Patch 37 Changelog:

Army Tax Cancellation

• The church will no longer charge you for your soldiers, but all mercenaries will now sign contracts for only 10 days, after which the contract must be renewed, or they will leave.
• All mercenaries are now knights, levels 7-12, and bring their own equipment—light armor and a spear. Additionally, knights no longer desert.
• Knights into which the player has ordained the children of their lords remain in the army permanently.
• An alternative is growing your own army. To this end, the duration of the "fear of death" thought for hired peasants has been reduced from 7 to 5 days.

Balance

• Since a vassal's debt primarily consists of their army, if you use vassal armies for your purposes, those vassals will now be exempt from vassal tax for 5 days.
• To better balance the late game, the progression of contract renewal costs has been increased (i.e., the church's fee for signing trade contracts will remain nearly unchanged at early levels but will rise more sharply at later stages).
• Late-game trade contracts, which were overly profitable, have been adjusted.
• The durability of the fortress tower has been doubled. The number of archer slots in the watchtower has been reduced to 3 (the fortress tower retains 5).
• The "Diplomat" talent now allows peace treaties to be signed three times cheaper.
• The "Gray Contracts" technology now affects the entire trade contract cost, not just the base price, but the reduction effect has been weakened.
• Lords now gain 1.5 Command skill points for each inspection at the training ground.
• The relationship debuff "Attacks Neighbors" will be strengthened after 7 vassals on hardcore mode.

Migration

• You can now prohibit migration if your city is fully surrounded by a fortress wall. Migrants will wait a bit and then leave. Some of them will join forest bandits.
• 15% of incoming migrants will be fanatics to create a minimal base, which has significantly declined since the abolition of mandatory morning services.
• The action reducing migration in player villages has been removed as it is no longer relevant.

Hunting and Wolves

• Characters no longer surrender during hunts—they attempt to flee.
• If at least one hunter flees from a fight, the hunt is considered unsuccessful.
• Wolves no longer flee from battles if the hunt is targeted at them.
• Lords will not assist friends in fights with wolves if it’s a hunt.
• Archers on towers now attack wolves engaged in combat with someone (but only if it’s not a hunt).

Global Map

• Lord hints (with portraits) now include character trait tips: "Ruler's Wife," "Commander," and "Heir." Unnecessary traits like "Early Baldness" or "Monogamy" are no longer displayed.
• New rendering of city names on the global map; next to the names, a conditional population size is now shown (this feature hints at how we envision game development on a strategic level).
• If AI, awaiting a player attack for vassalization, receives a debt of honor, the attack is canceled, vassalage is established, and the debt is cleared.
• An AI heir will not rebel if someone (including the player) is preparing an attack on the city.

Miscellaneous

• If you conduct a faith sermon, the bishop will improve relations with the appointed lord, not the king. This tool enhances control over lord and bishop relationships.
• Added animation for raised hands and panic shouts when fleeing from battle.
• Sprites for damaged wall sections have been replaced: when hit by a torch, a piece of the wall now flies off.

Fixes

• Lords with equipment restrictions set in the Dynasty menu will return prohibited gear to the warehouse.
• Skill talents will no longer unlock due to temporary stat boosts.
• If no one is available to approve the king’s actions, the related event does not appear.
• Punishing a convicted criminal with a mask of shame turns them into an ordinary peasant.
• Fixed a bug allowing enemies to pass through a solid wall dividing map sections, and they no longer attempt to destroy it.
• Fixed a bug preventing lords and knights from taking armor from the warehouse.
• Fixed a crash when loading a game if a tree loaded outside the map.
• Fixed a bug allowing a player to assign a lord to study the same knowledge twice with a quick double-click.
• Fixed a bug where the death or escape of a substitute squad commander triggered thoughts and events as if an enemy commander had died.
• Fixed a bug where the nectar hint didn’t load in the new game creation menu.

List of additional fixes:

Balance

• The “Fear of Death” thought effect now lasts for 5 days instead of 7.
• Lords will now gain 1.5 command skill points for each inspection conducted at the training ground.
• Fortress tower durability has been doubled. The number of archer slots in the watchtower has been reduced to 3 (the fortress tower still has 5 slots).
• On hardcore difficulty, after reaching 7 vassals, the “Attacks Neighbors” thought will now be -14 instead of -9.
• The lower threshold for triggering the "Overpopulation" thought has been increased from 100 to 125 residents.
• The duration of the “Was on Patrol” thought has been reduced from 24 to 12 hours.

UI and QoL

• Added on-screen events notifying when a knight's contract expires and when they leave the city.
• Added a problem flag warning that a knight’s contract will expire soon (2 days in advance).
• Added scrolling to the commanders panel in the army menu.
• Updated images for certain encyclopedia entries.
• The number of starting soldiers in the tutorial has been increased from 2 to 5, and the mercenary recruitment tutorial step has been removed.
• New rendering for city names on the global map, and city populations are now displayed next to their names (the number is scaled down by a factor of 10).
• Added highlight for the army recruitment button in the army menu if the player hasn't clicked it yet, and automatic display of the knights article when opening the recruitment menu.
• Removed the "Reason" line from the hint for binge drinking and drunkenness.

Fixes

• Fixed a bug preventing lords and knights from taking armor from the warehouse.
• Fixed a crash when loading a game if one of the trees loads beyond the map edge.
• Fixed a bug where a notification about knights leaving appeared even if no knights were actually leaving.
• Fixed a bug where the death or escape of a replacement commander in a squad (i.e. one assigned after the original died) triggered thoughts and events as if the enemy commander had been killed or routed.
• Fixed a bug where the nectar tooltip would fail to load in the new game creation menu.
• Fixed a bug where knights were being hired for 3 days instead of 10.
• Fixed a bug where the “Knight’s contract expired” notification appeared even if the player had no knights.
• Fixed a bug where the Matriarch would gain a thought that the player was helping destroy marauders when the player was actually defeating regular armies on the global map.
• Fixed a bug where right-clicking an article in the encyclopedia would close the global map.
• Fixed a bug where a summoned reinforcement army would return home if it collided with the destination point on its way.
• Fixed a bug where wounded prisoners might not be carried away if there was no prisoner barracks and no temple in the city.
• If the player's army carrying loot is sent to defend a city or village, the loot will no longer be lost after the defense quest ends.
• Fixed a bug where the player received notifications about lords from other factions losing talents.,
• Fixed a bug where workers wouldn’t transport meat from the pig farm if it wasn’t “charged” with rutabaga (this could lead to lords starving).
• Fixed a bug where the lost souls of prisoners remained in the statistics (if you encountered this bug, save and reload your game).
• Fixed a bug involving endless tying and untying of a prisoner.
• Fixed a bug where punishing a prisoner-suspect with a shame mask turned them into a regular peasant and caused terror.
• Fixed a bug where promoting a lord to a knight didn’t remove the “Too few rings” thought and where the “Pacifist” trait still affected knights.
• Fixed a bug where killing a bishop could be considered a crime if a duel lasted more than 4 hours.
• Fixed a bug where a character wouldn't stop running in panic if their pain level greatly exceeded very low morale.
• Fixed a bug where the player couldn't repair a half-burned hall.
• Fixed a bug where thoughts about rings did not disappear after promoting a lesser lord to a knight.

Miscs

• Archers on towers will now attack wolves engaged in combat with someone (but only if it is not a hunt).
• Lowered the priority of the negotiation action (including attempts to bribe player lords) so it doesn’t interrupt important activities like ceremonies.
• Provoking a duel now also requires both the target and the initiator to have weapons and armor, just like a standard duel.
• Removed the “Defender of the Faith” technology, as the army tax is no longer in the game.
• Sermons have been rescheduled to 8:00 AM.
• Cultural bonuses for work tasks have been removed.