Age of Mythology’s unique gameplay feature is its inclusion of important deities. All the deities offer unique units, technologies, bonuses, and a one-time special ability called “God power” that helps the player out by either benefiting them or being a detriment to their enemies. Each culture has its own set of gods, and its own unique way to gather “favor” from said gods. Favor is needed to research myth technology, build certain Wonders, and train myth units.

Greeks

The Greeks are the first culture that the player will encounter in the game’s campaign. Their three major gods are Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Players choose one of these three to be their god of choice before the game starts. Greeks earn favor by having their villagers pray to their gods at a temple. Clicking on a villager and then right-clicking on a temple will send them to pray.

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The more villagers sent to a temple, the faster favor is earned. Out of all the ways to gain favor, it’s the easiest to accomplish and doesn’t consume any resources, but it does come with a downside. There are fewer villagers to do other tasks while villagers are praying, so it is a good idea to dedicate only a handful or so to praying.

Norse

The way the Norse gain favor lies in their fighting prowess. They gain favor when they damage all units and almost all buildings. Every building and unit type has a total amount of favor that can be earned:

Animals, weak animals of Set, Dryads, and Militia earn 0. 53 favor, the lowest amount. Other minor myth units, Obelisk, Siege Weapons, Human Units, and Ships are worth 1. 19 favor. Strong animals of Set are worth 1. 44 favor. Farms, Houses, other myth units, drop-off buildings, Sentinels, and heroes earn 2. 36 favor. All other buildings earn 4. 75 favor.

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Players will gain the most favor by damaging the Wonder of other cultures. Norse heroes will earn double the favor when they do damage, and Hersirs generate a continuous trickle of favor by just existing. Hunting is also considered doing damage to animals, so workers can also be used to gain some favor.

Egyptians

Egyptians gain favor by building Monuments, economic buildings that can be built during the Archaic Age. They cost gold and food and are built by Laborers.There are five types of Monuments, and each one generates a different amount of Favor. There’s an order in which the Monuments must be built:

Monument to the Villagers Monument to the Soldiers Monument to the Priests Monument to the Pharaohs Monument to the Gods

The Monument to the Gods will generate the most Favor at 6.9 favor per minute. Once Monuments are completed, they provide a continuous and steady source of favor, as long as their town isn’t ransacked. If the player chooses Ra as their major god, the bonuses that he offers help with Monuments, making them cost 25% less and giving them 20% more hit points. Laborers work the slowest out of all the workers of each culture, so it is important to be strategic when planning to build Monuments.

Chinese

The only way players can gain favor with the Chinese culture is through Gardens, which can generate Favor at a 2.85 per minute rate. Gardens take a smaller amount of resources to build in comparison to the Monuments of the Egyptians and can generate any other resource. However, Gardens can only generate one type of resource at a time, so if the player changes one Garden, the rest of the Gardens will be changed too. Picking either Nu Wa or Fu Xi as a major god gives certain bonuses to Gardens and their construction.

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Having Fu Xi will make Gardens require less wood, and speeds up all building construction through Blessed Construction. Nu Wa will increase the rate at which Gardens generate favor by +20% and will make each Garden provide +1 to the population. With all 10 Gardens built, and if the player chooses Nu Wa as their major god and either He Bo or Dabo Gong as their minor god during their Heroic Age, Gardens can potentially generate the most favor out of any method.

Atlanteans

Atlanteans gain favor by building Town Centers, and at the start of the game already have one built. Town Centers provide a continuous generation of favor once they are built, just like Monuments. Gaia’s “God power” makes trees provide 200 wood instead of 150, allowing the player to build their Town Centers more quickly.

If Rheia is chosen as a minor god during the Heroic Age, players will gain the ability to research the Atlantean myth technology, Horns of Consecration. The Horns of Consecration will allow Town Centers to generate favor more quickly, by 10%.

Age of Mythology: Extended Version is available on PC.

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