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.
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.
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.
