Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Infinite Interactive and published by Ubi Soft. It is the fourth in the Warlords series. Gameplay This title deviates from prior entries in the series by offering a more streamlined interface and approach to gameplay. Diplomacy plays virtually no role in the game, and micromanagement of units is greatly reduced. Unlike most contemporary games, Warlords IV featured only two resources, gold and mana. Perhaps the most notable streamlining is of the combat system. Rather than having multiple units battling at once, combat is one-on-one, similar to a collectible card game. A player will choose which unit to send into battle, and so will the computer (or the opposing player). The units will then battle to the death, with no retreating. Once a unit is killed, the player or computer sends in another, and so on, until one side is victorious. Surrender is not an option during or between battles. Spells can be cast before or between battles that will help to increase the chance of success. Groups or "stacks" of units can number up to eight for traveling parties or up to sixteen units for cities. The basic flow of the game consists of producing units in cities, based on the amount of resources currently available to the player, and then sending those units out to conquer other cities and/or explore ruins, while learning spells along the way. Producing a unit, moving a unit to a place on the map, or learning a spell takes a specified number of turns. For example, a weak unit or a common spell may take one or two turns to produce or learn, while a powerful unit may take as much as four turns to produce, and a rare or "arcane" spell may take as much as sixteen turns to learn. While the player is performing these steps, the opposing players are as well. As many as eight players can play a game at a time. These can be any mixture of human or AI players. The game ends once all but one warlord (player) is defeated. The objective of the game is to capture enemy cities, which will result in more resources and units. Cities come in four levels and can be upgraded at the cost of gold. A higher-level city can produce more powerful units and is more resistant