The fourth story realm inAge of Wonders 4is called The Eternal Court. As the narrator explains, an elven Godir named Meandor has returned to his homeland and is trying to bring it back using necromancy. However,defeating him isn’t the point of this mission.
Instead, players will need to complete three separate tasks to finish this scenario. In the meantime, they’ll have to deal with a troublesome curse that affects all the neutral factions and units on the map. The realm isn’t much harder than Crimson Caldera, butAge of Wonders 4players will need to juggle more game elements to get through it.
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Starting Concerns
The Eternal Court hasthree realm traits that make it stand out. First,Rampant Undeathmeans that marauder units are more likely to be undead than not. Second,Low Populationmeans that free cities are less common than normal. However, the third trait is the big one.
The Curse of Undeathaffects every neutral unit, meaning every random marauder, infestation army, and free city. When one of these units die on the battlefield, it gets back up on the next turn with 20 percent of its health. The unit doesn’t get to act on this turn, making it easy to take down again, but this extra wrinkle can make it much harder to refocus on other units. It makes clearing wonders and defeating free cities much harder than normal.
Aside from that, the scenario hasa few factions players can’t choose. The player faction is once again on the side of the Covenant, so none of the Shad’rai leaders are options. Most elfkin races are also off-limits because they feature as rival factions in the realm. One of the off-limits factions is Sundren of House Inioch,whom players first meet in the Valley of Wonders. This is because players start the scenario with Sundren as a free hero who works for the player faction. She follows orders like any other hero unit, and she can even be a governor for a city. At the same time, she doesn’t count against the usual hero cap.
Meeting the Neighbors
The main reason Sundren is part of the player faction is because of her personal connection to the tragedy of the Eternal Court. Meandor is also part of House Inioch, and he brought back the spirits of Sundren’s father and brother as the leaders of free cities that spawn close to the player’s starting location.
Fortunately, the player faction isn’t the last of the living souls in this realm. To the east isSylvani Laurel, leader of the Auldweald Elves. Players get a starting boost to relations with Sylvani since she’s happy to see another living soul in a land full of the undead, but after that, it’s up to players to improve relations with her and draw her into an alliance.
The two other factions on the surface are Meandor of House Inioch, and his former lover Melenis the Lifeless. Both are Dark and elven cultures, and it’s possible to avoid fighting both factions by staying on their good sides. Because of this, and because undead take extra damage from spirit damage,an Order faction buildcan be very effective in this realm.
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Ending the Nightmare
When players first encounter Melenis, she’ll mention that something’s wrong with Meandor but that there are things the player faction can do to lift the spell affecting him. By accepting this quest and meeting all the conditions she sets forth, players can win this scenariowithout having to defeat or ally with every rival faction.
The first condition is to defeat a fallen emperor.This means players mustfind and conquer the free citiesEternal Court and Memory of Sylvanus. Both cities will declare war on the player faction immediately after meeting them, and there’s no way to end this war. After defeating the two cities, players can choose to vassalize, raze, absorb, or migrate as usual.
The second condition is to free a lost mother.The objective marker will point to a special ancient wonder crypt called the Lost Queen’s Crypt, and players can clear it without a fight. However, players must have at least 7 affinity for one of the six elements to manage this.
The last condition is to find the last faction and defeat its leader.This leader is Arachna of the Reclusive Spiderlings,and her capital city is on the underground layer. This can make her tricky to find at first, but the objective marker will highlight the location of her capital. Players should search the surface nearby for an underground passage to reach her.
Alternatively, players can also beat this realm through alliances and conquests like normal. In fact, players can get the rare achievement “Snap Out of It!” by defeating Meandor the old-fashioned way.
Age of Wonders 4is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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