A guide to Zeus

By eX_Hope
Published 4/2/03, AoM v1.04

Introduction

Zeus has often been classified as one of the weaker gods in Age of Mythology, but by utilizing some of his special bonuses he can become incredibly powerful, and extremely tough to tangle with for a player on the opposite side. How can you you utilize these bonuses you ask? Read on to find out!

Zeus Bonuses

  • Hoplites move 12% faster
  • Villagers generate favor 20% faster
  • Infantry do damage x1.5 to buildings
  • God Power: Bolt Kill a single target unit instantly.
  • Technology: Olympic Parent Heroes have 25% more hit points.

Heroes

  • Archaic Age: Jason (Infantry): The basic Greek Archaic hero. Pretty nice for stopping rushes.
  • Classical Age: Odysseus (Archer): Once again, a nice little aid for stopping rushes. Really packs a punch against MU’s.
  • Heroic Age: Heracles (Infantry): Similar to Jason, not that great of a hero.
  • Mythic Age: Bellerephon (Cavalry hero, does jump attack): Considered by many to be the best hero in the game, Bellerephon rides Pegasus into battle and can perform jump attacks that deal a great deal of damage.

Minor Gods

  • Classical Age: Ares, Hermes
  • Heroic Age: Apollo, Dionysus
  • Mythic Age: Hera, Hephaestus

Archaic Age

  • Select your scout and control+1 it so you can select it faster.
  • Put your first 6-7 villagers (total) to food.
  • Next two villagers to wood.
  • Next two villagers to gold.
  • Next villager to build house, then to wood.
  • Next 4-5 villagers to food.
  • As you are putting villagers on to food after gold and wood, when you see your gold and wood around 100, start building your temple with 1 villager.
  • Next few villagers to gold. You may also want to research husbandry at this time.

When to Advance

The best time to advance is when you can afford it, depending on who your opponent is and what your resources are like.

Against Norse: You will not want to advance any later than 5:30 on a land map and 5:50 on a water map.

Against Egypt: Really depends what you feel like doing, fast attack, average approach or a slow classical boom.

Economy Techs

  • Pickaxe: Get this during the classical transition only if you are not going before 5 minutes. This improves villager gold mining by 10% and increases carry capacity by 5.
  • Hand Axe: Get this also during the classical transition only if you are not going before 5 min. This improves villager wood chopping by 10% and increases carry capacity by 5.
  • Husbandry: A lot of herdables on your map? This is good for that. It makes your villagers carry 100% more food and gather herdable animals 20% faster.
  • Hunting Dogs: This is a must-have tech on hunting maps; these maps usually include watering hole, savannah and alfheim. It boosts villager hunting rate by 30%.

Water Build

I have been experimenting and this usually gives me the maximum villager count: Of your first 3 villagers, send one to build a dock, the other two to the nearest forest. Next 6-7 villagers go to food and the dock builder goes to wood when finished. Now just keep adding villagers to wood and food according to what you need. Using Bolt: Bolt is great for stopping the enemy get their dock up in archaic, or bolting hero’s that attack your myth units, or bolting your opponents strong units.

Next: The Classical Age