Age of Empires IV

About Age of Empires IV

Age of Empires IV is the fourth mainline entry in Microsoft's Age of Empires franchise, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios in October 2021. After nearly two decades since Age of Empires III, AoE4 represents a careful evolution of the series: maintaining the core loop of villager-based economy, age advancement, and military production while introducing landmark buildings, asymmetric civilization design, and new mechanics like stealth forests, religious conversion, and charged cavalry attacks.

The game launched with eight civilizations — English, French, Chinese, Mongols, Delhi Sultanate, Holy Roman Empire, Rus, and Abbasid Dynasty — and has expanded significantly since. The Sultans Ascend DLC added the Ottomans and Malians; subsequent updates introduced the Japanese and Byzantines. Each civilization in AoE4 is designed to play substantially differently from the others, not just in unit rosters and bonuses but in core mechanics. The Mongols can pack up their entire base and move; the Delhi Sultanate researches technologies for free but slowly through scholars; the Abbasid Dynasty builds wings on a single House of Wisdom landmark to unlock new bonuses.

How AoE4 Differs from Earlier Entries

AoE4 introduces several mechanics that distinguish it from AoE2. The most significant is the landmark system: to advance from one age to the next, players must choose between two civilization-specific landmark buildings. Each landmark provides a unique bonus — the French Chamber of Commerce generates passive gold, the English Council Hall produces Longbowmen at double speed, and the Mongol Kurultai heals nearby units. These choices create meaningful mid-game decisions and allow for strategic variation within a single civilization across multiple matches.

The armor system in AoE4 is flat reduction rather than percentage-based, meaning heavily armored units like Knights and Men-at-Arms can effectively shrug off weak attacks while remaining vulnerable to high-damage sources like Crossbowmen and Bombards. This creates a clear logic for army composition: you need both damage dealers and durable frontliners, and mixing unit types is rewarded more consistently than in previous games.

Elevation matters significantly in AoE4. Units on high ground deal bonus damage and have extended vision, making hilltop positions strategically valuable. Stealth forests allow entire armies to hide from approaching enemies, enabling ambushes and defensive options that add a tactical dimension not present in the earlier games. Fire attacks — from fire lancers, incendiary arrows, or ship weaponry — deal damage that bypasses armor entirely, making them particularly effective against structures and heavily armored units.

Core Principles for New Players

Age of Empires IV rewards consistent economic growth above almost everything else. Before attempting complex military strategies, players should internalize these foundational habits:

• Never let your Town Center idle: Each villager cycle lost in the early game creates a compounding economic deficit that is very difficult to recover from.
• Scout your map immediately: Send your starting Scout across the map to locate sacred sites, gold deposits, stone deposits, and your opponent's base position. Information in the early game drives every meaningful decision.
• Choose your Feudal Age landmark with your strategy in mind: The landmark you pick at Feudal sets the tone for your entire game. Military landmarks accelerate aggression; economic landmarks enable a stronger boom. Don't default to the same landmark every game without considering your opponent's civilization and the map.
• Control sacred sites in extended games: Sacred sites generate gold passively over time and provide a victory condition if you hold all of them. Even if you don't pursue the sacred site victory, contesting them forces your opponent to react and denies them a free income stream.
• Transition your army composition: A single unit type will always be countered. Mix ranged units with melee frontliners, and add siege when attacking fortified positions. Learning when to transition — from horsemen raids in Feudal to crossbow plus knight combinations in Castle Age — separates developing players from experienced ones.

Competitive Play and Resources

AoE4 has a growing competitive scene, with major tournaments like the AoE4 World Championship and league circuits organized by the community. Professional players have developed optimized build orders for every civilization and matchup, many of which are detailed in the build orders section of this database. Whether you are learning your first civilization or refining matchup-specific strategies, the guides and statistics here are updated to reflect the current patch and meta.