Age of Wonders 4 Beginner Guide

Age of Wonders is a fan-favorite 4X franchise, and its fourth installment is entertaining but also very challenging for someone who hasn't played any games in the series before. We wrote Age of Wonders 4 beginner guide to try flattening this game's steep learning curve.

Building your fantasy empire might seem a little overwhelming because of all the things you must pay attention to, and it's easy to make a wrong decision that will harm your gameplay in the long run. That's why this guide will help you survive the most challenging part of the game (without using cheat codes).

Tips and Tricks for Beginners in Age of Wonders 4

Play in Order

The realms in the Age of Wonders 4 are sorted by difficulty. Therefore, I recommend you play the realms in order of appearance, from the easiest to the hardest. However, if the first realm is still too complicated, don't shy away from using the easy mode. You can always increase the difficulty of your game once you get a hang of it.

Gold Is for Saving, Mana Is for Spending

Gold and mana are the two primary resources in the game, and you will spend a lot of both. The particular thing with the Age of Wonders 4 is units require an up-front gold before creating them. By creating hastily you can empty your vault in a single turn. On the other hand, mana is plentiful and almost impossible to spend unless your build is heavily summon-oriented.

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Build Unit By Unit

My first playthrough of Age of Mythology 4 was disastrous because of my careless spending. The game allows you to queue building orders without immediately removing your funds. It is a helpful feature, but it makes it hard to estimate your current wealth. The smartest thing to do is to build units individually, at least until you figure out the game.

Double-Dip

Each province you conquer will usually give you a bonus to one of the yields. The bonuses are specific; some provinces give you a Magic bonus, some add to Food, etc. The best part is the provinces will provide you with their respective bonuses regardless of the building you will set up there. That means you can build a Science facility in a Magic province and get bonuses for both.

Race Doesn't Matter

When building your faction in Age of Wonders 4, please remember race doesn't influence anything. More so, races are just cosmetics and don't affect the gameplay in any way but visually. It is possible to make a realm of Orcs as peaceful and serene diplomats, or Dwarves cannibal spellcasters, or anything you can think of; you are limited by your imagination only.

Keep Your Monuments Close

There are many ways to achieve victory in this game; for example, the Expansion and Magic victory requires building and protecting three monuments. The enemies will try hard to destroy those monuments before the timer reaches zero; even if other rulers don't attack your monuments, Marauder armies will attack them randomly. As such, it's best to keep those monuments together so you don't have to stretch your army thin all over the map to protect them.

For more beginner guides, check out our articles Beginner's Guide to Monster Train or The DioField Chronicle Tips & Tricks – Beginner's Guide on Pro Game Guides.