god powers

Against the Norse, it is often an idea to bolt the starting ulfsark. The Norse need their ulfsark not only to scout, but to place buildings. Finding the ulfsark and bolting him early on sets back the Norse player’s scouting, and is likely to hamper his requirement for houses and a temple to advance. (Which can ultimately result in him getting stuck at the pop limit unexpectedly, or slow down his advance.) He also has to spend additional resources on a new ulfsark. Bolting the ulfsark is particularly effective when the Norse player is constructing his temple. This will definitely slow down his advance.

Against a Greek player, if you bolt the scout quickly, (and by 'quickly' I mean in the first minute or so) you will also set him back significantly. He will not have a good knowledge of resources on the map, (which can hamper his economy) and little knowledge of your town’s location and the resources around it. (Which will hamper a rush or at the very least, make attacking harder.) He cannot regain the ability to scout effectively without building an expensive temple and purchasing a Pegasus. However, the advantage of bolting the Greek scout is not as clear cut as using it on an ulfsark, so if you can’t get the scout early, consider retaining bolt for something else instead.

Failing these two situations, you should generally use bolt as early as possible. It won’t make much difference to take out one soldier out of 20, (unless we're talking a myth unit) but taking out a single cavalry unit out of four may allow you win a critical early skirmish. Always remember to use it on the toughest unit, and don’t target it on wounded units.

Retaining Bolt for late in the game is risky, but can sometimes also be effective. If you know a player personally likes to use the Son of Osiris or Nidhogg god power, then you can instantly take out either of these behemoths with bolt.

Creates a stone that draws animals towards it. The closer the animals are, the more of them it will attract. The stone remains in place until it has attracted a set number of animals, then collapses.

Many players will be tempted to drop the Lure GP right next to the TC at the start of the game. Often however, this isn't always the best. It may 'attract' units that your villagers are already hunting nearby, or it will cull down numbers of herds that would ordinarily be good spots to place a granary. Also because you haven't scouted extensively yet, the nearest food sources to your TC may be only wolves and bears! Wait a little while and evaluate the area before casting Lure. It may be wiser to cast it near a granary further from your TC, or cast it after your villagers have finished with a group of animals close to your TC.

First of all, Sentinels are very inaccurate against moving targets. Your Town Center, early in the game, is a big threat to enemy scouts. However, if they suddenly see revealed in the fog a Sentinel firing at them (and missing, or even if it hits, doing less damage) they'll avoid the TC. If you want, sometimes it is effective to call Sentinels just as a scout comes within range of your TC. The TC will do its normal damage to the scout, and the sentinels may be enough to kill it, setting your enemy back considerably.

If this doesn't occur, save Sentinels for the first time you encounter the need to fight close to a Town Center. Perhaps this may not occur until the Heroic Age, when you have taken a settlement and want to use it offensively. Perhaps your ally may need help and four sentinels will make the difference. Or perhaps you'll just end up using it on your own TC - but still don't cast it until you actually need it. Once you've used it, you can't go back. Classical Age God Powers

Prevents combat from occurring for one minute’s duration. Fortress and tower construction is halted while in effect. God powers can still be invoked, however.

Ceasefire is a great GP. Basically any time you get a nasty surprise that could end up hurting you badly, you can go ahead and fire it off to reduce the chance of being hurt considerably. There are two general examples of this: first, god powers. Several god powers like Frost, Bronze, or Ancestors are all time reliant. By using ceasefire, you have effectively nullified the benefits of those GP's, or at the very least, reduced them considerably. The second example is a surprise attack from an unexpected quarter. An enemy army appears near your undefended town. You will take considerable damage without units there to repel it. Use ceasefire to give your army enough time to get home.

Generally speaking, it may be inadvisable to fire off Ceasefire at the first sign of enemy units. (Something new players may have the instinct to do.) Defeating a handful of cavalry units now with small losses is probably a better idea than being overrun by a far larger army later, when it could have been avoided if you hadn't used your ceasefire in the first place.

Ceasefire, since it is global, can be useful in team games. Co-ordinate with allies to get the most benefit out of it, but also be careful that by invoking ceasefire, you do not ruin an ally's attack.

Don't cast restoration while most of the affected units are fighting. As with all healing methods in AoM, healing occurs faster when the unit is idle, but far slower when fighting.

Don't forget about two attributes of Restoration in choosing when to invoke it: a) it affects buildings and b) it affects allies. If your forward base has just been hit by meteor and you have a large number of injured units and damaged buildings, this can be a good time to use it. If both you and your ally have armies gathered together offensively and they have taken considerable damage, this is also a good time to use it. Think about these two attributes in order to maximize the effect of Restoration.

Causes military buildings in the target area to stop producing units for 45 seconds. Has no effect on town centers, and technologies can still be researched.

Pestilence is by far most useful in executing an early rush. Often no matter how fast you are, you can often only manage to arrive at an enemy town when he has his buildings up and units coming out. But with pestilence you can afford to still attack this early on the strength that you can crucially delay his units coming out. Use this time to harass enemy villagers as much as possible.

Alternately it can be used later in the game where the enemy finds it far easier to replace his losses. He may have 5 or 6 barracks or Longhouses queued with units, but because he is at the pop limit, they won't come out. If you notice you are winning the battle, then press your advantage even further by casting pestilence and taking the buildings out. He is losing units, but they are not being replaced. Meanwhile your units are being replaced at normal speed and can join your units at the front to strengthen your attack even further. Heroic Age God Powers

Deciding when to use Bronze is pretty simple. Use it during a critical battle to increase the armor of your units - thus giving them a better chance of surviving. Bronze also has a rather long duration, so not only can it let you win a critical battle, but can give you the edge to press your advantage and take out enemy fortifications like fortresses and TC's that you might ordinarily take unacceptable losses in attempting to destroy.

Creates two tunnel portals between any locations on the map. Units entering one are instantly transported to the other. The portals can be destroyed by enemy units.

While this can be very strategically powerful, it's not very flexible, and won't have a good use in all games. Don't be surprised if you end a game and find you haven't used Underworld Passage.

The obvious use of this GP is to bypass obstacles to attack from an unexpected quarter. Such things as walls, mountains, bodies of water etc that the enemy counts on to keep you out can be bypassed quickly, and allow your army to pour in and attack from an undefended side. Alternately, if you need to get your army somewhere quickly, it helps as well. Perhaps your ally is under attack and by the time you get there, he'll have taken a huge amount of damage. Perhaps your own town is under attack and your army is on the other side of the map.

Underworld passages cannot be repaired, so protect them carefully. Also, like regular buildings, they are very vulnerable to siege weapons and MU's who deal crush damage.

Turns a number of enemy units in the target area to pigs. The change is based on HP, so it will change more injured units, or less tough units. Does not affect MU’s or heroes. Has a reduced effect on villagers.

Curse is a straightforward GP that's simply used for thinning the ranks of an enemy army and making things a bit easier for you. (If you really want, it can also provide some free food as well.) Don't make the mistake of using it on a hersir based army as some people do. (And to their surprise, don't get what they paid for.) Curse is also particularly effective on ranged units, since ranged units are typically low HP.

Curse can also be used to take a chunk out of your enemy's economy, but be careful in doing this, since it has a reduced effect on villagers. Mythic Age God Powers

Deals significant amounts of damage to enemy units in the target area. The more units there are in the area, the more damage is done. Does not harm friendly units, deals almost no damage to buildings.

Lightning Storm is the best unit killing GP in the game. It does huge amounts of damage, can't be avoided easily, and can be safely cast over your own units. Lightning storm is also slightly random however, so to get more out of it, wait for a big concentration of enemy units. The more units there are in the area, the more units that will get damaged by lightning storm.

Use Lightning Storm when your units are committed in a major battle - this way the enemy has no chance of running away, which they could if you simply cast it over their forward base. Have no fear that the bolts will hit the units of you or your allies!

Creates a vault that generates 15 food, wood and gold every 5 seconds. The vault can be captured by enemy units – it is controlled by whoever has the most units in the area.

The resource generation rate of Plenty is quite substantial - more than four villagers gathering each resource type. You're not just getting free resources, but you're saving the pop slots spent on villagers, as well as the management necessary to keep them working efficiently. This extra edge can make all the difference in late game, but still don't hold the illusion that this can make up for skimping out on economy.

Be sure to cast Plenty somewhere safe. In the middle of your starting town is usually a good idea, since if the enemy has managed to get a sizeable number of units there, you're usually dead anyway. Some players may send a handful of units to capture the vault - be sure to recapture it if they do, don't forget about it. Giving free resources to your opponent is always a bad idea.

Deals massive amounts of crush damage across a wide area – with more damage being dealt towards the center of the area of affect, and less towards the edges. Does not affect farms.

Earthquake is the perfect building killer. Use it to reduce an enemy forward base to rubble. Always follow up use of earthquake with an attack so you can take out the buildings that were only damaged and not destroyed. Because the buildings at the center of the earthquake's effect take more damage than those further out, it's often an idea to target it on fortresses, rather than the geographic center of the building concentration.

Because earthquake deals crush damage it won't really harm regular units. It will nearly always take out siege weapons though, and deals some damage to MU's.

Also, because earthquake does not destroy farms, there's usually no point casting it on an enemy town. (As people often choose to with Meteor.) However…one particularly effective tactic is if you see a cluster of enemy houses to use it on that. It does less initial damage, but suddenly being able to support 100 less units will be a big blow to an enemy player. (Hence it is wise not to build all one's houses in the one location.)


	Archaic Age God Powers Bolt - Zeus Kills any single unit except for an ox-cart or transport ship instantly. Using Bolt: Against the Norse, it is often an idea to bolt the starting ulfsark. The Norse need their ulfsark not only to scout, but to place buildings. Finding the ulfsark and bolting him early on sets back the Norse player’s scouting, and is likely to hamper his requirement for houses and a temple to advance. (Which can ultimately result in him getting stuck at the pop limit unexpectedly, or slow down his advance.) He also has to spend additional resources on a new ulfsark. Bolting the ulfsark is particularly effective when the Norse player is constructing his temple. This will definitely slow down his advance. Against a Greek player, if you bolt the scout quickly, (and by 'quickly' I mean in the first minute or so) you will also set him back significantly. He will not have a good knowledge of resources on the map, (which can hamper his economy) and little knowledge of your town’s location and the resources around it. (Which will hamper a rush or at the very least, make attacking harder.) He cannot regain the ability to scout effectively without building an expensive temple and purchasing a Pegasus. However, the advantage of bolting the Greek scout is not as clear cut as using it on an ulfsark, so if you can’t get the scout early, consider retaining bolt for something else instead. Failing these two situations, you should generally use bolt as early as possible. It won’t make much difference to take out one soldier out of 20, (unless we're talking a myth unit) but taking out a single cavalry unit out of four may allow you win a critical early skirmish. Always remember to use it on the toughest unit, and don’t target it on wounded units. Retaining Bolt for late in the game is risky, but can sometimes also be effective. If you know a player personally likes to use the Son of Osiris or Nidhogg god power, then you can instantly take out either of these behemoths with bolt. Lure - Poseidon Creates a stone that draws animals towards it. The closer the animals are, the more of them it will attract. The stone remains in place until it has attracted a set number of animals, then collapses. Using Lure: Many players will be tempted to drop the Lure GP right next to the TC at the start of the game. Often however, this isn't always the best. It may 'attract' units that your villagers are already hunting nearby, or it will cull down numbers of herds that would ordinarily be good spots to place a granary. Also because you haven't scouted extensively yet, the nearest food sources to your TC may be only wolves and bears! Wait a little while and evaluate the area before casting Lure. It may be wiser to cast it near a granary further from your TC, or cast it after your villagers have finished with a group of animals close to your TC. Sentinels - Hades Summons four Sentinels at any friendly Town Center. Sentinels fire arrows at enemy units and are affected by building upgrades. Using Sentinels: Don't cast Sentinels straight away. This is often a big mistake, for a few reasons. First of all, Sentinels are very inaccurate against moving targets. Your Town Center, early in the game, is a big threat to enemy scouts. However, if they suddenly see revealed in the fog a Sentinel firing at them (and missing, or even if it hits, doing less damage) they'll avoid the TC. If you want, sometimes it is effective to call Sentinels just as a scout comes within range of your TC. The TC will do its normal damage to the scout, and the sentinels may be enough to kill it, setting your enemy back considerably. If this doesn't occur, save Sentinels for the first time you encounter the need to fight close to a Town Center. Perhaps this may not occur until the Heroic Age, when you have taken a settlement and want to use it offensively. Perhaps your ally may need help and four sentinels will make the difference. Or perhaps you'll just end up using it on your own TC - but still don't cast it until you actually need it. Once you've used it, you can't go back. Classical Age God Powers Ceasefire - Hermes (Zeus, Poseidon) Prevents combat from occurring for one minute’s duration. Fortress and tower construction is halted while in effect. God powers can still be invoked, however. Using Ceasefire: Ceasefire is a great GP. Basically any time you get a nasty surprise that could end up hurting you badly, you can go ahead and fire it off to reduce the chance of being hurt considerably. There are two general examples of this: first, god powers. Several god powers like Frost, Bronze, or Ancestors are all time reliant. By using ceasefire, you have effectively nullified the benefits of those GP's, or at the very least, reduced them considerably. The second example is a surprise attack from an unexpected quarter. An enemy army appears near your undefended town. You will take considerable damage without units there to repel it. Use ceasefire to give your army enough time to get home. Generally speaking, it may be inadvisable to fire off Ceasefire at the first sign of enemy units. (Something new players may have the instinct to do.) Defeating a handful of cavalry units now with small losses is probably a better idea than being overrun by a far larger army later, when it could have been avoided if you hadn't used your ceasefire in the first place. Ceasefire, since it is global, can be useful in team games. Co-ordinate with allies to get the most benefit out of it, but also be careful that by invoking ceasefire, you do not ruin an ally's attack. Restoration - Athena (Zeus, Hades) Causes friendly units and buildings in a large area to recover hit points over 5 seconds. Using Restoration: Don't cast restoration while most of the affected units are fighting. As with all healing methods in AoM, healing occurs faster when the unit is idle, but far slower when fighting. Don't forget about two attributes of Restoration in choosing when to invoke it: a) it affects buildings and b) it affects allies. If your forward base has just been hit by meteor and you have a large number of injured units and damaged buildings, this can be a good time to use it. If both you and your ally have armies gathered together offensively and they have taken considerable damage, this is also a good time to use it. Think about these two attributes in order to maximize the effect of Restoration. Pestilence - Ares (Poseidon, Hades) Causes military buildings in the target area to stop producing units for 45 seconds. Has no effect on town centers, and technologies can still be researched. Using Pestilence: Pestilence is by far most useful in executing an early rush. Often no matter how fast you are, you can often only manage to arrive at an enemy town when he has his buildings up and units coming out. But with pestilence you can afford to still attack this early on the strength that you can crucially delay his units coming out. Use this time to harass enemy villagers as much as possible. Alternately it can be used later in the game where the enemy finds it far easier to replace his losses. He may have 5 or 6 barracks or Longhouses queued with units, but because he is at the pop limit, they won't come out. If you notice you are winning the battle, then press your advantage even further by casting pestilence and taking the buildings out. He is losing units, but they are not being replaced. Meanwhile your units are being replaced at normal speed and can join your units at the front to strengthen your attack even further. Heroic Age God Powers Bronze - Dionysus (Zeus, Poseidon) Increases the hack armor and pierce armor of all friendly human units in a small area for one and a half minutes. Using Bronze: Deciding when to use Bronze is pretty simple. Use it during a critical battle to increase the armor of your units - thus giving them a better chance of surviving. Bronze also has a rather long duration, so not only can it let you win a critical battle, but can give you the edge to press your advantage and take out enemy fortifications like fortresses and TC's that you might ordinarily take unacceptable losses in attempting to destroy. Be sure to co-ordinate with your allies the use of bronze to get the most benefit out of it. Underworld Passage - Apollo (Zeus, Hades) Creates two tunnel portals between any locations on the map. Units entering one are instantly transported to the other. The portals can be destroyed by enemy units. Using Underworld Passage: While this can be very strategically powerful, it's not very flexible, and won't have a good use in all games. Don't be surprised if you end a game and find you haven't used Underworld Passage. The obvious use of this GP is to bypass obstacles to attack from an unexpected quarter. Such things as walls, mountains, bodies of water etc that the enemy counts on to keep you out can be bypassed quickly, and allow your army to pour in and attack from an undefended side. Alternately, if you need to get your army somewhere quickly, it helps as well. Perhaps your ally is under attack and by the time you get there, he'll have taken a huge amount of damage. Perhaps your own town is under attack and your army is on the other side of the map. Underworld passages cannot be repaired, so protect them carefully. Also, like regular buildings, they are very vulnerable to siege weapons and MU's who deal crush damage. Curse - Aphrodite (Poseidon, Hades) Turns a number of enemy units in the target area to pigs. The change is based on HP, so it will change more injured units, or less tough units. Does not affect MU’s or heroes. Has a reduced effect on villagers. Using Curse: Curse is a straightforward GP that's simply used for thinning the ranks of an enemy army and making things a bit easier for you. (If you really want, it can also provide some free food as well.) Don't make the mistake of using it on a hersir based army as some people do. (And to their surprise, don't get what they paid for.) Curse is also particularly effective on ranged units, since ranged units are typically low HP. Curse can also be used to take a chunk out of your enemy's economy, but be careful in doing this, since it has a reduced effect on villagers. Mythic Age God Powers Lightning Storm - Hera (Zeus) Deals significant amounts of damage to enemy units in the target area. The more units there are in the area, the more damage is done. Does not harm friendly units, deals almost no damage to buildings. Using Lightning Storm: Lightning Storm is the best unit killing GP in the game. It does huge amounts of damage, can't be avoided easily, and can be safely cast over your own units. Lightning storm is also slightly random however, so to get more out of it, wait for a big concentration of enemy units. The more units there are in the area, the more units that will get damaged by lightning storm. Use Lightning Storm when your units are committed in a major battle - this way the enemy has no chance of running away, which they could if you simply cast it over their forward base. Have no fear that the bolts will hit the units of you or your allies! Plenty - Hephaestus (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades) Creates a vault that generates 15 food, wood and gold every 5 seconds. The vault can be captured by enemy units – it is controlled by whoever has the most units in the area. Using Plenty: The resource generation rate of Plenty is quite substantial - more than four villagers gathering each resource type. You're not just getting free resources, but you're saving the pop slots spent on villagers, as well as the management necessary to keep them working efficiently. This extra edge can make all the difference in late game, but still don't hold the illusion that this can make up for skimping out on economy. Be sure to cast Plenty somewhere safe. In the middle of your starting town is usually a good idea, since if the enemy has managed to get a sizeable number of units there, you're usually dead anyway. Some players may send a handful of units to capture the vault - be sure to recapture it if they do, don't forget about it. Giving free resources to your opponent is always a bad idea. Earthquake - Artemis (Poseidon, Hades) Deals massive amounts of crush damage across a wide area – with more damage being dealt towards the center of the area of affect, and less towards the edges. Does not affect farms. Using Earthquake: Earthquake is the perfect building killer. Use it to reduce an enemy forward base to rubble. Always follow up use of earthquake with an attack so you can take out the buildings that were only damaged and not destroyed. Because the buildings at the center of the earthquake's effect take more damage than those further out, it's often an idea to target it on fortresses, rather than the geographic center of the building concentration. Because earthquake deals crush damage it won't really harm regular units. It will nearly always take out siege weapons though, and deals some damage to MU's. Also, because earthquake does not destroy farms, there's usually no point casting it on an enemy town. (As people often choose to with Meteor.) However…one particularly effective tactic is if you see a cluster of enemy houses to use it on that. It does less initial damage, but suddenly being able to support 100 less units will be a big blow to an enemy player. (Hence it is wise not to build all one's houses in the one location.)