Guide to Odin

By RageOfEthan
Published 2/6/04, AoT v1.02

Introduction

When patch 1.02 nerfed Hersir TC build time and the Norse’ favor trickle, a majority of Deathmatch players that swore by Norse stopped using the civilization. They do so now because they find Greek rushes much tougher to now handle, for with 120 pop, Norse can not sidebuild in many places and still hold up well. I disagree, to an extent.

In my opinion, Norse have yet to lose the luster that fascinated people before the patch. It is just…not plainly visible. Odin, in a surprising turn of events has walked away from the least used Norse god, to become the dominant Norse civilization! In order to use Odin at a competitive level (1700-1800+), the following strategies must be implemented into your game:

Build about two to three Ulfsarks in Archaic. Odin is generally much more defensive than Other Norse, know that you will not be able to sidebuild to a great extent. However, you may still do tricky things 😉 Anyway, those ulfsarks will be helpful when you upgrade to classical, because they allow you to begin the “Odin Turtle”. If against Zeus, make sure you surround your Town Center with houses. This way, hordes of hoplite will find it tougher to attack it all at once.

En route to Mythic (Freyja, Skadi, Baldr):

  • Begin building your armory with one or two Ulfs.
  • With your other 3-4 , make longhouses close to your TC. Odin will have to turtle in the beginning, but once his TC’s are up he will become better.
  • As soon as these longhouses are up, make about 4-5 ulfs in each and send them to the closest TC. The ulfs made from these barracks are for TC’s only.
  • But wait! We are forgetting our temple! Since you went Freyja, why not make 5 Valkyrie and send them to the enemy? Annoy him a little? Maybe kill a villager or two, mess him up ^_^
  • Heroic/Mythic are self explanatory, if you are vs an early anti-building civ (Zeus, Oranos) make sure you wall around TC’s with at least one layer. This will give you more time to do other things and lessen your reaction time.

The rest of the game:

For the front line, you must tower and turtle in as much as possible. With the nerf of hersirs, it seems only logical to use ulfs to greater numbers now. Make Hill Forts quickly and in number! I can guarantee that you will be using ever powerful Jarl to great numbers.

Your army must be a mixture of Jarl, Huskarl, TA (with the Skadi upgrade) and a little bit of ulfs. These should sustain you until your economy kicks in. More on econ later. Tower and wall up as much as possible if vs. Greek. With the success of the early Norse turtle, you will most likely have defended against the Greek rush, hopefully overcome the power of the Pestilence, and so on.

Make sure that you use Fire Giants regularly as well. Remember that that they got a -5 hack attack nerf. This may be monumental in Supremacy, I wouldn’t know. In Deathmatch, they were not hurt so badly. They do just as well against buildings. They are decent, well balanced Myth Units, or so GloryOfSparta would have you believe ;-).

Odin’s rams, especially Baldr rams are crazy against buildings. They get an enormous amount of crush attack, making them able to chew up the best buildings in seconds. Mass rams later on, early game you will need to spend on Huskarls and Jarl. Once your economy kicks in, aim for rams in groups of 8 or more. These will be used nicely vs. your opponent’s Town Centers.

Odin’s economy

Make sure that you spend a lot of time getting a decent economy. Odin is heavily dependent on Hill Fort units, and they cost a lot of “stuff.” Trade is not as important as wood/food, so maybe just keep your dwarves at it, they will supply the gold you need. If need be, you may make 15 trade carts or so later on. They are not a priority early game. Wood, is a priority early on. You definetely need more than fifteen villagers for this, twenty will be sufficient.

Think of 1.02 Norse as very similar to the pre-patch environment, the only things different will be the lack of faster TC time. However, once these are up (and protected,) the game becomes regular. Gold and eco choking will be necessary, especially vs. Greek and Egypt. In addition to countering Greek rushes, this strategy is also effective vs. archer heavy Atlanteans and CA dependent, Isis Migdol spammers. In general terms, Odin should only be used by experienced Norse players or those who have a particularly fast micro. You will not be able to get 1700 with Odin easily, especially since people know how easily Norse TC’s fall in 1.02.

Good Luck!

РN̫Rk