including missing letters (in progress!).
• Language: Arabic rendering fixed (lookup table had one entry wrong).
• Bugfix Crashes: division by 0 during movement animation (single & multiplayer).
• Bugfix Editor (Modding): error output improved for when there are too few/many commando units defined.

2016-04-19: Update 4.0.81 - ELO-Fixes, Crash Bugfixes & Translation to F

• Language: Finnish added - Thanks :)
• ELO Ranking: bugfix for ELO calculations. Some players ratings are still inflated.
• Bugfix: crashes during game setup (defense-goal and nations removed at same time)
• Bugfix: crashes during multiplayer - Thanks for the reports!
• Bugfix: water/etc. animations stopped working. Fixed now!
• Server: tuned and bugfixes.
• I'll be reworking the chat next. I'll add a game-based chat as well!

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.80 - Languages, Bugfixes (Crashes) & ELO Update

• ELO Calculations: Algorithm fixed. Some numbers were wrong resulting in inflated ratings.
• Crash Reporter: updated to catch additional crashes (mouse/keyboard/etc. input)
• Languages: Portuguese updated - Thanks :-D
• Languages: Italian updated - Thanks :-D
• Languages: Arabic updated - Thanks :-D
• Bugfixes: in-game crashes (3 reports) - Thanks for the reports! The bugs have now all been fixed.
• Previously - Bugfix for in-game crash (data not properly synced!) - Thanks to Arnaud for the logs :)
• Previously - Arabic Rendering: fixed! Chat is now useable too :-D

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.78 - Balancing, Networking & Crash-Reporting

• Daily Event: Money Monday (MM). You'll get 5 extra coins (6 total) if you login on Monday! Based on UTC time zone :)
• BLITZ/03 added: that's an experimental server I'll do some testing on! Please create unrated games if you are worried!
• Balancing: Commerce/Happiness Changes: +4% +3% +1% -%2 -6%
• Balancing: Annual Taxes/Happiness Changes: +10% +6% 0% -8% -18%
• Crash Reporter (catches ~95% of bugs): I added crash-reporting. Please send me the crash reports so I can fix. Thank you! Please note it only works for in-game crashes. For other crashes, still send me the log files.
• Proper game exit during crashes: the crash-reporter will also ensure the app is properly exited during a crash ("app still running" errors should be gone, unless you have Notification ON/OFF turned on!).
• Rating Volatility: shows how much your rating can change (up/down). Added to the display as well! :)
• Server (Multiplayer): I updated the next turn timer. People not being able to enter orders for a turn/skipping a turn (no time) should be able to do now! The timer was based off the orginal start time.
• Server (Multiplayer): Blitz-games should now update faster!
• Languages/Arabic Rendering: corrected (reversed!) & letter conversion for rendering added.
• Languages/Hebrew Rendering: corrected (reversed!)
• Annying Connection Error Popups: some additional ones removed!
• Bugfix: Room filter for time per turn was 1-off. Fixed now!

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.75 - ELO Analysis, Game Filter, Bugfixes etc.

• ELO Statistics Game: displays "Expected Rank" & "Win Probability" for each player in a match (ELO based stats). Open the "Analysis" tab!
• ELO Calculations: I removed a constant that I put in. Somehow this messed with the ratings (shouldn't have done done). Give it a couple games to correct itself. The current ELO ratings probably don't always correspond to the player's actual ratings.
• Multiplayer Room Listing improved: more to come later!
• Network Timeout lowered to reduce long loading times for game rooms.
• Joinable Games: various filters added for sponsored games, map names, search box etc.!
• Auto-Login Checkbox: also added below multiplayer play button to disable auto-login as needed (also in Setting)
• Game Setup: max. turns has be be at least 10 now (previously 2). "2" didn't really make much sense!
• VM options file added: adjust memory Xmx as needed: "Age of Conquest IV.vmoptions"
• Bugfix: coins list should now properly refresh once a game ends (no more logout/login required to see the count). Report back if the problem still persists.
• Bugfix: button clicks should not play anymore/correct volume (wrapped in volume control).
• Bugfix: limiting blitz-games to certain hours of the day disabled for Blitz (makes no sense; clogs up server)
• Bugfix Server: still not there yet. I'll run some tests on Blitz/02, so please be aware!
• Language: Russian updated! - Thanks :)
• Friend Invites: It is on my to-do list, however it is going to take a while. Sorry for the delay! There are some more urgent things I have to fix/implement beforehand.

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.74 - Teleportation-Bugfix & "app is already runni

• "Teleportation" Bug: located & fixed (99% likelyhood of fix).
• Error: "app still running" when starting via Steam: I added some addition code to try to force-close the app. Do you still have an "app_main.exe" running in the processes?
• Tray Icon: some more information about it given when it is enabled (in case of possible errors).
• Arabic text input from right-to-left.
• Languages: Russian updated - Thanks :)
• ELO-Updater fixed: I remove some constants I added in myself. It should now be OK?
• GUI: re-arranged the various sub-panels (menu screens) to remove clutter.
• Server "Official Matches" (24h+/turn only): increased the number of max. games on the server to 256 (previously 200).
• Server crash-resistance improved.
• Also, please note if you have "Notification ON/OFF" enabled, a tray icon shows notifications for 24h+/turn games in your system tray! Steam thinks that is the game, so you cannot launch the game via Steam! Click on the tray icon instead to launch the game, or disable the notifications if you don't need them!

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.73 - Rankings, GUI Popup Errors, "Teleport Bug" &

• Rankings Table: put back into action. :-D
• Annoying popups removed/improved for multiplayer (especially submitting orders/connection errors).
• Rating Classification colors: updated for better visibility :)
• "Teleportation" Bug: not found yet. However, I added some counter-measures but haven't yet located the place of origin. There's a 25% chance of teleportation bugfix - might manifest in another form (e.g. troops not moving).
• Networking: Connection timeouts shortened for smoother experience (60s -> 30s).
• Potato-Servers 1 through 3 should be a lot more stable (fewer/no crashes expected)
• Languages: German translation is complete :-D
• Languages: Arabic updated (all glyphs added) - Thanks!
• Languages: Russian updated - Thanks!
• Languages: Glyphs for Hebrew added to the bitmap font.
• Transation Keys: missing ones added!
• Ranking as of Today: Poignanter - ELO 1529.168, CMEPTb - ELO 1455.111, Crimsonguard - ELO 1404.576

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.70 - Server Status, Bugfixes & new Translations

• New Server - BLITZ/02 for Supporters: I'll add another room in the next few hours. The new room will have private games enabled. Please note, this room is addressed at supporters and to non-free maps. If you have supported the game via translations, financially, testing, morale support etc. in the past, please shout in the chat and we'll free up some space as needed.
• Also, We'll only accept a limited number of private games there to give everyone a chance to play. No point in creating private games that no one joins. Please understand!
• Server Status: I am still working on getting the bugs out. Please be patient!
• Language: German added (mostly translated)
• Language: Swedish added (only partly translated)
• Language: Italian added (only partly translated)
• Language: Dutch added (only partly translated)
• Language: Arabic added (test only)
• Language: British updated!
• Language: Russian updated!
• Glyphs: Arabic added - might not work perfectly?
• Bugfix for crashes at game startup (just after/when the loading bar is close to 100%)!
• Bugfix for crashes when opening multiplayer! Should work now.
• Please note all that have submitted translations, should have been added to the game's credits ("Help & Info"). Please verify that you (a) are in there and (b) it's how you want to be listed. You can send me a link too if you like! Thanks for the helped. Swamped with reponsding to everyone helping out :-D

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.66 - Blitz-Server added :-D

• I guess I lied when I sad Tuesday. The new Blitz-server is now LIVE. Sorry that you have to update again, but there were some things I had to tweak to make it all work smoother. I'll stop doing that many updates in the future. Don't worry.
• Multiplayer Room - Blitz/01: the new blitz server for games with turn durations of 5min/turn or less.
• Multiplayer Room - Official Matches: the existing room with game durations 24h+/turn.
• Private Games: we'll only allow public games for the time being to give everyone a chance to play. There are too many private games setup that no one joins preventing others from creating games. This is a temporary measure & we will remove it eventually.
• Rankings Table: it is still not updating (disabled). We'll do some test-runs to see if it still causes server-crashes. Updating the table is in O(n^2). There are now over 15'000 players in the database, so calculating the new rankings is not an easy task for the server.
• Game Auto-Deletion: there is a bug which auto-deletes games in some rare cases. I haven't figured out exactly why that is happening. There is an error in the server logs deleting those games. If you have any insights (what's different about your game), please let us know. It might help pinpoint the error.

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.65 - Bugfixes, Translations & Server Status

• Multiplayer: max. turn-time is now 10 days/turn (previously 70 days). No point in clogging up the database with games that are never played for the years to come!
• Bugfix Attempt/Crash: the game should not be crashing anymore while trying to join a game (thanks to Masamune for providing the error output!). Email me bug reports if it still crashes!
• Language: Russian updated, about 99% complete - Thanks for the all the help :)
• Language: British English (go to Settings to select!) - Thanks for the help :)
• Current game server is now limited to a max. of 250 games to reduce crashes. We'll delete new non-Blitz games to keep some space available for Blitz games at all times. Contact the moderators as needed to free up space.
• Will add a new server by Tuesday (80% chance of happening - dev. estimate) or Wednesday at the latest. The new server will ONLY allow Blitz games. We'll limit the original server to games >=24h/turn once that new server is live.
• Also, TravisII has volunteered to create another FREE map as an apology for all the problems we are having! It will take a while (weeks) to get the graphics from the artist & actually mod the map. I asked TravisII to create a YouTube video or so of how he does the modding. Please encourage him if you want to see him work :)[/list]
• Also, I am little bit backlogged answering emails (especially coordinating the translators). Just wait for my response. Sorry for the delay in answering.

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.63 - Misc. Fixes & Improvements

• Another crash-bugfix for multiplayer (provided by Inconnu - Thanks :-D)
• Client-Side communication improved to support a higher number of concurrent users.
• Server Max. Games: updated to allow a max. of 2048 (previously 1024). I hope that should smoothen things out!
• Server/Ranking System: sorry, I disabled it for now. The list will currently not update anymore. It caused some performance problems on the server side. I'll will re-instate it in the future. Ratings are not affected. It's just the table that is currently just static/non-updating.
• Time per Turn selection: I removed the 24h/turn default. It will warn you now if you don't select a time! I think that should prevent people from creating 24h/turn games by mistake.
• Cheat Prevention: players cannot delete games in-progress.
• Spelling/Grammar: hundreds of fixes provided by Craig Lea (Thanks!)
• Bugfix game deletion/multiplayer: I improved the game-deletion. Are there still games in progress being deleted automatically by mistake? If yes, I'll have another look!
• Translation: Portugues by Zion Vibes (Portugal) - Thanks :-D
• Translation: Russian by Azorko Gi - Thanks :-D

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.62 - Bugfix for Crashes during Multiplayer Games!

• I found a bug! The game would crash if you clicked on players that joined a game late. The avatars of the players that joined a game late where not loaded, causing the game to crash every time you would open the detail info for that player. The bugfix is now in Steam.
• Thanks to everyone that emailed me log files & crash information :)
• Also, I am still working on server-updates...

2016-04-18: Update 4.0.61 - Bugfix for Crashes & Languages (part)

• I fixed another bug related to crashes. Also, Polish & Russian have been partially implemented. The languages have still a long way to go. Please wait for more to come.

2016-04-06: Update 4.0.50 - Official Release

• Official Release of Age of Conquest IV.

2016-01-04: Update 4.0.9 - Public ALPHA II

• Second public ALPHA-test of Age of Conquest IV.

2015-12-04: Update 4.0.2 - Public ALPHA I

• First public ALPHA-test of Age of Conquest IV.

2015-10-08: Update 4.0.1 - Development re-Started

• Development of Age of Conquest IV re-started.

2013-12-24: Update 4.0.0 - Development Start

• Development of Age of Conquest IV started.