Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition is the first expansion to Age of Empires IV. It was announced on Gamescom 2022 on August 23, 2022, and was released on October 25, 2022. It is a free expansion, and changed the name of the game to Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition as well. It was launched with Season Three.
Civilizations[]
Ottomans: The Ottoman civilization benefits strongly from their military prowess, their Imperial Council system, as well as their unique Military School system.- Malians: The Malians focus on strong economic play, making gold and spending gold, and prefer strategic hit-and-run tactics with their unique infantry units instead of prolonged military battles.
[]
- Note: Changes to non-combat ships are not significant
The entire naval warfare has been redone entirely. This includes changing ships, generic technologies, and unique technologies. These are the important changes/additions (this can also be found on the patch page):
- Each class of ship now shares the same stats. This means that a Baouchuan and Carrack are equal in cost and power.
- Springald Ship and Incendiary Ship moved to the Feudal Age for all civilizations.
- Counter triangle: Archer Ship > Incendiary Ship > Springald Ship > Archer Ship.
- Ship costs have been changed across the board, including adding food cost to Archer Ships and Warships.
- Ships are also generally cheaper and train faster than before, meaning that players can field more units faster and earlier in the game.
- Adjustments to the movement speed and turn rates of ships.
- Each ship type has a Castle Age and Imperial Age upgrade available to it, as well as the new Armored Hull and Shipwrights upgrades which improve the health and armor of all ships.
Units[]
- Springald ship (Hulk/Baghlah/War Junk/Lodya Springald Ship/War Canoe): Moved from Castle Age to Feudal Age. Class set to "Springald Ship" from "Attack Ship". Food cost set to 120. Wood cost set to 200. Gold cost set to 30. Train time set to 30. Population cost set to 3. Health set to 450. Ranged Armor set to 3. Attack speed set to 4.12s. Move speed set to 1.38 tiles/s. Turn rate set to 185. Range set to 6 tiles. Damage set to 35. Bonus damage vs Archer Ships set to +40. Bonus damage vs Buildings set to +40. Reduced firing cone angle so they turn almost 90° to shoot. Added "Man-the-sails" ability, which allows the units to move faster for some time, until it enters combat. Springald Ships and Warships can no longer spin to win. Both sides of the ship now share the same weapon cooldown. Broadside ships will now correctly chase enemies when they move out of range. When chasing enemy ships, broadside ships will chase further before turning to shoot to account for the turn time.
- Incendiary ship: Moved from Castle Age to Feudal Age. Wood cost set to 80. Train time set to 15 seconds. Attack set to 95. Bonus attack vs Broadside Ships and Buildings set to 300. Health set to 145. Rotation Rate increased from 260 to 330. Population Cost set to 2. Move speed set to 2.00 tiles/s
- Warship (Carrack/Baochuan/Xebec): Health set to 700. Wood cost set to 200. Food cost set to 200. Gold cost set to 200. Damage set to 45. Number of cannons fired per burst set to 3. Bonus Damage vs Buildings set to +70. Move speed set to 1.25 tiles/s. Attack Range set to 9. Damage type changed from Ranged to Siege. Population reduced from 6 to 5. Springald Ships and Warships can no longer spin to win. Both sides of the ship now share the same weapon cooldown.
- Archer ship (War Galley/ Light Junk/ Dhow/ Hunting Canoe): Food cost set to 90. Wood cost set to 150. Gold cost set to 0. Train set to 25 seconds. Health set to 300. Ranged Armor set to 1. Sight range set to 12 tiles. Move speed set to 1.75 tiles/s. Turn rate set to 330. Population set to 3. Range set to 6.5 tiles. Attack speed set to 1.5s. Archer Ships now fire 5 arrows in a single burst which scatter toward the target location. Damage set to 6. Bonus damage vs Incendiary Ships set to 18
- Galleass: Health reduced from 1200 to 700. Ranged armor reduced from 3 to 1.
Dock[]
- Health set to 2000. Healing nerfed from 5HP/s to 3 HP/s.
- Naval Arrowslits: Gain defensive emplacement. Cost: 125s/75w. 10 damage (+25 vs Ships). 11 range. 3s weapon reload.
Attack bonuses against ships[]
- Arrowslits/Garrison arrows/Keep arrows: Bonus vs ships reduced from +25 to +10
- Trebuchet: Bonus vs ships reduced from +500 to +200
- Culverin: Bonus vs ships reduced from +200 to +10
General technologies[]
- Armored Hull: Cost changed from 150f 250g to 200f 500g. Research time reduced from 60 to 45 seconds. All military ships gain +20% Health, +1 Ranged Armor.
- Shipwrights: Requires Armored Hull. Cost set to 300f 550g. Research time set to 50s. All military ships gain +20% Health, +1 Ranged Armor.
- Extra Hammocks: Cost set to 100w 250g. Research time set to 30s. Arrow Ships fire +1 arrow in each burst attack. Not unique to the Chinese anymore - available to every civilization.
- Heated Shot: Cost set to 200w 500g. Research time set to 45s. Arrow Ships set enemy ships on fire dealing 30 damage over 10 seconds (not stacking with each arrow).
- Incendiaries: Cost set to 100f 250g. Research time set to 30s. Incendiary Ships gain +20% attack radius.
- Springald Crews: Cost set to 150f 350g. Research time set to 35s. Springald Ships gain +1 Range. Springald Ships gain +20% attack speed.
- Swivel Cannon: Cost set to 150f 350. Research time set to 45s. Adds a Swivel Cannon to the Springald Ship, which deals 15 damage and can fire in 360 degrees.
- Mounted Guns (Malians/Rus): Cost set to 200 wood, 500 gold. Research time set to 45s. Replaces the ballistae from the Springald Ships with Cannons with increased range and damage.
Unique technologies[]
| Civilization | Technology | Notes |
|---|---|---|
 Abbasid Dynasty
|
 Teak Masts
|
Reworked with the Anniversary Edition, later reworked again in the Season Five Update |
 Chinese
|
 Thunderclap Bombs
|
Replaces Extra Hammocks as the latter becomes a generic technology |
 Delhi Sultanate
|
 Manuscript Trade
|
Replaces Patchwork Repairs |
 Rus
|
 Adaptable Hulls
|
Replaces Clinker Construction and Cedar Hulls |
Art of War Challenges[]
Survival Challenges have come to Art of War. This release brings two new single-player Art of War survival challenge scenarios focused on the Ottoman and Malian civilizations.
Caster Mode[]
Caster Mode from Capture Age was released in beta as part of the Age of Empires IV Anniversary Update on October 25. While Caster Mode (Beta) will apply only to 1v1 matches, the tool will continue to evolve over time.
Introducing Taunts & Cheats[]
Taunts and cheats were introduced, including the cheat unit Photon Man.
Maps[]
- Forest Ponds: In Forest Ponds, you'll find four bodies of water located in each corner of the map, and one large forest in the center of the map which will limit maneuverability.
- Hideout: On this map, while you might initially start in a safe location, you'll find you must quickly venture out of your hideout to secure faraway resources.
- Mountain Clearing: Take control of the deep mountain clearing – with limited space and resources, fighting will be fierce.
- Wetlands: Wetlands is an open, flat map, dotted with many small ponds full of shore fish. You'll have to use unique strategies with the ponds, since there aren't many gaia animals around the map.
- Prairie: The open and unforgiving landscape of the Prairie requires rapid expansion and leaves everyone open to raids from any direction. Quickly build up your defenses or take advantage of your opponents' lack of them!
- Waterholes: Conquer the many lakes to gain economic advantage and dominate your opponents on foot or horseback on the Waterholes map.
- Mediterranean (later renamed to Baltic): Mediterranean features a large central lake teeming with fish deposits, two naval trade posts on opposing shorelines, and two Sacred Sites just off the beach on opposite sides of the lake. This map should see a mix of naval and land gameplay, as while you can ignore water and fight solely on land, you would be giving up the most direct route to your opponent and a massive fishing economy.
- Oasis: In the Age of Empires IV version, Oasis still features the central dense forest with a small lake right in the middle, but this time, we are featuring the map's only two Sacred Sites on the shoreline of the lake. Will you be the first to chop your way to the oasis and secure the Sacred Sites, or will you crash through the forest from an unsuspecting angle to wrest control of the center from your opponent?
Waypoint markers[]
Gold Waypoint Markers for any time players Move, Blue Waypoint Markers for when players do an Action, and Red Waypoint Markers anytime players Attack or Patrol. There's also a marker for every time players shift-click using any of these options, so players can see the path that their unit will follow. When selecting a whole group, players will be able to see the group leaders waypoint markers.
Changes to newly released content[]
Before being released, the new civilizations were made available through a "Public Update Preview" for the players to test. Based on their feedback, the following changes were done.
General[]
- Springald Ship bonus damage vs Buildings increased from +40 to +45.
Malians[]
- Naval Skirmishers: Cost set to 100 wood, 250 gold. Research time set to 30s. Adds Javelins to Arrow Ships – 6 damage 3 Burst attack
- Transport Javelin damage reduced from 12 to 7
- Canoe Tactics: Archer Ship Javelins in burst reduced from 3 to 2. Archer Ship Javelin damage reduced from 6 to 4
- Fixed an exploit in the Malian trade tax mechanic.
- Fixed a bug where Poison Arrows would stop functioning when upgrading archers at the Farimba Garrison.
- Fixed a bug where Donso would play looping attack animations while their spear throw was on cooldown.
- Warrior Scouts hit point regeneration reduced from 5 to 1 health per second.
- Reduced detection radius of buildings and units for seeing Musufadi in Stealth. Outposts and scouts remain unchanged and continue to be the intended counters.
Ottomans[]
- Imperial Fleet: Cost set to 150 food, 350 gold. Research time set to 45s. Cannon Ships (Grand Galley & War Ship) train and move 15% faster
- Ottoman starting wood increased from 150 to 200.
- Core military and technology buildings are 33% cheaper.
- Janissary build time reduced from 28 to 24. Janissary is no longer considered a "Ranged" unit. This means it will no longer take bonus damage from Horsemen and Mangonel units.
- The Ottoman Grand Galley now fires all three of its weapons instead of only one.
Gallery[]
Age of Empires 4- Ottomans and Malians - Xbox Booth Game Overview - gamescom 2022
Age of Empires IV- Ottomans and Malians World Premiere Trailer
