[Chris Byler]

Originally posted by Miguel Duran:
Patch's list of fixes and additions looks great. I think it'll be some time before we figure out just how much impact it has, but the initial outlook seems to be: LOTS.

Thanks IW!

What look like the biggest changes:

* Battle inconsistency problem fixed!!! Yihaaaa!.
* Paralyze is not eternal any longer.
* Non blood mages are worse at finding blood slaves.
* Regeneration items doesn't work for inanimates any longer.

Wasn't that Last one already the case? Or maybe I'm thinking of Dom I... Anyway, paralyze wearing off will make supercombatants a little tougher to counter, but on the other hand, less hunting by non blood mages will make *blood* supercombatants harder to get in the first place (except the Vampire Queen, heh heh.)

And of course everyone celebrates the fixing of the battle replay bug, Utgard bug and some new goodies for two weak themes, Carrion Woods and Blood of Humans.

Nothing about the much-discussed Clam of Pearls - I suppose Illwinter is still waiting for the playing community to reach a consensus on whether or not an agressive strategy can beat down clam hoarders before their investment pays off. I think it might be difficult to do so when the clam hoarder is a water nation, because of the water nations' huge advantages in underwater combat (it's nearly impossible to use conventional armies against them at all, and even undead and construct armies are at a serious disadvantage). Many army bLasting rituals won't even work against underwater provinces (flames from *where*? )