Hello everyone, yesterday we announced Empires and Ashes, the new expansion for Age of Wonders 4!
We have a lot to tell you about, so we’re going to split it between 2 dev diaries. To begin with, Michelle and Thomas are going to start talking about the story being the expansion and the new culture, the Reavers!
Story Realms
I'm Michelle, a narrative designer at Triumph, and I'm here to immerse you in the thrilling content of Empires and Ashes. Today, I'm excited to unveil two new Story Realms!
You may remember the human dreadnought Edward Portsmith. A stalwart defender of the Commonwealth Empire in Age of Wonders 3, he, alongside the Elven heroine Sundren and the sorceress Laryssa Mirabilis, united the diverse peoples of Athla against a common nemesis: the Shadowborn who schemed towards Athla's impending doom. Despite the valiant efforts of these Torchbearers, the Seals protecting Athla were shattered, plunging the realm into chaos as countless of its defenders vanished into the Astral Sea.
Image text: After the Seals on Athla were destroyed, many of its defenders vanished into the Astral Sea.
At the start of the Rise of Godir story of Age of Wonders 4, you glimpsed the fate that befell Athla. But what happened to the valiant Commonwealth heroes who spearheaded Athla’s defense against the onslaught of the Wizard Kings? You will find the answer as you heed a call for aid from the Athlan sorceress Laryssa herself. Stand shoulder to shoulder with her, for only together can you halt the destructive march of Chaos!
Image text: Stand together with the sorceress Laryssa as she aims to halt the destructive march of chaos.
Amidst the reunions with old allies and the rekindling of age-old rivalries, you'll cross paths with a long-forgotten civilization: the bird-like Krazura, whose forebears were the visionary sages of the Astral Sea. The monumental Seals and other breathtaking wonders crafted by the Krazura are revealed. Will you stand alongside these mystical avians, becoming a guardian of their legacy? Or will you crush them and herald the coming of a new age?
Image text: The Krazura were once the inventive sages of the Astral Sea.
Face magics and magelocks to uncover forgotten secrets. The legacy of the Krazura and Commonwealth lies in your hands, brave Godir!
Reavers
Greetings Godir or other observer, I am Thomas Schuiten, Designer at Triumph and I will be introducing you to the violent existence of the Reavers.
Image Text: Fauster the Meticulous, lord of the Coppertalon reavers, stands ready to raid the realms of the astral sea.
The Reavers are a unique culture featuring both Materium and Chaos affinities. They excel at aggression, flexibility, control and ranged combat, but lack powerful melee units. They also make use of advanced weapons, called Magelocks, that fire magically charged projectiles, which can devastate armored opponents.
Reavers are a culture that focuses on raiding and early aggression, and this is reflected by their unique strategic resource War Spoils. War Spoils are earned by defeating the armies of free cities and other players, as well as conquering their cities, so to make full use of them you’ll need to start wars early.
Fortunately, the Reaver’s cultural perks support this need for early warfare against potentially powerful foes:
Siegecrafters grants them access to the “Construct Siege Guns” siege project, a powerful project that grants Magelock Cannons that punch through a city’s wall and batter any who seek to hide behind them for safety.
Uniquely these Magelock Cannons can be fielded as Tier 3 units as well, available alongside the Reaver’s other tier 3, the mighty Dragoons. However their cost of War Spoils makes them a valuable and tough to replace asset.
Total War is an honest warmonger’s greatest friend, it allows the Reavers to ignore the imperium penalties inflicted by declaring “unjust” wars - who are they to say what is justified anyway?
There are still the diplomatic repercussions to deal with of course, but these are trivial in the scheme of things. The pen is mightier than the sword perhaps, but is it mightier than the Magelock?
Reavers however have little interest in slow negotiations, and this is reflected in them receiving -1 whispering stone when embarking on a Realm. This means that unless otherwise gained, they will not have one available during their conquest and will be unable to use normal diplomacy with free cities. They however have another way to ensure that their lessers fall in line: War Spoils.
War Spoils are a unique resource available only to Reaver cultures, obtained by defeating the units of opposing Empires and Free Cities, and conquering their cities. Higher tier units grant significantly more War Spoils than lower tier ones, mortals fear the one who slays the dragon more than they who slays the peasant after all.
Now that you have obtained the War Spoils, there are several ways in which they can be utilized: Intimidating or Extorting Free Cities, Intimidating opposing AI-controlled Empires, integrating units captured in combat, and constructing the aforementioned Magelock Cannons.
Free Cities can be intimidated by spending War Spoils, this demonstrates your superiority and ensures an increased respect from the affected Free city, immediately increasing their Allegiance level by 1, and freezing it in place for 3 turns preventing gain or loss of allegiance for a while.
Alternatively, free cities can be Extorted by using war spoils to substitute for trade costs.
Rival Empires can be affected as well, by using a new Pronouncement option exclusive to Reaver cultures: the Declaration of Supremacy. The Declaration of supremacy disables the relation penalties inflicted by grievances the target has against your empire, and grants you positive relation over time. This declaration costs War Spoils to maintain however, and its benefits cease once you fail to pay its upkeep, your rivals are looking for any sign of weakness after all.
With the golem patch we are introducing a new mechanic through which units dominated in combat can be permanently integrated into your armies, this is often accomplished by spending Gold or Mana. Reavers however, may obtain Captured units using war-spoils instead, ensuring a steady supply of meat for the grinder, or unusual auxiliaries to augment their forces.
To take full advantage of this, the Reavers have a powerful combination in their support unit and their early Skirmisher unit.
The Harrier is a cheap and effective skirmisher, able to immobilize enemies to make them easy prey for your Magelocks, or perhaps better still, vulnerable to the Overseers’ Subdue ability.
Overseers are potent close-range healers, able to blind and mark with their attack to support ranged units, and most uniquely; Able to use the Subdue ability on impaired units.
All of this should ensure a powerful army capable of controlling the battlefield and sustaining itself in hostile lands through the capture of weaker enemies. But we are not stopping there, there are two more units to speak of!
The Mercenary is the front line of a Reaver Culture’s army, expensive for a Tier 1 unit, they are also tougher than may be expected of their Tier. Additionally they have a unique ability to manipulate the front lines; Drive Back can be used to disrupt an enemy formation, free up a friendly ranged unit or perhaps push unfortunate enemies into hazards!
Lastly we have the mighty Dragoons, a Tier 3 Skirmisher unit wielding a saber and Magelock Pistol to harry and disrupt the enemy. Their pistol shot can inflict Distracted upon enemies, a powerful status effect that ensures the target is always flanked, making them easy pickings for your ranged units. But perhaps most uniquely for this unit, they have the Master Skirmishers passive, letting them move again after attacking.
You may have noticed in these screenshots that Reaver Units have something called Focused Aggression, this is a unique property of their units that lets them further exploit the marked status effect:
With the Reavers we wanted to create an alternative take on both Materium and Chaos cultures, their focus on ranged and skirmishing combat is unique among the available cultures and ensures them a niche of their own. With the Reavers you have a solid basis to make a Dreadnought themed faction (especially with the new Tomes) but they also form an excellent basis for a Renaissance themed faction, or perhaps even pirates? I for one look forward to seeing what our players come up with using this new Culture!
And that’s it for today, don’t forget to check In two weeks we’ll take a look at more Empires and Ashes’ content including the new Tomes and the revamped Seals victory.
Empires and Ashes will be released on November 7th on all platforms!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2401830/Age_of_Wonders_4_Empires__Ashes/
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