As with other Age of Empires games, each faction in Age of Empires 4 has its set strengths and weaknesses, as well as special traits that set them apart from the rest. However, just how should players look at each civilization in the context of their gameplay performance?
Updated May 23, 2022, by Rhenn Taguiam: With the May 2022 update of Age Of Empires 4 introducing in-game seasons and upcoming features such as mappable hotkeys and color pickers, fans of the title might want to start honing their skills in using the game’s existing factions to gain an edge against the competition. And with factions specializing in strategies such as building fast, attacking hard, keeping mobility, or even focusing on research, players may want to study their favored faction carefully in order to fully use their features and special traits in combat, diplomacy, and city management. As such, this article has been updated to include some strategies for players to use with each civilization.
8 Holy Roman Empire
As the name implies, the Holy Roman Empire has a stark focus on religion that serves as their win-con. Knowing exactly how to tackle this focus on religion can certainly guarantee a victory, when done correctly. Players who use the Holy Roman Empire need to consolidate their religious power ASAP, which is done easily via gathering relics. With the right positioning, the Holy Roman Empire can benefit from outstanding bonuses in attack, range, and defense, as well as boosting the attacks of various units, especially when positioned near naval units.
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That being said, the Holy Roman Empire does have more focus in regard to relics and defense, leaving them quite predictable in the hands of a newcomer. However, knowing how to take advantage of their mechanics can definitely give players a characteristic edge in the long run.
Ideal Strategy For Success
Being a more specialized faction, players can excel with the Holy Roman Empire if they focus carefully on their religious potential. This is made easier considering they enjoy a 25% boost in building time for fortresses, towers, and outposts. When combined with the boosts relics provide in towers, fortresses, outputs, and docks, a well-developed Holy Roman Empire can enjoy plenty of advantages in the early game. Not to mention, the Prelate religious unit is already accessible in the first era, with Early Warriors accessible as early as the second.
7 Delhi Sultanate
Time is of the essence for the Delhi Sultanate. They’re the only faction to not have research costs in the game, but that comes at the cost of learning everything else much slower. This puts high demand on the player, as they need to know which researches they benefit from in advance lest they spell out their doom early.
To compensate for the longer research times, the Delhi Sultanate also allows their infantry to create defensive structures, allowing them to fortify defenses whenever necessary. However, the Delhi Sultanate is quite squishy in the early game. Unless players time their research right, they won’t get to capitalize on the Sultanate’s potential in the late game.
Ideal Strategy For Success
Of all the factions in Age of Empires 4, the Delhi Sultanate has a particular focus on tech and knowledge. This makes them rather weak in terms of offense but strong on the defense, and especially amazing in research, with tech-boosting Scientists already accessible in the first era. This knowledge-focused approach is reflected with Infantrymen that cannot build defenses, but is compensated by the fact that fishing ships can be armed with archers. Though the lack of offense and difficulty in defense makes Delhi a tricky faction to play, understanding the “groove” in their tech can make them formidable.
6 Abbasid Dynasty
Sometimes, the key to winning is to outsmart the enemy, and that’s the specialization of the Abbasid Dynasty. Unlike other civilizations, they have the House of Wisdom instead of Landmarks as an age-up mechanic, where players can add wings to the House of Wisdom after every epoch in order to procure various bonuses.
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However, the Abbasids truly shine not only with their unique anti-cavalry units, but also in managing what bonuses the House of Wisdom provides the Abbasids. This level of unpredictability can take some getting used to, but players who manage to get the hang of this can force enemies into some unsavory situations.
Ideal Strategy For Success
The building-heavy nature of the Abbasid Dynasty can seem overwhelming at first, which is why their 50% cost reduction for building docks and the speed boost for productions, research, and resource gathering during the Golden Age is quite a godsend for players. Not to mention, Abbasid Infantrymen can also create siege weapons and battering rams without the need for siege engineering. Moreover, rebuilding the various parts of the House of Wisdom can let players go through the ages much faster, giving them access to tech advancements much faster.
5 English
Basic isn’t always bad, and the English proves that having perhaps the most streamlined mechanics can work in a faction’s favor. The English have reduced wood cost, making building more economic overall. Their Farms also get a food gathering boost when built near Mills, and the English immediately encourages close ties among buildings.
This tactic works great with their overall toolkit, as the English compensate for the lack of overall features for their awesome defense. Their Network of Castles gives certain buildings an attack speed boost provided they’re close to one another. This works great considering the range boost of their Longbowmen, as well as higher defenses of fortified walls. Players who want to play safe and sound can rest comfortably behind the walls of their English castles.
Ideal Strategy For Success
Built as an early-level faction, newcomers will enjoy playing the English due to their unique advantages, such as ordinary villagers being able to use bows, as well as a 15% boost in harvesting resources and building farms twice as fast. Vanguard Warriors are deployable as early as the first era, which, when combined with the English castle network providing bonuses to connected structures, makes English a formidable foe to face.
4 Chinese
Gold can win wars, and the Chinese know how to use their gold. In Age of Empires 4, their faction relies heavily on gold, which they use to access a plethora of unique technologies and research. However, they have a steep learning curve with the Dynasty System, as this is another requirement in addition to Landmarks to advance in the next stage. Moreover, completing Dynasties will lock out the research of previous Dynasties, adding both a caveat and flexibility to the faction.
The faction’s sheer domination when it comes to passive gold collection compensates for this. This gives the Chinese quite an edge as a slow-burner since their potential is tied to the endgame. However, players need to watch out for aggressive factions, as they can outpace and defeat the Chinese quickly.
Ideal Strategy For Success
Strong in terms of both offense and defense, the Chinese remain one of the most balanced factions with a rather steep learning curve. Villagers can build structures almost twice as fast, and defensive structures half as fast. Not to mention, docks are much faster when it comes to production, incentivizing travel to expand their horizons. What perhaps makes the Chinese a tricky faction is how their dynasty advancement can lock out certain tech, so players are forced to choose their progression route carefully.
3 French
Resources are just as important as troops in combat, and none understand this better than the French. In addition to soldiers that have decent bonuses, the French boast a unique influence feature that boosts the unit production of Archery Ranges and Stables provided they’re close enough to a Keep. Additionally, their Town Center produces soldiers much faster, and they boast overall stronger cavalry compared to the other factions.
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The French also have incredible control over resource production as they’re the only faction that can declare which resources get back into the base. Due to these unique resource mechanics, the French have a ton of flexibility when it comes to customization and unit management.
Ideal Strategy For Success
Known for their knights, horsemen, and merchants, the French highlight their skill in both trade and combat. For instance, trade ships bring more gold, whereas Merchants can return any resource to the market. Not only that, but each new era will boost production rates, which is greatly useful considering how they possess cheaper economic tech and resource buildings. Moreover, the French immediately show their combat prowess as melee tech is available free of charge, arming the French with both supremacy in trade and combat.
2 Rus
While the Rus definitely lacks strength in the early game, they compensate well by the time they reach the endgame. Their Bounty mechanics emphasize the more aggressive build of the Rus, as hunting more animals via the Bounty not only gives more bonuses, but also gives relevant boosts to the income of Hunting Cabins and food gathering.
In terms of combat, the Rus also have advantages when it comes to firepower. Their Warrior Monk can buff allies near them, while the Streltsy is reasonably buffer compared to other gunpowder units. When paired with the right tech upgrades such as Biology that boosts cavalry health and Chemistry that boosts gunpowder damage, attacks from the Rus will hurt any other faction in the long haul.
Ideal Strategy For Success
The Rus are rather particular regarding their survival, making them one of the more secure and sustainable factions in the game. In fact, a lot of their highlights involve food, such as boosted profit from food sources, boosted rewards from killing animals, and even exempting fishing ships from the need to dock to deliver goods. Additionally, the Rus enjoy stronger wooden fortresses with better-equipped outposts, as well as Early Knights accessible as early as the second era.
1 Mongols
No enemy should underestimate the Mongols, thanks to their sheer speed and battle prowess. Age of Empires reflects this with the Mongol faction, which can easily overpower enemies with their incredible mobility. Their greatest strength lies in unpredictability, especially since they can move their base at will — perfect for escaping otherwise impossibly difficult situations.
It’s thanks to this impressive mobility tactic that Mongols excel in the hit-and-run strategy, encouraging players to separate their towns for a more organized offensive. And when enemies do eliminate one of the player’s forces, there’s always another one waiting to be mobilized. Not to mention, Mongols begin with the maximum population available, meaning players can go straight to training troops for combat.
Ideal Strategy For Success
Perhaps the best faction for fast and loose gameplay, the Mongols can also become quite challenging — and fun — to master. There’s no need to build houses, so players can enjoy the ability to move structures at will. This is compounded by the Early Horsemen and the Spearmen in the first and second era, respectively, emphasizing the nomadic nature of the faction. Their mobile nature also provides boosts to the movement and heath of transport ships, as well as incentivizing razing enemy buildings. While these advantages seem compelling, players do need to have a clear mobile strategy in mind lest enemies outmaneuver them.
Age Of Empires 4 is currently available on PC.
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