Update 8324

Patch information

Game client

Age of Empires IV

Release date

November 29, 2021

Link

Patch notes

Patch history
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Patch 7989	Patch 9369

Update 8324 is a patch in Age of Empires IV, released on November 29, 2021.

Features[]

New[]

Implemented the ability to enable in-game player scores for those who wish to have them. Players will be able to enable in-game player score on a match-by-match basis for custom lobby multiplayer and skirmish matches.
- FAQ: How to enable in-game player scores HERE.
Players will be able to pan across the map and get a better view of all players' strategies after finishing up the game.
- After pressing the "Continue" button, player will be taken to the post-game statistics screen and will no longer be able to switch back to the map. We'll be providing options that allow player to easily switch back and forth between the completed map view and post-game stats in Spring 2022.

Updated[]

Made several adjustments to ensure better readability, including the changes detailed below:
- Icon sizes are noticeably reduced
- New wonder icon matches the HUD objectives icon
- Primary Town Center is now noticeably larger than Landmarks
- Deer icon appears smaller and is not obscuring other resource points even when camera and map are rotated
- Small gold deposit icons match large gold deposit icons but can be told apart from one another on the mini-map
- Relic icons are now gold in color
- Fish icons are now slightly blue in color
- Fish icons no longer appear in shallow streams but remain in deep water
- Maps such as Ancient Spires, Danube River, Confluence, and Mongolian Heights have no Fish icons present on the mini map with fish present in river
- Maps with larger bodies of water retain Fish icons in deep water areas
Moved the Chinese Dynasty button and user interface to a less prominent position on the screen - in the lower left-hand corner, nearer to the location where players make other selections.
Garrison behavior has seen adjustments to better put player in charge of the decision-making, while also ensuring player's economy stays as efficient as possible. Player can turn off 1-click Garrison, meaning player's villagers will no longer automatically load into a hold when right-clicking and will instead need to be summoned to safety using the command card icon. As well, when player ungarrisons villagers, they'll respond to rally points and immediately get back to work.
Introduced a new option to the Campaign mode that will allow player to easily jump back into the game and test a new strategy. From the Mission "Fail Screen", player will now be able to select "Load Saved Game" rather pathing back to the Main Menu to select a save game file.
Some selection improvements have been made in this build. With this update, player should find trees, animal corpses, sheep, partially depleted deep fish swarms, and Relics easier to select. We'd welcome player's ongoing feedback surrounding these improvements and general selection.
The population panel has been updated to display depleted and remaining population space, rather than unit count. This change should allow player to better account for siege and Naval units that count as multiple units.

Balance changes[]

All civilizations[]

Spearman (all ranks) bonus damage vs Cavalry class increased from 3x to 3.5x
- Rank I Spearman bonus damage 12 > 15
- Rank II Spearman bonus damage 16 > 20
- Rank III Spearman bonus damage 18 > 23
- Rank IV Spearman bonus damage 22 > 28
Crossbowman
- Regular bonus damage vs Heavy class increased from 6 to 9
- Elite bonus damage vs Heavy class increased from 8 to 11
Horseman:
- All ranks ranged armor increased from 0 to 1
- Early Horseman health reduced from 125 to 100
- Horseman health reduced from 155 to 125
- Veteran Horseman health reduced from 190 to 155
- Elite Horseman health reduced from 225 to 180
Handcannoneer damage reduced from 42 to 35
Battering Ram
- Movement speed reduced from 3.5 to 3
- Health reduced from 900 to 700
- Population cost reduced from 3 to 1
- Ranged armor increased from 15 to 30
Mangonel:
- Weapon reload time reduced from 8.75 to 6.75 seconds
- Weapon area-of-effect shape changed from 180 to 360 degrees
Ribauldequin fire armor increased from 0 to 10, ranged armor reduced from 2 to 0
Fishing Boat wood cost increased from 60 to 75
Archer Ship bonus damage vs Incendiary Ship class increased from 0 to 2x
Outpost Arrowslit Emplacement now also increases garrison arrow weapon range from 6 to 8
Elite Army Tactics tech's health and damage bonuses increased from 10% to 20%
All units' Elite Rank technology research time reduced from 90 to 60 seconds

Abbasid Dynasty[]

Phalanx technology moved from the House of Wisdom to the Barracks
Composite Bows technology moved from the House of Wisdom to the Archery Range
Camel Handling technology moved from the House of Wisdom to the Blacksmith

Chinese[]

Imperial Official's Tax Collection ability cooldown reduced from 30 to 15 seconds
Zhuge Nu:
- All ranks food cost reduced from 60 to 20
- Regular health reduced from 90 to 70
- Veteran health reduced from 110 to 80
- Elite health reduced from 130 to 95
- All ranks training time reduced from 22 to 15 seconds
Nest of Bees:
- Movement speed increased from 2.5 to 3.75
- Weapon minimum range increased from 2.5 to 3
- Health reduced from 240 to 200
- Training time reduced from 45 to 40 seconds
- Damage increased from 8 to 10
Pyrotechnics technology moved from the Siege Workshop to the University

Delhi Sultanate[]

Sanctity technology Age requirement increased from Dark to Feudal
Scholar Research system has been adjusted to correlate with the civ's viable opportunities to produce scholars; early technology research times have been reduced; later ones, increased:
- Dark Age technologies' research time multiplier reduced from 5x to 3x
- Feudal Age technologies' research time multiplier reduced from 5x to 3.5x
- Castle Age technologies' research times remain unchanged at 5x
- Imperial Age technologies' research time multiplier increased from 5x to 15x

English[]

Longbowman's Setup Camp ability will now deactivate if the Longbowman enter combat

French[]

Reduced armor of French Hulk from 6 to 2

Holy Roman Empire[]

Emergency Repairs influence ability cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds

Mongols[]

Landmarks are now able to Pack and Unpack while at maximum population
Raid Bounty's food and gold plunder reduced from 100 to 75
- Improved Raid Bounty's food and gold plunder reduced from 125 to 100
Khan's Attack Speed Arrow ability no longer affects Siege class units

Rus[]

Boyar's Fortitude technology moved from the Stables to the Blacksmith
Lodya ships that activate a role switch will now incur a 50% movement speed penalty until the switch is complete
Lodya Fishing Boat role switch wood costs increased by 25 (per role)

Map Specific Changes[]

Ancient Spires[]

On larger map sizes, player spawn locations have been moved closer to the center to account for the longer unit travel times.
Sacred Sites spawns have been updated. Ancient Spires now spawns 2 Sacred Sites along the central east-west axis. The sites are set to spawn one half-map width apart along this central line.

Archipelago[]

We have seen cases of players spawning on islands without some starting resources (Mongol island players, we hear player!), and we have determined this to be linked to players spawning too close to coastlines, which severely limits our distribution system's ability to find a spot for the set of standard resource deposits.

We have now added in a step to our spawn algorithm that re-calculates island real-estate after each player is placed to find the central island point, and place the player there. This helps to ensure that the most space we can give is available for the distribution system, and it solves the problem of some players having their capital TC placed in a vulnerable position.
As an added measure, we have bumped up the spawn priority on starting stone deposits to help ensure that all resource types are available as expected.

Black Forest[]

We balanced the number of fish in starting lakes to be identical across the map. Each lake should have 5 shore fish and 3 deep water fish.
We added a large number of single trees in each player's starting area to both provide close, short-term wood for gathering and make the map feel more "forest-y".
We adjusted trade post spawn locations for multi-team (>2) games. Previously, the map would try to find a location on the map that was far away from average team locations. However, this could result in a trade post spawning behind some teams in certain configurations. The Black Forest trade post will now always spawn roughly in the center of the map, giving all teams roughly equal access.
We removed the Sacred Sites and replaced them with large gold deposits. We found through playtesting that the map plays more to the gameplay intention of Black Forest without the Sacred Sites victory condition, and the gold income that was provided by the sites was bolstered by the additional large deposits that replaced them. Note: enabling only Sacred Victory on this map will now behave as if all victory conditions are turned off, and the match will end with Annihilation. We are working on ways to make this more obvious in the match setup screen, but felt that the gameplay impact was substantial enough to get in as early as we could. Please give us player's feedback on this change!

Boulder Bay[]

Starting resources have been adjusted to be less than full naval maps, but still higher than standard land maps to further push its identity as a hybrid land/water map.
Spawn placements have been tuned to place players further away from the coastlines to cut down on unbalanced naval danger.

Confluence[]

Spawn positions in larger, multiteam games have been improved so as to not spawn members of opposite teams in the middle of the same quadrant in common cases.
We improved the reliability of crossing spawning.

Danube River[]

We felt that the version of the map that shipped resulted in a high number of unbalanced spawns, where players and teams could spawn on a smaller chunk of map or have difficult access to resources and Sacred Sites.

We have done an overhaul of this map layout to have much more consistent and balanced generation parameters.
The map layout image in the lobby has been updated to reflect the new layout as well.
The new Danube River features a U-shaped river that spawns with stealth forests, one of the Sacred Sites and a trade post, making it an important area to contest. The second Sacred Site will spawn atop a cliff on the west side of the map.

French Pass[]

We reduced the erosion multiplier to eliminate instances of impasse trenches running through the central valley, which could reduce build space and cause unnecessary map clutter.

Hill and Dale[]

Trade posts (2) now spawn along the map edge exactly opposite one another. So, if one spawns along the north-east edge, the second will spawn in the south-west.
The number of central large resource deposits has been slightly reduced (approximately 2 per map size were removed).

King of the Hill[]

We added 3 individual trees that were missing around the starting TCs.

Lipany[]

On larger map sizes, player spawn locations have been moved closer to the center to account for the longer unit travel times.

Mongolian Heights[]

We fixed a rare issue where players playing with the Random Positions option could be spawned too close to the river, potentially stomping out trade post and Sacred Site spawn locations.
We increased the number and improved distribution of river fish.
We adjusted spawns of groups of contested sheep to spread them out and place them closer to the center of the map.

Mountain Pass[]

We adjusted the spawning of the mountain opening, making it slightly larger and more consistent. This should eliminate instances of the opening being too small for siege, having the opening blocked by trees, or in rare cases not being open at all and leaving the map half covered in impasse.

Nagari[]

We increased the overall amount of fish on the map to reduce cases of unbalanced fish distribution.
We adjusted tree and lake spawning to make sure central lake shores are no longer clogged up with trees that block dock placement.

Bug Fixes[]