Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition News

Age of Empires IV — Patch 11963

Patch 14681 is incoming, and we’re here to share what you can look forward to for Age of Empires IV!

In Patch 14681, we’re excited to share some changes we’ve made based on your feedback. To start, we know you’ve been asking for Team Game Map Size changes, and this patch introduces the option to choose smaller or larger maps in multiplayer – whatever your preference! We’ve also put some focus towards tuning specific maps to be better for all types of multiplayer and skirmish modes. While there’s still more we’d like to do for maps that we weren’t able to get to in this patch, we’d especially like to thank you for continuing to share your thoughts. Your map feedback has been incredibly helpful to us!

For balance, we know you’ve been wanting your units to be able to attack stone walls under construction… and now you can! We’re also making a few adjustments for Chinese Extra Materials, and while balance changes for Mangonels aren’t quite ready for Patch 14681, we’ll be looking at focusing their role so they aren’t as powerful in all situations and have a more defined place in the unit counter system in a future patch.

A few fixes are coming for the Royal Rumble Mod, and as always, we’re rounding out the rest of this patch by adding a few balance changes and general bug fixes. Read on to learn more!

NOTE: Upon updating to this patch, you will no longer be able to utilize replays and saves from previous updates. While we do our best effort to minimize impact on saves, Campaign and Skirmish saves from the previous patch are impacted and will no longer be accessible after you update. Campaign progress will NOT be lost.

[hr][/hr]
You can find details on these changes and more below!

Share Your Feedback: Season One Survey Available Now!

Hi Age fans! We want to know about your experience with Season One of Age of Empires IV, and what you think in general. We’ve put together a survey to help us understand what is working well and what isn’t, as well as why you play the game.

We’ll be honest – the survey is pretty long because we’re covering a lot of ground here (ranked seasons, mods, campaign, just to name a few things). But as our way of saying “thank you” for taking the time to share your thoughts, everyone who completes the survey will be entered into a drawing for a gift card (there will be 50 winners in total!). Our plan is to do a survey like this after every Season update, but in the future, they should be shorter and more focused on only new stuff.

*Survey available in three languages: English, German, and simplified Chinese. Rules for participation are below!

Take Survey Here

Season One: Festival of Ages is now Live!

Gather your resources and prepare your best strategies—Season One: Festival of Ages is now LIVE in Age of Empires IV! From now until June 30th, you can participate in Ranked Seasons, complete Seasonal Events, and earn Login Rewards.

Age of Empires 4 patch nerfs Khans and mangonels

There's a new patch out today for Age of Empires IV, but you won't need to download an update for the medieval RTS game. Instead, this small update is all going down server-side, but that doesn't mean it doesn't include some impactful changes. This update makes some key adjustments to a few units and the matchmaking system, so you'll want to know what's changed before you start your next game.

Some of Age of Empires IV's core siege units are getting updated to discourage siege-heavy builds and push the units back toward their primary purpose. Rams now have an additional +100 damage bonus against walls, which should make them more useful in the early to mid-game. Meanwhile, mangonels have had their area of effect radius reduced from 1.25 tiles to 0.75 tiles.

Monks' movement speed is getting a boost, from 1 to 1.12 tiles per second. However, once they pick up a relic, they're now 25% slower. Villagers, meanwhile, will ignore attacks and carry on harvesting resources when that happens - what absolute champions.

Read the rest of the story...

Age of Empires IV — Server-Side Patch 12973

Following on the heels of the Season One update, we're excited to introduce a brand new path for bringing you smaller, more pointed changes with Server-Side Patches.

This new approach allows us to make data changes that influence balance and certain bugs more quickly. With a Server-Side Patch, you won’t be required to download and install an update from your platform of choice. Instead, all you need to do is launch the game, where you'll be greeted by a notification prompting you to take a quick in-game patch. After you’ve updated, that’s it – you should see the changes take effect immediately!

While we’ll still need to rely on traditional updates for certain changes, as well as for including content, we intend to use this fast-patching method to help with balance, gameplay integrity and more as we hear from you. Read on to find a list of balance changes we've prepared based on your feedback!
NOTE: Upon updating to this patch, you will no longer be able to utilize replays from previous updates. At times, saves will also be impacted, though we’ve taken additional steps to ensure your campaign saves are not impacted by this particular update. Skirmish saves from the previous patch are impacted and will no longer be accessible after you update.

[hr][/hr]
You can find details on these changes and more below!