A long Essay from a 20 years old fan to AOM Retold =)

Age of Mythology: Retold Discussion
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AOM Retold Essay and Thoughts

Let me introduce myself, I am Italian and have been a fan and player of AOM since the original came out. I still have the CDs for both vanilla and The Titans. I am writing this essay/discussion to share all my thoughts about this game to help the developers do their best. I will write all this in Italian, translated by an AI, so if something is unclear, you know the reason.

Let’s begin.

First of all, I would like to start by saying that I am very happy that AOM finally has a new resurgence, and I am delighted that the developers have put in a lot of effort to modernize the original game with many new gameplay features. I would not have appreciated a simple reskin of the game with new graphics. I should note that I haven’t tried the beta due to having a low-performance PC, but I have watched and analyzed many videos.

To make the analysis easier to read, I will divide the discussion into various parts:

  • Graphics and Sound
  • Tech Tree
  • Units (human soldiers and mythical units)
  • Divine Powers
  • QoL
  • Simple improvements from the original
  • Problems to absolutely solve
  • Wish List

Graphics and Sound:

General

Problems

Portraits

Sound

General: From an aesthetic point of view, there is nothing to say: AOMR is a joy for the eyes. The destruction of buildings and siege towers is satisfying. The water is incredible. The ships are beautiful. The technologies that change the aesthetics of the soldiers are better than the original. The mythical units are gorgeous, seeing them giant on screen is wonderful. Many mythical units have different and additional aesthetics compared to vanilla. Well done.

Problems: Animations, hero aura, and grass. Let me explain. There are many animations in the game that do not seem well done. For example, the attacks of the titans are the most obvious. When they attack, the animation loops unnaturally. The elephants do not have the weight in their attacks that they used to. They seem less impactful, if that makes sense. Many mythical units seem to glide on the ground. The mountain giant does not seem to give strength to his attacks, especially during the special ability. Visually, these animations are not satisfying to see. The hero aura makes it difficult to see their model. Jason seems not to have legs due to the strong golden light around him. He looks like a yellow sphere moving on the ground. This issue is exacerbated with Nordic heroes. Having 10 together makes everything unreadable. You can’t see their helmet horns because of how bright their bodies are. Simply ugly. And the grass… the first match I saw was on a map with tall grass. Jason, with his golden aura + the grass, made him look like a sunflower =) Reducing it in settings was the compromise for better readability.

Portraits: I like the ones for the technologies a lot. The ones for the gods are a mix between Marvel and generic characters. I’m not saying to redo them, but they could be improved. A bland Bast is a crime against art. It really seems like you took a generic cat head and glued it on a generic Egyptian woman. It could have been better. Others, however, are stunning. I really like Freyja because she reminds me of Ygritte from Game of Thrones.

Sound: I cannot comment on this as I am waiting to play it and hear it with my own ears. I will get the game in Italian, so I will wait to hear it dubbed in my language before judging, just like the rest of the sound design.

Tech Tree

General

Here I praise the developers. Updating the gameplay with many new technologies made me overjoyed. Simply increasing the attack or life of a soldier doesn’t make it fun to play. Giving abilities to ships, conferring unique upgrades to certain buildings, making the weapons of spearmen poisonous – this is the right method, well done. Moreover, updating all the abilities of the major gods to make them even more unique is something I greatly appreciated. 10 points to Gryffindor!

Removing hunting dogs was genius, opening the player to more initial strategies. Introducing all the ships from the Classical Age and then adding mythical units in the Heroic and Mythic Age was one of the most significant innovations of the entire experience. Introducing the market in the Classical Age makes it closer to AoE 2. This factor will be interesting in team games (Slinging strategy). However, you cannot make caravans. Now, to advance to the Heroic Age, you need to build either an Armory or a Market. To advance to the Mythic Age, you need to build a Fortress, much more challenging. This gave an advantage to those who advance to the Mythic Age with very powerful divine powers. This concept I need to try to judge. The introduction of divine damage, which causes pure damage regardless of defense, is a nice addition for some units. The Wonder now gives bonuses to mythical units, allows you to build titans every 10 minutes, reduces the cooldown of divine powers, and their cost… it seems more fun than a simple cooldown to victory. Needs to be watched. Sometimes, however, not even this is enough, and some form of cooldown to victory would be useful, maybe with the second Wonder? I don’t know. Increasing the population is a great thing. In my campaigns, I used triggers to have as many units on screen as possible. It’s not always a good thing to have chaos on screen. But in a 40-minute game, it can be fine. You can build Town Centers outside of settlements. These are called Village Centers. They allow you to make villagers at a reduced rate. It can work as an idea. Absolutely not in the campaign. Discovering new settlements is one of the greatest ######### you can have in the campaign.

Here I will only write what gave me a good impression.

Greeks

Almost identical to the original. They changed the ranged hero with the Heroic Age hero. Excellent move. Hades in competitive play was a thorn in the side with Chiron. Moreover, all Greek heroes can attack flying units from a distance. This and the introduction of ranged Nordic heroes have significantly enhanced aerial units. Interesting. Using Nidhogg against a Greek or Egyptian was not the same in the original. Now it’s more balanced. One more thing about the heroes, you can build them while advancing in age, making citizens… they no longer block your production of other units/technologies. I like it.

The next techs are the most fun for me in my eyes.

Zeus He can earn more favor, and mythical units cost 1 less population, making him a fun monster spammer.

Poseidon Since you have the market in the Classical Age, his bonuses on it don’t seem so irrelevant.

Hades Has mythical units with more HP. His colossi will be terrifying, and so will his titans! Otherwise, he’s very similar to before. Now shades are mythical units, with higher stats but weaker against heroes.

Minor Gods Some technologies, like giving poisoned arrows to toxotes with Artemis, or abilities to ships, are great additions. You can now make Argo with Aphrodite. With Hera, you can give fortresses an ability to summon Myrmidons for free every 45 seconds. With Apollo, you can see what your opponent is doing in buildings. Insane. Or Sarissa increases the range of hoplites. Great additions.

Egyptians

They had a rework of monuments, now if upgraded based on the civilization, they have different effects. I like it. But the healing bonus from Isis’ monuments seems useless. They already have priests for that. Maybe add an increase in the speed of technology time, aligning it with her bonus of health for each completed technology? Priests and Pharaohs have divine damage. They are very strong in combat now.

Ra Upgrading a Ra monument enhances all nearby buildings. OP.

Isis Every upgrade increases the life of human soldiers. In line with her discounts on technologies. Too bad that upgrading the monuments heals, which is useless with Egyptians since they already have many ways to heal people.

Set Stronger animals and discounts near monuments in barracks and Migdol will make him super strong competitively. Finally. And you can summon Set’s elephants!

Minor Gods Giving poison to spearmen. Ability to summon serpents to ships. Earning gold from fallen enemies and upgrading Migdol to summon two units at a time. These are the upgrades I wanted in this game. I wonder if with Ra and upgrading the monument I can upgrade two Migdols at once and summon people at an absurd rate. And I wonder how it works if I have two Pharaohs. It’s a super cool upgrade, but easily too OP. I like it.

Nordics

They had the most changes. Now Ox Carts can be built by citizens. This makes the civilization much easier for a casual player. It can be seen as good or bad. I am in favor. Houses can be built by citizens. New building, Great Hall, where you can build the new hero and mounted soldiers. Now you have to strategically choose the first building. Before it was the Nordic house, now… who knows. It can work. New hero, Godi. A hero that attacks from a distance. Now the Nordics no longer fear the Stymphalian birds. New troop, Hirdman, strong against cavalry. Ulfsark, or sterling, now called berserkers, are no longer the units to use against enemy cavalry. Reworked Jarls, now strong against units instead of mythical units. All these changes need thorough testing, but increasing the strategies for this civilization is only a favorable point. Before it was spamming Hersirs or mounted raiders + something else. It seems like a great change. Have to test it.

Thor

Now every time you make an upgrade in the armory, you get a free dwarf. The strategy of rushing with the armory of dwarves is not so straightforward anymore. Very interesting.

Odin

He is boring. He has a higher regeneration of soldiers than the original. Ravens will be even more important now than in the past.

Loki

Now mythical units are summoned by human soldiers and not just by Hersirs. He has always been the most fun to watch and play, and with mythical units being stronger than before, Loki might become a terror in competitive matches.

Minor Gods

Making raiders true raiders, generating gold while they fight, is a very dangerous technology. Giving freezing attacks to ships. These are the ones that struck me the most. The others are standard. What has changed a lot for the Nordics are the units.

Atlanteans

I don’t want to talk about them even though the tech tree is present in the beta. I am waiting to see them in the game before judging. However, I am very curious about the new mechanics for acquiring favor and the hero upgrades (if you make them much more unique than the original, you will make me happy. A fanatic who, by becoming a hero, has an ability that makes him stronger the more he fights would be fantastic).

Units

The introduction of new troops for the Nordics and the rework of several pre-existing ones was a good idea. I really appreciated that the counter units finally do their job. I saw Peltasts being used in-game. Peltasts… unbelievable. I still don’t know the new names, sorry. For me, it will always be Hippikon. The mythical units were mostly reworked because their powers can now be used manually, making them very appealing competitively. As you progress through the ages, the mythical units are upgraded. This makes the Classical Age units usable even in the Mythic Age. Wonderful! The titans can now walk on water and destroy walls or building foundations as they pass. This makes them more aggressive and less blockable. However, they seem easier to kill, which might be fine since you can make several of them simultaneously with the Wonder Age. But please bring back the attack with the heads for Cerberus, I beg you.

Greeks

Soldiers Greek human soldiers have always been very strong but expensive. I appreciated that the Helepolis is no longer that invincible late-game monster. The only changes I would make are aesthetic. Hypaspists and Myrmidons are too similar. I like the rework of the ######### now they deal area damage.

Myth Units

Minotaur: Let’s start with the heavy hitter, aesthetically stunning. Now with his power, he can hurl multiple soldiers at once. 10/10

Cyclops: Now you can choose where to throw the poor soldier. There are some flaws. The unit model is too small, smaller than the Minotaur. And the thrown unit doesn’t die. It doesn’t have to be an instant kill, but there should be increased damage to the thrown unit. It should kill a simple soldier if thrown. It should only hurt an elephant. 6/10

Centaur: Now the ability is a rain of arrows. It has lost its sniper role. Less frustrating to play against, but it seems less useful. However, I see great utility in battles with many soldiers. Maybe increasing the damage of the first rain and then decreasing it over time would make it more similar to the past while staying true to what it has become? 7/10

Nemean Lion: Now with the roar, it stuns non-hero units. Very strong. Perhaps reducing the stun is a must. Having several and cyclically using their abilities, even manually, breaks the game. Aesthetically, it looks like a little lion. I preferred the old look. 5.5/10

Manticore: Now with normal attacks, it attacks multiple soldiers simultaneously. I like it a lot. Also aesthetically. 8.5/10

Hydra: Stunning aesthetics, now even the UI changes as the heads increase. Plus, the upgrade that finally heals them makes them much more useful. They will wreak havoc in the campaign. 9/10

Scylla: Same story as the Hydra, though aesthetically, I like it a bit less. 8/10

Chimera: Now with the ability, it leaves a trail of fire on the ground that deals damage over time. Aesthetically beautiful, especially the snake. 8/10

Colossus: It’s enormous. Massive. Iconic. 9/10

Medusa: Now her power petrifies similarly to frost giants but from a distance. She lost the instant kill. Here too, I would keep the instant kill ability. It is a Mythic Age unit, after all. 7/10

Carcinos: I’ve never seen it used =(

Egyptians

Soldiers With the discount in Set’s barracks, you now have to fear the spam of simple soldiers because their multipliers against counter units are devastating. And as I mentioned before, the elephant animation needs a bit of work…though their models are nice.

Myth Units

Anubite: Now you can use the ability manually. You can jump over walls, forests, rivers… escape from a danger zone. Very interesting. 8/10

Sphinx: With the ability, you can avoid enemy attacks (to be confirmed, but I’ve seen enemy abilities avoided multiple times with the sand whirl). If used manually at the right moment, it allows you to avoid serious damage. Strategically beautiful. Then with upgrades, it changes its head… stunning. 9/10

Wadjet: It has wings and poisons with its jets. Cute. 7.5/10

Scarab: Now strong against units, but seems quite weak. Aesthetically beautiful. 7/10

Scorpion Man: It is a bit small, but its power is devastating. It is the strongest of the Egyptian mythic units in the Heroic Age. 7.5/10

Petsuchos: It is the same. Nice aesthetic. 7/10

Roc: No longer spawns when advancing to the Heroic Age. It must land for your troops to enter or exit. Aesthetically beautiful but heavily nerfed in gameplay. Good for competitive play. 7.5/10

Leviathan: It is ugly aesthetically. In the original, it seemed like a gigantic whale, now it looks like an abyssal fish… not convincing. 5/10

Phoenix: Stunning. The most beautiful unit in the game. Moreover, it is finally useful. 11/10

Mummy: It lost the instant kill but now curses enemies, and if they die with the curse, they are resurrected as succubi. This is an ultra-interesting power. I’ve seen divine power + mummy combos that summoned dozens of succubi like using Ancestors. Even two or three mummies alone against an army were devastating and resurrected like Ancestors. Of course, it loses value against mythic units with lots of HP. Perhaps reward the killing of mythic units with greater succubi? Anyway, interesting. 8/10

Avenger: Spin to win. The ability lasts longer and can slightly move. Cute aesthetically. 7.5/10

War Turtle: Never used =(=(=(

Nordics

Soldiers The rework of existing units plus the introduction of two new units (a ranged hero and an anti-cavalry unit) makes them more complete.

Myth Units

Troll: Now they are more badass and have an ability where they throw a giant rock at enemies. Greatly improved. 9/10

Einherjar: Now gives a buff to attack and speed. Since it can be used manually, it is perfect for escaping, engaging, or chasing. Strategically beautiful. 9/10

Valkyrie: It’s the same as the original. Cute. 7/10

Battle Boar: The aesthetic is a bit lacking. It looks less robotic and more like a boar. It has lost some of its charm. 6/10

Mountain Giant: Now it is bigger. It talks!!! And it has an upgrade that makes it really huge giving him the ability to play soccer with soldier units! BUT the animations need some improvement. 7/10

Frost Giant: Not beautiful. They gave me a greater sense of power in the old AOM. 6.5/10

Kraken: Aesthetically beautiful. It lost the skill to kill human units in one hit. This absolutely needs to be reconsidered. Like the Cyclops, I would significantly increase the damage. It makes me cringe to see in the first campaign the Kraken grabbing a Toxotes and dealing 20 HP damage… 7/10

Fenris Wolves: I’ve seen them too little in packs. Aesthetically cute. 6.5/10

Fire Giants: Finally, they have a graphical upgrade with horns! Cute. 7/10

Jormund Eel: Aesthetically beautiful, but no one ever used it.

Divine Powers

-General: Reusing divine powers has brought several changes, both buffs and nerfs. Reusing them seems fun. The reuse allows casual players to use divine powers without hoarding them for the right moment, i.e., using them at the end of the game. I appreciate the wonder Age much more this way. Previously, I always changed the game mode to conquest to avoid facing the wonder. Mythical age powers seem very strong, and I wouldn’t want their use to always end the game, even though I know this is very exciting. Divine powers use favor and have a cooldown, making them easy to nerf. Removing the favor cap was a brilliant move in many ways. Perhaps the Norse are the most affected by this since they generate favor only actively, apart from some technologies, compared to other civilizations.

Greeks

  • Lightning Bolt is the same.
  • Sentinel is buffed because you can summon it on fortresses. Since divine powers can be used multiple times, it’s a great power.
  • Lure has also become a granary and spawns chickens. This changes Poseidon’s build order. Nice.
  • Healing Spring is nerfed. Good because it made your units immortal. Now you have to use it before units have 1 HP. Good because it’s reusable.
  • Pestilence slows down the training time of units and prevents buildings from firing arrows. It seems very powerful in early raids and extremely powerful in Jotunheim!
  • Treaty now lasts shorter but allows for the construction of defensive buildings. Good that it lasts shorter because it’s reusable. Before, you could use it and build your TC with complete peace of mind. It was too OP. I want blood!
  • Underworld Passage is the same.
  • Curse is the same. Still OP.
  • Bronze is fantastic; now you can use it on mythical units. Well done.
  • Plenty I hope is only decent because infinite resources with multiple reuses seem too strong in a long game. It could make the game boring if everyone spams abundance. Maybe just give a resource bonus upon use and not over time? Not sure.
  • Lightning Storm has a huge radius and destroys buildings too. Seems very strong.
  • Earthquake has a central radius where it does more damage. Good that it’s like this, and that it doesn’t destroy the entire city with each use.

Egyptians

  • Rain seems to benefit only the user, but I’m not sure about this.
  • Prosperity is the same.
  • Vision is OP. Set’s upgrade makes it free and spammable, and combined with quicksand, ancestors, meteor, or tornado, it’s practically a glitch. A Set strategy based on favor could be insane. But I wouldn’t want it to become a cheat code against Titans. Using vision + meteor to destroy the opponent’s portal was the AI strategy I installed with a mod. It’s nasty.
  • Eclipse is super strong because it also increases favor gain. Spamming monuments and doing multiple eclipses + ancestors could be a powerful strategy. Or eclipse + mythical units. Very strong.
  • Quicksand is now only usable on allied units. It’s a fitting nerf. You can no longer teleport enemy citizens into a trap built in your city.
  • Serpent’s Plague seems very strong. The snakes are no longer mythical units, and there are many of them. On the sea, where you summon sea serpents, it’s an instant win.
  • Locust Swarm is now directional. If used in the direction of fleeing citizens, it causes a disaster; if you miss, it does nothing. Very weak.
  • Citadel, with the overall population increase in the game, doesn’t seem to have the same power as before. Now it simply fortifies a TC. Weak.
  • Ancestors is the same as before. But seeing how weak the other two powers are, this one is advisable.
  • Son of Osiris is always cool. Maybe too small. Having the size from the tutorial would make it stand out much more. Now it has divine damage, allowing it to deal pure damage. It’s a beast. It’ll be fun to have more than one in your army.
  • Meteor seems less random. It can single-handedly decide the end of a civilization if it wants to. Visually it’s less impactful than Vanilla due to the slow speed of the falling meteors.
  • Tornado is a visual delight. Its functionality remains the same.

Norse

  • Dwarven Mine has received a buff. It gathers gold faster than regular gold mines. Seems like a good power.
  • Great Hunt summons animals if used on terrain where there are none. Excellent move for both late game and maps with little hunt. It’s strategic, I like it.
  • Spy is… spy. OP if you have an ally with devastating divine powers like earthquake or meteors to spam.
  • Raiding Cavalry is now directional and deals some damage even against buildings that are not walls or towers. Useful.
  • Healing Spring seems to heal better. It’s okay.
  • Forest Fire is… OP in the hands of a pro, weak in any other hands. I like it. I remember a game against a friend where I burned his only forest. Without wood, I destroyed him. I’m also curious about the combo with Gaia’s forest!
  • Flaming Weapons is strong because your opponent can no longer deny it with a truce. Finally, it’s usable but…
  • Frost exists. It’s the strongest heroic age divine power among all civilizations. Lasts too long.
  • Animated Trees are used by very few. Perfect for a quick attack. Trees are now strong against buildings. Worth watching.
  • Nidhogg is fantastic. Finally, it looks like a real dragon. It’s much stronger because there are many more anti-air units. Now it has a special ability, and its attacks leave a fire DoT on the ground. Cool.
  • Ragnarok is… powerful. Less than the original simply because you have more population to counter it. In Vanilla, it overwhelmed you with numbers. Still worth keeping an eye on.
  • Fimbulwinter is OP against the economy. Now you can’t defend citizens inside buildings. However, I saw a player use the bell to call citizens back before using Fimbulwinter, and they calmly took a nap in the TC. Not sure if that’s intended. Obviously, this was a pro who predicted the divine power.

QoL

  • The quality of life of the game has improved considerably. Simplifying unit, technology, and building keybindings is a godsend. Previously, you had to go into the game files!
  • The new mechanic of dividing citizen labor, inefficient but easy, is well-received. Obviously useless after the first few hours of play, but I think it’s necessary for XBOX players, I think.
  • Simplifying farm construction, the button to call livestock to the TC. Special.
  • Functioning attack move… yeah.
  • You can queue up a technology even if it’s for the next age. Great, because it allows you to focus much more on war. You can even pre-click the next age so you’ll advance as soon as you have the resources in the bank. Very user-friendly. I like it.
  • The radius of buildings, divine powers… is a great addition.

Simple improvements from the original For someone who has played a lot on the editor making custom campaigns, there are some things I loved:

  • Water where you can build and walk with ships is an amazing improvement. Placing krakens on a passage from one island to another has always been my dream. Now , in editor, I can create completely aquatic maps where you can be invaded by krakens and leviathans like the worst B-movies, I’m thrilled.
  • Using a unit as a rally point for troops. Now I can send troops directly to my raiding army.
  • Symmetric maps in random maps. There are no more advantages or disadvantages in skirmishes. Competitively speaking, it’s great. Even though just exploring half the map lets you know the other half. Be careful.
  • Autoqueue is disableable in normal games. Good. But I’m a fan of autoqueue =). In ranked games, you can only use infinite citizens. This makes the ranked games really serious. It fits.

Problems to fix absolutely

  • The PATHFINDING Seeing citizens and units stuck in an animation in the void is the most frustrating thing for someone who loves these games. Unit micromanagement is what separates pros from casuals. But if it doesn’t work, pros will quickly abandon the game to return to the old AoM or go back to other games. I’ve never played AoE 3 or AoE 4, so I don’t know if this is a problem with the new generation of RTS, but AoE2 has this problem in part. Unit pathfinding must be perfect. If it isn’t, the game is trash, simple. In AoMEE, when you have many citizens on a gold mine, one of them can incredibly get stuck inside it. Or if there are many units near walls, some manage to pass through without destroying them. This has happened to me many times, and it’s very frustrating (I don’t want to use foul language, but in AoM, there’s nothing more annoying than playing Jotunheim and seeing the enemy pass through your walls as if they didn’t exist).
  • Moving units with other units shouldn’t be allowed. Let me explain. I saw Norse ox carts being moved by citizens while gathering resources. This shouldn’t happen.
  • Customizable UI for longtime players would be a welcome addition.
  • Easier to access replays, but I think various casters around the world have already said their piece.
  • Pop-up textures!

Wish List

Many things have already been covered in this essay. However, I would like to add a few small requests from a long-time fan:

  • Add a More Readable UI on the Minimap for Activated Divine Powers: In beta replays, many casters didn’t know where a power was used, missing a meteor strike in the opponent’s base. Additionally, more understandable sounds when powers are activated would be beneficial.
  • Completely Redo the Chinese Civilization: Tales of the Dragon was a flop. The campaign was terrible, full of bugs, and the Chinese felt out of place in the game. Everything was overpowered. Two scouts at the start, why? Cavalry units that cost 1 population, why? Vermilion birds…why? Too many unoriginal elements. I want them to be as unique as the other civilizations.
  • A Comprehensive Editor with Numerous Triggers for Creating Breathtaking Custom Maps: For example, there was a trigger in a mod that summoned a random troop from a pool of five, which was fantastic for the tower defense maps I created.
  • Introduce Tutorials to Help Newcomers and Veterans with Build Orders of Different Civilizations: Prepare them for various defensive and offensive strategies. Teaching my sister to attack would have been easier with specially made maps.
  • Legendary Difficulty for the Campaign: I want a real challenge. Titan difficulty was too easy. It still looks easy in the videos. I’ve been playing for 20 years, like many other veterans. Creating an AI that challenges us without cheating is almost impossible (AOMOD AI comes closest to a good level of challenge), but in the campaign, you can do whatever you want. I’ll be thrilled to complain when it’s too hard, but equally thrilled to find strategies to overcome the difficulties.
  • More Campaigns: A simple but important request.
  • Introduce Fun Technologies with New Civilizations that Change Gameplay: Focus on this to make every match fun. “Oh, what does this do…wow, it turned my dwarves into Gimli with a giant axe…cool. Oh, with this, my Nidhogg now breathes ice!”

If you’ve read this far, you’re stronger than Castor, though that’s not saying much =). No, really, great job! Thank you very much for reading. I had fun writing all my thoughts on this beta. I know I wrote a lot, but I wanted to be thorough with my thoughts…

And Listen of yours =)

Ciao e Grazie =)

Etimos for AOM Retold!

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What an excellent analysis, I agree 95% with everything mentioned, I hope the developers correct the critical things before the launch.

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Wow. I totally agree. You put very much time and effort into this. Really nicely structured and great to read!
(Really hope the devs will aprecciate and value this extensively feedback!)

I also agree with shockingly MANY things you have written with some minor differences.

Short comment to every point you mentioned:

General: i agree! + some awesome new idle animations for myth units!!!
Problems: I agree!
Portraits: I agree!
Sound: really good. slightly reworked main theme and nice immersive feedback sound during battle. maybe some are better than others, didn’t pay too much attention here too personally in the just 3 hours i played the beta myself.

Tech Tree
General: I mostly agree. Adding all ships to classical age is genius. Adding water myth units to every god is really great too. Getting rid of hunting dogs also a good change.

I personally just am really not happy that still:

  • some minor gods have more upgrades than others (bothered me in old AoM too)
  • most of the myth units now have a personal upgrade which changes them visually too, but not all have upgrades - which i hope will be added till release since every myth unit deserves at least one personal upgrade which also changes them at least very slightly visually (with either armor or colour etc.)

GREEKS

Zeus: I agree!
Poseidon: I agree (seems the weakest but he has still annoying militia and market at age 2 is amazing/compensates it for sure!)
Hades: I agree!

Greek units:
Soldiers: i agree!
Siege Unit: yeah thankfully a nerf to Helepolis!

Myth units:

Minotaur: I SO AGREE! 10/10

Cyclops: I party agree. I get why they made it slimmer to match more the cyclops for harryhausen since it already looks very similar and i like that approach now but yes it could be a bit taller and the club could change a bit with cyclops upgrade. - the throwing is a topic on its own and i didn’t test it but should get looked at for sure! 8/10

Centaur: I like the new ability and i like your idea! 9/10

Nemean Lion: if you look closely nemean lion and chimera have the same lion model which i think fits well. i also think the lion design is great and looks not like a total typical real life lion. also don’t forget it gets the bronze/golden fur through its upgrade which is a nice idea in my opinion! I just would like to see the unit slighlty bigger aswell as the battleboar since both are heroic age and not classical age myth units. the roar is finally usefull and no gimmick which is great! Also it talks now to make it less vanilla lion 8/10

Manticore: I agree! 9/10

Hydra: i love the changes and the slight buffs. and even i really like the new design (also gives me old harryhausen monster vibes) i would have prefered to see hydra with the “snake” aesthetic of new scylla and scylla with a more “myth accurate” model (kraken lower body with female human upper body and dark long hair would have been enough already) (the rengeration is 10/10 change for sure!) 8.5/10

Scylla: as above mentioned. i really like the model but its not really scylla in a general sense and aesthetic would have fitted hydra too. 6.5/10

Chimera: I agree! Also the upgrade gives it some fancy new armor additions and some minor colour changes! I would just have made some minor changes like adding constantly dropping saliva to the lion heads mouth and make the snake move more and give the goat head maybe some small animation or even attack too (i just think here of dragons dogma chimera as an example) 9/10

Colossus: I agree! 10/10

Medusa: I think new Medusa is great. Should just be named Gorgon (at least either before or after the upgrade) I really like its new visuals and i appreciate they removed the instant kill to all instant kill abilites. but for medusa it was the most fitting for sure. i hope she got buffed elswhere instead! 9.5/10

Carcinos: just as old one. nice - or in your words “cute” nothing too special to talk about. solid. but didn’t test it myself.

EGYPT

Isis: I agree she is a hit and miss with her bonuses. Needs more testing. Maybe she is a more lategame powerhouse now. Still would have hoped for some different benefits/buffs.
Set: I agree!
Ra: Needs also more testing but i agree!

Egypt units:
Soldiers: i like the new armor-detials here really much. elephants need more oomph for sure (but mountain giant even more)

Myth units:

Anubite: I agree! Just the posture to the movement seems a tiny bit off but overall really solid! 9.5/10

Sphinx: I agree! (even i still think the goat head looks a bit derpy but i very much appreciate the visual upgrades! like how it moves and the idle animations. 8.5/10

Wadjet: I agree! Finally feathered wings and a more powerful attack. (Wings maybe a bit too big tho) 9.5/10

Scarab: I agree! looks great, some nice changes but overall feels still a bit weak. (aoe dmg after death?) 8/10

Scorpianman: I mostly agree. Its a big improvement visually but could have been better (less “cosplayer” nippers, more grown into the body/transformed looking) missing an upgrade which could add stuff like chimera gets + some cool “Pharaoh” chin beard would be great, but its ability really is very powerful and badass! 7.5/10

Petsobek: really nice visual upgrade. same as old much just much better. also some nice visual change with the upgrade. simple yet effective! 10/10

Roc: I agree! LOVE the design changes, its idle animation is - in your words - “cute” and really authentic. I
Palso like the change to enter/exist by landing. makes it not only more immersive but also more balanced but also more dependend of numbers like costs, health etc. 9/10

Leviathan: yeah not a fan of this change aswell. before it had a strong visual approach to a giant prehistoric bone-fish. now its a swamp lung-fish with some angler fish mouth and - for whatever reason - arms.- should look more badass and less “derpy”. sorry. 5/10

Pheonix: I SO AGREE! (would be just even cooler if you could let it fly “thorugh buildings dmg the building. (inspiration here is by some unit from long forgotten” Rise of Legends") but otherwise LOVE the design very pretty. 10/10

Mummy: I agree! but for me its a 9.5/10 (old mummy was a 5.5/10 for me personally so its a big improvement - at least for me)

Avenger: Simple yet effective. Also yes the moving during spinning is a really nice change. Like the design and human/animal parts feel more “together” than regarding the scorpianman.) 9/10

Warturtle: Tested it. I basically the old one “just” in way better graphics now. Same sound, same animations, same model - for the good and bad. The shell got more menacing looking and reminds me of a snapping turtle which just fits the theme of a war trutle.the head looks maybe too cute in that regard but i like it. the legs tho… way too stompy looking for a water animal. (and you can’t go on land with it) would higly recommend to change the legs to either seaturtle flippers or snapping turtle feet which are more wide like a mix between flippers and feet with claws on them. 7.5/10

NORSE

Thor: I like his changes. Look forward to play him more!
Odin: Seems strong and popular but i agree not as interesting as the other two!
Loki: Interesting but some say maybe a bit too weak regarding his benefits/buffs

Norse units: - most changes/big improvements
Soldiers: i like many of the units. the two new units just look really badass and fill out the roster greatly.

Myth untis:

Troll: I SO AGREE! really appreciate the changes and the new size - bolder could maybe get buffed a bit/needs more testing since it should dmg more and in a small aoe - at least in my opinion. 10/10

Einherjar: Basically the same in better graphics with a nice visual upgrade and a nice looking boost with his ability. So i agree! 9.5/10 (horn animation could look a bit more dramatic/powerful in my opinion)

Valkyrie: very similar to the old one. didn’t see the upgrade and how it effects the unit visually. Heal seems to be now aoe but with CD? also new voice (to fit the cool new female berserk unit?) 9/10

Battleboar: i personally really like the aesthetic! a nice blend between a construct and living creature. really like the new shape. just looks a bit too small for a heroic unit like nemean lion and scorpianman - at least in my opinion. trunk could be a bit smaller to make the tusk more prominent and effective. (or the tusk simply a bit bigger) 8.5/10

Mountain Giant: already talked xD but the other giants now finally talk too! (big plus and thumbs up +1) like its size, the club looks cool and more menacing than the cyclops one.(which it should be) cool upgrade. cool NEW voice. upgrade maybe should give him something visually beside making him a bit bigger (?) also i agree that his attacks desperately need some OOMPH! especially his special. 9/10

Frost Giant: i disagree here for the most part. i like the new visual upgrade he looks really cold and human-like yet still alien and also hairy now which fits the aesthetic. fist punches look now more brutal. big plus here are his voice and the foot-step-effect (like for fire giant). the only i don’t really like that much is his upgrade. helmet especially could look more badass and menacing. still a 9/10

Kraken: I agree! 10/10

Fenris Wolves: Really like the new design approach. Let him look more menacing, feral, untamed and darker. Just hoped unit would be slightly bigger and a bit tankier for a weaker pack-buff. Like that it just doesn’t feel like a mythic age unit. Still great model tho. 8/10

Fire Giant: same like the other two. great improvments. great effects. cool foot-step-effect, great fitting voice. upgrade looks badass and is visually! still will rate it lower than the other two cause. 1. visual upgrade is just for hel and not also balder… 2. felt (at least for me) a bit weaker than old fire giant. 8.5/10

Jormund Eel: I SO AGREE! I really like how big they made the unit now and how it looks design wise!!! Sadly not tested personally and not really used by streamers either… But as far as i know it has a new special now similar to the Kraken! Still spits like Wadjet tho which is a bit weird for such a (FINALLY!) big unit. Would prefer to see it attacking like Scylla. 9.5/10

QoL: totally agree! regarding queuing up: you can now queue heroes also sperately which is so practical!
live stock button very welcome too! didn’t know about the rally point on units! great! :slight_smile: many great changes here for sure - as nearly everywhere!!!

have to stop here but i think i agree with the rest!

thanks for sharing this!

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Thanks a lot for the reply =) Love that you add some missing parts that i couldn’t test miself!
With the next beta i want to test more the sound part. Im very curious about the Einherjar’s horn.

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Great post @alessio93kanta - agree with pretty much all of this. Thanks for the effort, well worth it I think.

From the little I played (I’ve mostly been watching games on YT) I think most changes are pretty good. My only real complaints would be:

  • I agree that Poseidon seems weak right now in terms of god bonuses; he needs something else
  • Centaur special ability should be reverted to the old sniper shot one (much better thematically for the unit)
  • the nerfs to the Kraken and Cyclops throw abilities are really lame and should be reverted; there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to insta-kill human soldiers they throw
  • Cyclops should be much bigger by default, and now feels out of whack with the Minotaur in terms of scale
  • the new campaign voices are terrible
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Village Centers are too good allowing for safe in base booming.
Plenty Vault God Power is too good to be reusable because it creates a timer on having beat someone who advanced into Mythical Age with Hephaestus before they have a unstoppable economy from Plenty Vaults.
UI is different from the old game and not in a good way so I hope to the Gods we have UI options in full game.

There are a lot of other changes in the game that will take a lot of time to get used to some which are good and of course some that are bad like I already mentioned as well as some other bad changes i’m not going to get into.

I’m currently not that excited about Age of Mythology Retold :cry:

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Vault of Plenty increases cost by 200 Favour each time one is built. I don’t think it’s OP.
How much Favour do 100 Villagers generate? I know there are diminishing returns, every additional Villager generates less Favour.
Even with a Wonder you get multiple minutes of additional waiting time between each Vault of Plenty.

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In the Beta I have seen multiple games where someone had multiple Plenty Vaults in a 1v1 game. In long games its potential is game breaking.

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The question is at what point are multiple Vault of Plenty too good. They are equal to about 10 villagers I think.
Having 5 would be a massive boost to the economy that is sure, but the 5th costs like 8000 favour.
I think it’s

  1. 0
  2. 200
  3. 400
  4. 600
  5. 800
  6. 1000

All without a Wonder of course.

You have to sacrifice a lot of favour to get that many Vaults. Favour means villager time in this case. Villager time means resources.
The Favour generation of Greek villagers is like 1/10 of the collection rate of normal resources. The more villagers the lower the rate.
I don’t find good number but according to the Wiki 10 Zeus villagers generate 35 favour per minute.
So that would over 5 minutes for the second Vault. And then every Vault after that another 5 minutes.

I do think that might be a little too cheap in the beginning because getting out a 2nd and 3rd seems to be pretty doable.
I played as Zeus during the Beta and was able to get out 3 of them in a long match, but only after I build the Wonder.

Increasing the cost of additional Vaults would pretty much solve the problem. Alternatively reduce the resource generation rate a little.

I think it can be balanced without necessarily limiting the building to 1.

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There is a campaign mission that involves controlling Plenty Vaults for eco to help beat the level and I remember feeling great when controlling a few of them so it shouldn’t take a lot before it is really impactful.

I don’t like the idea of a nerf to Plenty Vaults because that would nerf just having 1 and just make it require some more before you have serious problems so the potential for serious problems in a long enough game is always there and this is of course not considering Wonder Age.

I wish they just increased usage of god powers by a set amount instead of potentially unlimited amounts if they felt they had to make god powers be more usable then originally.

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I personally hate hard limits.
I think soft caps are a lot better.
God powers essentially have a soft cap now. The cost increases with every usage so they eventually become way to expensive to afford.

If the cost Vault of Plenty is increased of 50%-100% for recasting it will be way harder to get too many of them.

I personally prefer adjusting the cost too, I just suggested adjusting the resource generation as an alternative.

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RTS games have been known for having hard limits like pop cap being the most obvious.
Sometimes not having hard limits ruins things like having a eco limit being too high can lead to someone not having a eco drain from constant fighting and training new units. Multiple Plenty Vaults just helps to stop eco drains so once I heard about unlimited god power usages this was the one that came to mind first being concerned about.

I think I remember seeing Ragnarok costing 500 Favor to start for another usage so Plenty Vault should be something like that at the very least. Even with that there is always the potential for problems without a hard cap.

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If Vault of Plenty can only be used a very limited amount of times then it becomes a lot less viable then other infinite god powers like Earthquake.

That would lead to them having to limit the usage of all powerful god powers again.
And finite god powers are pretty boring. It leads to people saving them up indefinitely or them being used early and then essentially just being none existing for the majority of the game.

Maybe reuses of god powers like Vault of Plenty should be so expensive that you essentially need a Wonder to reduce their cost and make them affordable.
The Wonder is supposed to end the game. It used to be a game wining count down before AoMR after all.

I can’t say if the current cost of 200+200*n Favour is already prohibitive enough since I didn’t play enough games to be able to test that.

It is probably OP in a 12 player FFA match. On the other hand, very nice to conquer a base with multiple Vaults on it so you clearly make yourself a priority target.

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Plenty Vault is the one and only god power that potential from multiple usages can be a big problem.

Destructive god powers like Earthquake becomes much weaker once opponents have Fortified Town Center, Masons and Architects techs.

Some god powers are just annoying when usable multiple times like Ceasefire.

Some god powers are practically useless after a point like Lure.

Balance is the biggest problem with reusable god powers especially with limits being what you can afford to buy rather then a hard cap.

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Yes, that usually happens in the Bang engine, not so much in modern RTS like SC2…