posted 13 November 2003 10:05 PM EDT (US)
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Choosing your civilization:
Choosing your civilization is like choosing an icecream flavor, you don't like it so next time around don't have it. When I see people play certain civilizations one questiton comes to my mind, "What the hell?". To be the best you can be at this game you have to take advantage of every aspect of your civilization. For example I once saw someone playing Loki but they neither made myth units or hersirs, nor rushed. So I asked them and they answered with a *shrugs*. I suggested they play Odin because he could scout easier and his hunting and regenerating abilities were key to this players playing style.
Here are all of the special abilities of all of the Gods and goddesses:
Loki
-Hersirs will summon myth units in combat
-Myth units cost less favor
-Ox carts are cheaper, faster and weaker
-His god power Spy lets you target an enemy and see what that unit sees
Loki excells at rushing and is a very aggressive God. Don't play Loki if you like to turtle or play a defensive game. As you see his armies should have more myth units and hersirs than a "normal" norse army.
Thor
-Special Dwarven armory available in all ages
-Dwarves gather all resources faster
-Dwarves cheaper
-His god power Dwarven Mine gives you more gold as you progress in the ages
Thor has the strongest Norse economy but don't be tempted to make an all-Dwarf economy it hurts you in the long run. Thor is an aggressive civ. but probably the least of all of the norse.
Odin
-Human units can regenerate
-Respawining ravens to scout
-Hillfort UNITS have more hp's
-Villagers hunt faster
-GP: Great hunt gives you more animals to hunt in an area
Odin is the only God in the game that has a convienent healing ability. Just keep your units still and they will regenerate. Odin is pretty popular with the top ten Supremacy players. The ravens are the best scouts in the game, use them! Norse buldings are weak with the exception of Odin's hillforts.
Ra
-Priests can empower
-Chariots and camels have more hp's and are faster
-Monuments are cheaper and stronger
-GP: Rain gives you a 300% better farming and everyone else 200%
Ra is no longer UNDER POWERED!!!! (thanks to all of you that pointed that out...my mind is still in AOM vanilla mode!) I prefer Isis (and the millions of others) because mainly of Ra's lack of an offensive heroic age god power. His chariots and camels are made to be abused and if you get into a long game those babies will reek some ownage. The Ra Fast Heroic is a possible strategy as well.
Isis
-Monuments shield gp's
-+3 pop cap for tc's
-improvements cheaper
-GP:Prosperity for 50 seconds it increases gold production
Isis kicks ass. She is not overpowered. All that think that just can't beat her and are idiots for not switching to her if they complain. Her ancestors/eclipse combo is awesome. Throw in a couple sphinx and some camelry and it's good game. She has many strategies available such as a FH, semi FH, FT, and classical rush. Also the +3 pop is very helpful when your opponent has 3 fortified tc's and you have 2, you have about the same pop!
Set
-Priests can convert wild animals
-Pharoah can summon animals
-Archers train faster
-Migdol Cheaper
-GP:Vision, it reveals part of the map
Set owned AOM vanilla but he was nerfed hard. His archers are still helpful though as well as his migdols. A nice little combo is Vision/shifting sands/ancestors shifting some seige rams near your oppoenents tc, lovely.
Zeus
-Hoplites move faster and infantry do bonus vs. buildings
-Start with 25 favor and have 200 favor limit
-Faster favor generation
-GP:Bolt, kills a single unit (even Nidhogg or Son of Osiris!)
Zeus is a pretty good all around civ and has some great strats available such as the centure strangle and a fast mythic. The Greeks in general are a pain in the ass to rush. HIs special fortress unit is nice also as it can be made in the rax now!
Poseidon
-Cavalry cost less
-Militia appear at destroyed buldings
-Fishing ships and caravans travel faster
-Markets cheaper
-GP: Lure brings wild animals
Poseidon IMO is the best of the Greeks. He has a great cavalry rush and better defense as the militia can help. He has a unit comparable to the Tarkan from AOE in the mythic age which literally eats buldings!
Hades
-Dead soldiers may make shades
-Buildings have mroe hp's
-Buildings and archers have better attack
-GP: Sentinel, protects a tc with stone guys
Very underrated and as Flank showed us can be valuable. He is a bitch to Kronos rush and he gets some nice siege archers in the Mythic. His has a nice little FH as well and his turtling skills are only matched by Isis.
Kronos
-Timeshifting abilities
-Cheaper seige and myth units
-GP: Deconstruction which deconstructs a building while giving the owner back its resources.
Kronos has a nice rush and deconstruct is annoying. He can FB pretty effectively as he needs no new villies at the FB location. Like any of the Atlanteans good for newbs because of the lack of need for microing. And if you think Kronos or any of the Atlanteans are op then look at my note about Isis.
Oranos
-Sky passages
-Visibility shared with your ally of all neutral tc's
-Faster units
-GP: Shockwave which temporarily stuns and hurls units in a small area
IMO the most widley used civ. His sky passages can be upgraded to shoot arrows but most just turma spam (which i don't like). A pretty solid newb civilization though.
Gaia
-Lush which prevents enemies from building and heals buldings grows around buldings
-Fishing ships and carvans cheaper
-Eco upgrades cheaper
-GP: Gaia's Forest gives you a source of wood that is harvested faster and can make a decent wall
Gaia is like Hades, considered underpowered. She is my favorite civ though. She is like a lesser Isis economic and defensive. Her FH is very effective.
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Those are all of the civilization now you can see if you will exercise all of the strengths. Now I will group them into appropriate categories:
Aggressive
-Kronos
-All Norse
Defensive
-Isis
-Gaia
-Hades
All around
-Zeus
-Pos.
-Oranos
Harder civs to use that have been nerfed
-Ra
-Set
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The weaknesses of the civs:
Atlanteans
-lack of a decent third age GP that can turn the tide of the game
-Weak tc's
-Slow villies
Greeks
-Can't spam units and win
-bad on water maps
-Slow in general
Egyptians
-No cavlary in classical
-Gaining favor actually costs something!
-Slow builders/gatherers
Norse
-Weak buidlings
-No pierce attackers (no one makes ballistas!)
The best advice when looking for a civ is to choose what you like. When I started playing I played Loki to see the "big dragon" I soon found out he wasn't my style and moved to Isis then to an Isis/Gaia combo. Look at each God or Goddess as a cow. Try to milk everything you can out of them. This guide isn't saying what the BEST civ is. It is merley looking at each civilization and suggesting some possible stats and some strengths and weaknesses. Just play what you like. Any comments or praise or criticism's would be appreciated. Thanks as this is my first guide and I hope to do more.
On ESO I am:
IamTsunami_
GO_Artemis
~Guardians of Olympus Clan Ambassaddor~ Join us at: Thanks to everyone who pointed out about Ra, Thors cavalry, Zeus strategies...etc... [This message has been edited by IamTsunami_ (edited 11-14-2003 @ 10:53 PM).]
BTW I use balistas all the time....:b
)!
