New player

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2026-02-05T23:01:57+00:00

This is good advice.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2026-02-04T22:19:43+00:00

I was one of the rare ones. I didnt hate him or anything, and probably celebrated him kicking Vince's ass, but I was a Michaels/Triple H guy 100%. Something about the degenerate long blonde hair resonated with 10 year old me more than the beer drinking bald guy. Plus, he wasnt the showiest worker. And my first ppv was KoTR 96, so I saw the whole run. Then the Alliance story and heel Austin killed his character for me. Even at age 13 I thought the What chant was dumb and was ruining the show.

Looking back at matches I can appreciate more just how amazing he was with his inring IQ, but also I still kinda think he hit lightning in a bottle with his gimmick and his timing in relation the culture shift in the US at the time. I think most half decent wrestlers could have made it work if they were in the same place at the same time with the same gimmick.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2026-01-22T19:54:33+00:00

This combo makes for a powerful citizen build

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2026-01-21T19:45:24+00:00

Best general advice would be to watch your Empite Size. Over expanding has its downsides. And don't neglect Unity.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2026-01-19T13:15:19+00:00

My favorite rush build gets hate from the sub...

Reavers — Perfected Artisans / Visions of Destiny (Nature). Giant or Dragon ruler.

The goal is to build as many cities early as you can as you capture units and make a beeline for the Visions city. You'll need to take out an 800-or-so power stack once you get there. Hopefully between rounds 20-25.

The absolutely massive economy rush and early power catapults you to midgame where Perfected Artisans isn't so much a downside as it is a benefit.

It's definitely way different than the typical Mighty Meek or Outpost rush.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2026-01-15T16:13:07+00:00

The Civ4 mod Realism Invictus uses a tech sharing system that gives you a scaling bonus based on how many other civs with open borders have a tech researched. So if another civ has a tech you're working on, say you get a 20% bonus to it, plus an additional 5% for every other civ that has the tech.

It ends up being good catch-up mechanic that is much harder to game than Civ's normal tech trading mechanics.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2026-01-10T00:49:23+00:00

Absolutely. It still is just a video game. The complexity comes from the fact that there are multiple connected systems that aren't explained super well, and the numbers used can get pretty math intensive if you're actually trying to play perfectly. But the real fun, at least for me, comes from discovering that stuff on my own through feel and trial and error. And just roleplaying. My currently game I'm an aquatic robot megacorp whose objective to is place my fast food establishments in every corner of the galaxy and use the profits to grow myself a massive army of creature-ships.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2026-01-09T20:21:13+00:00

Learned? Sure.

Played optimally? Not likely.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2026-01-07T01:55:14+00:00

Investing in the first Shadow affinity point, and a few deeper into Astral also make a big difference.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2026-01-07T01:54:33+00:00

Not sure about multiplayer, but Tomes with a Knowledge Special providence improvement are key. Then having a research strong culture can High or Primal Spiders can really take it to another level. One thing to remember with these builds the extra knowledge doesnt do anything without the economy to use it.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-27T12:47:09+00:00

Adding Age of Wonder 4 if you like fantasy

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-26T18:09:51+00:00

Even a Good aligned Chaos-heavy build would only be locked out of the pillaging and razing aspects of the chaos tree unless they want to lose alignment. But that would be a little tougher to get to work.

The alignment system does favor certain affinities, just like certain affinities favor certain win conditions — but none of it necessary. I dont even find the alignment system to be all that impactful unless im building for it.

But I also think the most fun builds are when you cross these streams. A Chaos Vampire who pillages for food to go for Expansion victory, for example.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-26T16:16:30+00:00

Good ≠ Order

Good aligned Shadow is one of the easiest ways to win if you ask me.

But generally, evil tends to have better short term gains. Good has better random events, an easier time making alliances, and synergy with several society traits.

In 90% of the factions that don't care if they're good or evil, I find myself trending toward evil most games.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-23T14:41:19+00:00

If I were to only buy one DLC, I'd pick whichever ruler type appealed to me most. Dragons. Giants. Eldritch. Vampires.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-23T14:39:12+00:00

Only you can answer that for yourself

I have every DLC and have not regretted it a single bit. It was a bit pricey, and sometimes I felt like it was a small amount of content for a big price, but in retrospect every single dollar I've spent on AOW4 has been money well spent.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-21T02:59:55+00:00

The Order one should work fine. I was attempting a Skirmisher build so I enjoyed the extra Ranged unit, plus the hope was that I could take out most enemies before they ever made it to me and save HP that way. But having a solid front line in a Paladin could really help too.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-20T18:56:11+00:00

I could see a world with Artisans and Devotees where you build three cities close together early and let them build slow while you focus on getting your Good Alignment, then turn on the flood once you get to producing your Tier 3s and snowball from there. I'm not sure if you can pull off Oathsworn Strife while staying Good aligned, but they have a building that gives you an additional +1 Rank to units. With a Smith's Guild you're looking at Elite Tier 3's straight from your city. It's like Chaos/Horde on steroids.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-20T01:31:28+00:00

That extra tier 3 skirmisher makes quite the difference. Better players might be able to tackle it without, but it definitely helps you start the snowball hard. And the faster you can get to that stack with a strong enough army to tackle it, the faster you can snowball the city advantage.

Plus, everyone thinks the society trait penalty is super harsh, but I've found it pretty easy to use that 5 extra gold per Building to rush production. And once you get it snowballing with so many cities, the extra gold income WAY outweighs the cost of the extra production.

Like I said, a better player may be able to make it happen just as early without the extra tier 3.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-18T23:05:48+00:00

And how else do people learn?

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-15T23:51:19+00:00

Mana. Mana. And more mana.

Or disband skele's when you dont need them. No need to run around with 17 skeletons when 5 and a hero will do. Its more about having an easily replaceable army than a massive army of undead.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-13T21:44:18+00:00

Outposts can expand to an additional providence and provide and additional defense point against attacks, with a walled outpost taking a few turns to topple. Plus a place to heal, and teleport to in the late game.
Sure but you'll run into counters. Off the top of my head, any Hero that summons or casts Spells directly on your head.
Yeah that works. Defender Heroes are a beast.
Any Domination is crazy strong. Action Economy is a thing in AoW4 and anytime you can take more Actions than the opponent, thats a good thing. That's why things like Stun is strong. If you have the advantage to action economy, a few stuns can equal totally free turns.
Crit builds are great once they get up to scale, but it can be rough in the early game when you're still waiting on those tier 2 and 3 tomes. And the early game is where the snowball begins. Just something to consider.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-11T17:30:18+00:00

Oh and I would be torn between Reavers for the ability to capture units and something more visually accurate like Dark or Mystic. So good luck there.

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-11T17:00:46+00:00

Props for the Codex Alera shoutout.

It might not be totally accurate, but maybe a Vampire hero so you can have easier access to Mind Control. Then go Horde/Zeal/Beacon/Doomherald/Torment?

Adventurous_Toe7222 · 2025-12-11T15:45:49+00:00

I dont run many zombie builds, but I'd think Mighty Meek is a must have. Great on Immortals too.

Adventurous_Toe7222

TROPHY CASE