They may not be as flashy as units or spells, but buildings for your cities are just as important to victory inAge Of Wonders 4.From the moment you build a new city, it pays to have a plan - there simply isn’t enough time, Gold, or Mana to construct everything!
Related:Age Of Wonders 4: Complete Guide To Diplomacy
When in doubt, these ten buildings are essential. From must-have standard structures to critical faction-based buildings, be sure to get these improvements up and running as soon as possible. The rewards are worth it, and you’ll need every advantage you can get!
10Room Of Recall
Once you’ve started construction on your multi-stage Wizard’s Tower in your Throne City, you’ll be able to build a Room of Recall. In a perfect world, you’ll never need to use it, but you’ll be glad to have it if (and when) it does become necessary!
Whenever your Ruler falls in battle, they’ll be banished to the Astral Void for three turns. During that time, youcan’t cast spells or put Knowledge toward new research.A Room of Recallreduces your banishment time by one turn, getting you back to full capacity that much sooner. Once you’ve fought a battle without access to spells, you’ll understand why that’s such a big deal.
9Shipyard
Even if you don’t plan on building a navy, a Shipyard in coastal cities is a great investment. In addition to unlocking ships, the Shipyardincreases the city’s income, which is a major benefit in the early game.
The Shipyard also unlocks further naval buildings that cangreatly enhance the city’s Food output.When it comes to population in Age Of Wonders 4, bigger is always better!
8Stonemason
The faster you can build things, the more value you’ll get out of them.Production is keyin every 4X strategy game out there, and Age Of Wonders 4 is no different. That’s why the Stonemason is acritical building for every single one of your cities.
Even if you can’t boost the construction of a Stonemason, it’sworth paying the full price and build time. You’ll make your investment back in spades by speeding up construction on every subsequent structure in that city!
7Battle Ritual Site
Barbarian empires lean toward large armies of low-tier units, making the Battle Ritual Site a great early choice for them. It producesboth Draft and Knowledge, letting you recruit more troops and research new abilities faster!
Related:Age Of Wonders 4: Complete Guide To Combat
As the city grows, you can further upgrade the Battle Ritual Site by adding anAncestral Seer Hall, doubling down on these two key resources.
6Abbey
The Abbey is a great reason to take theTome Of Faithearly in the game. Knowledge can be a hard resource to come by, but the Abbey generates research forevery adjacent Farm!Feudal empires can make great use of the Abbey to speed up their unlocks and keep up with the AI, thanks to their predilection for building lots of Farms anyway.
If your species has a terrain adaptation that lets them build Farms where they otherwise couldn’t, the Abbey canturn otherwise-unappealing provinces into a true Knowledge nexus!
5Worker’s Farmstead
Food and Production are the foundation on which everything else in the game is built, so why not get both at once? Industrious empires get this efficient early-game building instead of the Store House, making the decision of what to build first in a city an absolute snap.
If you have the time to expand an Outpost using a Work Camp before upgrading it to a proper city, consider using the extra Province for a Forester. This willboost the Worker’s Farmstead, making it faster and cheaper to build!
4Carnival Of Flesh
The Tome Of Revelry lets you build the Carnival of Flesh, a frightening Farm upgrade. It producesFood and Draft for every adjacent Farm, helping you grow your cities and recruit units to protect them all for one build!
Revelry is only a Tier-Two Tome, so it can be worth dipping your feet into Chaos for the Carnival; you’ll also get some fantastic Morale buffs for your investment. It’s one of thebest Tomes in the game!
3Demon Gate
Speaking of Chaos, if your game plan centers around havoc and mayhem the Demon Gate will be your main goal. Easily the best late-game building in terms of efficiency, the Demon Gate allows your city torecruit Fiend-type unitsdirectly, rather than casting spells to summon them!
Since demons can be combined into higher-tier units with theFight For Powerspell, unlocked at the same time as the Demon Gate, you can quickly build an elite legion of infernal minions. Best of all, the Demon Gatealso serves as a handy teleporterfor traversing your vast empire!
2Evocator’s Abode
Good buildings let you double-dip on resources, but great buildings let youtriple-dip!The Evocator’s Abode, available to Mystic civilizations, producesMana, Draft, and Productionall at once. This ensures you’ll be able to get the units that you want, when you want them, either by recruitment or summoning.
It’s tough to beat such a great output from a single building, but there is one structure that comes to mind that’s an even better deal…
1Artisan Workshop
It’s an early-game building, but the Artisan Workshop is another must-build if you’re playing an empire of the High Culture Origin.It producesboth Production and Draft, and gives the city a Stability bonus on top!
Be sure to take theTome Of Faithas your starting Tome as High Culture. You’ll get access to the Abbey, which we’ve already established is great, but with the extra Stability from the Artisan Workshop you’ll be able to get more value out of the Convent as well,which producesKnowledge and Mana based on your Stability.
