The Abbasid Empire continues to struggle across all stages of the game.
Compared to both new and old civilizations, Abbasids consistently fall behind in tempo, military flexibility, and map control. Even with their strong economic potential, they cannot defend effectively or scale safely in the current meta.
Core Issues
Early Game: No access to early heavy units or fast production options. Light infantry alone can’t handle early armored pushes (Mongols, French, Japanese, Order of the Dragon).
Mid Game: The eco boom from Golden Age is offset by constant pressure — no special production or defense mechanics to stabilize, making Abbasids easy to contain.
Late Game: When gold runs out, Abbasids lack stable gold alternatives. Trade is unreliable due to fragile caravans and poor map control. Units feel outdated compared to unique elite troops like Ribauldequins, Streltsy, etc. Even with equal or better economy, Abbasid armies lose in direct fights.
Meta Comparison
Other civs — both new and old — have direct power spikes (free units, eco multipliers, or unique troops), while Abbasids only gain delayed eco value that rarely pays off before defeat.
Suggested Fixes (Realistic & Lore-Friendly)
Golden Age III Passive Gold: Villagers generate +1 gold every 25 seconds to reflect Abbasid wealth and scholarship.
New Early Heavy Option: Unlock a unique early heavy unit (e.g. Abbasid Vanguard Infantry) from Barracks at Feudal, or allow Military Wing to produce a limited number of free units over time.
Defensive Scaling: Slight boost to Outpost/TC arrow damage or construction speed during Golden Age II — rewarding strategic defense.
Military Wing Buff: Slightly stronger baseline units or faster tech research to help Abbasids stay competitive in early fights.
Late Game Power: Add a “Caliph’s Command” technology granting +10% HP or armor to all units once fully aged.
Why It Matters
Abbasids are an iconic civilization, but they’ve been underpowered since launch. They deserve identity-based buffs, not small eco or trade tweaks. Without early heavy options or scalable army strength, Abbasid players are forced into perfect defense while every other civ plays freely and aggressively.
All the boons Ayyubids got were suggestions that I made a long time ago and which seem to have been packed into a variant civilization to be sold to you rather than update the actual civilization. In other words, they’re selling you the same product twice.
Because of the creation of Ayyubids, Abbasids are forever doomed to remain a tech based boom civilization, whose identity will rarely intersect with Ayyubid’s gameplay. The truth of variants is that their gameplay could’ve been baked into the original civilizations to solve some of their massive design flaws. Instead, we are sold isolate solutions that keep the legacy problems for base users and it has made the whole product that is Age of Empires 4 worse overall.
I agree with you — and what makes it worse is that almost all the meaningful buffs are now going to the Ayyubids, the Abbasid variant.
That civ already fixes many of the core Abbasid problems: it has better early options, faster scaling, and defensive flexibility — basically everything the base Abbasid civ still lacks.
It really feels like the Abbasid Dynasty has been left behind while its “variant” counterpart gets all the attention. Abbasids should at least receive some of the same design improvements to stay competitive and relevant.
Historically, the Abbasid Empire wasn’t just a single static government — it evolved through multiple dynastic and scientific eras.
The current House of Wisdom system feels outdated compared to modern civ designs. A dynasty-like system, similar to the Chinese, would make much more sense and fit the Abbasid theme of progress, scholarship, and cultural evolution.
Imagine if Abbasids could advance through cultural “eras” — for example, Scientific Era, Architectural Era, and Cultural Era — each giving unique bonuses tied to their historical strengths.
That would make the civ far more accurate and dynamic, while staying true to its real history.
Following up on my previous points, I wanted to explain more clearly why the Abbasid design feels fundamentally punishing in practice:
The current design of the Abbasid Dynasty feels fundamentally backwards in terms of reward and effort.
Right now, Abbasid gameplay is extremely punishing — one small mistake (like a late TC, idle villagers, or poor unit positioning) immediately collapses your tempo. Unlike other civilizations, Abbasids have no safety net or power spike to recover from early setbacks.
This makes Abbasids a civilization that requires perfect execution just to perform at an average level, while other civs can perform above average with average execution.
In short:
High effort → low reward
High risk → low safety
Smart macro and decision-making should give Abbasids visible early or midgame payoffs, but right now the civ only gains delayed, theoretical eco benefits that almost never materialize before being overwhelmed by stronger tempo or unit power from other civs.
This is why even skilled players often feel that the Abbasid Dynasty plays “behind the curve” in every stage of the game.
That’s true for team and FFA, but the issue is 1v1 balance, where Abbasid still struggles.
In coordinated team games, Abbasid benefits from shared map control and ally protection — which hides their weak early tempo and fragile economy under pressure.
But in 1v1, you have no one to cover you during early aggression, and their scaling bonuses (Golden Age, tech cost reduction) take too long to pay off.
The civ shouldn’t need 20 minutes and perfect play just to reach “average” strength. That’s the main concern many of us are trying to highlight.
I understand what you mean , the 3 TC boom can look scary if Abbasid is left untouched, but that’s the thing: it only works when the opponent fails to pressure.
In high-level play, most civs can punish that easily with early aggression, and Abbasid has no strong Feudal army or defensive mechanic to survive that.
The “bomb timer” you mention actually works against Abbasid in 1v1 , if they don’t hit perfect timings, they fall behind permanently
Team games naturally hide these weaknesses because allies cover early pressure and buy time. That’s why 1v1 players are pushing for adjustments , not to make them OP in team games, but to make them viable alone.
im talking about 1vs1 as well, you prob dont watch tournament but marinelord went 3tc every game against pro and defends well and just won everything with it, thats why it was nerfed
True, MarineLord made Abbasid look strong ,but that’s MarineLord, one of the few players capable of pulling off perfect 3TC timing under constant pressure.
The problem isn’t that Abbasid can’t win ,it’s that they require flawless execution to stay competitive, while civs like French, English, or Order of the Dragon can recover from small mistakes and still maintain tempo thanks to early military power or eco safety nets.
Abbasid, on the other hand, has no such forgiveness ,one delayed TC, bad unit path, or lost trader, and your entire setup collapses.
That’s what most of us mean when we say the civ is “underpowered.” It’s not about raw numbers ,it’s about how punishing the design is compared to every other civ.
Sure, balance is based on pro play , but design health matters at all skill levels.
Even pros agree Abbasid has zero forgiveness. One mistake and your eco snowball collapses, while civs like French or Chinese can recover easily with power spikes or strong units.
If a civ only performs when controlled perfectly by top 0.1% players, that’s not “balanced” ,it’s overtuned for precision and undertuned for practicality.
The goal isn’t to make Abbasid overpowered, it’s to make them playable and rewarding for players who don’t have MarineLord-level mechanics.
I’ll stop here, I’ve said everything clearly already. Hopefully, the devs read the full discussion and look into Abbasid’s current issues.