Diplomacy is going to be a very powerful tool when there are multiple factions on the map. You will start to form relations with factions as soon as you encounter them in the game. In this Age of Wonders 4, we go over how you can increase relations with factions.
Increasing Relations Level With Factions In Age Of Wonders 4
When you meet a faction for the first time, you can offer a gift of 50 gold which increases relations by 50. You can also threaten, which decreases relations by 50. Factions make diplomatic decisions early on, so how you approach them is very important. The AI factions have personalities that determine how they are going to behave in terms of strategy and diplomacy. The following are the different personality archetypes:
- Diplomatic: Favors good alignment, alliances, loyalty, and treaties.
- Isolationist: Favors building an empire defensively and rarely deals with other rulers.
- Merchant: Economy focuses, likes trading. Trading is more expensive but requires less time.
- Sage: Favors research and magic. Make treaties and avoid unjustified wars.
- Spy: Gains vassals and prefers smaller alliances.
- Warlord: Likes war, evil alignment, and conquests.
You can align your strategies accordingly to get into the good books of factions. Furthermore, once you have met with a faction, you can send gifts to them to make your relations better. You can also trade with them. From time to time, the other factions are also going to send you messages and can even give you quests. Completing these quests will increase your relations with them. Note that weaker empires are going to oppose you.
The following are the different levels of relations that you can have with factions:
| Level | Relations |
| Friendly | 600 – 800 |
| Trusting | 400 – 600 |
| Respectful | 200 – 400 |
| Indifferent | -200 – 200 |
| Suspicious | -600 – -200 |
| Hostile | -800 – -600 |
Hostile factions will declare war against you, but you can use diplomacy to do a peace treaty after a number of turns if the war is not headed in the desired direction.
Increasing Relations Level With Free Cities
Free cities are not controlled by factions. You can give them Whispering Stones to slowly improve your relations with them. You can also use Imperium to improve your allegiance with them quicker. The following is the breakdown of the relations with free cities in Age of Wonders 4:
| Relations | Allegiance | Effect |
| Neutral | -11 – 22 | |
| Pact of Cooperation | 12 – 27 | Opens borders Enables trading with up to two resource trades |
| Pact of Loyalty | 27 – 44 | Shared 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 | 45 | Vassalage |
Once the free city becomes a vassal, the allegiance will go back to zero. Vassals will help in combat against all enemies and units to be teleported to and from the city. A free city can only be a vassal to a single empire, so getting to them first can be very rewarding. As you increase the allegiance with a vassal, it will start sharing income and contribute towards the rally of the lieges. Higher allegiance will also reduce trading costs.
This is how you can increase relations with factions and free cities in Age of Wonders 4. To learn more, check out our guide on combat morale.