Europa Universalis V — Patch 1.3.8

Released: 6/30/2026, 9:13:34 AM

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3450310/view/683005949807429385

Summary (AI)

Europa Universalis V patch 1.3.8 introduces six new achievements related to Italian content and updates the mercenary captain hiring interface with filters. Several gameplay mechanics were adjusted, including trade route maintenance now accounting for actual travel paths and a change in pop demand behavior for luxury goods. The patch improves reformation spread rates and significantly strengthens levies in combat. Numerous bugs were fixed, such as issues with event triggers, AI behavior, and interface functions, alongside adjustments to various historic events and game balance refinements.

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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.
Parents can no longer have multiple Sickly children in a row.
Appanages are now correctly inherited when the ruler dies with no heir.
Peasant republics no longer stay as Imperial Princes within the HRE.
Free Cities no longer count as Imperial Princes.
Military Sponsorship no longer gives negative gold for the Military Order.
Made subject-count penalties not apply when changing an existing subject's type.
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.
Changed Foster Institutions to accelerate spread instead of bootstrapping.
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.
Peace offers are again rate-limited by the diplomat en route timer in multiplayer.
Blocked armies led by the ruler from becoming mercenaries.
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.
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.
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.
Assigned AI dispositions to British and Irish minors.
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.
Hussite Wars: The game now forces an HRE re-election when hussite_wars.1 converts a shared-monarch Emperor.
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.
Extended the "University of Krakow" event (flavor_pol.25) availability to 1450 so it remains reachable after the Renaissance unlocks universities.
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.
The events of the Horde Civil War no longer murder your overlord's ruler if you happen to have them as your own ruler.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Made ruler triggers in the event viewer gender-agnostic.
Weighted Greek name generation toward traditional Byzantine ruling names, so generated characters favor historical imperial names such as Ioannes, Konstantinos, Michael, Andronikos, and Manuel.
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.
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.
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.
Removed dormancy mechanic for High Kingship of Ireland.
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.
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.
The AI no longer tries to colonize African coastal locations with malaria unless they can move at least 50 pops per month.
Gated AI event resolution on the same predicate used to queue it.
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.
A Cabinet developing a province now shows the monthly development of the province on the outliner instead of an unrelated modifier.
Game rules that modify ironman or achievements are no longer changeable after game start.
Restored visibility gating on the Take Over Siege button.
The Bureaucracies tab is now hidden when no bureaucracy is unlockable.
Fleshed out the sounds for construction.
Lowered volume of walla and whispers.
Allowed dynamic localisation in flavor descriptions of religions.
Updated the Yesman cheat to make every AI country vote for the human player in leadership elections.