Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition
130 Achievements
0-0h
Steam
Master of the French
Complete the French Mastery.
1.9%
How to unlock the Master of the French achievement in Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition - Definitive Guide
You dont have to win the game (apart from the ones that explicitly state to win) so once the criteria has been met you can surrender from the menu. Can be done in skirmish and for the ones that don't require killing, if you want to be able to do it without any pressure just set the AI to the same team as yourself. Obviously (hopefully) you need to be playing as France.
Masteries don't complete until the game is ended so you cannot do multiple in one game. For example if you did No. 2 (Wheels of burden - Research Horticulture, Double Broadax & specialised pick before reaching the castle age) and then continued and won the game, No. 3 (Test of strength 1 - Win 1v1 vs Easy AI) wouldn't complete.
Where a certain number of units are asked for its best to go one over that as it seems in some cases the check is a greater than rather than a equal to or greater than.
You can start in the relevant age when creating the game if you wish, for example No. 5 (Clever Commerce - Accrue 2000 Food, Wood, or Stone from Traders in the Feudal Age.) you can start in Age 2. Obviously the ones where you need a specific landmark you need to start in the age before to allow you to produce that landmark.
The best way of winning the game for the Test of strengths 1-4 is to follow Metal Crusher's solution for the below
Now onto what you need for this
Waste Not - Construct 4 resource drop-off buildings in the Dark Age.
Build a combination of 4 Mills, Lumber Camp and Mining Camp (not sure if docks count) before completing your landmark and advancing to Age 2
Wheels of Burden - Research Horticulture, Double Broadax, and Specialized Pick before reaching the Castle Age.
Horticulture is from the Mill, Double Broadax is from the Lumber Camp and Specialized Pick is from the Mining Camp. They need to have completed before you complete your landmark to go into Age 3
Test of Strength I - Win a 1v1 Custom or Skirmish match against the Easy A.I.
See above for how to win all test of strengths
Horsing Around - Construct the School of Cavalry Landmark and then produce 20 cavalry units.
Start in Age 1 with high resources. School of Cavalry is an Age 1 to 2 Landmark choice and works like a Stable, so choose that and then produce 21 horses, light cavalry are the cheapest.
Clever Commerce - Accrue 2000 Food, Wood, or Stone from Traders in the Feudal Age.
Start in age 2 on a land map and the Map State to Revealed and set the AI to the same team as you. Produce a market and then produce some traders, select them and you can choose which resource you want them to trade, but make sure you select one else it will trade gold. Then right click with them selected on a trade post and wait. If you do Food you can also knock out
I started on normal resources, spent my starting 200 food on villagers and then was easy to track.
In Shining Armor - Produce 40 Royal Knights from the Stable under the influence of a nearby Keep.
Start in Age 3 with high resources and produce a stable and Keep next to each other. The keep reduces the cost of units from nearby archery ranges and stables, when placing the keep you will get a highlight showing the area of influence so make sure the stable is within that, you will know as there will be a + above the stable, you only need to get the highlight on part of the stable. Then just produce 40 Royal Knights (2nd unit). You can build multiple stables around the keep to speed this along
Test of Strength II - Win a 1v1 Custom or Skirmish match against the Intermediate A.I.
See above for how to win all test of strengths
Swift Bolts - Research Crossbow Stirrups and defeat 20 enemy units with Arbalétriers.
Start in age 4 with high resources and map revealed, make sure you have an enemy set to Easy. Research Crossbow stirrups from the Archery Range and then produce as many Arbalétriers (2nd Unit) as you wish. I found I didn't even need to attack, just got enough by the AI attacking me. You can boost these to Elite's at the archery range as well and you can supplement with other units, just be wary of them taking your kills.
Paint it Red - Construct the Red Palace Landmark and use it to kill 30 enemies.
Start in age 3 with high resources, easy AI and landmark win condition only. Red Palace is an age 3 to 4 landmark and is a better version of a keep. You want to push the AI to attack towards your landmark, so block every other route off with walls and just leave it open by your Red Palace, I used the hill and dales map on micro size to do this. Make sure you upgrade your Red Palace with the springald and cannon. I also garrisoned mine to 15.
Master Craftsmen - Accrue 2000 Food, Wood, Gold, or Stone from the Guild Hall Landmark in the Castle Age.
Start in age 2 with high resources and the AI on the same team as you. Guild Hall is an age 2 to 3 landmark so build that, select it and choose whichever resource you fancy or just leave it on feed and then just let it build up. The resource compounds so as you get more stored it generates more per 20 seconds. I collected it before surrendering.
Test of Strength III - Win a 1v1 Custom or Skirmish match against the Hard A.I.
See above for how to win all test of strengths
Fellowship - Win the match with a surviving army of 25 cavalry.
This needs 26 at least remaining, if you do the wonder victory from above and just build 26 cavalry before it ends should be easy.
Military Wharf - Kill 10 enemy units with Galleasses affected by the Armored Hull technology.
Start in age 3 with high resources, easy AI and on archipelago map. Galleasses and Armored Hull are Age 3 in the dock, so build a dock, research Armored Hull and build as many Galleasses as you want and then float on over to the enemy. This needs to be units, buildings & ships didn't seem to count when I tried. Transports dont seem to count either, even if fully loaded
With a Flourish - Achieve a Wonder victory while 20 Traders are active.
Start in age 4 with high resources on a land map and AI on same team as you. Active in this case means they need to be trading with a trading post. You can see the number of active traders by selecting a market, under the Health bar and the armour. Build your wonder and then build your 20 traders from market(s) whilst the wonder is counting down and send them to a trading post.
Test of Strength IV - Win a 1v1 Custom or Skirmish match against the Hardest A.I.
See above for how to win all test of strengths
These are how I did them, there may be other ways/better ways and once I was done I couldn't test whether some other things impacted so let me know in comments any other things and I'll update.
Masteries don't complete until the game is ended so you cannot do multiple in one game. For example if you did No. 2 (Wheels of burden - Research Horticulture, Double Broadax & specialised pick before reaching the castle age) and then continued and won the game, No. 3 (Test of strength 1 - Win 1v1 vs Easy AI) wouldn't complete.
Where a certain number of units are asked for its best to go one over that as it seems in some cases the check is a greater than rather than a equal to or greater than.
You can start in the relevant age when creating the game if you wish, for example No. 5 (Clever Commerce - Accrue 2000 Food, Wood, or Stone from Traders in the Feudal Age.) you can start in Age 2. Obviously the ones where you need a specific landmark you need to start in the age before to allow you to produce that landmark.
The best way of winning the game for the Test of strengths 1-4 is to follow Metal Crusher's solution for the below
The Who Needs Infantry? achievement in Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition worth 99 pointsWin a match without producing infantry as the French.
Now onto what you need for this
Waste Not - Construct 4 resource drop-off buildings in the Dark Age.
Build a combination of 4 Mills, Lumber Camp and Mining Camp (not sure if docks count) before completing your landmark and advancing to Age 2
Wheels of Burden - Research Horticulture, Double Broadax, and Specialized Pick before reaching the Castle Age.
Horticulture is from the Mill, Double Broadax is from the Lumber Camp and Specialized Pick is from the Mining Camp. They need to have completed before you complete your landmark to go into Age 3
Test of Strength I - Win a 1v1 Custom or Skirmish match against the Easy A.I.
See above for how to win all test of strengths
Horsing Around - Construct the School of Cavalry Landmark and then produce 20 cavalry units.
Start in Age 1 with high resources. School of Cavalry is an Age 1 to 2 Landmark choice and works like a Stable, so choose that and then produce 21 horses, light cavalry are the cheapest.
Clever Commerce - Accrue 2000 Food, Wood, or Stone from Traders in the Feudal Age.
Start in age 2 on a land map and the Map State to Revealed and set the AI to the same team as you. Produce a market and then produce some traders, select them and you can choose which resource you want them to trade, but make sure you select one else it will trade gold. Then right click with them selected on a trade post and wait. If you do Food you can also knock out
The Do You Deliver? achievement in Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition worth 68 pointsAccrue 1,000 Food from Traders in a single match as the French.
I started on normal resources, spent my starting 200 food on villagers and then was easy to track.
In Shining Armor - Produce 40 Royal Knights from the Stable under the influence of a nearby Keep.
Start in Age 3 with high resources and produce a stable and Keep next to each other. The keep reduces the cost of units from nearby archery ranges and stables, when placing the keep you will get a highlight showing the area of influence so make sure the stable is within that, you will know as there will be a + above the stable, you only need to get the highlight on part of the stable. Then just produce 40 Royal Knights (2nd unit). You can build multiple stables around the keep to speed this along
Test of Strength II - Win a 1v1 Custom or Skirmish match against the Intermediate A.I.
See above for how to win all test of strengths
Swift Bolts - Research Crossbow Stirrups and defeat 20 enemy units with Arbalétriers.
Start in age 4 with high resources and map revealed, make sure you have an enemy set to Easy. Research Crossbow stirrups from the Archery Range and then produce as many Arbalétriers (2nd Unit) as you wish. I found I didn't even need to attack, just got enough by the AI attacking me. You can boost these to Elite's at the archery range as well and you can supplement with other units, just be wary of them taking your kills.
Paint it Red - Construct the Red Palace Landmark and use it to kill 30 enemies.
Start in age 3 with high resources, easy AI and landmark win condition only. Red Palace is an age 3 to 4 landmark and is a better version of a keep. You want to push the AI to attack towards your landmark, so block every other route off with walls and just leave it open by your Red Palace, I used the hill and dales map on micro size to do this. Make sure you upgrade your Red Palace with the springald and cannon. I also garrisoned mine to 15.
Master Craftsmen - Accrue 2000 Food, Wood, Gold, or Stone from the Guild Hall Landmark in the Castle Age.
Start in age 2 with high resources and the AI on the same team as you. Guild Hall is an age 2 to 3 landmark so build that, select it and choose whichever resource you fancy or just leave it on feed and then just let it build up. The resource compounds so as you get more stored it generates more per 20 seconds. I collected it before surrendering.
Test of Strength III - Win a 1v1 Custom or Skirmish match against the Hard A.I.
See above for how to win all test of strengths
Fellowship - Win the match with a surviving army of 25 cavalry.
This needs 26 at least remaining, if you do the wonder victory from above and just build 26 cavalry before it ends should be easy.
Military Wharf - Kill 10 enemy units with Galleasses affected by the Armored Hull technology.
Start in age 3 with high resources, easy AI and on archipelago map. Galleasses and Armored Hull are Age 3 in the dock, so build a dock, research Armored Hull and build as many Galleasses as you want and then float on over to the enemy. This needs to be units, buildings & ships didn't seem to count when I tried. Transports dont seem to count either, even if fully loaded
With a Flourish - Achieve a Wonder victory while 20 Traders are active.
Start in age 4 with high resources on a land map and AI on same team as you. Active in this case means they need to be trading with a trading post. You can see the number of active traders by selecting a market, under the Health bar and the armour. Build your wonder and then build your 20 traders from market(s) whilst the wonder is counting down and send them to a trading post.
Test of Strength IV - Win a 1v1 Custom or Skirmish match against the Hardest A.I.
See above for how to win all test of strengths
These are how I did them, there may be other ways/better ways and once I was done I couldn't test whether some other things impacted so let me know in comments any other things and I'll update.
4 Comments
This is a really useful and well written article, thanks for taking the time to write!
By KillingUnjustly on 14 Feb 2022 09:15
Excellent Guide. Thank you for taking the time to write it.
By Captain Redeye on 03 Dec 2022 17:18