RELATED: Things We Loved About Age Of Empires 4 And Things We Don’t

Since each Civilization in Age of Empires 4 has its own specialty, there are many secrets and devastating strategies hiding within the game, ready to be found and revealed. Other than the typical English + Longbowmen or French + Heavy Cavalries, players can try these strategies for a fun way to wreck the enemies.

5 Delhi Sultanate Can Win Without Gold Or Stone

Delhi Sultanate has a special playing condition where, unlike others they don’t require gold or other materials to advance. Instead, their upgrades have a much longer duration than other Civilizations. The Sultanate can garrison Scholars in Mosques and Madrasas to greatly speed up the upgrading process. Scholars can also garrison military buildings to halve production speed.

Just like every Civilization, the first tier of troops doesn’t require any gold, only food and wood. These soldiers are:

Spearman Archer Horseman

In addition to first-tier troops, Delhi can also train War Elephants without any gold. In the Imperial Age, the War Elephants are produced over time without any requirements, another process that can be accelerated by Scholars.

This plan results in an endless stream of troops. For every unit defeated, another is instantly created. Even if an army gets destroyed, a new batch will immediately be ready, giving continuous pressure upon enemies. To achieve such dominance, players have to follow these steps:

In the early game, produce Villagers non-stop and strictly assign them to gather wood and food. Use up to three Villagers to gather gold. Build a Mosque and start upgrading Efficient Production . This allows Scholars to garrison military buildings. Advance to Feudal Age , and choose the Dome of the Faith Landmark. It halves the cost of Scholars. Build a Trade Center and slowly produce Traders (up to ten or fifteen). Build blacksmith and start upgrading. Build one Barracks, Archery Range, and Stable. Garrison Scholars inside every military building. Upgrade Spearman into Hardened Spearman. Start building armies of first tiers and make sure military buildings are always training new units. Villagers’ numbers should cap at 50. 35 should be gathering food, and 15 gathering wood. Advance to Castle Age , choose House of Learning Landmark, and finish its upgrades. Build a second Barracks, Archery Range, and Stable. Build one Siege Workshop and add Scholars to these new buildings. Upgrade Hardened Spearman to Veteran Spearman , Archer to Veteran Archer , and Horseman to Veteran Horseman. Advance to the Imperial Age and choose the Palace of the Sultan Landmark. This Landmark will produce Tower War Elephants for free. Garrison four Scholars inside the Palace of the Sultan to speed up War Elephants’ production. Build the third batch of Barracks, Archery Ranges, and Stables. Garrison Scholars in them. Upgrade the troops again to Elite Spearman, Elite Archer, and Elite Horseman. Upgrade War Elephants; choose Armor Beasts from Stable and Siege Elephant from Archer Range.

All of this can be achieved in around 20 minutes. The turning point, however, is in the Feudal Age, where players can start their mass troop production. Buying Siege units is also viable and easy, since traders will generate the gold needed.

4 Early Abbasids Use Battering Rams

Abbasids Dynasty can build Battering Rams early. These are great early game siege units that only attack buildings and don’t target enemies’ troops. However, creating one Battering Ram requires a whopping 300 wood. To be able to push enemies early with this siege weapon, players have to follow these steps:

At the start of the game, send one Villager to a potential enemy land while it’s concealed. Send a Scout in front of the Villager to look for enemies. Keep producing Villagers and use most of them to gather wood. The rest can gather food. Once the Scout finds an enemy, check the whole area around them. Hide the Villager in a place where the enemy won’t notice. Build barracks close to the target area. Train up to five Spearmen and scatter them around to the targeted enemy in areas they won’t suspect, such as areas that don’t have resources. Start building Battering Rams and target the early age’s vital buildings like Mills, Lumber Camps, Mining Camps, and Houses to halt their progress. Keep doing so for the first ten minutes. It’s not worth doing after the time pass.

RELATED: Pro Tips For Age Of Empires 4 You Need To Know

Players should keep these things in mind:

Don’t target Landmarks. They have high HP, and Rams can’t destroy them fast enough. It’s better to surprise the enemy with one Ram than wait for several. This siege weapon is costly, so it’s better to not waste time waiting for multiple Rams. This early push is especially effective against the English. They heavily focus on producing Longbowmen, but arrows don’t hurt Rams at all. If players are in a position to choose their target, definitely pick on English.

3 Rus’ Sneaky Monks

Rus have a special type of Monks that ride horses. These Warrior Monks are fast, mobile, and have high HP. This allows them to participate in battles and deal decent damage, unlike typical Monks.

RELATED: Age Of Empires 4: How To Get A Wonder Victory

In the Castle Age, players can start collecting Relics around the map. But instead of putting them in Monasteries like other Civilizations, Rus can further benefit from Relics. With the Warrior Monk’s mobility, players can lure enemy units into battle and sneak a Warrior Monk (holding a Relic) in between the battling armies. Then, cast Conversion to turn enemies’ troops into players’ troops.

2 Late-Game Thunderstrike

For this method, players will have an army waiting behind the opponent’s lines of defense. Then, at the right time, strike them hard and destroy their Landmarks with a quick attack. This strategy is guaranteed to destroy at least one target.

Players usually protect the front line of their base. Even when building a new Town Center further into the map, the defense will focus on the front side. Therefore, the next strategy goes against this initial instinct:

At the start of the game, immediately send a Villager to a potential enemy land. Follow the Villager with a Scout and look for enemies. Once an opponent is found, Scout should check the whole area around them. Hide the Villager in a place the enemy won’t suspect, preferably in an area that doesn’t have many trees and resources. This way, enemies likely won’t revisit the area. Once it’s comfortable, build a Town Center and a couple of military buildings next to it. After all the buildings are ready, start mass-producing troops. Build two armies. One small army will stay in the player’s base to defend and raid enemies, while the bigger army stays behind the enemy’s base. Occasionally, scout and raid the enemy from their frontline, luring them into defending that side of their land. When ready, wait until the enemy moves their army outside their land, and then attack them from behind.

Once the attack starts, Players have around two to three minutes inside the target’s base. They should maximize this opportunity by prioritizing Landmarks. Most Landmarks can be destroyed easily by Cavalries and foot soldiers, while defensive Landmarks require siege units. Remember to bring archers to protect the siege.

1 Counter The French’s Royal Knights

There’s no doubt that the French have the best unit in the game, Royal Knights. This heavy Cavalry is so overpowered that everyone is using them. A helpless player watching over them, burning and raiding, would think that nothing can kill them (while they can kill everything).

In most cases, that’s true, but Abbasid’s Camels beg to differ. Building Light Camel units such as Camel Riders and Camel Archers are highly effective to counter the French’s Royal Knights. The desert creatures reduce Cavalry’s attack while having an extra defense against them. As the Camels advance, it will be even easier to deal with the Royal Knights.

Age of Empires 4 is currently available to play on PC.

MORE: Age of Empires 4 Review