I've played enough games with Gaia to come to a conclusion of how she should be used (and also I'm posting here because my silly 1700 rate isn't so great for a real article ^^) and what type of gods she is.

So let's start with the basic questions first.

So who is Gaia?
Also known as Mother Earth who had given birth to many of the Greek Gods and had other Titans.

In terms of the game, stupid
Well she's an underpowered God . A lot of people also think about her in the wrong way (even though a lot more people I've seen lately are starting to use her).

Why's she underpowered?
She doesn't have all the defensive bonuses like Isis does, she doesn't have the uber military like a Kronos or an Oranos player, and her bonuses are a lot more passive and economic in Atlantean standards.

So what are her abilities then?
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Gaia's Bonuses
|+| Buildings regenerate at around 1 HP per second.
|+| Economical technologies are 30% cheaper.
|+| Lush slowly grows out from buildings. Enemies can not build on Lush.
|+| Fishing Ships are 10% cheaper and Caravans are 20% cheaper and also have more hitpoints.
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This brings us on to the next part:

{2} The Special Abilities of Gaia
|+| Buildings regenerate at around 1 HP per second.

In a way this ability can be very useful, but generally it is one of those bonuses which are quite passive. If your palace foundation, for example, is being attacked and you put it up with only half of it's HP left, then that's almost like you've payed 300 gold, wood, and 8 favor for something that has half it's normal HP! So you get your army to stop the attackers, etc, and this is where it comes in handy.

Now, you have two choices (while leaving a few Katapeltes for example to guard the Palace):
A) Repair the palace quickly but not be able to build another one because of the resources.
B) Leave it to Regenerate and spend your resources on a new TC, a military production building, or another Palace.

Obviously you're going to choose B, right? Sure it's common sense, but if you were a Kronos or Oranos player, this is quite a setback for you as you have to repair the palace, but now you've run out of quite a lot of resources in the process. Sure it takes around 5 minutes for the palace to regenerate all of it's HP back, but it's still helpful, and saves you so much time and resources.

Combine this ability with Gaia's Channels technology and your villagers will be extremely efficient at how much earlier, faster, and cheaper it is to manage them and your resource stockpile.

This bonus is also especially helpful in raids, as after they have stopped attacking a tower, house, etc., they'll just run away and when they come back, they'll have to start attacking it all over again. This means that they have just wasted about a minute or 2 of their time attacking a building, and my advantage is that I have saved around 50-100 wood and gold, which equals about 1 Cherioballista or 2 Turmae. But there is a downside. The fact that the raiders take less time to run up to the manor in comparison to the average Norse, Egyptian, or Greek house means that they can take down the building a bit faster. Other capabilites they also have is the fact that more raiders can surround it as it has a bigger area. But raiders will rarely donate themselves as dinner to towers or TC's when attacking a manor unless they really want to ruin your pop or have a big raiding party with them.

The last good attribute about her regenerating bonus, is that it is very efficient for a forward base you may have. If you are constantly being attacked by small enemy fleets then the Town Center and the buildings will get a chance to breathe a little. Let's say you've got a forward TC and you're being attacked by the fleets. Now, I've just done some tests on how efficient this bonus can be in simultaneous attacks by each civilization.

Each fleet consists of:
Greek: 5 Zeus Hoplites and 5 Toxotes
Egyptian: 3 Camels and Chariots and 1 War Elephant
Norse: 1 Einherjar, 8 RC, 3 TA
Atlantean: 2 Hero Oracles, 4 Turmae, 3 Prometheans
*NOTE: These armies are based on what average army you will face, and these are NOT stats based on what happens when these exact armies attack you*

(The fleets attacked every 30 Seconds)
Town Center ONLY
Greek: The first fleet went down and took half it's HP (just a little bit under, around 15). But this is where the bonus comes into play: Since it's 1 HP/Second, the 30 seconds regenerated and since it gave +30 HP, the -15 HP under the amount of damage the first fleet did passed over and the second fleet was aroudn 50 HP of damage away from destroying the TC! To conclusion, it takes one extra fleet compared to the other Attie gods, which can handle two fleets.

Egyptian: The first fleet took down 2/3rds of its HP and then the second one finished it off. Not much there, eh?

Norse: The first fleet took down 1/3 of the TC's HP. However I noticed the Norse army was much stronger with the force than the others, so, I gave myself 300 of each res and remade the army of over a minute or so. The +60-70 HP the TC had regenerated had not helped much, but when I noticed really, really closely it had a chance to kill one extra TA and RC, which is sort of efficient .

Atlanteans: It's the same story as the Norse, took three fleets but the extra HP overtime killed the Promethean Offspring.

Town Center with 2 Hero Turmae, 2 Automatons, 1 Cheiroballista, 2 Counter barracks, and 1 military barracks (Assuming the player attacked the army, the buildings, then the TC)

Greek: The first two fleets has finished off the army and half of a CB's HP. But again, with the half HP and regeneration situation, the TC managed to kill a few more hoplites, thus the extra regeneration and the TC arrows made it so that the fourth fleet had to knock it down. Eventually the fourth fleet knocked down both CB's (because the CB units are deadlier to greeks than the MB's, duh) and so they attacked the TC. Eventually: around 6 fleets. The regeneration made it so that it could kill around 3 toxotes or so which sort of helped.

Egyptian: The first fleet just raped the buildings but were killed by the army and TC right after. The second fleet eventually killed the army, and took down around 1/2 of the TC's HP. BUT! A third fleet didn't take it down because one of the Counterbarracks had just survived with around 45 HP! The Town Center eventually killed off the Elephant and the Camels didn't make it with the Chariots. So eventually, it took four fleets to take it down. (By the way, the 45 HP CB was when the third fleet approached: orginally had 20 something HP)

Norse: Unfortunately, it only took two fleets to take down the area. Due to the fact the Einherjars had their nasty blows, the first fleet took down ALL THREE (!) buildings and then got killed off. The second fleet killed the army with ease and then knocked down the TC. Weird ...

Attie: You wont believe this, but it took 8 fleets to take down the TC . *Probably was a dumb idea to put that type of army against a TC with the hero turma and cheiro, but oh well * Anyways, it took 3 fleets to take down the AUTOMATONS (not the army) and the CB's. The fourth fleet died in an attempt to kill the running hero turma but almost destroyed the MB. Eventually the regeneration made it take the enemies longer to destroy the MB while the turma raped their only crush damagers: Prometheans. So there ya go!

As you can see, this bonus can be really efficient if you want it to be (by the way the tests took me around half an hour each so they were tested to death @_@!). It's sort of insignificant, and enemies might not bring that many fleets, and you'll probably have your army up there, but hey! It's useful info if you wanna know what happens when you're caught unguarded.

|+| Economical Technologies are 30% Cheaper
Unlike the building regeneration bonus, this description is much shorter because the bonus is quite self-explanatory. Rape this bonus like you would with Thor's Armory techs ! Whenever you get the chance to get an economical upgrade, get it ASAP. Whether you're in Classical and not even farming yet, just get Heavy Plow. It's only 70 wood and 30 gold, saves you tons of micro (OK, OK, we're Atties in Classical, but hey...) and costs as much as making one Turma or so.

Remember, don't forget to check if you are able to get the upgrade with sufficient resources. You will notice your score significantly go up higher than the other players if you do so, no matter how much you don't need it. Even if you have 10,000 wood and can afford Carpenters, just get it anyways! Make the most use of it, -30% is hell of a lot of saved resources. With the extra resources, you can take advantage of this and outmass your enemy. (More on that later)

|+|Lush slowly grows out of buildings. Enemies can not build on Lush.

Ah, Lush. Said to be Gaia's most defensive bonus and most significant and useful bonus of hers (according to ES). Now you're thinking: "Ok sure it's significant, but USEFUL and DEFENSIVE? What the hell?"

Lush is the only bonus in the game which relies on very specific and certain situations. First off:

-Lush should be used more as a team game bonus.
-Use it to guard the constructions of mining or lumber camps throughout the map.
-Make sure you spread out your buildings for Lush as if you were an oracle or and Obelisk. Try to get the maximum effect of the radius so you have a better chance of not having forward Forts or towers...
-And it makes your base look pretty !

As a team game bonus, Lush can be used in conjuction with rushers. ESPECIALLY rushers. With boomers it's utterly useless actually (>_> ) or in 1v1 (<_< ) but it helps out rushers so much. Why?

Building YOUR base around THEIR base along with your allies military buildings means that they are so forced and enclosed. This is very, very useful vs. the average Atlantean with their large buildings. The lush will grow and spread out it areas they thought would be a good point to attack you from behind, but too bad! Your barracks has already dominated that area. So while a villager make be trying to knock it down so he can build his own military production building, then you have time to send a turma or two to destroy the villagers. Rushers already keep the enemy at home. Give them lush and soon they'll resign of claustrophobia .

Other ways lush can be used is the most common way: build an Economic guild, rax, or tower/palace around a resource site. This is extremely useful as the Eco Guilds are built quickly, they're cheap, and they protect the mine for free. Think of them as "slowdown sentry towers". Once the enemy has tried to build a mining camp next to the gold mine...Oops! The lush's stopped him! There he goes attacking your Guild, but then, like the situation above, allows you to raid them with ease and they haven't even collected a thing. This'll also divert the enemy's attention back to their weakened economy. It's especially useful to put a Guild though, as if there's a tower, they'll get the Special Services: Cavalry (which means bye bye ultimate economy killer )

Maximizing the effect of Lush is easy, efficient, but quite dangerous. Though it may have a bigger chance of stopping the enemy from building near you (or trying to build in their own base for one thing) you are much more vulnerable to raids. The cavalry will most definitely have good pathfinding, which is very dangerous, as we all know how valuable our citizens are. BUT this is nothing to worry about. DO NOT FORGET!!! You're Gaia, you're Economy's resource stockpile should technically be 30% more than the average player (20% more than an Isis, grr) so losing one villager is less valuable than Kronos or Oranos losing a villager. See how great of an advantage that is?!

So basic things to remember with Lush:
-Use it to stop enemies from building resource sites or expanding.
-Use it to enclose an enemy or stop them from enclosing you.

|+|Caravans are 20% Cheaper and Fishing Ships are 10% Cheaper and have more Hitpoints

This bonus isn't amazing or anything, but on Water Maps it's very, very handy indeed. It can change the course of your build order, too, and combined with your 20% faster wood gathering from Gaia's forest AND the "cheap to research" wood tech's, it makes ships easily massable. Which, like the villager, means that losing a fishing ship is less valuable than another civ losing one as you can easily replace it. Don't forget that your food stockpile will shoot up, which means more villagers, which means more Economic Techs, which means more Military and so on ^^!

As for the Caravans, the 20% less food means that you'll be getting 20% more caravans which means 20% more gold! (sort of )

The best part of this bonus, however, is the extra hitpoints. This is extremely useful if you are caught off guard in water or the enemy raiders are attacking your trade routs. If gives your ship a better chance of surviving on their way back to garisson inside the dock and Caravans a better chance of surviving in general.

Phew! Now that I've covered all of Gaia's bonuses, let's go over...

{3} A Few Build Orders

Gaia has tons of build orders to choose from due to her God Power and economic technologies.

The build order I usually do is (and 90% of the time always keeps me on top with points, too )

- First villager builds an Economic Guild and hunts.
Cast Gaia's Forest either around your Tower or next to your Town Center.
*Assign first Oracle to Ctrl+1, send him to any side of your base.*
*Set your next waypoints for the next two Oracles.*
*Research Hunting Dogs and make sure next two Oracles afterwards are marked with Ctrl+2 and 3.
- Second goes to food.
- Third goes to your Gaia's Forest wood.
- Fourth citizen goes to the gold mine, but builds a manor right next to it before (so in raids they dont have to walk much to protect themselves).*
- Fifth one goes to gold.
*Build your temple as soon as you get 100 Wood + Gold with your Goldies.*
- Sixth goes to food: make sure the source is different from the one your 2 original food villagers are.
- Seventh goes to wood.
- (If not at 400 food yet) Eigth goes to food.
*From Tordenskiold *summarized*:
"This is what a standard Atlantean build order is but since Gaia's economic techs are cheaper, you can put your next villager to food and STILL have enough gold for a manor."

For a water build order I would generally do this:
- Usually water maps don't contain too much hunting, but if there is...
- First villager builds an Economic Guild and researches hunting dogs.
IF NOT:
- First villager goes to nearest food source.
*Same thing as above with Gaia's forest, when to make the temple, and Oracle waypoint and placements
- Second goes and builds a dock. (Eventually goes to a food source or forest near the dock for food/wood depending on one's desires)
- Third goes to wood.
- Next villager builds house and goes to gold.
Do not forget to put the fishing ship on autoqueue after you have built your manor.
- Next villager to wood.
- Next villager to gold.
- If you do not have 400 food yet the last one or two villagers can go to your food source(s) or wood for more fishing ships.
Don't forget to build a second dock once you have sufficient wood.

I don't have many build orders here but I'll put more up later.

Speaking of when you advance, though...

{4} Which God Does Thou Worship?

God Choice for Gaia is VERY tough. Unfortunately her Classical God choices are not very efficient, but later on she probably gets the best Heroic choice in the game at least.

CLASSICAL AGE

LETO

Let's look at Leto's Myth Unit:
The Automaton
(This is based on how I used it)

If you don't want to know how a Gaia player should utilise these, then go herefor better information.

I generally like to mass the Automaton, and usually I make at least 20 per game. They are such a great utility unit, with their cheap cost, high armor and health, high attack, and easily massable ability they are a really good unit to start making your Classical army with. Also, when I make a forward base or TC, I always bring them to protect the villagers. These guys are SO vulnerable to heroes, so make sure you can wipe out any heroes first with Cherio's or Turmae, then run in with the Automatons.

As for their upgrades, only the +60 HP and Regeneration technology is needed as it gives you a better chance to make use of their "repair each other" bonus. You can get Hephaestus Revenge but I find the food cost and favor to be too valuable for me for just +12% pierce armor so I save the favor for even more Automatons ! If you WANT however, you can get this tech... If you have around 5 in your army and you're up against an Attie or Eggy, then it actually becomes quite useful.

What about her God Power?
Spider Lair
Can be used 3 times.

Lays out 4 Spider Eggs which hatch into the ground in 10 seconds. As eggs these are vulnerable so watch out. All human units except villagers, heroes, and elephants are instantly killed if they walk over hatched eggs.

Combined with a Gaia's Forest in a chokepoint, this God Power is just deadly! The enemies will try to walk through the forest thinking: "Oh well, since the Forest didn't block off the point entirely, I can easily get through without trouble, still!". That's when their army starts screaming and spiders start devouring them !

It's also a good god power to use when you want to guard your forward TC (again) with your Automatons. Also, if you've read the section about spreading buildings for Lush, you can use a Spider Lair to clear up the empty spaces in between the buildings so raiders will have a tough time efficiently raiding you.

If you're in a big skirmish then casting a Spider Lair right next to an enemy military production building area is very efficient. They're attention is directed at your army, and not at the spiders, and the newly spawned soldiers will come out and die immediately (quite funny actually). And even if they start attacking the eggs, no worries! It gives you aroudn 5 seconds to hurt your enemy.

I highly recommend Leto for all Gaia players because of her Automatons, but unless you're having a lot of water battles and booming, then I suggest you go Oceanus.

OCEANUS

*Awww...No pic *

So, again, let's take a look at Oceanus' God Powers and MU's.

Caladria
Flying and quick healer with low armor and no attack.

Caladria are actually a lot better than you think . If you're playing a bit more defensively, have lost your servant on water, or you're retreating from battles quite often, these girls are the best help you'll get. With their quick healing they can refresh your army for the next battle easily, and since they're flying it's also easy for them to do that to ships, too.

Only use one Caladria, the one that came out of your temple! You're wasting tons of resources if you even let your hand click Caladria on the temple screen so make sure your free one stays alive. If you WANT you can build an extra one so they can heal themselves, but I don't recommend it.

Servant
Basically an attacking water version of the Caladria.

Servants, well, I don't get to play on water maps with Oceanus too often as I'm usually on an offensive side, but my experience with these guys are that they are good decoys in battles, and since they attack that can be really useful too. Like the caladria, keep him home at your dock so you can retreat and heal/refresh your whole army. Since these guys attack and don't cost as much as the Caladria, sometimes I like to make one extra. Don't forget it speeds up healing by twice as much.

If you're going Oceanus and you're on Watering Hole, build a dock, so that you can bring your army near the small shore where you built it and let your servant and Caladria heal your army. All for free .

Carnivora
Can be used 3 times. Summons a non-mobile, man eating plant which has a one hit kill special.

Bleh, these guys are only useful as choke point guys, though have some other uses. BUT, if you want you can cast them right next to a tower or another building, and believe me that helps tons. Also, if one of your bases is clumped, then put them in a small space so enemies trying to destroy it are killed by the Carnivora. On water, though, cast it right in front of a Dock and it'll attack any newly spawned arrow or fishing ships ! This is where Carnivora's real power is: on water.

The only problem is that ranged units will rape these guys, so make sure when you cast them all Priests, Hippolyte's/Odysseus'/Chiron's/Pharaohs are gone so you can get the full potential of them.

MYTH TECHS
Even though Oceanus is a more defensive god, he's very efficient if you are up against a Greek or Norse player with his infantry upping techs.

Bite of the Shark
A very useful tech for the Murmillo, it gives them a big +1(.4 I think) attack! With copper weapons their attack will already be 9 or 10, which is very powerful. This tech requires a lot of food and favor, though the favor wont really be used on anything else--why not this? Murmillo are common anyways, which is why it's such a useful tech and can change the course of infantry vs. infantry battles.

Weightless Mace
This tech is ok, but since CB units are used much more often, this is very useful vs. Greek and Norse again. Katapeltes can't catch up with cavalry much, but with Weightless Mace they have an easier time of closing in on them, chasing them, and doing even MORE damage to them. It's a very useful tech, and it's the only Katapeltes technology there is the game, and you get two bonuses in one which is very useful.

Now it's time to move on to the next age.

HEROIC AGE

Ahh, this is where Gaia's true power of the gods come into play!

THEIA

Theia's Myth Unit is:
The Stymphalian Bird
Again, if you want full detail on this wonderful MU, go here.

Generally I like to use these guys in my army as a sort of mobile turret. In big armies these guys will rock the enemy's socks, but like Phoenixes they have VERY dreadful armor and HP, so make sure they are fully protected! These guys are expensive and valuable--speaking of cost and such, you might also want to start using your excess favor on this MU as they are also useful raiders along with their power in battles.

When it comes to raiding the enemy with Stymphalian Birds, make sure you get some of the isolated miners so that they have no protection (or hunters or choppers). For example, vs. an Attie just attack them, vs. a Norse attack the ox cart, and vs. a Greek just attack ! Egyptians, though, will cause problems, as a lot of the time, Migdol's and Pharaohs will be right next to mine so you'll have a lot of trouble trying to raid the villagers.

Hespirides Tree!
Summons a Tree which can summon up to 5 Dryads (Myth Units that are strong against buildings and other units) and also blocks God Powers. Can be used TWICE. *These trees can be taken over by the enemy so make sure they're in your most populated areas!*

One of the best God Powers in the game (IMO at least ), the tree is a God Power blocker, indestructible Dryad creator which can create up to 5 for no pop and only 150 gold (no favor, too). I always put Dryads on repeat because they're so useful against everything but heroes, really. There's not much more I can say: just use everything about it! (Titan Gate protector, anyone?)

MYTH TECHS

Unfortunately Theia's myth techs aren't as useful as they should be, but unless you're massing Contarii they're not too significant. If you are, though, then great !

Poseidon's Secret
This is pretty much the equivalent of Spirited Charge, but better. It grants a bit more speed and bit more HP, and makes Contarii stronger than almost all Cavalry but the Jarl. The cost is extremely expensive though >.<! Though since you're a Gaia player and you're expanding, favor shouldn't be too much problem. The 300 food is though :|.

Stone Lance (forgot the name )
If you're attacking a base then you should definitely get this, as it gives Contarii a small bonus against buildings which can be very helpful if there's a tower or fort guarding a gold mine. Then again, the ~300 gold cost and 25 favor is still quite expensive, so only get it if you can REALLY afford it. Don't forget: This only affects hero Contarii, and since you don't have that much res or favor to up. them, and you don't have valor, then this technology should just be avoided. Even if you're making Contarii yet you're not hero'ing them, just leave it.

Lemurian Descent
Increases all units LOS. Woohoo!
Unless you desperately want to waste resource, avoid this tech immediately!

RHEIA

Rheia's Myth Unit is:
The Behemoth

All I can do at this guy is just smile ^^. They're such useful building killers, and if the enemy is expanding a lot (which they shouldn't be, though, 'cause you're Gaia!) they can easily "un"expand them. Think of them as Scarabs...but...er...actually they're no different from Scarabs but have a bit less attack.

Behemoths attacking isolated areas that are undefended yet important to the enemy is a very smart thing to do. They're extremely vulnerable and a first target if you're attacking a base, so divert the enemey's attention to a base that's getting destroyed by a single behemoth instead! Make sure the Behemoth stays alive, and can possibly lure the enemy's attacking it back to your army or one of your stronger bases.

Traitor...
One of the toughest god powers to use in the game, but very deadly if used.

Can be used twice. Converts any unit (except God Power MU's, villagers, and some hero types) into your own.

I find this god power to be extremely useful if you're up against any enemy who has a one hit killer Mythic MU or a Cyclops. I generally tend to cast it ASAP if they have one of those types so that I can start turning the tables a little . But sometimes, it can be quite crap. Yes. Quite.

If you manage to use it on the wrong unit who's half dead in the middle of a battle, then... OOPS! Bad idea. Not the fact that you converted that unit but the fact that it was in the middle of the battle. So how can you use Traitor effectively while still being able to utilize the unit and not let it die in the midst of a battle?

Basically, you should use it if any siege weapons or MU's are attacking an unguarded base. It works wonders if you do. You get to take their Siege Weapon, save your town, and do the same strat right back on them!

What's better is if you use it on a Colossus, who you know can heal itself anyways, and has huge HP. If you've gone Hekate (or just happened to), and you've got Mythic Rejuvination, this is even MORE useful as it extends the amount of time you can efficiently use the MU you have just converted. But if you convert a Gold one, then it gets a bit irritating as they lose a lot of HP and armor.

The Mighty Quin's Traitor Guide

About the MYTH TECHS , they are quite self explanatory. Basically you'll want to get the cheaper Myth Tech favor one first if you're going to get her other ones, then the Favor trickle one, and finally, if you're massing Arci or Turmae, the Orichalkos Mail technology. But in general, the technologies are only useful if you're planning on going Hekate, who can easily spam MU's.

MYTHIC AGE

Atlas

On to the MU:
The Argus
Many eyed Amphibian-like Myth Unit who has a one hit kill "blob of acid" attack.

Once I get hold of these guys, I put it on repeat button. Seriously, I do, it's excellent to get these guys are they're very cheap, have good armor, and upgrading them to Guardians of Io means that you can wipe out your enemy's units much faster than the other one hit killer MU's can.

Even though Argi have very low HP, they have high armor and are big, so use them as meat shields whenever you can. As for their upgrade, get it when you've got around 2 or 3 Argi, as it's not the most useful of upgrading MU techs.

Implode
The GP that everyone just dies for.

Creates a sphere of strong energy which sucks all units around it, and eventually explodes, damaging all units who were sucked in, buildings from the shockwave explosion, and units from the shockwave explosion.

This is one of the most deadly, yet hard to use GP's in the game. Most people will use it on the enemy's main base, to wipe out their villagers, houses, and Military Production sites. This is a good idea, but sometimes you will want to use it on an enemy's forward base or highly "villie-populated" area. Make sure you save Implode till the second your gut tells you to use it. For example:

If the enemy's army is weak and so is the strength of their base at which you're fighting at, then use it on their main, economical base.

If the enemy's army is large and their base's strength is big but have a bit of a weaker econ, use it on the base.

Nevermind the units! Just keep telling yourself that when you're about to use it, it's a much better building killer. Lots of people say it's useless when it comes to killing units, but it weakens them significantly. Make sure that if you're going to cast it on an enemy base or army, that your army is away from it or you cast it from behind.

Lord of Valhalla's Implode Guide

MYTH TECHS

Atlas has very poor Myth Techs except one...

Titan Shield
Increases all building's Hack and Crush armor.

This tech has saved my life in so many games. Combined with Gaia's regeneration, it is indeed very uber! Especially if you're planning on winning with a wonder, this with Architects means ~30% crush armor and 40% Hack armor, which is extremely useful. Just remember to get this even if you're not building a wonder, it's extremely useful.

Eyes of Atlas
Uhh, unless you're getting Io Guardian, an Argus, and Lemurian descent for an "almost like a Lighthouse unit" sort of unit, this is utterly useless.

Io Guardian
*Read Argus description!*

HEKATE

The Lampades
A witch, human-like MU which casts Chaos on enemies from a distance. Is effective against buildings.

I, myself, don't use Lampades very often as even though the Chaos resembles a one-hit killer and "sort of" turn over to you type of special, it's not really worth it, because the distance is so short. If, however, you get Asper blood, some enemies will get hurt as they kill the close ranged Lampades casting Chaos on an enemy. But only use these if you really want to turn the tide of a battle, or on MU's for example. (I think it can be used on them?

Anyways, for more details on how they work (and their Crush damage confuses people, too):
The Lampades

Tartarian Gate
Casts a gate from Tartarus which summons six Tartarian Spawn--these units are neutral, so they can also attack you, too.

Make sure you cast a Tartarian Gate in an undefended enemy area where they can't easily destroy it. Casting it in the middle of a battle is a no-no that I see most players do, as it gets destroyed by siege right away. A lot of players, though, cast it on an enemy TC, which is also very efficient. I suggest doing this, however as it's hard for villagers to break down the gate and stop the Tartarian Spawn (unless they're Attie Citizen Heroes). This GP is probably one of the main reasons why people usse Hekate.

Some people use Tartarian Gate as DEFENSE :|! NEVER EVER DO THAT! You can totally ruin the game if you do so. A good place to use Tartarian Gate, I have found out, is on a Cliff (such as Alfheim). The Spawn will jump down and attack any enemies trying to enter your base, and they can only get rid of it with ranged siege. Of course, your units could get attacked by them too, but who cares ... As long as it's more offensive than defensive.

Tartarian Spawn are also good tanks and can take down buildings easily with their 20 Crush Damage.

MYTH TECHS

Celerity
MU's are trained 40% faster.

If you're massing Automatons, get this ASAP . It's cheap and costs barely any favor. other than that, a weaker but cheaper version of Hel's Rampage. Just a random thought of massing them, but hey, I've seen a lot of Gaia players do that.

Mythic Rejuvination
Getting a Titan? Or massing a low HP MU? Then get this! I would suggest getting this right after you build a Titan unless you have it already, as it can really turn the tide of Titan vs. Titan battles. It's also useful if you haven't gone with Oceanus to heal your units.

There, all the gods are done now . The God Path really depends on your situation. Don't think Oceanus or Rheia are weak, they're stronger than they're counterpart if you're in a tough situation!

{5} Gaia's Forest Uses

So when and how should you use this wonderous God power?

- Always cast this as a defensive sort of god power, basically in your base.

- Never switch to normal trees if you've still got these up! Villagers gather 20% faster from them, almost a free Hand Axe.

- If you want for every Town Center you make you can cast a forest right next to it so that you can ensure safe (even though unguarded) stragglers and a good trickle of wood.

- Make sure that you don't cast this god power offensively. Don't be tempted to do a GF + FF combo on a Town Center, it's a waste of 4000 wood which is gathered faster and can be put anywhere you like.

- Right when you start the game cast it, and every two minutes keep casting the forests! If you're saving a few for other TC's or a chokepoint, then you don't have to, but I suggest you use them for your purposes in the safest area possible. It's very, very valuable.

- Don't send Citizen Heroes to gather from Gaia Forest's: the gather rate is fast enough already.

Using Gaia's Forest Against:

Greek
If you use this God Power offensively, then you're in trouble. Greeks are wood-reliant and handing over your gathering bonus to them is a big mistake. Make sure that you cast these forests defensively, as a greek villager could stop you any time, raid your villagers gathering there and take the forest himself.

If you happen to accidentally cast it offensively, be sure to move a woodie up there who can start building a forward base. This is extremely useful as, with your Lush, you can also stop the enemy from building a storhouse near the forest. On top of that, you can just stop them by attacking them with Cherio's from behind.

Egyptian
You might want to use this offensively, but the thing about Egyptians is that they like staying at home and then eventually push you back out once they're in Heroic. Best thing to do? Put them next to a closeby mine. You can occasionally run over to an isolated gold mine if you want to see if the enemy's mining. On the other hand you can use the Economic guild to give you a chance to push the villies back into their base.

If you are pushing them and the Gaia's forest isn't working much (don't worry about them gathering from it, they're not that heavy on wood) then start casting it defensively. What I generally do is make 2 forests back home, one offensive "blocker" type (unless it's Isis or the enemy is already in Heroic) and possibly at one of my unguarded goldmines or TC's.

Norse
Use all 4 but maybe 1 defensively here, and make sure they spread out all around your base. The last thing you want is to get raided! A good idea, though, would be to spread out your buildings extra wide so you can be sure his base isn't too close to you. Also you can actually RUSH them so that they don't get a chance to raid you so early.

If you're going to use it offensively, I've found that casting a Gaia's forest in front of their base, and then a Spider Lair in the middle helps a lot. If the enemy is fighting in front of their FB, then it's tough for them to go back and stop the eggs. Like way above about the Spider Lair in battles, even if they do manage to attack it, you get a few free hits in.

Atlantean
Against a Kronos player it is unpredictable whether you want to cast this defensively or not, but against another Gaia or Oranos, you'll want to cast it offensively. Even though you're vulnerable to raids, the turma can just fire over the forest and you have no chance of stopping them effectively.

Vs. the Kronos player, though, if you're getting an infamous 3:30 time yourself then cast it offensively and move some of your villagers up there to start building up a base, but make sure you have lots and lots of lush around your base (or else you're in more danger). Don't forget that you can outspam Kronos with turma and myth units (even though he has valor, grr) If the Kronos player is timeshifting his buildings back to his base then quickly build a Town Center right next to him as he is recovering. Cast a Gaia's forest near it so that you can recollect the wood you used on the TC and on the turma with a new villager production site.

And against the other Atlanteans? Well since they can't time shift a building back, it's much easier for you to defeat them. Again, put a forward base and try to advance earlier. Against other Gaia's, if they advance at 5:30, then you should advance a bit sooner. If your build order was more efficient than theirs then your economy should be just as strong as his. If the enemy might be doing the same strat as you, enclose him while he tries to rush you. (Lush his base and put lots of pressure on him)

{6} Gaia's Military Capabilities

As we all know, Gaia's Military isn't as cheap as a Kronos Cheiro or MU, or as fast as an Oranos unit. But we do have a much bigger advantage over them when it comes to flooding a battle.

Since your resources will be flowing in like locusts to a farm, I suggest that you put your military production sites on autoqueue. Now, many other non-Gaia players do not do this as it sometimes messes up their
the amount of resources they have and pop they have to start creating more villagers. But if your economy size is the same as the enemy's then you'll have less of an army but you can flood the battle more efficiently.

So, we're in Classical against a Ra player. You're going to make a forward TC and some CB's and an MB. So, you use up all your favor on the Automatons to guard it, castd a Spider Lair and Gaia's forest an enemy area or isolated gold mine.

As you wait for the TC to build up, do you:
A) Get another villager to build a Counter Rax and M. Rax,
B) Hero him so he can finish the TC faster
C) Use the Automatons to attack.
D) Start enclosing him in his base.

Generally I would do both A and D. Enclosure is what you want as if an Egyptian expands then it gets hard to stop him from expanding with your weak siege. And as for the other villager to build to buildings, you might want to build a manor or two first then start building the rax. Make sure the rax are spread out around the enemy's base or spread out around your whole forward TC. If it's possible, try and build a military barracks next to a gold mine which you think they might be mining at next.

For B and C, don't choose them as the Hero'ing cost is very
expensive, and the Automatons will just die to priests and the Pharaoh (he's Ra, remember).

Most importantly repel him from expanding, it's the key to winning a game with Gaia. She looks defensive, but she can be the most offensive god in the entire game if you want her to be. Rush the enemy and if it fails, your economy is still very uber, and your recovery would be 30% faster and more efficient than of a Kronos or Oranos player. But even if it fails dont go back. Keep builing Economic guilds in key places, use Gaia's forest on them if you have to, and raid with Turma whenever you can.

Now, let's say you're expanding but you're not attacking. You're at the pop limit. So what to do?
- Turn off ALL autoqueue buttons.
- Build an armory if you don't have one and research it's upgrades ASAP.
- See if you can afford or you are able to take another forward TC and turn it into a base.
- Research every last Economic Upgrade you can.
- Keep builing economic guilds in areas where you think the enemy may be collecting a resource.
- Check to see if there are any useful places to put a Spider Lair, Forest, or Carnivora.

Now, since he's Ra it's unlikely he'll attack you and will most probably be in Heroic by now. But no worries, you're almost there too!

Before you get to Heroic, build a few more Barracks in case you want to build Arci or some Murms. Start expanding a lot more with raxes so you can easily outspam an enemy wherever you are. Once you're in the Heroic Age, start pumping counter units like crazy along with Arci (even if he's massing slingers, their range can be used to stop villagers). If the enemy is still with his rax units, then it's a good idea to use Contarii with Arci. This is because it's very hard for an Egyptian player to counter a Contarius, and even if his army is beating you pop effectively, you can still outspam him anyday.

Generally the average Egyptian player will most likely build a migdol next to their gold mines. BUT, if you built the Eco G. in the right place, then the villagers will have to break down the guild and build the Migdol. Again, now's your chance to run over with some Turma or Contarius and raid them like hell.

Flanking

The way a Gaia player must flank is a bit more complicated but efficient. When you're in a battle try and get a rax up behind the enemy and put a Cherioballista on autoqueue on that building. They'll attack the enemy's army from behind and the amount of losses you get will significantly change to not as many as you might think. Another good idea is to build a Palace right next to an enemy town center (a TC that's unguarded) and start making a few Destroyers. With these guys you can easily mess up the enemy's population.

Stopping a Flank

Not the type of flank the enemy would do in the middle of a battle, but when you're fighting one part of his army and the other comes at another side to your base. To prevent this, just spam spam spam rax and buildings in an unguarded area and this'll give you time to attack them. Make sure that you're flooding units from the rax in that area so you can quickly dispatch the army that's just attacked you.

If you're fighting the enemy's first army in one of your more protected bases, then you're in luck. This means that you can probably bring your army over to the area which is being flanked and still have time to keep a few guys to protect your other base. While THIS is happening you can also get the Destroyers to destroy the base, quickly rebuild a TC over it, and build some Guilds in a line around the enemy base so they'll be forced to destroy them.

{7} Channels

Channels, thankfully from Patch 1.02, is now really really cheap and affordable which means you can now get it earlier and make your villagers even more speedy !

I usually get Channels right after I get my second TC, as I dont want to replace the Citizen building time with this Tech. It's only useful if you're villagers are about to walk all the way across the map to a mine, hunting pack, or TC (Ghost Lake...bleh) but other than that, it's very helpful if you want to speed up the amount of time it takes to start your villagers trickle economy coming back.

{8} Expanding

Gaia's strongest point... If you want to expand properly, then make sure you have either 3 normal villagers, or 2 hero villagers. Start spamming buildings all around the map wherever there's free space, and make a lot of buildings around an ally's or your forward base ESPECIALLY.

Counter barracks and economic guilds are the most effective things to build around the map. Eco guilds are cheap and if you want you can actually start multi-researching the Technologies anyways, and the Counter barracks are effective because you can make a few military units if the enemy is trying to build there.

Don't leave the map with lots of free space-- just cover it up with Lush. Trust me, you'll regret not disabling an enemy from building in an empty space because you didn't Lush it properly. When Lushing an area, please, don't forget to spread them out so that they can get a big area of effect!

Expanding with Town Centers

Expansion with Town Centers as a Gaia player is something that should be done as soon as possible. Now, generally I suggest that if you're going to make a Town Center, be 100% sure that:

- You are able to build one by the time you click the advance button, are able to recover if it happens to fail (forward TC), will have a good flow of resources, and will be able to protect it properly.

OR

- You have a good idea of your area and the enemy area *around the TC* and would be a good place to put the second half of your economy.[color-Blue]*[/color]

* By second half I mean the second Town Center to have a nearby gold mine, grow a lot of lush, make a Gaia's forest, and farm.

Build Order For An Early TC

- You can try out the first build order I put in the build orders section, but another way you can do it is:

- First villager goes to food.
Research Hunting Dogs if there is hunting.
Assign Oracles and send 1 to find an enemy TC or two, and the other two can scout your base and find your TC's.
Cast Gaia's Forest around a Tower or next to your TC (by the way, if it's a team game try and resist helping your ally by putting it next to them)
- Second villager goes to Gaia's Forest
- Third builds a manor then goes to gold.
- Fourth goes to food.
- Fifth goes to wood.
Build a Temple once you hit 100 Wood + Gold.
Either hit the Age button at 400 Food and send the sixth villager to a Town Center
(Other options would be to send the villager right before you are about to advance so an Automaton can run and protect it along with Lair's)
- Sixth villager goes to gold.
- *OPTIONAL* Seventh villager goes to food or gold.

Against other Gods:

Zeus
Don't build a forward Town Center, and instead play defensively while sneakly building Eco Guilds around the enemy base. Make sure your resource flow is uber-high.

Hades
He'll probably build a Forward TC with Sentinels, so I suggest that you advance quickly and send your Automatons to guard your town centers. In the meantime, you can send one of your villagers to build a Town Center and Eco Guilds while the second TC starts making resource villagers.

Poseidon
With Lure and early raiding you'll want to build your Town Center close. A trick I normally do is, if I have chicken and herd gatherers, is head a villager or two to hunt next to the enemy as they have weak defense. After you advance, make your base at home while still building a forward TC.

Ra
Always build a Forward TC and build your base up there. If the enemy is starting to look like he's FH'ing, then make sure you are able to build an extra Town Center AND make a forward base. The general idea is to basically get around 8-9 villagers before advancing, no matter how long it takes. Do a general build order and build 1 or 2 CB's just incase you lack protection. Do not forget to enclose your enemy once your forward TC is up. If you can afford to gold and wood, start raiding with a few Turma and disrupt the Ra player so he can't quickly advance. Also, don't forget to take control of gold mines with Eco Guilds, this'll slow him down.

Isis
Basically do the same thing as if you were vs. Ra, but keep the pressure on him by enclosing him as much as you can. You could be risky and build an economic guild right next to their tower to annoy them, and then quickly raid the attacking group of villagers or their army with turmae. Always make sure the gold mines are taken, and the best thing to do is take all of HIS TC's, while still being alerted of his forward building by putting Eco Guilds on yours.

Set
Make sure that you can rush Set early while still being able to make a TC--the best thing to do is to start your econ a bit close to his base while his animals are not bothering you and once you advance, immediately hero a few turma to dispatch his animals quickly.

Thor
Advance faster than him and take control of ALL the map. It would be better to build your TC near your base, while growing your economy, and at around 10/11 minutes building a forward TC to distract his attention and destroy his army. Make sure that you have economic guilds all around the place, as it's very effective. It may not help disrupt enemy villagers from waiting till the Lush goes, but remember that it does alert you of where they are mining or gathering resources.

Odin
Simple, forward a TC *you can leave it unguarded* while building your military base right back at home, guarding your straggler gold miners or hunters with one or two katapeltes.

Loki
Ah, this is tricky. If it's possible, try and advance as fast as you can, while still having enough time to take a key TC in the middle with enough resources. A Loki player will attack at around 6 minutes or seven, so achieving a 3:30 will be no problem, as within 2 minutes you should be able to collect 100 food, 275 wood + gold and possibly enough time to guard the TC with Cherio's, Automatons, and Spider Lairs. This is especially helpful on Anatolia. Do not try and flank Loki or be really offensive, but still take control of the map before he does with Eco Guilds.

Kronos
Basically the exact same way as Loki, except if the Kronos player has NOT decided to rush you, build your base and enclose him right next to him but do not forward any TC's just yet. If you are having small skirmishes then make sure you can keep distracting his army to yours so you can end up going around the side of the map with a Hero Citizen and making a Town Center. If he IS rushing, all you can do is advance really quickly and possibly build your Temple near him! That's right, since Kronos players lose their LOS from lack of oracles around their base and their other buildings have a small chance of deconstructing your temple. This results in little defense, but if you start attacking him with Automatons, it will help immensely, and could possibly lead him back to his base. If he happens to retreat, quickly get 2 or more villagers to build two counterbarracks.

One problem about building your Temple close to him, however, is that he might just be able to see a TC close to him that's being built--build your military buildings if he's "half" rushing (which means he rushes you just to disrupt then goes with full force) on one side of his base *spread out for Lush, remember* and a TC on the opposite side.

Use Lush as your advantage as much as possible, Spread your buildings very far out! I sometimes make a villager against Kronos for specifically building lots of Economic Guilds or Cb's all around my base to slow down his quick kill.

Oranos
There is not much strategy to him except to build very close at home as he can see your Town Center anyways. If you build a Town Center close to him, make sure your economy is strong and is still able to repel turmae with some of your own. If you're making a forward TC and building your economy and base there (it's very efficient to steal his resources like that actually) build LOTS of buildings around the town center and use lush as much as possible. Also, put some economic guilds on the gold mines and around resources you might be travelling to in a few minutes.

Gaia
Try to get an extremely fast advance time and forward build your Town Centers all over. It is possible the Gaia player has spread out his buildings for Lush also, so I suggest that you avoid heavy Forward Building and if you're going to forward a TC, do not build a base there! It's extremely inefficient and the Gaia player will make an army, push you back, advance quickly and right on the spot he's won. It's a battle for map control, really.

Economic Guilds
I like to call them "Slowdown Sentry Towers" as it stops the enemy from safely and efficiently gathering resources in that area. You should use them to:
- Spread Lush around your base.
- Use them in barren lands to see if any enemies are coming.
- Key resource town centers (or all of them in fact) or resource sites in case you need to raid an enemy.
- Researching even more techs at once to significantly increase your trickle economy rate.
- Enclose an enemy or riskily building an Eco Guild next to an enemy's base building (towers, other houses, a military building)

They're very cheap and wood is plenty with Gaia, as is gold, so whenever you get the chance to use just one villager, make Economic guilds in a lot of areas. Don't forget, again, utilize as much Lush as you can by spreading them out a lot.

{9} Conclusion

In my title, I did say Unveiling Gaia's Secret, right? Well, Gaia's strength is obviously expansion. Check the paragraph about Lush to see how to utilize it effectively.

With Gaia's strong economy, you can save up more pop for a better army. With this better army you can protect villagers easier, overwhelm your enemy, advance faster, and protect any bases you might be starting to build.

If you don't expand with Gaia and you're stuck at home, then you're doing it wrong! Be like a Loki or Set player, dominate the map before they do. You have a better chance to rush successfully than they do, and your economy is better suited to do one also.

So, Gaia, in AoM:TT language means:
EXPANSION!

Achmidae

[This message has been edited by Achmidae (edited 05-28-2004 @ 05:12 PM).]