Age of Wonders III was a breath of fresh air for the 4X strategy genre.
While retaining most of the features in previous entries, Age of Wonders III managed to move the genre forward with some very interesting additions, a lot of which made the game more enticing for those who aren’t used to these complex turn-based experience.
And what makes this title even better? The amazing modding community that has released a lot of different modifications ranging from cosmetic mods to gameplay overhauls.
Picking just a few of them for this list was difficult enough, but you’re sure to find something awesome in here.
Alignment is a big problem in role-playing games. It can lock you out of storylines and content.
Imagine in a 4X game where everything has to be perfect at all times!
Alignment issues are a thing of the past with the Alignment Compatibility mod. With this mod, specializations have a bigger influence on the leaders’ alignment than any other decision, so this should help to keep armies’ morale high. Specifically because it’s no longer influenced by the presence of units of different alignments.
So yes, you can be a righteous leader and keep all manners of bad guys in your armies without having to suffer from any penalty.
Conquering areas is always tough work. So why are we not getting rewarded properly? Don’t we deserve it?
Structure Reward Variety makes some changes to the Reward system so that you either get more or better rewards options over time.
The mod is nicely balanced as well, so there’s no risk of breaking the game and conquering the entire world with too much ease. Let’s keep things kinda fair here.
The Dark Elves mod only skims the surface of what Age of Wonders III race mods can do.
Specifically let’s look into the Archon Race mod, as it goes deeper than the previous one.
This adds the Archon race as a playable race, and comes complete with 7 archon leaders and 14 archon heroes, one per each gender and class combination. Such is the power of these ancient warriors.
As every 4X player knows, the interface of these games can get quite confusing.
You may end up de-prioritizing things that you definitely want to do as soon as your turn begins.
Age of Wonders III suffers from this issue as well, unless you install the Movement Orders First mod. This makes it so that the “An army requires your orders” events will always appear before other events, with the exception of the Hero Join events.
You really do not want to miss the chance to greet these important soldiers, do you?
Insectoid Race sounds like something coming out straight from your worst nightmares… and it is indeed a nightmare in Age of Wonders III.
If you’re on the receiving end of their weapons, that is.
This mod is among the best race mods ever created for the game. It introduces a race that not only comes with everything that makes a race fully-featured, but also adds some brand new mechanics that jazz up the experience a lot.
Who needs expansions when we have so many dedicated modders?
What lies beyond the highest tier of every unit in Age of Wonders III?
A Legendary status, of course!
Legendary Units introduces a new evolution for every tier 3 racial unit in the game. It’s an evolution that starts as powerful as a champion, but that can become even more powerful over the course of the game.
Conquering the world doesn’t seem as hard as it did before, huh?
All the most powerful civilizations in history have always had a naval force worth its name.
With the exception of every civilization in Age of Wonders III.
If you really cannot stand how limited naval development and warfare feels in the vanilla game, the only thing you have to do is to download Old Man and the Sea.
It’s a mod which expands these features with additional sea dwellings, new city upgrades for all water structures, and of course, new units.
It wouldn’t have been a proper mod without a few new units, right?
Strategy games and The Lord of the Rings are a match made in heaven.
So are you really surprised to find a Middle Earth mod? You shouldn’t be.
This Middle Earth IV custom map features a lot of new content. Not to mention plenty of new lore inspired by The Lord of the Rings, and a balanced experience that can be further tweaked by adjusting a few settings.
The Mordor faction continues to be the strongest under the guidance of the Dark Lord, but now you finally have the chance to tip the scales in your favor.
The Shadow Realm Expansion is a community-driven expansion pack that adds plenty of new content to the game. Like a new layer, a new playable race, a new dwelling, new units, Mystical City upgrades for many new sites, and an entirely new campaign featuring 3 scenarios.
Oh, and let’s not forget about the 40 new abilities that radically change the rules of the game!
After playing a few different custom maps, it’s not unusual to feel the irresistible urge to make a few ones yourself.
So, ready to bring the map editor to its next level?
The Decadence mod doesn’t let you add any new gameplay mechanic to the game, sadly.
Instead it lets you make your custom map more beautiful than ever, introducing tons of new decorative items. And unlike most aesthetic mods out there, this one is incredibly easy to use.
Did I hear someone complain about the lack of units in Age of Wonders III?
How about adding almost 400 of them?
Chivalrous Intentions is one of the biggest mods ever made for the game, bringing precisely 398 new units into your toolbox.
This ranges from units taken from previous entries in the series, as well as other brand new ones inspired by history and folklore, all coming with their own unique traits. Not all of them will be available from the get-go, however, as they may need mystical city upgrades.
Hey, you want something great? You have to work for it.
AOW doesn’t stand for Age of Wonders anymore, but for Age of Wardrobe!
This mod, which requires the Golden Realms and Eternal Lords DLC packs to work properly, provides some additional customization options.
Stuff like 64 new backgrounds for leaders, new hairstyles for different character types, and the ability to enable all outfits for all classes. That’s exactly what you need for your 1000th playthrough!
Heroes are the best units you can have in your Age of Wonders III armies.
But there’s no denying that their development isn’t particularly varied.
This Hero Development Mod fixes the issue by introducing three specializations to each class, to provide different development routes to make them specialized in certain combat roles.
The days of overpowered ranged combat are finally over, it seems.
In war, as in life, you need all the help you can get.
Sorry, I meant support units.
And thankfully this mod gives us new tier 3 mounted support units for each race, as well as some balance tweaks to existing units to make the game more balanced.
Also, these unites aren’t readily available from the start. As you need to have the Chamber of Mysteries upgrade, so it’s not like you’ll turn from a nothing into a fear-inducing world conqueror overnight.
Light and dark will always be intertwined. And even mods have to abide by this rule!
“Corrupt the Source” introduces a corrupted version of the Inn called the Haunted Inn, which will let you build some brand new units, and a cleansed version of the Well of Souls, the Well of Life.
A Cleanse the Source spell is also added to the game, allowing you to reverse the effects of corruption. Light and dark indeed.
Ruling them, and properly, is a whole other matter entirely.
This Empire Building Mod deepens the empire building mechanics of the game by expanding the Mythical City upgrades and introducing a lot of new features, such as new units that can only be built once a city has been developed properly. Not to mention new buildings that let you specialize cities in different economic and military fields.
Time to make Age of Wonders III the most balanced 4X game evah!
PBEM & Single Player Balance is, without a doubt, the best mod ever developed for Age of Wonders III.
With this installed you’ll get a metric ton of balance changes that aim to make the game so well-scaled that it’ll be possible to win a match with any class, race, and specialization combination.
And this is a good thing for most players, with the exception of those who loved to exploit the Necromancers abilities for some cheap wins. But that’s a topic for another day.
