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AoM adds a great deal of depth to the game by forcing players to choose between the gods. During each of the game’s four Ages, or levels of development, you will choose one god to worship. In the first age, the beginning of the game, you choose the deity that you will follow as a whole. During each succeeding age, you will choose one additional god to follow, adding his or her strengths to your civilization.

There are three gods to choose between for each faction, at each Age after the first. What makes the choice interesting, though, is that you get three different gods at each Age, and again, choosing one god effectively means turning your back on the other two. Complicating matters is the fact that, even though each faction can choose between three gods, each major deity only gets to choose between two. Therefore, you need to be even more careful planning your strategies—certain combinations of gods and deities simply cannot happen during a game.

For example, the Greeks have the following gods to choose from during the Mythical (final) Age:

Artemis, goddess of the hunt
Hephaestus, god of the forge and labour
Hera, the queen of the gods

Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are all allowed to choose Hephaestus as their god for the Mythical Age, but while Poseidon and Hades have to choose between Hephaestus and Artemis, Zeus must choose between Hephaestus and Hera. So, by choosing Zeus, you effectively eliminate your ability to choose Artemis from the moment the game begins. Since Artemis offers significant upgrades to your archers, you need to make tradeoffs.

Often, you can choose a particular “line” of deity and gods to super-enhance some of your troops. On the other hand, since AoM uses a unit counter model (more on that below), doing so leaves you vulnerable to your opponent(s) countering your troops. Choosing whether to focus all your research and god bonuses on, for example, cavalry or spreading out and diversifying adds a lot to the game, and greatly enhances its replay value.

Mythological Powers and Myth Units

A further strategic implication of your choices of deities and gods is the mythological powers each one provides. Each member of your pantheon provides you with an immensely powerful ability that you can use at will. The catch: each ability can only be used once per game. Selecting your gods to provide abilities that are useful during a particular game, and knowing when to use them, is a very important part of your overall strategy.

For example, Zeus lends you his “Bolt” power, which calls down a lightning bolt that instantly kills any targeted unit, irrespective of its cost or power. You may want to use it during an early rush, in order to kill off 1 extra defender to tilt the odds in your favour, or you might want to save it for late game, in order to eliminate a big, powerful enemy unit.

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