Strategy For AoM

[Virtuosofriend]

Attack Bonuses
You have heard a lot of talk about the hidden numbers that lie underneath the skin of the game in this section and this particular subsection, attack bonuses, are probably the most vital of those hidden numbers. How are these numbers important? These percentages, taken from every unit of every culture, will provide you with all of the information you need to know to create optimum counters versus attacks and good unit combinations. In short, this is how battles are won and lost.

Egypt on Egypt

Advantaged Unit Disadvantaged Unit Attack Bonus
Axeman Spearman 60%
Camel War Elephant 45%
Chariot Archer Axeman 60%
Chariot Archer Spearman 30%
Slinger Axeman 30%
Slinger Camel 45%
Slinger Chariot Archer 60%
Spearman Camel 30%
Spearman Slinger 30%
Spearman War Elephant 30%
War Elephant Axeman 30%
War Elephant Chariot Archer 30%
War Elephant Slinger 60%

Greek on Greek
Advantaged Unit Disadvantaged Unit Attack Bonus
Hippikon Hypaspist 30%
Hippikon Peltast 60%
Hippikon Toxote 30%
Hoplite Hippikon 30%
Hoplite Peltast 30%
Hypaspist Hoplite 60%
Hypaspist Prodromos 30%
Peltast Hypaspist 30%
Peltast Toxote 60%
Prodromos Hippikon 60%
Prodromos Peltast 30%
Toxote Hoplite 30%
Toxote Hypaspist 60%
Toxote Prodromos 30%

Norse on Norse
Advantaged Unit Disadvantaged Unit Attack Bonus
Hesir Jarl 15%
Hesir Raiding Cavalry 15%
Huskarl Jarl 0%
Huskarl Raiding Cavalry 0%
Jarl Huskarl 0%
Jarl Raiding Cavalry 0%
Jarl Throwing Axeman 30%
Raiding Cavalry Huskarl 0%
Raiding Cavalry Jarl 0%
Raiding Cavalry Throwing Axeman 60%
Throwing Axeman Huskarl 60%
Throwing Axeman Ulfsark 60%
Ulfsark Huskarl 15%
Ulfsark Jarl 30%
Ulfsark Raiding Cavalry 30%

[Virtuosofriend]

Campaign Guides
Sorry guys but it is too long to type it here=>
http://www.planetageofmythology.com/aom/strategy/cpn_guides/

[Virtuosofriend]

Egyptian Strategy
The Egyptian culture relies on cheap and fast-building units to amass its armies and free economic buildings to spread its economy. Sometimes it is said that Egypt is the easiest culture to start out with; however, if you do not learn to play it well then you may be overwhelmed by your Greek and Norse counterparts. These articles, written by established players will help you not play the culture, but master it.

Ten Tips For Playing Isis
1) What's the map?
You will have to devise your opening and your overall strategy to suit your map. If the map has fishing, will you go with just a few fishing boats and galley rush, or make a ton of fishing boats and go to the third age? Will you defend your fishing and spend a lot on water warfare, or let him make warboats and attack on land yourself?

2) What civ are you playing against?
If your playing poseidon, i would stay heavier on food and lighter on wood in the first age, if your vs hades, be sure to have some on wood, ready to make slingers. Playing vs a norse or another egypt? Keep the econ balanced until you see what he's building, then be ready to react.

3) When and where will you build your first monument?
You can do this right at the start of the game, but you may have a few idle TC seconds. I do that sometimes, but many times i wait until a couple of minutes into the game when i have a decent food supply. A good thing to remember is that Isis monuments block god powers, so try to place that monument towards the front of your base. Sometimes you may want to wait until the second age to place your first monument if you want to go up a little faster, in this case i would put it near my military buildings.

4) What am I going to eat?
What you want to do is scan around, using outposts to see more, and decide on a path that your food villagers will take. Don't get caught with your pants down, running out of those 2 rhino, then having to quickly look for more food. Always know where the next location is before hand so that you don't have to think about it.

5) What food techs will I get and when?
If you see any decent hunting, get hunting dogs early. If its a very low food map, and there is less that 500 or so food to hunt, then i would avoid this tech. If you find a lot of sheep early, you may opt for the husbandry tech instead, since that not only lets you eat sheep faster, but also fattens the sheep faster, so you will accrue more free food the longer that tech has been researched for.

6) When do I use prosperity?
Try to have the first gold upgrade before you use this god power, it will benefit you more. I try to get the gold upgrade half way through the first age, then use prosperity just before i go up in age. If you are going to use your gold miners to make barracks, then avoid using prosperity until they are finished with the barracks. You dont want to cast this power then be forced to move guys off of gold, its a waste. Try to have at least 5 or 6 guys on gold when you use this.

7) When should I go up in age?
Try to stay in the 5:30 - 6:00 range. If you go too far past 6:00 then your enemy may outmass you by too much and you'll lose the early battles. Much faster than 5:30 and you wont have the econ to do much of anything.

8) What minor god should I choose to get to age 2?
Your choices are Anubis and Bast. If the map is more open like savanah, anubis may be the better choice because of serpents, which helps a great deal in the open field. If the map is more closed, like alfhiem, you may go with Bast, since it features 2 very good econ myth techs. Regardless of which you choose, favor is very useful, so get down your 2nd and 3rd monuments quickly.

9) Where should I make my barracks?
If you go up earlier or even with your opponent, try and take an offensive position. Locate a far gold mine or good far hunting, and place your barracks in a semi-circle around it to protect the area. Use your buildings to give you warning of oncoming attackers, and to get in the way of their pathing. If you go up later than your
enemy, try and take a more defensive position, keeping near your tower range so that you don't get overpowered in the early fighting. This will give you more time to mass up a force.

10) I got three crappy little units, what do I build?
Those crappy units are also cheap and build fast. This is where you need to scout your enemy and see what he's making so that you can react. I would always make one round of 4 or so spearmen, to run around and scout. If you are playing vs Norse, if you see RC/taxmen, go spears/slingers. If you see hesir/taxmen, go axemen/slinger. When playing greek, if you see Hippikon/archer go spear/slinger, and if you see hoplite/toxote go axemen/slinger. When playing another
egypt start with either spear/slinger or axe/slinger. You can get risky and if you see him spear/slinger try to go all spearmen, and if you see him axe/slinger try all slinger. Its hard to do, but if your good enough at it, you can adjust your econ to do this fairly quickly. Be sure to plop 2 or 3 priests and 2 or 3 anubite/sphinx into your army as well. The MU will provide the heavy beef your units lack.

Remember, this game isn't about a particular strategy. Often times people ask me for strategies for certain civs, things that they can do every game. AOM doesn't work this way. You have to learn to adapt to your map, and to what civ you are playing against, and to what units he is making. Adapting and using what the map gives you is the key. This here is actually my strategy. I ask myself these questions, and the answers for each game is what develops what strategy i use for that particular game. The single most important piece of advice i can give anybody though, is to answer these questions with authority, and stick to the plan. If you decide you will spam fishing boats and go third age, then DONT change your mind half way through when he makes some galleys, and make 2 more docks, buildings your own galleys. You made your decision, now stick to the plan and MAKE IT HAPPEN! Too many times people get freaked out by certain things, such as your enemy going with a fast 3rd age. Don't be afraid, just play your game.

Good luck, and... Happy gaming!

[Virtuosofriend]

Greek Strategy
The Greek culture is the first culture in the tutorial, and probably the first culture newer players should try out, as the Greeks play much like past civilizations from Age of Kings. Yet the Greeks themselves still have their own unique feel and play style. Our strategy articles are written with the intent to help you master the culture in all their glory.
Greek God Tactics (http://www.planetageofmythology.com/aom/strategy/greek/hades/)

[Virtuosofriend]

Norse Strategy
The Norse are quite different than their other two counterparts in quite a few ways, including the way their economy is structured and the gaining of favor. You will find numerous articles in this section on how to play this unique civilization, from managing its economy to winning on the military front. These articles are penned by established and experienced players in the community so you are assured what you are reading is quality
Thor Overview (http://www.planetageofmythology.com/aom/strategy/norse/thor)
Culture Overview (http://www.planetageofmythology.com/aom/strategy/norse/overview)

[Virtuosofriend]

Gathering Rates
These are the numbers that are under the covers and not seen by the average player; however, they are vital in understanding how to make your economy as efficient as possible. If you ever wondered why that player aged faster than you and both of you had similar villager counts, the answer most likely lies in the source of food he or she was gathering. Use this data to your advantage and though .10 and .20 differences might not seem like much, it most surely is over the span of a full game.

Type Hunt Herd Wild Farm Wood Gold
Egypt Laborer 0.76 0.65 0.65 0.63 0.98 0.82
Empowered Laborer 0.91 0.78 0.78 0.76 1.18 0.98
Greek Villager 0.85 0.73 0.73 0.69 1.08 0.91
Norse Gatherer 0.85 0.73 0.73 0.69 1.08 0.91
Norse Dwarf 0.68 0.58 0.58 0.53 0.80 1.09
Thor Dwarf 0.85 0.73 0.73 0.66 1.00 1.09

The Egyptian hero unit, the Pharaoh, can empower economic buildings such as the granary, mining camp, and lumber camp to increase the normal gathering rate by 20%. As you can see above in the Egypt Laborer and Empowered Laborer rows, every resource collected is affected by this increased rate. If you are playing Ra, their priests carry with them the same empowerment that the Pharaoh unit does and will thus give you the same 20% increased gathering bonus.

Also with a twist is the Thor dwarf, who gathers food and wood at a 25% increased rate than the other two Norse civilizations' dwarves. This brings their usability close to a gatherer; however, their build time is 16 seconds as compared to the gatherer's 14 seconds.

As you can see from the four types of food, there is a substantial difference between hunting and farming. Decisions on which type of food to gather early in the game, as in the first two ages, should obviously be biased towards hunting instead of farming, which has a slower rate and costs resources to implement.

[Virtuosofriend]

Map Analysis
One thing will always serve true about strategy games with varying maps and that is if you do not adapt to the map settings and conditions and your opponent does, you will always lose. This especially is true in Age of Mythology because resource amounts are randomly generated and you often cannot pick the map of your choice in quickstart games on ESO. This section will give you advice on how to alter your gameplay for the random maps.

Alfheim
Alfheim games usually come down to two main, but very different, styles of play. The map lacks water, usually a sign of slower paced games like Islands, and usually has very prolific hunting. Each of these things set up a map designed for fast paced aggressive games, that should be seeing heavy and constant classical fighting. Remember to go heavy on the hunting: be sure to get Hunting Dogs right away, as well as Pig Sticker if you’re Thor. Usually there is a small group of Deer in your immediate starting line of sight that you can go straight to, and then on to further hunting from there. Large groups of deer are usually scattered throughout the map, as well as Bear and Bulls in good numbers. Don’t worry about scouting the enemy immediately, instead concentrate on your immediate base surroundings to get the locations of viable hunting patches. With the abundance of available hunting you can get some very fast Classical advances. However, Alfheim can be played and won differently. The cliffs situated throughout the map make for ideal choke points, that can sometimes rival even the likes of AOCs Black Forest. Walling early on, and then for instance rushing to Heroic is viable. Once in heroic you can begin to boom extensively and then eventually get siege to overwhelm a lesser advanced opponent. Remember though walls discourage attacks, and delay them, not prevent them, so don’t completely ignore military units.

Suggested Gods: Any culture. The only time you might want to reconsider is if you want to go more defensive and wall off chokepoints, in that case perhaps go Ra for a quick heroic.


Age of Mythology | Strategy | Map Analysis
Map Analysis
One thing will always serve true about strategy games with varying maps and that is if you do not adapt to the map settings and conditions and your opponent does, you will always lose. This especially is true in Age of Mythology because resource amounts are randomly generated and you often cannot pick the map of your choice in quickstart games on ESO. This section will give you advice on how to alter your gameplay for the random maps.



Alfheim
Anatolia
Ghost Lake
Mediterranean
Midgard
Oasis
Savannah
Watering Hole


Alfheim
Alfheim games usually come down to two main, but very different, styles of play. The map lacks water, usually a sign of slower paced games like Islands, and usually has very prolific hunting. Each of these things set up a map designed for fast paced aggressive games, that should be seeing heavy and constant classical fighting. Remember to go heavy on the hunting: be sure to get Hunting Dogs right away, as well as Pig Sticker if you’re Thor. Usually there is a small group of Deer in your immediate starting line of sight that you can go straight to, and then on to further hunting from there. Large groups of deer are usually scattered throughout the map, as well as Bear and Bulls in good numbers. Don’t worry about scouting the enemy immediately, instead concentrate on your immediate base surroundings to get the locations of viable hunting patches. With the abundance of available hunting you can get some very fast Classical advances. However, Alfheim can be played and won differently. The cliffs situated throughout the map make for ideal choke points, that can sometimes rival even the likes of AOCs Black Forest. Walling early on, and then for instance rushing to Heroic is viable. Once in heroic you can begin to boom extensively and then eventually get siege to overwhelm a lesser advanced opponent. Remember though walls discourage attacks, and delay them, not prevent them, so don’t completely ignore military units.

Suggested Gods: Any culture. The only time you might want to reconsider is if you want to go more defensive and wall off chokepoints, in that case perhaps go Ra for a quick heroic.




Anatolia
Anatolia is one of the most annoying random maps IMO. Let me just get this small rant out about how much I often despise this map. Perhaps its just my imagination, but this map seems very anti-rush. As such, I would recommend a more gradual build up and a faster heroic to out boom your opponent – though of course add in raiding if you can. The map has very infrequent hunting, though usually good amounts of foraging. It has large packs of wolves that discourage forward building efforts. One nice thing about this map is that each base usually has a group of boar right next to the coast by your starting base, sometimes in your starting LOS. There are patches of deer but not as much available game as many other maps. This is countered by the small coast lines down the sides of the map which provide fishing. Like other water maps you’ll have to decide if you find that sacrificing population for a navy to protect your fishing ships is worth it though. Water can be helpful to control though if you opponent begins to wall. Transports can make for great surprises. This map is also filled to the brim with cliffs and valleys, which are all over, and slow your speed getting from point A to point B. They also provide annoyingly good choke points. Further complicating matters is that this map appears to often be VERY stretched out. The distance from one side to the other is quite substantial, and slows your armies and their attacks. Forward building, especially if its by transport behind a walled off enemy, is usually the way to go if you intend to press full force in Classic. Just remember that all the hills and valleys, and what seems like the unnatural length of the map, make for very slow traveling of your armies, so you have to compensate if you intend to rush.

Suggested Gods: Greek or Egyptian. Because of the sometimes slower pace of the game, and the walling opportunities, Norse may end up hurting without being able to get a quick aggressive start.

Ghost Lake
Ghost lake seems best suited for a few specific tactics, though all in all it’s a thoroughly aggressive map. With the frozen lake in the center of the map, each person’s base is nicely tucked up against the edge of the map, and often right in the corner. There is little food to be found on the frozen lake itself, perhaps a polar bear or two at most. Because of the overall situation of the map, gradual strangulation of your opponent is ideal. Offensive towering isn’t too common on ESO, yet, but on this map can be simply huge. Bases can only spread out to the sides, and not out into the center of the map because of the lake. In order to get resources your opponent must expand, and he only has two general directions to head. First, an active forward base on one side of your enemy’ town should be established when Classic is hit. From there, rather than directly assault the enemy, raid whenever you can, and then fall back. Bring villagers (or infantry if Norse) to begin to tower up certain places. Tower up behind the forest the enemy is chopping, or on any gold mines that are exposed. Just a few towers can do the trick – if the enemy attacks your troops will have the advantage thanks to the extra defense, and if not you can disable their economy if the tower remains unchallenged. Frequent raiding, and further pressure applied thanks to Tower support, will corner your enemy most effectively, and deny him of future resources, extremely effectively on this map. Be sure to keep scouting however and make sure the enemy villagers do not have the chance to relocate somewhere else.

Suggested Gods: Norse. Offensive towering (consider Heimdall for SafeGuard) and a strong forward base can go a long ways, having infantry do the building is a great boost.

Mediterranean
Mediterranean is usually a slower paced map, and can play out in very different ways. This is the only “Random Map” with excessive water. Some games may go very heavy on naval combat, while others (likely the majority of games) will mostly ignore naval conflict. Due to lower population limits it is hard to juggle both land and water forces, though water should never be your sole focus. There isn’t that much hunting on this map either – hunting dogs probably isn’t worth the resources, though pigs are in enormous abundance so get Husbandry. However there is another option for food, and that is doing a boat boom in archaic. Potentially this can give great returns or be a major problem in Classic. If you are allowed to fish unchallenged by the opponent you will be in the position to have a substantially stronger economy overall. If you find yourself under attack in Classic by longboats then you have to decide if you wish to fight back on the seas, and get a navy of your own, or to simply abandon your fishing operation. With such low population limits you can ignore a navy and instead build up solely for land units and be in a better position to attack his actual base, but lose your fishing operation. It’s a decent tradeoff, but you’ll have to consider your options, depending on what your economic situation would be like if you forsake your fishing ships. Conversely, if you scout out and discover your opponent is going heavy fishing but is mostly unguarded there then strike yourself. Beyond those economic issues, the offensive military game of Medit usually plays out with lots of walling and gradual pushing. Due to thin strips of land its easy to wall off one edge of your base, and/or your opponents base, and then build up outside of it. Hit heroic and begin to press inwards with Fortresses and Siege. Raiding isn’t very viable because there usually isn’t enough room for maneuverability.


Suggested Gods: Any Culture. While sometimes slower paced like Anatolia, the seas give the Norse player greater options rather then being stuck favorless behind walls.

Midgard
Midgard is a rather straightforward map, most similar to the “Coastal” map type of previous games. It usually will end up playing much like Savannah, with focus completely on aggressive land battles. It has a lot of food opportunities as well, though at your starting los food can be exhausted very quickly. Chickens and berry bushes are more randomized, and usually in smaller groups around your starting TC then normal. But after that, there is plenty of deer, bears, and large packs of Walrus right along the coast. As well, fishing is a safe option. Naval armies are usually ignored entirely on this map, so your fishing should be relatively safe – but the great hunting options, especially with the walrus patches, might make this a non-issue. Be sure to scout out quickly though for food to use, and then play the map aggressively, with heavy Classical fighting, raiding, fast Egyptian heroics, etc whatever you prefer. Walling however isn’t very effective because your base is quite exposed and there are few real choke points.

Suggested Gods: Any Culture. Classical fighting is the norm, and any culture can excel in that respect in the right hands.

Oasis
Oasis seems to have very random food availability. Sometimes it can be very sparse, or located almost entirely in the center, while other times food can be very prolific, both in terms of hunting (Giraffe are common) and exceptionally large berry clusters. As well, the center of the map is very random. Often times it will be one large cluster of trees only, that has to be walked around, while other times there will be a group of clusters with a distinct middle of the map available for conflicts. Due to the seemingly more random nature of this map, good early scouting is all the more important. Otherwise, it plays like a fairly normal aggressive game, though it has a few more possibilities for defensive players. When attacking be very mindful of your forward base placement if you make one. Holding the center of the Oasis can be very strategic for many games, and you may wish to build your first forward base in the center right under your opponents base. However, if you do so you may find that the large groups of trees can make for an effective choke point for your enemy to wall off, though his sides are more exposed to both raiding and attacks. Don’t be too concerned over the center of the map though, this level is far from the likes of gold rush. You’ll almost always find enough resources on the rim of the map, and I don’t believe I’ve ever noticed one of the most key resources, settlements, in the center of the map.

Suggested Gods: Any Culture. Classical fighting is the norm, and any culture can excel in that respect in the right hands.


Watering Hole
Water hole is basically a replication of Savannah, only with large ponds spread throughout the map. Animals are still very common, so go with your hunting upgrades early, though the water on this map doesn’t provide any fishing opportunities. Instead, it serves as choke points, making this a more defensive map. Each base usually will find itself surrounded by rivers, with three of four gaps in them that lead to the main land around your base. These can be walled easily for defense, however they also present great offensive opportunities. You can easily trap your opponent if you manage to get to his base quickly enough, and then setup a forward base right outside his now trapped home. This should allow you to raid extensively and with little threat of counter attacks, and also help to starve the enemy once his initial resources begin to deplete. The animals are often found in large packs around the rivers, especially with either the birds/cranes or Hippopotamuses which hang close to the water. Scout the riversides frequently to see if you can catch some hunters by surprise to raid. However, without the walling, this still plays like your very standard aggressive random map, and most games should be able to be finished off by, or even before, Heroic.

Suggested Gods: Norse. Can benefit greatly from early offensive towering and walling in the enemy thanks to infantry buildings, and then frequent raiding from the relative safety of a secure forward base.

[Virtuosofriend]

And Finally Some tricks to Remember
Real Time Strategy games are not only about "strategy" in itself. In many games, an important factor of success is the proper use of the User Interface (UI) and all the littles rules that may seem unuseful at first sight. There are several little tricks that can help some players to be even more efficient in the way they play the game. And these little tricks can be found everywhere, at any stage of the game. This is the section where you will find all the little bits that make the difference between those who win and those who lose...

Trick #1: queue commands for units
A new feature that's been introduced in Age of Mythology is the queueing of orders. Beforehand (in AoC), when you gave a unit a command, the unit would do what you order, and when the order would be completed, the unit would stop and wait for further instructions. Although a little "queueing" was implemented in Age of Kings (if you order a villager to build a lumber camp, the villager will harvest wood automatically as soon as the camp is built), this queueing was barely under the control of the player. The only thing was that you could order a villager to build several buildings in a row, simply by holding shift while you instructed the villager to build the different constructions. This was also the case when you gave waypoints to a unit: you told the unit to go to a specific point of the map, and after that, to another one, etc. In any other case, if you ordered a unit to do something, the unit would immediately stop what it was doing previously.

Now, as a player, you have been granted the possibility to queue a defined list of instructions to your units. That means that you are able to tell a unit to perform a task, and while holding shift, instruct it to perform another different task, only once the initial task is completed. This sounds great at first sight, but it has appeared to me that even the best players may ignore some of the advantages brought by this feature. I have found out 4 examples taken from your 'everyday' game where orders queueing could be used effectively:
If you order a villager to build a house, don't forget to hold shift and right-click a resource, in order to make the villager go directly to the resource, as soon as the house is built. This will avoid you to remember about that lone peon that built a house, and that could stay idle for some minutes if you don't watch the idle vil banner too closely...


If you send villagers to build a granary on wild animals, and let them hunt by themselves, they will scatter and each of the villagers will target a different prey. That means that there may be more food lost on rotting that you would expect: since 6 villagers gathering food from an animal will take less time to finish the task than 1, the time difference is as much food gained. So, if you plan on hunting, send your hunters, make them build the food deposit (or bring along the ox cart), hold shift, and right-click each animal one after the other. Once they have built the food deposit structure, they will attack altogether the first prey you have designated to them, and harvest food altogether; that for each animal.

If you send your hero to get a relic far away from your base, don't wait for him to reach the relic before you tell him to put it in the temple: As soon as you send the hero to the relic, hold shift and right-click on your temple. This way, at the very moment when the hero has taken possession of the relic, he will come back and garrison it in your temple. You won't have to think twice about that 'relic operation'.

In late game, you are always more focused on the battle than on the economy. Once the economy is on tracks, there's little micromanagement involved: at least for food or favor. But if you harvest wood and mine gold, after a while, your forest or your mine will be depleted. And if you're in the middle of a hard fought battle, there are odds that your villagers will stand here, staring at the void, doing nothing. That's why, when you see that a mine or a forest is going to be depleted, select your gatherers, build the appropriate deposit building on the next available resource, right-click again on your actual resource spot (otherwise, they directly go and build the storage), and THEN hold shift and right-click on the building foundations. That way, once your villagers are done with the actual resource, they will automatically build a new storage pit and continue gathering the needed resource, without waiting for your initiative.

[duffybarracuda]

Thx for the tip with rightclicking. Very good explanation!!
:cheeky: :cheeky: :bandit: :)

[Virtuosofriend]

You are welcome mate.

[Genesis]

well vf its usefull info though

btw u finnaly got the game or what?

[Machiko]

I am going to get this I think tomorrow. Should I even bother reading the instruction manual now that you have posted all that info? heh

[Virtuosofriend]

I will borrow it from DB...