



Corporal





Group: Members

Posts: 140

AOM Replays:

Submissions: None

Joined: 5-May 04



From: Den Egelantier

Member No.: 5,706





CorporalGroup: MembersPosts: 140AOM Replays: 0 Submissions:Joined: 5-May 04From: Den EgelantierMember No.: 5,706









Introduction :



Hello,



This lesson will be about how to get past the rating of 1600. It will contain lessons, it might refer to some stats site (mainly Age of Mythology Heaven aom.heavengames.com/gameinfo) I will give build orders, I will tell the basics of a starting economy, the importance if micromanagement (AKA micro) as well as economic as military.



E_S_O_is_dumb (Training Staff Member)



Chapter One - Archaic Arising



Paragraph One - Creation



When you start a regular supremacy game you will start in Archaic Age. For each age there is a different start, you start with the following (I wil note some others which require certain buildings, but those units are totally costless and respawn)



Zeus : 3 Villagers. 1 Kataskopos Scout

Poseidon : 3 Villagers. 1 Kataskopos Scout. 1 Respawning Hippocampus Scout (aquired freely when a Dock is built, and after a Temple is built)

Hades : 3 Villagers. 1 Kataskopos Scout

Ra : 2 Laborers. 1 Priest. 1 Pharaoh (Note: Remember Ra has empowering Priests!)

Isis : 2 Laborers. 1 Priest. 1 Pharaoh

Set : 2 Laborers. 1 Priest. 1 Pharaoh. 1 Hyena (another one can either be summoned or converted, more animals will be availible as you advance through the ages)

Odin : 2 Gatherers. 1 Ox Cart. 1 Ulfsark. 2 Ravens (These will be created freely and will respawn, but only if a temple is built first)

Thor : 2 Dwarves. 1 Ox-Cart. 1 Ulfsark.

Loki : 2 Gatherers. 1 Ox-Cart. 1 Ulfsark

The Atlanteans : 1 Citizen. 3 Oracles



Whatever god choice you have, you need to have food first. There is one exception and that is Thor. His Dwarves are quite the same as Gatherers but they have better gold mining capabilities. When you are Thor it is advised that you mine gold instead of gathering food first becouse with Thor you will need Dwarves.



You should keep on sending Villagers to food (gold if Thor) and when you have about 6-7 of them on food you will have a stable food income. It depends on the god you are playing on planning what recource you will gather next, but in general you should go for gold. the best thing to do is send 2 Villagers to gold after you have a stable food income, and then immedietly build a house, and then put a third on gold. So you start gathering wood when you have a stable food income and about 3-4 Villagers on gold. Of course, if you are planning to do a massive (AKA mass) Toxotes attack, you will have to send Villagers to wood first instead of gold. On water maps you definetly have to send Villagers to wood before gold becouse you need those (Fishing) ships coming. You need a wood surplus when you arrive in Classical Age in order to create a fleet, and have a constant (Offensive) ship production.



When a game starts it is best to research a food gathering increase technology (gold gathering increase if Thor). It quite depends on the map which you will research. If you are dealing with a map like Tundra or Marsh, you definetly need Hunting Dogs (Increaser villager hunting rate). But on maps like Oasis you will need Husbandry (Double food carry capacity) to decrease the villager walking time (For those who don't know : The time that the villager spends walking to drop off a recource, the lower this time is, the faster a recource will be recieved).



The research of other gathering speed technology should be made during Age transition (AKA Advancing).



Paragraph Two - Forward Base



In Archaic you will often begin to be offensive when you are near Age transition. The key to killing someone fast is to have a forward base. A base near someone's town from which units keep pouring out. So when you attack someone in Classical age, your army will be "refilled" constantly.



With some gods a forward base is a bit difficult to realise. For instance, a Norse player is best off with a forward base becouse he can make buildings with his military. So is a Kronos player who can timeshift building into place easily without risking his villagers. But as Egyptians for instance, every villager is needed, and they don't build quite so fast. So it depends on the god you are playing whether you are actually going to have a (semi-)forward base.



The forward base is often begun with the temple. You can build a temple near someone's base(preferably near a Setllement so that you may take it whenever you need it). When advancing a forward base is expanded with houses. When people arrive in Classical age they will begin their base. That will be all told about in the next chapter.



A forward base should be built in a well-scouted area. Becouse you may be building directly next to the enemy's base without you knowing it. A forward base is supposed the be invisible to the enemy. You should build it in the outskirts of enemy towns, preferably on a hill, so if you place towers they will gain an attack bonus. Behind trees will often work too as people avoid scouting trees as their scouts will bump into trees and lose scouting time. Near a Settlement is best (read above)



Paragraph Three - Advancing



Ideally, you should advance with a forward base containing a temple and/or 2 or two houses. You should have about 20-22 villagers when advancing. During transition it is best to boost your economy as much as you can. Try to micromanage your villagers during transition to the next age so you will have the best and most efficient economy during Classical. During transition it is best to research Pickaxe/Axe research so that you will gain more recources during Classical. Also, you may use your god's special ability/god power to boost it even more. Isis players often use the Prosperity god power during transition so that they have more gold. Ra players often make a lot of priests to empower buildings. Gaia players are off very well during transition as they have a lot of trees whith have more wood than normal due to Gaia's god power(s). This makes it more easy to produce a lot of Turma's for Gaia players.



During an advance, you may want to begin making some fighting units. Most Norse keep making Hersirs furing transition so that they have something to build with and so they can attack faster becouse they don't have to make (as many) Hersirs in Classical age. Egyptians make more Priests to support their Classical army.



You should advance no later than 6:00. A Loki will start attacking you at around 5:40 or 5:50 so you should press the advance button around 4:00. But there are exceptions, some Kronos players will be in Classical at 3:10, and will still be able to rush you with ease. If you plan to rush you should advance around 4:00, if you plan to keep your economy going smoothly and have a lot of recources you should keep making villagers until around 4:30. the advantage of this is that you can immedietly start making ahuge army during Classical. Remember, always keep the villagers flowing, even in Classical. This will be explained in the next chapter.



Good look going through Archaic :)



Chapter Two - Classical Clash



Paragraph One - First Things First



Okay, Now you have landed in the Classical age. The age where (most) fighting begins. Here you expand your economy to give a more constant flow of recources, you build your forward bases, and you start making your army. Immedietly when Classical begins everbody sets up an attack. This attack can consist of 3 different things :



Huge Attack - This attack is usually directed at the Town Center, and it's main purpose is to bring the enemy Town Center down. When this happens, the game is usually already won for you. But there are exceptions. With Atlanteans for example : if one villager gets away, he can rebuild becouse he can gather recources everywhere he wants. This can be avoided by containing the enemy. (which you can only do if you scouted the are well around his base, so scout it in ArchaÃ¯c age!).

Raiding - This consists of small and fast hit-and-run attacks on the enemy villagers. This can only be done with speed units. The best raiding is with : Raiding Cavalry (Norse), Hippikon (Greek), Turma (Atlantean) and Camel (Egyptian). The Egyptian do not have a cavalry in Classical, so their only hope for raiding is with Myth units. The Anubite excels in raiding, and kill buildings pretty quick, so versus all non-Atlanteans players they can raid, and also slow the production of recources by destroying the drop-off site. Raiding takes a lot of micro to accomplish. You need to make sure that your units won't get hit by anything. (If people play against a god like Odin (he has superior raiding) they research Crenallations at their towers. This gives towers a bonus attack versus cavalry, so make sure youn stay out of range of those towers when you raid). Raiding is meant to cripple the enemy's economy, so you can prepare for a big attack at the enemy.

Small Attacks - This consist of small attacks at the enemy base. It's effectiveness lies at killing the enemy bit by bit. The bas thing is that it costs a lot of recrouces. This attack is not really recommended, unless you are trying to finish an enemy off that has no more Town Center or Towers.



People below 1600 often stop producing villagers after going Classical. But you need more villagers constant to support the recources. People say "They cost housing." This has no ground. A villager can pay itself back by making sure you have a more constant flow of soldiers. Even if you have one population slow less. Soldiers die eventually, and they need to be refilled. Villagers on the other hand, should be kept alive at all costs. Another argument is "They cost food." Again, they pay themselves back by giving a more constant flow of units. And if you also have a more constant flow of units you can keep more pressure on the enemy, thus giving you a big advantage.



Paragraph Two - Training



This Paragraph will be dedicated to training. I will make a list of things you can practice to improve your skills. Scenario's will be provided soonly, don't worry.



1. Raiding

A good way to learn raiding is to go to the editor. Put around 6 (enemy!) Dwarves in a contained area, with a (non-upgraded) tower near. So that they can garrison. Set the distance for them to walk around 30 seconds or so. (about a quarter of a map). Then put down 5 Raiding Cavalry (your side). Try to kill the dwarves before they reach the tower. It's no worry if you don't succeed, but this will improve raiding. When you are able to kill them within 30 seconds, you might take it a step further by putting an upgraded tower instead of a non-attacking one. You will develop certain skills on raiding.



2. Microing

How to learn to micro : there are several ways. The best way is to do small groups. Once I had a discussion about whether two Hersir and one Troll would be able to kill two Axemen and one Pharaoh. I tried it out, and without microing the Axemen and the Pharaoh won. But when I microed the two Hersir and the Troll they won with ease. Try for yourself to make these kind of fights : Each time units that counter eachother. Another way is by making a big battle. If you put 15 Throwing Axmen versur 15 other Throwing Axmen they will end up (almost) even without micro. If you micro, you will succeed killing 15 enemy Throwing Axmen and you will have about 10 left youself. They key is to let all your Throwing Axmen fire all together at one unit. Thus killing it. This way it will be 15 Throwing Axemen versus 14 Throwing Axmen. Then you can point all your 15 at another one and it will be 15 vs 13. And your advantage over the other will increase. Try this in a real game, you will see that you can kill an enemy army much faster. (For instance, you have an Einherjar, and your Throwing Axemen are fighting, and an enemy Hersir comes to kill your Einherjar.. one Throwing Axemen won't save the Einherjar. If you let them all fire on the Hersir, the Einherjar will live. And you can fight on.)



3. Economy Microing

This is a simplt task. Set up a Gold mine in the Editor and put a drop-off site near it. Put 6 villagers randomly on the goldmine. (Make sure the dropoff site touches the goldmine : nothing can be inbetween them). Let them gather and note how much gold you have after 10 minutes. (if villagers are still mining at 10 minutes, let them drop off whay they have). Now put your dropoff site a little bit away from the mine, so that villagers can stand inbetween the dropoff-site and the goldmine. Put the villagers between them and let them gather. Note how much you have after 10 minutes. You will see that due to the decreased walking time, you have much more gold. You can do this with threes, food etcetera. (A good way for norse hunting : Click your villagers and the oxcart, Hold shift and then right-click each deer or any other huntable. The ox cart will follow where the villagers hunt! So now drop-off time is lower, giving you more food in less time)



Paragraph Three - Heading Heroic



When you do not succees in killing the enemy with a big attack or raiding, and he golds ground, you might want to think about going Heroic. You can do this easier by researching gathering speed technologies first (on top of those that you got from advancing to Classical). Then start making less soldiers and more villagers. Get more recources and keep pressure on the enemy. Contain him, and make sure he can't get to any goldmines outside his town! Keep raiding him to prevent HIM from going Heroic. During the advance to heroic build an extra Town Center and start researching Soldier upgrade technologies. So when you get to Heroic, you will have your army fully-upgraded faster, meaning you have more chance of killing the enemy. Also, throw in some Heroic Myth units, they excel at killing buildings (Nemean Lion, Scarab, Behemoth, Mountain Giant). You will have so many villagers due to the recources needed for advance you will have a big surplus. Make sure you go Heroic with two Town Centers, becouse in Heroic you will need even more villagers. Becouse in Heroic you will be able to get even more Population room.



Good luck in Classical. :)



Chapter Three - Heroic Heritage



Paragraph One - Preparing for New Times



Okay, we have landed in Heroic age. The age where the real big fights begin. In Heroic you will starts to get the "harfline" units. These are the specialisations. Some units really begin to fall out of the normal line becouse of their strength : Thor Ulfsarks, Zeus Hoplites, Poseidon Cavalry, Hades Toxotes, Set Slingers, etc. The counter grid has even become more difficult. You have an archer-countering infantry, you get your first seige. You will be capable of making very specialized units from very strong buildings.

Greek: Fortress

Egyptian : Migdol Stronghold

Norse: Hill Fort

Atlantean: Palace



From these you can make units that will decide battles. You have Camels, Long-ranged archers (Egyptian), Soldiers that have a multipler versus Myth units (Norse), you have all killing specialized units (Greek).



Also, you will have some more costly upgrades. That is why you still have to keep villagers coming. You will get upgrades that cost 300+ of each resource. Also, this is the age where you get the "Levy" technology. This will make a specific unit train faster. This is a must-have technology for mass units. A good idea for Loki is :

Super Hersir

Loki gets a 10% speed creation bonus on Longhouse units. If you combine this with Levy from Heroic, you get super-fast training Hersirs. With Levy + Loki speed train bonus you can easily make a massive amount of Hersirs and attack. And becouse they are in great numbers, Myth units will appear every 10 seconds.

Levy also comes in handy when it comes to sea. When you have Levy Dock, so in Heroic you can make a fleet faster, which will give you the sea if you use your ships in the right way.



In Heroic you will be able to build a Market. Here you can trade recources and set up caravan routes. You should ALWAYS make caravans, becouse if you have lots, gold will be pouring in, which will enable you to trade lots of recources. You should place the market somewhere far off from your Town Center. Your best bet would be in a corner, where it is quite hidden.



Paragraph Two - Getting to Fight



Heroic Age battles differ alot form Classical ones. In Classical, you could cripple your enemy with a medium-sized attack. In Heroic however, you need large armies and often costly siege weapons. But, in Heroic are hidden some of the most useful God Powers in the game : Walking Woods, Bronze, Flaming Weapons, etc. These are the kind of God Powers that relly turn a battle. You should use them in a crucial point, like when you are attacking someone's (key) Town Center.



In Heroic you need to mix in alot of Fortress units. They are the most uselful of all. For example, Chariot Archers are among the best hit-and-run attackers in the game. Huskarls are easily to be massed and whipe out every building that comes in their path. Destroyers (especially Hero Desroyers) tear down buildings in a matter of seconds. These units should make up about 60% of your army. The rest should be counters, or if needed, siege. Myth units are quite costly in Heroic, so only buy those that will really decide a lot (Manticore's won't really turn the tide for killing a TC, while a Mountain Giant will definetly make a lot of difference.) of how the game will end. In Heroic, it is also advisable that you put a lot more villagers on gold than that is needed. In Heroic you will find yourself researching and making so much, that your gold can't keep up. As everything costs gold, but not everything costs wood or food. Recource technologies really come in handy here, as they will have a bigger effect as you have mroe villagers.



Also, your army will need more Heroes than in Classical Age, as you will be dealing with Myth Units that have huge amounts of hitpoints (Behemoth, Mountain Giant, these types of units.) Mix in a Hero or 5-6 to be able to deal those Myth Units quickly



Paragraph Three - Going to Mythic



When you are still in balance with the enemy, and you still can't win, you should go to Mythic Age. This will be no problem as you have a lot of villagers at your disposal, and sufficient gold from trade routes to trade some at the Market. But be warned, in your approach to Mythic you should always make a big army, so that in case the enemy attacks, you will be better able to defend yourself when going to Mythic.



There is not really much to tell about going to Mythic age than that you should make more upgrades, so yo can research the top-layer Mythic ones. Maybe plop down a couple of Towers when going to Mythic to make sure your defense will be strong, as your enemy might be on his way to Mythic Age too.



Hold on in Heroic, you are going to the cream of the cream of AoM. :)



Note : Mythic Age will not be given a whole chapter. As this age is only reached in only 1 % of the games. With all the information you have from this starting guide, you should be able to handle Mythic Age



Chapter Four - Army Management



Paragraph One - The importance of Micro



As you might have guessed, micro can decide a battle. If you micro your army will fight with about 1.5 times the force than if you wouldn't. This is becouse if you micro your units, they have more effective, as micro is a little bit about letting them fire (attack) on one unit at a time. Which will kill it nearly instantly, giving you a slightly better position. But, on the other hand, micro takes a lot of effort, and you need to be good at it to be effective. Looking at recorded games with big battles will really help you out on this. You will see how experts move their army. Attack, then retreat, attack, and pretend to be retreating, and suddenly slaughter a oncoming force.



Another big thing about micro is that it not only makes your units more effective, but it makes them last longer. As micro, they will be a large force acting very efficient both offensive and defensive. When you are raiding, you try to spare your Raiding Cavalry by moving them away from the towers. This in essence is micro. You will be seeing yourself doing the same with battles : Move cavalry to the flanks, and archers far and protected in the back, and Myth units away from Heroes.



Outmicroing your opponent will also improve your battle skills. Every time you outmicro your opponent, you learn something new about micro, maybe a new way of moving your units, or a new flanking tactic. Or maybe a combination of units. Micro also takes place when building your forward base. You have to place buildings effectively, and you don't want units to be delayed becouse they have to walk around buildings alot.



Paragraph Two - The basics of getting a battle started



This may seem weird, but there are certain things to be followed when starting a battle. A battle starts when about roughly 20 vs 20 units fight eachother. This is often a result of forward base attacking : someone defends himself (herself :unsure:). Big battles also occur most furing Heroic, when people want to grab Town Centers. With battles there are certain "rules" to follow :



Don't just send in your units. When you see an enemy army coming, try to form your army in a way that the strongest units stand in the front and will take the punch (so-called meatshields), this can be Myth units (Colossus excel at this perticular thing) or strong Units (War Elephants are also very good at this). Also, make sure that your units face the unit they counter. If he has infantry to the left and you are Egyptian, place your Axemen to the left, to immedietly deal with the enemy infantry.



Don't spare! Send all the units into a battle you have, if you have standing units at the back watching a battle you should send them in! Every unit counts, and especially if it is a counter. Even if the units are on the other side of the map, send them in, becouse battles can even last for 4 minutes. (Especially in Mythic) as players keep sending in reinforcements. If you are fighting near the sea, send some ships over to aid your army. Aerial attack units can be handy, but mostly only one is required.



Never follow an enemy back into his town when he retreats! He may have a pack of 6 Towers waiting for you. And when you attack, they may kill up to half of your army. As for you, try to sneak the ENEMY army into your base. If you don't have Towers there (or if you are defending, haven't upgraded them(yet!) or lost them) it dowsn't matter, you will have units created from military building at your disposal earlier than if they have to walk a mile to the enemy base.



You will be able to get around 1620 with these basic tactics. You know how to start, how to rush, how to engage enemies, and how to keep an economy stable. If you want any reference of stant check aom.heavengames.com/gameinfo for the rest, good luck in getting above 1600 :)



E_S_O_is_dumb (Training Staff Member)] When you start a regular supremacy game you will start in Archaic Age. For each age there is a different start, you start with the following (I wil note some others which require certain buildings, but those units are totally costless and respawn)Whatever god choice you have, you need to have food first. There is one exception and that is Thor. His Dwarves are quite the same as Gatherers but they have better gold mining capabilities. When you are Thor it is advised that you mine gold instead of gathering food first becouse with Thor you will need Dwarves.You should keep on sending Villagers to food (gold if Thor) and when you have about 6-7 of them on food you will have a stable food income. It depends on the god you are playing on planning what recource you will gather next, but in general you should go for gold. the best thing to do is send 2 Villagers to gold after you have a stable food income, and then immedietly build a house, and then put a third on gold. So you start gathering wood when you have a stable food income and about 3-4 Villagers on gold. Of course, if you are planning to do a massive (AKA mass) Toxotes attack, you will have to send Villagers to wood first instead of gold. On water maps you definetly have to send Villagers to wood before gold becouse you need those (Fishing) ships coming. You need a wood surplus when you arrive in Classical Age in order to create a fleet, and have a constant (Offensive) ship production.When a game starts it is best to research a food gathering increase technology (gold gathering increase if Thor). It quite depends on the map which you will research. If you are dealing with a map like Tundra or Marsh, you definetly need Hunting Dogs (Increaser villager hunting rate). But on maps like Oasis you will need Husbandry (Double food carry capacity) to decrease the villager walking time (For those who don't know : The time that the villager spends walking to drop off a recource, the lower this time is, the faster a recource will be recieved).The research of other gathering speed technology should be made during Age transition (AKA Advancing).In Archaic you will often begin to be offensive when you are near Age transition. The key to killing someone fast is to have a forward base. A base near someone's town from which units keep pouring out. So when you attack someone in Classical age, your army will be "refilled" constantly.With some gods a forward base is a bit difficult to realise. For instance, a Norse player is best off with a forward base becouse he can make buildings with his military. So is a Kronos player who can timeshift building into place easily without risking his villagers. But as Egyptians for instance, every villager is needed, and they don't build quite so fast. So it depends on the god you are playing whether you are actually going to have a (semi-)forward base.The forward base is often begun with the temple. You can build a temple near someone's base(preferably near a Setllement so that you may take it whenever you need it). When advancing a forward base is expanded with houses. When people arrive in Classical age they will begin their base. That will be all told about in the next chapter.A forward base should be built in a well-scouted area. Becouse you may be building directly next to the enemy's base without you knowing it. A forward base is supposed the be invisible to the enemy. You should build it in the outskirts of enemy towns, preferably on a hill, so if you place towers they will gain an attack bonus. Behind trees will often work too as people avoid scouting trees as their scouts will bump into trees and lose scouting time. Near a Settlement is best (read above)Ideally, you should advance with a forward base containing a temple and/or 2 or two houses. You should have about 20-22 villagers when advancing. During transition it is best to boost your economy as much as you can. Try to micromanage your villagers during transition to the next age so you will have the best and most efficient economy during Classical. During transition it is best to research Pickaxe/Axe research so that you will gain more recources during Classical. Also, you may use your god's special ability/god power to boost it even more. Isis players often use the Prosperity god power during transition so that they have more gold. Ra players often make a lot of priests to empower buildings. Gaia players are off very well during transition as they have a lot of trees whith have more wood than normal due to Gaia's god power(s). This makes it more easy to produce a lot of Turma's for Gaia players.During an advance, you may want to begin making some fighting units. Most Norse keep making Hersirs furing transition so that they have something to build with and so they can attack faster becouse they don't have to make (as many) Hersirs in Classical age. Egyptians make more Priests to support their Classical army.You should advance no later than 6:00. A Loki will start attacking you at around 5:40 or 5:50 so you should press the advance button around 4:00. But there are exceptions, some Kronos players will be in Classical at 3:10, and will still be able to rush you with ease. If you plan to rush you should advance around 4:00, if you plan to keep your economy going smoothly and have a lot of recources you should keep making villagers until around 4:30. the advantage of this is that you can immedietly start making ahuge army during Classical. Remember, always keep the villagers flowing, even in Classical. This will be explained in the next chapter.Good look going through Archaic :)Okay, Now you have landed in the Classical age. The age where (most) fighting begins. Here you expand your economy to give a more constant flow of recources, you build your forward bases, and you start making your army. Immedietly when Classical begins everbody sets up an attack. This attack can consist of 3 different things :People below 1600 often stop producing villagers after going Classical. But you need more villagers constant to support the recources. People say "They cost housing." This has no ground. A villager can pay itself back by making sure you have a more constant flow of soldiers. Even if you have one population slow less. Soldiers die eventually, and they need to be refilled. Villagers on the other hand, should be kept alive at all costs. Another argument is "They cost food." Again, they pay themselves back by giving a more constant flow of units. And if you also have a more constant flow of units you can keep more pressure on the enemy, thus giving you a big advantage.This Paragraph will be dedicated to training. I will make a list of things you can practice to improve your skills. Scenario's will be provided soonly, don't worry.When you do not succees in killing the enemy with a big attack or raiding, and he golds ground, you might want to think about going Heroic. You can do this easier by researching gathering speed technologies first (on top of those that you got from advancing to Classical). Then start making less soldiers and more villagers. Get more recources and keep pressure on the enemy. Contain him, and make sure he can't get to any goldmines outside his town! Keep raiding him to prevent HIM from going Heroic. During the advance to heroic build an extra Town Center and start researching Soldier upgrade technologies. So when you get to Heroic, you will have your army fully-upgraded faster, meaning you have more chance of killing the enemy. Also, throw in some Heroic Myth units, they excel at killing buildings (Nemean Lion, Scarab, Behemoth, Mountain Giant). You will have so many villagers due to the recources needed for advance you will have a big surplus. Make sure you go Heroic with two Town Centers, becouse in Heroic you will need even more villagers. Becouse in Heroic you will be able to get even more Population room.Good luck in Classical. :)Okay, we have landed in Heroic age. The age where the real big fights begin. In Heroic you will starts to get the "harfline" units. These are the specialisations. Some units really begin to fall out of the normal line becouse of their strength : Thor Ulfsarks, Zeus Hoplites, Poseidon Cavalry, Hades Toxotes, Set Slingers, etc. The counter grid has even become more difficult. You have an archer-countering infantry, you get your first seige. You will be capable of making very specialized units from very strong buildings.From these you can make units that will decide battles. You have Camels, Long-ranged archers (Egyptian), Soldiers that have a multipler versus Myth units (Norse), you have all killing specialized units (Greek).Also, you will have some more costly upgrades. That is why you still have to keep villagers coming. You will get upgrades that cost 300+ of each resource. Also, this is the age where you get the "Levy" technology. This will make a specific unit train faster. This is a must-have technology for mass units. A good idea for Loki is :Levy also comes in handy when it comes to sea. When you have Levy Dock, so in Heroic you can make a fleet faster, which will give you the sea if you use your ships in the right way.In Heroic you will be able to build a Market. Here you can trade recources and set up caravan routes. You should ALWAYS make caravans, becouse if you have lots, gold will be pouring in, which will enable you to trade lots of recources. You should place the market somewhere far off from your Town Center. Your best bet would be in a corner, where it is quite hidden.Heroic Age battles differ alot form Classical ones. In Classical, you could cripple your enemy with a medium-sized attack. In Heroic however, you need large armies and often costly siege weapons. But, in Heroic are hidden some of the most useful God Powers in the game : Walking Woods, Bronze, Flaming Weapons, etc. These are the kind of God Powers that relly turn a battle. You should use them in a crucial point, like when you are attacking someone's (key) Town Center.In Heroic you need to mix in alot of Fortress units. They are the most uselful of all. For example, Chariot Archers are among the best hit-and-run attackers in the game. Huskarls are easily to be massed and whipe out every building that comes in their path. Destroyers (especially Hero Desroyers) tear down buildings in a matter of seconds. These units should make up about 60% of your army. The rest should be counters, or if needed, siege. Myth units are quite costly in Heroic, so only buy those that will really decide a lot (Manticore's won't really turn the tide for killing a TC, while a Mountain Giant will definetly make a lot of difference.) of how the game will end. In Heroic, it is also advisable that you put a lot more villagers on gold than that is needed. In Heroic you will find yourself researching and making so much, that your gold can't keep up. As everything costs gold, but not everything costs wood or food. Recource technologies really come in handy here, as they will have a bigger effect as you have mroe villagers.Also, your army will need more Heroes than in Classical Age, as you will be dealing with Myth Units that have huge amounts of hitpoints (Behemoth, Mountain Giant, these types of units.) Mix in a Hero or 5-6 to be able to deal those Myth Units quicklyWhen you are still in balance with the enemy, and you still can't win, you should go to Mythic Age. This will be no problem as you have a lot of villagers at your disposal, and sufficient gold from trade routes to trade some at the Market. But be warned, in your approach to Mythic you should always make a big army, so that in case the enemy attacks, you will be better able to defend yourself when going to Mythic.There is not really much to tell about going to Mythic age than that you should make more upgrades, so yo can research the top-layer Mythic ones. Maybe plop down a couple of Towers when going to Mythic to make sure your defense will be strong, as your enemy might be on his way to Mythic Age too.Hold on in Heroic, you are going to the cream of the cream of AoM. :)As you might have guessed, micro can decide a battle. If you micro your army will fight with about 1.5 times the force than if you wouldn't. This is becouse if you micro your units, they have more effective, as micro is a little bit about letting them fire (attack) on one unit at a time. Which will kill it nearly instantly, giving you a slightly better position. But, on the other hand, micro takes a lot of effort, and you need to be good at it to be effective. Looking at recorded games with big battles will really help you out on this. You will see how experts move their army. Attack, then retreat, attack, and pretend to be retreating, and suddenly slaughter a oncoming force.Another big thing about micro is that it not only makes your units more effective, but it makes them last longer. As micro, they will be a large force acting very efficient both offensive and defensive. When you are raiding, you try to spare your Raiding Cavalry by moving them away from the towers. This in essence is micro. You will be seeing yourself doing the same with battles : Move cavalry to the flanks, and archers far and protected in the back, and Myth units away from Heroes.Outmicroing your opponent will also improve your battle skills. Every time you outmicro your opponent, you learn something new about micro, maybe a new way of moving your units, or a new flanking tactic. Or maybe a combination of units. Micro also takes place when building your forward base. You have to place buildings effectively, and you don't want units to be delayed becouse they have to walk around buildings alot.This may seem weird, but there are certain things to be followed when starting a battle. A battle starts when about roughly 20 vs 20 units fight eachother. This is often a result of forward base attacking : someone defends himself (herself :unsure:). Big battles also occur most furing Heroic, when people want to grab Town Centers. With battles there are certainto follow :

