The implementation of the Japanese pantheon in Age of Mythology: Retold has shifted the game from strategic resource management to ability spam, creating a meta that feels fundamentally unfair.
God Powers: Cooldowns Over Strategy
The shift to reusable God Powers was intended to modernize the game, but the Japanese civilization exposes the flaws in this system.
MOBA Mechanics: The low Favor cost and short cooldowns turn God Powers into a constant rotation of abilities rather than tactical decisions.
Lack of Counter-Play: Players are no longer fighting an army; they are fighting a global interface. When offensive powers can be chained frequently to deny areas or debuff units, traditional army composition becomes irrelevant.
The core issue with the Japanese pantheon in Age of Mythology: Retold is not just the frequency of God Powers, but the permanence of the structures they create. Currently, buildings spawned by these powers are effectively indestructible terrain.
The Exploit
Players can abuse this mechanic to create physical blockades that have no counterplay. By spamming these building-based God Powers, a player can:
Wall off entire sections of the map permanently.
Block all pathways leading to their Wonder.
Create a “buffer zone” that siege units literally cannot pass through.
Because these structures cannot be destroyed or deleted by the enemy, they function as an INFINITE FREE WALL. If a player builds a Wonder in the far corner of the map and layers these indestructible buildings in front of it, the Wonder becomes unreachable regardless of the attacker’s military superiority.
The Solution
The fix is simple: God Power buildings must have hit points.
If an enemy army reaches these structures, they should be able to siege them down like any other building.
Alternatively, if a “trap” building is triggered or caught, it should be ablte to delete it so it vanishes or become vulnerable.
Without this change, the Japanese faction can exploit game physics to secure wins that are technically impossible to prevent.
Is this something you are experiencing with all japan or susanoo?
Dunno really, all classic and heroic age god powers are quite expensive. 100 favor cost on recast is a lot more than several god powers. You might be having an issue with the favor income coming too strong earlier on.
This is true only if you can only see the game from AoE´s perspective. God powers have always been game winning moments though the whole games history. Its more common now that they are recasted but advancing and winning the game on the spot on 2 clicks was not something uncommon ever in the past.
This was always the case…. Restoration, cease fire, shifting sands moving your opponent away to name a few.
Army comps become irrelevant? I am interested in hearing an example of a game you played where it doesnt matter what units you make or the comp you made. Would be keen to watch it as it would be afirst time for me.
Like hesperides tree and vault? You do know they switch control if you gain the territoy around them right?
I have seen this, thou its only relevant if all you play is big time games that go very long or maps like jotun that only have few path ways. The solution instead of this rant can be to just make the model always have a path to cross. so it cant be used to wall. That way if you mass army you take control over all of them and now the powerswing is massive.
Wouldnt really call 400 favor + investment free but sure
Should this apply to vault, healing fountain, hesp tree as well?
This im sorry but ill call it a skill issue. Its very possible to prevent it this is not happening on early stages of any game ever. Either way the only civs that can get walled off by this with no means to work through it is norse, japan (which would play the same game in your scenaro) poseidon and gaia. All other gods have ways to deal with this if you are that worried about it (shifting sands, underworld, vortex, rocs. Granted it shouldnt be a thing in the first place, but i differ on the solution that should be applied.