Age of Wonders 4 is a fantastic strategy title that lets players forge a kingdom and peoples of their own design, and then expand and conquer a generated map through war, diplomacy, or mystical undertakings. It's a great title for beginners to the 4X format, as well as strategy and Age of Wonders veterans looking to sink their teeth into something new.
Age of Wonders 4: Mystic Schools Guide
The Mystic Update to Age of Wonders 4 added three subgroups to the Mystic culture, leaving many to wonder how exactly each one works.
But once players have sunk their teeth into Age of Wonders 4, maybe taking in the different cultural playstyles and the great main campaign, there are a slew of community-made mods to install, each providing some kind of novel change to the way Age of Wonders 4 games go without massively altering or taking away from the overall principles of the game. Players looking to change up their AOW4 experience should keep an eye out for these mods.
5 Expanded Cultural Units
Adds More Flavor And Variety To Cultures
- Created by: Digger at Arms
- Download Link
This is a simple but broad mod that adds a variety of cultural units to the available pool for each non-DLC culture. What this does, in essence, is allow players to experiment and diversify with a broader number of easy to acquire units that can act as the foundation for any army. There are already a variety of units for every culture in Age of Wonders 4, but where this mod truly shines is in the extra utility it affords each culture, with each new unit remaining true to its culture's overall philosophy but expanding its scope.
What this means in practice is that the astral culture has more access to tanks and skirmishers, while the barbarian culture gains some more magic utility, while keeping the identities of these cultures intact and immersive.
4 Tomes of the Timberwood
An Expansion Of Balanced But Game Changing Tomes
- Created by: Timber
- Download Link
Tomes are a staple of the Age of Wonders 4 modding community, being a generally accessible means of altering what the game offers through the creation of these new spell books. Coding experience is of course useful, but tomes have a standardization of sorts to their implementation that makes knowing the game mechanics and what is (and is not) balanced more important to creating a good mod overall.
Mod creator Timber goes above and beyond with this mod, however, creating thematic and immersive tomes that stand alongside the originals as fantastic additions to all stages of the game. This mod makes tomes that enhance the effectiveness of players' kingdoms without making them overpowered or game-breaking.
Age of Wonders 4: How to Build New Cities and Expand
Expanding across the map is essential in most games of Age of Wonders 4, but building new cities isn't as easy as pressing a button.
3 RFD
Rescale, Formations, Diversity
- Created by: Anão Grande
- Download Link
Like a lot of great high fantasy games, Age of Wonders 4 does an impressive job letting players see epic fantasy-styled battles unfold across a variety of battlefields. The unique composition of cultural units, magically summoned units, and recruited units from vassals or events allows players to make personalized, powerful armies that clash with opponents on a grand scale. This grand scale, however, can sometimes be part of the problem. Even with a plethora of units on the field, armies can seem too sparse, or individual units can be taller than houses or entire forests.
This purely visual mod changes the numbers of attackers grouped together as individual units, and also ensures that units look a little more naturally in line with their setting, appropriately scaled against buildings and natural features.
2 Expanded Wildlife Pack
Helps The Realm Feel More Alive
- Created by: Komogi / Visie Maigo
- Download Link
Exploration is an essential part of Age of Wonders 4, especially in the early game, but unlike a lot of games in this genre it retains its usefulness really throughout, as even after the map has been entirely discovered, wonders and monster nests still need to be explored, annexed, and bartered with by neighboring empires. Exploring and encountering unaligned NPC armies, such as nests of wild creatures, is often a great way to earn XP or imperium, essential for empire skills throughout all stages of the game.
But many of the creatures available as mounts or even units in Age of Wonders 4 do not have a presence as wildlife encounters in the base game. This mod simply changes up the variety of wildlife encounters by adding creatures like elemental raptors or even special types of dragons as potential foes (and allies!) Throughout the realm.
1 Bigger Maps
Allows For More Players And More Exploration
- Created by: Grumpy Old Dwarf
- Download Link
Grumpy Old Dwarf comes to players with a mod that does exactly what it says on the tin - increases the largest possible map size in realm creation to make players feel as though they're exploring a vast, massively scaled world filled with sights and ancient wonders. This mod also adjusts empire spawning to add to this distant feeling, ensuring that no two settlements are ever spawning on top of each other.
A great mod for large-scale solo campaigns or multiplayer extravaganzas, the Bigger Maps mod simply gives players more Age of Wonders to explore at once - and that's never a bad thing.
Age Of Wonders 4
- Released
- May 2, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Triumph Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Paradox Interactive
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based Strategy
