SEGA and The Creative Assembly have released massive patch for their strategy games, Total War: SHOGUN 2 and Total War: SHOGUN 2 Fall of The Samurai. This patch comes with 40×40 unit battles support, 22 brand new Land, Naval and Siege battle-maps, numerous Battle and Campaign AI improvements, as well as improvements to both the AI turn-time and the Battlefield load time. Oh, and it greatly reduces save-game file sizes, while at the same time offers full Steam Cloud support. Awesome, right?

Here is the complete changelog of this new update. As always, the patch will be auto-downloaded next time you start the Steam client:

Total War Shogun 2: Fall of The Samurai – Patch Notes
Headline additions – also available to Shogun 2 players
– 40v40 unit battles available via ‘control large armies’ option in Custom Battles and Multiplayer
– Numerous Battle and Campaign AI improvements (see Battle and Campaign sections below)
– Greatly reduced save-game file sizes (meaning reduced game save and load times) and full Steam Cloud support
– Battlefield load time improvement (approximately 30% dependent on machine spec)
– Greatly reduced AI turn-time
– 22 brand new Land, Naval and Siege battle-maps

Full patch notes
The majority of these also apply to Shogun 2.
General fixes/additions
– Fixes for known multiplayer campaign desyncs
– Introduced option to auto-trigger abilities through right-clicking
– Towers can now be ordered to fire at specific targets
– Domination (capture all points) victories added for multiplayer
– General optimisations across all areas of the game
– Ability to queue technology tree research
– Ability to set groups to AI control
– Ability to lock group formations with new UI button
– Fixed missing siege models
– New front-end background camera pans
– Campaign AI turn-times reduced due to pathfinding optimisations
– Naval campaign AI improved significantly

Naval battles
Fixes
– Fixed attack intercept position when in and around islands
– Fixed bug where some submerged ships did not surrender
– Fixed several rare crashes in naval battle.
– Improved circling behaviour for all ships
– Improved range detection for Fire Bomb Kobaya
– Removed stop-start movement for AI ships moving in a group.
– Improved target selection for naval AI

User Interface
– Modified the Standard Camera in naval battles to ensure that the horizon is always visible.
– Added UI toggle to battle HUD (bottom left corner), so can hide UI elements
– Mousing over unit cards now highlights the corresponding unit as if mousing over them
– Double pressing group frame or double pressing group number shorcut zooms to groups
– Added lock formation button for groups; groups act like did before, locked into formation by default, but can be unlocked to behave like a selection group. This provides an easier interface for players just wanting selection groups. (Can still quickly create a selection group pressing ctrl+g, which can also be used to toggle lock)
– Added UI support for more units in a single battlefield, card system now goes onto double rows when required
– Cursor no longer gives option to attack unmounted horses, as doing so would give order to attack riders which could be confusing
– Inspiration range now drawn for all units with inspiration aura, not just for the general (like hero units)
– Added ship schematics to info panel for boshin ships, to provide more detail on ships state
– Fixed graphical issues with naval fire arcs in night battles
– Added player names to MPC tooltips
– Added fade transitions to info panels
– Unit cards now coloured based on unit category
– Added support for unbound keys, so can disable shortcuts rather than having to give obscure shortcut
– Added page numbers to tooltips
– New group frames to support double rows, and now highlight when moused over or group selected; as well as showing group number rather than japanese number for easier access via shortcuts
– Multiplayer postbattle screen reworked
– Added option to invert camera’s x-axis
– Can now move around battlefield when battle results present
– Can no longer use debug camera from preferences while in multiplayer battle
– Fixed text running off battle tooltips for some gempei units
– Fixed bug where info panel would not update while paused during a replay
– Bridge icons on battle radar given better image, and now orientated correctly
– Fort walls now visible on radar map/loading map
– Pings placed on invalid terrain no longer appear in middle of map
– Ship tooltips/cards number of men take into account officers
– Inactive battle hud buttons have tooltips
– Fix for rotated UI images behaving incorrect when running widescreen resolution
– Fix for realism mode setting being lost for campaign
– Officers taken into account for ship numbers on unit cards/tooltips
– Fixed in game chat highlight issues
– Building info panel resizes unit entries dynamically to fix unit names being clipped in certain languages
– Can now use context and tracking cameras in replays
– Fixed issue where pasted invalid characters into text inputs
– Neatend effect bundle tooltips so not larger than need to be
– Can now double click on ground in battles to move to that location
– Drag out units display now shows two arrows when will result in run on release, 1 arrow when will result in walk
– Improved target/path marker spline quality so doesn’t stretch out, and head now represents movement speed of unit it represents (so know if running or walking to current target)
– Added ability to view replays at end of battle/replay, rather than routing player back to front-end then back into battle
– Post-battle screens now appear for replays
– Tweaks to main menu button animations
– Fix for inconsistent naval crew-icons on ship cards between front-end/campaign and battle
– Battle-lobby countdown timer moved so retainer panel not obscured
– Tweaked UI banner-scaling (slightly smaller) and UI splines brought closer to ground (fire arcs, paths, etc)
– Fixed cinematic borders not always being flush to edges of screen, resulting in gaps at top and bottom
– Added UI to toggle auto-triggered abilities. Right-clicking on a supported ability button will toggle it to auto-trigger, where the AI will decide when to use the ability, in order to save the player some micro-management.
– Chat-toggle button now hides all chat when currently visible rather than input, and button is highlighted when player has unread messages
– Group number shortcuts are now rebindable
– Moved pings to left-click rather than right-click for UI consistency
– Realism mode changes: radar visible during deployment, morale visible on minimal tooltips

Campaign
– Fixed rare case where pre-battle camera would trigger too early if an agent or neutral army was between the attacker and the defender under certain circumstances.
– Campaign variable “family_rounds_between_wife_offers” now also determines the earliest round a wife can be offered
– Stopped generating movement extents for armies on the pre-battle screen
– Fixed rare campaign lockup caused by an agent being forced out of its reserved area
– Fixed very rare campaign lockup involving an ambush across a land bridge, where an agent or third party neutral army is between the acting army and the ambusher
– Fixed multi-turn AI actions against the human player causing the game to drop out of speed-up mode even though the action will not complete that turn
– Changed format of campaign height-map to reduce load time and significantly reduce memory usage
– Fixed very rare crash caused by autosave saving an army in an incorrect order
– Fixed bug when issuing orders to agents on navies against target agents in armies
– Fixed trade-route tooltip which showed only one imported resource per route
– Fixed a rare lockup caused by a successful agent action causing an army to move, whilst another army is also in motion under certain circumstances
– Fixed rare crash when two multi-turn embark orders – to embark two different armies onto two different navies – resulted in an attempt to perform both embarks at the same port
in the same turn
– Fixed rare crash caused by the Daimyo’s brother not being demoted from command of an army when the Daimyo dies while there is a superior general in the army
– Fixed a few issues with commerce-raid value updates when merging and splitting raiding navies
– Added information about when a diplomatic action would be considered dishonourable by other clans
– Selecting an agent in an army now shows the agent’s movement extents.
– Improved rope visuals on campaign map buildings
– Fixed trade-route information not being updated when a port is damaged
– Fixed obscure issue which prevented other factions’ movement extents showing if they had military access to player’s territory, but player did not have military access to
theirs.
– Modified several game areas to fail gracefully instead of crashing when loading incorrectly modded data
– Various memory-usage optimisations
– Fixed being able to get more than three agents in a city
– Fixed unusual crash in pathfinder related to blockaded ports
– Fixed crash in event-log system
– Fixed crash when issuing an order to a previously merged army
– Fixed crash related to capturing artillery
– Fixed bug where reinforcement armies solely comprised of units that can’t enter as reinforcements (such as artillery) were counted as reinforcements in pre-battle
– Fixed bug where region ownership for unseen rebel regions was visible
– Fixed bug where attrition-indicator showed on rebel banners when they weren’t suffering attrition
– Fixed crash when bribing cities that are under siege
– Fixed issue with missing army-templates causing lockups
– Fixed crash in sound tracker
– Fixed crash in agent-options dialog
– Fixed issue with ‘surrender imminent’ message
– Fixed issue where certain melee and charge bonuses were not working correctly in battle
– Fixed issue where shroud was updated many times when a Clan dies, causing some slowdown
– Fixed unit exchange issue when in ports
– Fixed issue where some characters destroyed in battle remained alive
– Fixed issue where pre battle UI appeared in odd order when player was playing as AI in MPC
– Fixed issue where campaign thought ships needed 0 crew to function
– Fixed case where MPC players are forced to spectate an AI-vs-AI game
– Fixed issue where MPC co-op allies received message that enemy is retreating when allies are retreating
– Fixed issue where ambush cursor did not show for characters in garrisons
– Fixed bug where a force would act on incorrect orders after capturing units
– Fixed issue where recruited agents were unable to enter the settlement they were recruited from on the turn they were recruited
– Fixed missing building name in ‘legendary building built’ event-log entry
– Player now gets full spying information on a force after attacking it
– Improved campaign experience-handling
– Removed timer from certain battles to prevent exploit
– Port selection marker is now centred around the flag
– Armies now only get region-unrestricted replenishment in enemy regions
– Tweaked some message events to be more informative
– Various campaign load-time and memory usage optimisations
– Reduced memory usage in front end startup process
– Reduced campaign animations memory-usage
– Improvements to campaign building-display resource usage
– Fixed religion/allegiance zeal display in religion tooltips for more than two religions
– Various mission bugs fixed
– Fix to clear military crackdown repression on handover of region
– Only primary generals now get full XP in battles; generals commanding reinforcements get reduced XP
– Technology goal can be selected to guide auto-selection of next tech when research completes
– Save games: compression and other size reductions to make files dramatically smaller; Steam Cloud support added

Battles
– When units are climbing walls men can now fire their bows or guns when at the top of the walls while men in the same unit are still climbing
– Movement arrow now appears when units are ordered onto positions on zones such as fort walls
– Fixes for units not being able to fire at units behind fort walls in certain circumstances
– Unit destination proxies (shown on space bar) now update when the game is paused
– Fire arcs now only turn off when ‘fire at will’ is off and melee mode is enabled
– Improvement to display of fire arc facing when defending a zone (e.g. on a fort wall)
– Fix for not being able to turn off fire at will when defending a zone (e.g. on a fort wall)
– AI unit shooting-line analysis tweaks
– In siege battles where the AI is attacking, artillery can now deploy on multiple lines.
– Units now change their tactic state more effectively if they are idle and under fire in siege battles (when AI is attacking)
– Stopped units behind fort walls being unfavourably targeted by artillery
– Fixed several fort-reinforcement AI bugs
– Stopped units from being issued attack orders when they are climbing fort walls
– Stopped units from prioritizing the capture of distant towers in siege battles
– Fixed several bugs with idle cavalry during AI-attacking siege battles
– Fixed bug where AI was unable to place units on a sensible fort approach
– Fixed strange movement bugs in AI fort defence
– Fixed rare crash-issue resulting from a scenario where the player enters a battle with no units because they are reinforcing another player, and all their units are artillery (which cannot be deployed as reinforcements)
– The ‘last stand’ morale state, triggered when castle defenders are fighting to the death, now imposes penalties on ranged accuracy and reload rate
– Battle AI is more likely to deploy cavalry on both of its flanks, allowing for greater opportunities when flanking and executing a double envelopment
– Fixed an issue where naval reinforcements sometimes did not fully enter the map
– Introduced a variety of improvements to the battlefield AI’s use of outflanking and double envelopment manoeuvres, making these tactics more effective overall
– Fixed a rare issue where some reinforcement units did not enter the battlefield because they were not correctly resized to avoid obstacles outside the playable area
– Battle AI now performs a deeper analysis when it decides between walking and running, resulting in the AI moving more swiftly when appropriate and tiring its troops out less often
– Fixed an issue where ships left a battle with incorrect experience data, causing them to gain experience prematurely
– Fixed an issue in Battle AI which delayed its ability to move to a good defensive position outside its deployment zone once the battle starts
– Fixed several issues in the way that the Battle AI assembles and holds a defensive line. The AI is less likely to reform when an enemy is near, and will be more stable when holding the line
– Battle AI now does a better job of advancing a firing-front towards an enemy, by performing a more robust selection of a direction from which to attack
– Mounted shooters now avoid shooting through friendly units before firing in the same way that infantry shooters do
– The duration of the friendly-fire penalty has increased from 6 seconds to 30 seconds
– When trying to set buildings alight, archers no longer continue to fire on buildings after their flaming arrows are spent
– When a unit is within range of multiple friendly passive inspiration auras, it is now given a bonus equivalent to the largest single aura; the multiple auras do not stack. Previously only the commanding general’s aura was ever applied

General multiplayer fixes
– Fixed issue where a veteran unit could gain its statistics bonus prematurely during the battle, once enough experience points had been earned but before the end of the battle
– Fixed issue where LAN server browser contained wrong information
– Fixed some crashes with multiplayer
– Improved chat-room population system
– Fixed issue where battle voice was not working
– Fix for rare case where land units could be taken into naval battle

MP abilities
– Stand and fight: melee attack bonus reduced from 3 to 2
– Standand Fight: reload bonus reduced from 10 to 5
– Hold firm: melee defence bonus reduced from 6 to 3
– Rally: morale bonus to non-routing units reduced from 2 to 1 (bonus for units already routing is unaffected)
– Naval whistling Arrows duration halved
– Special abilities for towers

MP unit caps
– Kisho Ninja capped at 4 per army
– Mounted Samurai capped at 3 per army

MP retainers
– Infantry officer: +1 morale
– Way of the Ikko-Ikki: +1 morale, +2 melee defence & +5% cost for monks and ashigaru
– Rennyo’s teachings: -1 melee attack, +3 melee defence all units
– Stricken unholy forge: -1 armour to enemy melee troops
– World-Weary: -1 morale (enemy veterans)
– Shirabyoshi dancer: +1 morale (veterans), +5% cost (monks, nuns)
– Naginata Warrior Monk Cavalry no longer affected by retainers affecting all monks, to bring them in line with their Samurai equivalents.

MP skills
– Fire by rank: cost reduced from 250 to 120
– Rapid Volley: cost reduced from 250 to 120

MP key buildings
– Reduced morale bonus from Shrine

MP unit costs
– Yari hero (decreased from 1200 to 1100)
– Bow hero (decreased from 1500 to 1400)
– Bow ashigaru (decreased from 450 to 400)
– Matchlock ashigaru (decreased from 500 to 450)
– Bulletproof samurai (decreased from 1000 to 950)
– Nuns (decreased from 900 to 850)
– Tetsubo monk hero (increased from 800 to 850)

The following brand new Fall of the Samurai maps will also be made available in Shogun 2:
Land battles:
– Awa Ridge Pass
– Gigu Crossing
– Happo Ridge
– Ishiyama Ruins
– Iwaki Foothills
– Jigokudani Valley
– Kawabe River
– Kurobe Gorge
– Nishizawa Valley
– Osaka Plain
– Ubayu Onsen
– Usui Pass

Naval battles:
– Hokuriki Coast
– Seto Inland Sea
– Tohuku Sea
– Tokai Coast
– Tsugaru Straits
– Sea of Japan

Siege battles:
– Iburi Castle
– Satsuma Castle
– Uzen Fortress
– Wakasa Fortress

John Papadopoulos

John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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