Game Update 8 adds support for our second Season 2 DLC, “Bright Harvest”, for all Season 2 Pass owners. “Bright Harvest” will also be available as a stand-alone purchase from June 2 onwards.

Added an Item Overview system within the statistics screen. With this much requested feature, we are giving you an easy to use overview of all your current items, and where they currently are being used or stored. This includes extensive filtering options by their effect or what buildings they can be socketed into, as well as text search (which has also been added to the Trading Post and expedition preparation menu). Finally, you can also use the item overview to search for any missing items, and information on how to obtain them!

You can not only use the items overview to track all your owned items, but to learn where you can find any missing ones

Trading Posts and Warehouses are receiving an additional upgrade tier which gives them more loading ramps and storage space. Old World buildings can be upgraded to level four now (previously three), and their New World counterparts to level three (previously only two).

Rumor has it that a long-missing ship is about to make its return, and that the Ubisoft Club Challenge for the Great Eastern is now obtainable…

We have made some changes to speed up the setup of trade routes. You no longer need to press “Accept” after selecting a new good, and by default 50t will be loaded at once (you can manually decrease the number afterwards).

Electricity poles are now optional and can be turned off in the game settings.

We have added the functionality to change the “skin” (aka the textures) on ships and trains (in the Oil Harbor) via a button in their object menu. While the functionality is supported for all ships, only your Command Ship and the train currently have skins (from the Imperial Pack). Buyers of the “Bright Harvest” DLC can in addition unlock new skins for the Battlecruiser and Collier as new Ubisoft Club Rewards. Finally, please note that the new skin on the train will only show once it has been to the Oil Harbor. Wait- please don’t tell me you didn’t know that trains always get painted inside oil harbors?

We have fixed an issue that could lead to the game’s soundtrack being repetitive, so enjoy a wider selection of songs during your industrial adventures.

Changes to map generation

We have made some changes to the way maps are generated. As a result, all maps should now always have at least one of every available fertility, and the ratio between copper and zinc should also be improved. As a downside, this means that old map seed numbers are changing, so enjoy hunting for the god seeds anew!

Changes to newspaper productivity buff

Going forward, the productivity buff provided by the newspaper will no longer multiply the buffs provided by other effects and will instead be added to them. This unification of the way buffs are calculated also means that info tips listing all the applied productivity buffs will be easier to understand.

Here is an example to make things clearer

Game Update 7.3

(100% + electricity boost + item boost + other boosts) * newspaper boost

From Game Update 8 onwards

100% + electricity boost + item boost + other boosts + newspaper boost

Balance changes to specialists

Marie-Antoine, Pattisier Royale: Removed a deprecated effect and replaced it with a +50% productivity buff.

Chronometrist Chiara: Removed a deprecated effect with no replacement (since she already has two effects like other Epic specialists).

Changes to the influence cost of airships

Airship influence coast has been reduced from five points to four, to bring it in line with other ships.

Changes to trade prices of New World goods

The basic trade prices of all New World goods have been raised to bring them in line with prices of Old World goods. See the full list of base prices below, and keep in mind that these can vary depending on the character you trade with:

The multi-copy tool can now also be used to copy railway tracks.

Improved animations in the “Additional Content” menu.

Improved the behavior of the “Mortar” and “Torpedo” items, in line with other items.

Improved behavior of escort ships on trade routes to appear smoother.

Placing the Palace blueprint will no longer trigger its music, saving that for the construction of the actual building.

Adjusted the frequency of the voice over played when a group of ships arrives in a session to not spam the user.

Polished the art on the Steam Shipyard.

General

Fixed a stability issue which could occur when changing any game setting that required restarting the game on Windows 7 and Window 8.1.

Fixed an issue where two instances of the game could be running simultaneously.

Policy effects from Local Departments will no longer multiply due to gaining or losing an influence level.

Fixed an issue that could prevent the Trade Ship influence speed buff from being properly applied to Airships.

Fixed an issue with the Shipyard showing insufficient workforce even when no ship was being built.

“Active Sonar” items will now properly drop if a Salvager ship is destroyed.

Fixed an issue with moving Trading Post menus while the player was scrolling through an AI’s offerings.

Players will no longer be able to build Local Departments in the New World.

Rapidly clicking on a treasure map item will no longer allow you to use it several times. Your mouse button will thank us for this one!

Fixed a potential performance issue when using the upgrade tool under certain conditions.

Fixed a potential diplomacy exploit where players could quickly farm reputation with certain other NPCs due to their reactions when pursuing an alliance with Bente Jorgensen.

Fixed an issue with groups of ships breaking formation while on the world map and arriving separately in their destination session. Groups should now arrive in the new session together.

Fixed an issue with AI characters potentially just using a single name for all their islands.

Speaking of names: Crown Falls will no longer occasionally change its name to a random one in the “Sunken Treasures” DLC. #CrownFalls4ever

The text in the custom difficulty screen during setup will no longer flicker, no matter how often you wildly click on it.

Fixed an issue in the diplomacy menu where the possible diplomatic actions were wrong if you switch the point of view to an AI’s point of view.

The +250 per set bonus will now be properly considered when calculating unlock conditions in the “Seat of Power” DLC.

Pausing and unpausing the heaters in the Arctic will no longer mistakenly play Farmer voices. Stay in your lane, friends!

The intro music for a character will no longer play when hovering over their island while still covered by the fog of war.

Chartered ships will now automatically be repaired by an owned Repair Crane.

Incoming voices will no longer be muted by minimizing the game.

Graphics and User Interface

Fixed a graphical issue with disappearing turrets on Battlecruisers and Monitors after switching sessions.

Players should now be able to properly pause trade routes via the menu even if they are not in the same session.

The background art of the button for session switching will no longer disappear under DirectX 12.

Fixed some smaller UI issues that could occur when offering trade or bribes during expeditions.

Fixed a glitch with electricity poles that could occur when deleting the adjacent street.

Fixed a minor display issue with the ornament object menu.

Fixed a potential issue with the newspapers title not being displayed while editing.

Fixed an issue with the ship object menu after making a decision during an expedition.

Fixed an issue with the wind direction indicator appearing in postcard view of a ship.

The New World Repair Crane’s lanterns will now save some oil by not constantly being on in bright day light.

Fixed an issue where the support pillars of Stone Bridges could appear to be too short under certain circumstances.

You can no longer leave a blank company name or delete it during game setup.

UI elements in the object menu of a ruined building will no longer overlap.

Airships will no longer be accidentally called modules in the influence overview menu.

Adjusted the visibility of the sickness icon in object menus.

The carpet on the Public Mooring will no longer float on the lowest graphics settings.

Fixed an issue with the Quest Tracker, where having too many quests could result in the bottom one appearing cut off.

The last row of the item preview in cultural buildings will no longer appear cut off.

Fixed the info tip display of blocked segments in the Oil Harbor object menu.

Made the icon of the coffee production chain consistent across different menus and scenarios.

Fixed a graphical issues with emergency buildings not being properly highlighted while placing an administration building like a Town Hall or Trade Union nearby.

Multiplayer

Fixed a potential issue with an infinite loading screen after a readied player was kicked from the lobby and invited again.

Chat notifications will no longer reappear after loading a save game.

Fixed an issue where the newspaper screen for one player could appear empty if another had finished a photo quest.

Fixed an issue that could cause voice chat to not be functional anymore until the player would manually switch voice channels.

Fixed an issue that could lead to the multiplayer lobby UI becoming transparent when loading a game.

Fixed several issues with the chat window.

Fixed some inconsistencies with the Mute button.

Fixed an issue with the Palace object menu not appearing for the second player in a game.

Fixed an issue with departed players still being shown as part of the game.

Improved the consistency of the chat window info tip.

Improved the behavior of the ping system, which could previously be confusing if the ping was audible despite being in a different session.

Items

Changed the name of the “Golden Potato Harvest” to “Golden Harvester from the Future” to better reflect its functionality.

Fixed an issue with “Snow Gum” having the same icon as “Marshmallow”.

Quests

Fixed an issue with the Bright Sands island randomly changings its name after beating the campaign.

The Castaway in “Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man 1” can now be properly picked up.

Improved the visibility of the wandering artisan groups in “Artisan Rum Quest”.

Clarified the quest requirements of the tutorial quest “From Timber”.

Improved feedback for no warehouse being in range during the “Excavation Site” quest.

Localization and Texts

Fixed a minor UI issue with the volume slider in the Russian localization.

Fixed the epilepsy warning screen during boot up in the Italian localization.

Fixed an issue with overlapping text in the Mounted Gun’s object menu in the Russian localization.

Fixed the information provided in the Japanese and Russian localizations for the “Estate Collection Act” from the “Seat of Power” DLC.