Age of Wonders 4 Announced (Master of Magic like 4X Fantasy Strategy Series)

[Blake00]

First DLC already on the way called Dragon Dawn.

Age of Wonders 4 - Dev Diary #17: Post-Launch - Steam News

Welcome to the first Age of Wonders 4 development diary since release. My name is Lennart Sas game director / studio manager at Triumph. Today we’ll be reflecting on the launch, the reception and we are going to be looking forward to the big Dragon Dawn DLC and specifically the free Wyvern...

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[Kyriakos]

It looks nice, but I haven't even played AOW3

 

[Ita Bear]

After playing the game for some time, I have to report that the extensive customisation is really a double-edged sword. There are so many combinations to choose from, but sadly none of them feel unique. The main cultures in the game (barbarian, feudal etc) have so little to distinguish them that they more or less feel the same. It's strange to see that a game like Civilisation IV, whose civilisations have only two traits, a unique unit and a unique building to differentiate them, has a wider variety of playstyles than this game. An imperialistic Rome plays very differently to a creative France. Add on to that problems with the AI, balance issues across the board and performance issues and the novelty of this game wears off very quickly. I'm curious to see if patches and additional content can breathe fresh life into it.

Kind regards,
Ita Bear

 

[Blake00]

It looks nice, but I haven't even played AOW3

You and me both lol. In fact I've still gotta finish Shadow Magic too heh.

The main cultures in the game (barbarian, feudal etc) have so little to distinguish them that they more or less feel the same.

Yeah their latest update says they're looking into improving this due to all the complaints so it will be interesting to see what they do.

 

[Planktonic]

So how Civ-like is AoW4?

I'm interested in a fantasy civ/4X game, but in Civ 6 I usually play for culture or science victory. I don't usually play for Domination and it seems like the win condition for AoW4 is basically domination/conquest? Am I wrong in this? Don't really know much about the game but it looks beautiful on screen....

Would I be better off looking at Endless Legend (despite its age) or is there another better, more Civ-like fantasy game?

 

[Blake00]

So how Civ-like is AoW4?

I'm interested in a fantasy civ/4X game, but in Civ 6 I usually play for culture or science victory. I don't usually play for Domination and it seems like the win condition for AoW4 is basically domination/conquest? Am I wrong in this? Don't really know much about the game but it looks beautiful on screen....

Would I be better off looking at Endless Legend (despite its age) or is there another better, more Civ-like fantasy game?

Well Master of Magic was recently remade and has a non-military victory (spell of mastery) however its lower budget compared to AoW4 is noticeable. I'm pretty sure AoW has non-lethal victory conditions that I saw mentioned in the dev diaries but the guys here actually playing it can answer better.

 

[tedhebert]

Actually, from my games, most of the times I will finish with a magic victory, not dom...

To get magic victory, you must get the last tome associated with one of the 6 affinities in the game, then build 3 specific buildings associated with THAT affinity in 3 different cities, then defend them for 15 turns...

That's usually easier than taking the capital city of every enemy ! But better be VERY prepared to defend for 15 turns, the AI send stacks of monsters at ya that means you really need 3 high level stacks of 6 units at every building.
Unfortunately, the enemy nations don't seem to have the intelligence to come after you adequately, even when playing hard difficulty level, so that's a huge letdown ;-(

 

[Kyriakos]

Imo the original game was better than AoWII. At least if you take into account expectations. II didn't really add anything, imo, just a little better gfx and a few more tribes.
AoW (the original) had better music too.

 

[Blake00]

I love AoW1 and still go back to it occasionally as I loved the music and how it supported a much higher player count and you could have up 16 players (all the races) going at it in one game (16 player After The Fall map was a particular fav) and was devo that player counts were reduced so much in the sequels. However in the end I enjoy player AoW2 more (& will no doubt prefer SM too when I eventually get to it 30yrs too late lol) as like most I was very happy to see the city development & management system massively overhauled and pushed in a more Master of Magic and Civ direction. The HoMM fan in me enjoyed the little animating story cutscenes too.

 

[Blake00]

AoW4 roadmap for 2023.. sounds promising
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1669000/announcements/detail/7208622092879138829

 

[Ita Bear]

It's great to hear that the developers are tackling the issues in the game, but it remains to be seen to what extent they can solve everything. I'm happy to see the AI update and 'faction balance and identity' are being given some attention. Could the developers be going back on their design philosophy of basically anything goes?

That said, I won't be picking this game up again until the Golem update is here. Without a functioning AI, some semblance of balance and with all factions feeling like a homogenous mush, the game isn't worth much time sadly.

Kind regards,
Ita Bear

 

[Blake00]

Haven't updated this in a while.. there's been quite a few dev updates (& smaller articles inbetween) about all the patches and DLC coming...

More on the Dragon Lords stuff:

Age of Wonders 4 - Dev Diary #18 — Dragon Lords - Steam News

Hello everyone, my name is Tom Bird and I’m a senior developer at Triumph. Today I’m here to talk about the standout feature of our next Content Pack Dragon Dawn, the Dragon Lord. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43512488/af4e5e4d3730796cf500e85a3e28bd60a789d156.png For some background, dragons come in three...

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Age of Wonders 4 - Dev Diary #19 - Dragon Dawn: Lizardfolk, Tomes and Units - Steam News

Hello everyone! My name is Luis and I am a designer at Triumph. I got the privilege of being the main designer for Dragon Dawn, our first content pack. In this dev diary I will go over the new Lizardfolk form and the new tomes of magic, as well as their units. Lizardfolk Lizardfolk are very...

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Watcher Update:

Age of Wonders 4 - Dev Diary #21: Watcher Update: Research and Magic Victory - Steam News

Hi champions, wizard kings and dragon lords! I’m Bas, a game designer at Triumph who has written some Development Journals in the past about Sieges and Ancient Wonders. Today we’re going to be taking a look at some of the major changes we’re working on for the upcoming Watcher update. In...

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Underground changes:

Age of Wonders 4 - Dev Diary #22: Underground Changes - Steam News

Greetings everyone! My name is Jamie, I’m a gameplay programmer at Triumph Studios and one of my main responsibilities is the Random Map Generation (RMG, not to be confused with RNG, although it plays a big role!). I’d like to give you an update on some of the upcoming changes to the...

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[Blake00]

New AoW4 expansion addon announced!

Steam :: Age of Wonders 4 :: Empires & Ashes + Golem Update: Out November 7th

To our fellow Godir, We are happy to announce that the new Age of Wonders 4 expansion, Empires and Ashes, is to be released in less than a month — on November 7th 2023! It will be available together with the Free Golem Update, which features various interesting improvements and the long awaited...

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Steam :: Age of Wonders 4 :: Dev Diary #23: Empires & Ashes - Reavers

Hello everyone, yesterday we announced Empires and Ashes, the new expansion for Age of Wonders 4! We have a lot to tell you about, so we’re going to split it between 2 dev diaries. To begin with, Michelle and Thomas are going to start talking about the story being the expansion and the new...

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[Blake00]

Some more dev diaries have come along talking about features of the addon. Looks like they've brought back the MoM like hero item/artifact crafting forge.

Steam :: Age of Wonders 4 :: Dev Diary #24: Seals & Tomes

Welcome to the developer diaries for both the new Seals Victory and the new Tomes that are coming in Empires and Ashes. There is a lot to cover so this dev diary will be split in two, starting with… The Seals Victory Hello everyone! I am Sam Minh, a designer for Age of Wonders 4. Today I will...

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Steam :: Age of Wonders 4 :: Dev Diary #25: Form Traits & Item Forge

Fellow Godir, We saw how excited you were over the changes that are coming tomorrow, both for the Empires & Ashes expansion as well as the free Golem update shipping with it. Hence, we have decided to move up the dev diary so that you can read all about them! This one will be a meaty two-parter...

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[Blake00]

The previous DLC came out late last year...

Steam :: Age of Wonders 4 :: Empires & Ashes Expansion + Golem Update OUT NOW!

The thundering sound of War Machines pierces the Veil… We are incredibly happy to finally share Age of Wonders 4’s first Expansion with you guys, Empires & Ashes. This expansion brings with it a surprising new Avian Form, the Military focussed Reaver Culture, 4 Brand new Tomes and the return of...

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Looks like a new minor DLC has been announced...

Steam :: Age of Wonders 4 :: Primal Fury Content Pack and a Free Wolf Update coming February 27!

New forms, new tomes, new culture!

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New dev diary about it too...

Steam :: Age of Wonders 4 :: Dev Diary #26: Primal Culture

Hello everyone, my name is Tom Bird and I’m the lead designer at Triumph Studios. Today I’m here to talk about the new Primal Culture from our upcoming Primal Fury content pack! Primal Culture is nature focused and for people who want a culture that is all about having a connection with the land...

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