Age of Wonders 4 Outposts: How to build them and what they’re good for

Find out everything you need to know about Outposts in Age of Wonders 4
Age of Wonders 4 Outposts: How to build them and what they’re good for
Age of Wonders 4 Outposts: How to build them and what they’re good for /

Experienced and fresh 4X players alike are currently enjoying Age of Wonders 4, which launched on May 2, 2023, on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S and had a historical release, according to game director Lennart Sas’ interview with GLHF. We’ve already broken down some powerful Age of Wonders 4 strategies for you as well as given an overview of all Tomes of Magic you can unlock, but another important feature of the game worth looking at in detail are Outposts.

Outposts in Age of Wonders 4 are an essential part of expanding your empire and establishing control of important areas of the map, so you’ll want to know the ins and outs of how to build them and what exactly their capabilities are.

Here’s everything you need to know about Age of Wonders 4 Outposts.

Age of Wonders 4: How to build Outposts

Building an Outpost in Age of Wonders 4 requires you to have some Gold as well as a Hero unit. Move your Hero into the Province you want to build the Outpost in and double-click on the tile the Hero is standing on. This will bring up the option to build an Outpost at the current location.

Age of Wonders 4 How to build an Outpost.
Be aware of any Claims by other factions on Provinces you're building an Outpost on, as it may lead to diplomatic difficulties to grab territory close to someone's empire :: Triumph Studios / Paradox Interactive

You’ll need to pay for this with a bit of Gold and there will also be a maintenance cost to the Outpost. It takes a couple of turns for the Outpost to complete, but after that you’ll have that province under control.

Age of Wonders 4: Why to build Outposts

The most important and often pressing reason for building an Outpost is to expand them into a City, which requires you to invest additional resources and time, namely Empire Development Points. You’ll want a new City near some important resources or at a strategically advantageous position. Make sure there is enough room to expand for the City, as it’ll need to gain Provinces to generate more resources for you and construct useful infrastructure.

The second reason to build Outposts is to secure a vital resource or landmark. For this, you’ll need to choose the Work Camp option after having constructed an Outpost. This will give your structure the ability to annex a single adjacent Province to your empire. So if you’re at your City limit or simply don’t want to place one at a specific location where such a valuable resource or Ancient Wonder lies, you can always secure them through an Outpost. In these cases, be sure to build a Palisade Wall there as well. While Outposts do not have garrison forces in Age of Wonders 4, a wall will hold off your enemies for a while and hopefully allow a friendly army to relieve the place from siege.

Age of Wonders 4 Why to build an Outpost.
Work Camps are a great way of securing Ancient Wonders or rare resources outside of City range :: Triumph Studios / Paradox Interactive

This is also the third reason to build an Outpost: If there is an unfriendly neighbor sending a steady stream of units into your empire to raid your lands and you can’t deal with the source of those attacks for the moment, placing an Outpost en route and putting a garrison into it will keep your core lands safe, peaceful, and productive.

The fourth and final reason to build an Outpost in Age of Wonders 4 comes in the late game, when your empire spans entire continents and you fight on several fronts. Outposts can house Teleporters, which connect to those you can build in your Cities. A network of Teleporters will allow you to quickly shift your forces from one front to the next, so be sure to build Outposts at critical positions near the front.


Published
Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg