Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition News

Age of Empires IV – Season Three: Update 24916

October 25th is right around the corner, and with it comes the Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition and the Season Three: Anniversary Update! We’re excited to celebrate with you all and thought we’d get the party started with an early and in-depth view of everything you can expect from Season Three, including new civilizations, challenges, achievements, features and more. Whether you’re interested in honing new strategies with the Malians and Ottomans, building your skillset with Art of War challenges, competing in 1v1 Solo Ranked or competing with friends in the all-new Team Ranked, or earning a set of Age-themed rewards, we’ve got a little bit of something for every play-style coming your way with the Season Three: Anniversary.

Here’s just a sample of what you can look forward to in the update!

Two new civilizations, the Ottomans and Malians, along with corresponding Art of War challenges, Masteries and Achievements!
The started of Ranked Season Three, the introduction of Team Ranked and brand new rewards!
Use Taunts against your opponents and spice up your games with Cheats!
Eight New Maps and Two New Biomes!
Naval Balance Rework brings new opportunity to Naval matches!
Waypoint Markers to set unit paths!

Tune into our stream today at 2:30pm PST (5:30 pm ET / 21:30 UTC) on Twitch!

💬 DISCUSS: Official Forum
💬 DISCUSS: Steam Forum
🗣 JOIN: Official Discord

Thanks again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!

—The Age of Empires Team

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

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         ◆ UPDATE 24916◆

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BUILD SPOTLIGHT

[h2]New Civilizations[/h2]

[h3]The Ottomans[/h3]The Ottoman civilization benefits strongly from their military prowess, their Imperial Council system, as well as their unique Military School system.

Read more on our website!

[h3]The Malians[/h3]The Malians focus on strong economic play, making gold and spending gold, and prefer strategic hit-and-run tactics with their unique infantry units instead of prolonged military battles.

Read more on our website!

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

[h3]:alertalert: DISCLAIMER[/h3]This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

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[h2]Hotfix 26139[/h2]

This hotfix resolves an issue where the game would incorrectly launch in English only and not your selected language while playing on Windows. You should now be able to play the game in the available languages, which you can see in the dropdown below.

Available Languages
[expand]

English
French
Italian
German
Spanish - Spain
Japanese
Korean
Portuguese - Brazil
Russian
Simplified Chinese
Spanish - Latin America
Traditional Chinese
Turkish
Vietnamese
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
Greek
Hungarian
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese - Portugal
Swedish

[/expand]

If you find a bug or run into any other issues, please check out our Support Articles or Send us a Ticket!

Three Games, Three Events, and One Giant Anniversary Celebration!

Hello Age fans and welcome to the giant celebration for the Age of Empires Anniversary extravaganza! We’re so excited to share everything we have in store for you over the next few weeks, but for now, here’s a sneak peek at all the in-game events with unique challenges and rewards starting on October 25th. Don’t miss out on all the fun in Age of Empires IV, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition with celebratory cakes, castles, capybaras, and more!

[h2]Age of Empires IV[/h2]

[h3]Season Three: Anniversary Event[/h3]
[h3]🎉October 25 – November 28🎉[/h3]
This October marks the 25th Anniversary for Age of Empires! Come celebrate with us and enjoy everything we love about Age!

Challenges and Rewards highlight units from across the franchise, including an iconic cheat! You won't want to miss out in earning these spectacular Age-aversary rewards! As always, Wololo!

Part II is now live!

[h3]Ranked Season Three: October 26 - February 15[/h3]

Ranked Season Three is almost here -are you ready? The party starts on October 26 and runs until February 15. Grab your swords, garrison your castles, and bring all your friends, it’s time!
Plus, for the first time ever, you can earn Ranked Team rewards too!

[h3]Also included are unlockable taunts![/h3]
Earn taunts for achieving the rank of Bronze or higher in either Solo or Team Ranked when you participate in Season Three.

Rank Achieved (Solo or Team)
Taunt
How to Earn
Bronze+ (Solo or Team)
OP.
Granted for participating in Solo or Team Ranked in Season 3.
Bronze+ (Solo or Team)
Nice sheep.
Granted for participating in Solo or Team Ranked in Season 3.
Bronze+ (Solo or Team)
Remember when you had an army?
Granted for participating in Solo or Team Ranked in Season 3.
Bronze+ (Solo or Team)
Well that escalated quickly.
Granted for participating in Solo or Team Ranked in Season 3.
Bronze+ (Solo or Team)
STRAEEELBOOORRAAAA!
Granted for participating in Solo or Team Ranked in Season 3.
Bronze+ (Solo or Team)
Behold! My amazing army!
Granted for participating in Solo or Team Ranked in Season 3.
Bronze+ (Solo or Team)
This is fine...
Granted for participating in Solo or Team Ranked in Season 3.
Bronze+ (Solo or Team)
You know, this game has a good tutorial.
Granted for participating in Solo or Team Ranked in Season 3.
Bronze+ (Solo or Team)
It has been a pleasure.
Granted for participating in Solo or Team Ranked in Season 3.
Bronze+ (Solo or Team)
I ... did not see that coming.
Granted for participating in Solo or Team Ranked in Season 3

[h2]Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition[/h2]

[h3]The 25th Age of Empires Anniversary Event[/h3]
[h3]🎉October 25 – November 8🎉[/h3]

Huzzah! This October marks the 25th Anniversary for Age of Empires! Join us as we celebrate everything we love about Age!

Challenges and Rewards highlight units from across the franchise, including a very famous Town Bell. If you haven’t tried playing the other Age games, now’s a great time to check them out!

And of course, a big Birthday thanks to all for making Age of Empires so special, including you!

[h3]New Rewards![/h3]

October 25th through November 8th, complete the in-game tasks within the time limit to unlock exclusive rewards!

[h4]Keep it Forever![/h4]
Remember: if you sign in to Xbox Live at any point during the event, you get to keep all the mods and profile icons you unlock! Sign in, earn your rewards, and enjoy!

—The Age of Empires Team

[h2]Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition[/h2]

[h3]Ageiversary Event[/h3]
[h3]🎉October 25th – November 20th🎉[/h3]

Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition is celebrating 25 years of Age of Empires with the coming of the new community event, Ageiversary! For a limited time, you can unlock new portraits and explorer customizations by completing the community challenges!

[h3]New Rewards![/h3]

October 25th through November 20th, complete the in-game tasks within the time limit to unlock exclusive rewards!

[h4]Keep it Forever![/h4]
Remember: if you sign in to Xbox Live at any point during the event, you get to keep all the mods and profile icons you unlock! Sign in, earn your rewards, and enjoy!

—The Age of Empires Team

[h2]Join the 25th Anniversary Fun![/h2]

More announcements and fun coming as we lead up to our 25th Anniversary Celebration Broadcast on October 25th! While you prepare for the big day, here are more ways to join the 25th Anniversary Celebration!

Remember, all the fun starts on October 25th!

Server Maintenance - Wednesday, October 5

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Wednesday, October 5 @ 2:00p PT / 5:00p ET / 21:00 UTC (Countdown)
EST. DOWNTIME: 1-2 HOURS

[h3]GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED[/h3]

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
Age of Empires IV (Steam / Microsoft Store)

[h3]OBJECTIVES[/h3]

Routine server updates and maintenance.

[h3]DETAILS[/h3]This coming Wednesday, October 5th, the platform team will be taking the multiplayer servers down for regular maintenance. Please note:

Ranked matchmaking will disabled exactly one hour before the maintenance window to prevent disruption to newly-formed matches.

Any matches still in progress at the start of the maintenance window will be disrupted when it begins.

DURING THE MAINTENANCE WINDOW, YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO LAUNCH THE GAME, BUT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MATCHMAKE OR ACCESS ANY ONLINE FEATURES.

To prevent any interruptions, we recommend wrapping up any games at least 10 minutes before the maintenance window. The downtime is expected to last between 1 and 2 hours. You can watch this thread with any changes to the schedule as they arise, as well as the all-clear when the maintenance is complete.

Thank you for your patience!

Capture Age Team Brings New Spectator Tool to Age of Empires IV!

In 2020, we announced that World’s Edge was partnering with Capture Age, a team that by then was already well-known for their work in creating engaging spectating experiences for the Age of Empires community. Since then, our partnership with Capture Age has continued to grow with the official release of the CaptureAge tool in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.

Today, we’re excited to announce that Capture Age is collaborating with the Age IV team as well and has been hard at work behind the scenes collecting feedback and continuing to grow Age of Empires IV’s Observer Mode! This new supplemental tool, dubbed Caster Mode, has been designed to build upon information currently offered in the Age IV Observer Mode and allow for more flexibility for casters and viewers alike.

Excited to get your hands on Caster Mode? You won’t need to wait long! This new tool will be releasing in beta as part of the Age of Empires IV Anniversary Update on October 25th. While Caster Mode (Beta) will apply only to 1v1 matches, the tool will continue to evolve over time – with your input in mind!

[h2]Introducing Caster Mode for 1v1 (Beta) [/h2]
Alongside playing Age of Empires IV, we’re aware that our community enjoys watching the games across their favorite streams and channels. As we strive toward the goal of offering exciting opportunities across our player base, we naturally wanted to provide ongoing official support for this large group of enthusiasts – from casters and tournament organizers to long-term or newly-joining viewers.

The new Caster Mode user interface may feel familiar for those of you coming from the CaptureAge tool in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition or who have been following along on the Road to Wololo. Either way, we thought a quick tour of some of the key elements we’ll be rolling out next month was in order.

[h2]Entering and Exiting Caster Mode [/h2]

Once this tool releases, you’ll be able to easily enter this new mode by clicking the “Caster Mode” mode button on the top right Observer control panel. To exit Caster Mode and return to the regular Observer Mode you can click the back button under the minimap at any time.

[h2]Overview Screen [/h2]

All key statistics are visible at a glance or given more visibility as they become relevant.
High contrast and big fonts support those watching on small screens or with low bitrates.

[h2]Balance Panel [/h2]

The top center panel is designed to provide a quick view of which player is leading in terms of economy and military, as well as to give casters and views the opportunity to easily compare key statistics.

[h2]Unit Queue [/h2]

A list of each player’s standing army (in white) and their queued units (in grey) are consistently easily visible.

[h2]Victory Conditions[/h2]

When a player is getting close to achieving one of the three victory conditions a progress pop-up will appear on the achieving player’s side.

[h2]Hotkeys [/h2]
Configurable hotkeys have been added to quickly switch between player points-of-view (Alt+Shift+[1-8]), toggle focus technologies (Alt+Shift+S), and flip player sides (Alt+Shift+F). We’ve also hidden some buttons in the small circles above the table and at the ends of the top bar, so they aren’t distracting when explaining the intricacies of the game.

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We’re excited to see you on October 25th, and we can’t wait to hear what you think about Caster Mode!

Age of Empires 4 Anniversary Update will add two new civs

Age of Empires turns 25 on October 25, and the Age of Empires IV Anniversary Update will roll out on that day to help celebrate. The patch includes two new playable civilisations, along with new mastery challenges and achievements, plus eight new map types and biomes for the RTS game.

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