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Age of Mythology

Buildings

The numerous buildings of each civilization in the game are masterfully detailed and rendered, which the great artists at Ensemble Studios can be thanked for. Each of the three civilizations has a distinct building set and like previous Age games, when one upgrades to the next age, the building set also changes.

Maps

Maps to download and play

Scenarios

Scenarios to download and play

Movies

Movies to download and enjoy

Mods and Patches

Mods and Patches to download

Utilities

Utilities to download

Cheats

Cheat codes have always had their place in the Age series of games by Ensemble Studios and Age of Mythology continues that tradition with a selection of unique and amusing cheats. In order to use the cheats, you must press enter to bring up the chat dialog box, enter the chat in all CAPITAL letters, and press enter again to activate the desired cheat. If you have the demo version of the game, cheats are disabled and cannot be used.

ES Online

Age of Mythology offers a revolutionary way to play online for Age fans and that way is none other than Ensemble Studios Online, or ESO for short. This new service, free of course and included inside the game interface, makes finding games online extremely simple and fast. This section will give you a primer to the new online service and get you playing your first multiplayer games in no time at all.

God Powers

God powers are a new invention in the Age series and will forever change the way the game is played out. Each god grants one power per age and you may use them whenever you choose to throughout the game or in other words, you can save them up to use in the last age, use them immediately, or not use them at all. You can only use each power once during the game so you must be selective of the times you use them. Your god powers are displayed at the top center of your screen for easy access.

Hot Keys

If anything is evident in the expert community, it is the use of hotkeys. Almost every high-profile expert of the past few years has used at least some system of hotkeys. Using them will make you approximately a quarter to a third faster when it comes to your gameplay and that means quite a lot over the span of a full game. If you just can't understand how that one person is beating you and creating armies so quickly, they might not only be a better player than you, but may also be using and be quite efficient with hotkeys.

Interface

The interface of Age of Mythology is quite easy to use and is very logically designed. This section will help beginning players understand the layout of the screen, identifying both basic and advanced aspects of the interface such as the idle hero banner, grouping banners, and resource box. Every button and number are described in detail and if you have yet to play a game, this should give you a good jump start.

Game Maps

In Age of Mythology there are a wealth of new and interesting random maps to play, as well as some favorites from the past. There are twenty-three total map choices in all and that leaves quite a few possibilities when selecting random map. The "Random" option chooses a map that is ideal for regular one-on-one or team gameplay, while "Random All" will randomly choose any of the twenty-one maps, which may or may not be a map with a regular start or strategy. As always, there is a good mix of land, water, and mixed maps.

Relics

As with god powers, relics are new territory in Age of Mythology. Though they've been around since Age of Empires, their use in Age of Mythology is drastically different. Relics are placed randomly around the map for players to pick up and gain bonuses from. They can only be picked up by your civilization's hero, whether it be the Egyptian pharaoh, Norse hesir, or one of the Greek heroes. Once picked up, the relics must be taken to the player's temple and garrisoned there in order to take advantage of them. There are a total of 47 relics, some more useful than others.

Resources

There are a total of four resources in Age of Mythology, as there have been with past age games (food, wood, gold, and stone), however, in Age of Mythology, stone has been replaced with a new resource called favor. Food, wood, and gold serve much of the same purpose in Age of Mythology and the new resource of favor is used in the cost of mythical units and technologies, which do play a big part in every game. Resources are much more randomly allotted over the tiles of the map in Age of Mythology than previous Age games, which ensures that each game plays out in a drastic different way.

Taunts

Those amusing, or sometimes annoying when overused, short sound files, otherwise known as taunts, are back again in Age of Mythology. Using taunts in Age of Mythology is very similar to the method in the past Age games. To use one you simply press enter to bring up the chat dialog box and enter the number for the desired taunt and then press enter again if you are in the middle of a game. If you are in the chat lobby before the game, you simply enter the number and press enter as if it were a normal typing. In order to hear the taunts, players must have the option for taunts turned on, which can be found in the "Options" section of the main menu.

Techs

Technologies have always had their place in real-time strategy games and Age of Mythology continues that tradition well. There are well over one-hundred and sixty technologies in Age of Mythology in the categories of economic, military, and myth techs. With such a large number you are ensured to have a wealth of options and variety of gameplay. Also, this might pose a problem to your gameplay as you might be missing out on some very important technologies or getting the wrong ones. Study up on your techs and you can be sure that your units and economy will surpass your opponent.

Units

There are a wide variety of units in Age of Mythology, as there has been in previous Age games. One of the foremost factors that separates an expert player from an average player is understanding the relationship between units, or in other words, what counters what and what combinations of units work best. Becoming familiar with these concepts will ensure that you will consistently win battles. In this section we have separated every unit in the game into three categories based on the three cultures in the game. In addition to these sections, you will find unit tables for each of the cultures as well, which will give you valuable stats that will be integral in your understanding of the units.