2025 Development Summary

​Greetings conquerors, it's time for the 2025 recap. This was the year AI met Conquest!. AI has been an incredible accelerant, enabling many enhancements that would have been impossible otherwise.

Here are the highlights of changes:

 ✨ Enhancements
• Adjoining region travel
  • Travel by land to an adjoining region (no boat required!)
  • Adjoining cities now show the "stables" icon on the map
•Flexible troop choice for all classes:
  • 2 options per class
  • Bards: 3 options
  • Vampires: remain limited to their own type
• Increased maximum structures to 400/region
• Honorary legendary NPCs created from historic player names (e.g., RavenfireTheLegend)
• Changing class or troops now costs 50% of troops (siege is unaffected)
• Increased chance for bonus goods
• New espionage missions: Scuttle and Scramble
• New quest riddle (AI generated)
• New emperor challenges
• New log format
• Reduced movement point cost for many skills

⚔️ Combat
• New aerial strikes
• Capturing structures now awards a minimum of 1% spoils
• Overhauled ship designs and naval battles
• Pirate fleets vary based on level
• New troop attributes: mode bonus, rugged, splash
• Range now varies by short, medium, or long distance

🧙‍♂️ Classes
• Assassinate can target a player with a hero or the hero directly
• Bandit hideouts hold 500 troops; Ranger forts 400
• Most Ranger buffs can be applied to self or others
• Brewed potions now persist after class changes

🖥️ UI
• New panel and popup window transitions
• Added outlines to some icons to improve visibility
• New command console
• Kingdom and Army buffs visible from HUD buttons
• Players are automatically added to target lists less frequently
• New troop and ship sketches (AI generated)
• View all troop and ship attributes
• Overhauled city management
• Improved tokenization to prevent mismatch errors
• New class and city backgrounds (AI generated)
• New panel backgrounds
• Significant technical improvements

☠️ NPCs
• NPCs will not buy the last of any goods in markets (except troops)
• Updated NPC responses based on persona (Attacker or Defender)
• Increased variability in NPC actions

 ⚙️ Game Server
• All city and tavern names randomized at the start of each Age
• Standardized battle mechanics
• Backup configuration data each world season
• Removed redundant commands
• Switched token protocol
• All lists now shuffled using Fisher-Yates algorithm
• New notification system (email, mobile, Discord, AI assisted)
• New threading system (AI assisted)

🌀 Misc.
• You no longer need an established kingdom to use adjoining region travel or portal
• Summon Dragons can now be used across regions
• Severe weather while sailing increases the odds of encountering Atlantis
• Sceptre of Death kills troops versus players
• Updated weather effects
• Expeditions no longer prevent attacks in region
• Traveling to anti-magic city no longer destroys items or potions
• Ships may restock during age of isolation
• Ages now last a minimum of 21 days, maximum 35 days
• Updated name and win message generators
• Bounties now based on attacks rather than eliminations
• Many message cleanups