Age of Empires 4 Winter Patch - MASSIVE Nerfs Incoming!

Age of Empires 4: The Sultans Ascend DLC
Winter Patch Notes
Balance changes for Byzantines, Japanese, Ayyubids, Jeanne d'Arc, Zhu Xi's Legacy, and more!
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‪@ageofempires‬
#FitzBro #aoe4 #ageofempires4

[@FitzBro]

Are the Byzantine changes a buff or a nerf to the civilization?

[@Banksy_Collective]

I think the triumph nerf isn't a big deal because most of the starting tickets go to waste when you pop it for 2 horsemen to kill a villager or 2; and the starting stone buff is actually pretty sizable because getting the second cistern out faster means you get the 10% buff faster, which helps you get the 3rd cistern out. Byzantines felt like they were just a little too slow to get rolling and the starting resources help that becuase of the compounding effect on their eco.

[@johanlassen6448]

Its a nerf. They get 50 stone (so in effect a +5% resource gathering buff a little faster) but trade weaker catas (already cost-inefficient as shit), in effect weaker traders, lose the +30% damage buff to ranged units (granted now changed to intended effect), and made Triumph more of a one-off thing since it lasts shorter (45 seconds instead of 60 seconds on max). Its incredible how the devs look at Byzantine shit winrates and think nerfs are warranted, but I guess that's what you get when the Conq IV players are all shills. But I shouldn't be surprised when you can't even get 425-405 right away. What is it? 10? 15? 20? Who knows, right? Math is hard.

[@YohGS]

I agree with u, Triumph ability is not that useful for two feudal horsemen, and the economic buff probably has more potential.@@Banksy_Collective

[@Ren_55.]

@@johanlassen6448 30% damage buff to ranged units? what?

[@nicolasflesler4467]

i've been playing them, granted i'm only plat/diamond, but as it is, it's very hard to hold off a samurai rush, and can only be done with triumph, and horseman, if you went winery, and get rushed, you're screwed, with this neft, i just dont think there's any counter play to heavy units in feudal, about the traders, yeah, its understandable they fixed the timings, you were abler to get quite a lot, super fast, but the olive oil you get from it, its not enought, taking in consideration how much oil units cost, without winery, that was the main way to get oil, and it got nerfed like 30%, so yeah.. i guess i'm swiching Civs for now

[@enoikay1833]

Going from every 3 minutes to every 2 minutes isn't an early game buff for Japaen because instead of getting 2 Yorishiro on completion, you only get 1. They are even 6 minutes later when you used to get 2 more after 6 minutes, now you get 3 more after 6 minutes but start with 1 less.

[@VonkOfficial]

I'm honestly shocked that they nerfed the Byzantines instead of buffing them and kept Jean D'Ark pretty much untouched. I love what Relic did with the game since launch but this is ridiculous.

[@johanlassen6448]

It is perfectly logical to nerf Byzantines. They had managed to rise past 38% winrate (to 42%) in Conq IV. Unacceptably high win rate you see. #Logic.

[@VonkOfficial]

@@johanlassen6448 😂

[@TockTVp]

​@@johanlassen6448if you think a game needs to be balanced around winrates you surely are wrong.

[@johanlassen6448]

@@TockTVp Cope more. What else would you balance it around? Your idiotic opinion?

[@hoarahloux9326]

As an hre / ootd main , my disapointment is unmeasuereble and my day is ruind😢

[@captainobvious8530]

Imagine Byzantine mains for a seccond

[@amputechure]

@@captainobvious8530 Byzantines still has a lot of strengths. OOTD feels bottom of the barrel and their response is "Here's 50 wood now stfu."

[@SirRobin88]

Been mostly playing Ayyubids since release and I actually like the trade wing nerfs. It makes the villagers from the economic wing more viable. Bazaar just felt mandatory before (even if it was fun).

[@niallyuxinxie3938]

all i am thinking when i read these patch notes is "LOOK HOW THEY MASSACRED MY BOY!!!!😭😭😭"

[@IrishRepoMan]

You come to me on the day I am to be diamond, and you patch up my civ, for balance.

[@xeroprotagonist]

Springalds and culverins going down to 10 ranged armor is an important buff to OotD, now the Bodkin Bolts tech actually means something and you might be able to protect your siege units by sniping springalds with gilded crossbows, especially if they're on stone walls. Springalds would have to approach within gilded crossbow range to hit trebs placed more than 2 tiles behind a wall (or 4 with Roller Shutter Triggers). Other siege units still have way too much ranged armor though. Honestly it should be 0 across the board and go up to 10 with Siege Works for everything except rams and siege towers. And rams should be 20 at best, massed handcannons should be able to stop them easily.

[@leeh1395]

Do you feel that JD has gotten off super light here?

[@tokyoknight6676]

WTF they nerf the shit out of Japanese which have been pretty balanced but barely touch Joan D'arc ok cool.

[@FatherRabbitt]

I can’t believe they nerfed Byzantines. Absolutely ridiculous. Cataphracts were already too expensive for what you get, and triumph was kinda all we had 😢

[@nathanmonk7128]

I'm very mad. They needed a buff in the early game and now they got rekt.

[@Spiror]

Catas need at least same cost as palace guards heavy cavalry, they are very expensive specific for all upgrades and techs. At least the palace royal guard is imperial , you cant afford catas in castle lol

[@nathanmonk7128]

@@Spiror fr. I think the meta is gonna be now with the grand winery

[@gokusenboy1]

@@nathanmonk7128 like, I laughed when I saw the nerf (specially on cataphracts). I think that the key now will be how you open the game as the bizantines, because 50 extra stone possibly changes a lot of things. But now with Hippodrome nerfs and their cavalry nerfed (lmao again) I don't what they were thinking. I will be paying attention to the next pro Bizantine matches and check how they use the extra stone, but 40% WR and still nerfed was a big and hilarious surprise for me

[@nathanmonk7128]

@@gokusenboy1 I mean it's gonna be like 25% win rate now.

[@dlld6944]

Japanese nerfs are ridicoulus, while JD remains untouched, just like france, which was always op but never nerfed

[@OSU2010]

Byzantines win rate 40 percent, after nerf the worst Civ now they will have a 30 percent win rate

[@carpetgodd1235]

I think while nerfing Japan they should’ve took into account where their ranged is already hampered they should’ve focused on balancing their military priority in general

[@MikefromBB7]

Japanese archers gets the +1 attack back from bannermen, it’s not worse it’s just a different style.

[@dlld6944]

It is worse

[@carpetgodd1235]

⁠@@MikefromBB7it’s worse because you have to put way more in to make them effective which isn’t cost effective,them being naturally weaker means you can’t even defend with them unless you focus on getting the banner man and upgrades

[@StanHalen420]

Unnecessary nerfs to Byz… Limiting the number of Yorishiro for Japanese is lame, we should be able to move them to different buildings in that case. Joan needs way more nerfs

[@sauskar3308]

i fee like the ayyubids will still be high A to S tier, and as a main i am happy that the devs didnt just prematurely and heavily nerf my civ as i feel like there is a lot of stuff still meant to be figured out, and i love the way they try to emphasize their differences, like the infantry support buff to push camels, and the sultan building speed. These devs are great

[@bdbgh]

I mainly play with my friend against the hardest a.i, pretty sad that Triumph, trample and Cataphract got nerfed, it was a lot of fun rolling a bunch of Cataphracts causing chaos in the enemy's base.

[@CrispyChristieMAC]

The issue with Byz was that lower leveled players just couldnt handle healing units (yes 40% winrate, but it was a problem my brother for example hasnt played because of it). They needed to do these nerfs BUT they needed to balance the other direction. The other feudal landmark NEEDED to be improved dramatically. They also needed to improve their general castle age. Instead they gave 50 stone and smoked the ONLY good byz style. Wild changes. I like the byz nerf BUT IT HAD to be rebalnced with significant buffs.

[@dustycrevice3496]

That OotD M@R buff is pretty significant. They have a lot of HP..

[@Marc-gj9vx]

Their crossbow get stealth buff also. Now that culverin and springald only have 10 armor. The crossbow with meinwork upgrade will be SO GOOD at killing springald.

[@hawkster8951]

​@@Marc-gj9vxmate, ranged units are supposed to kill bio units, not siege units nor buildings. Yes, it can be considered when it's in emergency situation, but generally killing siege units by ranged units are still ineffective.

[@OptionalDilemma]

The bias is real lol. Streamers love when devs “do what they wanted” to change

[@Schnitzel2368]

Don’t know. … nerf Byzantines? Wtf why. The nerfs for JD and Ayubi are good. But why again nerf trade?

[@HeroicStumpy]

They missed juicy's monks not being able to pick up relics sometimes

[@romegypt5675]

Ah yes. Nerf the civs doing poorly. A grand strategy. WTF guys, no HRE buffs, order of the dragon buff is pretty worthless... Byzantine NERFS???? Yet the only civ to truly get nerfed is ayyubid... what the hell are they smoking?

[@pharaohthutmosis7803]

40% win rate civ? better nerf

[@thatlankyguy1678]

Disclaimer: I am only Diamond 1 atm. However, I dont think the byz changes look that bad. Been playing only byz going winery every game and the extra stone looks HUGE to me. I personally think byz is pretty strong but insanely hard. The winery seems underrated to me, as it actually scales pretty well up to imp and is noticeable when going NOBs. I do have 1 suggestion... Placing the berries behind the base as a default would be helpful and I dont think it would be that problematic regarding balance.

[@redviper324]

Byz is not a nerf, the stone will allow them to be way better at the start. This is the most important thing

[@gokusenboy1]

Yes it is a nerf, you can't deny it. But the main thing will be how much the Bizantines can do with the 50 extra stone, I will be watching how the pros open the Bizantine game closely, but the nerf on cataphracts was just insane and too funny for me xD. But let's see how things goes, 50 extra stone is a big change

[@redviper324]

@@gokusenboy1 It’s a nerf for the late game sure but now they have more chances to reach the late game

[@sforzz]

BYZ +50 STONE WHAAAAAAAATTTTT

[@brandonjordan4596]

I am excited for the free camera mod but I really just want them to allow free camera in all reaplays!!!

[@Sweatybaseballs]

Any word on ranked teams coming to Xbox. No point in playing quick match over and over with friends.

[@nationarmy2514]

i played some byz today.. feels so shit xD I think now the only viable play is 2nd TC, mass units get ahead.. get cisterns to extend that lead(also dont even bother w mercenaries.. only make some from neutral trade)

[@Dryfter21]

I can't believe they left Joan untouched. The Dev's sure love the French. They've been very strong for many patches. Joan's only going to get worse until a few patches when she's finally properly nerfed. Very disapointing.

[@shadowbandit3975]

She wasn't "untouched".

[@jaiapenopicante7758]

So 25 xp per boar and champions being nerfed is "untouched"?

[@DaLoler1]

The trade wing should have kept the vilagers but only from castle or imperial

[@ChessJourneyman]

Don't need it by then...just make it one vill roll early game, maybe get 2vills from it and bump the eco to 4vills.

[@uttaranbiswas7038]

ootd needs faster vill production, the rest of it is meh

[@johanlassen6448]

So Byzantines, the weakest faction in game right now, receive further nerfs. Great.

[@nicolasflesler4467]

and Jeanne got left untouched mostly, a bit less xp from boar, and champions have 1 less armor, but that broken unit can still kill units inside buildings with the AoE and that's ok aparently

[@t3ngristtt]

still no changes for mongols. i want them to make mangudai more useful in castle-imp ages. like, making it less usable against unarmored and more beneficial against armored units like man at arms and knights. in general mongol units are very weak and thin like a paper, dies easily and low damage, no any bonus except khan's arrow which is completely dogshit compared to other civs. but lazy devs just want to keep it useless entirely...btw castle-imp age mangudai design sucks too , it has nothing mongolic but looks like tibetan or manchu archers ( i mean the head part with that stupid hat)

[@ceppatore7483]

+5% to cistern bonus for byzantines war better......patch nerfed all new civs but it's quite cheap.....no trample for elephants....no teutonic knights.....no templars.....super units ready waiting in freezer idk

[@EllamWideblade]

Japanese weren't hit hard enough. Drongo had a casted game where the Japanese player was in Feudal going head-to-head against imperial.

[@VonkOfficial]

The Japanese were too strong, but I think this nerf is perfect. It doesn't make them completely suck but changed the things in which they were OP

[@Tarkovclips-mw7ur]

to strong? japanese have a 51% winrate. de arc has a 58%

[@Tarkovclips-mw7ur]

the video was about japanese being almost in imperial and the other right behind in castle. he got castle sooner so in the end it was castle vs imperial. i dont know if u checked the match but if you go imp fast you lose on units and thats what u saw happening. japan had more units so could go up against the castle player. He was NOT imperial upgraded so get ur bs out of here

[@abdullahelwan405]

seriously no English's longbow range decrease????

[@Jimboquacks]

I am assuming that’s a joke. Their range is the point of the unit. They are using longbows.