Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition gets yet another massive update adding a new line of warships and 'significant changes' to naval mechanics

There's something in the water in PC gaming right now. Specifically, ships. Lots of ships. Earlier this month, Facepunch Studios weighed anchor on Rust's massive naval update, adding player-made boats and a vast offshore region for survivors to explore. Now, Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is getting in on the seafaring action, with its latest update careening Microsoft's refurbished vessel to scrape the barnacles off the hull of its naval mechanics.

The elegantly named update 169123 is a typically hefty patch from developer Forgotten Empires, addressing a wide range of bugs and balance issues. But the most significant change is the addition of the Hulk-line, a new main ship type designed to counter fire ships.

There are three tiers of ship in this line, namely Hulk, War Hulk, and Carrack. All three are fast, durable vessels equipped with grappling hooks for close-range combat. Their high speed and armour means they can effectively withstand the heat belched out from fire ships, though they are vulnerable to long range attacks from ships like galleys.

These aren't the only ships added by the update either. Also new to the game is the Catapult Galleon, which replaces the cannon galleon for several civilisations. It functions in the same way, but has a shorter firing range and higher durability.

These additions arrive alongside an overhaul to naval systems that bring "significant changes across the board". This makes balance changes to all of the RTS' ships, such as reducing damage dealt by demolition ships, and adjusting fire ships so they only deal melee damage instead of both melee and piercing damage.

Even fishing vessels have been tweaked, making them more fragile and slower to gather fish, but adding the ability to gather gold from whales, a new aquatic resource. I'm guessing Forgotten Empires glosses over exactly how you extract gold from a whale, unless those aquatic mammals are just really into free-to-play games.

More broadly, the update adds cross platform voice chat, plus accessibility options like text-to-speech and speech-to-chat. There's a big flag update that adds regional garrison flags and waypoint/gather point flags that are specific to each civ, though I doubt this will stop players disingenuously asking "do you have a flag?"

Finally, there's a rework to the Inca civilisation, which adds a new unit called champi warriors, removes access to eagle warriors, and also removes several buildings like lumber camps, mining camps, and mills.

These changes tie into the launch of the Definitive Edition's latest DLC, The Last Chieftains, which bulks out the game's roster for medieval South America. It introduces three new factions, the Mapuche, the Muisca, and the Tupi, each of which comes with its own campaign. Each faction also has unique units like the Mapuche's bolas rider and the Muisca's guecha warrior, a specialist javelineer who heals other guecha warriors when they die.

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