Well, I have been playing Zeus since the game came out...
I only got my rating close to 1780 and cannot get up higher....
Zeus needs INSANE amount of WOOD to defend Norse rush early on... need WOOD for barracks, stables, archeries, HOUSE, and most importantly, farm for food....
These buildings/farms eat WOOD for breakfast, leaving me a few logs for making archers...
This is not to say those RCs run faster than Olympic Runners; none of my army can catch them. Nothing I can do (other than walling a few places) to defend them harrassing my workers...
Norse can get to heroic and build army in about 12min. Zeus cannot go to heroic until that time if NO army is built....
Once norse is in heoric, you know the story, ram, ram, Jarl, etc. fighting my 2nd age backward troops.
I am swithing over to Loki.... finally....
Giving up....