Poseidon gets decent economical archaic gp. Poseidon gets cheaper stables(really important). And most important, poseidon gets militia. Nothing more annoying than destroying a stable and then your enemy gets 2 militia or an archery range and your enemy gets 3 militia.
Lets see. 2 militia for 75 wood and 3 militia for 100wood. An ulfsark costs 80 resources. And you get 2 militia for 75 or 3 militia for 100. 2 militia easily beat an ulfsark and the best thing is that you actually need to make buildings anyway in order to get units produced.
So even if you barely manage to beat a poseidon and you start destroying his base(some part of his base at least), he gets militia which are ownage, retreats them and he can make a new base(hopefully his tc/towers will be able to keep your army away) while he has his militia+whatever army to hold on till he remakes his base.
Also hippikon is a lot faster than hoplites. On higher ratings, everything is about raiding. There is no serious battling and games end even without the major battle. Just cripple your enemy's economy enough so that you can beat him. Even if he has made counters, you dont have to worry since he will never catch your raiders.
Sure you can march across the map in order to attack his base with hoplites but he will just get the tower upgrade and make some toxotes and with some support from his tc, he should be able to hold on. But even as zeus you manage to destroy his stables, he gets militia. And the best thing is that while the zeus player is doing all this, the poseidon player can raid zeus economy and nothing can stop him.
To sum up. Aom currently is only about raiding. No other tactic can help you. He who raids the most effectively wins the game. Even if you get counter units for his cavarly, you wont be able to use them. And when he decides to actually fight your counter army with his army, your economy will be long dead and you wont be able to replace your army fast enough. Not to mention that infantry counters kill cavalry counters more efficient than cavalry counters kill cavalry.
PS Also hoplites will slower your heroic time too. So your enemy will hit heroic sooner and get some nice hypaspists.
[This message has been edited by NIB (edited 07-09-2003 @ 05:34 PM).]