AoE2.ai is tracking 48,912 RM 1v1 players. Top five: #1 VIT | Hera 2,924, #2 TAG_MbL_ 2,909, #3 Oni.Vinchester 2,879, #4 TAG_Sitaux 2,830, #5 wR.Lucho 2,804. Longest hot streak in the sampled top ladder: 抖音ique (62 wins). Best sampled win rate with 300+ games: VIT | Hera 74.8%. 64 of the sampled top players have played in the last 24h.

GAME INFORMATION These details are CRITICAL; DO NOT skip them or your issue may not be reviewed. GAME BUILD #: 179158 GAME PLATFORM: Steam OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 11 ISSUE EXPERIENCED DESCRIBE THE ISSUE IN DETAIL (below). LIMIT TO ONE BUG PER THREAD. For some reasons, I never had my texte centered above the units on my game, either in Alexander DLC missions nor in custom scenario. But I saw a video on youtube where someone had them centered on the unit head. On ma screen the position is kinda a math opreation between my camera position and the unit position, and never staying at the same relative spot from the unit, it’s litterally floating at a position based on my camera-object location. Edit: The issue is occuring at ui scale 125%, not at ui scale 100%, not tested other %. FREQUENCY OF ISSUE How often does the issue occur? CHOSE ONE; DELETE THE REST! 100% of the time / matches I play (ALWAYS) REPRODUCTION STEPS List CLEAR and DETAILED STEPS we can take to reproduce the issue ourselves… Be descriptive! Here’s the steps to reproduce the issue: Place a unit in Editor Add any text on the unit (in french it’s “modifier la légende d’objet”) Test and see how the texte behave. (with UI scale 125%) EXPECTED RESULT What was SUPPOSED to happen if the bug you encountered were not present? Text to stay on the object. IMAGE ALWAYS attach a PICTURE (.jpg, .png, .gif) or VIDEO (.mp4, YouTube link) that highlights the problem. 2026_07_05_-_legend_text_now_centered_above 799×603 681 KB 2026_07_05_-_legend_text_max_zoom_out 1256×607 1.29 MB 2026_07_05_-_legend_text_min_zoom_in 1564×719 1.53 MB (Side not: Yes I’m using mods on the screenshots, cause I was too lazy to restart my game after disabling all of them, I’ve had that bug with or without those mods so they’re not the cause) GAME FILES (SAVE / RECORDING) Attach a SAVE GAME (.aoe2spgame) or GAME RECORDING (.aoe2record) of the match where you encountered the issue. Link it below if using an external file service. #N /A

This post is not a modding request, feature proposal, or suggestion to change ranked gameplay or existing tooling (including AGE or mod workflows). It is a player-level observation about how civilizations are represented compared to how the underlying system actually works. 1. Civilizations are still fixed packages In AoE2, civilizations are currently presented as fixed gameplay packages consisting of: Units Technologies Civilization bonuses Despite years of DLC expansion, the core abstraction remains: pre-authored civilization packages. 2. But the system underneath is already modular At the data level, AoE2 already behaves in a modular way: Units are data-driven Technologies are data-driven Effects are data-driven Modding tools already expose this structure. But from a player perspective: this modular structure is not surfaced in a unified or readable form. 3. Technology trees are UI representations of effects A useful abstraction is: technology trees are structured representations of effect availability and progression rules. This means: civilizations are internally effect-based but externally presented as fixed packages So there is a gap between: system structure vs player-facing representation 4. The perception gap As AoE2 expands, I feel this gap becomes more visible: civilizations feel more diverse design styles differ more strongly player expectations are no longer aligned The issue is not balance or correctness, but: players no longer share a single mental model of what a civilization “is”. 5. Why Civilization Editor comes to mind Because civilizations are fundamentally built from: Units Technologies Effects This naturally leads to a question: Would a limited Civilization Editor help expose this structure more directly? Not as a gameplay feature, and not as a modding replacement—but as a representation layer. 6. Important clarification: not a modding replacement This is not about replacing AGE or existing mod tools. Those already serve deep customization and

GAME INFORMATION These details are CRITICAL; DO NOT skip them or your issue may not be reviewed. GAME BUILD: 101.103.48086.0 ( #179158 ) 23798925 GAME PLATFORM: Steam OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 10 ISSUE EXPERIENCED DESCRIBE THE ISSUE IN DETAIL (below). LIMIT TO ONE BUG PER THREAD. I have not played the game since September, so I’m sorry to open this bug report so late, but I did do some digging to get back to a functional state. This happens in manifest 4210910769661327047 from depot 813782. But I have some graphical problems where the icons are swapped around or different. For examples, check the pictures. These issues are caused by any of these 10 files, since copying this from manifest 4210910769661327047 fixes the problems, while copying these from manifest 3503932408267359574 cause the problems. build_all_atlases.ps1 editorbottomtriggerspanel.json icons.json instructionspanel.json materials.json screenmultiplayerlobbyclient.json screenmultiplayerlobbyhost.json screentechtree.json stringreference.json techtreepreviewpanel.json I’m sorry I can’t be of more help than this and I know that the timespan between September and July is very large, so this bug could have been introduced between any of these updates. But I hope I have provided enough information for you to find the bugs causing this behaviour. FREQUENCY OF ISSUE How often does the issue occur? CHOSE ONE; DELETE THE REST ! 100% of the time / matches I play (ALWAYS) REPRODUCTION STEPS List CLEAR and DETAILED STEPS we can take to reproduce the issue ourselves… Be descriptiv e! Here’s the steps to reproduce the issue: Start the game and everything UI wise will look correctly. Start a single player game See the problematic icons in the UI EXPECTED RESULT What was SUPPOSED to happen if the bug you encountered were not present? The UI is supposed to look normal like it does when rolling back the updates to the October patch. IMAGE ALWAYS attach a PICTURE (.jpg, .png, .gif) or VIDEO (.mp4, YouTube link) that highl