Age of Empires IV: Season 4 brings new maps, Nomad game mode and new ranked season

Age of Empires IV, commonly known as AOE 4, players will be happy as the brand new season for the game has been revealed. The new season, named Enchanted Grove, brings all-new maps and content.

The developers at Relic have been hard at work on the new season and it brings along various new content and a game mode requested by many. To start the patch notes off, the new season brings a challenge for players to complete. If you are able to hunt down the enchanted stag in multiple or skirmish, you will receive a golden stag monument to use for your town center. Following on from that, a brand new season of ranked play will see you able to rise up the ranks and cement yourself as a top player. The new season begins on February 17th and will last until June 7th, with all previous ranks reset and a brand new start for everyone. During this period, you have the opportunity to complete challenges and get some new items in-game.

The season 4 map pool will see several fan-favourite maps added, however, the enchanted grove map will not be apart of the ranked map pool. The 1v1 ranked map pool for season four is:

• Dry Arabia  
• Prairie  
• Lipany  
• Ancient Spires  
• Wetlands  
• Oasis  
• Altai  
• Boulder Bay  
• Waterholes

The team ranked map pool is:

• Dry Arabia  
• Lipany  
• Hideout  
• High View  
• Mountain Clearing  
• Hill and Dale  
• Mongolian Heights  
• Baltic  
• Nagari 

They are also adding 3 new maps, all of which have been voted in by the players due to popular demands. These maps are four lakes, continental and marshland. Four lakes has been apart of the competitive AOE community for some time so it’s only fair it’s added sooner rather than later. These will not be playable in ranked mode, however.

The fan-favourite game mode, Nomad, is now apart of the game as an official game mode rather than a mod players can download and use in custom games. The idea behind Nomad is to start completely fresh with 3 villagers and limited resources. You must be quick about building your town center and ensure the enemy isn’t close-by, otherwise, you could be eliminated quickly. This will be apart of the custom and skirmish game modes.

In addition to this, Relic have made the mod browser a lot easier to use with various fixes to searching and making it easier to find whatever you are looking for. As well as this, you now have the ability to zoom via your mini-map, with the options of normal, 125% or 150%, whichever suits you best. The unit HUD has undergone a change, which means movement speed is shown differently and new options are available such as additional weapons.

They have made several changes to AI, including villagers no longer harvesting sheep following a scout, better researching, better early game economy and building more effectively. Some of the general changes and fixes to the game are focusing on when someone is eliminated from a match, their units stop carrying out tasks, changes to palisade walls and changes to the fishing economy.

Relic have made some huge adjustments to many of the civilisations within the game. You can see below for some notable changes:

English

• Abbey of Kings Landmark
  • Now can Crown a King, a cavalry leader with a lesser version of the Abbey’s aura.
    • Costs 150 food and 150 gold. 
    • Only one King may be trained at a time. 
    • Heals nearby out of combat units for 2 HP every second. 
• Council Hall Landmark
  • Changed from producing Longbowmen and their technologies to all Archery Range units and technologies. 

• Wynguard Palace Landmark now produces 4 distinct armies.
  • Wynguard Army
    • No longer trains 1 Spearman, 1 Man at Arms, 1 Knight, 1 Longbowman, and 1 Trebuchet. 
    • Now trains 2 Spearman, 2 Crossbowmen, and 1 Trebuchet. 
    • Cost and train time unchanged at 100 food, 100 wood, 200 gold, and 75 seconds.

French

• Chamber of Commerce Landmark
  • No longer provides additional resources to Traders.
  • Automatically trains one free Trader for each economic technology researched. 
• College of Artillery Landmark
  • Royal Artillery bonus damage increased from +20% to +30%. 
  • Can research Gunpowder and Siege technologies: Chemistry, Siege Works, Greased Axles. 
  • Works 50% faster. 
  • Unlocks the Artillery Shot ability on all Cannons:
    • Loads the Cannon for an Artillery Shot, next shot has greatly increased Area of Effect but no bonus against buildings. 

Holy Roman Empire

• Meinwerk Palace Landmark
  • Now holds two technologies unique to the landmark.
    • Riveted Chain Mail: Spearmen and Horsemen +2 melee armor, costs 75 food 175 gold.
      • Riveted Chain Mail removed from the Barracks. 
    • Steel Barding: Knights gain +2 armor, costs 200 food 500 gold. 

Malians

• Mansa Quarry Landmark no longer displays as a Resource Production unit. 
• Houses health increased from 400 to 500.
• Musofadi Warriors
  • Damage decreased in the Feudal Age from 9 to 8. 
  • Bonus damage increased from 9 to 10. 
  • Damage decreased in the Castle Age from 12 to 9. 
  • Bonus damage increased from 12 to 15. 
  • Damage decreased in the Imperial Age from 15 to 12. 
  • Bonus damage increased from 15 to 18. 

Mongols

Khaganate Palace Landmark 

• Automatically rallies a random army from across the Mongol Empire and its dominions:
  • 3 Elite Rus Knights 
  • 2 Warrior Monks 
  • 5 Elite Horse Archers 
  • 1 Nest of Bees 
  • 5 Elite Palace Guard 
  • 4 Elite Mangudais 
  • 1 Hui Hui Pao Trebuchet (Massive Trebuchet with greatly increased range and damage).

• Mangudai
  • Decreased move speed from 1.62 to 1.56. 
  • Siha Bow Limbs technology requirement increased from Castle Age to Imperial Age. 
  • Damage decreased from 7/9/10 to 5/6/8. 
  • Now attacks faster, attack speed from 1.25 to 0.88 (dps should remain relatively unchanged against unarmored targets). 

Ottomans

• Mehmed Imperial Armory Landmark
  • Can now be toggled to produce Battering Rams. 

Rus

• Kremlin Landmark
  • The Kremlin may now Levy Militia to the Landmark Town Center.
    • Levy Militia Ability cost reduced from 100 to 40 food. Units spawned reduced from 6 to 2 Militia. 
    • Levy Militia Ability now requires supplies to be used, with each Levy costing 1 supply. 
  • The Kremlin gains +1 supply every 60 seconds automatically and for free. 

• Rus Deep fishing reduced from 1.9 to 1.71. 

• Rus Shore fishing increased from 1.19 to 1.26. 
• Rus Improved Palisade Wall
  • Health reduced from 3000 to 2500. 
  • Build time reduced from 7 to 3 seconds. 

Of course, there is so much more that has been changed or added in the patch notes however we tried to narrow it down to some of the more notable changes. You can check out the full list here: Age of Empires IV – Season Four Update 6.0.878