Odin is one of the most versatile and easily learned civilizations that you can choose from in Age of Mythology The Titans. However, he will also prove to be very difficult to master and gain high ratings with. My goal in this article, is to hopefully help many 1600 Odins get to 1700, and help some 1700s get to 1750+. Throughout this I will explain to you, how to read your opponent, how to plan ahead, and how to work around the many weaknesses that Norse Players have to deal with against Atlantean/Greek/Egyptian opponents. I will also discuss tactics such as Raiding, Rushing, Fast Heroics, and Civ-Specific and Map-Specific Strategies that can better help you to adapt to different conditions and playing styles and hopefully score you some more wins. At the end of this article I will also attach a package of Recs that demonstrate various tactics that I will discuss in this article. I will try to organize this as orderly as possible so that higher skilled players don't need to read information that they likely already know.

The Ages:

Here I will give a simple overview of what to do in each of the four ages, god choices, which gods to choose in which situations, possible unit combos, and what you should usually be doing during this age.

Archaic:

This is obviously the most basic of the ages, however, you will need to pay close attention to the map, opponent, and starting conditions to adjust your build order accordingly. Now I know what you are saying. That dreaded phrase "build order." I myself have a basic build up, but it is hardly ever the same from game to game. It changes drastically from map to map and often depending on my opponents civilization so that I can better adjust to what he will make.

Now the map is going to be the first thing that you look at when deciding how to adjust. For example, if I see Marsh, Tundra, or Alfheim, I'm going to be thinking early hunting, Start hunting with my first 2-3 villagers, get hunting dogs immediately and likely I'll be Great Hunting my starting herd of huntables. If I see Watering Hole or Savannah I'm going to be thinking hunting, but beware these maps tend to have big game. Savannah especially tends to start you off with 1-2 Rhinos and Chickens. Now that means that you may not want to hunt immediately because those Rhinos don't go down easy, however, if you have good micro you can sometimes get a Rhino down with 3 villagers, but I wouldn't recommend it because sometimes it causes more harm than good. You should go on the chicken, and once that 4th villager comes out then attack the Rhino while using your Ox Cart as a shield.

Water maps such as Midgard, Highland, and Anatolia usually aren't that difficult to adjust to. Just go a little heavier on wood earlier than you normally would while still keeping 4-6 on hunting so that you can still maintain a decent Classical time. Mediterranean, however, is a difficult map for many, including myself, because of the obvious reason that it often gives you a seed with little to no hunting. This means you are missing out on Odin's largest and, in my opinion, most beneficial advantage. However, part of the game is adapting, you will simply need to work around this fact. I often try to either a) put a few more on herdables (if you think you are going to get a lot of herdables, go on Chickens and then Great Hunt the herdables) and continue as normal, or go a little heavier on wood, get up a second dock in late Archaic, advance a little slower, and drop a Third one in transition. Choice a) is usually the best one to do in most cases, I'd only do Choice vs Egyptians that you think will boom.

Adjusting against your opponent is something that many people I've trained find difficult. If you know what your opponent is going to do, or is likely to do, then you can use this to better prepare. Here is a quick overview of how you can prepare for your opponent and hinder his plan.

Odin/Thor: Expect to be raided and possibly rushed. You'll want to look around and scout the map very well, so a second Ulfsark in Archaic would help. Advance early. What I find that works is 4:40 - 5:50 Classical. Now if you plan to raid him back, then go Freyja, and try to go a little heavier on Food (Valks/RC). You may want to go heavy on wood as well if you are playing a map like Oasis, so that you can better prepare for farming early on. If you are getting rushed, or rushing, then lighten up on food, and focus on Wood and Gold. Also advance through Heimdall on a rushing situation. In either situation, I'd get both Pick Axe and Hand Axe in Classical Transition as long as Resources permit.

Loki: You will be rushed 99% of the time, and I can assure you that you will lose 9/10 times. Right from the start this is usually a losing situation for you, you will have to work around it. You will want to go Heimdall, and get a second Ulfsarks out in Archaic. Find his temple if you can and stop it from going up. Heavy Wood and Gold is important. You may want to hold off on getting both Hand and Pick Axe. I'd recommend Pick Axe as you will need it to spam Einherjar.

Greeks: You know you are going to see lots of Toxotes, so your best bet is going heavy on Food and Gold for RC. However, you want enough on wood in Archaic to leave you to drop Longhouses and grab an early TC, so don't completely neglect wood while advancing. I usually leave 5 on Wood vs a Greek and add some more in Classical. Freyja makes a good choice.

Egyptians: It is doubtful you will get rushed. Booming and Fast Heroic is the popular Egyptian strategy. My advice for Archaic is to advance a little later, 5:10-5:20 works well, and grab another TC after you get 2-3 Longhouses down. So you will want 5-6 on wood in Archaic, and grab all your Economic upgrades in Classical Transition. I'd recommend Freyja here.

Atlanteans: Oh boy. Don't know where to start here. Advance fast. 4:30-4:40 is usually what you want. Any later and you'll either have already lost the game to a Kronos, or your economy will be raped inside and out vs an Oranos. You'll want to go very heavy on food, as Hersirs and Ulfsarks (mixed with a few RC and Valks) will constitute a majority of your army. I'd also recommend put some emphasis on wood so that you can Tower spam him. Freyja once again is your best choice vs Atlanteans.

Classical:

Freyja: This is a great god to choose if you are Raiding, or if you are playing a Civ that is going heavy on Archers (ex: Hades.) As I've stated, if you go Freyja, you will want to go food heavy so that you can pump Valkyries and RC for raids and Flanks. Freyja makes a great choice on water maps as well (ex: Burn wood, Valk Raid, Fishing = High Food.) When to go Freyja: Most water maps; When playing vs Greeks/Egyptians/Atlanteans; when Raiding vs Odin or Thor; If your opponent is making Archers (Thundering Hooves, Valkyries.)

Heimdall: Einherjar are just uber. Not really much else I can say. If you are rushing, I'd go him especially vs other Norse, however, I sometimes make exceptions vs non-norse. When to go Heimdall: Low food maps; When playing vs Loki; When rushing anyone; Countering Tower Spammers (Undermine.)When executing Tower based Strategies (ex: Tower pushing.)

In this age, map control is really important, and one of the reasons I like to use Odin is because I have an option of exactly how I am going to do that. I can go Freyja and control with persistent raiding while building up my economy, or I can go Heimdall and rush while controlling other parts of the map with Towers + Longhouses. However, I can mix and match these strategies and confuse my opponent. I can go up with Freyja and then defensively build Towers to guard forward settlements or protect gold mines.

Things to keep in mind when in Classical are:

-Keep villagers Pumping. If you have to use Auto que to do this then by all means do so, I myself choose not to. Either way, the point remains, the closer your idle time is to zero, the better you are in the long run. If you have two TCs, then both should be producing villagers. Don't stop until you have 70+. Usually I doubt you will need 80+ villagers in a 1v1 but sometimes I find myself doing so. It really depends on situation.

-Get upgrades. I can't tell you how many times I see people sitting with thousands of resources, and at population limit, and still not getting upgrades. It's just wasted resources. Probably the biggest trouble that they have is probably knowing when exactly to get them, but in my opinion, it's better to get them too early than to get them too late, or not at all. In terms of priority, get Economic upgrades first once you have the resources, get Armory upgrades and Unit Line upgrades once you are at population limit, or close to it.

-Keep military pumping. This to me would seem obvious, but people still don't do it. I'm not going to explain why you need to keep military flowing, you should know

-If you have resources, why not spend it. If you have a lot of Wood, spam Longhouses near his gold mines, or make farms. If you have a lot of Food, make more villagers, although you should be anyways. Get upgrades as well. Unless you are saving up for something, you should aim to have 100 or less of everything. One of the most annoying things is losing a game with 2000 of everything.

-Keep the pressure on. This is especially important vs Greeks. Greeks in heroic = Dead Norse in any age. Even raiding consistutes as pressure. If they are defending then they are likely not attacking, or not attacking at their fullest. In addition to that, it'd make sense to keep pressure on so that you can get favor

-Don't fight losing battles. This is important regardless of civ, but it's even more important for Odin because of the very slow Norse unit training times. If you lose your army, you are likely done.

-Scout with Ravens, spy with Ravens. Even I forget to do this sometimes, you lose track of them after a while, but if you remember always use your ravens. Whether it's seeing what he's building or where his Villagers are or covering a Settlement, always and I do mean always use your ravens. These are an Odin bonus, and everytime you don't use them, you are losing a bonus, if you aren't going to use them then you might as well play Thor.

Heroic:

Njord: If you are still fighting on sea, Krakens just own . Mountain Giants make fantastic siege when you are low on wood and gold. Walking Woods is also a very useful god power. When used right it can do some serious damage. When to go Njord: Water maps; Situations when you need a strong siege unit; When you need to break your opponents Forward base or fortifications (Walking Woods); If you intend to make Jarls (Ring Giver.)

Skadi: Quite possibly the exact opposite of Njord, Skadi is better on land maps. Here farming technology and Throwing Axeman boost are the main reason why. Frost Giants are also a magnificant unit if you micromanage them correctly. Frost also can really turn the tide in a lot of situations. When to go Skadi: When you are on the defensive (Frost, Huntress Axe); If you are farming a lot (duh ); If your opponent is making a lot of Infantry; If your opponent is making strong and powerful Myth Units like Hydra and Mountain Giants (Frost Giants + Micromanagement = Ownage .)

In Heroic, Hill Forts and Hill Fort units really become a core part of your strategy. Also Heroic Myth Units will add a massive punch to your army, so it's important to make sure you use your favor wisely. Jarls should, for the most part, be the back bone of your army. Every Norse Heroic combo should at least have 10 or so Jarls just to counter MUs and Archers, I mean if your opponent is decent then he will have MUs and/or Archers. Hill Forts also do a great job of map control, so be sure to use them to the fullest. If I were you, I'd also invest in Levy Hill Fort once you get the resources. At 300 Food, getting 20% more training time means your Jarls/Huskarls come out at 7 seconds instead of 9, can't beat that. It's also a really good idea to get a Market built and start up some trade. Nothing huge, but 5-10 Trade Caravans wouldn't hurt. In late Heroic, you should be finishing off your opponent.

Mythic

Tyr: In AoM, I'd have said go Tyr all the time, but that's changed. Huskarls with Bravery is a really nasty unit, and Fenrir Wolves owned in a pack of 5, and Berserkergang is an awesome technology. However, with Titans, and Throwing Axeman sucking even more vs Infatry, and the Fenrir Wolf nerf, Tyr just is all-round weakened. Unless your opponent is literally massing nothing but Archers and buildings, I wouldn't recommend him.

Baldr: This is your best choice for Mythic. Fire Giants are great, his Raiding Cavalry Tech is great if you still happen to be making RC, and Ragnarok really is the best God Power for making/countering Titans. Also Dwarven Auger owns . Pretty much you want to go Baldr whenever you think your opponent is going ot make a Titan or if you are making a Titan, so basically that's going to be all the time.

There's not really much to go over in Mythic other than the fact that you want to avoid a game going this far all together. Ballista are the unit you want to take the greatest advantage of. 5-6 of them behind a meat shield of Jarls and TA is pretty much the most powerful Norse combo hands down, and the fact that you are Odin makes it that much more powerful with 20% HP and 10% HP on Ballista and Jarls repsectively. In this age map control is everything, and you really want to just get every technology you can. Other than that, there's really nothing more to say. Oh yea and don't forget to Titan lame when possible.

Tactics

As Odin, you will need to learn a variety of tactics if you intend to get the fullest out of him. This includes Raiding, Rushing, Fast Heroics, and several others. The better you know them all, the better you can surprise your opponent or adapt to different opponents.

Raiding

Now while there are a variety of ways to raid, I'm not going to go over all of them in too much detail. The basis is knowing what to raid and how to execute it effectively. Firstly, you will want to go up with Freyja. Once you hit classical, sending out your ravens to search for gathering sites while also sending your Valkyrie to his town will really set you up early for when you get your RC out and prepare to shut his economy down. I'd recommend sending your first 4 RC out and then slowly adding to them. 14-16 RC can usually provide you with enough raiding power to keep your opponent at bay, however, splitting them into groups of 8 will provide to be more useful.

Some things to keep in mind when Raiding are:

-Crennelations is a killer. Once you see he has this, you have two choices. You can either Raid with bigger groups or you can stop raiding. Now in my opinion, they will expect you to stop raiding which is why you shouldn't. Instead get Medium Cavalry upgrade and Pierce armor, get a single group of about 15 Cavalry, mix in some Valkyries when you get the favor to do so, and start raiding and taking out key towers. If you can get Thundering Hooves then get that too. If you've caught him off guard then you'll end up doing more damage to him than he'll do to you. It's all about raiding Conservatively. Only raid when the Gains are greater than the loses.

-Use your ravens and plan ahead. Having flying scouts is probably the greatest Raiding boost that Odin has. Mix in Freyja as a God choice and you can now know where his Villagers are all the time, Burn his wood, and raid with MUs and faster, stronger Raiding Cavalry

-Hit and Run like hell. You are raiding, not attacking. Get in there, disrupt and maybe kill a few villagers or ox carts and run.

-Use more than one group. Raid with at least two groups, that way while you raid with one, the other regenerates HP. Don't neglect that bonus.

-Get Creative. Eventually people catch on to raids and how to stop them, it's unavoidable. When you see this you will need to use distractions, sneak attacks, and decoys.

-Know when to quit. Like I said above, people catch on. But at some point, you just aren't going to cause any more real damage. At that point move on to other things.

Rushing

This is always a nice strategy to have up your sleeve. Mine varies really from opponent to opponent and map to map. Sometimes I rush with Heimdall and other times with Freyja, but regardless I keep a few things in mind.

-You always be doing someting. What I mean is, you should always be raiding or attacking or maybe even both, but don't be sitting around. The longer you do nothing, the more time he has to build up.

-Hit his weak spot. Don't keep attacking the same side of his town. He will build up that side and stop you with towering and building. Instead, attack different areas of his town, and keep him thinking of where you will hit next.

-Shut down his economy. If he has no resources, then how can he defend? From there it's only down hill for him.

Fast Heroic

This tactic as really lost its effectiveness with Odin, but sometimes I pull them off vs Ra and Set. Your Archaic economy whould be very food heavy. You'll want only 3-4 on wood, and once you have enough for the houses and Armory, you want to take them off leaving 1 on wood, and put the rest on food and gold. I can usually get a 6:40ish advance. Once you click the Heroic button, take about 3-4 off of the food and put them back on wood so that you can drop that fort down immediatly. Freyja/Njord is the best god line for this strategy, so you can get uber Odin Jarls. Drop 2-3 longhouses when you get the wood and spam Jarl/TA. Mix in some Mountain giants when you get the resources and it's good game. It's only good if your opponent doesn't see it coming.

Anti-Hades Boom

One strategy that annoys me is the three TC Hades boom. This can sometimes give people trouble because Hades Toxotes become even worse when the Hades is Heroic. What I do vs a Hades is stop the boom before it starts. Hades tend to grab a forward TC early, so building houses near all likely settlements is key. I also foward build on one TC or just behind it so that I can hit him fast once I see the builders. A Hades will only have a Cyclops and an Ajax there defend, you can stop that with your Valkyrie, 2-3 Hersirs and a quick Ulfsark spam. Just in stopping that you've foiled and slowed down their plan, but by stealing that TC will further boost your advantage. So to counter a Hades boom, you need to stop that TC from going up and then boom yourself, get Heroic and finish him off there. Raiding will help a lot as well.

Rush Defense

Odin has some serious problems vs Loki and Kronos Rushes. One key thing to remember is defensive building. Build around Towers and around Resource gathering locations. Get the tower upgrade as soon as possible, and mass TA/Einherjar with a few Hersirs mixed in. Your biggest advantage is being on the defensive, so make him fight under Tower and TC fire. Defending your economy is important though. To some extent you might want to spread out of your town to spots he won't expect to look, or gather at several spots to trick him (If he sees gold miners in your town then he won't expect you to have anymore anywhere else, so use that to your advantage.) Once you get a push on him, take it. Keep pushing, then get some RC and Raid. However, you can avoid this by stopping the rush before it starts. Get a 2nd Ulfsark out early, and chase down his Ulfsark, or harass his Oracles. If he can't get LOS then he can't Time Shift his temple.

Flanking

This is a really important part of Micromanagement, and vs an Atlantean or a Greek it can make or break a battle. What I like to do is scout with my ravens to see if he is making Toxotes/Chieros. Then what I do is I make RC, but somewhat hide them from his sight and then draw him out into a field with my infantry and flank his archers. Usually if they see it coming they will defend better, but if they don't think you have cavalry, then you may get him off guard and give yourself a big advantage in numbers and simply finish him off with raids. With Atlanteans it's harder. I prefer flanking with Valks. Unless he has heroes, his katapeltes won't scratch the Valks.

Conclusion

Well I probably could of said more, but I ran out of stuff to write, I got tired of typing . I'll probably make another post on Civ specific tactics or something, but for now enjoy this article and enjoy the games I've posted. I hope that reading this will at least help someone boost their rating up a few points. Any comments or corrections would be great.

Have A Nice Day!!!