v0.37.0 | Annhexation

AI rivals no longer declare war again straight after making peace, or make peace the turn after declaring war
AI empires only gang up on the real score leader, not on anyone bigger than themselves
AI cities no longer sit idle after choosing a unit they lack Iron or Horses for
AI ports blocked by other ships switch production instead of freezing, and AI ships stop circling hexes they can’t see
Stranded AI settlers no longer wander for dozens of turns, and AI settlers already aboard a ship can land
AI war preparations now end on time instead of dragging on for a hundred turns
Below Deity, AI empires judge each other’s armies only by what they can see
AI empires that start on a small island keep their starting ship at home until it has ferried a settler
AI turns are faster, especially in the desktop app
You can buy production with gold from the first turn – no need to research Currency first. Unit upgrades still need Currency
Cities make 1 extra research for every 2 population, so growing your cities pays off in science
Technologies from the Medieval era onwards cost more (about 1.5× Medieval up to 4.5× Modern), so the late eras last longer and a science victory comes later – around turn 250 instead of 180
AI units no longer freeze when their route has to go around a lake, mountains or a neighbour’s borders – AI settlers in particular could stand still for dozens of turns
Barbarian camps: from turn 15 until the Medieval era, camps appear in the wild land between empires. Each sends out raiders that hunt your units and can storm an undefended city; move a unit onto a camp to destroy it for 25–50 gold. Once any empire reaches the Medieval era camps stop raiding, though they keep a guard and can still be cleared for gold. Turn them off with the new Barbarians option on the New Game screen
New Explore order: land military units (Scouts especially) can explore on their own each turn – from the unit panel or the action wheel. They stop when an enemy comes close or there’s nothing left to explore
Your first Settler’s unit panel now suggests where to found your capital, with a Go button when a nearby spot is clearly better
Farms, Mines, Roads and other improvements now always require their technology (previously only the menus enforced it)
Tutorial: fixed the “A City Is Starving” hint, which never appeared, and a typo in “Giving Orders”
Annhexopedia: corrected the village rewards (a free Settler, not a new city), described the starter villages, rumours and tile buying
AI empires expand faster in the opening: their capitals work production tiles while building Settlers and Workers, and found a second city first – most AIs now have two cities by turn 30
Annhexopedia: documented the rule changes above, and corrected the Bomber’s range (16), the Destroyer’s cargo (2), what you lose when a city is captured (only the Palace), how resistance works, city spacing and when Settlers cost population
New optional minimap – turn it on under Settings > Display. It shows the land you’ve explored, every empire’s territory and cities, and outlines what’s on screen; click or drag on it to move the camera
Planet Earth screen: the map list now scrolls instead of squeezing every map into the space
Planet Earth: the Europe map is bigger (126 × 90 hexes, up from 93 × 66), giving England’s Britain and Egypt’s Nile more room. Britain is now big enough that England no longer starts with a free Galley there
New Planet Earth map: the Mediterranean, from Gibraltar to Mesopotamia – in finer detail than Europe, with Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete and Cyprus as islands and rivers like the Tagus, Ebro, Rhône, Po and Jordan. Rome, Greece, Egypt and France start in their homelands
New Planet Earth map: Britain & France – the Hundred Years’ War in close-up, with England at London and France at Paris facing each other across the Channel
New Planet Earth map: The Atlantic – the race for the New World. England, France and Rome in Europe, the Aztecs in Mexico, and an ocean narrowed so a crossing takes a few turns
AI empires now clear barbarian camps near their cities instead of fending off raiders for dozens of turns – training or buying a unit for the job when none is spare
Fixed AI ships ferrying a settler getting stuck for dozens of turns when another unit stood in their path
Domination victory now needs more than half of the original capitals, your own among them (5 of 8 empires, 4 of 6, 3 of 4) – no longer every one. The Empire screen shows how many you hold and need
The spaceship takes longer: parts cost 400 production each (up from 100) and the ship takes 20 turns to arrive after launch (up from 10), giving rivals time to respond
AI empires fight more coherent wars: they take your border cities first instead of marching past them to cities deeper in, keep a war going long enough to finish what they started, march as one army instead of a trickle of reinforcements, and pull wounded units back to heal
Science now comes from investing in it: the Library adds +25% research and the University +50% on top of their flat bonuses, and the new Research Lab (Electronics) adds another +50%. The University’s upkeep rises to 3 gold, Electronics no longer gives a free +1 research per city, and Renaissance-and-later technologies cost more to compensate
The city screen has a new Research card showing where that city’s research comes from
Armies now cost real gold, paid from the same treasury as your Universities and Research Labs: free units per city are 1 under Despotism and Republic and 2 under Monarchy and Democracy, and each unit beyond that costs 1 gold a turn – 2 for Medieval and Renaissance units, 3 for Industrial and Modern. AI empires size their armies to their income, disband their oldest units rather than sell buildings, and no longer build what they can’t afford to keep and then sell it
The Research option now turns half a city’s production into research (up from a third), boosted by its Library, University and Research Lab – a well-equipped city makes over three times as much from it. Renaissance and later technologies cost 50% more, so keeping pace in the late game means putting some of your industry into research instead of your army
AI empires chasing science now put part of their production into research, switching back to units when a neighbour’s army grows; AI empires with the stronger army attack a rival that pulls well ahead in technology, instead of waiting for it to build the Apollo Program
Every city after your capital adds 5% to the cost of every technology, so a wide empire has to invest in science to lead in it rather than out-researching everyone by size alone. The tech tree, research bar and toolbar show the cost for your empire
AI empires now commit to a strategy in the mid-game: science empires put production into research and keep a lean army, switching to defence when threatened; conquest empires build bigger armies and go after the empires pulling ahead in technology – joining wars others have already started against them
The most warlike AI conquerors no longer chase a science victory or build the Apollo Program – to stop a science empire they have to take its cities
Technologies are cheaper on small and crowded maps – down to half price, depending on the land for each empire – so a science victory is possible there too. Large and Planet Earth maps are unchanged
AI science empires now head straight for Rocketry and the spaceship once they commit to science, instead of researching the whole tree first
Fixed barbarian camps disappearing whenever a unit stood on them – camps now look like cities, with the unit standing on one drawn small in its corner
Fixed a unit finishing in one city also showing a “completed” message for every other city building the same unit