Hello Age of Empires IV community and welcome to a shiny, new Season Eleven update preview! Coming next week, we’ve got lots of exciting things in store with a new event, updates to enemy AI, a bevy of balance changes and bugfixes, plus a fun new game mode! You can read all the details in the update below.
Thanks again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!
—The Age of Empires Team
Remember that you’ll need to update your game in the Microsoft Store:
- Open the Microsoft Store.
- Click the [∙ ∙ ∙ ] symbol next to your profile picture.
- Select Downloads and updates.
- Press the Get updates button to automatically detect, download, and install the latest changes to your game!
- Open the game. The title screen should show you on Build 14.0.4963.
If you are unable to launch the game after downloading the update, make sure you add (or re-add) the Age of Empires IV client or folder as an exception to your firewall and antivirus program. That’s it; you’re ready to play!
Remember that you’ll need to update your game in Steam:
- Open Steam.
- Click on Library to see your games list.
- Click Downloads at the bottom of the Library window.
- [If the new build does not download automatically,] click the Download Now button to manually download the new update.
- Open the game. The title screen should show you on Build 14.0.4963.
That’s it; you’re ready to play!
Remember that you’ll need to update your game in the Xbox App for Windows.
- Open the Xbox app.
- Games that are installed show up on the left side of the app.
- Hover over the game or click it, and then select Update.
- [If the new build does not download automatically,] hover over the game, select More Options (…), choose Manage. Under the Files tab, choose the option to Check for Updates.
- Open the game. The title screen should show you on Build 14.0.4963.
That’s it; you’re ready to play!
Still having trouble? Visit our support site!
Please Note: As part of updating to this latest build, any saved games and observable matches made on previous builds will be unable to be loaded or replayed.
Season Eleven
Not all battles are taken through sheer might – some are won through keen eyes, smart trades, and meticulous attention to detail…claim your victory as the winds of trade bellow, and never let your enemies know your next move! It’s time to get the upper hand against your enemies with Season Eleven’s first event, Trade Secrets!
Starting today, June 26th, login to complete some fun challenges and prove your worth!
Trade Secrets Event
| Challenge | How to Unlock Reward |
| Trade Secrets 2025 | 🔒 Log in during Trade Secrets 2025 🏆 Profile Icon – Hungry Competition |
| Back in the Saddle | 🔒 Earn 750 gold with Trade Routes in a single Skirmish or Multiplayer match. 🧱 Coat of Arms Sigil – Trade Horse |
| Fair Winds | 🔒 Earn 500 gold with Sea Trade Routes in a single Skirmish or Multiplayer match. 🧱 Coat of Arms Sigil – Trade Ship |
| Strong Economy | 🔒 Earn 10,000 gold in a single Skirmish or Multiplayer match. 🧱 Coat of Arms Sigil – Balance |
| Work Smarter not Harder | 🔒 Research 15 technologies in a single Skirmish or Multiplayer match. 🧱 Coat of Arms Sigil Frame – Horse Shoe |
| Paying Tribute | 🔒 Send 20 tributes in Skirmish or Multiplayer matches. 🧱 Coat of Arms Sigil Banner Pattern – Great Supply |
| Cutting Supply | 🔒 Kill 30 Traders in Skirmish or Multiplayer matches. 🧱 Coat of Arms Sigil Banner Pattern – Raining Daggers |
| Building Demand | 🔒 Build 30 markets in Skirmish or Multiplayer matches. 🧱 Coat of Arms Sigil Banner Shape – Market Stall |
New Seasonal Game Mode: Chaotic Climate!
Introducing New Seasonal Game Mode: Chaotic Climate! Playable in skirmish and multiplayer, this game mode cycles through the four seasons, introducing unique global effects over time. View the current seasonal effect from the Town Center.
Chaotic Climate will be available to play today, June 26th!
Ranked Season Eleven Updates
Things are heating up this summer as the leaderboards are once more ablaze with worthy contenders! We’re kicking off Season Eleven with a series of rewards for both solo and team ranked. Bring things to a boil as you climb your way up the ranks – Season Eleven begins on June 26th.
Map Pool Rotation
We’re back with another map pool rotation to kick off Season Eleven! Prove your skill and best your rivals on this fresh set of battlegrounds.
1v1 Ranked Map Pool
- Boulder Bay → Archipelago
- Four Lakes → Canal
- High View → Altai
- Relic River → Rocky River
- Lipany → Hill & Dale
Team Ranked Map Pool
- Prairie → Hideout
- Continental → African Waters
- Mongolian Heights → Hedgemaze
- Rugged → Nagari
- Waterlanes → Relic River
Map Monsters Game Mode Returns
We’ve also brought back an old favorite – the Map Monsters game mode!
AI Updates
- AI players will now have increased defense for their or their allies’ wonders.
- Hard AI and higher will now retreat in a more efficient manner.
- Fixes for AI upgrades research:
- Lettre de Change (Knights Templar)
- Treasure Towers (Knights Templar)
- Templar Brother (Knights Templar)
- Cistercian Abbeys (Holy Roman Empire)
- When playing Nomad mode, AI monarchs will now correctly path towards their corresponding Town Center in early game.
- In early Nomad mode, vulnerable AI monarchs will now attempt to flee if attacked.
- Holy Roman Empire AI players will now train Black Rider units.
Hotkeys
- Market Landmarks can now use the Shift hotkey to bulk buy and sell resources.
- The Buy and Sell icons at the Market now dynamically update when players hold the Shift hotkey.
Caster Mode
- Naval units are now immediately subtracted from the population value in the caster mode UI when they are destroyed.
UX/UI & Menus (All Platforms)
- Standardized tool-tips so that ‘Heavy’ units are described correctly as ‘Heavy’ instead of ‘armored’.
General Map Changes
- Fixed a Points of Interest bug preventing the Wolf Den from taking damage when attacked from certain angles.
Map-Specific Changes
Waterlanes
- AI players will now correctly transport villagers to other islands.
Flankwoods
- Fixed an issue on Flankwoods where gold spawns were sometimes unevenly distributed.
Sunkenlands
- Starting small gold nodes on Sunkenlands have been adjusted to prevent them from spawning too close to each other.
Mountain Lakes
- Fixed an issue with too much water generation on Mountain Lakes.
General Changes & Bugfixes
- Scouts will continue moving when the automatic drop off target is changed.
- Deer flee distance reduced from 2.5 → 1.5 tiles when startled by nearby military units.
- Military units now need to be within 1 tile to startle a deer (down from 1.75 tiles).
Developer Note: This brings military units in line with how Scouts and Villagers interact with Deer already.
- Deer flee cooldown increased from 1 – 8 seconds to 14 – 20 seconds.
- Defeated units that had a large sight radius (i.e. trebuchets) will no longer briefly reveal everything in a large circle but will appropriately follow the same visibility rules as when they were alive.
- Boot Camp cost reduced from 50 Food 125 Gold → 25 Food 75 Gold.
- Fresh Foodstuffs Villager discount increased from 35% → 40%.
- Fixed an issue where Trade Caravans used the incorrect description label.
- Expilatores reward for defeating Workers increased from 20 Gold → 30 Gold.
- Fixed an issue which prevented players from placing their Cistern near an ally or enemy Cistern.
- Fire Lancer charge damage increased from 13/15 → 15/17.
- Extra Materials technology repair rate increased from 20 → 25.
- Farm gather rate bonus increased in Dark Age, Feudal Age, and Castle Age from 15/20/25% → 20/25/30%.
- Inspiration gather rate reduced from 40% → 35%.
- Villagers will drop off resources when finishing building landmarks that act as resource drop offs.
- Villagers constructing the Aachen Chapel will now drop off resources once it is fully built.
- Japanese tech tree now includes their Barracks discount bonus.
- The buff applied from being in a Buddhist Conversion and Nehan Conversion now have buff indicators.
- Villagers constructing the Kura Storehouse will now drop off resources once it is fully built.
- Javelin emplacement attack speed reduced from 1.38 → 1.12 seconds.
- Mansa Javelineer move speed reduced from 1.38 → 1.31.
- Khaganate Palace train time increased by 10%:
- Horse Archer train time increased from 50 → 55 seconds.
- Knight train time increased from 60 → 66 seconds.
- Palace guard train time increased from 50 → 55 seconds.
- Mangudai train time increased from 50 → 55 seconds.
- Warrior Monk train time increased from 40 → 44 seconds.
- Nest of Bees train time increased from 50 → 55 seconds.
- Huihui Pao train time increased from 63 → 69 seconds.
- Improved food gathering technology effect increased from 5% → 7.5% per technology.
- Fixed a bug where Mongol pastures would spawn their second sheep faster when a rally point was set during construction.
- Fixed an issue where the Khan would not deal more than 1 damage to buildings after researching Incendiary Arrows.
- Fixed an issue where placing two Kurultais from two different players next to one another would cause the aura to only be applied to one of the players.
- Fixed an issue preventing the buff indicator for the Khan’s Hunter from displaying sometimes.
- Imperial Council:
- Mehter Drums now spawn 2 Mehters at the Town Center.
- Akinji System now spawns 3 Akinji at the Town Center.
- Extensive Fortifications now also discounts Town Centers.
- Pax Ottomana Villager bonus production speed increased from 50% → 75%.
- Janissary bonus damage vs Cavalry reduced from 12/15 →11/13.
- Janissary Guns technology damage reduced from +5 → +4.
- Fixed an issue where some Ottoman Vizier Points would allow players to go over 200 population.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Imperial Council upgrades to be displayed incorrectly in the tech tree.
- High Trade House aura range reduced from 8.75 → 7.75 tiles.
- Fixed a bug where a Lodya Galley created after researching Heated Projectiles was unable to move.
Variant Civilization Changes
The following changes apply only to the variant versions of the classic civilizations. Variant civilizations share in many of the changes made to their parent civilization listed above.
- The Structural Reinforcements ability (granted by Siege Carpentry) no longer has an activation cost.
- Fixed an issue where Trade Caravans used the incorrect description label.
- Lord of Lancaster ranged and melee armor now improves by +1 in Castle Age and +2 in the Imperial Age.
- Hobelar attack speed reduced from 1.75 → 1.5.
- Hill Training damage bonus reduced from 150% → 125%.
- Demilancer health reduced from 140/160/200 → 130/150/190.
- Elite Yeoman damage reduced from 9 → 8.
- Collar of Esses bonus damage vs Heavy reduced from +6 → +5.
- Condensed Land Practices technology cost increased from 100 Wood 250 Gold → 125 Wood 275 Gold.
- Condensed Land Practices bonus Manor health reduced from +200 → +100.
- Open Field System bonus Manor health reduced from +300 → +200.
- Ships of the Crown:
- Bonus range reduced from +20% → +10%.
- Bonus health reduced from +20% → +15%.
- Lancaster Villagers now have a buff indicator displaying their Wool Industries Sheep gather rate bonus.
- Fixed a bug that could result in the Companion Equipment upgrade disappearing or reappearing in unintended buildings.
- Civilization preview now displays the correct number for Jeanne d’Arc’s economic technology discount.
- Corrected the numbers displayed in Jeanne d’Arc’s tech tree for Valorous Inspiration.
- The Hospitaller Commanderie now increases worker move speed by +10%.
- The French Commanderie discount and production speed no longer apply to naval units.
- Genitour:
- Health increased from 100/120 → 105/125.
- Line of sight has increased to better accommodate its attack range.
- Szlachta Cavalry:
- Health reduced from 350 → 340.
- Damage reduced from 32 → 31.
- Fixed a crash that would occasionally occur when aging up as the Knights Templar.
- Corrected a bug causing the Venetian Galley to benefit from the ranged damage Blacksmith upgrades.
- Fixed an issue where Serjeants wouldn’t benefit from the Fortress Desert Outposts aura until after Desert Citadels has been researched.
- Golden Cuirass damage reduction hitpoint threshold reduced from 30% → 20%.
- Golden Cuirass cost increased from 50 Food 100 Gold → 75 Food 125 Gold.
- Villagers constructing the Aachen Chapel will now drop off resources once it is fully built.
Investigation
Your reports continue being crucial to our prioritization and implementation of fixes and features in the game. Keep them coming!
For other known issues, please visit this page to see what’s being tracked!
Coming Up…
We’ve been listening to your feedback and are currently investigating some changes related to our seasonal setup. One thing we’ve heard is that limiting access to seasonal game modes and biomes can make them hard to fully enjoy. Starting with this release, we are beginning to unlock and maintain availability of some of the previously released seasonal content.
We’ll have more to share on this soon, so please expect more news from us on how we’ll be improving our approach to seasons in the future, as well as more news about the previously announced second DLC planned for this year!
DISCLAIMER
Please note that this list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.
For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.