posted 24 March 2009 05:59 AM EDT (US)
Years ago I started writing a Set guide. I never finished, but now I actually took the time to finish/update it. Feel free to criticize though; I am sure there are things that are outdated or wrong in it that I didn't catch going over it again.
Set Guide
Set's Bonuses
1. Set’s Animals
Set’s animals are his main bonus. He starts out with a hyena. He gets free animals at every age advance. His priests can convert wild animals. His pharaoh can summon animals for favor. While those are technically different bonuses, I am going to talk about them in one category.
The ability to use animals is extremely versatile, lending itself to many different uses depending on the opponent and the map. I will try to outline the various uses here.
Scouting
The starting hyena should always be used for scouting. Interestingly enough, while Set’s animals mostly got nerfed for TT, the hyena actually got his speed increased. In any case, the hyena is an invaluable scout early in the game. You do not have to spend gold on obelisks, nor do you have to opt not to empower with your pharaoh right away in order to have him scout. This is a great benefit. The hyena should simply be way-pointed around the map, much like the Greek scout.
Set’s scouting prowess does not end there though. Converted animals make excellent scouts. Particularly good are the crowned cranes found on some maps. They are converted very quickly and are very fast, making them excellent scouts. If you simply want to convert for scouting purposes, then converting something weak like the crowned cranes or deer or elk is probably quickest and most effective.
Lastly, summoned animals make for excellent scouts too. In the archaic age, you can add to your scouting a great deal by summoning an ape or two. In combination with the starting hyena and any converted animals you send, you should be able to have the entire map revealed by the time you hit the classical age (and if you don’t, you can scout with your free classical age animals). This makes it easier for you to effectively defend yourself and effectively attack the opposing side. Scouting should not be underestimated in AOT. It is extremely important, and simply put, Set has the best scouting in the game.
One thing to think about is that your animals can work as mobile obelisks of sorts in that you can post them near an important gold mine or hunting site, giving LOS to it. You will then know when and if your opponent moves to that site. Very useful for raids and attacks.
Food
Set’s animal bonuses can have a huge effect on the nature of the food on the map, both giving you much more food to hunt and depriving your opponent of huntables. The way you do this is essentially to steal food from your opponent. Take your priest and move him near the opponent’s starting TC. You might use vision at the start in order to find where their nearby hunting is. You then just task your priest to convert their nearby hunting, and then send those animals back to your base to be eaten. You can also use your animals to kill the hunting near your opponent that you don’t have time to convert. This will make the amount of food decay. This can actually be very potent, particularly on low-hunt maps. On maps like Oasis and Ghost Lake, I have converted 1000 food near my opponent by the time I hit Classical. On Alfheim, I once used a few priests to convert, and ended up having converted over 3000 food by the 10 minute mark. My hunters never had to leave my base. This has a major positive effect for you as well as a major negative effect on the other guy.
For the other guy, he now has to move to farming much sooner. On a low hunt map, moving to farming even sooner than before can really cripple an economy. This is especially true if it is unexpected. If the opponent has scouted his hunting, and just not gone to the area you converted, then he will likely take his villagers over there, only to find out there’s nothing there anymore. Devastating both in terms of wasted walking time, and the fact that they likely won’t have stockpiled the resources necessary to make a lot of farms, thinking instead that they had hunting left. Again, on low hunt maps, animal stealing can be truly devastating to an opponent’s economy.
At the same time, converted animals allow you to hunt for far longer than normal. Since hunting is a lot faster than farming or gathering, this is a big advantage. On low hunt maps, this simply allows you to prolong your hunting while your opponent struggles to put up farms. This is a big deal. On high hunt maps, the map will have plenty of food for your opponent even if you do convert some of it. However, converting animals near to the opponent’s base and sending them back can still be very effective. By sending animals back to your base, you can keep your hunters close to your base. As I said, I once played a 20 minute game on Alfheim where my hunters never left my base. They just ate converted/free-from-age-advancement animals all game. This is actually a really big deal. Your hunters stay very hard to raid for a long period of time (particularly helpful on Savannah), as they will be near tower/TC fire and easily be able to garrison nearby. Furthermore, they simply will not waste time walking to far-away sites. On the other hand, if you convert animals near your opponent’s base, their villagers will likely have to start going further away from their base to hunt, wasting time walking, and making them easier to raid.
One thing to note, as well, is that you essentially get free hunting at each age advance. When you hit classical, the animals that spawn at your temple amount to 345 food. At heroic, they amount to 674 food. You COULD use those animals to fight or defend, but the spawned units are pretty miserable at fighting for the most part (crocodiles and the mythic age animals are exceptions). If you eat them, though, you get an extra 1000 food to hunt by the time you hit heroic. That’s the equivalent of an extra hunting site by itself. If you need even more hunting, you can also summon animals for their food. The best animals to do that with are gazelle then giraffes (I wouldn’t recommend wasting all the favor on this though). Combine all this with converted animals, and a Set player can hunt for a long time, even on maps like Oasis. That’s a big economic boost that also allows him to be pretty consistent from map to map.
Just a few quite notes on how best to hunt with converted animals. You cannot shift-click the hunting of them. As such, I have found that the best way to go is to task a couple villagers on each animal all at once. This minimizes micro for you. Also, you can control these animals. Utilize that. Put them right near your granary/TC before you hunt them to minimize walking time. This will be a big help to your economy. Also, when dealing with big converted animals like elephants or rhinos, don’t bother having your villagers waste time shooting at them. Just press delete on your elephant. It makes things quicker.
Early Harassment
Set’s animals used to lend themselves to absurdly powerful animal rushes. However, because the animals were nerfed so much, they no longer lend themselves to an all out rush (with some exceptions). However they are still useful in various situations for harassment early in the game.
Set’s animals are very good at harassing dock builders, especially the norse ulfsark. The starting hyena as well as maybe one converted animal can generally find the ulf dock builder and harass him. He will either have to run away, or at the very least, be severely delayed in when he puts the dock up. This should give the Set player an advantage on water against norse especially, though it works against the other civs to a lesser degree as well (vills kill the animals much quicker than an archaic ulf).
Set’s animals are a huge help in defeating Atlantean opponents, especially Kronos. The Krush obviously involves getting LOS with the Oracles. They need that LOS in order to deconstruct your temple, to find your resources, AND to timeshift their buildings. However, Set can have his converted animals roam about outside his base. In many cases, they can find the oracles, mess up their LOS, and possibly kill them. This will cripple a krush. To a lesser extent, this strategy hurts Oranos, Gaia, and non-rushing Kronos players as well. This is because turma raiding is much more effective when they know where your resources are. Harassing oracles will stop them from getting their full LOS, which would make their raiding less effective.
Animals also lend themselves well to some early raiding. If you make priests during the transition to classical, you can take your priests, your MUs, and your animals and raid the opponent even while you go fast heroic. The best way to do this is to have your priests and MU attack the villagers first. This will make them run away. When that happens, the animals can attack without being slaughtered by villagers, unless the villagers are microed a lot. A tricky thing to do against Atlantean opponents is to find a place with two Atlantean citizens. Attack them and take off 70 hp total from the citizens. You can then shifting sands two citizens to your base and watch them die. This is the equivalent of killing 6 villagers, and can be done almost immediately after you hit Classical! The fact that you have animals should allow you to do the damage necessary to get this done that early. I just watched an old rec of a Set player playing GP_Intel as Isis on Oasis. The Set player converts about 3 hyena and 6 apes and goes raiding with them and his wadjet. It was very effective, because he was able to do it early. Once GP got an army, the animals went down quickly. However, it just shows that animals can be effective for early harassment/raiding. In conjunction with a FH, this can be really effective, as you put the pressure on in Classical while ALSO getting to heroic fast. No other civ can do that nearly as well.
Early Defense
As Set it is a somewhat effective tactic to use your animals as an early defense against rushes or attacks while you either fast heroic or take an early forward TC. Granted, animals are not the best defense against possibly the two strongest/most popular rushes: the Krush and the Loki hersir rush, once they get going. This is because both of those rushes center around having heroes early and those units will obliterate your animals. However, animals are very strong at stopping those rushes before they can get off the ground. For instance, if you find a Loki rusher’s ulf when he is building the forward temple, then you can harass him and delay it being built at the least, and at the best kill him. This will be a huge problem for him, and basically makes it a big risk for a Loki player to forward build and all out rush you. Similarly, as stated before, animals can harass and kill a Kronos player’s oracles, stopping him from getting proper LOS to your base in order to timeshift, deconstruct buildings, and find your resource sites. Basically, the animals are potentially devastating to a player that wants to rush you, as they are uber scouts and can thus find and harass the forward builders as they try to build.
At the same time, they can give you necessary cover for a FH. By the time you hit heroic, you will have gotten these animals for free: 3 hyena, 3 gazelles, 3 giraffes, and 2 crocodiles. In addition, by the time you hit heroic (around 8 minutes, possibly sooner), you can have converted A LOT of animals. For instance, on a map like Tundra, you can easily have converted 6 or so aurochs (which have something like 80 hp and 8 attack in heroic). Even on a map like Oasis, I have seen players convert over 10 hyena/apes before the 6 minute mark! Lastly, you can always summon some crocodiles, apes, or hyenas (preferably crocodiles as they are the strongest for the favor cost) for even MORE defense. These animals are not really strong enough to make a rush, but they are very nice as a FH defense. Combine this with Ancestors and Plague of Serpents or a creative use of Shifting Sands, and you really should have no problem getting a forward Migdol up. Honestly, Animals + Ancestors + Plague of Serpents should be just as effective as Ancestors/Eclipse as cover to get a Migdol up (but A/E is overall better as its offensive capabilities are much stronger). You’ll have 9 serpents, 13 minions, 15-25 animals, free MU, and some priests to defend at like 8 minutes. That’s insane. Even if opposing god powers aren’t blocked, you shouldn’t have any problem getting your migdol up. For instance, a norse opponent can FH to get FW, but then his army will be lame at 8 minutes. He won’t be able to stop you. Ceasefire can negate your GPs, but then you can just wall up a lot, start pumping out barracks units, maybe take a forward TC, and build the migdol after CF ends. The point is, Set’s animals are great defensive cover for a FH. They get way less useful to fight with as you get to your pop limit, as they are not pop effective, but when you’ve just hit heroic, that is not an issue yet.
Similarly, the animals are perfect for an aggressive building of a forward TC in the classical age. I watched a game of DeaN doing this once. When he hit classical, he had his free MU, some priests, his free animals, as well as 5 or 6 converted aurochs. Sub 6-minutes, this is plenty of cover to build a forward TC against most opponents (Kronos, Oranos, and Loki possibly excluded). In this game, it was enough, and he won the game because of it.
Animal Rush
This is nowhere near as effective as it used to be in vanilla. However, it IS still possible in certain circumstances to rush with animals. The beauty of Set’s animals is that they give you the ability to forward build early without worrying about it being taken down right away. On maps like Watering Hole, Savannah, or Tundra, you can really get a solid animal army by the time you hit classical. You just pump out some extra priests in archaic and have them briefly convert as well. With a good classical time, you can probably have something like 3 elephants and a few rhinos/hippos along with a free wadjet, some priests, your weak free animals, and a bunch of summoned hyena. You then go raiding with your army while pumping out barracks units from forward built barracks. Try to put up a tower in your FB as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, you want to build a little trap back home. I saw DeaN do this once as Set. He built some free buildings near his TC in such a way that it created an enclosure into which the TC could fire. You can do this, and then shift your opponent’s heroes/early army into this enclosure. They will die before they can get out. Temporarily without heroes, your opponent will find it much harder to kill your animals. Just keep strangling him with constant raids (heal with your priests after raids so you can keep doing them). Against norse, build axemen to deal with any hersir. Otherwise, make slingers. Well executed, this can be a very effective rush against everyone but Egyptian opponents (free towers will stop this). I saw it done in an expert rec once. I forget who did it, but he did it against a Greek opponent (without the SS part, though), and while the FB was eventually taken down, a lot of damage was done, and the Set player won the game. Alternatively, you could probably scrap the SS thing, and go Anubis. Anubite raid and put plague of serpents in your FB to defend it.
Lastly, animals are a significant part of the Set villie rush. This is not something that works on high levels, but the combination of villagers, free wadjet, free animals, summoned animals, converted animals, priests, and your pharaoh are all Vision + Shifting Sands next to your opponent’s TC right when you hit classical can take your opponent by surprise and win games, especially against Atlanteans with their weaker TCs.
2. Slinger and Chariot Archer trained 20% faster.
This is probably Set’s second most important bonus. Slingers are made in 11.2 seconds instead of 14 seconds, while CA are built in 4.8 seconds instead of 6 seconds.
Let’s talk about the slingers first. Having slingers be made extremely quickly helps greatly against early rushes. When rushed, slingers are generally the best units to build as they are ranged. They can thus attack while being covered by TC fire. Having them be built 20% faster makes it easier to fight off rushes. In a more offensive vein, it also allows you to mass slingers much quicker. This is important because massed slingers are very tough to beat. This is especially true against other Egyptians who have no real counter to massed slingers (especially before they can start massing elephants). Because of this, if you can force a Ra or Isis player into a classical battle (with a lot of raiding or something), you will have the advantage. Similarly, massed slingers are impossible for Atlanteans to counter in classical. Their best option is probably to try to out-spam you with turma, but your slingers will be cheaper and faster built, so that isn’t really a great option. Norse also have a somewhat hard time countering truly massed slingers in classical. This, and the next bonus I’ll talk about, make massed slings a legitimate strategy for Set.
As for CA, they are built absurdly fast for Set. This is actually not that great of a bonus though in most cases. The problem is that the limiting factor in CA spamming is generally resources rather than build time. Basically, you probably won’t be able to afford making CA every 4.8 seconds anyways. However, when you first get your migdol up, this bonus means that you will pump out those first few CA slightly quicker, which is a help. And in long games, when you have an awesome economy, you’ll be able to reinforce your army quicker, which is a help too. Overall, though, this bonus probably sounds better than it is simply because it is difficult to take advantage of.
3. Slingers have 10% more HP and 10% less hack vulnerability.
This adds 6.5 hp, and ups slingers’ hack armor to 23%. For one, the added HP is welcome and makes Set win slinger wars against other Egyptian civs. This bonus also makes them more hardy against infantry (and cavalry too, but they still get owned obviously). Combine that with Sekhmet’s Slings of the Sun tech, and massed slings will absolutely murder archers AND infantry. Horus Spearmen + Slings of the Sun Set Slingers = awesome.
Basically, there’s not much to say about this. You can’t exploit it in some creative way. It just makes your slingers live longer and since massed slings are a big option for Set, this is a welcome bonus.
4. Migdol Stronghold costs 25% less.
Set’s Migdols cost 300 gold instead of 400 gold. This is a decent bonus. It makes spamming migdols a lot easier to do while you are also making units. Many games end too quickly for this to really have a big effect, but in long games where both players try to consolidate their position by building castles, this bonus starts being really nice. Basically, it just helps a Set player with map control in later games.
Set’s God Power: Vision
Vision allows you see a large area for 20 seconds. It is possibly one of the most versatile GPs in the game. There are so many potential uses for it. I will try to list some of them here, but I am sure I will forget some.
-On big hunting maps like Watering Hole and Savannah, you can Vision the middle of the map. This will allow you to task your priest to convert good animals right away, as opposed to having to wait for it. This lends itself towards some kind of animal rush or just a good early defense.
-You can also vision somewhere around the opponent’s base early on if you want to do food stealing on a low hunt map. This will allow you to get your priest over and converting their sparse nearby hunting as soon as possible.
-On Anatolia, you can Vision one side of water near your opponent’s base. If you see them building a dock there, you then send your hyena/converted animals to stop it. If the vision does not reveal a dock builder, send your animals to the other side. Most likely, you’ll find your opponent’s dock being built there.
-On medit, you can almost immediately Vision where the water will be. This will allow you to find the best spot to put your dock(s) such that they are very close to fishing. This is very important.
-At some point when you are about to start spamming out an army, particularly a classical army, you can Vision the opponent’s base to find out what his army looks like so you can counter it. This is particularly effective against Greeks as they do not have buildings that can make everything. So if you see one barracks and two archery ranges, you can just pump out some axemen and a bunch of slingers and he will not be able to react quickly with hippikons.
-Vision + Shifting Sands is a powerful combo. It can be used in multiple ways. You can use Vision + SS to immediately attack a TC with your army. You can use it to do an effective villager rush. You can also use it to shift the majority of an opponent’s early army into an enclosure or on an Alfheim cliff in preparation for a rush. You can use it immediately after hitting classical to shift over 3 of your opponent’s villagers right next to your TC. That early in the game, that is a huge hit to his economy (probably 1/6 of his villagers). A really great use of Vision + SS is on Oasis. You can use it to shift all of your opponent’s goats to your TC. This basically kills their economy. It works well on Ghost Lake too. Combine this with some animal stealing, and your opponent will be crippled really badly economically.
-If you save Vision, you can use Vision + Meteor or Tornado on a Titan Gate. You won’t be able to do this against Isis, but against anyone else, it pretty much destroys the Titan Gate. Very powerful.
-You can also do absurd combinations of all your GPs. For instance, you can use Vision + SS with your army to their TC, then cast Ancestors as well for an uber surprise attack. If you add Meteor or Tornado to that, it basically kills their base in seconds. However, the chances that you could survive saving all of your GPs until mythic age is pretty slim. Maybe with a FM, but I don’t know. Vision + SS + Ancestors is a realistic and very powerful combo for a FH, though.
-Set has multiple options for raiding an opponent. He can use anubites, spearmen, or even animals for early raiding, and later CA are obviously completely awesome raiders. Vision can make your raiding a hell of a lot more effective. Basically, when you are about to start raiding, cast Vision on your opponent’s base. You will see exactly where he is gathering resources, making your raiding as effective as possible from the very beginning.
-If it is late game, and your opponent has an uber trade route going that is walled off, you can Vision + Ancestors (or SS your army) behind the walls to destroy the market and kill his caravans before his army can get there. This is probably a somewhat weak use of 2 GPs, but it is an option.
Set’s Tech: Feral
Feral got nerfed in AOM. It now gives converted animals +10% HP and armor, as well as +25% attack. For 100 gold and 10 favor, this is generally not that worth it, as animals will not generally make up a major portion of your army over the course of a game. However, if you are doing some sort of animal rush as described above, then you might think about getting this tech. It would probably be worth it in that case. In general, though, ignore this tech. It used to be great when it gave +50% attack and animals were strong, but now it is relatively weak.
Classical Age Minor Gods
Ptah
Ptah’s God Power: Shifting Sands
Shifting Sands is an extremely versatile GP. I have already described a lot of the options for SS. You can use it for a villager rush. You can shift your opponent’s army away in preparation for a rush. You can use it for a surprise attack in conjunction with Vision. You can shift 3 of their villagers away early in classical. You can shift a bunch of your own villagers to a forward TC to take it really quickly. You can shift away goats on Oasis/Ghost Lake to cripple their economy. If you go Sekhmet you have the option to Scarab rush. When a Ra player does this, they use Eclipse to make it uber. However, what you can do is use Shifting Sands to shift away all their heroes right before you attack. That should be very devastating. On alfheim, SS has a ridiculous number of semi-BS options. You can SS catapults on top of hills near your opponent’s base. They will be really tough to kill with just ranged attacks. You can also shift your opponent’s army on top of a hill. They will basically have to kill their now worthless units. You can also cripple a rush early on by shifting their units right next to your TC and units.
Ptah’s MU: Wadjet
The Wadjet is actually a very nice unit for killing villagers early on. Its ranged attack makes it a good raider, even if it is slow. It is also very strong against other MU as it is ranged and has a x3 multiplier against MU. Use it to raid and in battles try to have it focus on other MUs.
Ptah’s Techs
1. Shaduf: This is a really nice tech, especially on low hunt maps. On low hunt maps, it can sometimes be very tough to afford farms while making an army. This makes it easier. It is pretty cheap, only costing 200 wood and 10 favor. It definitely pays for itself once you start farming, so you should definitely get it. Against a Ra player who you suspect will pull out Rain early, then this can be the best way to take advantage of his Rain without stressing your economy too much.
2. Scalloped Axe: This tech is very cheap and worth it if you are using a lot of axemen. In many cases, the axemen/elephant combo is devastating. If you are using that combo, then make sure to get this tech.
3. Leather Frame Shield: In my opinion, this tech costs too much to be worth it until the late game. It will make Spearmen last longer against pierce attacks. Obviously, they will still get crushed by Toxotes or Arcuses, but this is probably a tech to think about for classical fighting against Atlanteans. The Atlantean counter to your spears are Cheiros, but spears have a bonus against them too. Increasing the pierce armor of your spears can leave them able to beat cheiros (depend on how massed the cheiros are), meaning atty will have no true counter to spears in classical. Murmillo will win by pop cost, but if you just sprinkle in some axemen, your classical army will be really tough to beat.
4. Electrum Bullets: A really good tech to get if you are massing slingers, which you will in many cases as Set. It increases their attack by 10%, which is a welcome bonus. This is pretty cheap too. Get it when it is affordable.
Anubis
Anubis’ God Power: Plague of Serpents
This is a solid defensive god power on land maps. It summons 9 serpents in an area and they attack anything that comes in that area. The serpents are about as strong as a spearman, so this is a substantial defense. It works quite well early against a rush when 9 units are a lot. Place it either during a battle to assure victory or put it in a really important spot (gold mine, hunting spot, their forward base). Note that the serpents count as MUs, so heroes cut through them pretty well. As such, make sure to try to focus fire on heroes if you want this GP to be effective. Also note that this GP has very little effect against villagers, as they do virtually no damage to them. Because of this, it can’t really be used effectively on offense. On water maps, this is a game changing god power. There’s really no excuse for not winning the water in Classical if you use this god power during a major battle. It’s seriously awesome on water.
Anubis’ MU: Anubite
The anubite is a very cheap MU (in terms of resources and build time) that is excellent for raiding because they are fast and can jump over walls. I have seen a ton of experts go Anubis as Set and make 5 or 6 anubites to raid with. It is a very legitimate and devastating tactic, especially against Norse whose hersirs will be unable to catch up with the Anubites (unless they are HoT Loki hersirs), against Gaia, who is just weak against MU spams in general, and against Greeks because only their ranged hero will be able to touch the anubites. Basically the strategy is to just raid with your anubites and then take them back for priest healing and repeat. Combined with a Vision of your opponent’s base to find out where his resource sites are, you can have pretty uber raiding.
Anubis’ Techs
1. Serpent Spear: Obviously +10% spearman attack is a welcome bonus. However, this is an expensive tech. It is probably only affordable late in games. If you go for Horus spearmen, this will just help them be even more uber. Get it when you can, obviously, if you are using spearmen.
2. Necropolis: This tech makes monuments gather favor 10% faster. It is somewhat expensive, but if you are doing an Anubite spam, it can be useful to get along with putting down all the monuments you can. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t get this, unless you intend to do a scarab spam later.
3. Feet of the Jackal: I would recommend getting this if you already have 4-5 Anubites. It increases their HP and attack while also making their jump special better. If you aren’t spamming anubites though, I would avoid this tech.
The Choice: Ptah vs. Anubis
I think that Anubis is the obvious choice on water maps as plague of serpents is really strong. Your opponent generally does one of two things on a water map: either they try to win the water or they rush you and ignore water. If they try to win water, you can use plague of serpents to win the water yourself, and if they rush you instead, you can use the serpents to fend off the rush early. Ptah is still a good choice on water maps, but I think Anubis is too good to pass up. On land maps, Ptah is generally the better choice. Shifting Sands is better than Plague on land and Shaduf is a big help on land maps. I would think about going Anubis against Gaia and possibly Norse though, as they find it hard to counter an anubite spam.
Heroic Age Minor Gods
Sekhmet
Sekhmet’s God Power: Citadel
This turns any of your TCs into a Citadel. A Citadel is stronger than a TC, with more HP and attack. However, the most important part of this GP is that the Citadel gives you +10 pop limit. In a somewhat long game, having 10 extra pop spaces can really make the difference in battle after battle in the same way that Isis’ bonus to pop does. For this reason, I think it is pretty accepted that Citadel is best used on a safe TC so that you do not lose the pop bonus. However, I can think of some instances where it might be useful to use it on a forward TC. For instance, if you Vision + SS your army and some villagers into your opponents base and take down his TC, it can be helpful to put up a TC and use citadel on it to really make it tough for your opponent to counterattack. Generally though, use it right away on your home TC.
Sekhmet’s MU: Scarab
Scarabs are exceedingly strong siege MU. They do 60 crush damage and 30 hack damage a second to buildings and have 75% pierce armor. They take down buildings remarkably fast. Unlike normal siege units, they are not very vulnerable to villagers. However, they are, of course, vulnerable to heroes, so keep them safe from heroes in a variety of ways. Against norse, surround them with axemen or CA to kill hersirs. Against Egpytians, massed priests are hard to counter, but the scarab has 75% pierce armor and high HP, so they should last for a while against them. If you scarab rush, you can SS the massed priests away, too. That’s devastating. By the time you might scarab rush, Atlantean players have probably used up their Valors (or they are Gaia), but if they haven’t, just focus fire on their heroes with CA or slingers. Same goes for Greek heroes. Focus fire on their heroes, especially the ranged one. Basically, a scarab rush is a legitimate tactic to use. Just make sure to save up some favor, and then preferably either SS your scarabs/army into the opponent’s base, or SS their heroes away. Either way, you should be able to destroy a lot of their base before they can do much to stop you.
Sekhmet’s Techs
1. Bone Bow: This is an okay tech in my opinion. The +4 range is not that useful in battles because at 20+ range, the CA are extremely inaccurate. As such, the main benefit of the range increase is that CA now outrange most buildings. In conjunction with Burning Pitch, CA suddenly become really great siege. This is useful, but in most cases, I would save this until the late game as it costs a lot and Egyptian siege is fine as it is.
2. Slings of the Sun: This is a relatively cheap tech that makes slingers be quite effective against infantry. They won’t kill most infantry as effectively as Toxotes or anything, but they will murder axemen/hypaspists, and do very well against hops/murms/ulfs/spears. This turns them into an all purpose unit rather than just an archer counter. I would get this if you have massed slings.
3. Stones of Red Linen: This tech is not that worth it. Catapults already take down buildings really quickly and by this time the water battle is probably already over, adding attack to catapults and war barges is probably unnecessary. This is the type of tech that you should only get very late in games when you are rolling in resources.
4. Ram of the West Wind: This is similar to Stones of Red Linen. It gives siege towers +20% HP/attack. It costs a lot of gold, though, so I would only get it if you really are spamming siege towers. Basically it is worth getting in late games, but probably not before that.
Nephthys
Nephthys’ God Power: Ancestors
Ancestors is obviously an extremely strong GP. It summons 13 minions to fight for you for a minute. You can use it to take down an unguarded TC, to turn the tide of an important battle, or to harass your opponent’s economy. Basically just use this at an extremely important part of a game and it should turn the tide in your favor. Set cannot use it in conjunction with eclipse so it is not ridiculously powerful, but it is certainly a strong GP. Note that ceasefire can negate it, so be careful about that.
Nephthys’ MU: Scorpion Man
The scorpion man is an extremely powerful MU for a very low price of 150 wood and 22 favor. It is very possible to spam a few of these after hitting heroic. They will do a lot of damage. There is nothing particularly special about them, but if you go Nephthys, make some as they are extremely pop-effective.
Nephthys’ MU: Leviathan
The Leviathan is a very solid water MU that can also transport units. With 1020 HP, high armor, and 25 hack attack, the Leviathan is very strong for a mere 200 gold, 20 favor, and 10 seconds of build time. If you lost the water, you can definitely try to win it back with the help of some Leviathans. This isn’t as effective in AOT as the heroic fleet tech exists, but it still works. Against the civs that do not get a water MU or people that chose not to use the minor god that would have given them one, a Leviathan spam is very strong. If your opponent has water MUs, you will need to get heroic fleet, as Leviathans do not do all that well against other heroic water MUs. The Leviathan can also transport 15 units. On a map like Medit, you can use this to get straight to the heart of the enemy’s base. Since the Leviathan is so hard to kill, you can even transport units when the enemy controls the water.
Nephthys’ Techs
1. Funeral Rites: This greatly increases the damage done by Priests to MUs. This is very necessary for killing a Titan, an MU spammer (like a Zeus Colossi spam), or for dealing with Ancestors/Eclipse from an Isis player. Basically, this is a really important tech to get in preparation for any of those things.
2. Spirit of Ma’at: This doubles the healing rate of priests and pharaohs and makes Priests only cost 80 gold. This lends itself very well to Priest spams. In terms of gold, it pays for itself if you make over 10 priests. As such, if you are going to fight a titan, or lots of MU, or A/E, get this tech before you priest spam.
3. City of the Dead: This increases the HP and attack of Pharaohs, and makes them respawn faster. It costs a lot given that it only affects one unit. I would avoid this tech unless you are rolling in resources and fighting lots of MU.
The Choice: Sekhmet or Nephthys
Honestly, I would almost always choose Nephthys. Ancestors is game changing. The Leviathan makes him more useful on water maps, and Nephthys priests give you a great defense against all types of MU-centered strategies. However, Sekhmet is still a good option. Against Gaia, you might be better off going Sekhmet and massing scarabs. Also, if you have massed slingers, then you might go Sekhmet for Slings of the Sun. Lastly, if your opponent still has ceasefire, you might want to think about going Sekhmet, as your opponent can totally negate your Ancestors. However, in most cases, I’d recommend Nephthys.
Mythic Age Minor Gods
Thoth
Thoth’s God Power: Meteor
This is an extremely destructive GP. It can take down a TC and a lot of buildings around it, while also hurting a lot of enemy units around it. Basically, use this in conjunction with a big attack, and you should be able to damage your opponent’s base a great deal. You can also use this with Vision to destroy a Titan Gate.
Thoth’s MU: Phoenix
A flying MU that does a lot of area of effect damage. It is very strong against massed units as well as buildings. You can use a Phoenix in battle, as siege, and to raid with. It is strong at all of those things. It is pretty expensive, though, so take care of them. Try not to let it get focus fired upon by ranged units, especially priests (in fact, you may want to think about not building them against other Egyptians). They are particularly hard for Norse to deal with (as they have no ranged heroes), especially if they do not have the Axe of Muspell tech that gives TA a bonus against flying units. Atlanteans also have a hard time, as by the Mythic Age, they have probably used up their valors, leaving them hard-pressed to get lots of heroes. Basically, make these against a Norse player especially. Otherwise, you can make them, but be careful with them.
Thoth’s MU: Sea Turtle
Basically, the sea turtle is an upgrade on the Leviathan. It has more HP, does crush damage too, and has a really nifty special attack. It costs more resources than a Leviathan (but equal favor) and cannot transport units. By the mythic age, it is unlikely that you will still be fighting on water, but if you are, and you were using Leviathan, switch over to Sea Turtles. They are very strong against human units, doing better than any other mythic age water MU. However, you will want to have heroic fleet to back the sea turtles up with if you want to win the water against another player with a water MU as Sea Turtles are not particularly great against other water MUs.
Thoth’s Techs
1. Book of Thoth: This is a pretty expensive tech, but it is REALLY great, making you gather all resources 10% faster. Get this as soon as possible as it will make your late game economy ridiculously strong.
2. Tusks of Apedemak: This gives elephants an extra 20% HP and 10% attack. With this bonus, elephants are only countered pop-effectively by Horus spearmen, Bragi ulfsarks, Katas, and Myrmidons. Thoth elephants are probably the best all around unit in the game. Get this tech if you are making them.
3. Valley of the Kings: This tech is really expensive, but it makes Migdol units train almost instantly. When your economy is really strong, it makes you SO hard to overwhelm. Your opponent can destroy your entire army, but you can replenish it almost instantly with just a few migdols. Get this for a relatively long game. It is really strong.
Horus
Horus’ God Power: Tornado
Tornado is very similar to Meteor in effect. I have found that it is more reliable than Meteor in killing the building you aim it on (like a TC), but it is less reliable in terms of overall damage. In any case, though, use it just like you would use Meteor: in conjunction with an attack to totally overwhelm your opponent. Like Meteor, it can also be used against Titan gates. This gp is kind of bugged in that it creates an Out of Sync error frequently.
Horus’ MU: Avenger
The Avenger is essentially a more uber version of the Scorpion man. It has slightly better attack, slightly more HP, better hack armor, is faster and has a better bonus against other MUs. Its special does a similar area of effect attack to the Scorpion Man’s. The Avenger costs 4 pop just like the Scorpion Man, but costs a lot more in resources. As such, you should make Avengers instead of Scorpion Men if you have the resources for them (as they are more pop effective). However, costing 30 favor, they are hard to mass. You should make some, though.
Horus’ Techs
1. Axe of Vengeance: This makes Axemen into siege, giving them a x3 multiplier against buildings. Get this if you are making a lot of axemen and you have the resources for it. In most cases, it is best to mass axemen alongside elephants. That combo is very strong. So if you are using that combo and have gone Horus, get this tech as your axemen and ellies will go through buildings like butter. However, if you were wanting to mass elephants, you are probably better off going Thoth, so this is more of a consolation prize. In most cases, you won’t go Horus and make enough axemen for this to be of use, though.
2. Greatest of Fifty: This is one of the best techs in the game. This is the only way Egyptians get a truly hard counter to cavalry, increasing spearmen’s multiplier against cavalry to x2.1 and giving them -10% hack vulnerability. This is a great counter to Thoth elephants (although you could just go Thoth yourself), a Jarl spam, or a norse player. Against Norse, Horus spears + Axemen is pretty uber. Against Greeks, Horus spears + Slings of the Sun Slingers is pretty awesome too.
3. Spears on the Horizon: This further adds to Horus’ spearmen by giving them +10% attack and +30% HP. It is relatively cheap for the bonus it gives too. Get this and Greatest of Fifty if you plan on taking advantage of Horus.
The Choice: Thoth or Horus
Honestly, both of these choices are amazing. In most cases, though, I would say go for Thoth. The elephants are just too good to pass up. However, in certain circumstances, Horus can be better. If you already have massed a barracks only army and that is what you are geared up for, then go Horus. If your opponent is spamming elephants, then go Horus (although going Thoth is fine in that situation too). If you are facing a Poseidon opponent who has spammed stables and Hipps then go Horus. He won’t be able to switch over to other units that quickly.
Set Strategies
1.Animal Raid/Rush
This is as I described earlier. On a map with a lot of strong animals, like Watering Hole, spam some priests and convert a lot of animals. Forward build if you can. Once you hit Classical, start raiding with your priests, animals, and free wadjet, while spamming barracks units. Use Shifting Sands to essentially kill a lot of their early army, specifically early heroes (by enclosing them next to your TC). Keep the pressure on their villagers constantly. Make axemen against Norse, and slingers against everyone else. With strong converted animals like rhinos or elephants, you should be able to take down some buildings. Basically, though, just strangle them off resources with constant raids. Your economy will be pretty crappy due to forward building and such, but you should be able to hurt them A LOT more.
Best used against: On certain maps against Norse and Gaia
2.Anubite Raid
Get to classical with Anubis. Make monuments as early as possible and spam anubites, slingers, and priests. Use the anubites to raid constantly. Have the priests heal them when they are damaged. They should run away from heroes for the most part. If they put heroes next to their resource sites, kill them with your actual army. In this strategy, it is probably best to convert packs of animals near your opponent, at the very least forcing him to hunting further away, making your raiding easier. You should use Vision when you are ready to raid, to allow you to raid extremely efficiently.
Best used against: Every civ except Egyptians and Loki
3.Scarab Rush
Get to heroic. Spam some Scarabs along with an army, of course. Try to Shifting Sands your opponent’s heroes away (possibly using a Vision + SS combo to do it or just shifting them away during the battle). Attack their base with your scarabs and defend the scarabs with an army. Without heroes, it should be hard to kill the scarabs before they have done a load of damage. Atty will have a hard time against this as they have trouble with MUs in general. Eggy has a hard time against this as it is relatively easy to SS massed priests away, and scarabs have high pierce armor anyways. Greeks have a tough time with this as it is quite easy to SS their ranged hero, and the melee heroes will have a hard time getting to the scarabs if you do it right. Lastly, Norse will have trouble because they do not have ranged heroes, and you can just use lots of axemen to counter their hersirs (although Jarls would still be a problem).
Best used against: Any civ
4.Set Food Strangle
On low hunt maps, you can totally cripple an opponent with various tactics. Use your priest to convert whatever little hunting they have outside their base and haven’t gotten to yet. If you can’t convert it all, use your animals to kill it, so the food decays. Then, at some point, use Vision + SS on their herdables near their TC. Combined, they will have very little hunting, and very little herdable animals to get food from. They will be forced to improvise and manage to farm unexpectedly extremely early. On the other hand, you will have more hunting and more herdable animals than you would normally have, making your economy better. After this point, it is just a matter of exploiting your superior economy.
Best used against: Any civ on a low hunt map
5.Fast Heroic
Basically just do a standard Egyptian FH. You can use your animals as defense if your scouting seems to indicate that your opponent is going to attack you. Otherwise, use the animals as extra hunting without walking time. It will decrease your heroic time by a lot. In any case, get a forward Migdol, using Ancestors and your Classical GP to make that happen if you need to. Then start spamming your extra short build time CA and raiding. As soon as your economy permits, start spamming elephants. Use Ancestors in an important battle if you didn’t use it earlier. Advance to Mythic with Thoth for extra quickly spammed uber elephants. At that point, you should win, especially since you’ve still got Meteor.
Best used against: Egyptians, Odin, Hades, and Poseidon
6.Semi-Fast Heroic
Similar to the FH, except you go to heroic a little bit later. You build a bunch of barracks units (mostly slingers) and priests to defend alongside your animals. You might even get a 2nd TC. In any case, you defend and then once you go heroic, you do the same thing as you did with a FH, except you will likely be able to save Ancestors for a more offensive purpose. This good against rushing/raiding civs, as you can fight off their attacks while getting to the heroic age where those gods are weaker than you.
Best used against: Norse, Oranos, Kronos
7.2-TC Boom + Classic Fight
Basically, this involves getting a 2nd TC quickly in classical and booming from there. Ideally, you should get a forward TC that you defend early with your animals. You then mass slingers and priests, and eventually take your closer TCs so that you will have a 4 to 2 TC advantage. You should raid during this time, obviously, either with anubites or wadjets and your animals. Build A LOT of barracks at your forward TC, along with a crenellated tower or two. Spam barracks units with your booming economy. Eventually go heroic and mythic and just overwhelm your opponent.
Best used against: Any civ except Greek (because their classical age is stronger than yours)
8.Water Strategy
Set is probably one of the best gods on water. He can use his animals to harass dock builders. This is especially harmful to norse, whose ulf honestly could die against a couple animals. This will delay the opponent from getting their water economy up by a lot. Big advantage. On the other hand, you will have the option to use Vision to find the very best place to fish. Once you both DO start making ships, you should dominate the classical fight for a few reasons. First off, you are Egyptian, meaning your docks are relatively cheap to spam (and found a good fishing spot, this will leave your fishing ships within dock range). More importantly, though, you will have access to plague of serpents, which is the best classical GP when it comes to water battles. Even if you somehow lose the water in classical, you will have the Leviathan to help you win it back (and to allow you to transport units without having the water). In Mythic, you get an upgrade in the Sea Turtle.
Best Used Against: Any civ on a water map
9.Villager Rush
This doesn’t really work at high rates. However, it IS effective at lower rates. Basically, convert some strong animals, and summon some more. When you hit classical, Vision + SS your villagers, priests, pharaoh, animals, and MU next to your opponent’s TC. Take it down and build your own TC over it. Non-expert players will generally find it very hard to recover from that. This is great against Atlanteans as they have weaker TCs.
Best used against: Atlanteans
What to do versus each civ?
Zeus:
Utilize your amazing scouting. Figure out if he is doing a FM, Hop/Mino, Tox/Mino, or Centaur Strangle. In all four cases, spam a lot of priests. With a Centaur Strangle, put your priests near your resource gathering sites. He has no method of healing, so he may kill some villagers, but eventually you will kill his centaurs. Against Hop/Mino, go Axe/Priest. Against Tox/Mino, go Sling/Priest. Use your classical GP to defend. Get heroic as soon as you can, and overwhelm him with elephants. Against a FM, do a FH and put your migdol in a very aggressive position. Raid him early with animals/priests/MUs if you can and later with CA. Once in heroic, spam a ton of Nephthys priests to stop his Colossi spam. Eventually just overwhelm him with Thoth elephant/Axeman combo.
Poseidon:
Use your animals and some barracks units to fight off his raids while you go semi-FH. Once in heroic, you should have the advantage. The Elephant + CA combo is really tough for a Poseidon player to counter.
Hades:
You could FH and just overwhelm him with elephants/slings/priests. Alternatively, you can actually Anubite raid him and back up your raids with slings if he starts massing Tox to kill your Anubites. Go semi-FH at this point, and do the same thing you’d do if you went FH. Aggressively build your migdol and make sure it gets up by using Plague of Serpents and Ancestors.
Thor:
It is hard to say what you should do versus Thor. There a million things Thor players do. But basically, use some animals and priests to fend off early raids while you go FH. Once you FH, quickly mass CA along with priests and some spears/animals as a meatshield. Raid him a lot with your CA. As time goes on and your economy is strong enough, switch to Elephant/Axe combo. He can’t touch that and it will win you the game. Ancestors + your classical GP should be able to deal with Flaming Weapons decently. If he goes Mythic and seems destined to do Rag/FW, then just wall up a lot and spam your cheap migdols (here is where that really comes in handy). You should already have lots of axemen. Just make sure that most of your reinforcements are axemen, and you should not have too much of a problem stopping that combo.
Alternatively, you can be aggressive early against Thor if you want. He really has no good early counter to Anubite raids as his hersir are too slow to catch them. Just build 6 or so anubites, use vision on his base, and raid with them. You won’t really lose many as you can heal them in between raids. Get crenellated towers, and use some animals and spears to defend against his raids. This should cripple him a lot.
Odin:
Fast heroic or semi-FH and spam elephants. He has no counter for them at all.
Loki:
If the Loki player is rushing then harass his forward building ulf with animals. Then spam axemen and priests to fight off his rush. Once his rush is fought off, you should be able to win.
If the Loki player is hersir raiding, then things are a little bit more complicated. Keep some axemen and priests at your base to defend against raids and try to raid him yourself with axemen and wadjets (defend your wadjets from his hersir with your axemen). He will try to FW with Battle Boars eventually, but you can counter with Ancestors, mercs, and an Axemen/Priest/Wadjet combo as well as a lot of spammed cheap migdols if you can. The Wadjets will do a great job of killing all the non-hersir units, while the axemen will protect the wadjets and either obliterate or do okay vs. all norse units (they don’t do that badly vs. RC or Jarls cause of their 40% hack armor), and the priests will kill the BBs and hersir summoned MUs. Eventually, you will just be able to overwhelm the Loki player with either Elephant/Axe or Elephant/CA.
Oranos:
Try to harass and kill his oracles with your animals. This will make his knowledge of your resource sites low, hurting his raiding. Anyways, go to classical reasonably quickly and start spamming slingers/priests. You will be able to kill his turma with your slings from the safety of long range. In the meantime, either Anubite raid him (particularly effective at harassing atlanteans) or go semi-FH under Ptah and Nephthys. Spam siege towers along with slings/priests. Vision + SS + Ancestors = win. You could also do the villager rush against him if you really feel like it.
Kronos:
Have your animals patrol around your base trying to find his oracles. Harass and kill them. This will really hurt his rush. When/if he does rush you, up reasonably early and spam slings/priests like with Oranos. This should be able to fight off the rush. Once the rush is fought off, you should win. Like with Oranos, you could also villager rush.
Gaia:
Build slings/priests to defend against raids back home. Anubite raid him early and possibly Scarab rush him later if you went Sekhmet. Otherwise, Ancestors is still particularly effective against Gaia. Have your animals make sure he does not build any forward towers near gold mines.
Ra:
Have plenty of priests around to fight off a possible sphinx rush, Petsuchos spam, roc drop, or scarab rush. Make some slings before you hit heroic and do a little bit of raiding with them and your animals. Do a reasonably fast heroic. Take a forward migdol and use ancestors/animals/slings to stop him from getting a forward migdol. He will have no counter to this and you will have map control. Then just spam Elephants/CA/Slings. His CA will go down to your slings, while his camels will fail to counter your elephants or CA. If he goes Elephant/CA instead of Camel/CA, then you should win by just spamming Elephant/Slings. Basically, though, the key to this matchup is the fact that he has no way to stop you from getting a forward migdol, while you have Ancestors/animals to stop him from doing the same. Also, the fact that you get Thoth Elephants is key in the late game. Note also that you should definitely get shaduf against a Ra opponent and try to have a lot of cheap farms when you uses Rain.
Isis:
This is obviously a very tough matchup for any god. However, Set is reasonably well equipped to fight against an Isis opponent. He can FH as well. A bunch of priests built early on in the game (along with your animals on a suicide mission) should press the attack on him when he tries to build his migdol and then take care of A/E when it comes. Meanwhile, you should be able to get a forward migdol up if he FHs without any problem, as he won’t yet have an army to oppose you. In any case, you can build lots of slings early on as well as CA. Before either of you can spam elephants yet, your slings will be stronger than his and built faster, your CA will be built faster, and you will have cheaper migdols. Advantage Set. You should probably go Sekhmet in this matchup (although Nephthys priests would possibly be useful against a later use of A/E or a Fast Titan) and as such your pop will be as high as his. Later, you will both get Thoth elephants popping out. At some point, you should attack with siege/scarabs. Take down the nearest monument and whip out Meteor on him.
Basically Set should do okay in this matchup for two reasons. First, he can spam a load of priests early on and use them to convert a ridiculous amount of animals. These animals and priests can be used to find and attack the Isis player as he is building his migdol. He will probably have to whip out A/E (or risk losing a lot of villagers), which is when you want him using it as you will have priests there to own it, and it will be being used defensively. At the same time, he will not be able to stop you from making a forward migdol that you can likely defend early with plague of serpents (it’s too hard to use SS against Isis, so you might want to go for Anubis and use the serpents out of range of his gp blocking). This will give you better map control. Secondly, once you both have migdols up, you have the advantage militarily. Citadel negates Isis’ pop advantage. Your slingers will crush his early CA spam, and you can always just outspam his CA. You can also spam migdols faster. Later on, you are the only other god who can also pump out Thoth Elephants.
The main thing Isis has on you is the A/E combo. However, as an Egyptian, you are the best equipped to fight that because of priest spamming. Besides that, the Isis player has a better economy with Bast and Prosperity. However, you have a stronger military and the animals constitute a major force right after you’ve hit heroic.
A Set player can also press the attack in Classical against an Isis player. Using Vision at the very start of the game should reveal his resource gathering sites. You can then anubite/wadjet/animal raid backed by massed slingers while taking a forward TC. Make sure to totally disrupt him during prosperity, even if it means losing units. If done right, you can force the Isis player to fight in Classical. This is a fight you would win.
Set:
Can’t really say what you should do against the same god. However, I tend to think that a FH with cover from animals and priests probably trumps any other strategy that a Set player could do against another Set player.
What to do on each map?
Alfheim:
Shifting Sands is awesome on this map. Use it to totally strand half your opponent’s army on a hill they can’t get off of. Convert lots of aurochs. They are a really solid converted animal. People tend to wall off on Alfheim. This puts Set at a relative advantage. He can wall off to stop raids, while also using Anubites to raid (who can get past walls).
Anatolia:
Very early in the game use Vision on one far corner of the map. Harass their dock builder if he is there. If he isn’t, then go to the other side to harass. Either way, you should be able to be remarkably effective in delaying your opponent’s dock from getting up. Use Plague of Serpents to win one side. Convert some boars near your opponent’s base. Losing water and losing hunting should be devastating to their economy. Fast heroic and spam some cheap migdols in the middle of the map where all the gold is.
Ghost Lake:
This map can allow for some great animal stealing. There are generally a few batches of hunting somewhat far from the opponent’s base. Your priest converts “huntables” extremely quickly, allowing you to easily clear out an entire group by around 5 minutes. There are a lot of herdables in this map. Use Vision + SS to steal them away from your opponent. The combination of those two things should be devastating to your opponent’s economy.
Highland:
You can use Vision to find the best places to dock up. Spam docks at each spot while you use animals to make sure your opponent doesn’t get docks up before you do. This should allow you to keep the best fishing areas as all the fishing will be within dock range. Use serpents to your advantage.
Marsh:
There is a lot of hunting on this map. Take advantage of it by making some priests and converting a lot of aurochs. You can either use them for defense or to have a lot of safe, no-walking-time hunting. Either way, they are a big help. Make sure to get Hands of the Pharaoh early so that you can pick up the relics at the center of the map.
Mediterranean:
Convert what little hunting there is on the side of the map before either of you would bother going all the way out there to hunt it. Either use vision to find a good place to put your dock, or possibly later on vision + SS his pigs. If you manage to convert the limited hunting on the map, SS his herdables, and manage to use dock harassment to win the water, then your opponent is really screwed as your economy will be great, and his will be really lame. However, you are probably better off just using Plague of Serpents to all but assure victory on the water while simultaneously stealing his hunting away.
Midgard:
Try to find the best place to fish by Visioning a corner of the map nearest to you. If it has a lot of fish, go there. If it doesn’t go to the other corner to make your dock. Again, do your best to harass the dock builder. There is plenty of hunting on this map, but I would still say you should still steal hunting near your opponent. When they are fishing, they won’t get through their hunting very quickly, and if you win the water, they will try to hunt more, only to find that you have converted a load of the “huntables” near them. Potentially devastating.
Oasis:
Definitely try to Vision + SS his herdables. Also try to convert any small amount of hunting near his base. Oasis is already a really tough map to have a good economy. It doesn’t take much to totally destroy an opponent’s economy there, and those things would do it. Combine it with some raiding of the resource that they need for farms for maximum effect.
Savannah:
This is a map with a lot of very strong animals. Take advantage of this by getting some priests out early converting animals. Use Vision on the middle of the map to best find them. You can really convert a strong army of animals that can be used to defend (or rush actually, if you want to) and then once they are no longer needed for defense, they can be eaten close to home, negating the issue with Savannah that it is wide open and hunters are easily raided.
Tundra:
Tundra has a lot of hunting, but it is generally docile hunting. This means it cannot really be used for defense or certainly offense. However, docile hunt is converted a lot quicker. As such, a couple of priests can really convert a ridiculous amount of animals near your opponent’s base and send them back. Again, this will keep you from having to walk to your hunting as well as keep you safe in your base. On the other hand, your opponent won’t be starved, but he will likely have to walk further to hunt eventually and thus be more open to raids.
Watering Hole:
Very similar to Savannah in that it has a lot of very strong animals. You should take advantage of this too by using Vision on the middle of the map, and finding and converting a lot of them. One thing to note is that against hunting like elephants or rhinos, it actually is a big benefit to have converted animals, because there is no time spent killing them and no danger that they will take a villager or two down with them if you aren’t paying attention. This is probably the best map for some kind of animal-centered rush.
Build Orders
I think the most basic Set land build order that I have seen repeated a lot (because it works) is this:
Starting two villagers on food. Get Hunting Dogs.
3 villagers to food
1 villager to build houses
3 villagers to gold
2 villagers to wood
5 villagers to food (maybe 6 or 7 if you haven’t hunted)
Build your Temple and monument
3 villagers to gold
Advance to Classical
Get Pickaxe during the advance
On water, this seems to be a working build order:
One starting villager to build a dock with the pharaoh and then to houses
One starting villager to food
4 villagers to food
5 villagers to wood
Start spamming fishing boats during this time
5 villagers to gold
Build Temple and monument
Villagers to food until you advance
Get Handaxe during the advance
At the very least, start spamming a couple more docks during the advance to classical
For build orders for specific strategies, I would advise people to consult recorded games from expert Set players of the past such as ChongChong, Sk1pper, and Cyfer doing the specific strategy that you want a build order for.
Recorded Games
There are a lot of expert games I remember seeing from years ago, but I cannot find anymore. Nevertheless, here are some good recorded games:
This is a recorded game of DeaN doing a very nice forward TC grab using animals. Furthermore, notice how he uses Shifting Sands to enclose enemies next to his TC
Set’
The ability to use animals is extremely versatile, lending itself to many different uses depending on the opponent and the map. I will try to outline the various uses here.
The starting hyena should always be used for scouting. Interestingly enough, while Set’
Set’
Lastly, summoned animals make for excellent scouts too. In the archaic age, you can add to your scouting a great deal by summoning an ape or two. In combination with the starting hyena and any converted animals you send, you should be able to have the entire map revealed by the time you hit the classical age (and if you don’
One thing to think about is that your animals can work as mobile obelisks of sorts in that you can post them near an important gold mine or hunting site, giving LOS to it. You will then know when and if your opponent moves to that site. Very useful for raids and attacks.
Set’
For the other guy, he now has to move to farming much sooner. On a low hunt map, moving to farming even sooner than before can really cripple an economy. This is especially true if it is unexpected. If the opponent has scouted his hunting, and just not gone to the area you converted, then he will likely take his villagers over there, only to find out there’
At the same time, converted animals allow you to hunt for far longer than normal. Since hunting is a lot faster than farming or gathering, this is a big advantage. On low hunt maps, this simply allows you to prolong your hunting while your opponent struggles to put up farms. This is a big deal. On high hunt maps, the map will have plenty of food for your opponent even if you do convert some of it. However, converting animals near to the opponent’
One thing to note, as well, is that you essentially get free hunting at each age advance. When you hit classical, the animals that spawn at your temple amount to 345 food. At heroic, they amount to 674 food. You COULD use those animals to fight or defend, but the spawned units are pretty miserable at fighting for the most part (crocodiles and the mythic age animals are exceptions). If you eat them, though, you get an extra 1000 food to hunt by the time you hit heroic. That’
Just a few quite notes on how best to hunt with converted animals. You cannot shift-click the hunting of them. As such, I have found that the best way to go is to task a couple villagers on each animal all at once. This minimizes micro for you. Also, you can control these animals. Utilize that. Put them right near your granary/TC before you hunt them to minimize walking time. This will be a big help to your economy. Also, when dealing with big converted animals like elephants or rhinos, don’
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Animals also lend themselves well to some early raiding. If you make priests during the transition to classical, you can take your priests, your MUs, and your animals and raid the opponent even while you go fast heroic. The best way to do this is to have your priests and MU attack the villagers first. This will make them run away. When that happens, the animals can attack without being slaughtered by villagers, unless the villagers are microed a lot. A tricky thing to do against Atlantean opponents is to find a place with two Atlantean citizens. Attack them and take off 70 hp total from the citizens. You can then shifting sands two citizens to your base and watch them die. This is the equivalent of killing 6 villagers, and can be done almost immediately after you hit Classical! The fact that you have animals should allow you to do the damage necessary to get this done that early. I just watched an old rec of a Set player playing GP_Intel as Isis on Oasis. The Set player converts about 3 hyena and 6 apes and goes raiding with them and his wadjet. It was very effective, because he was able to do it early. Once GP got an army, the animals went down quickly. However, it just shows that animals can be effective for early harassment/raiding. In conjunction with a FH, this can be really effective, as you put the pressure on in Classical while ALSO getting to heroic fast. No other civ can do that nearly as well.
As Set it is a somewhat effective tactic to use your animals as an early defense against rushes or attacks while you either fast heroic or take an early forward TC. Granted, animals are not the best defense against possibly the two strongest/most popular rushes: the Krush and the Loki hersir rush, once they get going. This is because both of those rushes center around having heroes early and those units will obliterate your animals. However, animals are very strong at stopping those rushes before they can get off the ground. For instance, if you find a Loki rusher’
At the same time, they can give you necessary cover for a FH. By the time you hit heroic, you will have gotten these animals for free: 3 hyena, 3 gazelles, 3 giraffes, and 2 crocodiles. In addition, by the time you hit heroic (around 8 minutes, possibly sooner), you can have converted A LOT of animals. For instance, on a map like Tundra, you can easily have converted 6 or so aurochs (which have something like 80 hp and 8 attack in heroic). Even on a map like Oasis, I have seen players convert over 10 hyena/apes before the 6 minute mark! Lastly, you can always summon some crocodiles, apes, or hyenas (preferably crocodiles as they are the strongest for the favor cost) for even MORE defense. These animals are not really strong enough to make a rush, but they are very nice as a FH defense. Combine this with Ancestors and Plague of Serpents or a creative use of Shifting Sands, and you really should have no problem getting a forward Migdol up. Honestly, Animals + Ancestors + Plague of Serpents should be just as effective as Ancestors/Eclipse as cover to get a Migdol up (but A/E is overall better as its offensive capabilities are much stronger). You’
Similarly, the animals are perfect for an aggressive building of a forward TC in the classical age. I watched a game of DeaN doing this once. When he hit classical, he had his free MU, some priests, his free animals, as well as 5 or 6 converted aurochs. Sub 6-minutes, this is plenty of cover to build a forward TC against most opponents (Kronos, Oranos, and Loki possibly excluded). In this game, it was enough, and he won the game because of it.
This is nowhere near as effective as it used to be in vanilla. However, it IS still possible in certain circumstances to rush with animals. The beauty of Set’
Meanwhile, you want to build a little trap back home. I saw DeaN do this once as Set. He built some free buildings near his TC in such a way that it created an enclosure into which the TC could fire. You can do this, and then shift your opponent’
Lastly, animals are a significant part of the Set villie rush. This is not something that works on high levels, but the combination of villagers, free wadjet, free animals, summoned animals, converted animals, priests, and your pharaoh are all Vision + Shifting Sands next to your opponent’
This is probably Set’
Let’
As for CA, they are built absurdly fast for Set. This is actually not that great of a bonus though in most cases. The problem is that the limiting factor in CA spamming is generally resources rather than build time. Basically, you probably won’
This adds 6.5 hp, and ups slingers’
Basically, there’
Set’
Vision allows you see a large area for 20 seconds. It is possibly one of the most versatile GPs in the game. There are so many potential uses for it. I will try to list some of them here, but I am sure I will forget some.
-On big hunting maps like Watering Hole and Savannah, you can Vision the middle of the map. This will allow you to task your priest to convert good animals right away, as opposed to having to wait for it. This lends itself towards some kind of animal rush or just a good early defense.
-You can also vision somewhere around the opponent’
-On Anatolia, you can Vision one side of water near your opponent’
-On medit, you can almost immediately Vision where the water will be. This will allow you to find the best spot to put your dock(s) such that they are very close to fishing. This is very important.
-At some point when you are about to start spamming out an army, particularly a classical army, you can Vision the opponent’
-Vision + Shifting Sands is a powerful combo. It can be used in multiple ways. You can use Vision + SS to immediately attack a TC with your army. You can use it to do an effective villager rush. You can also use it to shift the majority of an opponent’
-If you save Vision, you can use Vision + Meteor or Tornado on a Titan Gate. You won’
-You can also do absurd combinations of all your GPs. For instance, you can use Vision + SS with your army to their TC, then cast Ancestors as well for an uber surprise attack. If you add Meteor or Tornado to that, it basically kills their base in seconds. However, the chances that you could survive saving all of your GPs until mythic age is pretty slim. Maybe with a FM, but I don’
-Set has multiple options for raiding an opponent. He can use anubites, spearmen, or even animals for early raiding, and later CA are obviously completely awesome raiders. Vision can make your raiding a hell of a lot more effective. Basically, when you are about to start raiding, cast Vision on your opponent’
-If it is late game, and your opponent has an uber trade route going that is walled off, you can Vision + Ancestors (or SS your army) behind the walls to destroy the market and kill his caravans before his army can get there. This is probably a somewhat weak use of 2 GPs, but it is an option.
Feral got nerfed in AOM. It now gives converted animals +10% HP and armor, as well as +25% attack. For 100 gold and 10 favor, this is generally not that worth it, as animals will not generally make up a major portion of your army over the course of a game. However, if you are doing some sort of animal rush as described above, then you might think about getting this tech. It would probably be worth it in that case. In general, though, ignore this tech. It used to be great when it gave +50% attack and animals were strong, but now it is relatively weak.
Shifting Sands is an extremely versatile GP. I have already described a lot of the options for SS. You can use it for a villager rush. You can shift your opponent’
The Wadjet is actually a very nice unit for killing villagers early on. Its ranged attack makes it a good raider, even if it is slow. It is also very strong against other MU as it is ranged and has a x3 multiplier against MU. Use it to raid and in battles try to have it focus on other MUs.
1. Shaduf: This is a really nice tech, especially on low hunt maps. On low hunt maps, it can sometimes be very tough to afford farms while making an army. This makes it easier. It is pretty cheap, only costing 200 wood and 10 favor. It definitely pays for itself once you start farming, so you should definitely get it. Against a Ra player who you suspect will pull out Rain early, then this can be the best way to take advantage of his Rain without stressing your economy too much.
2. Scalloped Axe: This tech is very cheap and worth it if you are using a lot of axemen. In many cases, the axemen/elephant combo is devastating. If you are using that combo, then make sure to get this tech.
3. Leather Frame Shield: In my opinion, this tech costs too much to be worth it until the late game. It will make Spearmen last longer against pierce attacks. Obviously, they will still get crushed by Toxotes or Arcuses, but this is probably a tech to think about for classical fighting against Atlanteans. The Atlantean counter to your spears are Cheiros, but spears have a bonus against them too. Increasing the pierce armor of your spears can leave them able to beat cheiros (depend on how massed the cheiros are), meaning atty will have no true counter to spears in classical. Murmillo will win by pop cost, but if you just sprinkle in some axemen, your classical army will be really tough to beat.
4. Electrum Bullets: A really good tech to get if you are massing slingers, which you will in many cases as Set. It increases their attack by 10%, which is a welcome bonus. This is pretty cheap too. Get it when it is affordable.
This is a solid defensive god power on land maps. It summons 9 serpents in an area and they attack anything that comes in that area. The serpents are about as strong as a spearman, so this is a substantial defense. It works quite well early against a rush when 9 units are a lot. Place it either during a battle to assure victory or put it in a really important spot (gold mine, hunting spot, their forward base). Note that the serpents count as MUs, so heroes cut through them pretty well. As such, make sure to try to focus fire on heroes if you want this GP to be effective. Also note that this GP has very little effect against villagers, as they do virtually no damage to them. Because of this, it can’
The anubite is a very cheap MU (in terms of resources and build time) that is excellent for raiding because they are fast and can jump over walls. I have seen a ton of experts go Anubis as Set and make 5 or 6 anubites to raid with. It is a very legitimate and devastating tactic, especially against Norse whose hersirs will be unable to catch up with the Anubites (unless they are HoT Loki hersirs), against Gaia, who is just weak against MU spams in general, and against Greeks because only their ranged hero will be able to touch the anubites. Basically the strategy is to just raid with your anubites and then take them back for priest healing and repeat. Combined with a Vision of your opponent’
1. Serpent Spear: Obviously +10% spearman attack is a welcome bonus. However, this is an expensive tech. It is probably only affordable late in games. If you go for Horus spearmen, this will just help them be even more uber. Get it when you can, obviously, if you are using spearmen.
2. Necropolis: This tech makes monuments gather favor 10% faster. It is somewhat expensive, but if you are doing an Anubite spam, it can be useful to get along with putting down all the monuments you can. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’
3. Feet of the Jackal: I would recommend getting this if you already have 4-5 Anubites. It increases their HP and attack while also making their jump special better. If you aren’
I think that Anubis is the obvious choice on water maps as plague of serpents is really strong. Your opponent generally does one of two things on a water map: either they try to win the water or they rush you and ignore water. If they try to win water, you can use plague of serpents to win the water yourself, and if they rush you instead, you can use the serpents to fend off the rush early. Ptah is still a good choice on water maps, but I think Anubis is too good to pass up. On land maps, Ptah is generally the better choice. Shifting Sands is better than Plague on land and Shaduf is a big help on land maps. I would think about going Anubis against Gaia and possibly Norse though, as they find it hard to counter an anubite spam.
This turns any of your TCs into a Citadel. A Citadel is stronger than a TC, with more HP and attack. However, the most important part of this GP is that the Citadel gives you +10 pop limit. In a somewhat long game, having 10 extra pop spaces can really make the difference in battle after battle in the same way that Isis’
Scarabs are exceedingly strong siege MU. They do 60 crush damage and 30 hack damage a second to buildings and have 75% pierce armor. They take down buildings remarkably fast. Unlike normal siege units, they are not very vulnerable to villagers. However, they are, of course, vulnerable to heroes, so keep them safe from heroes in a variety of ways. Against norse, surround them with axemen or CA to kill hersirs. Against Egpytians, massed priests are hard to counter, but the scarab has 75% pierce armor and high HP, so they should last for a while against them. If you scarab rush, you can SS the massed priests away, too. That’
1. Bone Bow: This is an okay tech in my opinion. The +4 range is not that useful in battles because at 20+ range, the CA are extremely inaccurate. As such, the main benefit of the range increase is that CA now outrange most buildings. In conjunction with Burning Pitch, CA suddenly become really great siege. This is useful, but in most cases, I would save this until the late game as it costs a lot and Egyptian siege is fine as it is.
2. Slings of the Sun: This is a relatively cheap tech that makes slingers be quite effective against infantry. They won’
3. Stones of Red Linen: This tech is not that worth it. Catapults already take down buildings really quickly and by this time the water battle is probably already over, adding attack to catapults and war barges is probably unnecessary. This is the type of tech that you should only get very late in games when you are rolling in resources.
4. Ram of the West Wind: This is similar to Stones of Red Linen. It gives siege towers +20% HP/attack. It costs a lot of gold, though, so I would only get it if you really are spamming siege towers. Basically it is worth getting in late games, but probably not before that.
Ancestors is obviously an extremely strong GP. It summons 13 minions to fight for you for a minute. You can use it to take down an unguarded TC, to turn the tide of an important battle, or to harass your opponent’
The scorpion man is an extremely powerful MU for a very low price of 150 wood and 22 favor. It is very possible to spam a few of these after hitting heroic. They will do a lot of damage. There is nothing particularly special about them, but if you go Nephthys, make some as they are extremely pop-effective.
The Leviathan is a very solid water MU that can also transport units. With 1020 HP, high armor, and 25 hack attack, the Leviathan is very strong for a mere 200 gold, 20 favor, and 10 seconds of build time. If you lost the water, you can definitely try to win it back with the help of some Leviathans. This isn’
1. Funeral Rites: This greatly increases the damage done by Priests to MUs. This is very necessary for killing a Titan, an MU spammer (like a Zeus Colossi spam), or for dealing with Ancestors/Eclipse from an Isis player. Basically, this is a really important tech to get in preparation for any of those things.
2. Spirit of Ma’
3. City of the Dead: This increases the HP and attack of Pharaohs, and makes them respawn faster. It costs a lot given that it only affects one unit. I would avoid this tech unless you are rolling in resources and fighting lots of MU.
Honestly, I would almost always choose Nephthys. Ancestors is game changing. The Leviathan makes him more useful on water maps, and Nephthys priests give you a great defense against all types of MU-centered strategies. However, Sekhmet is still a good option. Against Gaia, you might be better off going Sekhmet and massing scarabs. Also, if you have massed slingers, then you might go Sekhmet for Slings of the Sun. Lastly, if your opponent still has ceasefire, you might want to think about going Sekhmet, as your opponent can totally negate your Ancestors. However, in most cases, I’
This is an extremely destructive GP. It can take down a TC and a lot of buildings around it, while also hurting a lot of enemy units around it. Basically, use this in conjunction with a big attack, and you should be able to damage your opponent’
A flying MU that does a lot of area of effect damage. It is very strong against massed units as well as buildings. You can use a Phoenix in battle, as siege, and to raid with. It is strong at all of those things. It is pretty expensive, though, so take care of them. Try not to let it get focus fired upon by ranged units, especially priests (in fact, you may want to think about not building them against other Egyptians). They are particularly hard for Norse to deal with (as they have no ranged heroes), especially if they do not have the Axe of Muspell tech that gives TA a bonus against flying units. Atlanteans also have a hard time, as by the Mythic Age, they have probably used up their valors, leaving them hard-pressed to get lots of heroes. Basically, make these against a Norse player especially. Otherwise, you can make them, but be careful with them.
Basically, the sea turtle is an upgrade on the Leviathan. It has more HP, does crush damage too, and has a really nifty special attack. It costs more resources than a Leviathan (but equal favor) and cannot transport units. By the mythic age, it is unlikely that you will still be fighting on water, but if you are, and you were using Leviathan, switch over to Sea Turtles. They are very strong against human units, doing better than any other mythic age water MU. However, you will want to have heroic fleet to back the sea turtles up with if you want to win the water against another player with a water MU as Sea Turtles are not particularly great against other water MUs.
1. Book of Thoth: This is a pretty expensive tech, but it is REALLY great, making you gather all resources 10% faster. Get this as soon as possible as it will make your late game economy ridiculously strong.
2. Tusks of Apedemak: This gives elephants an extra 20% HP and 10% attack. With this bonus, elephants are only countered pop-effectively by Horus spearmen, Bragi ulfsarks, Katas, and Myrmidons. Thoth elephants are probably the best all around unit in the game. Get this tech if you are making them.
3. Valley of the Kings: This tech is really expensive, but it makes Migdol units train almost instantly. When your economy is really strong, it makes you SO hard to overwhelm. Your opponent can destroy your entire army, but you can replenish it almost instantly with just a few migdols. Get this for a relatively long game. It is really strong.
Tornado is very similar to Meteor in effect. I have found that it is more reliable than Meteor in killing the building you aim it on (like a TC), but it is less reliable in terms of overall damage. In any case, though, use it just like you would use Meteor: in conjunction with an attack to totally overwhelm your opponent. Like Meteor, it can also be used against Titan gates. This gp is kind of bugged in that it creates an Out of Sync error frequently.
The Avenger is essentially a more uber version of the Scorpion man. It has slightly better attack, slightly more HP, better hack armor, is faster and has a better bonus against other MUs. Its special does a similar area of effect attack to the Scorpion Man’
1. Axe of Vengeance: This makes Axemen into siege, giving them a x3 multiplier against buildings. Get this if you are making a lot of axemen and you have the resources for it. In most cases, it is best to mass axemen alongside elephants. That combo is very strong. So if you are using that combo and have gone Horus, get this tech as your axemen and ellies will go through buildings like butter. However, if you were wanting to mass elephants, you are probably better off going Thoth, so this is more of a consolation prize. In most cases, you won’
2. Greatest of Fifty: This is one of the best techs in the game. This is the only way Egyptians get a truly hard counter to cavalry, increasing spearmen’
3. Spears on the Horizon: This further adds to Horus’
Honestly, both of these choices are amazing. In most cases, though, I would say go for Thoth. The elephants are just too good to pass up. However, in certain circumstances, Horus can be better. If you already have massed a barracks only army and that is what you are geared up for, then go Horus. If your opponent is spamming elephants, then go Horus (although going Thoth is fine in that situation too). If you are facing a Poseidon opponent who has spammed stables and Hipps then go Horus. He won’
This is as I described earlier. On a map with a lot of strong animals, like Watering Hole, spam some priests and convert a lot of animals. Forward build if you can. Once you hit Classical, start raiding with your priests, animals, and free wadjet, while spamming barracks units. Use Shifting Sands to essentially kill a lot of their early army, specifically early heroes (by enclosing them next to your TC). Keep the pressure on their villagers constantly. Make axemen against Norse, and slingers against everyone else. With strong converted animals like rhinos or elephants, you should be able to take down some buildings. Basically, though, just strangle them off resources with constant raids. Your economy will be pretty crappy due to forward building and such, but you should be able to hurt them A LOT more.
Best used against: On certain maps against Norse and Gaia
Get to classical with Anubis. Make monuments as early as possible and spam anubites, slingers, and priests. Use the anubites to raid constantly. Have the priests heal them when they are damaged. They should run away from heroes for the most part. If they put heroes next to their resource sites, kill them with your actual army. In this strategy, it is probably best to convert packs of animals near your opponent, at the very least forcing him to hunting further away, making your raiding easier. You should use Vision when you are ready to raid, to allow you to raid extremely efficiently.
Best used against: Every civ except Egyptians and Loki
Get to heroic. Spam some Scarabs along with an army, of course. Try to Shifting Sands your opponent’
Best used against: Any civ
On low hunt maps, you can totally cripple an opponent with various tactics. Use your priest to convert whatever little hunting they have outside their base and haven’
Best used against: Any civ on a low hunt map
Basically just do a standard Egyptian FH. You can use your animals as defense if your scouting seems to indicate that your opponent is going to attack you. Otherwise, use the animals as extra hunting without walking time. It will decrease your heroic time by a lot. In any case, get a forward Migdol, using Ancestors and your Classical GP to make that happen if you need to. Then start spamming your extra short build time CA and raiding. As soon as your economy permits, start spamming elephants. Use Ancestors in an important battle if you didn’
Best used against: Egyptians, Odin, Hades, and Poseidon
Similar to the FH, except you go to heroic a little bit later. You build a bunch of barracks units (mostly slingers) and priests to defend alongside your animals. You might even get a 2nd TC. In any case, you defend and then once you go heroic, you do the same thing as you did with a FH, except you will likely be able to save Ancestors for a more offensive purpose. This good against rushing/raiding civs, as you can fight off their attacks while getting to the heroic age where those gods are weaker than you.
Best used against: Norse, Oranos, Kronos
Basically, this involves getting a 2nd TC quickly in classical and booming from there. Ideally, you should get a forward TC that you defend early with your animals. You then mass slingers and priests, and eventually take your closer TCs so that you will have a 4 to 2 TC advantage. You should raid during this time, obviously, either with anubites or wadjets and your animals. Build A LOT of barracks at your forward TC, along with a crenellated tower or two. Spam barracks units with your booming economy. Eventually go heroic and mythic and just overwhelm your opponent.
Best used against: Any civ except Greek (because their classical age is stronger than yours)
Set is probably one of the best gods on water. He can use his animals to harass dock builders. This is especially harmful to norse, whose ulf honestly could die against a couple animals. This will delay the opponent from getting their water economy up by a lot. Big advantage. On the other hand, you will have the option to use Vision to find the very best place to fish. Once you both DO start making ships, you should dominate the classical fight for a few reasons. First off, you are Egyptian, meaning your docks are relatively cheap to spam (and found a good fishing spot, this will leave your fishing ships within dock range). More importantly, though, you will have access to plague of serpents, which is the best classical GP when it comes to water battles. Even if you somehow lose the water in classical, you will have the Leviathan to help you win it back (and to allow you to transport units without having the water). In Mythic, you get an upgrade in the Sea Turtle.
Best Used Against: Any civ on a water map
This doesn’
Best used against: Atlanteans
Utilize your amazing scouting. Figure out if he is doing a FM, Hop/Mino, Tox/Mino, or Centaur Strangle. In all four cases, spam a lot of priests. With a Centaur Strangle, put your priests near your resource gathering sites. He has no method of healing, so he may kill some villagers, but eventually you will kill his centaurs. Against Hop/Mino, go Axe/Priest. Against Tox/Mino, go Sling/Priest. Use your classical GP to defend. Get heroic as soon as you can, and overwhelm him with elephants. Against a FM, do a FH and put your migdol in a very aggressive position. Raid him early with animals/priests/MUs if you can and later with CA. Once in heroic, spam a ton of Nephthys priests to stop his Colossi spam. Eventually just overwhelm him with Thoth elephant/Axeman combo.
Use your animals and some barracks units to fight off his raids while you go semi-FH. Once in heroic, you should have the advantage. The Elephant + CA combo is really tough for a Poseidon player to counter.
You could FH and just overwhelm him with elephants/slings/priests. Alternatively, you can actually Anubite raid him and back up your raids with slings if he starts massing Tox to kill your Anubites. Go semi-FH at this point, and do the same thing you’
It is hard to say what you should do versus Thor. There a million things Thor players do. But basically, use some animals and priests to fend off early raids while you go FH. Once you FH, quickly mass CA along with priests and some spears/animals as a meatshield. Raid him a lot with your CA. As time goes on and your economy is strong enough, switch to Elephant/Axe combo. He can’
Alternatively, you can be aggressive early against Thor if you want. He really has no good early counter to Anubite raids as his hersir are too slow to catch them. Just build 6 or so anubites, use vision on his base, and raid with them. You won’
Fast heroic or semi-FH and spam elephants. He has no counter for them at all.
If the Loki player is rushing then harass his forward building ulf with animals. Then spam axemen and priests to fight off his rush. Once his rush is fought off, you should be able to win.
If the Loki player is hersir raiding, then things are a little bit more complicated. Keep some axemen and priests at your base to defend against raids and try to raid him yourself with axemen and wadjets (defend your wadjets from his hersir with your axemen). He will try to FW with Battle Boars eventually, but you can counter with Ancestors, mercs, and an Axemen/Priest/Wadjet combo as well as a lot of spammed cheap migdols if you can. The Wadjets will do a great job of killing all the non-hersir units, while the axemen will protect the wadjets and either obliterate or do okay vs. all norse units (they don’
Try to harass and kill his oracles with your animals. This will make his knowledge of your resource sites low, hurting his raiding. Anyways, go to classical reasonably quickly and start spamming slingers/priests. You will be able to kill his turma with your slings from the safety of long range. In the meantime, either Anubite raid him (particularly effective at harassing atlanteans) or go semi-FH under Ptah and Nephthys. Spam siege towers along with slings/priests. Vision + SS + Ancestors = win. You could also do the villager rush against him if you really feel like it.
Have your animals patrol around your base trying to find his oracles. Harass and kill them. This will really hurt his rush. When/if he does rush you, up reasonably early and spam slings/priests like with Oranos. This should be able to fight off the rush. Once the rush is fought off, you should win. Like with Oranos, you could also villager rush.
Build slings/priests to defend against raids back home. Anubite raid him early and possibly Scarab rush him later if you went Sekhmet. Otherwise, Ancestors is still particularly effective against Gaia. Have your animals make sure he does not build any forward towers near gold mines.
Have plenty of priests around to fight off a possible sphinx rush, Petsuchos spam, roc drop, or scarab rush. Make some slings before you hit heroic and do a little bit of raiding with them and your animals. Do a reasonably fast heroic. Take a forward migdol and use ancestors/animals/slings to stop him from getting a forward migdol. He will have no counter to this and you will have map control. Then just spam Elephants/CA/Slings. His CA will go down to your slings, while his camels will fail to counter your elephants or CA. If he goes Elephant/CA instead of Camel/CA, then you should win by just spamming Elephant/Slings. Basically, though, the key to this matchup is the fact that he has no way to stop you from getting a forward migdol, while you have Ancestors/animals to stop him from doing the same. Also, the fact that you get Thoth Elephants is key in the late game. Note also that you should definitely get shaduf against a Ra opponent and try to have a lot of cheap farms when you uses Rain.
This is obviously a very tough matchup for any god. However, Set is reasonably well equipped to fight against an Isis opponent. He can FH as well. A bunch of priests built early on in the game (along with your animals on a suicide mission) should press the attack on him when he tries to build his migdol and then take care of A/E when it comes. Meanwhile, you should be able to get a forward migdol up if he FHs without any problem, as he won’
Basically Set should do okay in this matchup for two reasons. First, he can spam a load of priests early on and use them to convert a ridiculous amount of animals. These animals and priests can be used to find and attack the Isis player as he is building his migdol. He will probably have to whip out A/E (or risk losing a lot of villagers), which is when you want him using it as you will have priests there to own it, and it will be being used defensively. At the same time, he will not be able to stop you from making a forward migdol that you can likely defend early with plague of serpents (it’
The main thing Isis has on you is the A/E combo. However, as an Egyptian, you are the best equipped to fight that because of priest spamming. Besides that, the Isis player has a better economy with Bast and Prosperity. However, you have a stronger military and the animals constitute a major force right after you’
A Set player can also press the attack in Classical against an Isis player. Using Vision at the very start of the game should reveal his resource gathering sites. You can then anubite/wadjet/animal raid backed by massed slingers while taking a forward TC. Make sure to totally disrupt him during prosperity, even if it means losing units. If done right, you can force the Isis player to fight in Classical. This is a fight you would win.
Can’
Shifting Sands is awesome on this map. Use it to totally strand half your opponent’
Very early in the game use Vision on one far corner of the map. Harass their dock builder if he is there. If he isn’
This map can allow for some great animal stealing. There are generally a few batches of hunting somewhat far from the opponent’
You can use Vision to find the best places to dock up. Spam docks at each spot while you use animals to make sure your opponent doesn’
There is a lot of hunting on this map. Take advantage of it by making some priests and converting a lot of aurochs. You can either use them for defense or to have a lot of safe, no-walking-time hunting. Either way, they are a big help. Make sure to get Hands of the Pharaoh early so that you can pick up the relics at the center of the map.
Convert what little hunting there is on the side of the map before either of you would bother going all the way out there to hunt it. Either use vision to find a good place to put your dock, or possibly later on vision + SS his pigs. If you manage to convert the limited hunting on the map, SS his herdables, and manage to use dock harassment to win the water, then your opponent is really screwed as your economy will be great, and his will be really lame. However, you are probably better off just using Plague of Serpents to all but assure victory on the water while simultaneously stealing his hunting away.
Try to find the best place to fish by Visioning a corner of the map nearest to you. If it has a lot of fish, go there. If it doesn’
Definitely try to Vision + SS his herdables. Also try to convert any small amount of hunting near his base. Oasis is already a really tough map to have a good economy. It doesn’
This is a map with a lot of very strong animals. Take advantage of this by getting some priests out early converting animals. Use Vision on the middle of the map to best find them. You can really convert a strong army of animals that can be used to defend (or rush actually, if you want to) and then once they are no longer needed for defense, they can be eaten close to home, negating the issue with Savannah that it is wide open and hunters are easily raided.
Tundra has a lot of hunting, but it is generally docile hunting. This means it cannot really be used for defense or certainly offense. However, docile hunt is converted a lot quicker. As such, a couple of priests can really convert a ridiculous amount of animals near your opponent’
Very similar to Savannah in that it has a lot of very strong animals. You should take advantage of this too by using Vision on the middle of the map, and finding and converting a lot of them. One thing to note is that against hunting like elephants or rhinos, it actually is a big benefit to have converted animals, because there is no time spent killing them and no danger that they will take a villager or two down with them if you aren’
I think the most basic Set land build order that I have seen repeated a lot (because it works) is this:
Starting two villagers on food. Get Hunting Dogs.
3 villagers to food
1 villager to build houses
3 villagers to gold
2 villagers to wood
5 villagers to food (maybe 6 or 7 if you haven’
Build your Temple and monument
3 villagers to gold
Advance to Classical
Get Pickaxe during the advance
On water, this seems to be a working build order:
One starting villager to build a dock with the pharaoh and then to houses
One starting villager to food
4 villagers to food
5 villagers to wood
Start spamming fishing boats during this time
5 villagers to gold
Build Temple and monument
Villagers to food until you advance
Get Handaxe during the advance
At the very least, start spamming a couple more docks during the advance to classical
For build orders for specific strategies, I would advise people to consult recorded games from expert Set players of the past such as ChongChong, Sk1pper, and Cyfer doing the specific strategy that you want a build order for.
There are a lot of expert games I remember seeing from years ago, but I cannot find anymore. Nevertheless, here are some good recorded games:
This is a recorded game of DeaN doing a very nice forward TC grab using animals. Furthermore, notice how he uses Shifting Sands to enclose enemies next to his TC