Hi,

thanks for this update. 

May I ask that the Devs please consider fixing the know issue of "allies ambush allies" in the upcoming Christmas patch ? I hope it is not too demanding, and yet it would simply allow the core system of leverage gathering to work as intended - right now it does not. 

Building on that, and more broadly regarding TWR, I would simply state that while the "peacetime" gameplay was definitely the fight direction to explore, the diplomatic mechanics lack depth. Two examples come to mind ; 1/ I still struggle to understand what agreements are, if not additional treaties ? If so why are they a thing of their own, given that everyone owns an embassy by era 2, 2/ why is leverage solely targeting countries we are at odds with ? You also do leverage your friends sometimes - why not making it a tool to remove claims for example...

Overall, I believe it would be timely for the Dev team to shake off a scent of "winding down development" that has surrounded the game lately, as if the team had shrunk to a handful of devs tasked with maintenance until a final patch seals HK's fate some time in 2023. If this is not the case, by all means be more active and transparent in showing it ; where are the new Dev Diaries, where were the short intro videos for TWR new cultures? Amplitude should also have Devs play the game in the weekly streams and not only the CMs, dedicated as they may be. The viewers stats for these streams and the active play count on Steam should be explicit enough to prompt a reaction. 

All the above from a player that ranks HK as his #1 strategy game, but could see it develop into something so, so much better.