Real Time Strategy Games often have different factions that change how players experience the game.
Age of Empires 4 developers wanted to ensure that each civilization was fun as well as different from the others.
The British AoE4 civilization is quite possibly the most defensive civilization in the game. They are counted with special units that gain significant bonuses when they are close to British towers and castles, allowing players to effectively defend the structures of civilization and tortoise their way to victory.
If you want to learn how to harness the full potential of this civilization, stick around to learn how to play as a Brit in Age of Empires 4.
Advantages of the British Nation
The British have obvious advantages that are easy to exploit, such as their unique archers and bonuses to units near castles and walls. The British build farms for half the cost of wood, and farm mills can harvest wood 15% faster. Their farms also have a 15% faster wood collection rate as long as they are adjacent to a mill. This is an important aid to British civilization early in the game, but it is not the only aid.
They also have access to Vanguard Musketeer units during the Dark Age, while other civilizations had to wait until the Fortress Age.
British Military Ships have a +1 bonus added to their range, and their Town Center fires twice as many arrows as a standard Town Centre.
When it comes to military power in the early game, English Villagers use bows, making them much scarier than most Villagers in the game.
On top of all this, units affected by the AoE4 Castles Network have an ability called Castles Network, which gives a 25% increase in Attack Speed to units located near Town Centers, Outposts, Towers, and Strongholds.
Although all these bonuses ensure that the British are a defensive force, they can be played aggressively thanks to their strong archers.
A unique unit that is slightly slower than the average archer, longbowmen have range far superior to other units in Age of Empires 4. They possess certain technologies that allow them to heal and gain a temporary increase in attack speed.
This unit is already powerful on its own. However, its range becomes significantly better when combined with the bonus attack speed provided by the English’s Castle Net passive ability.
With the Longbowman in your territory, there’s a good chance you’ll have the best ranged unit in the game, along with great attack speed when defending your territory.
Moving Through the Ages
Players start in the Dark Age.
First, you will need 400 food and 200 gold to advance to the Feudal Era. Once you have accumulated enough resources you can start building your first Icon.
There are two landmarks for players to choose from in each Age, allowing you to move on to the next. Both take the same amount of time to build, 3 minutes and 10 seconds.
The options you have during the Dark Age are:
- Council Hall – Craft Long archers at +100% speed from the Landmark. Includes longbowman upgrades.
- Monastery of Kings – Heals all nearby non-combat friendly units by +4 every 1.5 seconds.
The Council Hall is the recommended structure for stronger Longbowmen, even if you are away from your structures.
The Monastery of the Kings looks better if you are under constant attack or siege. The improvement from Landmark will be effective in any turtle AoE4 British strategy.
The Monastery of the Kings may be of some help in dealing with other early harassment tactics from the Mongols or Chinese offensive structures.
To advance to the Castle Age, you need to make some economic preparations because 1200 food and 600 gold are required to build your next Landmark, which will take 3 minutes and 40 seconds to build in this Age.
- King’s Palace – Acts as a City Center with all behaviors, technology, units, and bonuses.
- White Tower – Acts as a Fortress with all behaviours, technology, units and bonuses.
This decision will ultimately depend on the context of each match you’re in and the tactics you’ll use to deal with the rest.
Requires 2400 food and 1200 to advance to the Imperial Age. Your Third Milestone will take 4 minutes and 10 seconds to complete.
- Berkshire Palace – Acts like a Castle, but has +50% more weapon range and doubles the number of arrow slits.
- Wynguard Palace – Produces Wynguard Army from Turning Point. The army includes a Musketeer, Lancer, Longbowman, Knight and Trebuchet.
- This choice will directly affect your end-game tactics.
- If you want to win the game by building a Miracle rather than by destroying your opponent, you should progress with the Berkshire Palace.
However, if you want to produce military units faster, Wynguard Palace will probably be a better choice.
The last Landmark you can build with the British is St. Thomas Cathedral. As the game warns, “build and defend a Miracle to ensure victory. Rival civilizations will become aware of its construction and seek to destroy it.”
British Tactics
There are two basic and effective ways to play British civilization. You can attack your opponent using their powers at the beginning of the game, or you can trap your way to victory by taking advantage of the defense power of the civilization.
Long Archer Charge
If you’re playing the British, you need to learn how to do the British longbowman charge in Age of Empires 4 as soon as possible.
This is a build that allows you to get your first longbowmen in five minutes, and allows you to harass enemies from really early in the game, often completely disrupting the pace of their economy.
This can catch any enemy off guard. The British are tortoise experts who thrive on slow-paced progress. However, if they manage to execute this attack, the game will be decided within the first seven minutes.
Strong Defense
The British have a lot of defensive power with their Castle Network abilities and archer Peasants.
Note that even villagers benefit from the Castle Network’s Attack Speed bonus, making them very useful for helping defend the city center or deterring Scouts.
When you play as the Englishman, getting attacked early could mean you’ll dominate. The British only become slightly more vulnerable after the enemy builds siege weapons. Until then, you have a chance to bully the enemy with the superior range of your Long Archers while defending your structures.
The idea here is to take advantage of the 25% attack speed bonus from the Network of Strongholds and eventually the Camp ability that allows your Longbowmen to regenerate, so you can build all the resources and technologies you need to deal with the invaders and then build your Miracle.
Final Thoughts
While the British are great at attacking with archers and armored infantry, they are somewhat vulnerable to sieges. Even though they have a really strong five-minute attack, their economy will be ruined if they fail.
British civilization has many strengths, but it also has situational gaps in its evolution, requiring you to know when to attack and how to compensate for its weaknesses.
Spy on your enemies, bully them with your superior archers, and have a route to hide behind stone walls, you should be able to control the map well enough to unite the two greatest powers of British civilization.
Over time, you will know when to go on the offensive with a Council Hall and when to counter an early advance using a King’s Cloister.
In the videos below, you can watch special tutorial broadcasts of English vs English, narrated by iby, a top 100 player in Age of Empires 4 Global. Games played against real opponents will make you more experienced.
1 vs 1 British vs British | (British Tutorial)
If you like playing games with your teammates, you can check out the video below.
2 vs 2 (Team) English and Delhi | Aggressive Play With
See also: How to Play French in Age of Empires 4?