The Silver Seas, the latest expansion for Age of Wonders 4, is out now and is loaded with pirates, sharks, and more things our players have been asking to see.
Community reactions to the game have helped shape the new things we’re adding today and in the future.
Also, there is a sea shanty, because why shouldn’t there be a sea shanty?
Ahoy there, folks! I’m the Captain of Age of Wonders 4, a game we’ve been sharing with you for either four years or twenty-seven years, depending on how long you’ve been playing the series. Everyone here at Triumph Studios has spent a lifetime coming up with fantastical ideas to add to our games, but now that Age of Wonders 4 is entering its fourth year and kicking off its fourth set of expansions, it’s officially the longest-running title in the franchise in terms of ongoing support.
It makes me proud to work on a game whose players are still hungry for more new stuff, from dragons to vampires to otherworldly terrors beyond comprehension. It makes me even more proud to have players who are so enthusiastic that we have enough great suggestions and ideas from all of you that we can make entire expansions themed around your requests, which is what The Silver Seas is all about. It’s out today, and it’s loaded with goodies that you’ve asked to see!
Let’s start with Pirates. Age of Wonders 4 is a game where your empires and armies sprawl across forests, deserts, underground caverns, on land and at sea, but our players have been asking for more seabound gameplay since launch. Of course, you all made it very clear that you didn’t want to expand onto the sea without being able to build your own swashbuckling pirate fantasies in the process, so we started there.
The heart of The Silver Seas is the new Mercantile Culture, which allows you to place cities at sea, and transform them into floating fortresses to rule the waves. We built around two different “flavors” of piracy, adding the Cartel, who grow through smuggling and secrecy, and the Barony, who use their lavish fortunes to place bounties on their enemies and import whatever their empire needs.
Of course, we couldn’t do an aquatic expansion without adding some watery new forms for your people to take. The Silver Seas comes with Sharkkin and Aqualon, two seafaring people who are both, believe it or not, based on player suggestions in their own ways. The Aqualon made their debut (sort of) as a piece of concept art that we shared with our community while working on the Eldritch Realms expansion.
So many of you commented that it was a unique and intriguing design that we decided to dive back in and explore what they might become! As for the Sharkkin, every time we’ve asked players what sort of new people we ought to add to the game, there has always been a healthy portion of “Sharks!” in the responses.
Now that we can see how that looks, yeah, fair enough; you were right. Just look at these smiling faces.
Once we had all of these ideas to build out The Silver Seas, the rest came together with designs that just made sense. If we’re going to play out in the water, we ought to add a Magic Tome that uses water magic, and ice magic is a natural progression for water magic. We didn’t add any vapor magic this time around, but who knows? We also added new Pirate Dwellings and pirate-themed stories, terrifying sea creatures to battle, and so much more.
I especially want to thank all of our players for these ideas because it’s not just all of you who get to enjoy playing your Inner Pirate selves. We’ve been indulging in all things buccaneer and swashbuckler here at Triumph, and it’s finally given us an excuse to write a Sea Shanty for work. As you sail The Silver Seas, may this tune keep your compass straight and your sails full. We’ll be seeing ye, me hearties!