| “ | Economic support unit with no combat capability. Will automatically gather Tax (Gold) from buildings. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The Imperial Official is a unique economic unit of the Chinese and Zhu Xi's Legacy in Age of Empires IV. It is used to collect tax generated at buildings or to improve a building's work rate.
The Chinese can only train 4 Imperial Officials, while Zhu Xi's Legacy can train 8 after researching Imperial Red Seals and Advanced Administration. The latter is from Zhu Xi's Library where just 2 among 5 technologies can be researched, however.
Special ability[]
Collect Tax (active/passive): As part of the Chinese and Zhu Xi Legacy civilization bonuses, buildings generate 'tax' gold in different ways. By right clicking or using this ability on a building with stored tax gold, the Imperial Official can pick up this gold and drop it off at specific buildings to add it to the player's total Gold. The Imperial Official will automatically collect tax gold as well if left idle. In addition to the Town Center, each civilization has different landmarks which can act as tax drop off points: the Imperial Academy, Barbican of the Sun, Imperial Palace and Spirit Way for the Chinese, and Jiangnan Tower for Zhu Xi's Legacy. Imperial Officials can collect up to 40 taxes before having to drop off. This capacity can be increased by researching either Imperial Examinations or Advanced Administration. Each building has a 20 second cooldown before taxes can be collected again, which can be decreased to 10 seconds by constructing the Mount Lu Academy.- Supervise (active): When used on a building, the Imperial Official will stand next to the building and grant it various bonuses depending on the building. Supervised resource drop-off buildings such as the Mill gain +20% resources per drop-off. Supervised military and technology buildings work +150% faster. This applies to both research and unit production. The Town Center, Dock, Market, and Landmarks cannot be supervised.
- Toggle Automatic Tax Collection (toggle): Turns on and off automatic tax collection. If idle, the Imperial Official will by default automatically collect tax from the nearest building within a 15-tile radius. The amount of tax stored in a building has no effect on its tax collection priority. Toggling this off can be useful to prevent Imperial Officials from collecting tax from buildings under attack, while still keeping them ungarrisoned to collect tax from other buildings.
Tactics[]
Imperial Officials provide important economic and military benefits to the Chinese and Zhu Xi's Legacy, although the civilizations utilize the unit slightly differently. Zhu Xi can only produce Imperial Officials from Town Centers, but also begin play with one. The Chinese, by comparison, can also train them from the Imperial Academy landmark, which produces Imperial Officials at a 30% discount.
In the early game, the primary benefit of the Official is to Supervise production buildings, which increases resource drop-off by 20%. This can either allow the player to accumulate resources more quickly, or set fewer Villagers on a resource to free up work rate for other tasks. A common strategy is to build a Mill early and boost food production 20%, or Supervise the player's first Mining Camp to gather gold more quickly to advance. This can be especially necessary for Zhu Xi, who begin with less gold due to starting with an Imperial Official. Beginning in the Song Dynasty, Imperial Officials can Supervise Granaries, boosting their production rate even more over the bonus the building itself provides.
In the mid-game, as the player researches technologies and gathers resources, buildings will begin to stockpile large amounts of Tax gold. At this point, the player should have one or more idling Imperial Officials who automatically move between buildings to collect and deposit the gold. This allows for steady gold income as long as the player's economy is active. When plotting out a town layout, keep in mind Officials will only drop off Taxes at Town Centers, the Imperial Academy, Barbican of the Sun, Imperial Palace and Spirit Way Chinese Landmarks, and the Jiangnan Tower Zhu Xi Landmark. These buildings should be spaced out to reduce travel time for Officials, and ideally close to buildings that generate a lot of Taxes. The Chinese Imperial Academy also doubles Tax gain in its influence radius, so consider carefully what buildings will be near it.
Imperial Officials can be used to Supervise military or research buildings to boost production speed by 150%, or 300% for Zhu Xi if Regional Inspection has been researched. This can drastically speed up Blacksmith or University technologies, or assist in producing units faster, especially ones that take a long time, like Bombards or Imperial Guards. Landmarks cannot be Supervised, however, meaning the Chinese Astronomical Clocktower cannot be made to produce higher-hit-point siege units any faster. Zhu Xi Officials can also be upgraded with Military Affairs Bureau to Supervise Keeps and Towers, reducing the damage they take by 35%, which is primarily useful when defending a forward Keep, or if an Official happens to be nearby when enemies attack with siege units.
Whereas the Chinese can only produce four Imperial Officials in total, Zhu Xi can have six after researching Imperial Red Seals at the Mount Lu Academy Landmark, and up to eight after researching Advanced Administration at the Zhu Xi's Library Landmark. The latter only allows two of five technologies to be researched, so the player's choice to research the technology will depend on how heavily they are depending on Imperial Officials in the late game.
Further statistics[]
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Hit Points |  Advanced Administration (+150,  Zhu Xi's Legacy)
|
| Armor |  Fitted Leatherwork (+1 melee) Insulated Helm (+1 melee) Master Smiths (+1 melee) Iron Undermesh (+1 ranged) Wedge Rivets (+1 ranged) Angled Surfaces (+1 ranged)
|
| Carry capacity |  Imperial Examinations (+40,  Chinese) Advanced Administration (+80, Zhu Xi's Legacy)
|
| Movement speed |  Single Whip Reform (+50%, Zhu Xi's Legacy)
|
| Build limit |  Imperial Red Seals (+2, Zhu Xi's Legacy) Advanced Administration (+2, Zhu Xi's Legacy)
|
| Ability |  Regional Inspection (Supervision work rate bonus increased to 300%, Zhu Xi's Legacy only) Military Affairs Bureau (Supervised Keeps and Towers take -35% damage, Zhu Xi's Legacy)
|
| Civilization bonuses | |
|---|---|
 Movement speed
|
Chinese (+15% in  Yuan Dynasty)
|
| Resource cost | Chinese (-30% from Imperial Academy) Zhu Xi's Legacy (-10% in Yuan Dynasty)
|
Dialogue lines[]
The Imperial Official uses the same dialogue lines as the Chinese male Villager.
Changelog[]
- Originally, buildings had a 30 second cooldown before taxes could be collected from them again. With update 8324, this was decreased to 15 seconds. With patch 11963, it was increased to 20 seconds.
- With update 8324, Imperial Officials gained the ability to supervise Blacksmiths, Universities, and Keeps. With patch 11009, they lost the ability to supervise landmarks.
- Originally, Imperial Officials cost 150 food, have tax carry capacity 20 and have a Supervise work rate bonus of 200%. With patch 11963, tax carry capacity is increased to 40. With the Season One Update, they cost 100 food, 50 gold, and have a Supervise work rate bonus of 150%.
- Originally, Imperial Officials could only be created from the Town Center. With Season Two Update 17718, they can now be trained from the Imperial Academy.
- With patch 9.2.628, Imperial Officials now cost 30% less from the Imperial Academy
Trivia[]
- The supervising ability is very similar to the empower ability of the Pharaoh from Age of Mythology, with the extra production speed and extra resources delivered.
- The Dark Age and Feudal Age Imperial Officials have the same unit model, as do the Castle Age and Imperial Age Officials. No other unit behaves in this way.
- They can collect tax gold from Monasteries, even though in real life Chinese governments throughout of all 4 Dynasties never taxed the Buddhist clergy. The means of extracting money from Buddhist clergy was limited to asking for charitable donations and granting religious-related government certificates for certain fees, such as certificates that exempt Buddhist monks and nuns from three main public duties: paying taxes, answering military draft, and mandatory unpaid labor (equivalent to Corvée in the West).
Gallery[]
