Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition's update 188329 looks small on paper. The balance section is a handful of lines. In his breakdown of the patch, Spirit of the Law argues the bigger story is in the bug fixes, several of which quietly change habits that experienced players relied on. Here is what changed, how each fix works, and what it means in a match.
The official patch notes list the changes; the video is useful because it shows what each one does on the map.
The fixes that change how you play
Danes and razed walls. The Danes have a bonus that pays out resources when they destroy enemy buildings. Until this patch, walls and gates didn't count. Spirit of the Law opens at 0:30 with a smaller Danes fix to how the Hamask technology displays its bonus attack, then covers the wall and gate fix from 1:01. In practice, a Danish player who tears through a wall line now gets paid for it.
Varangian Guards and fake attacks. At 1:42 he covers an exploit where Varangian Guards with the Gothikon upgrade could generate gold by fake-attacking. That's now closed. It's a reminder of why a bonus tied to attacking needs a real target.
Chicken funnels. This is the one most players will notice. Chickens and rabbits could be tricked into walking long distances, so players could funnel them straight to a Town Center. The patch stops that. From 1:58, Spirit of the Law says he was surprised there wasn't a distance limit already, since those animals were never meant to be pushed the way deer are.
Deer pushing and the Follow command. The notes describe a small fix: the Follow command no longer approaches at a slight angle. Spirit of the Law argues at 2:35 that this makes using Follow to push deer far more consistent, close to automatic. He's careful not to call it good or bad, framing it as an open design question about which routine tasks should count as skill.
Mixed food bonuses. The Portuguese and Varangian food bonuses could be triggered by mixing different types of food. At 3:55 he shows how villagers could be used to trick them, and why that's gone.
Tupi refunds. Tupi units are supposed to return part of their cost when they die. A bug had stopped that entirely. He covers the fix at 4:53, and argues it matters for a civilization that had already fallen after an earlier nerf.
The balance changes
The balance list is short. Champi Scouts now deal +2 bonus damage against the Scout Cavalry line and Camel Scouts, up from +1, which he discusses from 5:33. The (Elite) Elephant Archer costs 70 food instead of 60. The Mapuche Bolas Rider's movement speed drops from 1.5 to 1.45.
The Elephant Archer change is the one he questions. At 6:58 he argues that nerfing the unit hurts the Gurjaras, a civilization he says already ranks low on win rate, and suggests a small economic help such as more hit points on their mills instead. Near the end he also says he appreciates that the developers haven't rushed drastic changes to the newest civilizations.
How players took it
The comments by the six-hour mark were mostly playful. Deer-pushing jokes dominated, and several viewers took up the Gurjara mill idea. A recurring, more serious thread argued that Follow should always have worked this way, while others asked whether deer pushing was ever an intended mechanic or a player habit the developers now have to support. That's the same question the video leaves open, which is probably the right place to leave it.
From the creators
Watch the video
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