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Age of Wonders 4is a turn-based strategy game set in a fantastical, multiverse-style setting. InAge of Wonders 4, players develop their empires to traverseprocedurally-generated realmswhere they’ll often encounter Free Cities that are home to AI-controlled factions.
Free Cities inAge of Wonders 4are significantly more complex than inAge of Wonders 3. There are many new systems in place to encourage the player to interact with Free Cities. This guide will help players get the most out of those interactions.
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How Free Cities Work in Age of Wonders 4
Free Cities are NPC settlements with modest potential. They can be powerful in their own right but never quite aspowerful as a proper faction. They develop units, build structures, and take part in diplomacy, but they don’t create new cities or develop themselves into superpowers.
Similar to other factions, Free Cities have a Relationsvalue that measures their opinion of the player’s faction. The Relations value determines how much Allegiance they’ll gain or lose every turn. When their Allegiance reaches certain milestones, their diplomatic state (Neutral, Pact of Loyalty, etc.) will change. If it gets too low, the Free City will declare war.
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Diplomacy with Free Cities
When the player discovers a Free City, they’ll introduce themselves with some dialogue. How the dialogue is worded gives the player a sense of their initial impression. This is determined by how similar the Free City and the player’s faction are. If theirrulers have Affinities in commonand their Alignments are similar, they’ll start off with a positive impression. If they’re dissimilar enough, the Free City will immediately declare war.
Selecting a Free City on the World map opens a window that gives the player the following options:
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How to Improve Relations with a Free City
To begin improving Relations and, therefore, Allegiance, the player must give the Free City a Whispering Orb. By default, players may only have one Whispering Orb, but this can be improved through the Empire Development tree or withcertain faction traits.
After the player has opened negotiations with a Free City, there are many ways to improve their Relations. Here are a few of the most impactful methods:
Free City Diplomatic States
As the player progresses in their relationship with a Free City, they’ll move through a few phases. Here are those phases, along with their details:
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After a Free City becomes a vassal, new Diplomatic States become available. A new vassal starts at the Vassalage stage. As they gain Allegiance, they’ll move toward a Supreme Vassalage. If they lose Allegiance with the player, they’ll move toward a Denying Tributary.
Here are all the vassal states for Free Cities:
Age Of Wonders 4is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows.
