posted 02 January 2005 06:28 AM EDT (US)
I figured that since a lot of people are probably new to the game, and guides were swarming around before but have become a bit outdated, Id write a guide to the god Ive played with the most, and also play a little bit differently than other people do - Loki.
People who have been around for years will probably find very little new, but Ill try to keep things short and write about some things that are not the most familiar.
LOKI
Norse god of trickery and the like, associated with fire. Not evil really, though he finally aligns against the asir when Ragnarok comes. More of the black sheep of the family, he makes life a bit more interesting for the gods, though they may not always admit it..
Hersirs move faster Hersirs summon myth units when fighting Myth units cost less favor Oxcarts are faster and cheaper, but weaker Longhouse units train faster Hersirs summon MUs when fighting - the defining Loki bonus. Hersirs gather favor to a hidden pool as they damage units and buildings, when this pool has built up, a MU will be unleashed if there is pop space for it. Hersirs cannot summon MUs from an age more advanced than theyre in. Myth units cost less favor - This sucks a bit, since Loki gets the most favor of all civs most of the time. Still, better than not having it. Oxcarts are faster and cheaper, but weaker - Often overlooked bonus. This is simply vital. Make 2 oxcarts in archaic, and youll have saved 100 res! Youll often need every second early on when you rush, so cheaper carts is huge. Their speed means you dont have to micro them separately when you move to gather, the way you must do as Thor/Odin to keep vills from slowing down to oxcart pace. The fact that they are weaker often doesnt mean much. Longhouse units train faster - Hey, its all good.. not great, but good. The changes in TT mostly help Loki. The free MU on advance works for him since his hersirs can kill the enemy´s, and he gets one of his own. Classical TCs are a lifesaver when the enemy defenses become too strong to assault, but he cant move on you yet. Titans themselves arent easy for Norse to dig out, and for Loki thats particularly true without Ragnarok - but he does have a decent chance VERSUS a Titan, with strong heroes who summon MUs while damaging the monster. Short description - make forward temple, make hersirs, go Heimdall, skip home econ and start rushing. Hersirs summon MUs to help you, and undermine gets rid of towers. Follow with TAs or rc, and be careful not to get popped - hersirs take up 3 slots and you wont summon MUs if theres no pop for them! If you want more details, watch a rec of an expert Loki rush, there are plenty of them. This is where things get a little tougher.. But IMO Loki can be played very well even after the classical rush.. so dont be afraid to pull back if you know youll lose the fight. Theres a couple of things you can do: -Make a 2nd tc. This is one reason to make a fw base near a settlement. Fortify, and start improving your eco. -Tower spam. We´ll get to this in a minute. -Resign. For noobs, mostly. -Regroup in your own way. Classical - Heimdall is the choice most people make. And he really is a solid choice on all maps. Einherjar are classical siege units basically. And then there is safeguard - one of the best techs in the game. TWICE the hp for towers and makes them cheaper. Helps with walls also. Since norse dont get tower upgrades, this is a must if you want to tower up. Towers with safeguard and crenellations is especially useful vs pesky Isis elephant spammers. Arctic winds is often overlooked, but if classical arrow ship fighting is prolonged, you should consider it. Forseti isnt a bad choice either, and you can do a couple of interesting strats with him. Think twice before giving up the heimdall rush though. Massed trolls gives you the archer you never had, and versus atlanteans this is great. Upgrading your already fast and strong hersirs is of course also nice. In general, Forseti will continue to improve your chances throughout the game. Lategame, the hersir + troll combo can be VERY powerful. Heroes benefit more from armory improvs than other units do, and trolls keeps axemen and hypaspists away. Bragi is always good. You NEED his techs to counter cavalry (no bonus otherwise), so have a good reason if you give him up vs eggies or Poseidon. Thurisaz rune improves the MUs youll surely have, and flaming weapons is as strong as it is straightforward. Nothing wrong with battle boars either. The only thing you need to worry about is a fl weaps countering GP, such as ceasefire or frost. Njord is a bit malplaced. He doesnt really fit Loki well. He improves Jarls, but Jarls are an UP unit, as we´ll get to later, and you already have your hersirs.. However, Njord should always be considered as a Fast Heroic god, especially on water maps. Walking Woods is very nice, and back it up with a mountain giant while your Kraken wins the sea - Great on mediterranean. The one thing to consider is that the enemy might have made heroes in response to an expected hersir rush, and these will now be useful for him versus your tree myth units and giant. Mythic - Hel is the Loki unique god. And for a reason. She helps you with myth units - your specialty. However, I must say people play with Hel WAY too often. She isnt a very good god, when it comes around to it. Stronger Giants, yes, great but many civs will have AWESOME heroes in mythic. Vs Zeus and Nephtys eggies - try not to go Hel. Nidhogg is her greatest weakness - hes total crap compared to other mythic GPs. However - he´s half decent versus Titan gates. Go with Hel if you feel that your fire Giants will be able to survive, and that your hersirs who gather the favor will, too. Tyr is available to all Norse gods. The main reason to go Tyr is fimbulwinter. Ive seen many games where fimbulwinter would have won a Norse player the game, but he chose to go Hel or Balder instead. Dont make that mistake. One very effective way of playing Loki after the rush is to tower up, make hersirs and rc, then go Bragi and Tyr as fast as you can, and attack an enemy tc with fl weaps and fimbulwinter. Fimbulwinter blocks other GPs and kills most tc defenders. Its uncounterable and WILL do damage, its just a matter of how much. You also get LOS, dont forget that. Look for the enemy trade route and poorly defended tcs. Fenris wolves have been nerfed, but so have fire giants. Use the wolves in large packs, 6-7 at least if you can, and RAID with them. Run away from heroes, wolves die fast and lose effectiveness as their numbers diminish. Using them as raiders while you fortify your base is very effective. Dont forget the enemy trade, wolves will eat caravans for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and theres just one or two ways to place a market if you want a long trade route. Kronos rush: Make your temple RIGHT BEHIND your tc, and try to make a SECOND temple. Make all hersirs at first, cheiros get smashed by both vills and hersirs. Make dwarves, ulfs or nothing at all at the tc, and concentrate on military. Oranos raids: Towers help. Towers + TAs are often the key versus atlanteans, they cant get through that until mythic. And even then theyll have problems. Otherwise just keep the pressure up on him by raiding with hersirs or rc. Centaur raids: Annoying, but your faster hersirs help. Cents are one of few MUs that cant operate well under tower fire, either. If they havent used ceasefire, try aiming for fimbulwinter. Otherwise you might have to beat them TWICE to win the game. Isis FH: Either hersir rush even though youll be at a disadvantage, or make a 2nd tc and tower up a bit. Hersirs help a lot with ancestors+eclipse. Just have them ready to defend you econ, dont keep them all at the 2nd tc. Then go heavy on rc, itll force them to make camels - which you can defend against with crenellated towers. Dont fight too much, instead go Bragi and Tyr, and hit them with flaming weapons + fimbulwinter. Loki is an underrated water civ. There are two ways to win, both are really effective. Either make a few arrow ships to lure the enemy into thinking it´ll be a water war, and then hit them hard with a land rush. Or FH with Njord, and use the free Kraken + siege ships to take the water. TAs are underpowered, but if you keep them back they can reinforce a rush well. Also good vs atties if you can tower up well, since towers kill off much of atties antiinfantry. Jarls are underpowered - without bonuses they are WORSE than rc on a per pop basis. Huskarls are great per pop, and adequate costwise. If you combo ulfs and husks it forces eggies to make barracks units, which many of them are not good at. Norse are good on water. You should have an advantage ecowise vs all other civs. SPAM docks. Both sides on Anatolia. Ballistas are good, but you NEED to micro them. Otherwise theyll shoot at buildings while your army is being slaughtered. Norse have the best favor gathering in the game most of the time. Always keep MUs in mind. If you dont make dwarves properly, youll have the worst econ in the game. Learn build orders that include plenty of dwarves. [This message has been edited by Johnny_Deppig (edited 01-09-2005 @ 07:20 PM).]
Hersirs move faster - this is unlisted, but a welcome surprise. It helps when you are rushing with hersirs, since you can run away easier to pick a new target. Also helps for catching MUs. MUs running away from your heroes is a pain when playing Norse, so speed comes in handy.
Heroic -
Loki works best versus Atlanteans and other Norse, and worst versus Egypt. Atlanteans have only cheiros versus hersirs, and they dont to too much damage. Additionally, your hersirs are faster and early on they wont have too much of a screen for their cheiros. To top it off, atties are the worst civ in the game versus myth units, especially when they dont have valor anymore. Norse TAs are also quite weak, so you can rush Norse civs with relative ease. Egypt is a problem, especially Isis, as are greeks with ceasefire.
Guess this didnt become so short after all.. if you want anything else covered, say so and Ill try yo put it in.
Took more than that to gather the knowledge though..
