Age of Mythology In-depth FAQ Hades Strategy Guide Written by elbac2000 Version 1.16 =============== Version History =============== 1.17: I no longer play AoM, and I haven't played for a long time either. For this reason I can't answer any questions by e-mail anymore. A new message is posted in Sources and Contacting info. 1.16: The FAQ name has been changed to Hades Strategy Guide instead of Greek/Hades FAQ. 1.15: I have added a whole new section on how to win with a wonder. I have also added a sub section on how to use Gastraphetes. Enjoy! 1.08: I have added some line borders to make titles easier to see. The Hades archers section has been added to, with three new sub-sections! This is a minor update making it a plus .03 version increase. 1.05 First update: I have fixed spelling and grammar errors and added more info and rewrote some of the food getting section (number 5 of the table of contents). The minor God Path section was totally redone, with lots of more info added. It was also divided up into sections (ex.: 6.1, 6.2). This is a semi-major update making it a 0.05 version increase. Introduction ------------- Hello, this is an in-depth FAQ on the Greek civilization mainly focusing on the God Hades. If you want to know about how to use the Greeks and Hades strategy wise, then you have come to the right place. You will learn why Hades can help you and why he has many advantages over other Gods. This guide will help in multiplayer battles against friends or on ESO. I will go through Hades bonuses, God Powers, Minor Gods and units. Hopefully reading this guide will help you become better with Hades. Please head on down to number 7 on the table of contents to contact me. I would love to hear about how this FAQ has helped you! Important! - This guide is written assuming you're playing another person online. Some tips may not appeal to people playing the computer. So thus it should help you in your online gaming, but feel free to use the tips for campaign levels and single player games too. PLEASE NOTE: THIS FAQ IS FOR GAMEFAQS.COM ONLY!!! YOU MAY NOT USE IT OR COPY IT ONTO YOUR WEBSITE! ================= Table of Contents ================= 1) The Greeks in general and general strategy 2) Hades in general 3) Hades' bonuses 4) Hades' archers 4.1) Regular Foot Archers 4.2) Peltasts 4.3) Gastraphetes 4.4) How to use Gastraphetes 5) Good ways to get constant food 6) Good Minor God path for Hades 6.1) Classical Age 6.2) Heroic Age 6.3) Mythic Age 7) Wonder Victory with Hades 8) Sources and contacting info -------------------------------------------- 1) The Greek in general and general strategy -------------------------------------------- The Greeks are shown as the main civilization in the story line and are frequently underestimated. Their superior technology and armor can be used to your advantage all the time. Something very important to remember is that the Greeks are the most well rounded group in the game. Remember this: Greeks = Well rounded Egyptians = Defensive Norse = Offensive Some examples are walls. The Egyptians have four different stages of walls starting at wooden walls and going to citadel walls. The Norse have two stages and the Greeks have three placing them right in the middle. The same with towers, Egyptians have four stages, Norse two and Greek three. A Greek can defend themselves just as good, and even better than the other races. A Greek villager can get food, gold and wood at the same rate as a Norse gatherer. The Egyptian laborers have a slightly slower rate so thus they have the empowering ability. Greeks also build faster than Egyptians and build at the same rate as the Norse. If you have ever noticed, some Norse players are driven down to the last resort and turn their gatherers into ulfsarks. Well you might be saying, well I want to be the Egyptians since they have better defenses than the Greeks and since I am not that good, defenses work well for me. Well I have the answer to that on how you can get as defensive as possible with Hades, just keep reading. 2) Hades in general As I said in the last section how the Greeks have well rounded defenses, I also mentioned that Hades has even better defenses. Using Hades makes the Greeks even more well rounded. He includes bonuses that help your defenses and offences equally. I even think he is the best Greek God to use against the Norse. Hades is not useful in the cavalry department, nor are the Greeks in general. What Hades is best for is archers. Read the next section for the real reasons to use Hades. ----------------- 3) Hades' Bonuses ----------------- In my opinion Hades' God Power, Bonuses and technology are the best out of all the Greeks. He has the perfect balance between offensive and defensive. Hades God Power: Sentinels: This creates four animated statues that are slow but strong archers. They can be used to protect your or an allies' town center. Some people choose to not use it until they build other town centers in the third age. I personally recommend it on your starting town center, as this is your most important one. Sentinels can act as mini watch towers in the archaic age. They can add extra damage to scouts and against rushes. They are weak against hack and crush damage so watch out and protect them as they don't do a good job of protecting themselves. Overall this gives the enemy more work and a harder time trying to take out additional defenses. If this God Power is used in the archaic age it gives Hades the best defenses at the beginning of the game! Perfect, there you go, something better than the Egyptians! - Important Question - Why is this God Power better than Zeus' Bolt or Poseidon's Lure? Well because it offers the most. When playing the game you can't be concerned about the mythic age if you just started, so very rarely will you be able to use bolt against Hel's Nidhogg or Osiris' Son of Osiris. For example if you are playing Thor or Odin you can try to take out his ulfsarks at the beginning which will set him at a big disadvantage, but the chances of that happening are not one hundred percent. Poseidon's Lure is not that useful especially if you are on a map that has a bounty of animals already and the walk to them is not too far. You might also want to fish or farm instead of hunt. Poseidon's Lure is not bad but not essential and not always needed. So after reading this, Hades has the best God Power. Sentinels are good anywhere and anytime! Hades' Bonus #1 All buildings have increased hit points and increased attack. There you have it, an upgrade in itself. All building have 25% more hit points. This may range from 100 to 1000 hit points. There is an advantage and a slight disadvantage. The advantage is more defense more you. It will take you opponent longer to take down your buildings making them last longer. The disadvantage is that since they have more hit points they take longer to build. This is not so bad since it is free defense and the extra building time is only a few seconds. The other half is increased attack for ranged buildings. This includes town centers, towers, fortresses and even sentinels (but it's kind of included anyways for sentinels). This is great since a lot people rely on buildings like their town center for protection. Hades' Bonus #2 When human units die they have a 20% chance of returning as a shade. Great bonus! This gives the ability of free extra units. They count as myth units and regular bonus damage against human units like regular myth units. They are great to keep at your base while your army is attacking or send them with your army. Any way you use them is a great bonus to yourself. A unique Greek ability! Hades' Bonus #3 All archer units do more damage. This is the main bonus of Hades. Archers should now always have a part in your army. All archers have 10% increased attack. I will cover the archers in the archers section. Hades' Technology Vaults of Erebus This technology gives you 0.75 of gold every second. It is great to have this but you don't have to! Good for long games where gold runs out. It costs 200 food so don't get it unless you have a lot of extra. Like a mini plenty vault that cannot be stolen. ----------------- 4) Hades' archers ----------------- Greek archers are the only true foot archer in the game. Egyptian slingers are close but they use a different weapon and serve a different purpose than archers. Archers should always be in your army. There are three different types. Archers, Peltasts and Gastraphetes which is only available to Hades. Archers counter infantry; Peltasts counter archers and Gastraphetes also counter infantry but are also effective against buildings. Never have an army of all archers. They do not destroy buildings very well as most buildings block 95% of pierce attacks. Archers are used to take out the infantry your infantry is fights (if that makes sense). They remain at the back of the army so they don't get harmed easily by infantry. Archers don't come with a lot of armor so get them some hack right away if your playing Norse and Pierce first if it's another Greek or Egyptian. The copper weapons upgrade is not needed as Hades provides archers with extra attack. Get that upgrade when you have a surplus of resources. If your opponent is Norse, archers will counter their units if they don't use cavalry. Throwing axmen and ulfsarks are very weak to arrows if they don't have shields. 4.1) Regular Foot Archers These are the main archer unit for the Greeks. These units have a bow and arrow and have a pretty good range. Below is a table on how you should consider archers in your army. If you are against... Another Greek: Archers should make up one third to one half of your main army. Greeks usually don't use too many horses, so your archers stand more of a chance. Your archers will help get rid of his infantry, so defiantly have them. Egyptian: You will not need as many against these opponents. They automatically get guard towers in Classical and your archers are useless against them. Their starting archer unit will be a slinger. These are like Peltasts; they will counter your archers. Have some archers but much more infantry. Priests will also counter archers. Norse: Archers should be at least half of your main army. Feel free to add even more! Throwing Axmen and ulfsarks will fall to your pierce attacks! Watch out for cavalry, so include hoplites too. 4.2) Peltasts Peltasts become available at the Heroic Age. These are counter archers who have a weak pierce attack against all units except archers. Peltasts throw a long wooden javelin. Use Peltasts against other archers; these include: Greek archers, chariot archers, Gastraphetes and even throwing axmen. Since Peltasts are good versus numerous units, include them with your archers. 4.3) Gastraphetes Gastraphetes are only available in the Mythic Age at the fortress. These archers, attack with a crossbow type weapon, which has a slower reload time than the other archers. Gastraphetes are the only archers who have a crush attack; giving them bonus damage versus buildings. They can be used to counter all types of infantry as well. I find Gastraphetes cannot replace your archers, but they are great backup and are good in helping at destroying buildings. These are very useful if you can afford to make room for them in your army. Gastraphetes can outrange buildings making them great for attacking! 4.4) How to use Gastraphetes When playing quite a few games in the Mythic Age, I have learned something; Gastraphetes are your best friend! They are the perfect siege weapons. With their crossbow type weapon they can inflict massive damage to buildings. It is very important to get the Burning Pitch upgrade at the armory that makes your archers do more damage to buildings and ships. I would get around 14-20 Gastraphetes as soon as you can. Always put them behind other units, so include them in your main army. While your front infantry defends them, you destroy and buildings you want. You will watch town centers go down in seconds! This strategy works best when going for a Wonder Victory, as they can attack your opponent quickly to waist his time! --------------------------------- 5) Good ways to get constant food --------------------------------- This is my food guild for the Greeks focusing on Hades' but can be used with Zeus and Poseidon if you leave out his God Power, Lure. - At the at the start - When you begin, on no matter what level, always send your villagers for the chickens first if not than berries. Meanwhile get you horse scout to get as many of the herding animals as possible (goats, cows and pigs). When your chickens or berries are out use those food gatherers to build a temple. Then send them to the herd animals. At the same time have about 4 on wood and 3 on gold. Advance to classical when ready which is about 15-20 villagers and of course when you have the food. - If the map has water with fishing - If the map is a water one, with fishing, then build a dock closest to an area with fish. Don't build your dock just anywhere, search around for at least 1 to 3 schools of fish and have your dock built there. Do this for additional docks too! The best fishing maps are Mediterranean and Anatolia. Midgard is okay for fishing but there fish are not always grouped together like the first two. Be careful as you might get attacked by enemy arrow ships. Don't panic, try to counter them and if you can't beat them then forget about fishing and go to farming. I don't recommend starting a water war but if you can handle it, go for it. Also, scout for if he has any docks so you know to make arrow ships. - Desert maps - If there is no water but lots of food, such as Savannah, get nearby animals but don't go too far. Go to the biggest herds of animals and then go to farming. You will see it is a waist of time to keep on moving you gatherers around the map. - Regular maps - If it is a regular map with no fishing and not that many animals, it's farming time. Build 7 to 8 farms around you town center and get the farming upgrade. I find this delivers the most constant supply of food. - Wood is most important for food getting - No matter if it is farming or fishing, you must get a ton of wood, as they both require wood. So concentrate on wood as mush as possible. Wood is important for buildings and archers too! ---------------------- 6) Good Minor God path ---------------------- 6.1) - First Minor Gods, the Classical Age - I would choose Ares. He gives you one more upgrade than Athena and has a better God Power. He gives you upgrades that make you units stronger. * His God Power * Pestilence, his God Power, stops military building from producing units. & His Myth Unit & His myth unit, the Cyclops, is my favorite! They can throw units as their special attack. They do crush damage along with hack damage. !!!Important note about Cyclops!!! Make sure to get Elder Cyclops who has twice as much attack! This is great when attacking his base! With doubled crush attack your opponent's buildings are in danger. ???Why is Ares better than Athena??? Athena's restoration isn't that useful as you can wait for the heroic age and get Apollo's healing temples. Athena does include some good defense technologies but getting armory upgrades can do the same thing. These technologies would only be useful in longer games where you have the time and resources to research these technologies. The Minotaur is cheaper and weaker than the Cyclops. (You get what you pay for!) The Cyclops has crush attack which the Minotaur lacks. Meaning the Minotaur has no other purpose than a giant overpriced melee unit. 6.2) - The Heroic Age - In Heroic, go Apollo, hands down. His upgrades help your archers, which is perfect. You can also research temple of healing which makes temples heal units that go to them. It only heals them one at a time though. He also gives a research that can give units and buildings improved line of sight * His God Power * His God Power, underworld passage, can be a game deciding factor or may not be used at all. It creates a two way portal that transports units instantly. It is most effective when cast at the back of your opponent's main base. & His Myth Unit & The Manticore is a great archer who benefits from Hades. It is a great addition to your archers. The Manticore has a special attack in which it launches 6 darts which do 15 pierce damage each. If your wood supply is good, getting one of these won't be a big problem. ???Why is Apollo better than Aphrodite??? While Aphrodite has very good researches, her God Power and myth unit aren't as useful as Apollo's, especially when using Hades. The Nemean Lion is another expensive melee unit. The Manticore is best because it is an archer, meaning it doesn't take damage form the front line. It also takes Hades' archer bonuses making it even stronger. Her God Power Curse is not as effective and only makes about 10 to 12 pigs from experience. It is not as much a game deciding factor like Underworld Passage. 6.3) - The Mythic Age - It's up to you in the Mythic Age. I will list the good and bad of each Minor God and you can make the decision because they are both good decisions. Artemis has one good attacking God Power but the rest is useless. Hephaestus is more balanced and has a much better myth unit. I would lean more towards Hephaestus. * Hephaestus * God Power: Plenty This creates a Plenty Vault which gives you food, wood and gold every five seconds. This will give you a great advantage as gold mines start to run low. This can help you create a massive army. The bad part is that it can be stolen from you. If you're beaten in the area near your opponent will gain control of it. Be sure to protect it and place it in a safe area. Myth Unit: Colossus It is one of the best myth units in the game. It has a very strong attack and tons of hit points. Its unique feature is that it can heal it self by eating from gold mines and trees. Maybe you can try to eat your opponent's gold mine! They can be upgraded to Silver Colossus and Gold Colossus. Technologies: Forge of Olympus which makes armory upgrade 75% cheaper. Weapon of the Titans which makes unique units have 10% more attack. These technologies are great for those upgrades you haven't yet got. * Artemis * God Power: Earthquake The God Power can decide a game or it can add the finishing touches. It deals a crazy amount of crush damage to buildings, so cast it around his military buildings. It does very little damage to human units. This is the most damaging God Power to buildings for the Greeks. Myth Unit: Chimera A melee lion type unit that has a special attack that can blow fire. In terms of melee myth units this one doesn't match up against the Colossus. You can research Flames of Typhon which gives them 30% more attack, 20% more hit points and their special attack does 30% more damage. Technologies: Plague Arrows: this gives archers 15% more pierce attack. Trierarch: this gives Triremes 20% more crush armor. Plague Arrows is not necessary because I would think your archers are strong enough by now. Trierarch is only necessary if you are going to be doing naval battles; otherwise it is useless since you don't always have a map with water on it. ------------------------- Wonder Victory with Hades ------------------------- A great way to win a game is by a Wonder. This type of game is for players who have sometime to a longer game, which lasts about an hour. Using this strategy can give you the opportunity to frustrate your opponent and have a little fun instead of always going for a military victory, at which you have a better chance of losing. I will run you through the tasks on how to win with a wonder. Archaic Age Your main goal is to get to the Mythic Age as fast as possible. You will need to farm or fish in order to get the necessary food in time. Lay down your Sentinels at your main base. Classical Age I would get Athena instead of Ares because her God Power will help heal your Wonder or buildings later in the game. When you reach Classical, get watch towers and their upgrades, build a few more. If your opponent rushes in Classical, try to hold him off and building towers will help you. Concentrate on your resources and favor. No upgrades at the armory are required. Heroic Age Get Aphrodite, as Curse will help get rid of invaders and her technologies, Golden Apples and Divine Blood are very important. Golden Apples makes your villagers gather favor 15 percent faster and Divine Blood makes your villagers build and move faster as well as carry more resources. Build three fortresses and more towers, but leave room for your wonder. Start making walls too. Mythic Age Get Hephaestus as the Plenty Vault will give you resources to help get you wonder faster. You don't have to start your wonder yet; I would get everything you need first, such as TONS of fortresses and towers. Now upgrade your towers fully and your walls too. Build multiple layers of walls, but not to close to each other as they will take splash damage if they are to close. Start your wonder and keep creating villagers that are rallied to the wonder. Get the two technologies at the town center that will give your buildings more hit points and make them more resistant to siege damage. Now make an army, you cannot defend with out one! Get the units that you like best. I would recommend hoplites and Gastraphetes as well as all the heroes. Gastraphetes can attack your opponent to get rid of his buildings really quick. Check section 4.4 on how to use them. Once the wonder is complete keep building anything you can. Towers, fortresses, town centers and walls will all do. Don't stop, keep telling your self that you don't have enough defenses. Don't forget your army. I hope you win and you probably should unless he has a sick amount of siege and maybe even Gastraphetes. I have only lost once when building a Wonder, I have also won at the last second and only because may wonder lasted because of the extra hit points, so remember that. I hope this helps. ------------------------------ 8) Sources and contacting info ------------------------------ I hope you have enjoyed this in-depth FAQ and have learned a lot on how to use Hades. Information for this FAQ was found on AOM Heaven at http://aom.heavengames.com/ Edited note: Sorry, but I don't play AoM anymore, so I'm afraid I can't help you anymore by e-mail. My FAQ is as much as I can help you, so I hope it helps you. Thank you.