As a 4X game, Age of Wonders 4 expects players to expand across the game map by conquering and vassalizing their neighbors, and by building new outposts and cities. There are plenty of ways to win a game, but every method is easier when you control most of the resources on the map.
However, the way you build new cities in Age of Wonders 4 is a little different compared to most 4X games. There are a few steps involved in the process, and even the game's tutorial doesn't provide all the information you need. That's why this guide will explain all the steps you need to take to build a new city of your starting faction, along with the other ways you can expand across the map.
Age of Wonders 4: Eldritch Sovereign Guide
The Eldritch Sovereign is a special ruler type added by the Age of Wonders 4 DLC "Eldritch Realms," and it's very different to the other ruler types.
Outposts and Cities
The first step to building a new city in Age of Wonders 4 is to build a new outpost.
- Send a hero unit (your ruler counts) to an unoccupied province. The province can't be uninhabitable (bedrock, mountains, etc.), and it can't hold a wonder. This province also can't belong to any faction or free city, and it can't be adjacent to an existing outpost, city, or city ruins.
- Select the province your hero unit is standing on. At the bottom of the province's information menu is a button labeled "Build Outpost." If your hero unit is on the province, if the province meets all the above requirements, and if you have enough Gold, the button should be green instead of gray.
- Press the button, and wait two turns for the outpost to go up. You can cut this down to one turn if you get the right Materium affinity skill. Your hero unit doesn't have to stay in the province until the construction completes, and a fast hero can help build multiple outposts in a single turn.
Outposts are a good way to claim Magic Materials, Ancient Wonders, and global resources like Mana and Gold. However, they don't benefit from local resource nodes that produce Food or Production. At least, not until you upgrade them into cities.
To create a new city from an outpost, select the outpost and check out the bottom button on the list of options. It should say "Found a city of (your faction or factions). 200 Imperium, 4 turns." If you have the Imperium it asks for, you can convert any outpost into a city. Just make sure you haven't reached your city cap, because owning too many cities gets expensive quickly.
Age Of Wonders 4: Best Rulers
Age of Wonders 4 has several rulers for players to choose from, the best of whom are listed below.
Integrating Vassals
Another way you can add new cities to your empire is by integrating vassals. There are a couple ways you gain vassals in Age of Wonders 4:
- Give a Whispering Stone to a neutral free city and wait until their Allegiance score causes them to declare themselves a vassal of your faction. You can spend Imperium to boost Allegiance if you need to overtake a rival or simply want to hurry the process along.
- Conquer a city by force. When selecting a conquered city, you can choose to release it as a vassal. You can do this with a faction-built city, or with a free city. However, a conquered vassal will lose Allegiance unless you give them a Whispering Stone.
A vassal can contribute global incomes and Magic Materials to your empire, and they don't count towards your city cap, but the AI controls the city and its units. To fully integrate a city into your faction, you must wait for them to reach Flourishing Vassalage. Once they do, you can pay Imperium to have them instantly become a directly controlled city. The amount of Imperium you need depends on the population of the city.
Conquest
When you conquer a city, you have a list of things you can do to it. Simply click on the conquered city to see the list. Each option takes time, but (much like with outposts) you don't need to keep any units around as your choice plays out.
- Release the city as a vassal (see above).
- Raze the city to the ground. This gives you a large sum of Gold, moves your alignment to Evil by 20 points, and converts the city into city ruins.
- Absorb the city into your empire. This costs 200 Imperium no matter how big the city is, and the current people of the city remain the same.
- Migrate one of your empire's people into the city. This costs 200 Imperium, reduces the city's Population, and gives you 10 Evil points. However, your new city will match your faction's culture, or the culture of one of your subject peoples.
Think carefully before deciding between the last two options. Owning a city full of a different faction's people can give you access to their culture's units, and their people's minor and major race transformations. However, their Body traits will be different, and you'll need to re-cast minor and major race transformations on the people of a free city if you want them to also get the benefits. Depending on your faction build and your enemies, this can either be a major boon or a major disruption.
Age of Wonders 4: How to Craft Items
Added as part of the Golem Update, the Item Forge of Age of Wonders 4 lets you craft custom weapons and equipment fit for any Godir.
City Ruins
If you choose to raze a city, or you come across city ruins left by another faction, you can use the ruins to build a new city. You still need to bring a hero unit to the same province, but the cost of building from a ruin is only 100 Imperium, or half the normal cost. You can also pay 100 Souls instead, assuming your faction has access to Souls.
You can choose any of the people of your empire to fill this new city, no matter who lived in it before. However, this city will always start at one Population.
Alternatively, you can use a normal army to clear city ruins from a province. This can be very handy, because other cities can't claim provinces with city ruins on them, and you can't build outposts on adjacent provinces. So if your enemy built a city in a very inconvenient spot, make sure you have a unit stick around to finish clearing it from the map.
Age Of Wonders 4
- Released
- May 2, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Triumph Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Paradox Interactive
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based Strategy
