The Anniversary Edition is Age of Empires IV one year on from its October 2021 launch, adding the Ottomans and the Malians to the original eight civilisations for a roster of ten. Every civilisation ages up by building Landmarks rather than clicking a generic button, so the choice between two Landmarks per age is a real strategic fork instead of a formality. Matches run to a 200 population cap across four ages, and you win by Landmark destruction, by holding Sacred Sites, or by finishing a Wonder and surviving the countdown.
Starting Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition is a strategy game built around Landmark ageing up and Relics and Sacred Sites. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| English | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| French | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Mongols | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Ottomans | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Malians | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with French. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Malians as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Landmark ageing up
Advancing an age means choosing and constructing one of two Landmarks, each with a different bonus. The English Council Hall pumps out Longbowmen, the French School of Cavalry cuts Knight costs and training time, and the Abbasid Dynasty instead builds wings onto a single House of Wisdom.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Landmark ageing up works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Dry Arabia
The open standard map and the ranked default. Almost no natural chokepoints, so early aggression is always live and the player who scouts first usually decides where the game happens.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Royal Knight: it's the most accessible early upgrade. The French unique heavy cavalry, which gains a damage bonus from its charge. Cheap and fast to produce out of the School of Cavalry Landmark.
Step 4: Understand Relics and Sacred Sites
Religious units collect Relics from ruins and garrison them in a Monastery, Mosque or Prayer Tent for a steady gold trickle. Sacred Sites are fixed map objectives, and holding enough of them starts a countdown that ends the game if the enemy cannot break the hold.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Black Forest
Dense forest with narrow lanes between players, which turns the early game into a walling contest. Booming civilisations and heavy siege thrive here while cavalry raids struggle.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Landmark ageing up
Advancing an age means choosing and constructing one of two Landmarks, each with a different bonus. The English Council Hall pumps out Longbowmen, the French School of Cavalry cuts Knight costs and training time, and the Abbasid Dynasty instead builds wings onto a single House of Wisdom.
Relics and Sacred Sites
Religious units collect Relics from ruins and garrison them in a Monastery, Mosque or Prayer Tent for a steady gold trickle. Sacred Sites are fixed map objectives, and holding enough of them starts a countdown that ends the game if the enemy cannot break the hold.
Counter unit triangle
Spearmen beat cavalry, cavalry beat archers and ranged units, archers beat infantry, and handcannoneers such as the Ottoman Janissary punch through armour. Sending the wrong unit type into a fight loses armies that were numerically larger.
Siege engines and walls
Stone walls, towers and Keeps make direct assaults expensive, so battering rams, mangonels, bombards and the Ottoman Great Bombard exist to break them. Springalds counter siege engines in turn, which means an army without anti siege cover gets dismantled from range.
Civilisation specific economies
Economies are genuinely asymmetric. The Malian Pit Mine pulls 35 gold per minute from a gold vein without depleting it, Rus players earn bounty gold from hunting, and Mongols cannot build stone walls at all but can pack up buildings and move them.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Picking the wrong Landmark for your plan, then playing a strategy the Landmark actively does not support
2. Fighting with a single unit type and losing an entire army to a smaller mixed force that has the counter
3. Letting the Town Center idle while microing an early raid, which quietly costs six or seven villagers of economy
4. Building an army with no springalds or anti siege cover, then losing it to two mangonels at a chokepoint
5. Ignoring Relics and Sacred Sites in a long game, which hands the opponent free gold income and a countdown victory path
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Landmark ageing up and Relics and Sacred Sites
- Choose French as starting build
- Clear Dry Arabia main content
- Acquire Royal Knight or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Black Forest
- Send your scout on a loop the moment the game starts and keep it moving. Sheep found in the first two minutes go straight under the Town Center and save your villagers from walking, which is worth more than any Dark Age upgrade.
- The Town Center should never sit idle in the first ten minutes. A single missed villager compounds through the whole game, and the difference between a good and a bad opening is usually five or six villagers, not army composition.
Tips for New Players
- Send your scout on a loop the moment the game starts and keep it moving. Sheep found in the first two minutes go straight under the Town Center and save your villagers from walking, which is worth more than any Dark Age upgrade.
- The Town Center should never sit idle in the first ten minutes. A single missed villager compounds through the whole game, and the difference between a good and a bad opening is usually five or six villagers, not army composition.
- Choose Landmarks for what you plan to do, not for what looks strongest. The English Council Hall only pays off if you actually mass Longbowmen, and the French School of Cavalry is wasted if you never leave your base.
- Bring springalds to any fight where the enemy has mangonels or bombards. Melee units die to siege before they close the distance, and an army with no anti siege answer loses to a smaller one that has it.
- Collect Relics early with a religious unit and garrison them for gold. That trickle funds gold hungry units like Knights and Janissaries without adding a single villager to the gold seam.
- Against Mongols, remember they cannot build stone walls. That means their base is always crackable, and a mid game push into their production is punishing even when they are ahead on map control.
- Malian Pit Mines do not deplete the gold vein, so building several early creates income that outlasts every other civilisation's gold seams. Plan the mid game around out spending the opponent rather than out fighting them.
- Ottoman Military Schools produce units for free but slowly, so building three or four of them early converts into a real army by Castle Age. That army costs nothing, which frees your resources for siege and upgrades.
- Wall the chokes on closed maps such as Black Forest, but do not wall on Dry Arabia unless you have already lost map control. Stone walls cost time and stone that would otherwise be Landmarks and army.
- Watch the Sacred Site timer as carefully as your army. A quiet capture of two Sacred Sites while both players trade armies elsewhere can end the game before anyone has built an Imperial Age Landmark.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Anniversary Edition add over the base game?
It bundles the Ottomans and the Malians, taking the roster from eight civilisations to ten, along with the maps, masteries and balance work that arrived with the October 2022 update.
Which civilisation is easiest to learn?
The English. Their bonuses are straightforward, the Council Hall gives a clear plan around massed Longbowmen, and defensive play forgives the build order mistakes every new player makes.
How do you win a match?
Destroy every enemy Landmark and Town Center, hold enough Sacred Sites to run out the countdown, or build a Wonder and survive the timer. Most ranked games end by Landmark destruction.
Why can't the Mongols build stone walls?
It is a deliberate design trade. Mongols get no house requirement, packable buildings that can relocate, and Ovoo bonuses, and the cost of that mobility is that they can never turtle behind stone.
What is the population limit?
200 in standard matches, shared between villagers and military. Since villagers eat that cap, deciding when to stop making them and start making army is one of the central judgement calls in every game.
More Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Guides
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Overview
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Best Builds
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Tier List
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Walkthrough
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Tips & Tricks
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Weapons Guide
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Combat Guide
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Boss Guide
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Maps & Locations
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Crafting Guide
- Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition Classes & Characters
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If you enjoy Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition, check out these related guides:
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