Age Of Wonders 4's Future Has Been Revealed!

[@Fableheim]

Hello everyone, welcome to the not-so-surprising reveal of Age of Wonders 4's Expansion Pass 2! With this reveal, Age of Wonders 4's immediate future (through Summer 2025) is in our hands, and the mad theorycrafting can begin. The generic announcement overview begins at 0:33, but the more detailed breakdown for the first Content Pack Ways of War begins at 10:20. The good news is that my fellow Materium enjoyers finally have content, but the best news is that weekly dev streams and diaries will be returning. I hope to see you on Thursday October 3rd (or Friday Oct. 4th) to break down the first of many Ways of War Dev Streams -- thanks for watching and let me know what you think of Expansion Pass 2's potential!

[@JediLordNathan]

Totally looking forward to the first let's play with the new DLC, I would love to get the expansion pass but money is tight right now for me lousy economy. But I'm looking forward to this.

[@Solus749]

underground is fine as it is honestly, overextravating caves will lead to collapse so using the underground sets up for really interesting tactical choices. Also devs please bring back lucky and link it to morale. I need my lucky halflings back when you had to ensure and look after morale from age of wonders 3. To the point that some armies/cultures just needed to consider allies to expand in some areas ( halflings REALLY disliked certain terrains )

[@rwme4698]

I think the "hand-crafted map regions" refers to things like the dragon skeleton draped across the mountains that was shown.

[@mordororc3082]

They’re probably the only studio which I have faith in and feel comfortable to pre order. Im usually against pre ordering anything but so far they have delivered on all fronts for me

[@consistentlystupid4726]

I definitely feel comfortable buying the Expansion Pass for them. They've proven themselves to make really quality content and have been very reactive to what fans have said about the game. When you compare the game now to when it was released it's such a vast difference.

[@patmccall1818]

That's paradoxs model.

[@denisddd9362]

Its the only game that i pre ordered with season pass, wasnt dissappointed

[@CysteicAcid]

Why preorder anything?? Do you think there is a shortage of game code?

[@consistentlystupid4726]

@@CysteicAcid Not the OP but I also responded to this comment about having bought the Season 2 pass so I'll give my answer: In 90% of cases, I'm against pre-ordering something. I'm especially against it if the companies are being somewhat predatory and trying to get you to pre-order by giving stuff like "Three days early access!" or anything like that. That's preying on people's FOMO and I don't like it. However, there are cases where I'm completely fine pre-ordering something. In cases where I know I'm going to be buying the product Day 1 anyways, before any significant reviews will be out it's sometimes easier just to buy it early. In some cases, companies do something like 10% off if you buy it early (Or in the case of Season Passes, the Season Pass is less expensive than all of the expansions bought separately) which I can see someone putting in the category of "FOMO" but it's really just saving a few bucks. But if I know I'm buying the product there's no reason not to save those few bucks. In THIS case however, this is a smaller company. While Paradox, the publisher, is a pretty big company, Triumph Studios is not. I think every expansion for Age of Wonders 4 so far has been great, and they've earned my trust. I have no qualms giving them money up front to show that there's interest in them continuing to make expansions.

[@gavingoldizen313]

Hope they allow us to make our Dragon Rulers into eastern style dragons with the Ways of War dlc, since we now have the model type for what the unit would be

[@FoxhoundClass03]

You can make a Eastern-lite Dragon Lord with Dragon Dawn DLC already

[@gavingoldizen313]

@@FoxhoundClass03 face wise, yes. But body is more western style. Let us have a noodle dragon pls

[@ikhwanmauaja1184]

​@@FoxhoundClass03 With no wing, with no wing

[@Fableheim]

That would make a great addition to the FLC update accompanying Ways of War! Then I could do a real Yu'lon playthrough. 😊

[@Erligan]

"There's always time to dig a hole." Sun Blint, The Art of Dig

[@Erligan]

Devs reworked Mystic culture into having 3 subcultures, I suppose there will be updates to remake the rest Cultures, except Primal, so they all have Subcultures.

[@Fableheim]

Personally, I don't think that *every* Culture needs Subcultures but I certainly wouldn't say no to having more. XD

[@sdgamer1860]

I love how we can now make a Sun Wukong Samurai Empire that can have 3 different variations and that we are able to choose the Japanese Ogre (in Japan it is called Oni) as a playable race. Also the 2nd DLC has my interest because of the new Giant Lord Type and Dwelling but, the 3rd DLC even more so as that sounds like it is centered around fighting Dark Forces and The Abyss EDIT: I'm curious of how Dragon Lords will interact with Giant Lords give lore wise Giants and Dragons hate each other. penalties to Diplomacy, not able to take part in Diplomacy or always at war with each other? 2nd dlc is going to get interesting for sure

[@sweskey]

Suddenly getting Empires & Ashes vibes from Ways of War; More specifically vibes of "Let's try that again by making a culture that isn't pigeonholed by it's mechanics and tomes that aren't COMPLETELY forgotten about and/or only useful if you're doing a construct army."

[@Fableheim]

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

[@Erligan]

Here an Campaign idea for when DLC comes: Hyakki Yagyō 百鬼夜行, "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons", imagine army of different monsters conquering the world.

[@ikhwanmauaja1184]

Makes this "happening" instead

[@Fableheim]

The real question is would that be a Nurarihyon no Mago playthrough or a "real" Night Parade of One Hundred Demons playthrough? XD

[@ikhwanmauaja1184]

@@Fableheim is the real one like gantz's "Night parade of one hundred demons"

[@Fableheim]

@@ikhwanmauaja1184 Yep! It would honestly just be a difference in levels of memery. XD

[@trashl0rd]

Considering there are only 3 DLC in this pass as opposed to 4 like the last one, for $50 (at a discount), all three of these better be big. And I hope we get Empire mode and/or Adventure mode somewhere within these releases.

[@nyrva2876]

Was thinking the same.

[@lioneddy]

Guys also think about the additional work they need to put into it. The more cultures and units the more work is to do a new racial form. We should be glad Paradox approved one more year of additional content.

[@Akazury]

If you look at the breakdown for Ways of War, which is a Content Pack, it is on par with the content that was previously in Empires & Ashes/Eldritch Realms which were Expansions.

[@Fableheim]

Ways of War and Archon Prophecies are confirmed to be Expansions similar to Empires & Ashes/Eldritch Realms (new Culture, new Tomes, and DLC-specific mechanics), but I'm expecting Giant Kings to be on the smaller side. I think it'll be bigger than Dragon's Dawn due to the relatively poor reception to that DLC, but it won't be of the same scale as the other two. Fingers crossed that the accompanying FLC are bangers like the Mystic Update.

[@zacharycunningham7669]

Shuten Douji is also on the table, now that Ogrekin are coming with this new DLC! And since he/she's infamous as a shape shifter, it gives you an excuse to change how they look mid-game, every new episode!

[@equinox1975]

Yay! More Blint variations and more playthroughs from Fabe 😀

[@Erligan]

Next will be Blint-san

[@kaiosamatlj4031]

15:13 - On the Renown mechanic you are seeing in this screenshot, the devs revealed in the recent stream that this is not exclusive to the new Culture, it will come in the free patch for all Heroes of all Cultures. Renown will essentially be a replacement for those random Hero Traits when you hire a Hero, and they grant bonuses to the City they govern based on the Renown level. Rulers (independently if they are Champion/Dragon Lords/whatever) will have a standard line that will generally increase Population Growth and later grant extra Imperium per Wizard Tower level (and even grant +1 Rank to new Units at max), while random Heroes will usually have a random one focused around one economical aspect (like Mines or Quarries). The way they level up Renown is by fulfilling their Ambition, which is random for regular Heroes, and could be chosen for Rulers in creation (but it can also be set to random). Some are simpler to achieve but take some time, like the Instructor you see in the screenshot, while others are harder, but are substantial. And apparently if you ignore a Ambition long enough they can get pissed, but they didn't go in detail on that. But that's not all about upcoming changes for Heroes, they will also rework substantialy how Heroes learn Skills. Heroes (and your Ruler obviously) will now have Classes with their own Skill Trees and roles, and Signature Skills are now tied to your Empire Affinity. Tome Skills will be gone, but a Signature Skill will now unlock 2 Skills related to it's Affinity to learn.

[@LordEsel88]

This is perfect for my Grand Cathay civ! I'm currently using the Industrious culture and a Dragon leader, but I'll switch to Oathsworn when this arrives. Hopefully they will add more Eastern-style body parts for Dragon leaders too.

[@ThaGamingMisfit]

Triumph Studios carrying Paradox once again ! Instant €50 well spent !

[@lazyreaivy]

Considering the lack of Neutral or related terms at the top, do you think the Renown system is actually a update to Feudal culture but the Ruler is just wearing the new armour, I kinda hope it is because that would definitely add to the culture’s uniqueness.

[@Fableheim]

Unfortunately, I do not think so. Now that I've slept on it, my guess is that the Neutral was from one of the Oath Subcultures (most likely Oath of Righteousness for being Good), and that the Renown is based on a different Oath Subculture (possibly Oath of Harmony to have an additional goal besides fighting wars). That said, I do hope Triumph is willing to incorporate an idea like that for Feudal one day if it is well received.

[@ZackTheIII]

So my major takeaway from this video is to expect : Blint the grand divine monk , in the future

[@Fableheim]

With the power of God and anime on my side, none can oppose him! :D

[@craigkearns1482]

@fableheim at the 15 min mark when you review the hero ruler did you notice he has a class? it says 'defender' under his name. maybe it relates to the renown or maybe we are getting more refinement to hero classes rather than melee, magic, support

[@Fableheim]

Good catch! I guess I just assumed that was there because I saw a shield but I would absolutely love a rework to Hero classes!

[@karlrassmann4604]

Those of us who played the past AoW games knew this one had to come to a head with the Archons. This whole game has felt like a love letter to AoW2 and Shadow Magic, wih the return of the wizard kings and shadow demons. There are only a few pieces of that era which havent come back. Those are the wizards Marinus, Mab and Anon, and the Archons themselves. In Age of Wonders 3 it was implied that after the shadow demons (now called umbral demons) were banished from Athla, the Archons mysteriously vanished, leaving only haunted ruins. Oh, and of course, we have to resolve the situation with Merlin and save Julia.

[@gorxela8982]

Well, I know now where my gaming budget for this month is going.

[@Fableheim]

Going? Gone. XD

[@NEMKI_xD]

I rarely preorder games anymore, but AoW4… well worth the “risk.” I’m so excited to see what you come up with!

[@prufenful]

asia and giants is stuff the fans requested, two of them are both tomes I had requested at least by coincidence.

[@NEMKI_xD]

@@prufenfulGlad you are getting what you wanted! @@prufenful

[@MrVictor1227]

I know about the Archons because of Ssethzentach Age of Wonders review

[@timecrystal5thapostleof125]

Graceful judge seems to be the kirin unit

[@JediLordNathan]

Too true Nippon for Age Of Wonders 4 before Warhammer 3. That said cut Will and Xoudad some slack they can only do so much and they have other projects to work on, as for CA well Nippon isn't something we even know if we are getting from them.

[@SebastianSkadisson]

Glad they continue, it's the best round based fantasy 4X / HoMM-like, closely followed by Spellforce Conquest of Eo and Symphony of War.

[@howulikemenow3011]

Severing Golem should be mountable 💯. Every weapon should be available in creation 💯.

[@robertbaker4186]

Did anyone else notice the high stats of the oni at level 1

[@Fableheim]

I didn't even notice the 103hp and 6 Status Resist! I wonder what that's all about. 🤔

[@robertbaker4186]

@Fableheim I think you know more than we do lol

[@robertbaker4186]

Hey, I reckon he starts off super strong to fight strong opponents and when he levels up perhaps he's stats don't really change and obviously because he's OP he can't fight weak opponents, kind of a peace keeper perhaps

[@Fableheim]

@@robertbaker4186 Not this time!

[@swadams2]

Oathsworn with the oath of strife would be fitting to recreate the Warhammer orcs, who live to fight and think strong enemies are more fun to fight than weak ones.

[@Fableheim]

True! The Order part of it is a little ill-fitting, but their devotion(?) to Gork and/or Mork has to count for something.

[@samosierra]

1. Do not count on diplomacy rework in Ways of War - too big change in base game machanics. It is probably about easy free city vassalization and integration 2. They BETTER DO underground rework in Giant rulers dlc especially when devs mention it themselves- underground is still lacking especially comparing to AoW1&2 where underground was fully self sufficient map layer on par with surface. Unfortunatelly in AoW4 it is STILL not the case 3. 50€ price for 3 dlcs - I really hope there is plenty of GOOD, BALANCED content there for a price of full game. But this is Paradox, they are (in)famous for their ruthless dlc-monetary practicies 4. I REALLY hope that this time devs will spend enough time checking balance and compability of new dlc content with the existing ones BEFORE release so we can avoid Mystic Update situation where in consecutive patches devs were changing base and existing content because new stuff technically broke them and some things went well beyond what devs call balanced

[@JN-px5pe]

I wish there was a branch of development of units from disciples 2 here

[@Erligan]

You could maybe look at SpellForce: Conquest of Eo, while you wait for AoW4 DLC, there are now 2 random map options, plus campaigns.

[@Fableheim]

I debated playing the Dreamweaver, but my schedule is already pretty packed. 😅

[@Zathurious]

Materium is the school of magic I don't really play. The industrious culture never appealed to me. However, honorable warriors does sound like something I can get behind.

[@Fableheim]

Materium is definitely in a weird spot since it's the "not magic" Affinity in a world of magic, but I hope Ways of War helps expands its identity!

[@Ufos1984]

So Son Wukong became a lord of entire armies. They also should add a staff as a melee weapon option. 😂

[@Fableheim]

I'm also team bo staff!

[@SuperRedarmy123]

dude play as wukong from blackmyth in Age Of Wonders 4 as leader of alchor

[@Ghaztoir]

It's a fantastic game guys, look into this and spread the word! This should be the future of 4x gaming!!

[@Captainkebbles1392]

My birthday was the day they announced season 2 so I'll take personal credit for this lol let's GOOOO

[@Fableheim]

Happy belated Birthday!

[@Captainkebbles1392]

@@Fableheim thanks fam

[@Vovi-Knight]

those spearmen might be using a yari in which case they are likely samurai not civilians

[@Fableheim]

That would be fantastic news! Hopefully they can give the Ancestral Wardens a run for their money.

[@TheMrYadrian]

11:10 Sun Wukong, is that you?

[@Deggial-68]

Sun Wukong, the monkey king is a Chinese myth. As the Simians are inspired by monkeys, I would assume the city style is Chinese as well. (That's also the vibes I get from it.)

[@rwme4698]

They need to make Goldtouched the Materium Major Transformation

[@TheMortiaris]

Had hopes for underwater civ :/

[@Ghaztoir]

It was never a guarantee, but this dlc is still worth it. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!

[@TheMortiaris]

@@Ghaztoir ye i know this dlc is still great, hopes for pass 3 :D

[@MrVictor1227]

Very noice

[@faridkhan6037]

Will I be able to play as a dual-wielding rogue/assassin? If so, count me in.

[@Fableheim]

I would love to dual wield, but we haven't seen anything that suggests that is a new option. There may yet be hope if they tap in to the Shinobi-esque vibes that clearly influenced the Tome of Shades!

[@llamadirk5643]

I'll gladly pay you today for a hamburger 7 months from now.

[@fenrishaugen6749]

I think i will come back to this game once all the DLC is out to get the full experience. In theory this game should be perfect to my tastes, and i literally have over 500 hours in Age of Wonders 3, so why it does not seem to "gel" with me is something i struggle to identify. I just can`t get into it for some reason, and it has nothing to with "gaming fatigue" in general or to the genre itself either. I think it is a good game, all in all, and i usually have a relatively firm grasp on why i like and dislike something so this is a bit mysterious to me.

[@Fableheim]

The game continues to improve, so I hope that one day you can "gel" with it! That said, you certainly are not alone. I think one of the reasons that enjoyers of AOW3 don't always mesh with AOW4 is due to how heavily Age of Wonders Planetfall influenced the foundational mechanics of AOW4.

[@zj871023]

@@Fableheim Plus don't forget that AoW4 lost the uniqueness of the races. Now they are just a skin, which in hindsight was maybe even a decision based on DLC making. Because of that they don't have to balance races, just the traits. They can add infinite "races" as skins. Imho the problem with AoW4 is that there are too many neutrals that you have to fight. It's good for the loot, but such a massive speedbump. I also dislike that there are so many building options. Sometimes less is more, as most of your money is sunk into buildings and a town is never finished. AoW1 seems bare bones compared to 4 in this regard, but still worked just fine. We could have something inbetween again. The separate construction queue was a great idea, but damn, the planetfall buildings would have sufficed with some extra... Thinking about it, maybe that was the reason for the city cap. That you wouldn't go insane managing it, as it never ends :D

[@OrbOfChaosXbox]

Yes

[@kiriusview9251]

Shrek playthrough when? Blint with the dragon Tomes as Donkey!

[@Fableheim]

You had me at "Blint as Donkey". XD

[@Teyloune]

Sounds good.

[@jb9515]

So in the video the price is being shown as 35% off...what are we looking at there>?

[@Fableheim]

That is just the Steam page showing the base game, which is currently 35% off.

[@DkKombo]

Im still catching up but i wanna minion master build of endless summonings!! Get eldritch for the tqo kamikaze units you get for free (or any other race or starting class that has free units at the start of battle) and go astral materium for both a free wisp and golem and just go for all summoning skills and items, including ones that grant a unit on kill if you go major chaos or undead/shadow!!! "Break under the endlesss tides!!" I suppose you COULD go iratus for that...or you could say its iratus' eldritch form or his servant in another world or...something lol.

[@vladtipisca]

Honestly i am a bit dissapointed by the newly announced content. I would have liked more forms and more cultures. But hey , maybe we will get a Season 3 after this one.

[@jeffvaile720]

Love all AOW games even though I’m horrible with them.

[@blightfang5148]

much as i like the stuff here and the game id really like to see more covert stuff i really loved in planetfall being able to mess with ai's with covert ops trigger war with factions was probably my most used covert op cause it just ruined the ai

[@Fableheim]

I'd love to see more world map spell interaction! It was a key feature in AOW3 as well, but my only real memories are of the higher difficulty AI constantly messing with my spells. 😅

[@ghostsolidsnake]

50 bucks so expensive. I like the look of the oni. not so much in the holy order and the noodle dragon. the dragon mount would be nice but…. waiting for a sale for now

[@beltar2]

I've no idea how avoiding wars can be possible in the game which only goal is big and complex combat and everything in the game serves only that purpose. I play only with teams enabled so any diplomacy is not working.

[@Fableheim]

I'm not sure how that one's going to work either but hopefully the dev diary/stream will answer some questions!

[@bobbyg7814]

the underground sucks so hard. underground revamp please.

[@silvermknight]

I think I would have preferred Planetfall 2, but I dont hate this.

[@Fableheim]

This doesn't exclude the possibility of Planetfall 2, so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed!

[@silvermknight]

@@Fableheim Hey, I'm fine with letting them cook. Especially if it has the potential to be as good as AoW4.

[@sebaaullador1292]

The game still runs like shit.. If they could only remember the things they did right with Planetfall

[@chronosschiron]

gaming is getting too expensive

[@meeklynobody3230]

Nah im good.

[@Berengar92]

And just like that my hopes for a remake of the original AoW are quashed.

[@ares106]

I hope this does not turn into decades of DLC like EU4

[@MrVictor1227]

I hope that it turns into that

[@prufenful]

It will last as long as it lasts. AOW 4 probably doesn't have the fanbase of EU4, it wouldn't necessarily be financially viable as long as them.

[@ThaGamingMisfit]

I rather have 5 years of DLC's for this game than a new game, honestly.

[@ares106]

@@ThaGamingMisfit i guess I'll be playing Planetfall for 5 more years then.

[@fredericbilodeau6758]

Why not? Make this game as rich as it can be.

[@greedowins]

They are asking too much for too little, I just uninstalled.

[@naapsuvaimne740]

there 4 dlc and free updates , i understand if it cost 70 euro and everything sucks , like most of these aaa games

[@ilovecats8648]

Baldurs gate pls

[@Star_dragon8]

the ogrekin are just the Onis from japanese and chinese folklore

[@prufenful]

Aow 3 also had ogres sir