Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition has received a major update alongside the new expansion "Baltic Powers." This update adds maps, Revolution paths, and adjusts the interface, campaigns, civilization balance, and anti-cheat measures, and is now available on all platforms.
The update reduces the game's file size by approximately 10GB through texture optimization. The spectator mode interface has been revamped to display total population, units eliminated and lost for both sides, and compare gathered resources; cards played by players are now arranged in a separate panel. The deck manager adds hotkeys for creating, saving, copying, and deleting decks, and supports direct viewing of Revolution cards.
All players can now access over 25 team game taunt voice lines and unlock two Revolution paths. The Livonian Revolution is available for Germany, Malta, Poland, and Sweden, focusing on knights and Hanseatic trade; Germany can also choose the Prussian Revolution. Fishing boats for all civilizations can now spend 80 wood to build Fish Traps that provide continuous food, and some naval powers receive new Whaling Ship cards.
There are also multiple changes to civilization and card balance. The Aztec Jaguar unit in Age II has been nerfed, Britain's starting resources have been adjusted, and France no longer starts with a food crate. Ottoman nerfs include reduced damage for Janissaries and Abus Gunners; Sweden and Russia receive new cards, and some of America's tactics have been adjusted.
The campaign mode adds two new difficulty levels: "Story" for a relaxed experience and "Absurd" for a greater challenge. Home City progress is now shared within each chapter, and the previous hidden level requirements for cards have been removed. This update also fixes issues such as missing attack sound effects, icon errors, and AI anomalies in campaigns, and adds flag icons for easier selection in historical campaigns.
Regarding maps, all players can now access the historical map "Seven Years' War," and two random maps, Caspian Sea and Malta, have been added; regions such as Siberia and Panama have also been included in the standard map pool. The scenario editor adds a dark theme, animations, and unit conversion tools, camera editing features have been improved, and AI in scenarios will now form armies and configure decks more reasonably.