Switching Ra Isis priest bonus

Age of Mythology: Retold Discussion
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Due to AOMR new bonuses, Ra and Isis build order are very different than before. The Ra pharaoh monument empower bonus is so powerful, the priest empower becomes less useful. Instead of pharaoh scouting, Ra would use pharaoh to empower monument and use priest to scout without obelisk, which is very ineffective. Instead of beginning with obelisk scout, the new Isis would get monument and flood of the nile, and use priest to scout without obelisk in early game. The result is both have really poor early game scout.

But if we consider the idea of switching Ra and Isis priest bonus, Ra could use pharaoh to empower, and use priest obelisk to scout. Isis would use priest to empower, and use Pharaoh to scout. This would solve the problems introduced by new traits for both gods.

Additionally, this is a solution to the counter-productive Isis pharaoh empower problem mentioned in this thread. Currently, Isis rarely has the chance to use pharaoh to empower monument, the pharaoh has other priorities such as empowering midgol or food or gold. Ra and Set do not have this problem. With priest empower, Isis can actually use her pharaoh bonus.

Historically, in ancient Egypt, obelisk represents the male sexual organ, and it is a symbol of Rahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk, while empowering economy would make sense for Isis, as she helps Osiris to create the golden age in Egyptian mythology. So, switching the bonus would make more cultural and historical sense as well.

More mythology background: Ra is a symbol of the power of pharaoh, but in mythology, his rule was marked by negligence. People rebelled against him, and he had to send out the lioness goddess Sekhmet to wipe out the human race. In his old age, the economy was so poor that people had to resort to cannibalisms. This was when Isis usurped Ra’s power by tricking his secrete name. Isis and Osiris’ rule was marked by economic innovation and prosperity. Osiris even spent a significant amount of time to travel outside Egypt to teach neighbor nations, while leaving Isis in Egypt to rule. I think this theme would align more with priest empower and pharaoh scout.

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Interesting insight.

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Interesting, thank you!

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I would put it the following way:

  • Isis gets the area empowerment.
    Empowering food+gold at the same time, she can afford obelisks “for free” by using the extra gold at the beginning. Now she also has a real pharaoh economy boost where she previously lacked one (Isis 1 impactful pharaoh vs Ra many impactful priests).

  • Ra gets extra favor rate and heal rate from monuments. He also gets 1 free priest per age-up.
    The favor rate (maybe not +100%) in combination with priests enables many new strategies for Ra: I already have pharaoh + 2 priests in Classical Age, which resource am I going to empower? Has an easier time to go myth units in lategame. Also there is a focus on priests again, THE key mechanic of Ra, which was his identity of the last 20 years.

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I have considered switching pharaoh empower solution as well. I like your idea. Ra seems to be vulnerable to early classical harassments, the extra priest would help with that. The monument empower favor bonus is more aligned with Ra’s myth unit spam identity.

I didn’t mention this solution because I thought Ra players would not willing to give up their new pharaoh empower bonus, which is so good. But if it is compensated by having 1 extra priest per age up, it would solve many of Ra’s problem, and make the game more interesting.

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