| “ | The forested lowlands are home to numerous prosperous ponds, but watch out for the wolves prowling in the forests. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
Wetlands is a random map in Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition with many small ponds scattered around a heavily forested map with an abundance of food.
Features[]
While not strictly a pure land map due to its abundance of small ponds all around the map, Wetlands does not fit very well into the 'hybrid' role either because the ponds are too small for a Dock to have much impact. Additionally, while it does not contain any permanent choke points resulting from map features, the abundance of large woodlines make it a defensive map where walling is easier. Teams spawn along a circle like on many other maps, surrounding a Sacred Site which always spawns directly in the center of the map. The other two sites always spawn in opposite corners, but they can either be between the two players or teams, in a more contestable orientation, or they can spawn behind teams, essentially making Sacred Site victory unfeasible. The two Trade Posts always spawn in the other set of opposite corners. Relics can spawn anywhere on the map.
Resources[]
Although not quite on the level of Black Forest, this map features an abundance of wood within its multitude of large, irregularly shapped woodlines and Stealth Forest. The map similarly does its 'extra food' classification justice, with two to three Shoreline Fish in each one of the numerous ponds, and one Boar per player instead of the standard amount. In terms of Berry Bushes, this map actually has similar or less overall food on average than other maps, since the bushes are distributed all around the map only in 'straggler' patches of two bushes each. The total number of patches is quite variable, with anywhere on the order of eight to ten per player. The berries almost always spawn in groups of two adjacent to a pond, and usually close together on the same side, so it can be helpful to build a Mill such that it is close to both the bushes and the Shoreline Fish, and gather from them together. Deer packs spawn in the standard number, but in the more uncommon five-per-pack configuration instead of the usual seven. Uniquely, all the Small Gold Mines and Stone Outcroppings are clustered in relatively close proximity to each player as opposed to distributed more evenly around the map, and resources in general do not tend to spawn in the center as much as on other maps. This further encourages a defensive playstyle, although this is somewhat compensated by the less-than-usual amount of overall stone.
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