Are you new to the world of Age of Empires 4 and looking for the best civilization to start with? With so many options to choose from, it can be overwhelming to pick just one.
That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the Top 10 Best Civilizations for Beginners in Age of Empires 4.
Whether you’re interested in military might, economic strength, or technological advancements, there’s a civilization on this list that will suit your playstyle.
Join us as we explore each of these civilizations and their unique strengths, so you can start your journey to becoming a master strategist in Age of Empires 4.
10) Mongols
Focus: Aggression, Cavalry, Nomadic
Mongols are certainly a fun and unique faction. If you enjoy a nomadic playstyle and having the ability to pack up your builds to move elsewhere, it’s well worth investing your time into this civilization.
The reason it ranks number 10 is specifically because of these extra mechanics you have at your disposal. As a new player, you need to be learning how to micro your economy effectively, rather than thinking about where you should move your village to.
Mongols excel at producing cavalry units (especially early on) with good movement speed and ranged damage.
As you progress through the ages, you will have access to some of the most powerful siege equipment in the entire game.
An aggressive playstyle is required when using this civilization as you can plunder food and gold by torching enemy buildings.
9) Holy Roman Empire
Focus: Infantry, Religion, Defense
The Holy Roman Empire (known as HRE) is a relic and infantry based civilization. Rather than placing relics in monasteries only, the HRE is allowed to place them in Outposts, Keeps, and even Docks.
To aid with acquiring relics, the HRE have access to Prelates. These units are essentially Monks on steroids, available as early as the Dark Age and inspiring troops or villagers to perform their duties more efficiently.
By the time the Castle Age comes, you’ll have plenty of Prelates available to swoop up the relics on the map.
Having such a focus on relics can be a severe disadvantage though. If you spawn into the game to find the relics are heavily favored towards your opponent, then you’re already in trouble.
High-level players can work around this but for a new player, the HRE is not worth picking over other civilizations.
8) Abbasid Dynasty
Focus: Technology, Camels, City Planning
You should read about the House of Wisdom before playing this faction. Abbasid Dynasty is fun to play but super confusing for newer players.
Rather than producing a new landmark when entering a new age, the player gets to choose a new wing to add to the House of Wisdom. It’s well worth looking up some guides for build orders and sticking to one until you’re experienced enough to choose your own path.
Apart from that, Abbasid produce lots of anti-cavalry units in the form of Camels. These cavalry units deal bonus damage to enemy cavalry, as well as reduce their attack speed.
Of course, your opponent can counter with lots of spears but you can simply produce some Men-at-Arms and Archers to deal with them!
Overall, Abbasid Dynasty is a truly unique civilization that can be hard to use, but you can perform well with them if you put the practice in.
7) Delhi
Focus: Elephants, Research, Religion
Delhi is the powerhouse late-game civilization. However, staying alive to reach that point is a challenge.
With 16 unique technologies available, as well War Elephants, Delhi can become an unstoppable force in the Imperial Age. The crazy thing is, all technology research is free and can be paused or resumed.
However, staying alive to reach the late-game is a challenge as they have little in the way of early economic buffs.
6) Rus
Focus: Expansion, Cavalry, Hunting
The Rus are skilled hunters who can earn additional food gather rates and increased gold from their unique building Hunting Cabins.
To qualify for these bonuses, you’ll need to gain bounty points by hunting wildlife.
One of their best bonuses is their Fishing Boats not needing to return to the dock. This massively improves food income on water maps.
With access to Warrior Monks and Strelsty units, Rus has a diverse military strategy. You can invest heavily in either the front line or the back line, either one can work well (depending on your opponent’s civilization and military unit choices).
Another excellent feature is Rus’ upgraded version of the standard palisade wall. If you enjoy building wooden fortifications around the map (like me, I love it), Rus are a great choice.
This civilization can be a little difficult to use at first but it’s worth the time investment for sure!
5) Chinese
Focus: Dynasties, Gunpowder, Taxes
Chinese can be super confusing at first with their Dynasty and Imperial Official systems, but they’re one of the most fun civilizations in the game.
All defenses are constructed 50% faster to allow for you to flood the map with walls and outposts. Fortify them with some of the unique troops like Palace Guard and Zhuge Nu.
One of the most difficult aspects of the Chinese is their Dynasty system. As you are required to build 2 landmarks to reach one Dynasty, it requires some careful base-building.
However, this might sound like fun to you if you enjoy the base-building side of strategy games. Overall, the Chinese are a super fun civilization that all players should try.
4) Malians
Focus: Gold Economy, Infantry, Cattle
Malians have completely unique military units across the board, there is no need to remember the Spearmen, Men-At-Arms, and Archers.
Such a different roster might sound daunting, but it only takes a couple of games with them to start getting the hang of what they do.
While the Age of Empires developers describe them as ambushers with a hit-and-run playstyle; it’s ok to play them loosely like other civilizations.
Instead of scouring the map trying to find food before moving to farms, Malians can produce their own cattle to use as food instead. Place them inside a Cattle Ranch to produce food passively instead.
They can also place a Pit Mine on top of a gold deposit to gain passive gold income indefinitely. Both of the previously mentioned buildings will help take the ease off a new player trying to learn the economy game.
3) Ottomans
Focus: Imperial Council, Military Schools, Siege
The Ottomans can unlock unique bonuses via the Imperial Council by spending Vizier Points. Fear not, it’s not too complicated. You gain these points by simply creating villagers/military units or entering a new age.
While the Ottomans don’t have any specific economic buffs or bonuses, they do have substantial military boons. Faster unit production speeds, cheaper military upgrades, and one of the best siege units in the game with the Great Bombard.
If you don’t care much for the economic side of things and prefer to work on establishing and maintaining a strong military, then the Ottomans are for you.
2) French
Focus: Trade, Cavalry, Keeps
Another cavalry-based civilization, French Knights are heavy shock cavalry with a multitude of uses. After charging at an enemy, they gain a nice +3 bonus damage for 5 seconds.
Use the Knights to harass enemy villagers, or pick off unsuspecting military units.
Traders have a unique buff with the French, as they allow the dropping off of Wood, Food or Gold (rather than just Gold). This is an insane buff, especially in the mid to late game, as you can guarantee a steadily supply of resources – if you can keep your traders alive.
Arbalétriers are worth mentioning too, wielding crossbows rather than bows, and even having some good melee defense.
The French are the perfect civilization if you’ve learned to manage your economy and keep your town safe. You won’t find a better civilization to learn harassment and battle strategies!
1) English
Focus: Defense, Longbows, Farming
The English should be the go-to for any new player as you can learn the basics of economy and town building without worrying about incoming attacks.
While a Town Center or Keep has nearby enemy units, it will grant a nice attack speed bonus to your own nearby units.
Couple this with Longbowmen (longest range of any archer) and a strong economy for building defenses. This means you have no problem managing your villagers, building placements, and military units.
Particularly effective into the later stages of a game, the English provide massive buffs to farms near Mills, as well as a massive cost reduction for Mills.
This allows you to build tons of farms for cheap, and they will produce tons of food for you.
In order to get to that stage of the game, you will want to make use of Man-at-Arms as the English have access to them earlier. They also produce them much faster.