- Ancient stele point of interest looks so strong adding elephants or cataprachts more health could be devastating.I hope it tested good atleast it dont effect newly trained units.But lets say you are Templars and builded lots of forts and there is this tech what will happen specially in team games?
- Herbalist hut is another one why is it added i can only think this thing will make raids strong and more relentless.
- Spearwall buff : Abbasid spearman dont have spearwall ability what will happen to them?
- I didnt like the manjaniq nerf i liked it when i destroy the massive area of farms but it will be still ok probably.I just like the visual.
- I didnt get the man at arm buff did they needed it?Now there is a unbalance between them and their counter.
- With Ottomans when you build Twin Minaret Medrese villagers gather normal berry bushes too.I think villagers gathering from that landmark shouldnt go gather normal beeries.
- I didnt understand how the Meditation Gardens work now?If trees get cut before reaching %60 will it not be produce res?
- Zhu xi will be so op in late game with those tax changes but we need to exprience it to nerf it(I assumed they will drop 2 gold with imperial oficial watching).This thing will be broken i cant wait to see it.
- I liked everything else very nice.
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These are the only changes/improvements to UX/UI & Menus? Darn, I guess I still won’t be going back to AoE4 any time soon
Large patch nearer the end of May (4 week, i guess)
Wait, a “Large patch” only 3-4 weeks after the DLC? I think they’re cooking something up, but they didn’t have time to release it on May 7th, so they gonna release at the end of May.
Could it finally be new Unique Units for China and HRE? Awesome!
Well, I don’t know what else to imagine, because if it was “balance stuff” it already came in this patch, so I don’t see the point unless it’s “New stuff”.
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I hope so. It feels like they squeezed in extra development time to add new content that wasn’t originally planned.
But I’m genuinely worried that treating the Jin Dynasty as a catch-all and slapping in units from various Chinese factions so haphazardly might piss many players off before the release of the update.
That’s why I even suggested they just rename the Jin Dynasty.
It’s not going to happen. There’s only a week left until the premiere, or even less (6 days). They’re not going to change the name at the last minute.
Besides, the names you’re suggesting sound more like Chinese things (“Border Guard," “Great Wall Legion,” “Great Wall Guard,” or "Northern Frontier”) than the Jin Dynasty they’re trying to represent. And I understand your reasons, but I feel that in the end:
Jin Dynasty is fine.
They’ve even gone to the trouble of giving them Reno Traders, naming their mounted archer after the Mohe tribe, and the Iron Pagoda is too famous as a unique unit of the Jin Dynasty to pretend they’re not Jurchen.
The most we could ask for is that they share the Zanma Swordsman and the Bed Crossbow with China in the future.
And I haven’t explained this before because I couldn’t find a way to summarize it, but it’s better to say it now:
Why Jin Dynasty has units that China doesn’t:
If Jin Dynasty has units like the Zanma Swordsman, Nest of Bees (shared), Traction Trebuchet, and Beed Crossbowman, I thinks it’s because the developers “In recent years” have received feedback that people like historical accuracy, especially after what happened with the first 4 variants (Jeanne, Zhuxi, Oftd)
And well, “in 2025”, they did a good job when they created civilizations like the Knight Templars, Lancaster, or Sengoku Dynasty with their own Tanegashima arquebusiers and square-shielded cavalry.
The Jin using Han units makes historical sense:
During their final years, the Jin lost the northern part of their kingdom to the Mongols and had to switch from cavalry to Han infantry (Zanma Swordsman) recruited from territory taken from the Song, and gunpowder units (unique gunpowder technologies). Since the Handcannon hadn’t been invented by the time they perished (1234), its predecessor, the Eruptor, did have it.
Why China didn’t have more unique units in 2021:
Why didn’t China get the Bed Crossbowman or more units at launch? Simply because the game in 2021, when it was released, was “Limited”:
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The developers limited the unique units of ALL 8 original civilizations to just 3: English (Bow Villager, Vanguard Men-at-Arms, Longbowman). French: Royal Knight, Arbalesteir, Cannon.
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In the case of China, there was the “Bee Nest,” “Imperial Official,” and “1 Dynasty Unit,” of which you could only have one at a time.
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I don’t think they considered the Palace Guard (4th Chinese unique unit) a uniquely “relevant” unit for balance in 2021, since aside from its speed, its stats were almost identical to the men-at-arm unit, except for its armor. In fact, it was “defeated” by base men-at-arm units due to having -1/-1 armor. It didn’t even have a “Unique Icon,” which says it all. That’s why the Chinese were allowed to have them.
They probably created that limitation for their idea of balance. However, it didn’t go as planned, and China was extremely weak. Therefore, in the first patch of Season 1, China gained the ability to use “all” the unique units it unlocked.
What to ask for for China in 2026?
At least for historical accuracy, give China the Zanmadao and Bed Crossbowman as well.
And even if there are top 10 pros who say no, that it’s broken, I don’t really care: Reduce their late-game economic bonuses or the absurd production speed generated by officers, and they can compensate with more unique units. They deserve it.
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NOOOOOOOOOO
They reduced cost of manors instead of adding stone production to it.
Maaaannnnn come on they need it, only reason I bought the DLC so I could have stone from manors but it still doesn’t have it.
I am not asking for much, just 10 stone per minute is all I am asking. Even lock it behind an imperial upgrade like Scutage 2 if you must, even make that upgrade cost 5k of each resource, except maybe 5k stone is a big ask, make the stone part 2k or something, I need my stone.
My sim city is not complete without it 
Some people say jd rework is on the way.I hope they find a proper name for jd and zhu xi.
Another mistake with china is china has all dynasty in one civ.Now chinese players liked this game and devs are trying to make historical chinese civs but they made a mistake by putting all dynasties in one civ.Jin is good tho.
For future chinese civ i can give this advice:Take for example Song Dynasty’s 2 landmark for that age and add 1 new landmark for other ages there you go easy song dynasty.Give it China Song Dynasty bonus to that civ too.But this will feel very cheap they need to consider this too.
Yes, overall I think it’s a good patch, although it depresses me that they nerfed the civilizations so much, especially Zhu Xi…
Yes, it’s not the DLC launch patch, but a larger one later…
Yes, hopefully… I don’t feel that China needs more UUs, but at some point, with so many Chinese variants, they could double their number of UUs (from 6 to 12, similar to Japan and Sengoku)… I expect more from the HRE, since, not counting the Black Rider, it feels like the most forgotten civilization for a while now (Hussite Wagon? Bavarian Villager?) (Teutonic Knight could also be an option, but through a unique tech like “Creation of the Teutonic Order” or “Warriors Return Home”)…
Na, it was much worse… the English only had the Longbowman (the Bow Villager doesn’t count, since although it’s a skill, it doesn’t make it a UU per se) (now they have 4 units that really are UUs: Longbowman, King and the Wynguard Rangers and Footmen), the Abbasids and the HRE had 2 UUs, and from there it went up with the other civilizations until reaching China with 6 UUs… but the following civilizations and variants made the game evolve even more, and now the rule would be to have between 5 and 15 UUs for each civilization…
Yes, ultimately, the House of Orleans and the Ming Dynasty (and the Chinese being reworked into the Song Dynasty)…
Yes, in the long run they will probably rework the Chinese system, eliminating the dynasties and replacing it with a system of provinces…
Actually, I don’t really like this compromise solution either, and I don’t expect the Devs to make changes within just a week.
I’m simply offering them an alternative option for when they decide not to upgrade the original Chinese civ even a month from now.
Using the Jin Dynasty to lump together the unique traits of multiple Chinese factions is undeniably frustrating; players are more likely to see this as lazy design rather than a feature with a forced explanation.
However, since they mentioned a further update in a month, I’ll wait.
These are the 5 worst Conqueror-level civilizations in 4v4.
Where are the real buffs for them for team play?
Landsknechts is almost never used because it’s very gold-heavy and dies to any unit that shoots, it has no bonus against anything, and from what I’ve seen, it didn’t receive the speed buff from the spearmen…
China
Interestingly, China has both a nerf and a buff:
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The tax system has been changed. Now, instead of getting 1 gold for 10 food, you get 0.8 gold. This mainly affects the early game, in Dark Age (I).
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Gathering food quickly no longer yields more gold: This also affects the strategy of having all your villagers frequently return to the mill to obtain extra gold (3 or 4 food for 1 gold). This is no longer the case: Now, 3 food will yield 0.24 gold.
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The Wheelbarrow is now more useful: By giving you +5 to the larger carry, villagers deliver more gold for each round trip: 15 food for 1.2 gold. Before: only 1 gold.
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Late Game Buff: Because the Wheelbarrow is now more useful, people will try to research it as quickly as possible. Any Chinese economy that previously only yielded 1 gold per delivery in the late game will now yield 1.2 gold. ProScout also improves, as they now collect 25 food and 2 gold, instead of just 1 gold.
In the long run, this change makes managing the Chinese economy less chaotic and less dependent on trivial factors, at least for the first 4 minutes.
They also gave the Fire Lancer more attack stats, don´t know if this is enough to make them more useful… I think it should have a bonus against ranged units. Its explosive attack animation isn’t very flashy and is difficult to mistake for a regular attack.
About Landsknechts (with Zweihander)
The joke of the unit, historically speaking, was that longsword Landsknechts would be used against melee infantry formations, primarily Swiss Pikemen.
In the game, this enemy infantry would be portrayed by Spearmen, Pikemen, or Men-at-Arms, dealing significant area damage before their inevitable demise.
The problem: is that there are almost no melee infantry civilizations to test this unit against. Most civilizations use heavy cavalry combos, and against them, for the HRE it’s better to stack Spearmen, Crossbowmen, or Black Riders.
On the other hand, you already have the Springald, archers, Crossbowmen, and Handcannons against melee infantry, so it doesn’t make sense to mass-produce Landsknechts with Zweihanders, which normally die in combat, while ranged units don´t.
It’s fine as a “Situational unit” to use 2 or 3 among groups of melee units and generate area damage, but not to make, say, an army of 40 Landsknechts.
HRE Buffs
Regarding the 5 civilizations with the lowest win rate, the HRE received some buffs:
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Elite Spearman now has increased HP and Spearwall.
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Men-at-arms cost 10 less food: This is a major improvement for the civilization, as their men-at-arms, with so many upgrades, effectively function as a single unit. The Burgrave printer combo will now work better.
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Landsknecht +5 HP: This remains a situational unit.
Hand infantry are the worst units to produce in late team games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-zKdkFO8UY 26:51
I believe that perhaps, I said perhaps, the win rate will improve a little, but due to the reduced cost of the Town Center, since the real bonus for HRE and OOTD is the higher villager gathering rates.
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The problem with Chinese tax in the late game was never the amount, it was the hustle of actually collecting it. You’ve got buildings everywhere, all spread out. The tax potential is huge, but you aren’t gonna build a dedicated TC just to deposit tax near your new base.
So this change really only matters early on. If they want the Chinese and ZXL to actually see that late-game tax income, they should just give the Ming Dynasty a building that auto-collects tax.
The Landsknecht is such an awkward unit. It’s designed so poorly that the HRE feels like it doesn’t even have a unique unit. Its performance is just extreme — huge range but paper-thin health, plus a gold cost that feels like highway robbery. It basically ends up being an expensive toy that opponents just snipe immediately. It’s nowhere near as practical as the Japanese Onna-Bugeisha. Maybe it’s time they completely reworked the Landsknecht.
The thing about the Landknecht with a two-handed sword is that, historically, it was never a mass-produced unit, unlike the French Royal Knight (Gendarmes) or the English Longbowman.
In fact, they were “suicide troops” (Farlorn Hope or Doppelsoldier), expected to land one or two blows before dying.
Actually, a better model would be for them to have only 50 HP, but deal 50 area damage before dying, or something like that; that would be funny.
Anyway, the only unit that should be mass-produced for the HRE in Imperial (IV) would be the Landsknecht PIKEMAN, or “Lanzknecht”. These would be like Heavy Spearman, but with more range, NO armor, and perhaps a devastating anti-cavalry charge attack.
Even a Fun fact history Fact of the Mastery of HRE mention them and the Hedgehog formation, but they didn´t appear in the game:
Are you suggesting making the Landsknecht into some kind of suicide unit?
That could be work. For instance, instead of being a one-time use unit, it could have a few layers of blocks. Attacking would deplete these blocks stacks, and once they’re gone, the unit enters an extremely fragile state and loses its AOE effect. Then we can reduce its cost.
Nice to see Sengoku getting nerf. But it’s not enough, mounted samurai still the fastest cav in the game, yatai still have many HP that can’t being stop Sengoku going full food efficiency like age4 in age2. SO 3v3,4v4 are still the age of Sengoku Daimyo. AND Ozutsu still a useless slow units, it should have pass-through damage like springald historically.
Yes, at least in AoE3 the landsknechts/doppelsoldners are very strong and useful, in AoE 4 it should be the same, super strong units that kill several weak units or at least cavalry…
Yes, at least the Vikings and if they also include the Aztecs in the year-end DLC, they will be good melee infantry civs (because of the Berserkers and the Jaguar Warriors)…