What I Wish I Knew BEFORE Playing Age of Wonders 4

A letter to my previous self.. what I wish I knew before playing Age of Wonders 4! In this quick tips AOW4 video, I'm sharing some of my mistakes, the things I wish I knew sooner, and general advice for beginner's in Age of Wonders. From faction creation regrets, to understanding how tomes of magic and research cycles, to the perils of managing and futureproofing development - here are some age of wonders 4 tips! #ageofwonder4 #gaming #strategy
Contents:
0:00 - Age of Wonders 4 Beginners Tips
0:12 - Nothing is too final
0:56 - Character matters
1:50 - Understanding the research cycle
3:44 - Affinities & development are symbiotic
5:10 - City and Hero Caps
7:14 - Cluster and expand
8:11 - Unit types & abilities
9:27 - The best pantheon progression
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[@Davidbaratunk]

Your content is really helping me get into the game. Have you thought about videos that describes good combos? Like traits, tomes and culture combos. I think it would be a fun way to show people the different ways of looking at the game, and encouraging creativity.

[@TheCrimsonSpork]

By the way, after over 50 hours on this I can say that Special Province Improvements are HUUUUUGE, but a bit overlooked. I’m surprised there isn’t more videos on their importance. For example, it’s easy to get +40-50 draft early just from two tier 1 tomes via the Circle of Zealotry and the Wildlife sanctuary

[@janstraka8674]

This. In only my 4-5th game I was thinking why everyone was overtaking me or being equal. Then I built few of those in my 6th and boy I just left everyone in the dust... probably should raise the difficulty :D

[@Peanuthamperlives]

Wildlife sanc pumping out hunter spiders that turn into tier 4 spiders asap is really damnd good

[@patinho5589]

Surely it’s obvious just from looking at their stats.

[@TheCrimsonSpork]

@@patinho5589 Were it that obvious then all these KZbinr guides would be peppered with info about them

[@wolfshanze5980]

@Patinho No it's not, and don't call me Shirley.

[@jeudyesquivel587]

I know I’m obsessed with this game when I’m constantly checking this channel for new content. Great video as always!

[@t.s.8430]

You can unlock things above other things you have in the pantheon tree. for example, if you get the very last cosmetic at the bottom, you can work your way UP from there, to any other tree. This works for all unlocks

[@Carpatheon.]

Great video, most of this I had already figured out, but you pointed out a few features I had yet to discover. This is an essential video for people just getting started. Nice Work!!!

[@stylishsteamy8197]

Definitely helped me with this game keep it up with these type of videos

[@louisjabb3047]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[@NA-oe5jj]

that last tip was so prime. cheers

[@johnhobbes2268]

Building cities near together is additional benefitial because the neigboring bonus of special improvements work between cities. So building a triangle is increadible powerfull since they often have neigboring bonuses of its own type. Getting +25 per tile is quite easy to achieve.

[@thegoodrevbadandyarr4272]

It took me a long time to realize that the province didnt have to be within your city area to count for the adjacent bonus. Still havent noticed if it counts for free cities or peaceful 'opponent' cities either.

[@brutalbeard9441]

Another big benefit of keeping your cities close is when defending your Seed's for the Magic victory condition. When possible, I build my seed's as close together as possible so that even without teleporters my armies are able to get to any of the 3 during the same turn they pop up. This let's me respond to other threats with my other forces rather than keeping an army at each one - or to be able to respond more quickly rather than waiting a few turns to get there and deal with it :-)

[@thegoodrevbadandyarr4272]

Also expansion for the unity structures.

[@shanemccausland958]

i am pretty sure tier 4 is 6 points and tier 5 is 8 points

[@user-dd9et3fj2j]

I was thinking the same. If I am not mistaken, you can access tier 4 of a particular affinity, even if you started with zero, by researching at least one tome of said affinity for every tier

[@neetfreek9921]

Ye I thought it was 6 and 8, they might have patched it though

[@mikedooley6919]

I found no mention of changes to the affinity requirements for T4 & T5 tomes in the 2 patch notes posts so far, as far as I can tell it's still 6 for T4 & 8 for T5.

[@BleachSubvert]

It is 6 for T4 and 8 for T5. It's also in the info popup that he has showing when he says it in the video.

[@bobroberts2581]

If you want to start with a custom faction in the campaign, make the Hero a Chalpion. Wizard King led factions aren’t available in the Valley.

[@horacecomegna335]

I just started this game and my head is spinning! It’s very overwhelming to say the least!

[@spacedaniel492]

I mean there are definite benefits to going evil alignment if you want to, ultimately it's about what synergizes best with your empire. But Scions of Evil pretty much demands you max out your evil alignment.

[@thegoodrevbadandyarr4272]

The claimed negative events seem pretty rare even when pure evil, tbh.

[@teambellavsteamalice]

Is it easy to max evil alignment? Pillaging is easy, but does it go fast enough, or do you need to do stuff like razing and breaking treaties to get there fast?

[@gmoneybehotch1325]

Strangly I have the Shadow branch below matyrium in opposite direction of nature, when I go into Empire development

[@MenricJJones]

Love this info, the "tutorial" is really lackluster in these mechanics

[@thegoodrevbadandyarr4272]

So the simple one I wish someone would have told me that would've saved me SO much time is that you can both double click when moving to turbo move, but also when others on the map are moving (single right click). I guess this is just a standard UI thing in these games these days, and since this is my first one since HOMM3, I had no idea.

[@klissattack]

Do the chosen destroyer trait and raze til ur hearts content

[@droe2570]

Yep, stacks of doom and march across the land.

[@DaweSMF]

Videos like this make me always chuckle. Its not because of the video itself but because of the title and what kinda general information is usualy included (nothing you cant learn for few hours with the game yourself or know from other games). I mean its not rocket science and people prep like for flight towards Mars... .. You really helped me to understand that button what says “Reset Skills“ resets my skills and with that “Adjust Appearance“ button i can adjust my appearance.. .. ..You can do it Jimmy! You too can be astronaut lol.

[@SpeakerTerenus]

Gotta get views somehow.

[@DaweSMF]

@@SpeakerTerenus I get that, my frustration is mainly with people. Like how lazy you need to be? Cant you figure this stuff out? Thats why we cant have complex mechanics anymore - its too “hardcore“, not for general audience and all franchises are owned by money hungry corporations Treat the cause not the symptom. Force people to use brain, not give them crutch. But that would cut the supply of dumbos and easy money.

[@shmadeshlimore3322]

@@DaweSMF some of this info can be difficult to find unless you look it up. Or you might get 100 turns into a game before u realize u screwed up and now are locked out of something. This video is for people that just played a couple games if at all. A lot of people don’t like to go in blind.

[@DaweSMF]

@@shmadeshlimore3322 I kinda understand but what i obeserve lately is phenomenon of people looking up informations they are supossed to gather themselves, part of a game is learning the mechanics and finding your own way of exploiting it - thats part of the fun. If i look up guide on YT, i might be very efficient in my game with 0 knowledge, i didnt learned anything tho, i dont understand the mechanics and reasons behind them, i just copy pasted someones build or tactics. Often you find out, there is more behind it and the informations you recieved are not complete, but you will argue with people on the internet that you saw video on YT and know best how stuff works. Alot of people dont like to go blind into games because they fear to fail and struggle and wanna go straight to powerfantasy with optimized build and the most DPS or something. Or they simply dont wanna look like noobs amongst friends. I might be too harsh but i start to hate this fashion of new players wanting to be on par with veterans. I see it daily - download new game - create character - look up guide on YT - find high level group - max out your character with them (XP boost) - go do endgame content - suck at the game because all your knowledge is not yours and having cool gear or optimized character is not enough. Really frustrating in team games where the devs suppose high level players will be on similar skill level but you find out 3 out of your 5 teammates are noobs who just got taxi to endgame and ruin your experience.

[@DaweSMF]

@@JeffreyGoddin Yes i did, did you noticed the trend even in those games? Compare for example CK2 and Imperator: Rome and try to convince me it was not "dumbed down" for masses. Thats why it did terribly and Paradox did try to save face with CK3. The new Victoria is also not such a hit (dont play Victoria myself but my friend does). The trend is very obvious. Even games regarded today as complex (such as Stellaris for example) are very simplified systems from older 4x titles. Sure there still are very complex games such as Distant Worlds but that doesnt make my point less valid. Few trees dont make a forest.

[@teambellavsteamalice]

I wonder, is it a good thing to pick up some extra lower tomes and not go for the highest ones? The benefits seems enormous. You can go through tier 1 in half the time as a tier 2 and half again compared to a tier 3. Another benefit is you can cherry pick the spells you like and pick fast tier 1 instead of paying lots (200/240 instead of 800/1100 or more). Even if they are crappy (like the scout's) it counts toward the 4 spells needed for a new tome! This mean you not only have a lot more affinity total, it's also spread out a bit to pick up all the fast low imperium cost ones of magic you have a splash of. Also the low tier tomes have a lot of spells that are affordable. Especially minor race transformations, unit enchantments and combat spells that cost less than 20. You'll quickly have a lot of options for expensive spells or summons (whose upkeep can get out of hand), most of which won't be worth the cost and research time. It does delay your research of higher tomes a little bit. But you can expand faster, as buffed lower tier units are cheaper than higher tier ones. This will allow you to build research buildings earlier to compensate.

[@silvermknight]

Regarding Hero Caps, if you are playing on a realm with the Megacities trait, are you only limited to gaining more heroes through claiming cities through conquest or other ways of gaining a new city?

[@inczekrisztian2648]

As far as I'm aware, you can't claim other cities, only vassalize them with Megacities. So sadly only 1 hero is available.

[@woutervan8019]

@@inczekrisztian2648 Imho 30g/turn is worth the extra hero. The cap is more of a guideline

[@Azmac93]

@@inczekrisztian2648 you can always hire as much heroes as you want. if you go over your number of cities, they just get a little bit more expansive and have an (manageable) upkeep cost.

[@lawfulgoodnun1646]

No you just buy them, eventually you'll make enough gold to not worry about their upkeep.

[@silvermknight]

Lol. I didn't know you could buy heroes without a city.

[@perer005]

What determines the moral that units start with in combat? I understand that killing units and casting spells can impact moral, but can you change the initial value?

[@arcanumelite4853]

morale can be boosted or hindered by spells/enchantments... but the odds also factor into morale... if you go into a battle outnumbered your people will start off at lower morale (but could still win if they manage to kill enough enemies to raise morale)

[@seasand6705]

Lol. Never saw reset skills cause i only look there when i have new points to assign

[@droe2570]

It's a free reset when you first recruit a new hero, so you can ignore their pre-build skills and pick which to recruit based on special abilities, some of which are very useful depending on your situation.

[@404no57]

7:12 What are Id-Jizz, and where can I find them?

[@crazymammoth]

I'm currently playing a game where I strategically selected my early Tomes and Class Civics to get me affinity in all 6 trees, and that build has Snowballed hard! having access to everything is amazing

[@Smithers322]

Don't forget you can research more than 2 tomes of each tier: if you choose the "select tome library" button at the bottom when choosing your next tome, you can go for another of a tier you have already unlocked. Great for when you want something you felt you missed or want a certain build

[@Schproemftell]

You can basically Research everything except T5 tomes

[@crazymammoth]

@@Schproemftell yeah that made me sad but i can understand the restriction , I almost did get every transformation unlocked during this game

[@thegoodrevbadandyarr4272]

@@crazymammoth There is a mod that allows it, however.

[@ProbablyAEuropean]

I can hear your smile

[@adam551982]

Tried playing this but i was so lost on what I was supposed to be doing. Ended up quitting after like 8 hours or so. edit 11.3 hours!

[@derGhebbet]

Huh, I never saw the Next Tome counter.

[@HS-mu9tw]

Can anyone tell me how to move out a unit from the army or swap units between two atmies?? Im on console and there is no option that says except disband

[@Quilly_DM]

Controls maybe slightly different on console. When you have your army selected, highlight the soldier you wish to move (make sure they have movement points, ie number in the upper right of their portrait) and then click on the tile they need to go to.

[@wolfshanze5980]

Simple Solution: Age of Wonders was NEVER designed nor intended to be played on a console controller... it will never be as intuitive as PC keyboard and mouse on a console. If I want to play Mortal Kombat, use a console. If you want to play a 4x game like AoW4, use a PC!

[@Quilly_DM]

@@wolfshanze5980 Okay buddy, no need to be on such a high horse here. It doesn't matter who plays what on what, all that matters is we enjoy the same game.

[@lawfulgoodnun1646]

Select army with x, then Down on dpad, press x on the units to highlight the ones you want to move, then circle. Now you can move them in and out of stacks.

[@Dreeam972]

the crashes, so many 😢

[@zacharybecker8228]

really wish they would get rid of city caps

[@wolfshanze5980]

Or at least raising the city cap stays at 200 per city... this ever increasing cost is INSANE!

[@thegoodrevbadandyarr4272]

@@wolfshanze5980 There is a mod for that. City cap unburdening.

[@beastsdruid]

Just a correction. Tier IV tomes require 6 affinity (not 8) and Tier V tomes require 8 affinity (not 10). : )

[@MilkTankz]

To bad it keeps crashing on console

[@duaneclark7108]

I can’t figure out the population happiness. The bigger my cities get with more developments the more they are getting upset. I can’t find a good way to mitigate that. Do you just stop adding to cities?

[@wolfshanze5980]

Don't stop building, you're just skipping the buildings you need. You know when you build something that has: Green plants 🌿 more food! Red Hammers 🔨 more draft! Gold coins 🪙 more gold! You need to build things that have white faces 🐻‍❄️ that gives population happiness... things like Public Bathes. There are a few other things too, but start with looking for buildings that make the population content.

[@lawfulgoodnun1646]

Build tavern and bath house, give whispering stone to the city for more. Some spells, special provinces , and some side quest also boost stability. Dark culture stability will usually be in the negatives but it doesnt matter for them.

[@droe2570]

As others have said, there are buildings you get like the Tavern and the Bath House, that boost morale. If you are playing Shadow affinity, then you can build the Overlord Tower (I think that's what it's called) that will make it so you don't lose provinces if morale gets too low. Also, there are city enchantments, quest rewards, and sometimes a hero, that has morale buffing abilities/effects.

[@duaneclark7108]

@@lawfulgoodnun1646 ok so that is me. I am running a dark culture and every building that is supposed to help population happiness shows a negative. My capital is showing pretty unhappy folks but I am a dark culture (shadow affinity I think it’s called). Eventually going to turn them all undead but the souls bank is growing very slowly. So I don’t need to worry about that then?

[@duaneclark7108]

@@droe2570 I am playing shadow so ok…sounds like I need that tower. Thanks!

[@ruialmeida7869]

Gorvence skill is repetable.....F my life

[@number1360]

Age of blunders