posted 03 February 2004 10:53 AM EDT (US)
By ManticoreKiller
Hi,
I’m new on the forum and this is my first post/article. I’ve had AOM for about one year now and I still find new things to admire. This was re-emphasised when I finally got the Titans X-pack a month ago. For me, the biggest ‘wow’ factor in AOM was and still is the Myth Units. It is however, a fact that in the ‘old’ AOM, the Mus were too expensive to use online. This changed with the X-pack which cut MU costs across the board. MUs are now an important part of AOM gameplay rather than an expensive ‘cool’ icon. I’ve always wanted to compare the MUs to find the best ones in as scientific a manner as possible. In this article, my aim is to provide the AOM community with the most exhaustive MU ratings system attempted. After weeks of messing around, I finally got a fair mathematical model to test MUs with. Before I actually get into the ratings, I’d like to make how I rate the MUs as clear as possible. . The ratings are based on MU scores. Furthermore, all MUs considered have been upgraded with their Myth Upgrades. I did this because I cannot overemphasise the importance of MU specific Myth Upgrades. They are usually cheaper than the MU itself and most of them have a HUGE impact on its performance and its score. MUs are rated based on age- so we won’t have (for example) any Classical Age MUs competing with any Mythic ones. Finally, Greek MUs are Poseidon, Egyptians Set, Norse Odin and Atlantean Oranos for testing purposes. The score for a particular MU is basically a sum of three things-
Firstly, the Elder Cyclops is OP, no doubt about that. No surprise then, that it tops the combat scores albeit by a narrow margin. It excels vs buildings. Its special- an instant kill vs human units only gets a 0.1 Balance bonus because it takes too long during which the Cyclops is very vulnerable. Its also too slow to be effective in groups. It represents horrible value with is huge cost. In short, good in patches but not all round. The classical Atlantean MUs seem to be designed with value in mind. Looking at the huge value score this one gets, its easy to believe. Also, for a unit that takes only 2 pop slots, it has decent combat stats. It does well vs MUs and archers. It has great hp (for a 2 pop unit) and great armour. Its amazing special ability (to heal other Automatoi) and also to bring others back to life earns it a 0.2 Balance bonus. It topped the group test (test 4) where I could use as many as 8. Actually, this is my favourite classical MU. The Anubite excels in fast surgical strikes especially vs infantry and archers. It’s performance vs buildings is what brought this one down. It’s low hp and armour ratings also means that it takes more damage than it should. Its special, though useful, is not enough to qualify for a Balance bonus. Think of this as a more expensive, less powerful, slower Einherjar with a less useful special. Look at its rank. Put two and two together. There you go. This did better than I expected, particularly vs archers and infantry. Not bad given the low expectations I had. I gave it a 0.1 bonus because of its hp regeneration. Cheap. Full Stop. Good vs buildings , bad vs anything else. Really crappy hp and armour. The next patch adds +3 crush damage so I’ll take another look then. I have one question though- why give a unit a capability vs buildings but subsequently destroy that by giving it just 25% pierce armour? To be fair, I even considered the combined hp of the two offspring while calculating %hp lost. Only decent vs archers. Too weak to be competitive. Good for raiding. Crappy range too. No Surprise. This unit has it all. Range, killer damage, value, reasonable hp and armour, 100% accuracy, and even some crush damage to kill buildings with. Monster range lets it attack defensive structures without getting counter attacked. Need I say more. Its actually a good 2 points in front of its nearest rival. OP- you bet! The real issue with this unit was whether to test the 1 headed hydra or to go with the full 5 heads. I eventually (rightly, I think) settled for the former because growing extra heads is not an upgrade, it’s a special ability. To make up for that, I gave it a 0.2 Balance bonus. Had I gone in for the 5 headed version, I have no doubt that it would have won this age as well as beaten all the Mythic MUs. One very important point to remember is that a hydra grows 4 extra heads by killing 12 units in combat. Unless they were all villies (bully!) or weak human units, it’s almost certain that the hydra in question would sustain a considerable amount of damage. Since Greeks who take anything but Apollo in Heroic have no means of healing damaged units, a 5 headed hydra would not have much hp available. Be that as it may, even with just 1 head, the hydra is a sensational melee combat unit. It’s good against everything. Its only weaknesses are its cost and its slow speed. Incidentally, in the group test (test 4), one of the 3 hydras grew a second head. After a poor showing in the Classical ratings, the Greeks are roaring back, quite literally! This is the one surprise unit in the Heroic ratings. I always figured this was a kind of poorer sister to the Norse Battle Boar. It even beat that much favoured unit. It’s only downside is its expense in terms of gold. It ruled archers (test 2) thanks to its monster armour levels (the upgrade talking again). It did very well vs infantry (test 1), MUs (test 3) and even buildings thanks to its crush damage. It’s special attack is pretty powerful vs weaker units. It really surprised me. I expected this unit to do well but not quite as well as this. It has great range, attack and even hp. More importantly, it flies- a feature which earns it a 0.1 Balance bonus. It even beat the much stronger Phoenix (see the Mythic Ratings) in overall score. It’s not as expensive as it seems because most of the cost is wood. What came as a pleasant surprise is its reasonable ability vs weak buildings. On the whole, not bad at all. This unit’s special attack is a problem as it disperses target units. On the whole, it performs well enough against everything. It specifically performs very well vs archers and buildings. It has good hp, mythic level armour ratings and good speed. All in all a good performance but not as good as I thought it would be. Its still my favourite Heroic MU though. Average score for an eminently average unit. Good vs weak human units, poor vs buildings, great value (wood only). The special attack is just too weak. Before screaming at the injustice, note that it only lost out to the Scorpion Man due to its poor value. On the whole a good combat unit with a great special which earned it a 0.15 Balance Bonus. Good hp and armour. The upgrade (Rime) really improved the base unit. I really believe that ES should look at making this a 4 pop unit. Its 5 pop slots as well as its slow speed also counted against it. Really terrible value makes this lose out big time. Its great vs buildings and archers but that’s all. Too slow to be effective. Not as bad as it’s ranking suggests. It’s good in groups. Solid ranged support. Just too expensive (even in wood) for what it does. Good value and ok vs MUs. Other than that, even with the Gemino upgrade, don’t ask. To get further confirmation as to how bad it actually is read ArtemisChimera’s guide. Good at everything, weak at nothing. Expensive, but so is a Ferrari. I’ll take that. I don’t think the –5 crush damage announced in the new patch will have much of an impact on its score, but given how close things are at the top, it will almost certainly lose it’s top ranking. Hard to believe but post 1.02 patch this innocuous looking blob could well be the meanest MU in AOM. Instant killer (0.3 Balance Bonus) which has a good normal attack as well. Hitpoints may seem low but armour is really good. Good value too. Can even do ok vs buildings. The upgrade gives it the fastest recharging instant kill attack in AOM. Exceptional combat unit does really well vs everything. It did as well as I thought it would do. Whirling special attack is really good against groups of enemies. This actually got the highest combat score ever and it surprised the hell out of me. Rips apart anything you care to throw at it. The upgrade is HUGE as it increases its attack and special attack by 30% not to mention its hp to 960. Best upgrade in the game. Full Stop. Massed(as I found out in test 4) the special attack is like a mass instant kill, believe me, its that good. Slightly let down by a very high gold cost even though it takes just 4 pop. Wow! This did very well indeed for a unit which, without it’s special, can’t even kill a Wadjet. And what a special! Instant kill (0.3 Balance Bonus) and a free meatshield as well as combat unit. It was the minions that did the building killing in the group test (test 4). After AOMX, very good value as well. Most confusing unit in the game. Instant kill (0.3 Balance Bonus) but instead of killing targeted unit makes it a ‘chaos’ unit i.e. it attacks everything in sight. This raised the question whether I should count a unit dead if it turned- for want of a better expression, ‘chaotic’. In the end I decided to do so but balanced this by counting the damage done by the ‘chaotic’ unit to the Lampades. Otherwise, this unit is very, very similar to the Medusa. Looks cool though. One interesting use is to turn very strong enemy MUs ‘chaotic’. If u do this in an enemy town, wow, what a diversion. Also causes splash damage when killed. One could consider using this as a ‘suicide’ attack unit on large enemy armies or towns. All in the name of chaos. This unit is all about groups. The larger the group (upto 8), the better its speed and attack. Individually it is slightly weak. Its group skills get it a 0.2 Balance Bonus. Exceptional value. One word of advice is to use the box formation with your wolfpack to maximize damage bonuses. On the face of it this unit should be right up there with the Avenger and the Fire Giant. What prevents this is the fact that it takes too much damage from other units, does not have a bonus vs MUs and disperses its enemies with its special. Even the patch does not improve its armour, just its hp. Best building killer in AOM though. Not even a double Balance Bonus (0.2 for flying and for splash damage) could keep this bird flying. Its just too slow firing and its range is too small to be that useful. Pity, it used to be my favourite Mythic MU in the early days. Too slow and not good vs human units or other MUs. It’s ability to regenerate hp gets it a 0.1 Balance Bonus. It also wipes out buildings with ease. Not enough to save it.
1. 1MU vs 3 unupgraded Zeus Hoplites
2. 1MU vs 3 unupgraded Toxotes
3. 1MU vs 2 Dryads
4. 15/16 population worth of MUs vs 4 Zeus Hoplites, 4 Toxotes and 1 Sentry Tower
5. 1MU vs 1 Sentry Tower
During each test, the
Once all these are taken down, the score for that test is calculated using the formula-
Here Balance is a number (Range 0-0.3) which is set to a value reflecting the usefulness of the MU special attack or ability. For example, MUs which can instantly kill all non hero units (ex Medusae) have a balance of 0.3. I’ll explain any positive balances when I come to them in the ratings themselves but by default, this value is 0. Ranged units not expected to kill buildings are compensated by a range score (coming up). Also, in test 5, ranged units are given a maximum of 100 seconds to destroy the building failing which a success factor based on the hitpoints lost by the building is calculated. Furthermore, for flying units, infantry and the dryads are walled off to prevent them from running away and thus skewing the scores. Once the MU registers a score on all 5 tests, a combat score is calculated by adding them up –
The halving or doubling of particular scores are to make sure each test has equal significance in the final score. For example, quite a few MUs can take out 3 toxotes (Test
The resource cost is its cost in Food, Wood and/or Gold multiplied by a weightage. Food and Gold are required for infantry and age advancemet so they are multiplied by 1.5. Wood is not so important so it is multiplied by 1. This generally ranges from 0-8.
Now, Lets get to the ratings. Please note that specialist MUs like naval MUs, Caladria, Scarabs and Behemoths were not included in these ratings-
The results of this age were a real surprise to me but in retrospect, the best unit won.
Combat Score-18.50496473, Value Score-6.57, Range Score-0
Total Score-25.07496473
This is one unit where upgrades have made a huge difference. I tested a sphinx upgraded with both available upgrades. It won this age without any Balance bonuses. It performed excellently in all areas excelling against ranged units (test 2), other MUs (test 3) and buildings. Its special attack is very powerful for a classical MU. In addition, it is very fast, has good hp, great armour and is fairly cheap. The only minus is its 4 population slots. It truly deserves its first place.
Combat Score-18.4252429, Value Score-5.65, Range Score-0
Total Score-24.0752429
I gave this unit a 0.15 Balance Bonus (see score calculations) because of its special ability. This ability is particularly strong with groups. This ability has added significance in AOMX because it can boost the Titan’s attack to 103 when grouped with it. This unit is excellent against buildings plus it topped test2 (vs archers). It has decent hp and armour. The only reason this is not number 1 is its poor speed and the fact that, like most Norse MUs, it is slightly on the expensive side.
Combat Score-19.25340277, Value Score-4.8, Range Score-0
Total Score-24.05340377
The upgrade makes this unit a real infantry, and archer killer because it increases it attack by 50%. Its ability to heal other units gives it a 0.25 Balance bonus. Due to this, the Valkyrie actually managed a higher combat score than the Sphinx. Its heavy armour ratings and hp were a real plus. The one thing that denied this unit the winner’s spot was its poor value score and its weakness vs buildings.
Combat Score-12.4202069, Value Score-7.36, Range Score-4
Total Score-23.78020269
The performance of this unit really surprised me. Its biggest USP is its value score which really puts this unit ahead of 4 other units with scores between 23 and 24. Its awesome performance in test 3 (vs MUs) is the biggest contributor to its combat score. It also gets a 0.1 Balance bonus on its ability to heal itself based on the damage it causes. It also has decent HP and armor. A minus is its slow speed. It emerges as the best classical ranged MU.
Combat Score-19.40841115, Value Score-4.06, Range Score-0
Total Score-23.46841115
Combat Score-12.77189759, Value Score-10.63, Range Score-0
Total Score-23.40189759
Combat Score-16.22237969, Value Score-7.08, Range Score-0
Total Score-23.30237969
Combat Score-16.08561401, Value Score-6.17, Range Score-0
Total Score-22.25561401
Combat Score-10.95096, Value Score-7.08, Range Score-4
Total Score-22.03096
Combat Score-9.5949446, Value Score-10.63, Range Score-0
Total Score-20.22494446
Combat Score-7.865635194, Value Score-7.14, Range Score-3
Total Score-18.005635194
The results of this section ran a lot more to form. With only one real surprise, everything added up really well. This is how the heroic MUs stack up-
Combat Score-17.21906546, Value Score-6.41, Range Score-6.5
Total Score-30.12906546
Combat Score-24.62857, Value Score 3.54, Range Score-0
Total Score-28.16857
Combat Score-22.5364135, Value Score-3.82, Range Score-0
Total Score-26.3564135
Combat Score-17.55421826, Value Score-4.9, Range Score-3.75
Total Score-26.20421826
Combat Score-21.88730999, Value Score-3.65, Range Score-0
Total Score-25.53730999
Combat Score-19.11299, Value Score-6.09, Range Score-0
Total Score-25.202999
Combat Score-19.84831757, Value Score-4.38, Range Score-0
Total Score-24.22831757
Combat Score-20.16901289, Value Score-3.2, Range Score-0
Total Score-23.36901289
Combat Score-13.5021, Value Score-4.23, Range Score-3.5
Total Score-21.2321
Combat Score-9.85177, Value Score-5.58, Range Score-4
Total Score-19.43177
This is it, the crème de la crème of AOM. The top 5 are covered by less than 1 score point. I would like to point out that instant kill MUs generally have a weak normal attack. That is why I have used more than one enemy in all the tests for all the units in AOM. Things really do balance out.
Combat Score-25.87283982, Value Score-3.29, Range Score-3.5
Total Score-32.66283982
Combat Score-28.8745867, Value Score-3.7, Range Score-0
Total Score-32.5745687
Combat Score-28.6793532, Value Score-3.49, Range Score-0
Total Score-32.1693532
Combat Score-28.94120712, Value Score-3.16, Range Score-0
Total Score-32.10120712
Combat Score-24.88904378, Value Score-4.17, Range Score-3
Total Score-31.06904378
Combat Score-23.94031655, Value Score- 3.35, Range Score-2.5
Total Score-29.791031655
Straightforward instant kill (0.3 Balance bonus) MU with a reasonable normal attack. Would have competed with the top 5 if I had considered the monstrous rage upgrade. Very expensive when compared to the Mummy.
Combat Score-23.47557, Value Score-3.7, Range Score-2.5
Total Score-29.67557
Combat Score-20.1523016, Value Score-6.17, Range Score-0
Total Score-26.3230136
Combat Score-22.38597572, Value Score-3.33, Range Score-0
Total Score-25.71597572
Combat Score-20.509295, Value Score-3.84, Range Score-1
Total Score-25.349295
Combat Score-20.74121291, Value Score-3.33, Range Score-0
Total Score-24.0712191
The biggest conclusion I drew from these ratings is the fact that (barring a few exceptions) ES have done a fantastic job balancing the units and the civs. Just look at how close things are at the very top. My second conclusion is that upgrades really matter a lot in most cases. Looking at it objectively, take the Chimera. For nearly the same cost, one could have 8 Chimerae or 7 Chimera Tyrants + its upgrade. 7 Chimera Tyrants have a 29 hack damage advantage, a 960 hitpoint advantage and a 4 pop advantage over 8 un-upgraded Chimerae. This is not true for all MUs but in general, using the upgrade is a very good idea.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it.
Thanx
ManticoreKiller
