5 Beginner Mistakes to Avoid in Age of Wonders 4 (2024)

With the Eldritch Realms release, Age of Wonders 4 has received its final expansion pack, for the time being. Fleshed out with four DLCs and a slew of game-changing updates, now is the best time for players unsure about the title to take the plunge.

Age of Wonders 4 is a title that works best when players avoid power-gaming or min-maxing and instead immerse themselves in the story of their realm and civilization, crafting legendary items and making stories of their own. However, this doesn't mean there aren't a few starting tips for players new to the Age of Wonders series or Grand Strategy genre. Before they start their first game, here are some things new AOW4 players should keep in mind.

5 Don't Burn Through Your Imperium

Imperium Has A Variety Of Uses, But It Builds Up Slowly

Imperium is a measure of influence and prestige in AOW4. When starting out in the game, the first thing players will notice is that population, which determines how large each city's resource production is, can be boosted by imperium. While it may seem tempting to hasten population growth with imperium, the better play is to let the population grow naturally (which at lower quantities, doesn't take too long) and instead focus on gaining imperium for the various empire skills available.

Food is directly correlated to the population growth of cities as well, so for those looking to boost the amount of territory controlled in the early game without sacrificing Imperium, building farmland and farm-related buildings is a good way to go.

4 Avoid Relying On Auto-Combat

Try Manual Combat To Get A Feel For The Mechanics

One feature in AOW4 that can be used to great effect during longer turns when there are many things going on is the auto-battle system, where A.I. takes control of the player's army and runs through combat against the enemy on them, with the overall power of each army being the main (but not the only!) deciding factor.

For new players, however, getting a feel for the way positioning and unit types can impact combat is a must, and learning about the benefit of strategic spells is similarly important. Even in battles with odds overwhelmingly in the player's favor, it's important to go through combat and let that victory unfold manually, to see how the game's combat works.

3 Don't Forget About Ancient Wonders And Monster Dens

These Sites Hold The Key To Impressive Gear And Bonuses

Beginning a game in AOW4 - even one of the simpler ones like Enchanted Archipelago - can involve a bit of juggling. Towns must be expanded, regions explored, diplomacy undertaken, and enemies felled. With all this going on, it can be easy to forget about the ancient wonders and monster dens found around the world.

While it's important not to overestimate what early game armies are capable of, clearing out small monster dens before they become active and more of a problem, and pilfering bronze tier ancient wonders for their powerful magic items, should absolutely be factored into the AOW4 early game to-do list.

2 Don't Forget About Road Building

The Gold Investment Is Worthwhile

Movement and the management of positions on the world map are key skills to master in the early stages of AOW4. Backtracking is an essential part of this, or heading to and from similar directions, and all of these aspects are helped by the construction of roads in the early-mid game.

Roads reduce the movement cost of tiles to 5, which helps immeasurably in speeding up units and armies that need to get somewhere fast. This is especially true with the Rally of the Leiges, where units will be coming from out-of-the-way areas in vassal cities, not necessarily at the height of the action where they need to be. Connecting all cities with roads, though potentially costly if gold acquisition hasn't been prioritized, will greatly enhance the mobility of player armies.

1 Avoid Being Evil

Handy As A General Life Rule, And For Diplomacy In-Game

AOW4 has several possible alignments in-game, ranging in levels of goodness and badness opposed to one another, with neutral in between. It's important to keep in mind that AOW4 might be the most roleplaying-heavy title in the series with its emphasis on choice-based quests and custom kingdoms, so treating alignment as simply a moral scale is valid - but generally, the benefits of playing as virtuous outweigh the benefits of playing as evil.

Benevolent kingdoms have a bonus to diplomacy with free cities that are neutral or good and have a greater chance of positive effects coming from random events. Evil kingdoms have a greater chance of negative effects occurring from events but get a diplomacy boost with free cities that are also evil. Overall, for new players, getting any edge they can on events is a must, and many earlier maps will have free cities skewed towards moral goodness - benefiting those who take on the good alignment for their first few playthroughs.