Age of Empires IV received a big update today, and fans can expect to see some significant changes, as a result. One of the biggest changes to Season One is a beta for a new Content Editor feature, which will allow players to create and share concepts with the rest of the community. There are also hotkey changes, alterations to the campaign difficulty, and more. All in all, it’s looking like fans of the game will find plenty to get excited about, even if there’s still no news about the rumored Xbox port. Full patch notes from the game’s official website can be found below:
Ranked Season tier terminology and artwork more closely align, with the number of weapons present on each badge matching the tier. In the image below, we’re showing the badges for Tier III (such as Gold III).
Stone Wall Tower cost increased from 200 to 300 stone
SUL Herbal Medicine technology moved from the Dark Age to the Castle Age
CHI Imperial Official train time reduced from 30 to 20 seconds (This is reverting the change from the original PUP release notes)
SUL and ABB orchard bonus reduced from +250 to +100 food
RUS Banded Arms bonus range decreased from +1.5 to +0.5
Attempting to observe a modded game when you do not have the same mods enabled should no longer result in a crash
Improvements made to sheep to allow for easier selection
Selection tool should now prioritize siege unit selection over building selection when the unit overlaps with a building
Fixed an issue from the PUP build where custom games that require mods sometimes do not show up as modded in the custom game browser
Fixed an issue found in the PUP where infantry could occasionally sneak through palisade walls near bastions
Introducing the Age of Empires IV Content Editor (Beta)! With this powerful tool, creators are invited to embrace and create their own ideas within the game and share them with the wider community! We talk more about the Content Editor below, including providing a quick overview of the in-house-created mods launching with Season One.
Our first ever Ranked Season starts next week, April 13th! Prepare your best strategies and work your way through the ranks over the next several weeks.
Based on your feedback, we’ve implemented the Global Build Queue! The Global Build Queue is visible in both gameplay and observer modes. Using the Global Build Queue you’ll get an overview of all your upgrades and units in queue at all times in the HUD.
Click specific tiles within the Global Build Queue to select the building the unit or upgrade is queuing within (or the unit itself for build-on-the-field siege units) and optionally move the camera to that location based on the current “Find and Cycle Units & Buildings” setting
Ctrl+Click tiles in the Global Build Queue to cancel the most recently queued item in the stack
The Global Build Queue can be disabled or set to “Upgrades Only” in the in-game settings
Use hotkeys to cycle between “Show All,” “Upgrades Only,” and “Hide.” The default hotkey for this function is Ctrl+Shift+Q
Click specific tiles within the Global Build Queue to select the building the unit or upgrade is queuing within (or the unit itself for build-on-the-field siege units) and optionally move the camera to that location based on the current “Find and Cycle Units & Buildings” setting
Ctrl+Click tiles in the Global Build Queue to cancel the most recently queued item in the stack
The Global Build Queue can be disabled or set to “Upgrades Only” in the in-game settings
Use hotkeys to cycle between “Show All,” “Upgrades Only,” and “Hide.” The default hotkey for this function is Ctrl+Shift+Q
We know you’ve been looking for improved hotkeys, and while we still have some work underway and planned for the future, Season One includes a number of exciting changes! For a deeper in-depth look, check out the Keyboard Controls and Quality of Life section below.
We’ve added the ability to rebind hotkeys to Mouse 3, 4, and 5
Quickly toggle on or off Control Group exclusivity, or use any number of new hotkeys to add or remove a unit from a Control Group
You will be able to bind other commands to the “ALT” and “Shift” keys We are aware that hotkeys bound to Alt, Shift or Ctrl can lose functionality after restarting the game. Our teams are working on a fix for this
New Global Hotkeys enable you to cycle or select all buildings of a specific type, cancel items in production queues, save camera locations, and much more
Additional categories have been added to the hotkey menu to improve navigation
It is now possible to navigate on the map after being eliminated or when the game is over in Skirmish and Multiplayer games. You can go back and forth between the map and the post-game screen using the “Continue” and “Back” buttons.
The Fog of War is revealed to all players when the game is over
There is a new “Reveal on elimination” setting for custom games, revealing the Fog of War to eliminated players
Introducing the Patrol Move in-game! Patrol allows units to move along a path and attack any enemies they see.
You can now use the “Random” civilization selection option when setting up for a match.
We’re unveiling a brand new Art of War challenge with Advanced Combat. Refine your strategy and challenge yourself to earn Gold!
We’ve added the ability to rebind hotkeys to Mouse 3, 4, and 5
Quickly toggle on or off Control Group exclusivity, or use any number of new hotkeys to add or remove a unit from a Control Group
You will be able to bind other commands to the “ALT” and “Shift” keys We are aware that hotkeys bound to Alt, Shift or Ctrl can lose functionality after restarting the game. Our teams are working on a fix for this
New Global Hotkeys enable you to cycle or select all buildings of a specific type, cancel items in production queues, save camera locations, and much more
Additional categories have been added to the hotkey menu to improve navigation
We are aware that hotkeys bound to Alt, Shift or Ctrl can lose functionality after restarting the game. Our teams are working on a fix for this
The Fog of War is revealed to all players when the game is over
There is a new “Reveal on elimination” setting for custom games, revealing the Fog of War to eliminated players
We’ve made some improvements to the layout of the Chinese Dynasty UI!
The Chinese Dynasty Button now fits snugly next to the official button
We’ve updated the visual style of the Chinese Dynasty UI, including the button used to expand the dialog
The Chinese Dynasty Button now fits snugly next to the official button
We’ve updated the visual style of the Chinese Dynasty UI, including the button used to expand the dialog
North to York
Siege of Wallingford
Combat of the Thirty
Siege of Paris
Battle of Pontvallain
Battle of Formigny
TYPE: Game Mode
DESCRIPTION: Be the last king standing! Achieve victory by eliminating all enemy Kings while defending your own. Based on the classic Age of Empires II game mode “Regicide.”
TYPE: Crafted Map
DESCRIPTION: Welcome to paradise. This map features multiple tranquil islands connected by narrow sand tombolos. Supports up to 2 players.
TYPE: Generated Map
DESCRIPTION: Fight for regency over the British Isles! This map features a landmass that resembles Britain, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
TYPE: Generated Map
DESCRIPTION: Battle over South Asia! This map features a landmass that resembles the Indian subcontinent.
TYPE: Generated Map
DESCRIPTION: “You ever wonder why we are here?” This map features a box canyon surrounded by walls on all sides. Supports up to 4 players.
TYPE: Tuning Pack
DESCRIPTION: That’s… a lot of wood. Doubles the amount of Wood available in trees.
TYPE: Tuning Pack
DESCRIPTION: The peasants are revolt… I mean, multiplying! Train two Villagers at the same time for the cost of one.
TYPE: Tuning Pack
DESCRIPTION: The wolves are hungry and out for blood! All Wolves have increased damage, hit points, and size.
Under Steam, users can set their privacy settings for viewing/using user generated content in game under their Online settings
Under Xbox, users can set their privacysettings for viewing/using user generated content under their privacy settings
Villager hunted meat carry capacity increased from 10 to 25
Survival Techniques hunted meat carry capacity bonus removed
Survival Techniques hunted meat harvest rate increased from 10% to 15%
Survival Techniques research time reduced from 75 to 45 seconds
Improved the responsiveness of small and medium ships
Arrow ships can no longer fire while moving
Extended Lines research time reduced from 75 to 45 seconds
Drift Nets research time reduced 75 to 45 seconds
Galley Population reduced from 4 to 3
Junk Population reduced from 4 to 2
Galleass Population reduced from 6 to 5
Attack Ship ranged armor reduced by 1, except for the French Hulk
Baghlah springald weapon damage increased from 50 to 70
Baghlah attack speed reduced from 3.25 to 3.75 seconds
Warship formation spacing reduced from 4.5 to 3 tiles
Baochuan weapon range reduced from 9 to 8 tiles
Naval Navigator no longer gives +1 weapon range, increased sight range improvement from 1 to 4 tiles
Updated the selection area for all fishing deposits to match the visual. This also resolves issues where deep fish became harder to select as the resource was depleted
Galley, Dhow and Junk help text updated to specifically indicate they benefit from ranged damage Blacksmith technology
Rams can no longer target naval units
Keep build time increased from 120 to 140 seconds
Stone Wall Tower build time increased from 60 to 90 seconds
Stone Wall Tower cost increased from 200 to 300 stone
Boiling Oil cost increased from 250 Gold, 100 Stone to 500 Gold, 200 Stone
Boiling Oil research time increased from 60 to 90 seconds
Greased Axles movement speed bonus reduced from 20% to 15%
Geometry moved from the University to the Siege Workshop
Geometry resource cost reduced from 300 Wood, 700 Gold to 100 Wood, 225 Gold
Geometry research time reduced from 90 to 45 seconds
Siege Works moved from the Siege Workshop to the University
Removed completely from the Chinese Astronomical Clocktower
Siege Works resource cost increased from 150 Wood, 350 Gold to 300 Wood, 700 Gold
Mongol Improved version cost increased from 500 Stone to 1000 Stone
Siege Works research time increased from 60 to 90 seconds
Siege Works for the Delhi Sultanate research time increased from 900 to 1350 seconds
These changes are aimed at slowing down the Lodya Fishing Ship rush. Players will now have less fishing ships to convert into attack ships immediately upon aging up to Feudal.
Population cost increased from 1 to 2
Cost increased from 75 to 150 Wood
Train time increased from 25 to 38 seconds
Health increased from 125 to 250
Deep Water Fish gather rate increased from 1.0 to 1.9
Shoreline Fish gather rate increased from 0.66 to 1.19
Fixed an FX marker attachment issue that was causing the fires to not be in the correct locations of the pyres and torches, for the Lodya demolition ship
Population cost increased from 1 to 2
Cost increased from 75 to 150 Wood
Train time increased from 25 to 38 seconds
Health increased from 125 to 250
Deep Water Fish gather rate increased from 1.0 to 1.9
Shoreline Fish gather rate increased from 0.66 to 1.19
Fixed an FX marker attachment issue that was causing the fires to not be in the correct locations of the pyres and torches, for the Lodya demolition ship
On open maps, like Lipany and Dry Arabia, this has meant objects like relics, gold deposits and stone deposits are now spawning in a tighter band for each player, to cut down on cases where one resource node would spawn considerably further away for one player than for the other. We are always tweaking and looking to improve this, so keep sending us screenshots and map seeds when you feel things are generated unfairly!
On divided maps, like Mountain Pass and Mongolian Heights, we have done additional custom tuning for several maps to help ensure that the dividing geography does not separate one player from their allotment of resource deposits. We were seeing instances of, for example, both players’ large gold deposits spawning on the same side of the mountain range on Mountain Pass. This was due to how we place resources within a central band of map area that is calculated based on pathfinding distance from each player’s TC to each point on the map. In cases like Mountain Pass, if one player spawns closer to the opening, the “midpoint” between players would be on one side of the mountain range, and our contested resources would be placed there. This set of tuning has been about finding new constraints for this banding on maps with dividing geography. Danube River, Boulder Bay, Confluence, Mountain Pass, Mongolian Heights and Nagari all received custom tuning in this regard.
We’ve updated gold spawns to be more fairly distributed for players in 1v1.
Adjusted the crossings on this map. Now, a ford will spawn on each arm of the river near the edge of the map, and near the center confluence point, a stone bridge will spawn on each arm of the river. This should help reduce water supremacy and make moving land armies through the map much smoother.
The “Rotate camera” control has been unlocked and can now be rebound to any key combo
The control group commands to add the selected units to the control group have been separated and are now standalone hotkeys
The “Select all units” and “Select all units on screen” commands are now separate hotkeys
