Europa Universalis V [Beta ] Patch Notes - 1.3.8 (30th June 2026)

Checksum: 98b8

Date: June 30, 2026

Previous Patch: 1.3.7

Content

• Added 6 new Achievements based on 1.3 mechanics and Italian flavour content.

Interface

• Added filters to the mercenary captain hiring view.

Government

• Fixed the bureaucracy removal efficiency modifier to now apply correctly.
• Fixed frustrate annexation working in the wrong direction.

Economy

• Fixed military sponsorship payments not updating after reloading.
• Fixed an issue with correct markets not being chosen for some locations.
• Trade route maintenance now reflects the actual travel path rather than being capped to the straight-line range distance; routes that detour around terrain are no longer artificially discounted in their upkeep cost.
• Pop demand for luxury goods now switches on fully once an estate crosses the wealth threshold, rather than ramping up gradually as wealth approaches it — below the threshold a pop demands nothing; at or above it they demand the full amount.
• Reduced serfdom building upkeep efficiency from 50% to 10%.
• Allowed construction to now start without required goods, stalling until they become available.
• Added an open-sea proximity cost for landing into a non-port sea zone.

Production

• The "Upgrading from X" building modifier is now applied to the last obsolete upgradeable building type.

Society

• The Reformation now spreads more aggressively: Lutheran growth during the pre-Trent boom window is significantly faster, and Calvinism's surge is no longer accidentally suppressed by the Council of Trent opening at the same moment Calvin's movement spawns.
• Parents can no longer have multiple Sickly children in a row.

Diplomacy

• Fixed a loophole giving 0 antagonism for taking locations in a revolt war when another country comes in vassalising the revolters.
• Appanages are now correctly inherited when the ruler dies with no heir.
• Fixed being able to assign women to papal bishopric subjects.
• Peasant republics no longer stay as Imperial Princes within the HRE.
• Free Cities no longer count as Imperial Princes.
• Fixed an issue where reloading a save file would eliminate all financial gains from a military sponsorship.
• Military Sponsorship no longer gives negative gold for the Military Order.
• Fixed a bug where the "Assume Seniority" peace treaty would not show up.
• Fiefdoms rebelling in independence wars now get new leaders.
• Made subject-count penalties not apply when changing an existing subject's type.
• Stopped rivals from accruing too much mutual trust.

Military

• Fixed countries with the "Long Fada" advancement losing their entire Nobility Estate after raising and disbanding "Birlinn" naval levies.
• Fixed automatic transport not using ships closest to the selected army.
• The Chase Down Unit action now shows an Imminent Battle icon.
• Lowered the expected navy size at game start, scaling it up by age.
• Levies are now significantly stronger in combat: their baseline fighting effectiveness rises from 50% to 75% of a regular unit, and investing in levy efficiency closes the remaining gap rather than scaling from a weaker floor.

Geopolitics

• Reduced stagnation chances for bubonic_plague as it's dying out too soon

Advances

• Changed Foster Institutions to accelerate spread instead of bootstrapping.
• Added a game rule to lock institution could-have-spawned spread.
• Institution spread through trade now favors markets closely connected to the embraced world rather than those plugged into large but distant trade networks; a market doing most of its trade with nearby institution-carriers spreads faster than one with a thin trickle from a far-off giant market.
• Added always-available free advance trees to ages 3–6.

Other

• Peace offers are again rate-limited by the diplomat en route timer in multiplayer.
• Fixed a crash caused by an invalid borrower when extending a loan.
• Fixed a crash caused by managing relations between countries when processing the end of a war.
• Blocked armies led by the ruler from becoming mercenaries.
• Fixed the ability icon in the unit leader-modifier breakdown to use the correct one.
• Fixed auto-gather mercenary being disabled by an unhireable top captain.
• The "Does your consort know…" insult no longer shows an error — the localization was calling GetConsort directly on a country scope, when that promote only exists on the government scope.
• Starting a civil war or rebellion can no longer freeze the game permanently on the monthly tick; a parliament-type check was mistakenly running on a background thread where it was unsafe to execute, deadlocking the engine whenever the conflict invalidated the active parliament.
• Estates no longer permanently stop investing after you lose a location they were targeting; the stale construction intent is now cleared immediately regardless of treasury state, freeing the estate to pick a new target the following month.

Setup

• Renamed Andronikos III's younger daughter from Irene to "Maria" to match history and avoid two daughters sharing a name, and made Dimitrios Palaiologos's wife start pregnant to reflect the birth of his second son, whose date is unknown.
• Added the Greek character names "Theophano" and "Leontia", and removed some incorrectly scoped names from the Greek and Balkan language pools.
• Castile's Country History no longer shows a broken, unclickable link where Juan Manuel's name should appear; the character had been accidentally deleted in a previous merge and has now been restored.
• Added the "Gujarati Cotton Cultivation" modifier to the Khambat location, matching the other Cotton locations in Gujarat.
• Added starting markets for Bulgaria (Tarnovo) and the Golden Horde (Sarai al-Jadid), as they were being created by AI on day one.
• Fixed Japan (Ashikaga Shogunate) to now correctly start with an isolationist AI personality; a wrong country tag had meant the setting was never applied.
• Assigned AI dispositions to British and Irish minors.
• Fixed Inishowen to correctly belong to the High Kingship at game start.
• Changed the Munster (MCM) map color from pale pink to pale green so it doesn't get confused as an English subject.

Situations

• Fixed the Red Turban Rebellions situation granting the "Six Boards" bureaucracy to the new China without also auto-researching the advance that provides the required bureaucracy slot.
• Fixed the Hussite Wars situation never ending if Bohemia is annexed or subjugated, the heresy modifier leaking onto participants afterwards, and several related event edge cases.
• War of Religions: Fixed a case of the Catholic League not forming at the start of the situation, preventing the War of Religions from playing out as intended.
• Hundred Years War: AI England is now more likely to attack France based on how many French subjects are currently bribed.
• Hundred Years War: The "Diplomacy with Subjects" interaction for France now clears active bribes.
• Italian Wars: Fixed a trigger that incorrectly showed an 'EXISTING_RELATIONS' unlocalized string.
• Hussite Wars: The game now forces an HRE re-election when hussite_wars.1 converts a shared-monarch Emperor.
• Guelphs and Ghibellines: Fixed an oversight in the new Situation behavior of the "The Guelphs and Ghibellines" event (guelphs_and_ghibellines.100) that was setting a non-eligible country as Faction Leader.

Disasters

• Fixed a victorious horde pretender being instantly killed after ascending the throne at the end of a Horde Civil War.
• Fixed an issue where the "Deal with the Robber Barons" Cabinet Action would not correctly finish.

International Organizations

• Subjects can no longer be elected or appointed as HRE Imperial Circle leaders, preventing weak subjects from becoming circle leaders that are impossible to challenge.
• Holy Roman Empire: Imperial Free Cities and Direct Imperial Free Cities now have a more beneficial strength-vs-overlord comparison for the overlord.
• Holy Roman Empire: Fixed an issue where it was possible to select an Imperial Circle the country was already part of during the Circle Formation Period.
• Fixed an issue that made the "Call Circle to War" Action add countries to the incorrect side of the war.
• Added missing localization for the cooldown of the "Call Circle to War" Action.
• Reduced the cost of the "Exempt from Tribute" action in the Middle Kingdom International Organization from 30 Legitimacy and 50 Prestige to 10 each, so its leader can realistically exempt many members.
• Fixed the "Challenge Circle Leadership" HRE action and its resulting event (imperial_circles.50) showing an unresolved "PROVIDER lose CURRENCY" effect description instead of the challenged leader's prestige loss.

Events

• Fixed the Milanese "Our Claims to Brescia" event (flavor_ver.3) not firing while Milan was actively besieging Brescia, as the trigger required the occupation to already be complete.
• Fixed Portugal's Feitoria events (flavor_por.55-59, flavor_por.64) being able to target uncolonized and undiscovered locations.
• Rebalanced the Florentine "Societas Aluminum" event (flavor_flo.42) so that accepting is worthwhile for Florence.
• Fixed the Hungarian "Jousting Tournament" event (flavor_hun.421) throwing an error when fired during a regency.
• Fixed the "A Period of Uncertainty" event (flavor_por.17) being unable to trigger when the Portuguese ruler had a deceased son, so it now correctly checks only for living male heirs.
• Fixed events and other content gated on City rank not applying after a location is upgraded to a Megalopolis.
• Extended the "University of Krakow" event (flavor_pol.25) availability to 1450 so it remains reachable after the Renaissance unlocks universities.
• Removed the Privilege of Koszyce requirement from the Poland-Lithuania union event (flavor_pol.55) so the Commonwealth can form more naturally.
• Reworked the "Chen Zuyi" pirate content into a single event chain (flavor_chi.90, flavor_chi.91), folding in and removing the duplicate "Chen Zuyi the Pirate" event (pirate_events.1) so two rival Chen Zuyis can no longer spawn in the same game.
• Reworked the "Austerity" option of the "Conflict of Fads" event (black_death.1002) to reduce Pop Food Consumption instead of Unit Food Consumption, better fitting the austerity flavor.
• Reduced the cost of constructing the Cathedral of Moscow in the "Uspensky Sobor Cathedral" event (flavor_mos.28).
• The events of the Horde Civil War no longer murder your overlord's ruler if you happen to have them as your own ruler.
• Fixed the "A Child in the Reeds" event (dynastic.8) allowing an underage ruler to adopt a child.
• Fixed the "The Fate of Luxemburg" event (flavor_boh.32) being able to appoint an infant as the new ruler of Luxemburg.
• Added a new tooltip to the 'Death of Duke Guillem II' event to clarify Gaucher II inheriting the Duchy.
• Reduced the estate satisfaction penalty in both options of the "Commoners Demand Noble Purge" event (byzantine_succ_crisis.5) from -50% to -33%, so it no longer prevents early-game levy recruitment.
• Stopped option A of the "A Dying Nation" disaster event (decline_of_empire.5) from immediately declaring war; it now only grants the "cb_cut_down_in_size" casus belli, preventing the AI from starting unnecessary or unwinnable wars.
• Fixed option C of the "Cold and Wet Fields" event (little_ice_age.4) falsely claiming a missing road and losing food even when roads were built, by removing the unreliable adjacency-based road check.
• Stopped the AI from converting to Hellenism via the "The Beliefs of Gemistos Plethon" event (flavor_byz.1502), keeping the Hellenism revival a player-only choice.
• Fixed the "Rise of Timur" event (flavor_tim.8) never being able to trigger when Samarkand was owned by a custom subject or a nation released from a collapsed horde.
• Fixed the Ottoman "The City of World's Desire" event (flavor_tur.27) reward in the old capital being canceled a month after the event, by granting an "Influence of the Old Capital" modifier instead of a Local Governor that required a road to the new trans-strait capital.
• Updated the event chain for the Purchase of Lucca to now sell Lucca to Pisa.
• The event chain for the Purchase of the Pisan rulership now saves the correct characters to sell the country to.
• Fixed the Pandolfo Petrucci event so the character no longer spawns in Limbo.
• The Pisan event for reclaiming Sardinia can now fire from 1337 until 1550.
• The event for the purchase of Lucca no longer costs a ridiculous amount of money.
• The Neapolitan "Fraticelli Sympathizers" event (flavor_nap.11) no longer drags a character out of their grave just to execute them again.
• Fixed event "Western Marital Ties" (flavor_lit.5) being able to trigger during a regency.
• Added an extra option to the "A New Dynasty" event (flavor_pol.45) to allow keeping the current dynasty instead of forcing the change to Jagiellon.
• Fixed the "Growth of Location Attracts Commoners" event (random_event.68) pulling all pop types into the migration instead of only Commoners.
• Fixed the "Artist Emigrates" event (laws.0017) displaying your own country as the artist's place of origin instead of the country they emigrated from.
• Made ruler triggers in the event viewer gender-agnostic.
• Rebalanced the "Build St. Peter's Basilica" event (flavor_pap.1500) so building with the Pope's own money now grants more Monthly Prestige (+0.3) than the cheaper indulgences option (+0.1), making its gold cost worthwhile.
• Fixed the Western Schism conclusion event ("The Catholic Church United Again!") presenting the Papal States' temporary regent as the new Pope when the situation ended during a papal election regency.
• Fixed a victorious horde pretender being replaced by a newly created ruler after ascending the throne at the end of a Horde Civil War.

Government

• Weighted Greek name generation toward traditional Byzantine ruling names, so generated characters favor historical imperial names such as Ioannes, Konstantinos, Michael, Andronikos, and Manuel.
• Fixed the Ottomans being unable to form the Byzantine Empire due to the "Rise of the Ottomans" (RUM_f) formable incorrectly setting their starting formable rank to Tier IV.
• Fixed the Pop Join Rebel Threshold modifier of the Provincial Chancery Building, unlocked by the Provincial Consulates Government Reform, being a negative modifier instead of a positive.
• Fixed the "External Mission" Holy Mission policy granting -10% War Score vs other Religion Efficiency instead of +10%.
• Fixed forming countries that move their capital (such as the Roman Empire) showing and applying a development change of 0 when the destination was already as developed as the old capital.
• Fixed an oversight with the Sardinia and Sardinia-Piedmont formables, setting their country rank to Kingdom regardless of HRE Membership, circumventing the "Request Kingdom Title" Imperial Action.
• Fixed the Colonial Charter maintenance cost prediction showing a "Number of Colonial Charters" discount before a country's first charter that was never applied once the colony was created.
• Fixed the "Issue Royal Censure" parliament debate so its Royal Censure modifier (and the ongoing debate modifier) now speed up Antagonism Decay as intended, instead of slowing it.

Economy and Production

• Fixed the build requirements of Trade Company satellite buildings displaying raw internal variable names instead of localized text.
• Renamed the "Possible Urban Rights" (capital_possible_town_rights) modifier to "Possible Urban Rights in Capital" to clarify its effect and avoid confusion with the "Possible Urban Rights" (local_possible_town_rights) modifier.
• Localized text for maximum levels for the "Porto Pisano".
• "Porto Pisano" can now be upgraded by Pisa.
• The buildings "Walls of Lucca" and "Luccan Silk Production Guild" no longer show for every country.

Society

• Fixed the Serbian Patriarchate and Ethiopian autonomous church being founded with no religious tenets enacted.
• Stopped the AI of a theocracy subject of a theocracy overlord (such as Papal States bishopric vassals) from accepting religious rebel demands and converting away from its faith.
• Removed the duplicated price for the Pilgrimage to Cholula action.

Diplomacy

• Localized the "Union Independence" and "War for Seniority" Union CB in the 'Unpressed Casus Belli' alert.
• The Enforce Scaliger Demands peace treaty is now only available to the war-leader (Venice).
• Lowered the acceptance reasons for the "Offer to join the Hanseatic League" so the AI can accept it under favorable relations.
• Added a requirement for England to clearly out-base France (1.25x economic base) to enforce the union via the "Claim French Throne" peace treaty in the Hundred Years' War.
• A non-Christian country holding Rome now stops accruing ever-growing Catholic antagonism once it cores Rome, after which the existing antagonism decays away.
• Removed dormancy mechanic for High Kingship of Ireland.
• Rebalanced the High Kingship of Ireland election mechanics to be slightly less predictable.

Military

• Fixed the "Pandur Infantry" and "Grenzer Infantry" being classified as Heavy Infantry despite being described as light troops.
• Fixed 18 unique naval units being directly recruitable because of using the buildable = yes tag instead of requiring the proper upgrade chain.
• Fixed the Byzantine "Modernized Helepolis" not being available as an upgrade from the "Chambered Cannon".

Advances

• Slightly nerfed the Novgorod Birch Bark Manuscript advance so it now gives half the previous global literacy but instead gives +10% literacy to burghers only.

Other

• Triggering the "Fall of Delhi" resolution's candidate vote no longer crashes with an invalid scope error — a missing exists guard on scope:proposer was causing the entire resolution to fail to create, which then asserted immediately on the following vote setup.

Missions

• Fixed several mission completion rewards displaying "gains X for N years" without a subject.
• Fixed mission completion effects in the target-selection tooltip displaying without a subject instead of in first person.

Diplomacy

• Casus belli entries can now contain a trigger telling the AI to wait before sending a peace offer.
• Venice now waits before sending a peace offer to Verona until more demands are gathered from other countries.

Economy

• The AI no longer tries to colonize African coastal locations with malaria unless they can move at least 50 pops per month.

Military

• Fixed an issue where the AI would sometimes create Patrol Sea objectives on locations adjacent to their ports even though the sea zone was not actually discovered.
• Fixed an issue where AI units could sometimes be assigned to objectives that they should have been forbidden from, resulting in them being unassigned from the objective after some time.
• Fixed an issue where AI units could sometimes be reassigned away from their current objective to a new objective they should have been forbidden from.

Other

• Used CalcBuildingProductionEfficiency in CalcProduction for more accurate AI production estimates.
• Gated AI event resolution on the same predicate used to queue it.

Alerts

• The coalition alert now shows the correct number of troops member countries have.
• The "Open Bureaucracy Slots" alert is now hidden when no bureaucracy is unlockable.

Panels

• The High Kingship voting UI now emphasizes the country candidate rather than the ruler, and more clearly shows who has how many votes.

Outliner

• A Cabinet developing a province now shows the monthly development of the province on the outliner instead of an unrelated modifier.

Tooltips

• Added location tax base tooltip breakdown.
• Fixed tooltip for unit templates not showing when you can't afford it.
• Added a visual strength breakdown per recruited subunit type to the mercenary construction tooltip.
• When trying to join an independence movement as the target country, the tooltip now indicates that you cannot join independence movements where you are the target.
• Fixed being able to reverse-siphon income back to poor subjects.
• Fixed the "Join Imperial Circle" action's confirmation message and effect text showing a blank name instead of the Imperial Circle being joined.
• Added the Wealth Impact game concept and tooltip.

Other

• Added a co-belligerent icon to the peace offer view.
• Fixed the number of Italian locations owned for the Italian Wars.
• Fixed the vote for the HRE Emperor selection panel.
• The mercenary leader hire message now lists each unit type recruited.
• Game rules that modify ironman or achievements are no longer changeable after game start.
• Fixed the Create CB page incorrectly showing no-CB vs. same-religion costs.
• Added one-click auto-gather mercenary button to the army builder.
• Split disposition change digest into a major-powers popup and a quiet log digest.
• Restored visibility gating on the Take Over Siege button.
• Added a User Agreement and Privacy Policy to User creation.
• Enabling only "Automate RGOs" no longer causes the AI to also construct and swap buildings; town specialization was missing the same gate that every other building construction action already had.
• The Bureaucracies tab is now hidden when no bureaucracy is unlockable.

Sound

• Added more impactful sounds for high-impact UI actions.
• Fleshed out the sounds for construction.
• Fixed a bug where UI sounds would randomly cut out mid playback.
• Lowered volume of walla and whispers.
• Fixed some instances of loudly stacking sounds.

Music

• Added musical phrases for events in Ashanti, Aztec, and Iroquois cultures.

Triggers

• Added a current_day trigger.
• Added an average_control country trigger.

Other

• Allowed dynamic localisation in flavor descriptions of religions.
• Added the on_pre_war_declared on_action, which fires right before the war starts — useful for actions that must occur before a union gets dissolved.
• Added a has_ai_disposition_toward trigger with a target parameter.
• Updated the Yesman cheat to make every AI country vote for the human player in leadership elections.

As usual, here is a list of handy EU5 links:

Be Ambitious!