Age of Wonders 4 HAS CHANGED! - Mystic Update & Eldritch Realms

Age of Wonders 4 received the last part of its 1st year post-launch content with the Eldritch Realms paid DLC and the accompanying free game patch - the Mystic Update. In this video I'll share my 10 key changes and updates across the paid ER expansion and the free changes. From new map layers, combat reworks, new tomes of magic, loads of realm setup options and more - here are the key Age of Wonders 4 Updates! #ageofwonders #ageofwonder4 #gaming #strategy

TIMECARDS
0:00 - Age of Wonders 4 Mystic Update & Eldritch Realms
0:10 - 1. New Map Layer, Umbral Abyss
1:45 - 2. Realm Setup Options & Forms
2:33 - 3. Unknown Realms
3:17 - 4. Eldritch Sovereign Godir Ruler
5:14 - 5. Three New Tomes of Magic
6:00 - 6. Unit Reworks
7:18 - 7. Cosmic Happenings Event System
8:21 - 8. Combat Takeover
9:06 - 9. Schools of Magic
10:54 - 10. QoL Improvements

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[Jabberwokee]

I’m so glad the Devs have said they’ll keep supporting the game

The new Happenings system is ripe for expansion and adds so much to general play

The Dwelling could be expanded to Fey and Giants and Demons and Astral entities which would be amazing for diversity

My top 4X game after all these updates, and there’s more to come! 🎉

[CyrusRiahi]

Just wanted to say your videos are awesome. The editing, the natural way you talk, the audible joy in your voice, and the background music. It's all great, and thank you so much for these videos!!

[BlackArrowGaming]

Great review! Thought I'd mention a couple things for anyone interested.

First, there are a few reasons not to buddy up with the independent Eldritch factions. The first is the resource cost for the...um..."donations"...they require. Second would be the fact that buddying up with them pushes you towards evil alignment which may prevent you from getting gold dragons (or alternatively help you get obsidian dragons) if you want them. A third somewhat "hidden" reason to avoid befriending them is that the more evil alignment you have, the more likely random events are to be negative for you. I think it maxes out at like a 30 percent modifier depending on whether you're good or evil, but there is a light "karma" system there. It might also impact your relationship with other rulers or city states, but that could be either good or bad depending on your situation.

Another really cool thing is that the new Eldritch leaders have rituals that allow them to convert souls to thralls (and vice versa) if they unlock the souls economy via the associated tome, which is a really nice crossover. I mean, if you consider Eldritch necromancers to be "nice" that is, lol.

[joshuasims]

Wow, I've gotta try this game again. I bounced off of it after a few campaigns, but I think I'd love it if I got the hang of it. My favorite Civ entry was the Civ II: Test of Time fantasy campaign, and this is really that idea in all its glory.

[rialvita]

While I see the appeal of a Zerg based, DnD Lich looking, Lovecraftian minded Eldritch Sovereign, I strive to create conceptually opposing characters, like one who has mastered Order in it's own eldritch way, or a Materium obsessed wizard seeking to absorb all the astral energies of a realm and leave it to the Umbral Abyss, to be forever broken there.

One such idea is my Pantheon of the Unseen Clockworks, primarly Astral Shadow focused, sometimes grabbing Order. This group of Eldritch Sovereigns didn't go insane by the Torment of Shadows, yet they did lose their hearts and a piece of themselves in the process of returning to the material realm. What once was their hearts is now a void only temporally filled when absorbing great amounts of magics, hoping that being away from the Torment might repair their broken bodies and souls, while at the same time furthering their magical potential to at least not get worse. Having been in the Astral Sea for who knows how long, they are not evil, simply incapable of empathy and caring, and will often act based on the feeling of "what they once were" more than actually a caring soul, for theirs is damaged, and the worse cases even beyond repair.

Once a Magic Victory is achieved, every Wonder in that realm is repurposed to grab as much mana as posible from the Astral Sea for the benefit of the Unseen Clockworks, while leaving a minimum for the world to sustain itself... to some Soveriegns that may or may not include all life present there. The more deranged ones leave a few worlds as "batteries", simply keeping them on substracting mana from the other plane. What they don't acount for, is that when these Sovereigns are defeated, no one controls the flow anymore, and the world collapses into an Astral Singularity, a point in the Astral Sea where all flow of magic is hopelessly sucked into never to return, into realms unknown. For this reason, the most gifted cut off all flow around these anomalies, causing them to immediately implode and explode, solving the issue but endangering all realms nearby, causing Astral Rifts, yet at the same time, supercharging these worlds, making them more powerful and rich. From the most sane to the most insane, all, in their own twisted way or not, believe themselves as the "Will of the Astral Sea" which is not good, bad, orderly or chaotic, it simply is the "magic law of creation given sentience" according to them, which governs all flows of magic.

In politics, spionage, subversion, manipualtion and influence is key. The less enemies, the better. Preferably avoiding leakage of information and prioritizing all about potential threats and allies, all to hasten the claiming of the realm. For them, time is mana. They are not stranger to trade dealings, specially artifacts or mana related items, for these are one of the few things they treasure besides mana itself; magics.

In economy, research and mana is a must, followed by imperium, for reasons mentioned above. They care, in their own twisted way, to develop as much if not more than the average Godir, for abundance and prosperity in the realm means more rich in mana and magics. Necromancy is frowned upon, since souls and mana spent on dead flesh is considered a waste, and more useful used on them.

In battle, a mix of unit types with a favor for the magic ones is mostly desired, with combat spells running rampant. The faster a battle is won the better, meaning less mana was consumed, except on siegeing, where some seem to prefer a more destructive approach, hoping to end the war with one big bang rather than a prolonged battle.

[mrbigglezworth]

I can see a summoning focused Mystic build being able to cheese cheap high ranked T1/2 units thanks to their unique faction resource being used to instantly rank up summoned units. I did just that in a game and was effectively using T3 units on turn 15

[GamingForImmersion]

The big question is whether multiplayer is working. It was already very buggy, adding this extra dynamic to multiplayer battles could potentially make MP even wonkier.

Great video for a great game. Just wish they'd get MP to an acceptably stable level.

[kellysamuel]

I hope there’s much more equipment in the game

Playing a completed aow3 and seeing all the equipment plus a forge is so satisfying

Hope 4 will be able to achieve the same feeling

[BlackBirdOni]

Finally an fitting update for a new Watcher doomstack run 🎉

[striderfox]

I've gotten to the second story mission and man its tough, I will try again soon to defeat the darkness with my Elves of light >.<

[drygon]

Hey, I see you are big into Age of wonders 4, do you know anything about setting an upgrade path for the rules you used and ascended to pantheon? Like, to make them chose certain tomes when you meet them again in the world?

[rwme]

Love the Ruler Filter; hate the Syron form (yes, I know they were in an earlier version of the game -- but they look way to similar to elves).

[crazyelf]

If this is the final update and major DLC, it seems that Age of Wonders 4 is ending with quite a bang. There seems to be quite a bit of content.

I wonder what Triumph will make next.

[naapsuvaimne]

for premium edition all dlc s for free, thats nice

[Vexal]

In regards to the Mystic culture getting reworked; I feel the RNG nature of the potentials is a bit....lackluster, not helped by the fact that sometimes you just end up with a worse version of another potential. In my last game with it, both of my starting Exploits were +6 vision and +9 vision. Why are they different in the first place despite locking me out of that spell for the same amount of time? It just feels bad honestly. Dissonance I didn't really mess with since I tend to do auto-battle only to avoid crashes on console.

The other branches for Mystic I haven't got to try yet, but Summoning also sounds a little lackluster, though I also don't tend to run magic-origin heavy armies due to how costly they can get compared to armies that eat up gold.

[Phalanx]

Got tired of it quick, as with AOE II. This from a man who put 13k hours into CIV IV.

[amakaqueru]

this game from an management point of view looks great. My biggest problem is the battles. They looks boring....