Imperial Age (Age of Empires IV)

This article is about the Age in Age of Empires IV. For other uses, see Imperial Age.

Imperial Age
Age
Availability
Introduced in	Age of Empires IV
Civilization	All civilizations
Age number	4
Preceded by	Castle Age

The Imperial Age is the fourth and final Age in Age of Empires IV. It is characterized by powerful gunpowder units and siege engines, impactful new technologies at the University, and engagements between large armies.

Tactics

The Imperial Age is about continuing engagements versus opponents that began in the Castle Age and continuing to manage economy in the background, leveling off worker count to somewhere between at least 100-120 (depending on the civilization being played). Players should focus on getting an economy that can run itself with little intervention to make it easier to manage army engagements and maintain unit production. If possible, Keeps and Stone Walls should be used to protect pocket economies from raids, and food production should by this Age have transitioned entirely to Farms. Once Gold Mines begin to run out, players should focus on replacing Villagers with Traders and maximizing passive gold generation if possible. An Imperial Age economy should be large enough to support large armies of strong units and siege engines, and thus requires many production building to maintain army size and stay at 200 population. Remembering to build a University and research upgrades is critical, since they provide especially large advantages in battle. Attacks against opponents should be attempted on multiple fronts to keep them distracted, and raids should be attempted versus unguarded workers to cause economic damage.

Available units

Generic

• Handcannoneer
• Bombard
• Culverin
• Ribauldequin
• Warship

Unique

Melee infantry

• Condottiero - Knights Templar (requires Republic of Venice)
• Teutonic Knight - Knights Templar (requires Teutonic Order)

Ranged infantry

• Grenadier - Chinese (requires Ming Dynasty)
• Ozutsu - Japanese (requires Tanegashima Gunsmith)
• Musofadi Gunner - Malians
• Streltsy - Rus

Cavalry

• Black Rider - Holy Roman Empire
• Imperial Guard - Zhu Xi's Legacy (requires Dynastic Protectors)
• Yuan Raider - Zhu Xi's Legacy (requires Dynastic Protectors)
• Szlachta Cavalry - Knights Templar (requires Kingdom of Poland)

Other

• Elite Mercenaries - Byzantines
• Mercenary Nest of Bees, Huihui Pao, and Royal Cannon - Byzantines (requires Foreign Engineering Company)
• Cannon - French and Jeanne d'Arc
• Venetian Galley - Knights Templar (requires Republic of Venice)
• Venetian Trader - Knights Templar (requires Republic of Venice)
• Great Bombard - Ottomans

Available buildings

• University / Madrasa
• Wonder
• Castle - Japanese