v1.6.6 – 26th January 2023

⯈ Manual:
---• English EBOOK and printer friendly manual fully updated with all changes since original game release.

⯈ MP Login and user names:
---• FOG2 MP Login will now accept usernames up to 32 characters long (was previously 16), and combined Slitherine/Matrix account creation has been corrected accordingly – it previously accepted usernames up to 64 characters long. This caused some tournament battles not to function if one of the players signed up to the tournament with a username longer than 16 characters.
---• If your current username is longer than 32 characters, it will not be changed automatically, but please email support@slitherine.co.uk about changing it to a shorter version.

⯈ Custom Battles:
---• New scenario types added:
----- Own Side Defending
----- Enemy Defending
----- Ambush (Own)
----- Ambush (Enemy)
----- Open Battle (Enemy Overconfident) (SP only)
---• These new scenario types can happen in Quick Battles and Sandbox Campaigns.
---• Increased storage area for unit pre-deployment in map border. This is necessary for Very Large armies to fight on very narrow maps (using Advanced Options to reduce the map width to much narrower than the recommended minimum for the army size), otherwise the previous storage area was exceeded and units were culled from the lists so the available maxima in game did not match the number in the preview.

⯈ Map Types:
---• Added Mediterranean, North European, Middle Eastern and Tropical Plains.
---• These have been added (10% chance) to Pot Luck terrain selection in Custom Battles. (Agricultural reduced from 60% to 50% chance).

⯈ Fight Now!
---• Will now pick a quick battle at random from the main game or any DLC that you own.

⯈ Quick Battles:
---• In addition to the individual DLC Quick Battles modules, there is now an “All Quick Battles” module that includes all Quick Battles from all DLCs. (You still need to own a DLC to access battles from it.)
---• Added Macedonian vs Greek (x2), Macedonian vs Galatian, Greek vs Galatian and Macedonian vs Spartan battles to Quick Battles (Immortal Fire and All Quick Battles)

⯈ Gameplay:
---• Pike basic POA is no longer dependent on having 3 full ranks of models. It remains 100 POA regardless of losses. Deep Pike POA still degrades as the 4th rank falls.
---• Heavy Chariots now get +50 POA in Impact and Melee vs steady Defensive and Offensive spearmen. (Unless these are behind an obstacle). Not against steady pikes.
---• Routers now disperse if they have not rallied after 3 consecutive rout moves. (it was previously 5). As there is no chance to rally after the initial rout move, this effectively reduces the number of turns in which routers who have outdistanced pursuit get a chance to rally from 4 to 2, and consequently halves the overall chance of routed troops rallying. (The reduction is actually more than that, as routing units that have been pursued further than the normal permitted number of turns of rout – see below - no longer get a last chance to rally when the pursuers stop pursuing).
---• Note that this also reduces the distance away from the main battle that routers can travel and still rally. However, it does not reduce the distance that pursuers can pursue because routers do not disperse while they are being actively pursued. (Precisely so that pursuers do have the opportunity to pursue long distances). So this change intentionally won't speed up the process of getting units that pursued back into the action. When the pursuers do finally stop pursuing, if the routers have reached or exceeded the normal number of rout moves, they will disperse next turn without any opportunity to rally.
---• If a general joins a routing unit that is not being actively pursued, and is not autobroken, it will take an immediate rally test. Of course if it does not rally then, or in any subsequent rally test, the general will be lost when the unit Disperses.
---• Generals now prevented from joining routed units that are autobroken or being actively pursued.
---• Unmanoeuvrable units are now allowed to make a single square diagonal move if the only reason for being unable to do so is the cost of turning 45 degrees. This helps to avoid AI units getting stuck.
---• The check for whether a Falling Back unit must take a Cohesion Test now ignores enemy 45 degree turns that would not prevent a charge. (Because charges can include a free 45 degree turn even for Unmanoeuvrable or out of command range troops).
---• Note also that the enemy unit does not actually have to be able to charge, just to be non-routing non-light troops, and in a position where it could charge if no other units were present. (Fall Back cohesion tests are intended to simulate irrational panic, not logical thought).
---• Heavy Artillery can no longer be used in Multiplayer Custom Battles except in “Own Side Defending” or “Enemy Side Defending” scenarios.
---• Bow-armed light chariots now count as close combat troops for the purpose of triggering the non-combat bowmen shooting malus when within 2 squares. (It was an oversight that they did not previously do so).

⯈ AI:
---• AI will now advance Heavy Artillery into range.
---• Removed 90% maximum for AI units’ chance of charging. Previously (to simulate stupid unit commanders) they had at least a 10% chance of not charging, however good the odds.

⯈ UI:
---• Campaigns and Epic Battle modules now listed in alphabetical order, with user-created content listed at the end and asterisked.
---• Map Types now listed in alphabetical order in Custom Battle set up screen.
---• Added “Can Form Square” to unit panels for units with that ability.
---• Added Cursor Lock Enable/Disable to Options. The Default is Disabled.
---• Enabling Cursor Lock locks the mouse cursor to the game window, which should allow moving the mouse cursor to the edge of the game window to move the map reliably when using windows smaller than the full screen resolution, or other custom setups.
---• The Shadows options have been moved to the More Options page to make room.
Models and Units:
---• Chariot units (at default scale) represent 50 chariots. Heavy Chariot crews ranged from 2 to 4 men in different armies and at different times. To minimise confusion, TotalMen in Heavy Chariot units standardised to 150 men.
---• Pseudocomitatenses (previously only available as a campaign upgrade) now have their own textures.
---• Added Muslim Light Horse Archers model.
---• Thracians with rhomphaia increased to “Above Average” Quality 125 (where Average is 100 and Superior is 200), giving them +12 POA. Cost increased accordingly.

⯈ Unit Costs:
---• Reduced cost of bow chariots by 4 points per unit:
---• Superior Heavy Chariots Bow from 64 to 60.
---• Superior Light Chariots Bow from 48 to 44.
---• Above Average (150) Light Chariots Bow from 42 to 38.
---• Average Light Chariots Bow from 36 to 32.
---• Reduced cost of Bow-armed Cavalry and Camelry by 2 per unit (1 for 50% bow units):
---• Superior Armoured Bow, Sword from 66 to 64.
---• Above Average (125) Armoured Bow, Sword from 52 to 50.
---• Superior Protected Bow, Sword from 56 to 54.
---• Average Protected Bow, Sword from 44 to 42.
---• Average Unprotected Bow, Sword from 40 to 38.
---• Rhoxolani/Cimmerian noble Cavalry from 52 to 51.
---• Superior Byzantine Lancers, 50% Bow from 72 to 71.
---• Above Average (125) Byzantine Lancers, 50% Bow from 54 to 53
---• Byzantine Klibanophoroi from 84 to 83
---• Superior Assyrian-style Armoured Cavalry from 68 to 67
---• Average Assyrian-style Armoured Cavalry from 48 to 47
---• Average Assyrian-style Protected Cavalry from 40 to 39
---• Arab Camelry from 48 to 46.
---• Improvised Camelry from 56 to 54.
---• Reduced cost of Bow-armed Light Horse by 4 per unit:
---• Unprotected, Average, Bow from 32 to 28.
---• Unprotected, Average, Bow, sword from 40 to 36.
---• Unprotected, Superior, Bow, Sword from 48 to 44.
---• Byzantine flankers from 48 to 44.
---• Increased cost of sling:
---• Increased cost of Average slingers from 24 to 27.
---• Increased cost of Balearic slingers from 33 to 36.
---• Reduced cost of Average Warbands and Deep Spearmen. (But not Superior or Raw as they are cost-effective already):
---• Reduced cost of Average Protected Warbands from 58 to 55.
---• Reduced cost of Pictish Spearmen from 54 to 51.
---• Thracians with Rhomphaia increased from 42 to 45 because of increase in quality – see above.
---• Cost of Superior Protected Heavy Foot Offensive Spearmen increased. Above Average increased proportionately. Note that the unit costs are higher than in FOG2 Medieval, because Offensive Spearmen capability is cheaper in Medieval because of the changes to balance resulting from the addition of Knights to the game.
---• Veteran Muslim Spearmen raised from 54 to 60.
---• (Drilled) Veteran Hoplites raised from 60 to 66.
---• Dismounted Dark Age Cavalry raised from 48 to 51
---• Dismounted Dark Age Lancers raised from 48 to 51

⯈ Army Lists:
---• Added Heavy Chariots (probably ex-Babylonian) to Achaemenid Persian 545 to 481 BC army list.
---• Pseudocomitatenses added to appropriate late Roman lists – 285-312, 313-378 and 379-424 AD.
---• Removed mandatory Mercenary hoplites from Greek 460-281 BC, Spartan 460-281 BC, and Kyrenean 460-322 BC lists, and increased Citizen Hoplites in the first two, so army without any mercenaries can be fielded.
---• Added Muslim Light Horse Archers to Andalusian list.

⯈ Autodeployment:
---• Light infantry less likely to be autodeployed behind mountains on mountainous maps.

⯈ Editor:
---• Editor now displays 3D depiction of unit model in Unit List tooltip.
---• SideID selection greatly improved.

⯈ Hotseat:
---• In Custom Battles, if you deploy the Side B army using hotseat mode prior to switching hotseat mode off and letting the AI control the Side B army, the game will now automatically reassign the units to the appropriate AI teams to allow the AI to work correctly.
---• Previously, if the player redeployed Side B units without re-assigning them to the teams expected by the AI, AI functioning could be significantly impaired.

⯈ Bug Fixes:
---• Fixed bug whereby Heavy Chariots and Scythed Chariots only got +100 instead of +150 and +250 respectively vs non-steady pikes, offensive spearmen and defensive spearmen.
---• Fixed evade decision logic bug that took into account possible flank attacks by other enemy units, but not possible rear attacks.
---• Fixed campaign bug that could allow player army to go into negative points balance in reinforcements scenario.
---• Made bolts show when light bolt-shooters fire.
---• Fixed ghilman animations to use shield in close combat.
---• Hopefully fixed bug that could sometimes cause force selection overlay to stay on screen after force selection is done.
---• Fixed bug that could cause Editor-created reinforcement messages to crash the game.
---• Fixed bug that could occasionally cause double corner slope overlays to appear on the flat top of height 200 hills.

v1.6.7 – 20th February 2023

Bug Fix:
• Fixed MP force selection bug caused by the new rule disallowing Heavy Artillery in MP open battles. Unfortunately fixing the bug has entailed reverting to allowing Heavy Artillery in MP games for now.
• Fixed Gamemenu language issue.

Version 1.6.9

① ELO Ranking System
• An ELO ranking system has been added for MP games.
• This is optional and challenges can be set as ranked or unranked.
• A green ranked game symbol appears in the MP lobby for ranked games.
• Ranked challenges show the challenger’s current ELO rating in the “Accept Challenge” Tab.
• On-going ranked challenges show both players’ rankings (at the time that the challenge was accepted) in the tooltip in the “My Games” tabs. These are the values that will determine the adjustment to the players ELO rankings at the end of the game.
• A player’s ranking starts at 1000 and then goes up or down depending on victories or defeats in ranked games. The amount it goes up or down depends on the relative existing rankings of the two players at the time when the challenge was accepted.
• ELO rankings for FOG2 Ancients are shown here: https://www.slitherine.com/leaderboard/elorating/field-of-glory-ii

(Until there are some results in, the ElO rankings page will just show "The leaderboard is on maintenance, please wait")

② MP Chat Box
• This now allows text in the chat box to be selected and copied to the Windows clipboard using CTRL-C. It can then be pasted into other documents using CTRL-V.
• It also allows CTRL-V pasting from the clipboard to the chat box.

③ Unit Costs
• Heavy artillery increased from 36 to 40.
• Light artillery increased from 24 to 30.

④ Army Lists
• Added Philistine 800-600 BC allies to Assyrian 681-609 BC and Hebrew 681- 586 BC lists.
• Changed Apulian start date to 473 BC.
• Added Apulian allies to Roman 320-281 BC, Roman 280-220 BC, Roman 219-200 BC and Pyrrhic 280-275 BC lists.

⑤ Key Bindings
• Added Key Bindings to More Options panel.
• This allows the main map control keys to be rebound.
• You should not change the key bindings to use any of the following keys, which are used for other purposes : 1, 2, 3, B, C, CTRL, ESC, F, F1, F2, F3, F4, F6, G, K, L, N, R, X, SPACE.
• You should not use any of the following unless you are also altering their binding in the Key Binding UI: A, D, E, M, Q, S, W, Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Up Arrow, Down arrow, TAB.
• If your changes have any unforeseen effects, you can reset to the default settings.

⑥ Bug Fixes
• Anglo-Saxon Hirdsmen cost increased from 60 to 64.
• Fixed issue with Syrian Spearmen textures.
• Fixed bug that prevented men from stepping forward correctly when unit attacked in rear right corner.
• Fixed program flow issue that prevented custom battle mods altering the default map sizes (e.g. Ancient Greek mod) from working correctly in MP mirror matches.

v1.6.10 – 3rd January 2024

• Hotfix to fix MP Lobby display errors.
• Note that map size will still show incorrectly on existing challenges, but should show correctly on all new challenges.

v1.6.15 – 25th April 2024
① MP Allow Restarts option
• There is now an option in the MP challenge setup screen to “Allow Restarts” in Ranked custom battle challenges.
• This is to facilitate the use of the Slitherine Elo ranking system in player-run tournaments that allow either player to reroll the map at the start of the game if they deem it unsuitable. Mechanically, this entails one player conceding the game and then the challenge being set up again.
• If the “Allow Restarts” option is set, concessions will be ignored for Elo ranking purposes if they occur in either player’s first 2 turns. After the first two turns, the conceding player will be considered the loser for Elo purposes.
• Explanatory tooltips added to checkboxes in MP New Challenge setup screen.
② New Army Lists
• Meroitic 280 BC – 400 AD
• oAxumite 100-970 AD
• oBeja 250-849 AD
• oBeja 850-1049 AD
• Blemmye 298-499 AD
• Blemmye 500-550 AD
• Nobatae 298-499 AD
• Nobatae 500-550 AD
• Christian Nubian 550-1049 AD
③ Other list changes
• Kardakes Hoplites added to Achaemenid Persian 419-329 BC list.
• Irregular Foot added to Seleucid 300-206 BC list.
• Tweaks to Indian (Rajput) and Ghaznavid lists.
④ Points Costs
• ‘Abid al-shira and Pseudocomitatenses cost reduced to 39.

v1.6.14 – 17th April 2024
① Bug Fixes
• Hopefully fixed bug (introduced in a recent engine update) affecting the texture rendering
of large terrain objects (e.g. villages & forests) when there is a unit in the same square.
This bug only seemed to affect some people’s systems.
• Note that shadows of such terrain objects disappear when there is a unit on the square.
This is intentional.
② UI
• Explanatory tooltips added to checkboxes in MP new challenge setup screen.

v1.6.12 – 08th April 2024
① MP allow Map Rerolls option
• There is now an option in the MP challenge setup screen to “Allow Rerolls” in Ranked
custom battle challenges.
• This is to facilitate the use of the Slitherine Elo ranking system in player-run tournaments
that allow either player to reroll the map at the start of the game if they deem it unsuitable.
Mechanically, this entails one player conceding the game and then the challenge being
set up again.
• If the “Allow Rerolls” option is set, concessions will be ignored for Elo ranking purposes if
they occur in either player’s first 2 turns. After the first two turns, the conceding player will
be considered the loser for Elo purposes.

v1.6.11 – 10th January 2024
① New Army Lists
• Meroitic 280 BC – 400 AD
• Axumite 100-970 AD
• Beja 250-849 AD
• Beja 850-1049 AD
• Blemmye 298-499 AD
• Blemmye 500-550 AD
• Nobatae 298-499 AD
• Nobatae 500-550 AD
• Christian Nubian 550-1049 AD
② Other list changes
• Kardakes Hoplites added to Achaemenid Persian 419-329 BC list.
• Irregular Foot added to Seleucid 300-206 BC list.
• Tweaks to Indian (Rajput) and Ghaznavid lists.

Many thanks to Paul Adaway for all the new units/textures.