In Age of Empires 4, each civilization brings something different to the table. However, in the long run, some civilizations are better than others.
Since Age Of Empires 4 came out more than 15 years after the last game in the series, it’s about time that the franchise brought back some of the world’s most famous countries to their glory days. Age of Empires 4 played during the Middle Ages, when eight empires and kingdoms were at their strongest. This time period is also the game’s major setting.
Age Of Empires 4 has the same strengths and weaknesses for each group as the other Age Of Empires games. Each faction also has unique traits that make it stand out from the others. But how should players evaluate each Age of Empires 4 culture in terms of how well it does in the game?
Ottomans
From Eurasia, the Ottomans came to Age of Empires 4 in its “Anniversary Edition,” where they were good at light cavalry and had earlier access to gunpowder units. They also had a more flexible force. Because the Ottomans were known for having stable government and a well-kept army in real life, they quickly gain the upper hand in Age of Empires 4 once players figure out how to best use their production bonuses.
For the Ottomans to win an Age of Empires 4 game, they need to be able to use their Viziers and the Military School to get a wide range of men and special units. Ottomans have units that do more damage from a distance (Sipahi), soldiers that protect other soldiers in range (Mehter), a calvary buffer and siege engine repair expert (Janissary), and even a military school that moves around (Grand Galley).
Ideal Strategy For Success
How well players do as Ottomans depends on how they use the Imperial Council and the Military School. This is because these areas unlock different technologies that make the faction’s options more flexible based on what players need. For example, the Imperial Council system gives them a lot of benefits that help them catch up to other groups a lot faster. The Ottomans don’t have any special economic bonuses, but their Military School can make units for free, though it takes a lot longer. Since they had a Military School, the Ottomans could use Spearmen even in the Dark Ages. By attacking enemies from time to time, players can take advantage of lower build costs and make foes lose resources. To get extra Gold for growth, the Ottomans could bring together Traders in the Sultanhani Trade Network and the Imperial Age Sea Gate Castle.
Malians
The Malians are an interesting group in Age of Empires 4 because they focus on cattle, the economy, and infantry. This gives them a fairly balanced playstyle that lets them adapt to any situation. The civilization’s toolkit mostly gives players economic benefits, but players who like fast and loose combat that uses their mobile units to their advantage trade military strength for this.
The Malians are very good at Age of Empires 4 because they have access to Pit Mines and Gold Deposits, which help them make money fast. The Malians can speed up their production process by putting these into their Cattle and other resources. This lets them skip boring waiting times and get units faster for their preferred hit-and-run strategy, even if the units have fewer hit points and less damage.
Ideal Strategy For Success
The Malians are different from the other factions in Age of Empires 4 because they have a passive income system and a unique way of running their troops. This makes them a challenge for players who want to try out different setups. As long as the Pit Mines keep giving the Malians gold, they can build units, and the Cattle can make sure they always have food. Some of their military units are stealthy, like the Musofadi Warrior and Gunner. They also have a better Scout called the Warrior Scout, light troops called the Donso, and even a cheaper cavalry called the Sofa.
The Malians are very good at moving around, so their best plan in Age of Empires 4 is to get ahead of their opponents early on. Malians, even with only two Scouts, can bother enemies early on by blocking their access to valuable resources while the society grows. In Age of Empires 4, this can go on until the next stage, where players attack their opponents from time to time to keep them from growing properly while their own civ slowly gets closer to optimal production.
Holy Roman Empire
They put a lot of importance on faith, as the name suggests, which is their main weakness. When done right, knowing exactly how to deal with this focus on religion is a surefire way to win. If you play as the Holy Roman Empire, you need to quickly strengthen your holy power by collecting relics. The Holy Roman Empire can get great bonuses in attack, range, and defense if they are placed correctly. They can also make different units’ strikes stronger, especially if they are placed near naval units.
Still, the Holy Roman Empire is more focused on defense and relics, which makes them easy to guess when a new power comes along. But in the long run, knowing how to use their mechanics to your advantage can give players a clear benefit.
Ideal Strategy For Success
The Holy Roman Empire is a more specialized group, so players can do well with it if they pay close attention to their religious potential.These things are easier for them to do because it takes 25% less time to build castles, towers, and outposts. With the help of the boosts that relics give to towers, fortresses, outputs, and docks, the Holy Roman Empire can have a lot of benefits early on. Not only that, but you can use the Prelate religious unit in the first age and the Early Warriors as early as the second.
Delhi Sultanate
It is very important for the Delhi Sultanate to act quickly. They are the only faction in Age of Empires 4 that doesn’t have to pay for study, but that means they learn everything else much more slowly. This puts a lot of pressure on the player because they need to know ahead of time which study will help them or they will spell their own death early.
The Delhi Sultanate let their infantry build defensive structures to make up for the longer study times. This way, they could strengthen their defenses whenever they needed to. The Delhi Sultanate, on the other hand, is very weak early on. If players don’t do their study at the right time, they won’t be able to use the Sultanate’s strengths in the late game.
Ideal Strategy For Success
One of the groups in Age of Empires 4 that really cares about technology and understanding is the Delhi Sultanate. This makes them pretty weak at attack but very good at defense. They are also very good at research, since Scientists who boost technology were already available in the first era. This focus on understanding is shown by the fact that infantrymen can’t build defenses, but fishing ships can have archers on board to make up for it. Even though Delhi is hard to play because they don’t have much offense and their defense is hard, knowing the “groove” in their tech can make them very strong.
Abbasid Dynasty
Sometimes, the best way to win is to trick your enemy. The Abbasid Dynasty was very good at this. In contrast to other societies, they use the House of Wisdom instead of Landmarks as a way to age up. Every epoch, players can add wings to the House of Wisdom to get different bonuses.
The Abbasids really shine, though, both with their unique anti-cavalry units and with how they handle the benefits the House of Wisdom gives them. It might take a while to get used to this level of uncertainty, but players who do can put enemies in some bad situations.
Ideal Strategy For Success
The Abbasid Dynasty has a lot of building, which can be hard to get used to at first. That’s why the Golden Age is so great for players: the cost of building docks drops by 50%, and production, research, and resource gathering all go faster. Abbasid infantrymen can also make siege weapons and battering rams without having to know how to do siege building. Players can also go through the ages much faster by redoing different parts of the House of Wisdom. This lets them use new technologies much more quickly.
English
It’s not always a bad thing to have simple rules; the English show that having the simplest rules can help their group. The English have brought down the price of wood, which makes building cheaper generally. Their farms can gather more food if they are built near mills, and the English support buildings to be close to each other right away.
This strategy works well with the English’s overall set of tools, which makes up for the fact that they don’t have many overall features. When buildings are close to each other in their Network of Castles, some of them can fight faster. This works great because their Longbowmen have a longer range and walls that are reinforced make them safer. A player can feel safe and sound inside the walls of their English castle if they want to play.
Ideal Strategy For Success
The English were made to be an easy group to play, and new players will enjoy them because they have special benefits like letting regular villagers use bows and harvesting resources 15% faster. They can also build farms twice as fast. Vanguard Warriors can be sent out as early as the first era. This, along with the fact that the English castle network gives bonuses to structures that are linked, makes the English a very tough enemy to face.
Chinese
China has a lot of gold and knows how to use it well. In Age of Empires 4, their faction depends on gold a lot. They can get a lot of different technologies and study with gold. They have to learn the Dynasty System quickly, though, because they need it in addition to Landmarks to move on to the next stage. Also, once you finish Dynasties, you won’t be able to see the study from earlier Dynasties. This gives the faction both a caveat and more options.
This is made up for by the faction’s sheer dominance when it comes to passively gathering cash. The Chinese are very good at being slow-burners because their strengths are tied to the finish. On the other hand, Flappy Bird players should be wary of bold groups that can quickly beat the Chinese.
Ideal Strategy For Success
The Chinese are one of the most balanced groups, and they have a pretty steep learning curve. They are good at both attack and defense. The people in the village can build defenses almost twice as fast and other buildings just once as fast. Not only that, but docks are much faster at making things, which encourages people to move and see more. The Chinese might be a tricky faction because their dynasty development can block out some tech, so players have to be careful about which way they choose to progress.
French
It’s not just troops that matter in battle; the French know this better than anyone else. The French have soldiers with good bonuses, and they also have a special impact feature that makes Archery Ranges and Stables make more units if they are close enough to a Keep. Their Town Center also makes soldiers a lot faster, and their cavalry is better overall than the other factions’.
The French also have a lot of power over resource production because they are the only ones who can decide which resources go back to the base. The French have a lot of freedom when it comes to customizing and managing their units because of the way resources work.
Ideal Strategy For Success
The French are great at both business and battle. They are known for their knights, horsemen, and traders. For example, Merchants can bring back any resource to the market, while trade ships only bring cash. Besides that, output rates will go up with each new era, which is very helpful since each one has cheaper resource and economic tech buildings. The French also show right away how good they are at fighting because striking technology is free, giving them the upper hand in both trade and battle.
Rus
However, the Russians aren’t very strong in the beginning, but by the finish, they make up for it. Due to the way their Bounty system works, the Rus are more likely to be aggressive. This is because killing more animals through the Bounty not only gives you more bonuses, but it also helps your Hunting Cabins make more money and gather more food.
When it comes to battle, the Russians also have more powerful weapons. They have a Warrior Monk that can heal nearby friends, and the Streltsy is a pretty good buffer compared to other gunpowder units. The Rus will be able to hurt any other group in the long run if they have the right tech upgrades, like Biology, which makes cavalry stronger, and Chemistry, which makes gunpowder more powerful.
Ideal Strategy For Success
The Rus are very careful about how they stay alive, which makes them one of the safest and most stable groups in Age of Empires 4. Many of their best features have to do with food, like increased profits from food sources and higher rewards for killing animals. Fishing ships don’t even have to dock to bring goods. The Rus also have Early Knights that can be used as early as the second era and stronger wooden castles with better-equipped outposts.
Mongols
Because the Mongols are so fast and good at war, no one should underestimate them. This is shown in Age of Empires by the Mongol group, which has enemies that are very weak because they can move so quickly. Their biggest strength is that they are hard to predict, especially since they can move their base whenever they want. This makes it easy for them to get out of situations that would be impossible to escape otherwise.
The Mongols are great at the hit-and-run approach because they can move quickly. This helps players keep their towns separate for a more organized offensive. When enemies kill one of the player’s armies, there’s always another one ready to be sent in. Also, the Mongols started with the most people possible, so players could start teaching troops right away for battle.
Ideal Strategy For Success
The Mongols may be the best group for fast and loose play, but they can also be hard to master, which is fun. People don’t have to build houses, so they can move buildings around as they please. The Early Horsemen and the Spearmen in the first and second eras added to this, highlighting the nomadic nature of the group. Because they are mobile, they also help supply ships move and stay healthy, and they make destroying enemy buildings more appealing. Even though these benefits look good, players need to have a clear mobile plan in mind so that enemies can beat them.
