City Cap in Age of Wonders 4 - How to Increase and Use It to Your Advantage
In this guide we talk about how to increase city cap in AoW4. However, we also provide useful tips on how to successfully develop despite this mechanic.
Age of Wonders 4 is the latest addition to the popular series of turn-based strategy games. Players can pick from various predefined factions or create their own nation from scratch. You can embark on a journey to conquer magical worlds filled with dangerous creatures. Building outposts and conquering cities is an essential strategy to expand your territory and claim victory. That is why in this guide, we will provide instructions on how to increase city cap in AoW4.
City Cap in Age of Wonders 4 – basic information and tips
To balance the game, developers introduced city cap. It is the mechanic which limits the number of cities, which you can have. Fortunately, you can conquer/build more settlements than that, but if you cross the limit, they will get 25% income penalty. You can check your current city cap in the left corner of the screen.
If you want to maximize usage of your city cap you have to use space carefully. Here are some tips:
- Conquer/absorb free cities – they are often developed and situated in an interesting spots with strategic resources. Taking them over (military or diplomatically) is a good option, if you don’t want to spend a lot of time and resources to grow your own settlement.
- Develop existing cities – your settlements can get bigger and absorb provinces around them. To do that you have to make sure that the population grows (it needs food) and build Town Halls, which will provide you with further annex range.
- Build only in the best locations – it is very important to create settlements only in the vicinity of important resources or places. Don’t construct cities in the middle of nowhere.
- You cannot build outposts on all maps – there is a map modifier (Megacity), which blocks building of new settlements. You can read about this and more here: How to Build an Outpost in Age of Wonders 4.
How to increase the city cap in AoW4
- Empire Development – in the left corner of the screen there is a circle button “Empire development”. Click it and it will open new menu. There is a white General section at the bottom of the tree. Look at it. You can find here Expanded Governance trait. It is possible to buy it for Empire points. Sadly, each purchase will make this option more expensive.
- Traits – if you decide to create your own race, you can choose various perks. One of the tabs features Society Traits, select Adept Settlers. Picking this bonus will provide you with +1 starting city cap.
- Mods – AoW4 can be modded, and developers encourage players to create new content and some tweaks. The game has even integrated workshop on Steam. It is probably the matter of time, when some interesting mods about city cap will emerge.
