Odin - Thor - Loki

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Odin

Odin is the father of Thor and God of Warfare and Poetry (boy, do they go togethor!). He is also the God of Wisdom and Death. He hung himself upon the World Tree, Yggrdasil to learn about death and sacrificed one of his eyes to get a sip from the waters of wisdom. He was the first of the Norse gods and not usually worshipped by the common man, instead by the warriors. He is not a warrior himself, but was able to
rally his faithful into a frenzy.

CIVILIZATION BONUSES:
Human Unit regeneration. All of Odins human units (except gatherers) will slowly regenerate after taking damage. Idle units will gain faster then ones involved in combat or movement. This is the most powerful healing in the game.
Raven Scouts. Two respawning raven scouts appear at your temple upon reaching the Classical age (2). These birds are powerful scouts, with a decent LOS and only ranged attacks can hurt them. They are respawned at the temple in a short amount of time if killed.
Hill Fort Units get more hitpoints. Odin grants 20% more hitpoints for units built at the Hill Fort. These units include the Jarl (it is possible to create Jarls with 378 Hitpoints) and Huskarls, as well as the portable ram and the ballista (the only pierce damage unit available to the Norse, other than the Troll).
Hunting bonus. Odin gives his followers the ability to hunt faster (10%) than other civilizations, favor and food will come in slightly faster.

GOD POWER:
Great Hunt. Because Odin is also the hunts master, his God Power that reflects this. When cast upon a group of animals (herdables as well as huntables), more animals appear in the herd. As much as half again the
original number can appear.

UNIQUE TECHNOLOGY:
Lone Wanderer. Ulfsarks become faster when Lone Wandered has been researched. This allows them to enter cavalry formations faster and tear them up (Ulfsark is counter-cavalry). Because you also start with Ulfsarks, they become your scout unit and this makes them scout the map for food, gold, relics and the enemy faster.

MINOR GOD PATHS:
Classical Age Freyja, Heimdall
Heroic Age Njord, Skadi
Mythic Age Baldr, Tyr

TIPS FOR PLAYING:
When a battle is done, pull your human units back for a quick rest to improve their regeneration rate. In the long run you can save a pile of resources if you get your units healed instead of replacing them. Consider Freyja for the second age. Even though her myth unit (Valkyries) heal, her bonus technolgy (Thundering Hooves, researched at the Longhouse) makes your cavalry stronger and faster. This allows better Jarls, which are very difficult to counter, even with counter cavalry units. Besides, a few Valkyries in your army helps heal troops even faster. Use your ravens to scout when you get them. Two scouts can cover a lot of ground quickly and when the map is scouted, consider parking them near an enemy to keep an eye on them. Make sure they stay out of range of TCs, towers and the like though so they don't get killed. Becasue Hill Fort units get 20% more hitpoints, consider them as the backbone to your forces. No one alse can create Jarls with 378 hitpoints, so they are an excellent unit as a main force. Huskarls are counter archer, but can also rip buildings down quickly. Use hunting as your primary source of food. You will gain food faster and each animal killed gains a little favor. Also use your scouts to kill animals near your enemies base. You will deprive them of food, and gain some favor. Invoke Great Hunt on the largest herd of animals you can find. I have not been able to get extra elephants, but zebras and giraffes quite often double. Another great trick is to save your sheep, goats and pigs and place them in the center of the herd you are going to cast on. They will also give bonus animals. If possible, do not kill the herdables until they have 'fattened' (stopped going up in the food counter). When using Great Hunt, cast it on the largest amount of animals possible. Make sure to research Hunting Dogs at an Ox Cart so that this bonus is stacked with Odin's natural hunting bonus, making food flow in very quickly. Consider using Great Hunt on a Set allies animal army. This will allow them to send a larger raiding force into an enemies town and cause more trouble. Learn Lone Wanderer soon after starting so that your Ulfsarks can scout better and rip cavalry apart with the increased speed.

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Thor

Thor was God of Thunder and the son of Odin.

CIVILIZATION BONUSES:
Thor's Armory. All other civs can not build an armory until the 2nd age. Thor can build it in the first. This gives him a slight advantage for his troops in survivability. He can also research a full age ahead of his rivals. His armory allows cheaper research for all technologies as well. Third, his armory is also cheaper than that of other gods. Dwarves. Thor starts with dwarves instead of human gatherers. Thor's dwarves are also cheaper (60 gold instead of 70). It is possible to create only dwarven gatherers, saving food for units involved in a rush! Thor's dwarves also gain a boost in gathering rates for food and wood.

GOD POWER:
Dwarven Gold Mine. When cast, a gold mine is created. It can be placed anywhere a building can be built. The later in the game it is cast, the more gold it will provide. If cast in age 1, you can mine 250 gold. 1000 gold in the classical age, 3000 in the Heroic and finally 6000 if cast in the Mythic Age.

UNIQUE TECHNOLOGY:
Pig Sticker. When researched, Thor's dwarves and gatherers gain an improved hunting rate, putting them almost at par with Odin! The technology not only allows hunted animals to be gathered faster, it allows gatherers to kill animals faster. This in turn can increase the amount of favor gained through hunting.

MINOR GOD PATHS:
Classical Age Forseti, Heimdall
Heroic Age Bragi, Skadi
Mythic Age Baldr, Tyr

TIPS FOR PLAYING:
It is possible to do an all dwarf build. This saves food for age advancement and military units. Because Thor's dwarves gather food and wood as well as they do gold, this is a viable strategy. This becomes even better when Pig Sticker has been researched. Research Pig Sticker as soon as you can (before hunting is best). This allows you to gather food from hunted animals almost as quickly as Odin (who gets a hunting bonus)! Quicker age advancement again! The special armory should be built as soon as possible to gain the largest benefit. By builing early and researching the armor and weapons within, your troops will survive longer. It is possible to gain a full age or even two on your enemies survivability in this way. Hold off on casting Dwarven Gold Mine as long as possible. The more advanced the age, the more gold you will receive. Try casting it near a protected area (near your TC or Hill fort(s)). Another good tactic is to cast it when you need gold quickly and your dwarves are done with a mine. Cast it beside them and they don't have to walk across the map to start again. Remember that anyone can mine from it. Another good use is if your ally is under siege, cast it in their town so they can gain the gold and remove the siege.

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Loki

Loki is blood-brother to Odin and the God of Trickery.

CIVILIZATION BONUSES:
Hersir are faster and can summon myth units during combat. Not only do Loki's Hersir move faster (10%), they have a unique ability to summon myth units in the midst of comabat. When a Hersir is created, a random myth unit is selected for them. When the Hersir creates enough favor through combat to create that unit, the unit appears alongside them and starts to fight for Loki's forces. Mythological Units cost less favor. Loki requires 10% less favor for any myth unit he builds. Between this bonus and the summoning bonus, it is possible to create large armies of myth units. Longhouse units train faster. Any longhouse units built under Loki train 10% faster, allowing you to field many Throwing Axemen quickly.
Ox carts are cheaper and faster (but weaker). Loki builds Ox carts for 50% less, and they move faster, getting to new locations quickly, but they are also weaker (80 less HPs). They need more protection in forward areas.

GOD POWER:
Spy. Loki grants the use of Spy, which can be cast on any unit in the game. It is permanent (until the unit is killed) and grants slightly better LOS to you then the unit normally has. To show you and your allies (but not enemies) which unit the power was used on, a white Rune symbol appears over the head of the unit. This power is perhaps the best of the powers in the game when used right, but is also one of the most difficult to use and get the most benefit from.

UNIQUE TECHNOLOGY:
Eyes in the Forest. All infantry units (built and unbuilt) benefit from this improvement. It always a longer LOS to help you spot trouble faster than the enemy. It is very useful when scouting and also in battle. If you can see the enemy force first, you can adjust your tactics or army accordingly.

MINOR GOD PATHS:
Classical Age Forseti, Heimdall
Heroic Age Bragi, Njord
Mythic Age Hel, Tyr

TIPS FOR PLAYING:
Build lots of Hersirs. Because they move faster they survive better in battle. They also gain favor at twice the rate of other Norse units (but not other Hersirs) so favor can pile up quickly. To improve them further, follow Forseti in the classical age to gain the Hall of Thanes improvement which makes them faster and gives more hitpoints. More Hersirs also create more myth units. Consider Forseti for the classical age also for the Healing Spring. It can provide the needed healing to keep the Hersirs alive to gain the favor they need to summon powerful myth units. Loki's myth units cost less favor, so build lots. 10% less favor means 1 more myth unit for every 10 you build.
Build lots of longhouses. A 10% reduction in training time allows lots of Throwing Axemen and Hersirs. Also from here are built the Raiding cavalry and more Ulfsarks. Large armies can be assembled quickly from the
longhouse. Use it to your advantage.
Because your ox carts are cheaper, build more and have less gatherers using each. This allows less congestion so your resources should accumulate faster.
The Spy God Power may be the most useful power in the game. When cast correctly, you will be able to see whatever the enemy sees (slightly more actually due to the higher LOS). This allows him to scout for you. It can be cast on any unit in the game, but due to some bugs, it is best to avoid certain units. Don't cast it on an Ulfsark (if he builds anything the power disappears), or a priest as an obelisk summoning will delete the power.

Note: Download the latest update for the most recent bug fixes.

Consider casting the spy power on an enemy villager so that you can see where he is gathering. You can then send your army to that point to kill whatever is there. Make sure though to leave the enspied unit alive so you can do it again.
Ox carts are a good choice to cast Spy on. Again make sure when you raid, you leave the cart alive so that you can see when it has to be done again. It is important to make sure that you don't make it too obvious which unit you cast spy on though or the enemy will just delete him, send him into your town to die or park it in a corner where it isn't doing anything useful for either of you. Consider putting the spy power on an Egyptian Pharaoh so you can see what buildings he may be empowering.

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