Age of Wonders 4: Free Cities and Vassalage System

by Fernando Diaz / Age of Wonders 4, Articles / 02 May 2021

Understanding Free Cities

Free Cities are independent and neutral cities that do not belong to any empire. They can interact and form relationships with empires, providing various benefits depending on their allegiance. Most Free Cities start as neutral towards all empires, while some may be at war with every empire. Empires can declare war on neutral Free Cities to conquer them, which will lower the empire’s alignment. Making peace with a Free City costs gold.

Army Occupation

If an army belonging to a peaceful Free City occupies a map area, moving onto that hex will prompt an offer to pay Imperium for the Free City army to leave the area.

Communication Channels

Whispering Stones

Empires can give Free Cities one of their Whispering Stones, which will slowly improve Allegiance with the Free City.

Free City Relations

Depending on Allegiance, an empire may have the following relations with a Free City:

Neutral (Allegiance -11 to 22)

Pact of Cooperation (Allegiance 12 to 27): Opens borders, enables trading with up to two resource trades.

Pact of Loyalty (Allegiance 27 to 44): Shares vision, allows building on claimed provinces, contributes by 2 to Rally of the Lieges, reinforces in combat against Marauders and empires the Free City is at war with.

Pact of Vassalage (Allegiance 45): Vassalage.

Vassalage System

Once an empire reaches 45 Allegiance with a Free City, the city becomes a Vassal, and Allegiance resets to 0. Vassals reinforce their liege in combat against all enemies and allow them to teleport to and from their city. A Free City can only be a Vassal to a single empire. Vassals provide additional benefits scaling with their Allegiance.

Denying Tributary (Allegiance -100 to -80): 0% income shared, 0 Rally of the Lieges contribution, +100% trading costs, does not share magic materials, and does not enable integration.

Minor Tributary (Allegiance -80 to -40): 10% income shared, 1 Rally of the Lieges contribution, +50% trading costs, shares magic materials, and does not enable integration.

Tributary (Allegiance -40 to -10): 20% income shared, 2 Rally of the Lieges contribution, +25% trading costs, shares magic materials, and does not enable integration.

Vassalage (Allegiance -10 to 10): 30% income shared, 2 Rally of the Lieges contribution, 0 trading costs, shares magic materials, and does not enable integration.

Bonded Vassalage (Allegiance 10 to 40): 40% income shared, 3 Rally of the Lieges contribution, -10% trading costs, shares magic materials, and does not enable integration.

Flourishing Vassalage (Allegiance 40 to 80): 45% income shared, 4 Rally of the Lieges contribution, -15% trading costs, shares magic materials, and enables integration.

Supreme Vassalage (Allegiance 80 to 100): 50% income shared, 5 Rally of the Lieges contribution, -20% trading costs, shares magic materials, and enables integration.

Strategies for Maximizing Free City and Vassalage Benefits

Focus on building Allegiance: To gain the most benefits from Free Cities, work on building Allegiance by giving Whispering Stones to Free Cities and establishing positive relations with them. Higher Allegiance levels lead to better benefits, such as increased income sharing, Rally of the Lieges contribution, and lower trading costs.

Balancing diplomacy and aggression: While conquering Free Cities may seem tempting, it can lower your empire’s alignment and damage relations with other Free Cities. Weigh the pros and cons of declaring war on Free Cities and determine if the benefits of acquiring a new city outweigh the potential drawbacks.

Leverage Vassals for strategic advantage: Vassals can offer valuable support in combat against your enemies, allowing you to teleport to and from their cities. Make the most of this feature when planning your conquests or defending your territories.

Plan for integration: When your Allegiance with a Vassal reaches the Flourishing or Supreme Vassalage level, integration becomes possible. Integration can provide additional benefits, such as access to resources and increased territorial control. Plan your strategy accordingly to maximize the benefits of integrating Vassals.

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Fernando Diaz

Fernando is doing what he always did, sharing his honest opinions about games whenever he can. The difference is now he is writing and not talking about it.
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