Spring has sprung and with it some great deals on all your favorite Age of Empires titles! Enjoy savings on all the Definitive Edition games, plus maybe pick up a copy of a DLC or two! Don’t miss your chance and take advantage of the Spring Sale now through April 15!
Our first major update of 2022 is now available, bringing with it Ranked Seasons, the Content Editor beta (and Mods!), Seasonal Events, Major Balance changes, as well as a ton of quality-of-life changes to Age of Empires IV!
Celebrate alongside us in our Season One update to Age of Empires IV: Festival of Ages!
Season One Overviews
Be sure to check out our previous posts for more information on everything coming to Season One:
Age of Empires IV – Season One Update Release Notes
We’re thrilled to officially welcome you to [I]Age of Empires IV Season One: Festival of Ages – our first major update of 2022 – launching tomorrow morning, April 7th! As we shared with our updated roadmap, our view for these major updates is that we should be offering something for everyone, so whether you’re a competitive player, a campaign enthusiast or someone who’s eager to get your hands on the [I]Age of Empires IV Content Editor (Beta), we hope you’ll enjoy diving right into our largest set of release notes to date!
Read on to learn more about the new features coming to [I]Age IV tomorrow, how we’re approaching civilization and map balance, and more below! We’ll also spend some time sharing what we learned from our first ever Public Update Preview (PUP) and some of what we have planned following the official release of the Season One update.
As a reminder, we’ve already shared a deep dive on the Content Editor & Mods as well as Ranked Season One, which is set to kick off next week, Wednesday, April 13th, so you’ll have some time to explore these changes before you hit the ranked ladder to demonstrate your prowess and earn rewards!
NOTE: Upon updating to this patch, you will no longer be able to utilize replays from previous updates. At times, saves will also be impacted, though we’ve taken additional steps to ensure your campaign saves are not impacted by this particular update. Skirmish saves from the previous patch are impacted and will no longer be accessible after you update.
You can find details on these changes and more below!
All About Seasons in Age of Empires IV
Season One: Festival of Ages is upon us!
We’re excited to share our first Season with all of you, so let’s dive in and learn more about what exactly a Season entails.
What is a Season?
Seasons in [I]Age of Empires IV consist of new content and rewards to progress towards and unlock over a set period of time.
Season One: Festival of Ages runs from 10AM PT on April 13th through 10AM PT on June 30th, during which time you will be able to participate in Ranked Seasons, complete Seasonal Events and earn Login Rewards.
Compete in Ranked Matches against fierce opponents throughout the season as you progress through the rankings, forging your path to conquest and triumph.
Demonstrate your strategic prowess as you compete for exclusive rewards.
The Ranked Season covers the entirety of Season One: Festival of Ages, running April 13th through June 30th.
Complete challenges for rewards and show off your accomplishments in your matches.
Numerous events will also take place over the course of Season One: Festival of Ages, each lasting for two weeks long, with a one week break between.
Event 1: April 13 – April 27
Event 2: May 4 – May 18 Stay tuned!
Event 3: May 26 – June 8 Stay tuned!
Event 4: June 15 – June 29 Stay tuned!
When you log in for the first time during each event period (as indicated above) you will receive an exclusive Login Reward. No tricks, no challenges, just log in and it’s yours!
Season One Overviews
Be sure to check out our other blogs on everything that’s coming to Season One:
Customize Your Battle with the Age of Empires IV Content Editor Beta!
Season One: Festival of Ages is finally here and we’re celebrating with everything related to the beta launch of the [I]Age of Empires IV Content Editor!
What is it?
The [I]Age of Empires IV Content Editor will be your one-stop shop for custom play. Want to create your own highly specialized map? Want to play with a French Knight that’s overpowered to the nth degree? With this tool at your fingertips, you get the complete say on how to play.
With the launch of Season One, the Beta release of the [I]Age of Empires IV Content Editor will allow you to play around with several customization options.
Crafted Maps
Create your own custom map for multiplayer, skirmishes, or custom games with Crafted Maps! Crafted Maps will be the easiest tool to use when customizing your match, containing terrain elements, wildlife, resources, units, and scripted events.
Difficulty Level: Beginner
Tuning Packs
Customize and modify the stats of your units with Tuning Packs! With this tool, you can modify the unit cost, speed, toughness, attacks – and anything else that affects unit behaviour.
Difficulty Level: Intermediate
Generated Maps
Love how maps in the game change each time you play them?
Now you can make your own Generated Maps using the [I]Age of Empires IV
Content Editor Beta. Using the Generated Map mod, you’ll be able to create randomly generated maps that adhere to a set of rules of your choosing, while continuing to offer variation each time you play using our map generator. Get started with our templates and documentation and when you’re ready, put your programming skills to test as you create your own complex maps!
Generated Maps allow you to create randomly generated maps for skirmishes or multiplayer. It differs from Crafted Maps as you create scenarios based on data to nudge the random map generator in a specific direction you choose.
Difficulty Level: Experienced
Game Modes
Game Mode is the ultimate way to script your matches! This is for expert modders, requiring knowledge of both Lua and SCAR (short for SCripting At Relic). Re-write the fundamentals and change behaviours (I.e. Victory conditions) – create an entirely different game within the engine!
Difficulty Level: Expert
Watch the Tutorials
Ready to get started? Take a look at the detailed tutorials for you on how to navigate and use the official Content Editor:
Celebrate with us as we welcome you to the Season One update to Age of Empires IV: Festival of Ages!
Landing soon, the first major update of 2022 brings Ranked Seasons, the Content Editor beta (and Mods!), Seasonal Events, Major Balance changes, as well as a ton of quality-of-life changes to Age of Empires IV! But don’t let us just tell you about it – check out the Season Update trailer:
Read on to see all the changes and new additions that are coming to Age of Empires IV, as well as where to check out specific deeper dives into the major features that will be released with the Season One update.
Plus, join us on stream TODAY, March 31st, at 2:30PM PT on Twitch for a preview of what’s to come in our Season One update!
Customize Your Battle with the Content Editor
In the coming days, we’ll be diving deeper into the newest tool that will change how you do battle in Age of Empires IV – the Content Editor. The Age of Empires IV Content Editor (Beta) will be your one-stop shop for custom play. Want to create your own highly specialized map? Want to play with a French Knight that’s overpowered to the nth degree? With this tool at your fingertips, you get the complete say on how to play.
We’ll be taking a closer look at some of the internally made mods by the dev team, as well as some of the more specific features of the Content Editor (Beta), along with helpful tips on how to start making your very own mod.
Plus, stay tuned for an upcoming livestream as we talk about the Content Editor (Beta), mods, and maps with the development team.
All About Seasons
After that it’s all going to be about Seasons! Seasons in Age of Empires IV consists of new content and rewards to progress towards and unlock over a set period of time. This includes both the Ranked Seasons for those who want to take on the challenge to climb the competitive ladder, and Seasonal Events where you can unlock rewards by completing in-game challenges.
We’ll be previewing these soon, including what kind of challenges and rewards will be available when the update goes live!
Balance & Game Updates
With the Season One Update, it’ll come with a whole host of balance and quality-of-life changes, including global build queue, hotkey improvements, and more. Stay tuned for the entire release notes, as they’ll go live when the update goes live later next week.
That’s not all – there's also two additions to the Age of Empires IV line-up including a brand-new Advanced Combat Art of War challenge, aimed at preparing you for more complex combat scenarios, as well as the new MegaRandom map.
And this is just the start – as mentioned in our updated roadmap, Season One is only the beginning. Check out the Roadmap to see what else is in store for Age of Empires IV later this year!
Edit 3/31/2022: A previous version of this blog indicated an incorrect date for the upcoming patch.
Earn College Credit with UArizona-Created Content!
Current and future University of Arizona and Arizona Online students can now earn credit toward their college degrees when they interact with special educational content while playing Age of Empires IV.
The University of Arizona Illuminated History Experience, developed by two Department of History faculty members – associate professor of medieval history Paul Milliman and associate professor of Roman history and department head Alison Futrell – in collaboration with game designers from World’s Edge game studio and Relic Entertainment, is now available on the Age of Empires website. The educational material supplements the historical storytelling in the Age of Empires IV campaign and enables players to take part in additional out-of-game content, including testing their knowledge of the historical time period.
Based on admission status with the University of Arizona and Arizona Online, engaging with the content could allow players to earn one academic credit at the university.
“It’s a really innovative way to learn,” Futrell said. “We don’t know of any partnerships like this between a university and video game designers anywhere else in the world. We hope that both students on the University of Arizona main campus and Age of Empires players will be excited about the course and interested in other classes the history department offers.”
As with any college course, there are some required materials. Prospective students will need to have access to Age of Empires IV on Steam. All players will need to be signed into the game using an Xbox Live account, available for free.
Professor Futrell, based out of the UArizona main campus, is available for in-person interviews. Online interviews with Milliman or the game designers can be arranged by request.
Media contact: Jason Ground University Communications Office: 520-621-8563| Cell: 520-954-0175 jground@arizona.edu
[previewyoutube="OqLS9bA90Ts;full"] The Golden League, hosted by Elite Gaming Channel, is the latest Age of Empires IV event. With a prize pool of $125,000, it’s the biggest in franchise history. Over ten grueling weeks of action, all online, all leading to one champion!
The Golden League is broadcast live at 15 GMT on every Saturday and Sunday for the entirety of the event! So tune in and join us as some of your favorite commentators including Aussie Drongo, Turin, Lidakor, Dave, Nili, Killer Pigeon, Mitoe, and others, guide you through the action!
To kick things off, 64 of the greatest players in AoE IV begin by taking each other on in three bracket rounds, each with a unique theme. Depending on their performance in these brackets, the players will score points on the Golden League Table! At the end of these three brutal rounds, only the top 8 that somehow emerge somewhat unscathed will progress to the Elite Playoffs, where they’ll battle once more in a round robin group stage. The top two in each group will then progress to the Final Four where a champion will be crowned!
The first round is Open Battlefields! Here players will have nowhere to hide as they fight on the most open of maps! This is the first opportunity to begin scoring some valuable points to qualify for the Golden League Elite Playoffs.
Round 2: Off-Meta Combat
In the second round, players are forced to show off their versatility as we enter the Off-Meta Combat round, where the three strongest civilizations on each map will be banned! Players will be forced to rely on strategic gameplay with the five remaining civilizations. Here is a chance for strong players to reinforce their positions atop the league, or for challengers to knock them down and emerge victorious!
Round 3: Exclusive Conclusion
The final preliminary round is the Exclusive Conclusion, where each player will have the opportunity to draft unique civilizations that they alone will be able to play with in their match. This is the last opportunity to accumulate points to qualify for the Golden League Elite Playoffs!
Schedule
The Golden League starts every Saturday and Sunday at 15GMT from March 26 until May 29!
Open Battlefields: March 26 – 27 & April 2 – 3
Off-Meta Combat: April 9 – 10 & 16 – 17
Exclusive Conclusion: April 23 – 24 & April 30 – May 1
Playoff Group Stage: May 7 – 8, 14 – 15 & 21 – 22
Final Four: May 28 – 29
Learn More About Golden League
If you want to follow the progress of players as they take on the Golden League, as well as more information on the rules and broadcasts, be sure to check out the interactive league table at www.elitegamingchannel.com.
This coming Wednesday, March 23rd, the platform team will be taking the multiplayer servers down for regular maintenance. Please note:
Ranked matchmaking will disabled exactly one hour before the maintenance window to prevent disruption to newly-formed matches.
Any matches still in progress at the start of the maintenance window will be disrupted when it begins.
DURING THE MAINTENANCE WINDOW, YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO LAUNCH THE GAME, BUT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MATCHMAKE OR ACCESS ANY ONLINE FEATURES.
To prevent any interruptions, we recommend wrapping up any games at least 10 minutes before the maintenance window. The downtime is expected to last 1 to 2 hours. You can watch this thread with any changes to the schedule as they arise, as well as the all-clear when the maintenance is complete.
Thank you for your patience!
Check out Season One content with Age IV’s Public Update Preview Today
We are excited to announce more details regarding our Public Update Preview (PUP) on Steam for Age of Empires IV—launching today, March 10th! Owners of Age of Empires IV on Steam now have access to many of the exciting changes we have planned for the Season One Update through Friday, March 18th.
PUP sessions will not only present a sneak peek to owners of the game but also provide an opportunity for passionate players to step up, give feedback, and help us identify potential issues ahead of our major updates. Builds will generally contain new features, content, or bug fixes and will provide a preview of what’s coming to the game in the weeks leading up to a major update.
Among the future content available during this PUP is a first look at mods! Join in if you’d like to experience some of the mods we’ve created in-house and plan to launch with Season One, including:
In addition to a number of official mods, you’ll also be able to try out other exciting changes and quality life improvements like:
Read up on all of the exciting content and changes by viewing the Release Notes here. You will need to be logged in with a Steam account that owns Age of Empires IV to view. This is located in the same forum where you will leave any feedback or report bugs during this Public Update Preview session.
Starting now, owners on Steam can access the Age IV PUP by following the instructions below:
Please note that replays in the PUP build are not compatible with the retail version. Players in the PUP version will only be able to match with those also on the PUP build. To revert back to retail, simply change your beta branch (step 4 above) back to “None.”
