Total War: Warhammer 2 Mortal Empires patch notes detailed

There are some pretty significant changes coming the way of Total War: Warhammer 2 with tomorrow’s Mortal Empires release and patch. Creative Assembly have published and detailed the notes ahead of time in this article.

This update doubles as Patch 1 for Total War: Warhammer 2 and a balance pass for the Old World factions in the Mortal Empires campaign. For the latter, you need to own both Warhammer games. Both the patch and the new campaign will be released tomorrow, 26 October. The paid DLC ‘Blood and Gore’ addition for Total War: Warhammer 2 will be coming too; if you own it from the first game, you don’t need to buy it again.

You can read the full, extensive patch notes below. Some major highlights include fixes for units dropping attack orders in various circumstances, sorting out the Malekith/Morathi corruption issue when they confederate, and amending trade routes so that factions (especially when on an island) can trade with one another. They’ve made the final Vortex battle more challenging if the AI ‘wins’ first, too. Further notes on the Old World factions can be found in this reddit thread.

GENERAL

RELEASED Mortal Empires
RELEASED Blood for the Blood God for WARHAMMER II
FIXED multiple crashes
FIXED multiple MPC desyncs
FIXED multiple localisation issues in multiple languages

CAMPAIGN GAMEPLAY

ADDED Siege defence tower projectile upgrades for WH2 factions to defence buildings
ADDED additional Dilemmas that will trigger when your Dark Elf or Skaven Lords are very high on loyalty. Also, added over a dozen magic items that are specific rewards for Dark Elf and Skaven high-loyalty dilemmas
ADDED functionality for tutorial notifications to respond to Esc key presses to dismiss/acknowledge them
ADDED multiple new buildings:
Empire
Castle Reikguard (Altdorf)
Imperial Palace (Altdorf)
Imperial Academy
Roads and Toll Gates
Greenskins
Big Fort (Black Crag)
Dork’s Rock (Black Crag)
Chaos Troll Lair (Erengrad)
Raiding Caches
Vampire Counts
Major reshuffle of recruitment buildings
Terrorgheists and Wraith units have separate recruitment buildings
Awakened Battlefield
Blood Keep (Nuln)
Fortress of Merovech (Mousillon)
Drakenhof Court (Drakenhof)
Dwarfs
Karaz-a-Karak Airport (Karaz-a-Karak)
Bugman’s Brewery (Karag Dromar)
Grand Underway Junction (Karak Eight Peaks)
Wood Elves
Elven Court
Elven Healer
Ability to fully occupy Lothern
Ability to construct a variant of the Everqueen’s Court in Gaean Vale
Office-related buildings are now restricted to a specific Athel Loren settlement
Most races
Buildings to exploit the new resources
Merged resource-based unit upgrade effects into resource exploitation buildings

CHANGED Morathi and Malekith’s skills to spread the owning faction’s corruption, instead of starting faction’s corruption. This means that if Morathi is confederated to Malekiths faction, she will not continue to spread Chaos corruption
FIXED multiple region borders that were preventing factions from being able to trade with one another, especially if their capital was on an island
CHANGED the difficulty of the final battle when initiated by the AI (by them completing their fifth ritual). The battle will now feature an additional army led by the race’s other Legendary Lord
CHANGED Black Arks from being part of the army upkeep penalty. Black Arks now do not factor in to the Supply Lines modifier
FIXED Blessed Units not receiving the effects of certain Technologies, Skills or Astromancy stance
IMPROVED – breaking treaties will now have a stronger immediate effect on affected relationships
IMPROVED campaign AI intervention army decision-making for which sites to siege. Now more likely choose the non-primary Ritual locations if closer to them
IMPROVED campaign AI logic for building up existing forces instead of creating new ones
IMPROVED campaign AI occupation decisions for main targets when temporarily distracted by other objectives
IMPROVED ambush help page information
IMPROVED behaviour of advice when a dilemma is triggered
IMPROVED calculated strength of Lords versus lower quality infantry. They were too strong before
CHANGED “Piracy” event to not trigger if player owns Sartosa region
CHANGED diplomacy to allow peace to be made between races in the Vortex ritual race after the campaign has been won
CHANGED max number of traits a character can hold to 30 from 20
FIXED a bug where entering a battle with heavily damaged units often resulted these units getting wiped out after autoresolving the battle even if they didn’t suffer any losses during the battle
FIXED a case where Rebel armies would assault a settlement repeatedly rather than making the decision to raze it
FIXED a soft lock which would occur when the player reached 10 turns left of the final ritual at the same time as another faction triggers the final battle
FIXED agent success chance modifiers sometimes being applied to own heroes as well as enemy
FIXED an issue in the diplomacy AI where the player’s treachery rating wasn’t considered correctly and this made some parts of diplomacy exploitable
FIXED an issue with the AI proposing peace right after entering a war with the player
FIXED cases where embedded Heroes would be selected at the end of the player’s turn and then immediately unselected
FIXED cases where followers would disappear after unequipping them from a character
FIXED cases where unique items could be awarded via random events (e.g. Encounters at Sea)
FIXED Cave In Achievement not unlocking when player completed requirement in game
FIXED Legacy of the Great Necromancer Achievement not unlocking when player completed requirement in game
FIXED Encounters at Sea sometimes spawning in unreachable locations
FIXED Lords recruited from Black Arks after achieving a Vortex Campaign victory not gaining any additional levels that should be granted
FIXED Mazdamundi AI skill selection to prefer his unique skills more
FIXED missing effects on some ancillaries/followers
FIXED missions being issued while the issuing character was not available
FIXED pre-battle camera scene not working correctly when the player was reinforcing an AI ally with their Garrison force
FIXED public order and tax exemption on fortress gate regions resetting when the region changes owner
FIXED Skaven tech to increase new Lords Loyalty not affecting Lords already in the selection pool
FIXED some cases where the AI would repeatedly ask for almost the same deal
FIXED targeting intervention forces for missions requesting the player to make an alliance
FIXED units garrisoned in a settlement that is affected by Plague not receiving the Plague attrition

BATTLE GAMEPLAY

FIXED cases of units dropping attack orders (and therefore not pursuing fleeing enemies)
FIXED units in guard mode stopping attacking if current melee enemy Rampages
FIXED Screaming Bell being incorrectly marked as a small unit. It is now correctly considered a large unit
ADDED 7 new Free-for-All maps
IMPROVED Dragon breath targeting versus dispersed multiple entity units
IMPROVED battle AI usage of spells in many cases
IMPROVED flying unit ability to chase down routing units
IMPROVED the playable area and deployment zone sizes on Troll Country FFA
CHANGED Army losses morale penalty to not trigger in FFA battles. This change keeps players involved in the match for longer.
CHANGED Faction banner colour for enemy in Dwarf Gouger quest battle to improve readability
CHANGED Liber Bubonicus quest battle time limit. Added 3 minutes.
CHANGED unit spawning (e.g. Verminitide) behaviour. Stops cases where the spawned unit would swarm single entities and gain excessive attack frequency
FIXED a case of attacking Siege AI not properly attacking when there is no siege equipment
FIXED a corner wall piece in a Dark Elf city where siege towers would fail to dock
FIXED a scripting issue which would cause the AI enemy army in the Rod of Corruption quest battle to not correctly respond to artillery fire
FIXED a staircase in Lothern Siege battle map which would cause chariots to spontaneously combust
FIXED an exploit where you could cast some spells repeatedly for free if giving a move order during spell wind up. YUKANNADUZAT!
FIXED battle difficulty not applying correctly when chosen on campaign select screen
FIXED being able to bypass some Army Ability restrictions by casting on the Unit Cards
FIXED Bombardment spells not being counted correctly towards Free-for-All player scores
FIXED Bombardment spells sometimes not exploding on collision with certain terrain
FIXED defending siege AI reinforcements sometimes not being handled correctly by AI
FIXED enemy units sometimes rallying in intro battle when they shouldn’t
FIXED CA Cinematics Team’s obsession with slaying High Elves. May require further testing…
FIXED magic missile spells from bound items casting exploit if owner was a non-wizard Lord
FIXED Siege tower fire rates being too fast
FIXED some bound Vortex spells being able to be casted on walls when they should be restricted from doing so
FIXED some cases where defender reinforcements would not arrive in siege and minor settlement battles
FIXED some missing collision on obstacles in a few battle maps
FIXED rebirth effects not triggering properly if unit was routing

UI

FIXED hidden Skaven armies being visible by toggling on the Character names UI option
CHANGED UI for swapping between lores if your caster had multiple. This is to avoid overlap with army abilities.
ADDED spacing to Legendary Lord select images to denote races differentiation better
CHANGED Enemy Army colour in MP battles to be red rather than pink
CHANGED predicted public order overlay to work off only 3 colours which shows if public order is going up, down or remaining neutral
FIXED “Enemy siege lifted” event in event list missing icon
FIXED 3D banners sometimes being visible for garrisoned armies when in zoomed out strategic view
FIXED a case where MPC players had access to interventions when it was not their turn
FIXED a UI issue where only the Commandment button would be visible after closing the Rites panel if the Settlement panel was previously selected
FIXED adding skill points in some cases resetting the scroll back to the left
FIXED assembly kit downloaded map not being auto-selected in MP lobby
FIXED ‘can trade’ icon in Known Factions list displaying incorrectly if you could trade but currently were not with a faction
FIXED dilemmas sometimes appearing again after the player had already responded
FIXED double clicking a ruin in strategic view revealing Skaven presence by opening the faction diplomacy screen
FIXED error message that would show when trying to join a Multiplayer Campaign lobby for a save game you did not previously take part in
FIXED Event message not being generated when losing a Lord or Army during end turn
FIXED exiting out of diplomacy after offer an is rejected putting camera back in overview instead of where it was previously
FIXED incorrect reason given for not being able to perform rites when the player’s capital was not available
FIXED missing image in the Spells Browser for Skink Priest Avatar
FIXED Murderous Prowess UI not flashing for duration of ability active state
FIXED pressing the Home key during the post-battle camera scene allowing the camera to navigate away
FIXED Quick-save UI button being disabled in the pre-battle screen when the player is reinforcing an allied AI army attacking an enemy settlement
FIXED resource UI bar appearing during end turn after retreating from a battle
FIXED Settlement pre-battle options refresh for attacking player if another player is reinforcing them and selects a pre-battle option first
FIXED Softlock if opened rites panel whilst on the call-to-arms screen
FIXED the displayed upkeep value for units sometimes displaying incorrectly once recruited
FIXED Unit banners for flying units sometimes being missing when entering the tactical map mode in underground battles

VISUAL/GRAPHICS

ADDED the ability to disable post-process sharpen in Advanced graphics options
FIXED video playback having issues with High refresh rate monitors which would make the game unplayable when running at very high refresh rates (144+ Hz)
ADDED default graphics quality preset detection for AMD VEGA GPUs
CHANGED level of post-process sharpen effect to be weaker
CHANGED WH1 race ship models to all use larger variants like WH2 races
FIXED visual glitch that would occur with water if resolution scale was set below 100%
FIXED visual noise glitch in SSAO
FIXED cases of Lords in pre-battle scenes being too large and colliding with each other
FIXED multiple minor animation glitches
FIXED Spearmen unit in Tor Elithis Rogue army T-Posing
FIXED White Lions of Chrace models having black spots on fur when camera was further away from them

AUDIO

ADDED some new UI Sound Effects
FIXED Audio being muted during end turn sequence camera pans
FIXED Campaign music sometimes not blending between tracks correctly
FIXED Music slider not affecting campaign music
FIXED occurrences of campaign map audio not updating correctly when corruption took hold of a region

BATTLE BALANCING

General Balancing changes

Rampage tweaks (kicks in 5% of HP lost later, reduced duration by 10s, tweaked pause between repeated rampages)
Tweaks to rear attack melee defence modifier
Reduced MP cost of melee lords on foot and horses by -50

Skaven

Warpfire Throwers -50 cost, +5% reload speed
Night Runners (Slings) +1 dmg
Night Runners: reduction in accuracy
Night Runners (all) -5 hp, -5% physical resistance, -4 melee defence
Gutter Runner Slingers +1 dmg
Gutter Runners Slingers (Poison) +1 dmg
Gutter Runners: reduced projectile accuracy
Gutter Runners (Poison): reduced projectile accuracy
Gutter Runners (all) -5% physical resistance, -3 hp, -4 melee defence
Death Globe Bombardier +2 dmg, +4 AP dmg, +1 explosion dmg, +2 explosion AP dmg
Hellpit Abomination +5 BvsL, +3 MA, tweaks to attack animation preference
Warp Lightning Cannon – accuracy (minor tweak)
Doomwheel -100 HP
Plague Priest on Plague Furnace: +100 mp cost
Skavenslaves: more salt added to diet; now 25% more delicious

Lizardmen

Terradon with Fireleech Bolas +10 range, projectile tweaks
Horned Ones -100 cost, -5 armour, +14 HP
Kroq-Gar – Horned One: +5% HP
Slann Mage Priests and Mazdamundi on Palanquin +25% missile resistance

High Elves

Swordmasters -2 MD
Phoenix Guard -4 MA, -1 Speed, tweaks that will slightly reduce damage output
Silver Helms (all) +2 CB, +2 dmg
Tiranoc Chariot -2 missile dmg, +2 missile ap dmg
Dragon Princes -2 HP
Sun Dragon +4 MD, more breath attack damage
Moon Dragon +2 MD, slightly more breath attack damage
Black Dragon +2 MD
Lothern Sea Guards (all) +2 MA
Flamespyre Phoenix +2 MA, +3 leadership, +4 CB
Frostheart Phoenix +2 CB
Great Eagle +5 ground speed
Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower -25 hp on artillery piece
Tyrion: +45% flame resistance
Tyrion – Malhandrir: increased mass to match heavier hero warhorses
Tyrion: +10 weapon strength, percentage of ap damage increased to 45%.
Tyrion: Added Foe Seeker ability for multiplayer

Dark Elves

Reaper Bolt Thrower -25 hp on artillery piece
Dark Riders Xbow +50 cost
Black Ark Corsairs Handbow -2 ammo, projectile tweaks (amounts to a minor nerf)
Black Ark Corsairs (all) -1 HP
Cold One Knights -0.1 attack interval
Executioners -2 MD, -10 armour
Black Guard -10 armour, tweaks that will slightly reduce dmg output
War Hydra +5 CB
Death Hag – Blood Cauldron: +100 MP cost

Special Abilities and Spells:

Improved ability tooltips to contain more information about damage type
Adjusted medium breath template damage by -10% (Wind Blast, Pestilent Breath, Sunfang)
Added recharge in melee and removed max uses for Sunfang
Comet of Casandora and Black Ark Cauldron explosions now reach their max radius (=slightly more damage)
Adjusted Warp Lightning explosion damage by -23%. Reduced Warp Lightning cost to 5
Adjusted Wake of Fire explosion damage by -33%
Fate of Bjuna power cost increased by 1
Crack’s Call power cost reduced by 1
Cracks’s Call Upgraded power cost reduced by 1
Apotheosis can now target self
Liber Bubonicus limited to max 2 uses
Fiery Convocation: reduced power cost by 1
Death Frenzy & Upgraded: Removed charge bonus stat effect. Increased duration to 21. Reduced power costs by -1 and -2 respectively
Flame Storm & Flame Storm Upgraded: Increased vortex movement speed to 4. Reduced power cost of regular by -1
Snare Net: Removed additional charge speed reduction, reduced speed reduction to -18