In Age of Empires 4, Relics are golden items that (mostly) can be placed in a Monastery or an equivalent building for other civilizations. For every Relic obtained and stored, Age of Empires 4 players will get 100 Gold every minute, and the money is obtained passively. It's a great way to increase a player's pool of resources with little to no effort whatsoever and can be a godsend when players might lose a chunk of their villagers and need some passive income to bide the time.
A small upgrade in the Monastery will grant players Food, Wood, and Stone in addition to the Gold. All in all, securing Relics doesn't change the tide of war, but it has proven to be a great help for players who can keep it. Players who want to figure out the best way possible to utilize these Relics should definitely check out this guide to understand how. After all, any advantage helps in Age of Empires 4 against both human and AI opponents, making it important to house a bunch of relics and use them advantageously to enjoy the benefits of a bolstered economy.
Updated on September 5, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: Age of Empires 4 is a game that many fans were glad to see after assuming that the popular RTS series had been put on the back burner by Microsoft. While many people felt that the game was a bit too similar to the second game in the series, most people didn't mind since the idea of playing one of the greatest RTS titles of all time with updated graphics and modernized gameplay didn't sound all that horrible. There are many ways that players can strengthen their economy in this game, barring the usual method of using villagers to forage for goods, with Relics being a great way to get a steady flow of gold too.
How to Pick Up Relics in Age of Empires 4
To pick up Relics in Age of Empire 4, players need to send a Monk to the location. However, bear in mind that the unit will need some company since they're extremely fragile and don't really have any way to defend themselves aside from frantically converting a lone unit. A solitary Monk will likely be eaten by wolves before they get to their destination, which is not an ideal situation in the slightest.
Since Relics are religious items that can be stored in Monasteries, Monks are the only units that can hold them and move them. Note that different civilizations have different names for Monks, such as:
- Monk: English, Chinese, and French
- Prelate: Holy Roman Empire
- Shaman: Mongols
- WarriorMonk: Rus
- Scholar: Delhi Sultanate
- Imam: Mosque
Monks can be recruited at the Third Age by most civilizations. However, the Holy Roman Empire faction can buy Prelate immediately at the start of the game without constructing a Monastery. Delhi Sultanate is another exception, where players can build a Mosque in the First Age. This doesn't matter much, though, as obtaining Relics is restricted until the Third Age. So Delhi and Romans only have a slight advantage over other civilizations and need to put in a ton of work as well if they want to make the most of these Relics and their benefits.
To find Relics, players have to send their scouts or troops to check for them on the map. Once players pass by a Relic, they will see its golden color and the golden strings above it. After that, Relics will appear on the minimap with an artifact icon, making it easier for players who passed these Relics to backtrack their steps and take these Relics for their own purposes. In general, scouting is a great way to find things on the map that can become useful later when players are trying to set up defenses or launch a full-blown attack on another person's base.
Importance of Relics
Relics are an important aspect of some civilizations. For example, the Holy Roman Empire can store Relics in most of their constructions, and each construction will have a different buff.
Although the Delhi Sultanate can recruit Scholars early, they still don't count on Relics that much. Instead, their Scholars can seize Sacred Sites early on.
Relics can also be used for offense. Monks carrying the Relics will obtain a new ability called Conversion. When used, the Monk will perform a ritual to steal enemies' troops in a decent AOE. Unfortunately, Monks are slow, and they have to walk into combat to initiate Conversion. Enemies will easily notice and deal with the religious unit, which can prove to be quite costly given how expensive Monks really are. However, there's one civilization that can use this strategy effectively.
Unlike the typical Monks, Rus' Warrior Monks are fast and have decent survivability. With the right planning, players can sneak a Relic carrier in between enemy troops and successfully initiate Conversion.
A Brief Summary of Age of Empires 4
While the RTS franchise has never stopped publishing releases in some form or another, Age of Empires 4 to first new numbered entry since 2005's AoE 3. Ensemble Studios went defunct in 2009, leaving Age of Empires without a studio, prompting the sequel to be handed to Relic Entertainment. The studio has a storied history in the RTS world, following up its 1999 debut, Homeworld, with Company of Heroes and various Warhammer 40,000 games.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, Age of Empires 4 largely sticks to the fundamentals that time has proven to work, with AoE 2 serving as the main source of inspiration. The 2021 game does justice by its series' lofty standards. It's a fun RTS game to try out for fans of the series who want to explore new campaigns and multiplayer scenarios with a fresh coat of paint. The campaign's structure is certainly one of the most unique parts of the game, portraying itself as a documentary as players experienced important moments in history firsthand and took part in some scintillating scenarios!
While fans loved the idea of booting up this game on their PC, console players felt left out for the longest time. Thankfully, Microsoft took the initiative of releasing this game on the Xbox One and Series X/S. Now, owners of Microsoft's flagship consoles didn't have to feel left out as they took part in some exciting RTS gameplay with a UI that is optimized for controllers.
Age of Empires 4 was released on October 28, 2021, and is currently available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.