The military is arguably one of the most important aspects of Age of Empires IV. No matter how players want to win, they'll need a strong army to aggress or defend themselves against other civilizations. Even those looking to win by holding Sacred Sites or building Wonders need to have strong defenses to keep up with their enemies. Having a lot of quality troops will also help players win by destroying all of their enemies' Age of Empires IV landmarks.

While players of most Age of Empires IV civilizations can create military units right after making their first military building (like barracks, stables, and archery ranges), these first troops are pretty weak. They are passable near the beginning of the game while other players only have access to weaker soldiers, but players who want a fighting chance need to start upgrading their troops as quickly as possible.

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To upgrade troops, players will need to ensure they have the proper resources as it works very similar to previous Age of Empires installments. The resources that are most important for upgrading troops are gold and food. These will not only ensure that players can create a ton of soldiers, but they will also be able to pay to upgrade them. Additionally, a focus on wood production early will be essential to build the buildings needed to produce and upgrade troops.

Upgrading Troops in Age of Empires IV

Age of Empires IV: How to Upgrade Troops

The first step in creating a military is to build the proper buildings to get the units that players want. For example, barracks create infantry, Docks create naval units, Stables make Cavalry, and Archery Ranges create archers and horse archers. Not only do these buildings produce the base troops, but gold and food can be used to upgrade these troops from regular units to veteran units. The upgraded troops usually deal more damage as well as resist more with their armor. This is usually the first troop upgrade that players will select. These are especially important for civilizations that like to get offensive early, like Age of Empires IV's French Civilization.

The other way to upgrade troops is to build the Blacksmith. At the Blacksmith, players can spend gold on upgrading all of their forces of a given type. Each upgrade available at a Blacksmith will target a specific troop type (infantry, archers, cavalry, gunpowder, or siege weapons), and they add a bonus to either their armor or their damage. The Blacksmith is only available after players have progressed to the Feudal Age, so these upgrades are typically made after upgrading the Military buildings. Something to note about the Blacksmith is that its upgrade applies to both new and existing troops, so no need to worry about troops missing out on the stat boosts because they were sent out before buying an upgrade. Once all of these upgrades have been purchased, the troops are now officially as well-outfitted as they can be.

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Age of Empires IV is available on PC.