Little tidbits

I these have been mentioned before, I apologize for bringing them up.

The campaign map updates to show farms once they're built. I'm not sure if the amount of change is based on population of the city or the level of farms built, but the land in the province certainly shows a difference after you build Land Clearance.

I had a REALLY interesting mission pop up last night. I've been playing Byzantium, and been attacked by Venice 3 times so far in the game. The faction heir of the Venetians wants me to assassinate the Doge. I'll post a screenshot later, but basically he promises to improve my relations with Venice if I'll kill the faction leader.

Apparently siege artillery and equipment will be able to pass through gates and wall breaches in this game. I had a battle last night where I was defending a Fortress and sallied forth against the besiegers (with some outside assistance from another army of mine). At the Fortress level, it's a concentric castle with an inner wall and gatehouse in addition to the outer wall and gates. The town square is within the inner wall, so you'd have to fight your way across two separate walls in order to take the square. It would be MUCH more difficult if you had to use artillery from outside the main wall to breach the inner.

The weather effects in battle can be spectacular. I got forced into a fight in the rain last night, and it was the most amazing battle I've ever fought. Heavy rain and fog everywhere. I couldn't see more than about half of bow range. Add in the fact that the battle involved tons of mounted bowmen on both sides, and it made for a really interesting time. The rain also seems to affect bows properly, as I didn't lose too many men at all. Mine were more suited for melee combat than the Hungarians were.