Hi everyone,

And happy holidays!



Today we're releasing a new update for Imperium. It not only fixes some bugs, it also changes the gameplay. And we're confident it's for the better.

Here's some background for the decision making in this update. Eador always had a lot of units, and with Imperium that number only increased. The only problem with this was that you could mainly hire new units only through sites. This could greatly decrease tactical possibilities for a player: usually, you decide what kind of army you want to have very early in the game. Dwarven tanks or centaurs were often an element of pure randomness, rather than a conscious calculation. Not to mention the fact that upgraded halflings or goblins is something that almost never happens at your will.

With this update 22 new units now appear at the castle, and further building construction will provide you with even more unit variation. Newer units are tied to Temple building and Foreign Quarter.

Mostly, we moved the allied fighter units, who were previously available only after unit upgrades or in sites.

But we couldn't just take and move twenty something units into Warriors Quarter, so we also change the whole design for unit hiring. Here's what you can do now after the update:

• Hire units for your garrison
• Hire units for your hero's army
• Exchange units between the garrison and your hero's army

So now you can hire units for all of your heroes without switching over to the strategic map — just click the arrows near the hero's name. And if you need advanced troops of dwarves or centaurs, there's no need to quit to the map, enter a site and hope that this particular time you'll get lucky with a tank waiting for you there.

With this update we want to reduce the element of randomness, which is always healthy for a strategy game (this is our firm belief).

Additionally, we've read through your comments to the last update, where you listed some of the more annoying bugs. It looks like we managed to deal with them — the full patch notes list is below.

Update notes 2.66.1:

New:

- We have fully redesigned the troop recruitment interface. One of the exciting side effects is that we are no longer limited to 12 units on the recruitment screen. Taking advantage of this, we have moved a portion of troops hitherto available only in special sites to the regular recruitment mode. From now on, the advanced troops of demihuman allies can be hired as you build up the foreign quarter, and dwarven and elven troops associated with Temples of Gorbardin and Sylvana are unlocked as you upgrade these temples. Few other troops were also made easier to recruit.
- Another consequence of the new recruitment screen is the ability to add unique local troops to provinces, troops not tied to the castle nor requiring fortifications to be present. This functionality has been attached to diplomatic annexation of provinces - now acquiring a province peacefully does not only reward you with a party of guards, but allows to hire a number of specific troops into your hero's army as well.
- You can now use Ctrl-click to instantly move troops, items and spells between the right and the left panel of the recruitment, treasury & stores, and library screens.

Fixed:

- Item sets now provide their exclusive bonuses correctly.
- The Ballista can no longer try to attack in melee.
- Fixed an error causing the destroyed towers of a castle fully demolished during a siege still fire at the attackers during the assault.
- Fixed an error with calculation of income modified by buildings that increase it by a percentage of total treasury.
- Mass Insanity ritual can be cast on fortified provinces under siege no longer.
- The Succubi can now learn the Enslave Mind spellcasting ability starting with level 7.
- Lowered the probability for Fire Giants to appear in the Mercenary Guild site.
- Juggernaut is now available outside the "Epilogue" campaign. It can be hired at the Tower of Artifacts.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING THE SCROLLS:

To learn new spells with the scrolls, you first need to enter your hero's screen — click RMB on the hero's portrait. Then drag the scroll into an empty spell slot. Of course, the province also needs to have library in it.