The sea is wider than it looked
Merchant cogs now sail home before they are yours to send again. A run that took forty-five minutes used to cost you forty-five minutes of fleet time; it costs you the round trip, as it always should have. Your ships are worth what they appear to be worth — there are simply fewer of them free at any moment. Build more, or send them further apart.

A realm that asks more of you
The late game has been repriced from the ground up. Great buildings demand the luxuries of their region once they pass level eight — marble, wine and spices first, sulfur and crystal deeper in. The Armoury's forges want sulfur by the tonne. The deepest research wants crystal. And the size of your colonies is now set by your capital's Town Hall rather than a Palace you may never have raised, so a growing seat lifts the whole realm with it.

A barren isle is barren, not dead
The far colonies grow timber again — a tenth of what a kind island gives, but no longer nothing. The sawmill you were required to build is finally worth raising.

Renown for playing well
Raising your seat of power and finishing research now earn Renown in their own right. Progress is no longer measured only in what you conquer.

A realm you can read
The city map has its screen back; the building list that crowded it is gone.
Research is drawn as a tree, ranked by what each discovery depends on.
Costs have moved out of the greyed-out button and into a panel that shows what you hold against what you need.
Fall short of a good and the shortfall itself takes you to the Market.
The upgrade button now follows you down a long building panel instead of hiding beneath it.
Red means one thing now: something is wrong. It is no longer decoration.

A realm anyone can read
VoiceOver descriptions rewritten for a player rather than for an audit. Worker dials read and adjust as single controls. Every tap target sized — and spaced — to be hit. Reduce Motion stills the map without emptying it. The last few labels that ignored your text size no longer do.

When the heralds cannot be reached
Rankings, standings and the Great Sea now say plainly when they cannot reach the outside world, and offer to try again — rather than showing you an empty list and letting you assume nobody is there.

Crowns
Crowns may now hurry a voyage home or cover the last of a build you are short on. As ever, they buy time and convenience — never strength a patient ruler cannot also reach.

Also fixed
Shipment amounts step by 50, 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 without losing the slider. Transport presets fit on one line. An empty granary now slowly costs you citizens, famine or no famine.