As entertaining as Age Of Empires IV is, the game is unfortunately not without its flaws. Whilst some are just minor things to be aware of going in, there are also quite a number of glaring issues that can become quite frustrating and a few of them should honestly be fixed or removed when the developers have the time.

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At times these things can make the game feel a little clunky and dated, and it’s understandable how it can turn a lot of people off from the game when there are much sleeker and more modern RTS's out there. So if you're about to load up and play Age Of Empires IV, whether you're a rookie or a veteran player, you might want to take a few notes as here are things we wish we'd known before starting Age Of Empires IV.

10 The Game Cold Opens Into The Tutorial

Age Of Empires IV: The Game Offering Additional Chances To Play The Tutorial

When you first load up Age Of Empires IV you would assume that the game would take you straight to the menu right? Nope, after tweaking accessibility options and a few minor settings, the game dumps you straight into a tutorial level to practice or a while.

It's not too big of an issue as it is a great way to get new players up to speed on the game, the historical setting as well as the mechanics as you establish a base as a small nameless civilization with a town center and a few Villagers, then things get gradually more complex from there. But if you weren't immediately aware that it's a tutorial and thought it was the campaign, you could become a bit frustrated as it's a pretty slow burn. To skip it, just open the menu and select exit game, it'll take you to the main menu where you can play the campaigns, multiplayer, skirmishes, and more.

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9 Always Keep Stand Your Ground On

Age Of Empires IV: Units Staying Inside Base In Guard Stance

One of the most frustrating things about Age Of Empires IV is the unit aggression. Soldiers regardless of type will sprint off in a berserk feral frenzy to attack any enemy units that pass by and whilst this is helpful in a battle, when you're defending it can become a massive liability.

For example, soldiers standing behind a wall in their base will sprint out from safety towards any hostile that walks near. It's ridiculous and you'll lose countless soldiers as they pour out from your base unless you constantly have them set to Stand Your Ground in their stance menu. Doing this will stop them from running off and they'll only engage anyone that comes right to them. So if you're building up your defenses and you have troops nearby, make sure their stance is permanently stuck on Stand Your Ground or they'll wander off.

8 Cheat Codes Are Not Active Yet

Age Of Empires: 2 - Cobra Car Cheat Unit Assaulting Enemy Town

Unless you're playing on Easy difficulty or lower, Age Of Empires IV is going to provide quite the challenge. It can feel at times like a constant uphill war of attrition with casualties mounting and resources rapidly draining every minute and knowing a couple of cheats to take the pressure off somewhat is always worthwhile.

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Unfortunately, at launch, the game does not have any cheats to use just yet. But the developers are aware that the fans want them and the dev team's Creative Director has since come out and said they will be added with a future patch further down the line. When that is exactly is left unknown, but hopefully, it'll be soon and whatever they put in will be as weird as past games in the franchise have been.

7 Gates Should Always Be Locked

Age Of Empires IV: Gate Building Menu Indicating Locked Status

One thing that's definitely worth knowing whilst you're building your base in Age Of Empires IV is that you should always lock your gates. Internal passages can remain on Auto-Lock, but any external exits should always be locked manually.

Any gates that are left unlocked become a huge liability because if a friendly unit spots a hostile outside, they will run after them through the gate, leaving it open if they stand too close to it. This can become a massive problem in the heat of battle if an overzealous swordsman decides he's going to take on the enemy army all by themselves. You can admire their bravery, but the fact they just end up holding the door open to the screaming bloodthirsty hordes can leave you feeling a little annoyed and frustrated as your perfect defense falls apart in seconds.

6 The Game Is Hotkey Heavy

Age Of Empires IV: Ingame Tutorial Menu And Player FAQs.

Another fact worth knowing is that Age Of Empires encourages you to focus on using hotkeys. Units, upgrades, and Lord special abilities are bound to a hotkey grid, and this popular strategy game becomes much easier once you have their layout mastered.

You can check hotkey bindings in the settings as well as alter them if you want to play the game with modern WASD camera controls since it's bound awkwardly to the arrows by default. You should also get used to assigning and controlling units as groups in the game's chaotic battles as ordering your units without this feels like herding cats.

5 PC Windowed Mode Bugs Out The Game

Age Of Empires IV: Example Of The Games Visuals Bugging Out

Another thing you definitely should know before you start playing Age Of Empires IV is that you should keep the game set to full screen on PC. Running it on anything else will either bug everything out or over time it can cause the game to become increasingly unstable.

Running it in Windowed Mode will cause crashes and visual problems whenever you alt-tab for some odd reason. Changing screen settings, exiting, or entering the game tab will completely blow out the screen and turn everything into a negative filter-covered nightmare. It occurs randomly and it makes it impossible to see anything with the only current way to fix it is to completely relaunch the game. So leave these settings alone if you plan on tweaking anything in the game.

4 Siege Engines Need Time To Deploy

Age Of Empires IV: Catapult Deploying To Fire

Siege engines in Age Of Empires are incredibly powerful and can turn the tide of any battle. But in Age Of Empires IV your favorite missile throwing machines operate a bit differently than they used to. Something that can throw a lot of people for a loop at first if they're not used to this new mechanic.

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Unlike previous games where catapults, ballistae, and canons could roll around the battlefield, merrily firing as they trundled along, now this heavy artillery has to pause briefly to deploy before launching their payload. It only takes a few seconds, but it's a welcome feature as it encourages more tactical planning in battles where siege engines are involved instead of just zerg rushing everything in.

3 Always Grab A Villager If There's A Fire

Age Of Empires IV: Notification Of Structure Being On Fire

Fire is now a mechanic in Age Of Empires, although it only applies to buildings. After taking a sufficient amount of damage or being hit with enough torches by infantry, a structure will catch fire and receive the burning status.

What happens then is the building takes continued damage until it is finally destroyed. It's a nasty way to deal damage to a base long after your units have left, or died. But if you see this icon pop up in your base, quickly grab a villager and get them to repair the structure, this will put out the fire and restore it to max health over time as they repair it.

2 Don't Bother With Fancy Formations

Age Of Empires IV: Battle Between Units Descending Into Anarchy

A welcome returning feature to the Age Of Empires franchise is the ability to place units into formations. Not only does it make your army look nice and organized, but it can also have a tactical advantage. Such as having a solid line of Spearmen to counter a charge, or staggered Swordsmen to make it harder for missiles to hit them.

Sadly, whilst this does sound cool in concept, in practice it doesn't matter much as the second an attack order is given, everyone charges onwards in one big blob. So most battles descend into massive moshpit melees where micro-management becomes almost impossible. So unless you're going to be heavily involved during each encounter, don't bother too much with formations in fights. Save them for making your army look intimidating when it's marching around.

1 The Enemy AI Is Not Too Bright

Age Of Empires IV: Enemy Army Lured Into Ambush At Friendly Base

When you're playing on the higher difficulties the enemy AI can seem unstoppable. It comes at you in aggressive waves, and unlike previous games in the franchise where any incursion would cause an entire base to react like an angry wasps nest, in AOEIV it seems outside of sending waves, the AI plays oddly passively.

Enemy units have a really short movement range before they leash and head back to their patrol zone or guard post, allowing you to bait ambushes or wear targets down with ranged attacks incredibly easily. Once you realize this, it becomes incredibly easy to lure the AI out of its base towards your own defenses or away from important targets as a distraction. So keep this in mind the next time you try assaulting an enemy stronghold as you could pull out its defenders for cheap kills without too many casualties.

NEXT: Age Of Empires IV: Beginners Guide And Tips