Age of Empires 4: Developing the settlement Age of Empires 4 guide, walkthrough

This page of the Age of Empires 4 guide contains information about developing a settlement.

Last update: 08 December 2021

This page of the guide to Age of Empires 4 contains the most important information about developing a settlement and proceeding through the subsequent ages. You will learn how to quickly build a strong economy, create a strong defense and prepare for conquest.

• Economy
• Advancing to the next age
• Defense system
• Army

Economy

Workers gather materials needed to produce units, construct buildings, and conduct research on new technology. You can hire new Villagers in the Town Center.

Start the game by hiring 2-3 workers to harvest food from sheep, then send a Scout to search the nearby area and deliver the found sheep. Start making new Villagers in the meantime.

Send more workers to cut down trees; if the forest is far from the Town Center, build a Lumber Camp near the trees to deliver the material faster.

Hire another 2-3 workers to mine gold. Build the correct warehouse if the mine is too far from the Town Center. Send the newly generated workers mainly to harvest food and cut down trees. These two resources will be the most useful to you in the early stages of the game.

We also recommend hiring at least one worker to work in the quarry right at the beginning. Stone buildings will only be unlocked when you advance to the next age, but collecting this resource from the beginning of the game will definitely come in handy.

Building a few houses will increase the maximum population. Then build the Barracks, the only available military building in the 1st age. Quickly create some military units to defend against the first enemy attacks. If you are playing on a map divided by mountains, rivers, or woodlands, place small squads at the passages to your settlement. This way the enemy will not break into your camp and your workers will be safe.

The key to starting the game well is to properly use your resources, increase the number of your workers, and provide them with protection and new sources of materials. Purchase upgrades to storage buildings to improve the Villagers' work.

Additionally, an important part of a strong economy is advancing to a new age as soon as possible, to get access to new buildings, technologies and better military units.

Once you reach the Feudal Age, or are II, you will unlock the Market. You can create Traders, who will generate additional gold for your settlement by creating new trade routes once you send them to the nearby Trade Posts.

Advancing to the next age

To advance to the next age, you need to build Landmarks. Each civilization has unique Landmarks with unique bonuses or technologies. Age of Empires 4 has 4 ages that each civilization goes through.

(I) Dark Age

Available buildings:

1. Farms,
2. Houses,
3. Warehouses,
4. Barracks,
5. Docks,
6. Wooden defense buildings.

(II) Feudal Age

Available buildings:

1. Blacksmith,
2. Market,
3. Town Center,
4. Other military buildings,
5. Stone defense buildings.

(III) Castle Age

Available buildings:

1. Monastery,
2. Siege Workshop,
3. Keep.

(IV) Imperial Age

Available buildings:

1. University,
2. Wonder.

Defense system

And important element of defense is knowing the entire map in detail, specifically the enemy's positions. Placing the Outposts correctly will allow you to control large areas and protect strategic locations. These buildings have a good range of view and several places in the garrison.

Outposts, wooden palisades and gates have been available since the 2nd age. They're useful for fencing off Sacred Sites or Trade Posts already at the early stage of the game.

Reaching age III will unlock the option to build stone walls. Once you have collected enough stone, immediately start walling off your settlement to protect workers and production buildings. Build some towers that, with purchased upgrades, will provide additional protection during a siege.

Long-distance units placed on the wall will quickly alert the rest of the army of an approaching enemy, and immediately open fire. When you're walling the settlement, you may also want to build Keeps - defense buildings with plenty of garrison space.

Army

Going through the ages will give you access to better and better military units. When building an army, remember about technological research. Upgrading your army will provide additional armor points, unlock new skills for certain units and provide various bonuses.

Aside from infantry and cavalry, the game features some interesting ballistic and siege machines. These range from simple battering rams and catapults, to powerful trebuchets with tremendous firepower.

Religious units, available mostly from the age III onwards, are perfect to support your troops. They can regenerate the troops that are within their range. What's more, when they hold a relic, they unlock conversion, which is the ability to convert your opponent to your side.