GAMES
Introducing: Knights of the Mediterranean, new to Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition!
May 12, 2022
Hello, adventurers! We know you’ve been waiting for all the news – and here it is. We’re excited to introduce Knights of the Mediterranean – the latest DLC for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition! It is available for pre-order now on the Microsoft Store and Steam and will release on May 26!
Get ready to control the Mediterranean with two exciting civilizations: the Italians and the Maltese, plus enjoy a whole slew of new maps, and some engaging game modes! Are you ready to jump in? Take a look at these incoming features:
- 2 new Civilizations
- 30 new Random Maps
- 9 new Minor Civilizations
- 8 Historical Maps
- Diplomacy Game mode
- Tycoon Game mode
Table of Contents:
Italians
Fabulously wealthy merchant republics, kingdoms, duchies, and even the Papacy had driven the Renaissance and dominated the trade networks of the Mediterranean. However, when the Italian polities were not engaged in conflicts abroad, they fought each other nearly incessantly, until the Risorgimento gave rise to the new Kingdom of Italy.
Unite a wealthy but splintered Italy while new Settlers flock to your booming empire with every technological breakthrough, and Architects construct buildings for free!
Invest at the Lombard to optimize your economy and turn a quick profit, or construct a towering Basilica and send Papal soldiers to strengthen and complement your army!
Use shielded Pavisiers to lure opponents into an ambush of Bersaglieri, or let Elmetti lower their lances and carry the day with a thundering charge!
Home City Cards
The Italians have access to a variety of new cards that will aid you on your path to unity and victory!
- Around 50 unique cards tailored to the Italian civilization.
- “Company” Cards that send complementing combinations of Natives, Mercenaries, or other European allies.
We’ve picked a few noteworthy examples for cards with a variety of unique behaviors.
Italian Unique Cards
TEAM Marco Polo Voyages: Arrives fast! TEAM Explores the black areas of the map and doubles the resource rewards granted by treasures. Any resources already looted are granted to your team again.
Venetian Arsenal: Ships 1 Arsenal Wagon. Docks work much faster when an Arsenal is nearby.
Machiavellianism: Arrives fast! Improves your Italian Explorer in combat, enables him to pick up Treasures nearly instantly and gives him a powerful canine companion.
Merchant Republics: Ships 1 Trading Post Wagon. Grants resources for past and future control of Trading Routes.
• Delivers 1 Trading Post Wagon.
• Trade Routes: 20% of ALL resources you have earned so far are granted to you again.
• Trade Routes: Future income improved by +30%.
Guardia di Finanza: The financial police collects Coin for each enemy unit you have defeated so far.
Company Cards
Broken Lance Company: Ships a number of Papal Lancer and Stradiots.
Maltese Company: Ships a number Fire Throwers, Hospitallers, and Inquisitors.
Black Company: Ships a number of Black Riders and Armored Pistoleers.
And many more…
Maltese
One of the Mediterranean’s epitomes of a melting pot, Malta was strategically and financially important, and thus most of the surrounding powers coveted it, becoming a stronghold of the Knights Hospitaller.
Guard the Mediterranean against incursions with unique fortifications, don shining armor to fend off attacks, and shell opponents from afar with Fixed Guns.
Fire Throwers and greatswords win battles, but the superior logistics of your Commandery win wars. Luckily, you can have both!
Fighting at sea with Order Galleys may wet the gunpowder, but your Arbalesters won’t mind. You can always restock at a Gunpowder Depot, or blow it up when an enemy army marches past!
Home City Cards
The Maltese have access to a variety of new cards that will aid you on your path to unity and victory!
- Around 65 unique cards tailored to the Maltese civilization.
- “Tongue” Cards that send units from other European nations in support of your cause.
Maltese Unique Cards
Greek Fire: Enables Docks to construct Fire Ships. Explosive vessels stowed with Greek fire, a secret incendiary mixture which inflicts considerable damage upon contact.
Fire Towers: Researches Frontier Outposts and enables an additional powerful short-ranged fire attack.
Wignacourt Constructions: Settlers gather natural resources significantly faster when nearby a Town Center or Outpost.
TEAM Knights of the Round Table: The Knights of the Round Table ship 1 Hospitaller to each TEAM member for each Town Center they have on the map. Also grants +2% hitpoints to all Units on your team, unlike your other TEAM cards.
Fire Throwers: Equips Fire Throwers with a Flamethrower, a powerful charged attack that inflicts considerable Burning Damage in close-range combat.
Tongue Cards
Italian Tongue: Ships a Commandery Wagon and a number of powerful Order Schiavoni. Enables Commanderies to recruit more.
French Tongue: Ships a Commandery Wagon and a number of powerful Order Cuirassiers. Enables Commanderies to recruit them.
German Tongue: Ships a Commandery Wagon and a number of Settler Wagons. Enables Commanderies to recruit them.
And many more…
Historical Maps
Historical Maps are a new variation of Random Maps. Randomly generated for endless replayability, but with unique objectives for each map, based on some of the most memorable conflicts on the European continent.
- The Italian Wars
- Eighty Years’ War
- The Deluge
- Great Turkish War
- Great Northern War
- Napoleonic Wars
- Russo-Turkish Wars
- The Thirty Years’ War (multiplayer only)
European Royal Houses
With the Introduction of over 30 new European Maps, 9 new Minor Civilizations enter the game, adding an arsenal of unique new units, technologies, and abilities.
Representing larger entities whose influence transcended national borders rather than individual people-groups, European Royal Houses thematically blur the lines between major and minor civilizations in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition. Like Native American Settlements, Asian Holy Sites, and African Kingdoms, a Trading Post must be built on European Royal Houses’ Palaces to ally with them. Royal Houses provide a unique ability and more units and technologies on average than other minor civilizations, but these are staggered across multiple ages rather than being available in the Exploration Age. These assets are quite impactful and the units often utilize novel mechanics – such as unit promotions, charged actions, (dis)mounting, and damage deflection – but tend to come at a higher cost than their counterparts.
Royal Houses
- House of Bourbon
- House of Wittelsbach
- House of Oldenburg
- House of Hanover
- House of Phanar
- House of Jagiellon
- House of Vasa
- House of Habsburg
- House of Wettin
New Game Modes
Diplomacy
A brand new way to experience Multiplayer with your friends. Allowing players to change their allegiance to other players during the course of the match. Negotiate with your friends over war & peace… and make them pay for it!
This new diplomacy mode is available for all existing random maps! Additionally, one map has been specially crafted around this game mode, the multi-player exclusive diplomacy map “Thirty Years’ War“.
Tycoon
Tycoon is a new Game Mode to accompany Supremacy, Deathmatch and Empire Wars.
Designed to focus on the economy-building of Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, this new Game Mode provides a setting where players concentrate on creating the strongest economies for their empires, without having to bolster armies or defend against full-scale sieges.
List of Achievements
| Achievement Name | Achievement Condition | Score |
| Tongues of Europe | Send 3 different “Tongue” Home City cards as Malta. | 10 |
| Demolition Derby | Deal 2000 Damage with Depot explosions. | 10 |
| The Great Siege | Deal 10,000 Damage with Fixed Guns. | 15 |
| Heavy Metal Rain | Defeat 30 Units with Fixed Guns. | 5 |
| Knights Hospital | Heal 4000 Health points playing as the Maltese. | 5 |
| Business Trip | Deploy ‘Trip to Jerusalem’ from your Home City shipments as the Maltese. | 5 |
| Maltese Victory | Win a game as the Maltese. | 5 |
| Alone against the World | Win on the Eighty Years’ War Historical Map defending 1v7 against Humans or Hard AI. | 15 |
| Cossack Captain | Win on the Deluge Historical Map against Humans or Hard AI. | 15 |
| Defense of the Headquarters | Destroy the Headquarters in The Eighty Years’ War or Great Turkish War Historical Maps. | 10 |
| Scorched Earth | Raze 20 Village Houses in The Deluge or The Thirty Years’ War Historical Maps. | 5 |
| Uphill Battle | Capture five Strategic Points from an enemy in The Napoleonic Wars Historical Map. | 10 |
| Bring out the Big Guns | Deal 3000 Damage with captured Fixed Guns in the Great Turkish War or Russo-Turkish War maps. | 5 |
| International Supporters | Send 50 Units from the Basilica. | 10 |
| Technological Boom | Research 50 Technologies as the Italians. | 10 |
| Investment Banker | Transform 15,000 Resources using Lombards. | 10 |
| Free Real Estate | Construct 200 Buildings with Architects. | 5 |
| Bersaglieri Battalion | Deal 5000 Damage with Bersaglieri. | 10 |
| Italian Victory | Win a game as the Italians. | 5 |
| La Serenissima | Unlock 5 Italian Home City Customizations. | 5 |
| Economic Super Power | Achieve 1st place for 3 challenges in a Tycoon mode game. | 5 |
| Ok Boomer | Build 3 Town Centers in a Tycoon mode game. | 5 |
| Grand Exchange | Generate 10,000 Tycoon score from exchanging resources for Tycoon Packages. | 5 |
| Imperium | Meet the Economic Victory conditions in a Tycoon mode game and win. | 15 |
| Wealth of Empires | Complete a Tycoon mode game with 10 Different Civilizations. | 10 |
Pre-Order Now!
Ready to explore and battle it out with all the new things? Knights of the Mediterranean is available for pre-order from the Microsoft Store and Steam!
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This Week’s Deals with Gold and Spotlight Sale
GAMES
The German Empire Marches to Italy in a Free Expansion Today
We have a new expansion for our WW1 Italian Front FPS game Isonzo releasing today! It’s the first part of our Caporetto season of free expansions, and features a whole new faction with the arrival of the German Empire on the Italian Front, and brings a new map for the Offensive game mode. There will be two more releases in the Caporetto season, each one with a new map to ultimately link together into a three map Caporetto Offensive.
The German faction comes with more than ten new weapons, as well as historically accurate uniforms and equipment. This first Caporetto map sees you taking part in the early stages of the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, with German troops assaulting Italian positions on the road to Caporetto. Historically it was a military disaster for Italy which brought down the government – but maybe things can go differently with you on the battlefield?
The update sees new uniforms and equipment from the German Empire for Isonzo’s six classes: Rifleman, Assault, Engineer, Officer, Marksman and Mountaineer. For those who aren’t familiar with the game, each class has different weapon, gear and perk options that allow you to specialize your play style within the overall focus of the class. For instance, Marksmen are always sharpshooters, but a lot depends on your loadout. You could be a long-range sniper and observer identifying and eliminating high value targets with a scoped rifle, or you could equip body armor to take and hold a front line position with deadly accurate mid-range fire. Every class has choices to make in this regard.
In Isonzo’s signature Offensive game mode, one side must attack and break through multiple defensive lines. Thick layers of barbed wire, trenches, and whatever extra defenses the enemy engineers put together will stand in the way of a successful attack. Objectives can be taking and holding key points, or planting dynamite to sabotage enemy supply stashes or heavy artillery guns.
The new Caporetto map – the first of three in the season – is a huge battlefield based on the strategically important Monte Kolovrat. There are five defensive lines, where each line has two objectives for the attackers before they can advance further. While in the historical Battle of Caporetto both German and Austro-Hungarian forces were involved, in Isonzo we’ve chosen to focus on the German contribution, so the map recreates the stunning German advance from the town of Tolmein all the way to Kolovrat Ridge. It’s a damp, overcast day when the attack begins, and the attackers must first cut their way through lines of wire to break into a devastated town – including capturing a church defended by multiple heavy machine gun positions. Fortunately, in Isonzo there are many tactical options available to deal with such strong points: artillery barrages, smokescreens, snipers, rifle grenades, even poison gas. From there, it becomes a literal uphill battle for the German attackers as they begin to climb towards the peak of Kolovrat Ridge. They’ll need to sabotage bunkers and capture command posts while navigating rocky trenches and steep forested slopes. At the penultimate fourth defensive line there is a huge siege mortar to sabotage and a cluster of houses providing cover to the Italian defenders – then it’s one last climb to reach the final objective: Hill 1114. If the Germans can take it, the Italians will finally be the ones fighting uphill as their reinforcements stream in to try and counterattack.
Of course, things are no walk in the park for the defenders either – although it’s easier to maneuver when going downhill, and it’s much simpler for officers to deploy flares to call in support, the extensive trench lines can become a liability once the Germans get a foothold, providing cover as they advance. Some of the Italian defensive positions can be exposed against the sky, making it easy for German marksmen to pick off targets. Italian engineers should make good use of their construction abilities to put down additional sandbags and lay out extra wire to prevent German assault troops sneaking through the trees to flank trenches with their grenades or light machine guns.
As we mentioned before, historically the Battle of Caporetto was a disaster for the Italians. Appalling leadership led to poorly motivated and unprepared troops falling apart in the face of the combined Austro-Hungarian and German armies using cutting edge infiltration tactics. The Italian soldiers were not allowed to retreat until too late, and in the end hundreds of thousands would surrender. After Caporetto the top Italian general was fired and replaced by someone far more competent, who managed to turn the war around for the Italians. In Isonzo, it’s a more fair fight where both sides have an equal chance of winning, if they can use all the tactical options available better than their opponents.
The release will also bring other improvements to the game, including a prestige mode and higher level cap. Additionally, for those who want more options for visual customization of their character, the Royal Units DLC is releasing alongside the free expansion and contains uniforms from the German Kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg. Though part of the German Empire, these states had their own distinctive uniforms which we’ve carefully recreated with the same accuracy and attention to detail as with the other uniforms in the game.
The Battle for Caporetto Begins…
Isonzo is available right now on the Microsoft Store for Xbox, and the free Caporetto expansion is out today! Plenty of time to master the art of mountain warfare before the German Empire joins the action on the Italian Front. Follow us to get the latest development news as we add the finishing touches!
We’ll see you in the trenches!
Isonzo
BlackMill Games
$29.99
World War One expands to the mountains of the Italian Front – beautiful but deadly in equal measure. Inspired by the two year struggle for control of the Isonzo river valley and the Alps during World War One, Isonzo elevates the WW1 Games Series, figuratively and literally.
From the makers of Verdun and Tannenberg…
Take part in historical offensives from the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo to the Strafexpedition. Reflecting the course of the actual battles, as the attackers advance the fighting will shift through vastly different landscapes within a single offensive: from hillside fortresses to mountain trenches and fierce urban combat on city streets. Everything is recreated based on research and field trips, from sound effects and uniforms down to the houses, vineyards and trenches you’ll be fighting over.
The new Offensive game mode puts you right in the middle of key historical offensives on the Italian Front. Lead the charge across stunning Italian landscapes as you choose your path to victory – cut paths through barbed wire, flank your enemies by following mountain trails, or man a mortar to blast a way through. Shape a dynamic battlefield by laying sandbags and wire, placing ammo crates, deploying trench periscopes or sniper shields, and more.
Call in support with a unique historically accurate flare system: flare guns can mark targets for artillery or biplane flybys, or different colored flares can be used to guide your team. Once the big guns have softened up the enemy, finish the job at close quarters with an Arditi dagger or mountaineer’s pickaxe. Man heavy machine guns, mortars and even mountain guns for more direct fire support.
Choose from six classes based on historical combat roles and build your loadout from a selection of weapons, equipment and perks linked to that class, giving flexibility and variety while staying grounded in what real soldiers might have carried. You’ll be operating wire cutters, bandaging yourself and wounded teammates, and blowing the whistle to start an assault. One shot can kill and even lighter injuries can lead to quickly bleeding out.
Being an effective soldier in Isonzo is not just about being a good marksman. Mastering the terrain is also key – the mountain can be a friend or foe. Learn how to navigate well to maintain cover and surprise your enemies or support your allies.
Finally… watch out for the dreaded poison gas. You’ve never experienced WW1 action quite like this!
Isonzo key features include:
• MOUNTAIN WARFARE: Assaulting mountain fortifications, battling through ruined towns, and fording rivers are just a few of the challenges you’ll face as you fight your way through numerous enemy positions
• TACTICAL MULTIPLAYER FPS: Choose your role and loadout carefully to survive this high altitude combat – play a sniper to pick off the enemy engineers before they can cut your wire, use rifle grenades to clear enemy machine guns, and much more
• WORLD WAR ONE GAMEPLAY: Historical Offensive game mode based on real battles and focused on the unique challenges of Alpine warfare. Fight with 30+ WW1 weapons, poisonous gas attacks, and intense artillery barrages
• BUILD FOR VICTORY: Place your own wire, sandbags, trench periscopes, and more! Whether you’re digging in or on the attack, shaping the battlefield to your advantage will be key to victory
• FACES OF WAR: Make every class your own by picking from a variety of historically class-appropriate uniforms, accessories and headgear. As a finishing touch, you can even pick your mustache from several famous period-accurate styles!
• AUTHENTIC WW1 ATMOSPHERE: Accuracy in everything from maps and weaponry to music and the uniforms – fight for the Kingdom of Italy, the German Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy
MORE GAMES IN THE AUTHENTIC WW1 GAME SERIES
Immerse yourself in more WW1 action with our other standalone titles Tannenberg and Verdun. Experience trench warfare on the Western Front in Verdun, or maneuver for control of key sectors in Tannenberg on the Eastern Front. These authentic WW1 shooters let players choose from a range of squads from across the war, as they fight for control of the ever-changing frontlines.
GAMES
Transport Fever 2: Console Edition is Bringing the Full Transport Tycoon Experience to Xbox
Today, we proudly share a sneak peek into the development of Transport Fever 2: Console Edition, and how we managed to bring the full transport tycoon experience to Xbox.
Transport Fever is a very popular and highly rated transportation tycoon franchise on PC. Its latest entry, Transport Fever 2, delivers a level of size and detail never before seen in the genre. The goal of the game is to build a successful transportation company by constructing railroads, streets, water and air lines. Starting in the 19th century, the player connects towns and industries to transport both passengers and cargo. In addition to a customizable free game mode, there is also a fully-fledged campaign mode with challenging missions set in real-world transportation history.
After the huge success of Transport Fever 2 on PC, it was only logical to bring the experience to consoles as well. Not only that, but no efforts were spared to give the console community the full experience that made the game great on PC. In order to achieve this, the engineers at Urban Games had to pull some rabbits out of their engineers’ hats.
Always providing the freshest layer of paint
One of the most cherished features of Transport Fever 2 are its highly detailed vehicles. The game comes with more than 200 lovingly hand-modeled trains, ships, and airplanes, each sporting multiple 4k textures and normal maps.
On PC, it is easily affordable to have all the models and textures in memory whenever needed, as a typical rig has 16 GB of RAM and a GPU with a dedicated extra memory. Consoles, however, are built differently. They have a unified architecture with an overall smaller amount but ultra-fast memory. The key to make it work on consoles is texture streaming, which allows to clear textures of models that are not in view anymore. Moreover, this technology is used in Transport Fever 2 to constantly load textures at the highest affordable resolution to present the stars of the show, like the classic Class A 3/5 steam locomotive, in their best coat of paint at all times.
Keeping the ground like a console pro
A trademark of Transport Fever 2 are its huge maps. During development of the game, it was always paramount to provide a real sense of scale. The engine should allow for maps where a high-speed train, such as the famous Japanese Shinkansen, can really make use of its superior speed. So, a lot of effort was put into designing a highly effective terrain rendering pipeline that can handle maps of more than 120 sq miles of size with a detail resolution of almost 1 yard. Central to this is a dynamic terrain tessellation algorithm on the CPU that, while costing a bit of extra memory, makes sure the engine can render these maps on a wide variety of PCs.
Now, enter the world of consoles with their incredibly well-designed GPUs and graphic APIs. Here, the hardware can be leveraged very well for terrain rendering by making use of the GPU tessellation feature. This feature generates the render mesh for the terrain fully on the graphics card, saving valuable processing time for the complex economy and city growth simulations. While generating more triangles, the hardware approach still costs less memory overall due to its efficiency. So vast maps can be viewed from a bird’s view high up in the sky and seamlessly zoomed in down to individual rocks on a riverbank.
Inspiring the inner architect
Finally, let’s talk about constructions, a central and defining part of the Transport Fever 2 experience. Constructions are large assemblies that consist of dozens of assets, street segments, ground decals and terrain modifications. Think of structures like airports, train stations, docks, highway crossings, and many more. Anything that is needed to build a vast transportation empire.
For a smooth construction experience, it is key that the player really feels that he has precise control over the building placement. On PC, constructions are typically built using the mouse. As the average PC user is very well adjusted to this method of input, it is sufficiently performant to calculate the entire construction each frame and place it under the cursor. However, on consoles, the best way of building constructions is to have them always kept in the center of the screen and move the camera along the map for placement. And moving the camera needs to be as smooth as silk.
So, for the console release of Transport Fever 2, the construction preview pipeline was overhauled. All dynamic calculations are now performed in the background while a static preview of the structure and its underlying ground plan are shown. Not only are constructions now completely stable in terms of FPS, but they also give feedback to the player on what environment features the construction would tear down when built.
Let’s get tycooning on console
We are very excited to bring the Transport Fever franchise to consoles for the first time ever with the release of Transport Fever 2: Console Edition on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One in February 2023, and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we did developing it.
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