Announcing the Scorpion Update Open Beta

Hi all!

The release of Rise from Ruin is slowly approaching and as with every release it’s accompanied by a Free Update. Starting now the Scorpion Update is in Open Beta on Steam. Steam Owners of Age of Wonders 4 can access the Scorpion Update by opting into the scorpion_beta branch (see instructions below).

When you enter this Beta you’ll encounter a massively different Age of Wonders 4. Over the past few months we’ve spent a lot of effort revamping some of the core military systems. The goal of these changes is to address some of the larger balance and QoL issues that are inherent to the current system.

Move Speed Normalization

Movement Speed has a huge influence on early-game pacing and success. Previously, armies with faster units could reach more battles, gain more resources, and snowball into stronger positions. Because an army moves at the speed of its slowest unit this created a preference for Mounted Traits and Fast moving Units, limiting army diversity and strategy.

All regular units now share the same number of Move Points on the World Map. This ensures that mixing slower and faster units in a single army no longer reduces the overall travel speed. Scouts retain their 48 Move Points, maintaining their role as fast and exploratory units. To reflect the impact of all these changes we’ve rebalanced the costs and effects of various Movement and Mount Traits.

Defense/Resistance Update

We’re updating how Defense and Resistance work across all units to bring them back in line with their original design intent. Over time, enchantments and hybrid damage types have blurred the distinction between Physical and Magic damage, making traditional tank units less reliable, especially in the late game. 

The new system changes how damage reduction is applied, focusing on the source of damage rather than the type of damage dealt. We’re also adding a new Unit Role that deals Magic Damage at Melee range, the Magic Fighter. Several of the existing elemental Fighter and Skirmisher units that we already have will brandish this new Role.

Experience Update

Leveling up units is one of the most rewarding parts of gameplay, but previously, XP gains were heavily tied to combat. This meant players who fought more battles progressed much faster, while others lagged behind. It also made evolving or improving units in the late game difficult, since there were fewer fights available.

All units now gain XP automatically each turn, even when not fighting. This means your armies will continue to improve simply by existing and participating in your empire. XP gained from battles has been halved which means Units still get rewarded for combat, but fighting is no longer the only reliable way to level up. To facilitate all of these changes the XP scale has been increased by a factor 10.

With this we’re also bringing back Exalted Ranks. Once a unit reaches its final rank, it can continue leveling up indefinitely. These extra levels require a large amount of XP, so progression remains slow but rewarding. This system can be disabled through the Advanced Settings for those that desire.

After updating to the Scorpion Beta your in-game version will read 1.014.000.118518.

The most effective way to provide us with feedback is by making a Discussion Thread in the Open Beta Discussions. There’s a couple different types of Feedback that we can process during this Beta period.

• Balance

  • With all of these changes there will naturally be a lot of Balance Feedback. Our goal is to address any extreme imbalances and important feedback that need to be tackled for the Release. We only have time to make these changes until Tuesday the 24th of February.

  • Balance changes that are more general or require us to change text are not feasible during the Beta Period. This feedback is welcome but will be addressed during our regular development period as resources allow.

• Stability

  • Crashes reported with the Crash Tool will automatically show up in our back end, so when you experience a crash please make sure to Upload those.

  • If you have a Blocker i.e. a Crash or Hang that will not allow you to continue your game, please make a report and include your Crash Report Name - given after upload - so we can tackle it.

  • Any general Bugs reported are welcome but not the main focus of this period, we’ll try to address those in a timely manner depending on our available resources.

• Modding

  • If you experience issues and suspect that it might be related to one of the mods you have installed, then please verify which mod it may be by disabling your mods. If you’ve determined which Mod is causing your issue try to contact the Mod Developer first.

  • If you experience crashes with your mods, then please make a thread as stated above. While outdated mods can cause issues, we do try to ensure that they do not crash.

Rise from Ruin Release

The final Update of this Beta will be when we submit the D0P for Certification. After that the branch will remain active until the release of Rise from Ruin & the Scorpion Update on March 9th.

When the time of release hits the Beta branch will be updated to include the Rise from Ruin Content, this ensures a smooth transition for users switching back to the Default branch. A few hours after release the Scorpion Beta Branch will be disabled and removed. Any remaining users will be automatically moved back to Default when this occurs but it’s advised to switch back yourself after you’ve verified that you have access to the Rise from Ruin content.

If you want to take part in the beta there are a few important things you need to know!

• This Beta is only available on Steam, owners on Console, Epic or Gog will receive the full Scorpion Update alongside the Rise from Ruin Culture Pack on March 9th.

• If a save has been made in Open Beta, there’s no going back! You will not be able to open that save in the game outside of the beta until the beta ends on March 9th!

• Spent Pantheon Points & Unlocked Content do not transfer between branches. If you unlock the new Pantheon Content included with the Scorpion Update during the Beta and decide to switch back your spent points will be lost. The Pantheon Content will need to be reacquired when returning to the beta branch or upon release.

• Only use this in multiplayer if all participants agree. Make sure you do not use the beta in multiplayer without checking with the other players first, once a multiplayer game session has been updated to use the open beta, you cannot go back to previous versions!

To switch to a custom branch in the Steam client, right-click on the game from the library page and select "Properties".

Among the available tabs will be the "Game Versions & Betas" tab.

The Scorpion Beta should be listed in the dropdown menu under "Selected Game Version" A restart of your Steam Client may be needed if the Branch isn’t visible.

Check out the full list of changes included in the Scorpion Update here

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