Saecula's roads now follow the land. More than 500 roads run along valleys and over passes instead of straight between towns. 228 Roman roads run dead straight with stone bridges, and 32 named passes, from the Great St Bernard to Hakone, each get a road, a wayside cross and, where one was founded, a hospice. Ferries cross the great straits, from Dover to Wissant and over the Bosporus.
History now leaves marks on the map. 107 ruins of older worlds stand where they did, from Carthage and Palmyra to Olympia and Teotihuacan, and a ruined city, fort, abbey, castle or deserted village can be restored for gold. Castles are given up when they're no longer needed and crumble, 48 historical disasters strike the places they struck, and after the Black Death some villages are deserted for good.
- Every realm has a coat of arms: about 60 historical, the rest designed to suit its faith
- A garrison in every town, with watchtowers, barracks and armouries to build
- The Rus get their own towns of log houses, timber churches and five-domed cathedrals
- A new interface with charts, banners and tooltips you can open inside tooltips