Military units spreading themselves evenly into carrying units, and the villager behavior changes both seem like things that most everyone will have to get used to, because they'll be super helpful.
According to the video, it's available for preorder now, but Steam says: Planned Release Date: Mar 14, 2024, and no way for them to take your money.
Maybe that was just me, or maybe it'll be changed shortly.
Personally, I'm glad that they're doing this, as it provides another way to keep the game funded without doing the various tricks that free-to-play games go for.
The post calls it a small update, and I suppose it is. But it's also a pathing update, which will hopefully reduce the frustrations that everyone has been having.
New QoL (Quality of Life) Features:
Enhanced Unit UI
Lockable gates during construction
Enhanced tooltips for unit icons
New Mod Validator
New Challenge Scenario: Mangudai Madness
Bug fixes based on your feedback
Pathfinding and Formations fixes
Balance changes
Georgians and Armenians are now available (provided you buy the DLC), Persians are rather different, and a variety of other changes. Including path finding, that hopefully people will be happier with.
A variety of bug fixes and balance changes, including Frankish castles getting less of a discount in castle age, but probably the interesting bit is that single-player mode has pathing changes for less-than-20-tile movement.
So a pathing improvement might be on the horizon. Though I'm sure it's a really hard problem.
New event released, and a fairly short list of changes, but it'll be interesting to see how much better/different pathing feels after:
·Ranged units will now properly move closer to targets that are both out of range and unable to path to, instead of getting stuck in some situations.
·Units will no longer move far away when trying to make space for allied units.