Season One Update – Chinese
The first major update of 2022 brings Ranked Seasons, the Content Editor beta (and Mods!), Seasonal Events, Major Balance changes, as well as a ton of quality-of-life changes to Age of Empires IV.
Economy
Hunting bow reload time reduced from 2 to 1 second
Melee weapon cool down reduced from 4 to 2 seconds
Melee weapon damage reduced from 4 to 2
Developer note
"We found scout attack times to feel too long and unresponsive. This is especially noticeable in the early stages of the game when unit counts are lower."
Villager hunted meat carry capacity increased from 10 to 25
Hunted meat harvest rate increased from 10% to 15%
Research time reduced from 75 to 45 seconds
Hunted meat carry capacity bonus removed
Developer note
"We’re aim to encourage earlier game deer play to reward players for being out on the map."
Naval
Arrow ships can no longer fire while moving
Improved the responsiveness of small and medium ships
Updated the selection area for all fishing deposits to match the visual. This also resolves issues where deep fish became harder to select as the resource was depleted.
Galley, Dhow and Junk help text updated to specifically indicate they benefit from ranged damage Blacksmith technology
Developer note
"Engaging in naval battles was very swingy as once a player started losing it was difficult to retreat against fire while moving boats. We’re also hoping to see more tactical poke and retreat style feigns and harassment."
Research time reduced from 75 to 45 seconds
Research time reduced from 75 to 45 seconds
Developer note
"Between making more fishing boats and researching, the dock had to choose between these economic techs that took so long. It was generally better just to make more fishing boats. Reducing the research time makes these techs enticing earlier in the match."
Population reduced from 4 to 2
Can no longer fire while moving
Ranged armor reduced by 1
Developer note
"Attack ships are designed to counter arrowships. However we felt the armor was so extreme of a counter it felt ineffective and unfun to engage in these naval battles."
Warship formation spacing reduced from 4.5 to 3 tiles
Weapon range reduced from 9 to 8 tiles
Developer note
"We want to give land units and defenses more opportunity to return fire against naval units. It’s not satisfying for a boat to out range your defenses and kill them without taking any damage. Having both sides take some damage creates a more interesting back and forth dynamic between players that adds strategy and micro into the mix."
Rams can no longer target naval units
Developer note
"While this was a bug fix, we received player feedback about how it added a fun dynamic to the game. We’ll look into readjusting in the future."
Core Buildings & Upgrades
Buildings under construction receive 50% more damage
Developer note
"Players were dropping buildings in the middle of battles and there wasn’t any way to stop it. We’ve added this damage penalty to in progress buildings to add more risk and counterplay to these strategies to even out how powerful they are."
Keep build time increased from 120 to 140 seconds
Cost increased from 250 Gold, 100 Stone to 500 Gold, 200 Stone
Research time increased from 60 to 90 seconds
Developer note
"One of the most powerful castle age upgrades. This was frequently grabbed as soon as a keep was completed. Increasing the cost adds more strategic contemplation to when it’s researched. Still well worth the investment!"
Movement speed bonus reduced from 20% to 15%
Moved from the University to the Siege Workshop
Cost reduced from 300 Wood, 700 Gold to 100 Wood, 225 Gold
Research time reduced from 90 to 45 seconds
Developer note
"As geometry only affects 2 units that only damage buildings, we found the steep cost wasn’t justified and limited the intended scaling of late game rams."
Moved from the Siege Workshop to the University
Can no longer be researched at the Chinese Astronomical Clocktower
Cost increased from 150 Wood, 350 Gold to 300 Wood, 700 Gold
Research time increased from 60 to 90 seconds
Developer note
"As university holds powerful technologies that affect entire classes of units, it was a much better fit for this technology."
Can now research Geometry (instead of University)
Can no longer research Siege Works (use University instead)
Can now research Siege Works (instead of Siege Workshop)
Can no longer research Geometry (use Siege Workshop instead)
Now correctly provides 30 stone per minute instead of 15
Other bug fixes
Repair ability now shows the correct requirements when attempting to use it on an enemy player
Attempting to observe a modded game when you do not have the same mods enables should no longer result in a crash
Improvements made to sheep to allow for easier selection
Selection tool should now prioritize siege unit selection over building selection when the unit overlaps with a building
Chinese
Supervise production and research speed reduced from 200% to 150%
Developer note
"We found that China is quite strong with the improvements to their dynasties and the flexibility of 200% production speed allowing them an easier counter vs most tech switches."
Cost changed from 150 Food to 100 Food, 50 Gold
Developer note
"China was able to rapidly accelerate their age of time by skipping a mining camp and using tax gold to age up with their faster building production time."
Fixed a bu where torch damage wasn’t increasing when upgraded to Elite
Can no longer research Siege Works
Build time increased from 90 to 120 seconds
Cost increased from 150 Wood, 350 Gold to 200 Wood, 500 Gold
Research time increased from 60 to 90 seconds
Developer note
"As players start in a dynasty and normally grab Song early this tech is giving at least a 10% bonus to gather rates and up to 20% for all resources."
Sight range increased by 100% to match the Outpost (from ±6.7 to 13.3 tiles)
Imperial Spies ability from the Imperial Palace Landmark now reveals Villagers, Traders, Trade Ships, Fishing Ships and Officials
Dynasty Changes
Dynasty units and buildings are no longer gated when advancing to the next dynasty
Yuan Dynasty movement speed bonus no longer applies to Siege
Moved from Song Dynasty to Tang Dynasty
Health increased from 1000 to 1500
Cost increased from 100 Wood to 125 Wood
Developer note
"Adding earlier villages allows Chinese to create defensive garrison to resource nodes right at the start of the game."
Moved from Yuan Dynasty to Song Dynasty
Health increased from 1000 to 1500
Villager harvest bonus reduced from 15% to 10%
Developer note
"Building the Granary earlier allows you to plan out your base layout while making the farm transition, instead of trying to fit in a large building after crops have already been established."
Moved from Ming Dynasty to Yuan Dynasty
Relic resource bonus reduced from 100 Gold, Food, Wood and Stone to 100 Gold, 50 Food, 50 Wood, 50 Stone per minute
Developer note
"Moving up the Pagoda allows the dynasty building to be built in the castle age when players are collecting relics."
Showing notes for the 
Chinese. Other patch notes are hidden.