The Season Ten Update is an update in Age of Empires IV, released on April 8th, 2025, accompanying the release of Knights of Cross and Rose.
Build Spotlight[]
New Feature: Points of Interest[]
Points of Interest are dynamic reward locations being added to several maps. They feature neutral map objectives that provide players with various reward types. Some may grant a consistent flow of resource yields, while others can uncover a relic. While it can be tempting to focus exclusively on capturing them, opponents can capture them back to steal the benefits. Just be warned that the wolves of the Wolf Den are more dangerous than ever before! More information can be found in the Maps section of the patch notes.
Gameplay[]
Visual Improvements[]
- Reload animations for Crossbowmen and Handcannoneers have been improved.
- Horsemen attack animations should now appear slightly more aggressive.
- Civilization flags will now gently ripple in the appropriate loading screens.
- The Technology Tree has had some minor visual improvements to aid in readability.
AI Updates[]
- AI monarchs will now choose safer paths to shelter when Dominion victory condition is active.
- AI monarchs will now use the Sprint ability when available when Dominion victory condition is active.
- AI villagers will now correctly repair a damaged Town Center when Dominion victory condition is active.
- AI military units will now flee from monks attempting to convert them.
- The AI will now be more efficient on naval maps and maps with small amounts of water, correctly focusing on military or gathering behavior as required.
Proving Grounds (Art of War)[]
- The Art of War page has been renamed to Proving Grounds. It now includes Historical Battles and Art of War scenarios.
Caster Mode[]
- Caster Mode Army Value now provides an accurate count of the resources a unit requires to train (Wood and Olive Oil).
- Unique civilization UI is now displayed in Caster Mode for:
- Ottomans Vizier Points
- Rus Bounty
- Abbasid & Ayyubid Golden Age
- Jeanne d’Arc Experience
- Fixed a bug where Ayyubid House of Wisdom Wings construction progress would not display in Caster Mode.
- Fixed a bug where unique Japanese technologies were not tracked in Caster Mode.
- Sultans elite tower elephant no longer counts 3 units per elephant in caster mode
UX/UI & Menus (All Platforms)[]
- The “Set Automatic Drop-off Target” ability will now appear on the Xbox radial menu after Professional Scouts has been researched.
Update to Ranked Lobbies[]
- In the pregame lobby for ranked matches, the opponent’s displayed rank will be set to the “Unknown Rank” badge. It will no longer be possible to click on an opponent’s profile in the pregame lobby, and both the player display and lobby chat will display the opponent’s name as “Ranked Opponent”.
Maps[]
General Map Changes[]
- A new method to control the distribution fallback mechanic has been implemented on several maps to distribute minerals, gaia, relics and sacred sites more fairly.
- A new type of gold mine (tiny) with 1600 Gold is featured across several maps.
- 12 new maps have been added to the quickmatch map pool.
Map-Specific Changes[]
Atacama
- Sacred site generation is more balanced between players.
Hill and Dale
- Markets are pushed slightly away from the edge.
- Gold has been rebalanced to distribute more fairly between teams.
- Sacred sites no longer spawn next to each other, or at just one corner of the map.
Highview
- Sacred sites and markets were pushed closer to the middle of the map.
- Fewer dense woods in favor of more stealth woods.
- Abandoned Outposts spawn across the map (new POI).
Lakeside
- Starting gold changed from small (4k) → tiny (1.6k).
- The shoreline behind the player’s base no longer has a chance to be blocked by trees.
Land Megarandom
- Map spawns with more random features.
- Markets may now spawn on the map.
- Random Points of Interest will spawn on the map.
Danube River
- Stone bridge replaced with a destructible wooden bridge.
Upcoming Free Maps[]
In addition to the 10 new DLC maps, we are also introducing Carmel and Sunkenlands as two free maps in 13.0! Look forward to Carmel being in the upcoming 1v1 Ranked map pool as well.
Carmel[]
Scattered gold shimmers beneath high mountain ridges, filled to the brim with wildlife. With gold scarcity threatening to diminish civilization progress, nearby factions take the opportunity to seize as much as they can.
Sunkenlands[]
Berries and wildlife huddle into scattered sunken craters across rugged and open terrain. Climb out of your crater and embrace the Sunkenlands to fight over the riches held within these cradles of earth!
New Map Feature: Points of Interest[]
Points of Interest are all-new neutral map features for players to compete over! These POIs are unique capture points that civilizations can engage with from the very start of the game. Capturing a Point of Interest with a single unit will take a long time, but adding more units into the capture area will dramatically increase the capture speed.
Abandoned Outpost[]
- Grants line of sight to the controlling player.
Lost Ronin[]
- The controlling player can hire Ronin.
- One new Ronin becomes available every 120s, becomes stronger as the player advances in age.
- Costs 100 gold to hire a Ronin.
- Starts adding Ronin charges after 5 minutes game time.
Merchant Camp[]
- The controlling player receives a trickle of resources:
- Granted 15 food, 15 wood, and 15 gold per minute.
Forgotten Ruin []
- The controlling player may garrison a villager to excavate.
- Grants 60 stone per minute while excavating.
- After 6 minutes of uninterrupted excavation a relic is unearthed, and the ruin is exhausted.
Wolf Den[]
- Periodically spawns Wolves up to a cap of 5.
- Wolves start spawning after 5 minutes of game time.
- Instead of being a Capture Point, the Wolf Den is destroyable.
- At 70% health, spawns 2 wolves out of raw desperation.
- At 30% health, starts burning, spawns 2 final wolves, and grants 150 gold to the attacker. This stops all future spawning of wolves.
Affected Maps (POI):[]
- Merchants spawn adjacent to player bases, and Ronin spawns near the “spire” up north.
- Random Points of Interest.
- Abandoned Outposts spawn across the map.
- Wolf Den spawns at the entrance of each passage to the maze and at the center of the map. Forgotten Ruins are spread out across the maze.
Balance & Bugfixes[]
General Changes & Bugfixes[]
- Fixed a bug where siege units could become frozen when being commanded to turn while already turning.
Balance & Gameplay Changes (All Civilizations)[]
- Villager repair rate on Siege Engines reduced by 20%.
- Stone Wall Tower cost decreased from 300 → 250 stone.
- Springald:
- Base damage decreased from 16 → 14.
- Bonus damage vs melee infantry increased from 10 → 12.
- Professional Scouts:
- Cost increased from 100 wood & 275 gold → 150 wood & 300 gold.
- Movement speed penalty for Scouts carrying carcasses increased from 40% → 55%.
- Town Centers can now see into stealth forests.
- Empire Wars: All civilizations starting economy reduced by approximately 3 villagers.
[]
- Ships now have access to the following formations: Line, Column, and Staggered.
Civilization-Specific Changes[]
Abbasid Dynasty[]
- The Abbasids now have a Golden Age UI Widget above the Resource Panel.
- This widget displays the current age and the progress towards the next one.
- Hovering the widget displays the Golden Age’s information and clicking the widget will select the House of Wisdom.
- Trader replaced with Trade Caravan.
- Rides a Camel.
- Has Camel Unease aura.
- Health reduced from 90 → 60.
- Speed increased from 1 → 1.56.
- Resource per minute income reduced by ~12% compared to a normal trader.
Byzantines[]
- Byzantine Stone Wall Tower Mangonel emplacement damage reduced from 8 → 7.
- Cistern cost no longer scales depending on the number of Cisterns constructed and now cost 125 stone.
- The Oil cost of all Mercenaries available from Neutral Trade Posts have been reduced:
- Mercenary Musofadi Warrior batch cost reduced from 400 Oil → 360.
- Mercenary Camel Archer batch cost reduced from 480 Oil → 440.
- Mercenary Sipahi batch cost reduced from 480 Oil → 450.
- Mercenary Arbalétrier batch cost reduced from 480 Oil → 440.
- Mercenary Zhuge Nu batch cost reduced from 400 Oil → 360.
- Mercenary War Elephant cost reduced from 750 Oil → 680.
- Mercenary Royal Knight batch cost reduced from 480 Oil → 460.
- Mercenary Horse Archer batch cost reduced from 360 Oil → 330.
- Mercenary Mangudai batch cost reduced from 480 Oil → 435.
- Mercenary Desert Raider batch cost reduced from 540 Oil → 495.
Chinese[]
- Nest of Bees:
- Health reduced from 130 → 120.
- Number of projectiles reduced from 8 → 7.
- Projectiles granted from Additional Barrels technology increased from 2 → 3.
- Great Wall Gatehouse: Now adorned with 2 emplaced Nest of Bees instead of its default weapon.
Delhi Sultanate[]
- Fishing Boat:
- Base damage reduced from 6 → 4.
- Now does +1 bonus damage versus Ships.
- Damage now increases per age:
- Dark Age: 4 (+1 vs Ships)
- Feudal Age: 6 (+2 vs Ships)
- Castle Age: 7 (+3 vs Ships)
- Imperial Age: 9 (+4 vs Ships)
Holy Roman Empire[]
- New unit in Imperial Age: Black Rider (150f 150g)
- Mounted Gunpowder Heavy Cavalry, wielding an Arquebus with high ranged damage.
- Trained at the Archery Range.
- Can only train 5 per standing Keeps (8 with Elzbach Palace).
- Has the Caracole Ability:
- Moves 10% faster and can fire while moving for 30s.
- Cannot fire at targets directly behind.
- New Castle Age UT: Cistercian Churches (75w 200g)
- Each Monastery acts as a drop off building and inspires villagers in an area when a Prelate garrisons inside.
- Radius is smaller than Aachen.
- Prelates can be trained directly into hold like Delhi Scholars.
- Works on Regnitz Cathedral.
- Burgrave gives Infantry +50% increased charge damage.
- Palace of Swabia discount reduced from 20% → 10%.
- Devoutness gather rate bonus reduced from 10% → 5%, construction bonus unchanged.
- Elzbach Palace:
- Damage reduction reduced from 33% → 25%.
- Keeps support 8 Black Riders instead of 5.
Japanese[]
- Fixed a bug where Yorishiro would not increase dock production speed.
- Fixed a bug causing Stone Wall Towers to take longer to construct than other civilizations.
Mongols[]
- Scouting falcon no longer telepathically blocks charge attacks.
- Fixed an issue with Mongols Improved Elite Army Tactics not reflecting the intended effect.
Ottomans[]
- Stone Wall Towers are now correctly discounted after researching the Extensive Fortifications upgrade.
Rus[]
- Bounty Requirements:
- Tier 2 bounty requirement has been increased from 250 gold → 400 gold.
- Tier 3 bounty requirement has been increased from 750 gold → 1000 gold.
Variant civilization changes[]
The following changes apply only to the variant versions of the classic civilizations. Variant civilizations share in many of the changes made to their parent civilization listed above.
Ayyubids[]
- The Ayyubids now have a Golden Age UI Widget above the Resource Panel.
- This widget displays the current age and the progress towards the next one.
- Hovering the widget displays the Golden Age’s information and clicking the widget will select the House of Wisdom.
- Trader replaced with Trade Caravan.
- Details identical to Abbasid’s Trade Caravan.
- Atabeg appearance updated to be distinct from Trade Caravan.
- Master Smiths:
- Now also grants Military Academy for free in addition to previous effects.
- Industry Wing:
- Now also grants villagers +30/40/50% faster construction speed in addition to previous effects.
- Fixed an issue where the villager gather rate increased from Economic Wing: Growth would affect all villagers (including enemies).
- Fixed an issue where Economic Wing: Growth gather rate enhancement did not apply to newly produced villagers.
- Fixed an issue where the Passive Mass Heal ability was always shown for Dervishes.
Order of the Dragon[]
- Palace of Swabia discount reduced from 20% → 10%.
Zhu Xi's Legacy[]
- Now has access to the Additional Barrels technology in the Imperial Age.
- Nest of Bees:
- Health reduced from 130 → 120.
- Number of projectiles reduced from 8 → 7.
- Projectiles granted from Additional Barrels technology increased from 2 → 3.
