Age of Wonders 4: Ultimate Beginner’s Guide

Age of Wonders 4 follows the footsteps of its predecessors but with more new features introduced. As a strategy game, it can be a bit overwhelming for players who are new to the series or the genre as a whole.

This is not surprising, as the game features a lot of mechanics, and while it’s similar to its prequel, it does come with some nuances every now and then.

That said, if you want to learn the ropes so you can start building and expanding your own empire, this beginner’s guide got you covered.

Ultimate Beginner’s Guide in Age of Wonders 4

As a strategy game, Age of Wonders 4 is all about proper management, from your resources all the way down to your units.

It seeks to provide an experience that will get players, both new and old, hooked.

However, with so many aspects of the game to think about, we believe starting from the basics is important if you’re completely new to the series. Here are some tips we can offer you:

Explore the Map Right Away

As soon as you start a campaign, one of your first priorities should be to get a scout unit then have it explore the map. This will help you know your surroundings better such as which countries are nearby, where valuable resources are, etc.

You can also have a second scout trailing your first scout to pick up the resources you discovered.

Not only is this useful for discovering and picking up resources, but this also lets you discover nearby free cities quickly and befriend them.

Manage Your Resources Properly

Speaking of resources, Age of Wonders 4 features four key resources that you should manage in order to build and expand your empire. They’re as follows:

• Gold – Used for building new structures and recruiting units
• Food – Used for increasing your city’s population
• Draft – Used for recruiting new units
• Production – Used for building new structures

The buildings you construct will play a key role in your economy as they’ll provide you with city stability, defense, research, and even resources.

Due to this, you want to build the right buildings that will help boost your overall strategy and resource production.

You can also construct structures such as farms and mines to boost the overall output of your city.

Focus on Increasing Your Imperium

Imperium is a resource that indicates how well-developed your empire is. You’ll use it for just about anything in the game, which is why it’s important to get as many Imperium as you can.

This is especially true in the mid to late game when you start upgrading your structures and units.

For example, you can use it to attract new populations, settle new cities, or even interact with neutral ones.

You’ll also need it to unlock new development that will provide you with powerful and useful bonuses.

Invest in As Many Heroes as Possible

Hero units basically function as the leaders of your army. Due to their powerful buffs and abilities, you want to focus on recruiting as many of them until you hit the limit.

However, keep in mind that while there’s no hard cap, you will eventually reach a point where any more heroes you recruit will only result in a penalty.

As such, you don’t want to go over the limit, just a little bit below it.

When your heroes level up, you will be able to improve their overall power through the use of talent points. You can use these points to improve their abilities, unlock new ones, or provide buffs for your army.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind that whenever you have an army, it should be led by a hero in order to initiate certain actions like starting a siege or entering ancient wonders.

Don’t Focus Too Much on Troops Early On

At the very early stages of the game, your priority should be on building your city. This means gathering as many resources as possible and building new structures.

Don’t make the mistake of jumping straight into building your own army. Not only will units cost resources, but they also require upkeep.

If you invest in troops early on in the game, you’ll find yourself running out of resources quickly while your units won’t even do anything.

The worst part is, if you’re unable to pay for your units’ upkeep, they will revolt and become hostile. This will spell disaster for your city and your entire playthrough as a whole.

Understand the Various Victory Conditions

There are three different conditions for victory in Age of Wonders 4. Each of them offers unique challenges that you should overcome, and they require different strategies as well.

The first one is victory through expansion. This basically means you dominate the world map by expanding your empire’s borders and settling new cities.

It also involves controlling valuable resources and using diplomacy to get other factions to your side.

Second is victory through magic. This involves the strategic use of magic to control magical resources and research extremely powerful spells.

The last one is victory through military might. A pretty straightforward condition, this requires you to defeat all rival leaders via combat.

This involves building a powerful army, engaging your opponents, and even forming alliances.

Don’t Use Auto-Battle

The final tip we can recommend is to forego auto-battle. While it allows you to save time by letting AI do the work, it does involve a lot of RNG.

For the most part, your troops will end up taking a lot of damage that could have been avoided easily if you initiate the battle manually.

As much as possible, always do manual battles unless, of course, you don’t mind sending a lot of your troops for bloodshed.

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