Released in 2023, The Sultans Ascend DLC pack for Age of Empires 4 adds a new campaign and two new civilizations. It's a significant expansion for Relic and company's beloved strategy game, and well worth the price. Knights of Cross and Rose is arguably not so substantive. The latest AoE 4 DLC introduces two new armies, ten maps, and four historically based missions – but not a full campaign, and no extra civilizations. Costing the same as The Sultans Ascend, Knights of Cross and Rose has earned criticism from some AoE 4 players owing to a perceived shortage of fresh material. With Steam reviews now officially 'mixed,' Relic and fellow development teams Climax, World's Edge, and Forgotten Empires have shipped a new Age of Empires 4 patch in an effort to correct the course.
The Age of Empires 4 is still going strong, attracting tens of thousands of concurrent players every day, but with so much competition out there, every fresh update and DLC needs to shine.
Knights of Cross and Rose is doing okay – of the almost 1,000 reviews posted to Steam so far, 62% are positive. But the criticisms are consistent. For some, the new AoE 4 DLC pack is too thin as compared to The Sultans Ascend. For others, the House of Lancaster, one of the two new armies introduced by the optional expansion, is considerably overpowered, and unbalancing the broader game. Relic is aware, and it's just dropped a new patch that's designed to put things right.
"We have heard your regarding the variant civilizations released with Age of Empires 4: Knights of Cross and Rose," the team says. "It seems that the House of Lancaster hit the battlefield with a little too much muscle, so we are scaling back their power in today's patch to get them to a more balanced state. We are also adjusting some of the Knights Templar's numbers to redistribute their power more fairly."
The health and damage values for various units within the House of Lancaster have been decreased. The income from manors has also been reduced and the open field upgrade system will now cost more to produce. For the Knights Templar, you now need more food in order to train a heavy spearman but the Serjeant's health has been boosted from 95 to 105.
Whether more changes may come for Knights of Cross and Rose is uncertain, though the development team does say that it will continue to monitor responses: "While we anticipate these tweaks will get things where we want them to be, we will continue to monitor player and balance suggestions as the ranked season progresses."
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