What you need to know
- Age of Empires 4 Patch 11009 is expected this week.
- Patch 11009 focuses on siege and civilization balance as well as bug fixes.
- The patch will wipe out older replays, as well as older campaign and skirmish saves.
Age of Empires 4 is set to receive its second patch of 2022 later this week. Patch 11009 was hinted at in the January Patch 10257 notes, and as promised there are some changes to siege (including incendiary ships) and civilizations. There are also a number of general bug fixes.
As with the previous major patches, updating your game will cause your replays, as well as skirmish and campaign saves, to stop working. Finish up those missions before downloading the patch!
General changes coming with this patch include tweaking animation cancelling to prevent faster than intended attacks, trebuchet area-of-effect damage now occurring even when the intended target is missed, and incendiary ship damage range not being out of control or explosions occurring more than once. Scout cost has been increased to 70 food across the board. And palisade walls can now always be targeted after a bug was fixed.
Fishing ships have had their shore harvest rates cut down from .75 to .66, and shore fish now have 500 food instead of 1,000 food. As for deep sea fishing, harvest rates are down to 1.0 from 1.1, and deep fishing spots now have 1,000 food instead of 2,000.
Siege weapons are no longer going to be as powerful as they once were.
Siege units have been slowed down. Formation catchup speed is down to 40% to match infantry and cavalry. And siege counter units — including Horsemen, Camel Riders, Fire Lancers, and Knights — deal +20 bonus damage to siege instead of +10. Bombards are down to 400 health from 480, and siege weapons deal their bonus damage against ships.
A number of tweaks to siege speed have also been made. Bombard speed is down to 0.62 from 0.88, Springald is down to 0.88 from 1.0, Mangonel is down to 0.65 from 0.88, and Nest of Bees is down to 0.81 from 0.94.
There are also a bunch of changes to civilizations, which I'll copy here. You can check out the full list of patch notes — including developer notes — at the official Age of Empires site.
Abbasid Dynasty
- Abbasid Age Up time reduced from 120 to 105 for every Age
- Increased Explosive Dhow detonation range from 1 to 2 tiles so it matches the intended explosion radius
- Dhow damage increased from 8 to 10
- Berry Harvest bonus increased from 25% to 30%
- Berry carry capacity increased from 10 to 13
Delhi Sultanate
- Increased Explosive Dhow detonation range from 1 to 2 tiles so it matches the intended explosion radius
- Dhow damage increased from 8 to 10
- Berry Harvest bonus increased from 25% to 30%
- Berry carry capacity increased from 10 to 13
Chinese
- Chinese Clocktower bombard health reduced from 720 to 600
- Official Unit can no longer use Supervise on Landmarks
- Reload Drills reload bonus time reduced from 33% to 20%
- Nest of Bees damage vs. ships increased from 0 to 4
- Fixed a bug where the Imperial Official's tax collection cooldown sometimes didn't trigger
HRE
- Increased Prelate base move speed from 1.0 to 1.12
- Inspire cast range increased from 3 to 4 tiles
Mongols
- Base level of the Raid ability reduced from 50 to 25
- Raid Bounty upgrade bonus decreased from 75 to 50
- Raid Bounty (Improved) upgrade bonus decreased from 100 to 75
Rus
- High Armory Technology – Fine-tuned Guns reload bonus time reduced from 33% to 20%
That about wraps up the changes coming in Age of Empires Patch 11009. The planned Spring Update might not be the next patch available depending on player feedback, and the team is still watching matchmaking times. The Spring Update is expected to add UGC creation tools, patrol, further balance updates, and more bug fixes.
If you'd like to start enjoying this RTS gem, one of the best gaming laptops can help you get things off the ground. Age of Empires 4 can be purchased separately from Microsoft or Steam, but it's also included in PC Game Pass.
