The Silver Seas and Manta Update Out Now!

Set sail, strike a deal and rule the waves.

Dear Godir,

Set sail in search of endless wealth in the Age of Wonders 4: The Silver Seas expansion. Explore oceans rich with mystery, found Cities out on the open sea and cut deals that always leave you richer as the Mercantile Culture. Rule your empire with the alien beauty of the Aqualon and the monstrous might of the Sharkkin, strike a bargain with the Free Captains that prowl the seas and become the undisputed ruler of the waves.

Riding in on the tide is the Manta Update. This Free Update, available to all owners of Age of Wonders 4, brings Trade Routes, a brand new economic system that connects your Cities to Outposts, Free Cities and Empires beyond your borders. Water has been improved from the ground up, with cheaper embarking, Outposts on the waves, new rules for ships in combat and a visual overhaul of ocean combat maps, while Magic Fighters get a new Sword & Staff loadout.

Game Version: 1.017.001.126767

Table of Contents

• The Silver Seas Expansion
• Manta Update overview
• Play Age of Wonders 4 for free this weekend
• Bundles Update
• The Silver Seas Art Blast
• Post-Release Dev Stream

Get The Silver Seas Now!

The Silver Seas Expansion

New Forms: Aqualon & Sharkkin

Two new Forms rise from the depths. The Aqualon are a graceful and aspirational people, near-human in shape with an alien, aquatic flair. The Sharkkin are their monstrous counterpoint: a powerful, martial Form that stands shoulder to shoulder with Orcs and Ogres, with a glint of teeth in every grin. Customize your faction with a variety of striking looks and create a unique character to rule the seas.

Learn More: Dev Diary & Video

New Culture: Mercantile

Become the Mercantile , a culture that always gets more out of a deal than the other side. They found Cities on Ocean and land alike, strike Trade Routes with any Free City that isn’t hostile, and fight dirty on the battlefield to gain an unfair advantage. Choose between two Organisations that define how your empire does business:

• The Cartel (Shadow & Chaos) deals in information and manipulation, with camouflaged Smuggling Routes that reach even hostile Cities and Leverage that makes flanking attacks all the more deadly.
• The Barony (Shadow & Materium) are wealthy trade princes backed by mercenary armies, with larger Outposts, extra Trade Routes per Vassal and Bounties that set their Bounty Hunters loose on targets of import.
• Both bring their own City Structures, spells and a unique unit lineup, from the Informant and Envoy scouts to the Mageslayer and Silvershot.

Learn More: Dev Diary & Video

New Tomes

The Silver Seas contains 4 new Tomes drawn from the tides. Bend the currents to your will with the Tome of Hydromancy. Drag the cursed dead back up from the depths with the Tome of the Damned and its wailing Accursed Lamenter. Let Swashbucklers and Powder Keg Diplomacy do the talking in the Tome of Piracy, and when all else fails, freeze the world solid with the Tome of Eternal Ice and its Ancient Hoarfrost Manta.

Learn More: Dev Diary & Video [1] / Video [2]

New Dwelling: Bond of Free Captains

Out on the open ocean the Free Captains keep their bases, their stolen loot and their plans for the next raid. Each Dwelling is home to an independent Pirate Captain with their own personality and agenda. Some are Bloodthirsty, some Avaricious and a few even Heroic, so you will want to deal with each of them in their own way. Earn their allegiance to become Life-Bound and gain access to their stolen treasures, Pirate technologies and units. Cross them, and their Raids will come for your Trade Routes, Provinces and undefended Cities.

Learn More: Dev Diary & Video

New Content: Ocean Happenings

The sea is no longer passive geography. A new set of Ocean Happenings turns the waves into a dynamic environment full of events, interesting gameplay and economic rewards, inviting you to set sail and claim what the ocean has to offer before your rivals do. Most of these Happenings are a boon rather than a bane, so keep a fleet at the ready: the sea rewards those who answer its call.

Learn More: Dev Diary & Video

New Content: Ocean Locations

The Silver Seas fills the Oceans with new Landmarks, Ancient Wonders, Infestations, Magic Materials and Wildlife. Brave the Tempestuous Vortex, where Rune Crabs slingshot armies across the sea at breakneck speed, then dive beneath it to salvage the sunken riches of Armada’s Fall. Claim the Pearltide Dome to arm yourself with Pearltide Bombs, or harvest the ghostfire-infused Pale Tidebloom that blooms along the coast.

Learn More: Dev Diary & Video

Even More Content

While we’re sure the above has you drooling like a Sharkkin at feeding time, there’s even more that you can enjoy. Further included in The Silver Seas Expansion are:

• 6 Achievements
• 3 New Music Tracks
• 4 New Premade Rulers including the Legacy Ruler Marinus
• New Realm Template: Pirate Reefs & New Realm Traits
• New Exotic Mount: Seamare Mounts
• New Society Trait: Children of the Waves
• New Pirate Interface Skin & Banner Emblems

Manta Update Overview

Trade Routes

Trade Routes are a new economic system that connects your Cities to Outposts, Free Cities and the Cities of other Empires. Each Route is built and owned by a single City, and what you gain depends on what it connects to: Outposts funnel everything they produce into their City, Free Cities share their full output and can be steered with Trade Focuses, and a new Free Trade Agreement opens up trade with other Empires. New Trade structures let you specialize a City around its trade, and Routes can be raided in open war, paying out handsomely if you win.

Learn More: Dev Diary & Video

Water Improvements

Water has always been something to cross rather than somewhere to be. The Manta Update changes that: embarking is cheaper, Outposts can be founded on Ocean waters to make better use of the seas around you, and abilities that summon, resurrect or teleport now work on the water, while embarked units follow their own rules for turning and positioning. Every ship now reflects the Faction that sails it, with three new Boat Skins to pick during Creation, new attack animations and Unit Enchantment visuals, all on ocean battle maps redressed with corals, kelp and sea life.

Learn More: Dev Diary & Video

Spellblade Update

Magic Fighters receive a new weapon of choice: the Sword & Staff. Available as a Hero Loadout and in the Item Forge, it grants a Magic Strike main attack and a Dart secondary, with access to both Staff and Melee Infusions. The Spellblade and Death Knight classes have been updated to match.

Learn More: Video

Quality of Life and more

For each Major Update we don’t just work on new Content, Balance Changes or Fixes. We always try to dedicate some time to improvements that make the game easier or more accessible to use. With the Manta Update we have a brand new set of Quality of Life Improvements for you to enjoy.

• A new Chilled Status Effect joins the fray as the frosty counterpart to Burning, stacking up to 5 times before freezing its target solid, and has been woven into every icy corner of the game.
• The Elder Vampire and Giant Kings have received a fresh round of updates, alongside a large balance pass over Tomes and Premade Item Equipment.
• The battlefield is easier to read than ever: Unit abilities now show the turns remaining on their cooldown, and every combat screen names the battle being fought, so you always know what is at stake. In Faction Creation, five new Hunter Form Traits grant your people camouflage and Very Fast Movement on their home terrain, from Ashlands and Forests to Sand, Snow and Water.
• We’ve also made a number of improvements to the Multiplayer session browser and connection handling.

This only skims the surface of the Manta Update. For the full list of change notes, please visit:

Read the full patch notes here

All you need to know about the new content

Since the release date announcement, we've published a variety of Dev Diaries, Streams, and Feature Highlight videos. Feel free to explore them below!

• The Silver Seas Dev Streams
• The Silver Seas and Manta Update Overview Series by AgentNumberOne on YouTube

Play Age of Wonders 4 for free this weekend!

Good news for Steam & XBOX players!

If you have been keeping an eye on Age of Wonders 4 but haven't tried it before, or have some friends who were considering getting the game, this is your chance! Age of Wonders 4 will be available for free between 10 AM PT (19:00 CET) on the 5th of November and 10 AM PT (19:00 CET) on the 9th of November.

Have fun!

Bundles Update

We are happy to announce Age of Wonders 4’s new collaboration bundle!

Get Owlcat Studio’s Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Enhanced Edition along with Age of Wonders 4 in a special discount bundle. Fear not for if you already own one of the games you can still claim the discount to complete the set with this Steam dynamic bundle.

As time goes on and Age of Wonders 4 keeps growing, players have more DLC to choose from. That is why we are expanding the Collector's Bundle to also include the content from Expansion Pass 3!

The bundle will be updated today at 15:00 CET.

The Silver Seas Art Blast

As always, our art team has put together an ArtStation blast with all their amazing creations

Check it out here

Post-Release Dev Stream

Moreover, we are inviting you to a post-release Dev Stream this Thursday (5th of November), 14:00 CET, during which you can ask the Devs questions, share your feedback about The Silver Seas or the Manta Update, or just have some fun!

Watch on YouTube this Thursday!

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