Age of Mythology - Chapter 2

SYBEX Sample Chapter
Age of Mythology®: The Titans

Expansion: Sybex Official
Strategies & Secrets™
Doug Radcliffe and Michael Rymaszewski
Chapter 2: The Game Economy
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The Game C
Economy H
A
he economy in Age of Mythology: The Titans exists for just one
T purpose: to let you win the game. It is a means to an end, and

you’ll focus your attention on different resources depending on
game circumstances. Optimizing the economy may involve 20 workers
gathering food in one game, but just 10 in another—finding the right
balance for your strategic goals is crucial to success.
Fortunately, there are still some general rules that will let you stay on
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top of your economy at all times. This chapter discusses how game
specifics (choice of mythology, map, etc.) affect those rules. It also
examines in detail all of the game’s economic notions (game
T
resources, labor force, etc.). Most importantly, this chapter
explains how to combine economic flexibility with prompt
attainment of long-term economic goals.
E
R
Copyright © 2003 SYBEX Inc., 1151 Marina Village Parkway, Alameda, CA 94501. World rights reserved.
2
Making Things Work for You

The economy in AoM:The Titans is a tool: it serves you, and not the other way around.
Building up the work force to an imposing size does not guarantee victory, particulary against
the computer. If you don’t believe this, win a solo game against the AI at higher difficulty
P level and check the postgame economic
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data. No human player can expand the
The economic balance in AoM: The Titans is economy as swiftly and efficiently as the AI
slightly different than in the original AoM does at higher difficulty levels, and you’ll
release. The six patches since AoM’s debut
include tweaks that have big economic implica-
see that having a labor force twice as big as
tions even when they do not directly concern the economy the enemy’s doesn’t guarantee victory—you
(such as lowering the cost of Greek hoplites). have to know how to use that labor force to
outproduce your enemies. Remember that
each worker counts toward the population
limit! More workers may mean fewer military units, so if you’re not using those workers effec-
tively it’ll hurt you in the long run. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a large economy;
expert players state that one of the biggest shortcomings of players new to multiplayer is a
weak economy.
The distinguishing characteristic of a well-run economy is this: it always delivers the
resources you need when you need them. This is very easy to achieve if you set about it as the
AI does, and simply pile workers on resources until you reach a saturation point. However,
workers don’t come free of charge, and the hidden cost is especially heavy in the beginning of
a game. Each extra worker delays your advance into the Classical Age, and thereby the devel-
opment of your military forces—which means missing a chance to hit the enemy at a time
when any damage inflicted will really hurt. But if you’re preparing for a strong late-game
economy, those extra Archaic Age workers will pay off in the end.
Killing a single enemy worker in the opening stages of a game has a greater impact than
killing 10 workers a little while later. It has such big consequences that many experienced
players will use a one-time god power such as Lightning Bolt (Zeus) to eliminate one of a
competitor’s workers right at the start of the game. This does not mean you should sacrifice
economic progress on the military altar. But when you see stocks of resources increasing even
though you’re continuously spending them, it’s time to stop creating workers even though
you’re still well short of the magic 50 or so that most winners end up with.
To manage your economy well, you must excel in two areas:
* Worker management. This begins with creating exactly as many workers as you need—
no less and no more. Assigning them to the right task at the right time is vital. At a given
point in the game, an economy that employs 20 well-managed workers can be more
appropriate than one that has 40; you’ll find more details in “Putting People to Work”
later on in this chapter.
* Resource management. This doesn't always mean spending all resources as soon as you
get them. It means not wasting resources; being wasteful is very easy to do and instantly
erases any gains you made through good worker management. Your economy should be
10 Chapter 2: The Game Economy

balanced: do you have too many workers on
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gold and not enough gathering food? In the This chapter assumes you have read the
final analysis, resource management is even game manual, and that you take
more important than worker management. advantage of the excellent in-game help
(right-clicking a unit or building icon
The first step to mastering resource and brings up a detailed and beautifully illustrated infor-
worker management is to use hotkeys (see mation panel).
Figure 2.1). If you don’t, you’ll fall behind
despite using the minimap to navigate the game
world quickly. Hotkeys will let you micromanage your economy to peak efficiency; their
usefulness isn’t limited to controlling multiple groups of military units. Want to create a new
lumberjack? Hit the H key (default) to jump to the Town Center, press C (default) to begin
creating a worker, move the assembly point to the trees you want him to work on, and that’s
it—on to the next task. You can get
everything done at least three
times faster if you use hotkeys at
every opportunity. Players who
use the mouse for everything have
very slim chances of advancing
beyond intermediate level in
multiplayer games.
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If you’re having trouble
managing your workforce, a
tool that keeps track of your
workers might help. You’ll find it at
http://www.mrfixitonline.com/readTopic.
asp?PostingId=1090519. (Note that if
you reassign a worker from one resource
Figure 2.1: Make a point of learning (and perhaps to another, the tool might count that
customizing) hotkeys that can help you micromanage your worker as working on both resources,
economy. effectively counting the worker twice.)
Putting People to Work

The Greeks have villagers; the Egyptians have laborers; the Atlanteans have citizens, the
Norse have gatherers and Dwarves. All these characters serve the same purpose: they gather
resources, and—the Norse excepted—build structures (Norse structures are built by military
units, which makes forward-building, placing structures near the front line, a snap.)
In spite of their shared purpose, there are meaningful differences between worker units
of different mythologies. The list below reviews these differences, and the roles they play in
the game.
Making Things Work for You 11

Note that while Fishing Boats cost the same from mythology to mythology, Egyptian
Fishing Boats gather fish at a slightly slower rate than the others.
* Greek villagers cost 50 food each and have 65 hit points. They’re excellent construction
workers, erecting buildings and defensive structures in record time. This is a handy
ability, because the Greeks need to build drop-off facilities next to resource-gathering
sites. This costs 50 wood per facility, which is not much but still hurts in the initial stages
of a game.
* Egyptian laborers cost the same as Greek villagers, and also have 65 hit points. They
build structures much more slowly than other workers. They require a dedicated facility
for each resource (Granary for food, Lumber Camp for wood, Mining Camp for gold),
which results in a meaningful time handicap that is not quite balanced by the fact the
facilities are free. Remember to use the Pharaoh to empower the laborers working on big
projects, such as a new Town Center—it’ll significantly cut down construction time.
* Norse gatherers and Dwarves are land-based workers. The gatherers cost 50 food and
have 65 hit points; the Dwarves cost 70 gold (60 under Thor) and have a gold-mining
efficiency bonus, plus 75 hit points. Unfortunately, spending gold to get more gold is a
little troublesome, especially in the early stages; use gatherers to mine gold until you can
comfortably create at least three Dwarves in a row; otherwise the mining bonus will be
meaningless. All Norse land workers enjoy the benefits of a moving drop-off facility—
the Ox Cart. This gives them great mobility, in line with the aggressive strategy you need
to pursue with the Norse mythology. Note that the gatherers can build only one type of
structure: Farms.
* Atlantean citizens come equipped
with a pack donkey that acts as a drop-
off facility (see Figure 2.2). This, plus a
bonus to their gathering rate, means
they have unrivaled resource-gathering
speed. However, their efficiency comes
at a steep price. Each Atlantean citizen
costs 125 food and 25 wood (and takes
proportionally longer to create), and
counts as three toward the population
cap (all other workers count as 1).
Atlantean citizens have 165 hit points,
but they lose those easily when
raided—they move very slowly. Their
cost in resources and population points
Figure 2.2: A single Atlantean citizen gathers resources as
means you should be very wary of
efficiently as three workers of any other mythology. creating more citizens than you need;
often you’ll have to build a Manor the
moment you create your first new

citizen. Manors are a new feature in
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AoM: The Titans; they are Atlantean
Land-based workers all have 8 hack attack and some
superhouses that support 20 popu-
armor; used in groups, the workers can defeat weak
lation but cost 80 wood and 25 Classical Age raids without assistance from military
gold. That’s much more than the units—as long as the enemy doesn’t use ranged attack
50- (Greek) or 40-wood (Norse) units (all types of archers, Centaurs, etc.). Of course military assis-
cost of a standard House, which tance to counter raids is always desirable, but grouping your
supports 10 population points workers to fight off a small raid is preferable to letting them wander
away from their tasks to be killed one-by-one. And don’t forget
(Egyptian Houses are free).
Atlantean citizens can be upgraded to Hero status and can be used
When managing your work force, to counter mythological-unit rushes early in the game.
you’ll be facing the most terrible oppo-
nent in the game: time. AoM:The
Titans features lots of fast action, which
encourages mass production of units and rough solutions to problems. It’s easier to put 10
workers on food then four or five on wood and gold. But easy doesn’t always mean good, and
it’s much better to put just the initial five or so workers on food, then begin alternating them
between the various resources. This is because resources take time to accumulate. What
matters is that you have a certain amount of resources on hand at a certain time. If you put a
couple of workers on a task early, you’ll avoid having to put four on the same task later. In
short, managing your work force is about long-term planning.
Remember to optimize your workforce at regular intervals! If you don’t, you’ll end up
creating unnecessary workers. For example, the demand for wood often fluctuates sharply,
and even with excellent planning you’ll be forced to put extra workers on wood occasionally.
As with everything else, think ahead. Say to yourself, “That’s the last Fishing Boat I’ll be
building for a while. It’s time to build
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more military units, so I’ll move a
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couple of lumberjacks to gold.” Don’t Remember that good worker management involves
wait until you hit a four-digit constructing industrial buildings or resource drop-off
surplus—assign everyone to the right facilities (Granary, Lumber Camp, Mining Camp, Dock)
close to resource sites. This maximizes worker produc-
job ahead of time. tivity by minimizing the time workers spend traveling between the
To avoid creating unnecessary resource site and the drop-off facility.
workers, make sure your economy is
optimized with appropriate upgrades.
As a rule, an upgrade is worth the cost
whenever you’ve got three or more workers assigned to a specific activity. Need more wood?
Don’t automatically create a couple of new lumberjacks; consider upgrading the skills of your
existing wood choppers instead. Need more food? Look into food-gathering upgrades, and
remember to upgrade your Fishing Boats at the Dock! Don’t forget to build resource drop-off
facilities, and to rebuild them when they’re no longer right next to the gathered resources.
When playing the Norse, remember to check on your Ox Carts and move them to cut
workers’ travel time to a minimum. All these adjustments can greatly increase your economic
output without creating any extra workers.
Making Things Work for You 13

The Art of Warehousing

If you’ve been playing real-time strategy games for a while, you’ve probably heard the axiom
that you should never hoard resources—that you should never have more than 100 units of
any resource in stock, and that if you do you’re neglecting an opportunity to build this or
create that. If you’re striving to be competitive in the online multiplayer mode, the axiom
certainly holds true. Expert players will tell you never to leave resources in the bank. But in
the single-player game or when you’re still learning the game’s economy, warehousing some
resources can help adjust your tactics or save up more quickly for an important upgrade or
Age advance.
Naturally, you’d never advance an Age if you were to take the axiom literally. As you know
from the manual, Age advances start at 400 food and get progressively more expensive.
Running on empty throughout the game can impair your flexibility. You could have a small
reserve of resources available by the early middle game to adjust your strategy as needed (for
instance, perhaps you need to start producing archers to counter your enemy’s infantry). The
ability to turn out half a dozen more military units in an instant is simply priceless. Plus, it
takes much less time to save up for a major expenditure such as an Age advance if you already
have a couple of hundred in the bank.
Your circumstances always determine the amount of resources you should keep in stock.
Assuming the circumstances aren’t unusual, your stock should include a minimum of 400
food, 300 wood (more on water maps or when playing the Greeks, less when playing the
Egyptians), and 400 gold (more when playing the Egyptians). Don’t be afraid to breach these
limits when it’s expedient, but make sure you rebuild them afterwards—after all, it won’t take
more than a few seconds. When you become more comfortable with the economy and how to
adjust your workers to increase particular resource types, you can begin to leave fewer
resources in reserve. As stated, expert players spend those resources almost as quickly as
they’re gatherered.
The Four Keys to Economic Success

The vast majority of AoM games feature economies that employ 40 to 50 workers (60+ for
expert players) by the time you reach the Heroic Age. Be especially wary of creating too many
workers in the Archaic Age: you should never have to build more than two Houses or
Manors, and that’s allowing some space for the military or mythological units to come in the
approaching Classical Age. You should instantly acquire a new Town Center and max out the
population thereafter, creating new workers, soldiers, and mythological units as appropriate
to your strategy. Every Classical Age features fighting—if your enemy hasn’t visited you, you
should visit the enemy.
Here’s how to set about formulating an effective long-term economic strategy:
* Know your people. Knowing your people means being aware of the economic aspects of
your chosen mythology; for instance, choosing Egyptians means focusing on gold early
(see Figure 2.3). The game mythologies differ significantly from each other, and these
differences set distinct economic priorities.

* Know the map. The biggest map

difference is between water maps
and land-only maps. Water means
fish as a food source; plenty of water
means a big navy and thus very high
wood requirements. Your starting
position on a map always carries big
economic consequences, as does the
location of settlements that you can
convert into Town Centers, relics
with economic significance (such as
the Ship of Fingernails, which
provides extra food), placement of
gold deposits, forests, berry
bushes—you name it. Remember
that good reconnaissance has as Figure 2.3: When playing the Egyptians, don’t waste time—
much economic impact as at least go after the gold.
five extra workers, and possibly ten.
* Know yourself. Choosing your major and
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minor gods has great economic impact even AoM: The Titans features several relics
if the deities of your choice do not offer that bring economic benefits to their
immediate economic benefits (such as Thor’s owner. This is another argument in favor
of swift reconnaissance early in the game,
ability to create Dwarven Mining Camps
and for quickly creating a hero to put relics where they
and cheaper Dwarves). For example, if you’re belong (in your Temple).
playing with Greeks and decide to go the
Apollo route, you’ll need a lot of wood for
Apollo’s mythic unit, the Manticore. The
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ability to create powerful new units won’t
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help you if you can’t afford them. Plan for acquiring military upgrades as
soon as you’ve created a sizable army.
* Know your enemy. Your enemy’s choice of Improving your existing units when you
major and minor gods offers many hints as have fifteen or more units is as important
to the strategy they’re likely to try against as adding new ones.
you. For example, someone who chooses

Hades as a major deity will most likely be
fielding plenty of archer units; you can counter this in advance by researching Improved
Pierce Armor at the Armory, and creating counter-archer units. All this will place
specific demands on your economy.
Going through these four points in your mind at the start of every game will automati-
cally tell you what resources you’ll need, and when. Assign workers accordingly. Always plan
for heavy military spending (buildings, at least some military/mythological units, at least a
single hero, and unit upgrades) when you reach the Classical Age (you should shoot for
getting there around six minutes into the game, five if you’re planning a rush). Subsequently,
plan to reach the Heroic
The Four Keys to Economic Success 15

Age no more than 10 minutes into the game (unless you’re winning already). Once again,
to take advantage of Heroic Age benefits, you’ll have to stock up on resources beyond those
you need for the Age advance itself.
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The Fast Heroic Strategy In the early stages of the
game, you don’t have to kill
anyone or destroy anything
There is a popular AoM economic strategy known as Fast Heroic (FH). to hurt the enemy economy.
It focuses on reaching the Heroic Age as fast as possible, without Half a minute of downtime for enemy
meaningful military investment in the meantime. Very powerful units workers will do the job (see Figure 2.4).
and buildings become available in the Heroic Age, so the desire to Your opponent may have more workers
reach it quickly is understandable. Although the FH approach might than you have, but if they aren’t working
work on big maps with a relatively small number of middling the advantage is meaningless.
opponents, it won’t work against an experienced human opponent, or
even against the AI at high difficulty level. The AI doesn’t have to click
the mouse or scroll across the screen. It doesn’t even have to think. It
already knows what it must do, and it will do it faster than you can
unless you upset its plans. And an expert human player will make a It’s easy to determine the worth of a
point of locating you quickly and hitting you where it hurts. favorite strategy by asking yourself how
strongly it’s based on expediency rather
than genuine strategic wisdom. If you find
yourself thinking of things you might
have done given some extra time, it’s
really high time you started using hotkeys.
The sections that follow review game
resources and the game’s four mytholog-
ical economies.
Game Resources
You already know that resource manage-
ment can be a tricky balancing act. The
following sections review each game
resource and its significance. All the statis-
tics related to the economy, such as the
amount of food obtained from a zebra,
are included in the appendices at the end
Figure 2.4: Disrupting the enemy economy early in the game
is always a good move.
of this guide.

Food
Food is the foundation of your empire and its economy. It enables you to create land-based
workers, without which there is no game. It’s a requirement, along with gold, for creating the
majority of the game’s military units (soldiers). It’s also used to create many powerful mytho-
logical units, to acquire most military upgrades, and to advance through the game’s Ages. Not
surprisingly, food is an especially acute priority at the start of the game, when you’ll be
creating new workers at a rapid pace.
Food is obtained from many
sources.
* Wild animals. Every map features
enough wildlife to fill a small zoo,
with special species such as the
walrus or the elephant appearing
only in suitable climates. Wild
animals include combative species
such as lions and rhinos, which can
seriously harm the hunters if you
aren’t careful. Hunting is a very
good way to gather food quickly in
the opening stages of the game, and
remains a good source of food well
into the middle game (see Figure
2.5). Upgrading your workers’ Figure 2.5: Hunting is a lot of fun and the best food source
hunting abilities with Hunting early in the game.
Dogs is well worth the cost.
* Domestic animals. Shepherd domestic animals to a safe location as soon as you find
them, then leave them to fatten up; if you slaughter them instantly you’ll only harvest
about a third of their potential food yield. Consider researching Husbandry at the
Granary if you’ve found five or more goats, sheep, pigs, cows, etc. Husbandry isn’t a wise
move if the countryside abounds with wild animals, and you’re playing the Atlanteans.
However, when playing any other mythology, Husbandry is helpful even if you don’t have
a single domestic animal. It increases the food-carrying capacity of your workers, cutting
in half the number of trips they have to make to drop off food at the Granary.
* Berry bushes. There’s often a clump of bushes growing near a settlement, and many
players choose berry bushes as their initial food source. This is a mistake if there are any
hunting prospects, though, because gathering berries isn’t the most efficient way of
feeding your people: you can’t upgrade berry-hunting the way you can other food-
gathering activities.
Game Resources 17
* Fish. Not surprisingly, fish are available only on water maps (the water in question may
be a lake). Fishing isn’t the fastest way to gather food; although the supply of fish is inex-
haustible, the trips to and from the Dock add up to a lot of time. However, building a
fishing industry has one great advantage: it requires wood, not food. This means you can
increase your food supply without using any of your existing food; if you have adequate
resources in stock, you can create new Fishing Boats and new land-based workers at the
same time, accelerating economic growth.
* Farms. Farms never go fallow in AoM: The Titans, but they only become a good choice
later in the game. Initially slow to produce food, Farms can be greatly improved by
researching Farming Upgrades at the Granary. Egyptian farmers are especially dismal to
start with, but you can boost their performance with a little help from their gods. Note
that you can’t have Farms until the Classical Age unless you’re Egyptian—the Egyptians
can build Farms in the Archaic Age.
P In most games it makes sense to begin with hunting.
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When this source of food begins to dry up, consider gath-
On water maps, you should build ering food from convenient berry bushes or slaughtering
a Dock very early on and start domestic animals (check their weight beforehand; a fully
fishing early. Each Fishing Boat
fattened specimen yields 300 food). Fishing and farming
is essentially another villager
helping you create a large economy. The require up-front investments of resources and labor, which
added resources can subsequently help you make them questionable food choices in the early game.
focus on building a fighting navy. However, their importance grows as wild animals and berry
bushes are used up and disappear off the map. Farming and
fishing become the mainstays of your food industry in every
game that lasts into the Mythic Age.
Wood
Wood has five main purposes: building structures, building ships (for fishing and military
use), creating ranged attack units (soldiers and mythological), and building selected siege
weapons. Certain upgrades to structures, ships, soldiers, and mythological units also require
significant amounts of wood.
The demand for wood varies both from game to game and within a single game.
Anticipate sudden demand spikes (such as building new military buildings upon advancing to
the Classical Age), and keep a core group of workers busy cutting down trees at all times. Of
course, the demand for wood will be much higher if you play a water map. If you’re playing as
the Greeks and have chosen to follow Apollo, things may get crazy, with hordes of lumber-
jacks clear-cutting their way across the land.
By comparison, the Egyptians need very little wood, and this is a strong argument for
building a fishing industry, if the map allows it, instead of Farms. Egyptian fishermen are less
efficient than fishermen belonging to other mythologies (the same goes for Egyptian
farmers). However, as noted earlier, building Fishing Boats means you spend wood instead of
food to get more food.

The rule of the thumb with wood

is this: either you don’t need it, or you
need a lot of it fast (see Figure 2.6). It
makes no sense to create just a couple
of ranged attack units or to construct a
Dock and subsequently build only a
single Fishing Boat.
Gold
Gold plays an increasingly important
role as the game progresses. Its impor-
tance is slight in the beginning; the
gold you start with covers the building
of your first Temple, and Atlanteans
can also afford a couple of Manors. Figure 2.6: A Dock, a few Fishing Boats, a few ships to
Things change rapidly upon entering protect the Fishing Boats—it adds up to a lot of wood spent
the Classical Age. Every subsequent very fast.
Age advance involves large amounts of
gold; more importantly, the Classical Age ushers in a series of industrial and military
upgrades together with the ability to build military units. Things get particularly crazy for the
Egyptians, whose economy requires gold where others require wood. The gold hunger grows
steadily with each new Age while the gold deposits keep shrinking. Once you reach the
Heroic Age, you may build a Market and supplement your gold income by selling resources
and running caravans; however, exhaustible mines are likely to remain your main source of
gold as long as they’re around.
Gold is rarely spent by itself (although the Egyptians are again an exception). You’ll
spend it along with other resources. All military units require gold plus food or wood. All
military and economic upgrades require gold. Securing a couple of gold deposits is a top
priority in the opening stages of every game, and securing extra gold deposits is vital
thereafter.
Order at least a couple of workers to mine gold midway through the Archaic Age at the
latest, and steadily increase their number as production of other resources allows. If you plan
to rush, you’ll need the gold to create your army and outfit it with Classical Age military
upgrades. It’s not strong enough to reduce Town Centers, but it can win you the game if
used well.
Thereafter, the demand for gold grows steadily unless you’re falling behind with the gath-
ering of other resources, most notably food. The demand reaches its peak at the transition
into the Mythic Age, which usually comes shortly after the first gold deposits have been
mined into extinction. Most games are decided by then; if yours isn’t, you’d better make sure
you’re the player who has the most gold—or ample trade routes established.
Game Resources 19
Favor
Different mythologies obtain favor from the gods in different ways. The Greeks need at least
one villager praying at the Temple; the Egyptians build Monuments; the Norse win favor by
fighting. The Atlanteans don’t have to do anything special to obtain favor—they get a steady,
healthy trickle from every Town Center under their control.
You need godly favor for Temple-based upgrades and to summon (create) mythological
units. Since mythological units are the most
powerful in the game, the importance of
favor can’t be overstated. As with gold, the
only way you’ll accumulate a lot of favor is
by running short of other resources that you
must spend in conjunction with favor to
purchase mythological units. Atlanteans are
an exception, since they start accumulating
favor from the word go.
Favor is obtained in different ways in
different mythologies; Greeks have a partic-
ularly easy time getting it (see Figure 2.7).
This is because you can regulate Greek
favor flow simply by manipulating the
number of villagers worshipping at the
Temple. The Norse and the Egyptians need
favor most, and the Norse have the hardest
Figure 2.7: Having a single villager combine praying
with building new Houses is a good Greek solution early
time obtaining it. The Egyptians have a
in the game. significantly easier time thanks to the stable
favor supply provided by their Monuments.
The Four Economies

The four mythologies have distinct economies, although they work according to the same
model. The differences have a meaningful impact on the types of challenges you’ll face while
building your own economy.
The Greek Economy

Greeks have an easy time obtaining favor, and they need all the favor they can get, because
meeting their resource demands can pose a challenge.
The Greeks need food just as badly as everyone else does—their premium infantry eats a
lot of meat. They aren’t as desperate for gold as the Egyptians are; they’re roughly at the same
level as everyone else, which means they can use all the gold they can get. The reason that you
might have trouble meeting Greek food and gold demands lies in their demand for wood,

and the resulting strain on your labor force. You’ll need plenty of lumberjacks! No other
economy burns through so much wood so easily. In that respect, the Greeks are kings.
Begin gathering wood at the start of the game with a single villager (your fourth or fifth)
and add more as you approach the Classical Age. Build a House while you wait for the
Classical Age to dawn, but make sure you have enough wood for a new Town Center! Greek
Town Centers are expensive: they cost 100 food, 300 wood, and 300 gold. On top of that, you
have to build three types of military buildings to create the full range of Greek soldiers:
Hoplites (infantry), Toxotes (archers), and Hippikons (cavalry); though it may be more cost-
effective to focus on two unit lines and add the third later if necessary. Add the Town Center,
an Armory, and a couple of Houses, and you’re looking at 800 wood.
The Egyptian Economy

The Egyptian economy runs on gold. Egyptians use it to build structures such as Farms and
Barracks, and some units that cost just gold—no other resource, just lots of gold.
Egyptian human soldiers aren’t the greatest, and you’ll be making heavy use of mytholog-
ical units and assorted god powers to win the game. This will put big demands on favor, and
you’d be wise to make building Monuments a very high priority—it’s best to have a laborer
working on them from the moment you’ve built a Temple. Remember to use the Pharaoh to
boost the sluggish performance of the Egyptian builders and farmers! When playing on a
water map, consider building a Dock and Fishing Boats even before you advance to the
Classical Age. The wood requirement can be handled by a couple of laborers if you put them
onto wood early enough. Note that the Egyptians get free Tower upgrades—yet another
wood expense spared, and a feature that probably makes them better suited for defensive
warfare than anyone else in the game.
You’ll need all the food you can get when playing as the Egyptians; it’s a hungry
mythology. The Egyptian military needs plenty of food; one War Elephant costs as much
food as four or five regular infantry. Ra is the best food god because of his Rain god power. If
you’ve built Farms in the Archaic Age, invoke Rain right after researching the first farming
upgrade and hitting the Classical Age (Greeks, Norse, and Atlanteans can’t have Farms this
early). With the help of Ra, your food supply will be much greater than your opponent’s and
help support those hungry Egyptian troops.
When you play as the Egyptians, securing new gold mines is a top priority at all times.
Remember that when choosing the settlement for your new Town Center!
The Norse Economy

The Norse economy has two sides. The Norse Ox Carts make gathering “ordinary” resources
(food, wood, and gold) extra-easy. Obtaining favor isn’t easy, and may prove a big problem if
you don’t have a talent for offensive warfare. Even though the Norse have a nice human-army
lineup, they still need the assistance of mythological units to prevail over a competent oppo-
nent. One of the most useful Norse mythological units, the Valkyrie, costs 18 favor—the
reward you can expect for winning a small to medium (no more than 30 units all told) battle,
and the cost of winning a battle like that can be significant.
The Four Economies 21

The Norse economy is distinguished by the fact that buildings are constructed by mili-
tary units (Farms can only be built by gatherers). Since constant warfare is practically a given,
you’ll have to put plenty of emphasis on food and gold; they’re required for the vast majority
of Norse military units. Demand for wood is healthy but not insane like with the Greeks.
Remember to take advantage of the mining bonus offered by the Dwarves and start working
on your gold-mining industry early! You’ll want to replace any gold mining gatherers with
Dwarves as quickly as possible. Take full advantage of the mobility that the Ox Carts offer to
seek out wild animals; you should be able to obtain food exclusively through hunting and
gathering berries until the Heroic Age. If you’re fighting heavily in the Classical Age, expect
to need Farms to support those troops.
Above all, make sure your economy can support constant aggression. Norse buildings are
easier to destroy than those in other mythologies. The Norse is definitely not the right choice
for players who favor defensive warfare.
The Atlantean Economy

Most players will find the Atlantean economy the most user-friendly. Atlantean citizens
represent the ultimate in resource-gathering flexibility, and this compensates fully for their
dreadful slowness when moving or building structures. Atlantean industries don’t require
drop-off sites; economic upgrades are researched in the inexpensive Economic Guild
building (see Figure 2.8). The military requires just two unit-producing buildings (Barracks
and Counter Barracks).
The Atlantean economy places strong
but balanced demands on all of the game
resources. It needs the least care and atten-
tion of all the game economies. Since the
Atlantean military is geared solidly toward
a Heroic Age offensive, you may want to
concentrate largely on food and gold to
advance through the Ages quickly. Fast
resource gathering is an Atlantean specialty,
and favor is obtained automatically through
the Town Centers, so handling challenges
is rarely a problem. Remember that every
Atlantean worker costs three population
points, and don’t forget to develop a fishing
industry (Fishing Boats cost just one popu-
lation point each) if the opportunity
Figure 2.8: The Economic Guild is the Atlantean center for presents itself.
ordering economic upgrades.


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SYBEX Sample Chapter

Age of Mythology®: The Titans

Chapter 2: The Game Economy

T purpose: to let you win the game. It is a means to an end, and

Making Things Work for You

10 Chapter 2: The Game Economy

balanced: do you have too many workers on

Putting People to Work

Making Things Work for You 11

12 Chapter 2: The Game Economy

citizen. Manors are a new feature in

Making Things Work for You 13

The Art of Warehousing

The Four Keys to Economic Success

14 Chapter 2: The Game Economy

* Know the map. The biggest map

you. For example, someone who chooses

The Four Keys to Economic Success 15

16 Chapter 2: The Game Economy

18 Chapter 2: The Game Economy

The rule of the thumb with wood

The Four Economies

The Greek Economy

20 Chapter 2: The Game Economy

The Egyptian Economy

The Norse Economy

The Four Economies 21

The Atlantean Economy

22 Chapter 2: The Game Economy

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