Zeus - Poseidon - Hades

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Zeus

Zeus was born to Kronos and Rhea, both titans. Because his father was told he would be overthrown by a child of his, he swallowed each of his children at birth. Eventually Rhea grew tired of this, and substittued a large stone in place of Zeus. When he grew, he came to rescue his siblings, and overthrow his father. The titans were then banished to Tartarus. Zeus was given the reign of the immortals at Olympus and took the mantel of thunder among others. He is often pictured holding a Bolt of Lightning, forged by his son Hepasteus. He is married to Hera.


CIVILIZATION BONUSES:
The Zeus player starts with favor (25), gains favor faster than other Greek cultures, and has a favor cap of 200, instead of the 100 imposed on every other major god. Hoplites hop faster. Hoplites (infantry) move faster (approx. 10%) than other infantry. Infantry cause extra damage to buildings. Double damage to buildings hit by infantry weapons. The Myrmidon is a unique unit to Zeus built in the mythic age fortress. The Myrmidon is an infantry unit with bonus damage versus Egyptian and Norse units.


GOD POWER:
Bolt. Bolt is capable of killing any one unit that the player has line of sight on.


UNIQUE TECNOLOGY:
Olympic Parentage. Zeus supplies your hero units with extra hit points



MINOR GOD CHOICES:
Classical Age Athena, Hermes
Heroic Age Apollo, Dionysus
Mythic Age Hephaestus, Hera


TIPS FOR PLAYING:
The best use of the Bolt power is to hold off and see if a Norse Loki player goes Hel in the Mythic or a Ra player worships Osiris. Each of these two gods grant a GP that creates a very powerful unit hard to kill by other means.

Bolt will do the job easily. Another decent use of this power is to kill an enemy hero unit in a large battle to turn the tide quickly, or to destroy an enemy scout early, so they are crippled in knowledge.

Because Zeus gains favor faster, the player can save population slots by not creating as many worshippers. This can then be used for extra gatherers or troops.

Hoplites move faster and since they are infantry, they counter cavalary. They are excellent at getting into formations of enemy cav units and tearing them apart. They are also good at raiding economic drop sites due to their extra speed and bonus damage to buildings.

Zeus' infantry cause doble damage to all buildings, which makes them excellent at seige without the need for large amounts of siege weaponry. Because of the damage bonus from infantry, and the fact that the Myrmydon does bonus damage to Norse and Egyptian units, they make an excellent army with little support needed.

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Poseidon

Poseidon is one of Zeus' older brothers, swallowed at birth by Kronos. Being immortal, he was undigested.

Poseidon is usually closely associated with the sea, but he was also the Lord of Horses. He and Athene were competing for the favor of the city of Athens. Poseidon gave the city the horse as his attempt, but lost to Athene who gave the olive tree.


CIVILIZATION BONUSES:
When a dock is built, a free Hippocampus is spawned. If killed, it respawns at the dock. The hippocampus is a free naval scout unit with no attack.

Militia appear at destroyed buildings. The militia do not count against your population, nor do they cost you anything (except the destroyed building!). They are relatively weak, but can help if the enemy forces were weakened during their assault. The larger a building destroyed, the more militia that appear.

The market is cheaper to use. All transactions are 10% less then other civs. I am not sure if this also applies to buying caravans or researching the market techs.

Cavalry is cheaper. All cavalry units are 10% cheaper.

Stables are cheaper. Stables cost 50% less than other Greek stables.

Poseidon allows an extra hero unit in the Argo. This allows him to field five hero units at a time. The Argo is built at the dock.

Gastraphetes, a powerful archer unit, unique to Hades.


GOD POWER:
Lure. Lure causes animals to slowly come towards the stone that is the symbol of the power. It lures a set amount of food before fading away. There is a small problem though, in that not only does it lure herdables and huntables, it also lures predators that will attack and eat your gatherers.


UNIQUE TECHNOLOGY:
Lord of Horses. Your cavalry units will gain a much larger line of sight, making them ideal for scouting or raiding the enemies economic bases.


MINOR GOD PATHS:
Classical Age Ares, Hermes
Heroic Age Aphrodite, Dionysus
Mythic Age Artemis, Hephaestus


TIPS FOR PLAYING:
Because of the bonuses gained by worshipping Poseidon, his cavalry are very strong and make a good back bone to your army. It is best to follow the god path through Hermes and Dionysus to get all the benefits.

The cheaper market use allows you to build more donkey caravans for the same money as another player. This can allow you to gain more gold quicker in the late game when gold mines can become scarce or dangerous.

The hippocampus allows youto keep an eye on your enemies fishing operations for a quick raid, as well as allow you to see what naval forces are being built.

Since Lure can bring dangerous animals to your gatherers, cast it close to your first TC so that it can fire arrows at wolves and the like. Cast it early as well so that the animals aren't cleared from the map before you can benefit from its power.

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Hades

Hades is brother to Zeus and Poseidon. He was the God of the Dead and ruler of the Underworld. Since all precious minerals and metals came from the realm of Hades, he is also considered lord of Wealth. This is reflected in his Vault of Erebus improvement. Shades were the denezins of the Underworld and as such Hades commands them in battle. Hades gains excellent archers.


CIVILIZATION BONUSES:
Shades. 20% of all unit loses (only human units!) will return to fight again as Shades. They appear at your temple and are not as strong as during life, but they are free. They don't count against your population.

Stronger buildings. Hades buildings have more hit points (25% higher) and are therefore harder to destroy.

Stronger archer and building attack. Buildings gain about 20% extra pierce attack and archers gain about 10%.


GOD POWER:
Sentinel. Invoking Sentinel creates up to 4 (depends on building placement) 'living' statues that defend one toen center. It can be cast on an allies TC as well. Any improvement that makes a building stronger affects Sentinels.


UNIQUE TECHNOLOGY:
Vault of Erebus. Researching the Vault of Erebus gives the benefit of a trickle of gold constantly. It's not a huge amount at a time (about .3 gold per second or 1 gold every 3 seconds), but it is free gold once it is researched.


MINOR GOD PATHS:
Classical Age Ares, Athena
Heroic Age Aphrodite, Apollo
Mythic Age Artemis, Hephaestus



TIPS FOR PLAYING:
Once engaged in battle, periodically check your temple for any Shades that can be sent back into battle.

Hades is best played as a defensive civilization due to his many building improvements. Go into battle only when you have created a large army capable of defeating the enemy easily.

Because Hades gains so many archer bonuses, consider using them as the backbone to your army. Follow Ares and Apollo to gain more benefits.

Keep the Sentinel GP until you or your ally start expanding. Drop it on a TC you consider important to your war effort. If you try to place it, and you are shown one or more red statues, consider deleting the building(s) that are in the way, then casting the GP. That way, all 4 will appear. Remember to upgrade them by researching any improvements to buildings (sight line, attack, etc.).

Although the Vault of Erebus won't make you rich, it will give you access to slightly more gold than a player with the same amount of gold miners and improvements. This will allow you to build more Toxotes and other archer units.

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