The year now turns on the map. Crops go from green to gold, sheaves stand in the fields after the harvest, broadleaf woods turn russet in autumn and stand bare in winter, and snow settles on the northern lands, their roofs and their treetops.
Clouds drift over the world: you look down on them from far out and pass through them as you zoom in, their shadows move with the wind, and mist gathers along rivers and in low wet ground. Close in, fields are laid out in strips with hedges, vineyards, olive groves and pasture, and towns on rivers now keep their walls along the waterfront with a gate on every road.
- A start screen where you pick your realm, rename it and its ruler, and design your own arms
- The game now opens in spring, on 1 April 1000
- Towns fill their yards with back houses, workshops and barns