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Your choice of god inAge of Mythology: Retoldwill significantly affect how you play the game. Each pantheon, let alone the gods within, have their own quirks, strategies, and playstyles that you’ll need to adapt to if you want to be an optimal, efficient player.
As you might think thanks to their historic image as Viking raiders, the Norse are a particularly aggressive culture. Their buildings are constructed by military units and they earn godly Favor by attacking foes. Odin is the ruler of the pantheon, and his focuses are truly great at showing off these qualities.
Odin Overview
Odin is a god that focuses mainly on the Great Hall building and its units, which is effectively a focus on two particular Hero units and Cavalry.
Gatherers and Dwarves gather food 10% faster from animals and berry bushes
This is a great ability for rushing to Classical Age and makes hunting a very good early-game choice.
Great Hall units generate more Favor in battle
This further accentuates the value of the Great Hall and its units when making an army,
Humans and Hero units regenerate health every second
This is a generic and general buff that will be plenty useful, especially in long games with protracted battles.
2 Ravens spawn when the first Temple is built
Ravens make for fantastic scouts, even if they come a little late compared to other cultures' scouts.
Odin also has a unique technology that improvesBerserks, which makes defending yourself from very early rushes far easier.
Odin’s god power isGreat Hunt, which greatly improveshow much food you may get from a group of wild animals. It can also be used to create wild animals if there are none within the casting circle.
Great Hunt getsmore powerful with each age that passes, but in most situations, it’s best used at the beginning to help rush to Classical Age and establish a decent Food economy.Recasting the power costs only 25 Favorto begin with, though, so it’s definitely affordable later in the game.
If you are a veteran of the original Age of Mythology, it is important to point out thatGreat Hunt will nowonlywork on wild animals. Any herd animals such as sheep will not be affected by the power.
Minor God Choices
Odin’s best god choices will improve his favoured units, but there are good cases throughout the game for all gods.
Freyja
WhileValkyriesare fantastic Myth Units, they can be quiteexpensivein terms of recruitment and the technologies they require to work at optimal efficiency. Whether you consider their healing power a boost to Odin’s standard healing or whether it’s inconsequential as a result is debatable. That said, the other technology that comes with Freyja,Thundering Hooves, is really wonderful if you’re going for a Cavalry-heavy army composition, which is easy with Odin.Forest Fireis also a particularly good offensive god power for a rush against an early to mid-game town.
Heimdall
Heimdall is a far more defensive god than Freyja, and in games where a good defence is key, he’s a good pick. His Myth Unit is decent, but the best benefit to picking Heimdall is theRigsthulatech, which will increase your recruitment speed. In the late-game, where you’re constantly supplying and resupplying your army, this is invaluable.
Skadi
Skadi is a very good god thanks to herWinter Harvesttech, which vastly improves yourFood economy. This is wonderful when paired with gods who unlock powerful units recruited with Food, namely Freyja’s Valkyries and Tyr’s Wolf Broods.Frost Giantsare also a very good unit to keep in your army -freezing foesgives your units a chance to take less damage and recover some hitpoints, and they’re a good way to spend Gold. They’re costly in population units, but not a bad choice at all.
Njord
Njord is also a competitive Heroic Age choice.Mountain Giantslack the Frost Giants' freeze ability, but are recruited with Food, which is often something Odin excels in (depending on the map), and makes for a great Heroic Age siege alternative. Ring Giver is also a very good technology for improving Jarls, which are also tougher for Odin.
Baldr
Ragnarokis one of the stronger god powers to use when you’re ready to make a final push against your foes - turning all of your Gatherers and Dwarves into viable military units is a wonderful way to immediately bulk up your army. It’s risky, though.Fire Giantsare also a draw, especially since their strong splash damage make themexcellent villager killers, but the other big plus to picking Baldr is Sons of Sleipnir, which greatly increases the usability of your Raiding Cavalry.
Tyr
For Odin, Tyr’s main benefits are aFood-based Mythic Unitin the Fenris Wolf Brood, a further buff to Berserks (which isn’t saying a whole lot, to be true), and the very niceFimbulwintergod power. If you’re not focusing on Cavalry as Odin, Tyr makes a decent alternative to Baldr.
General Tips
Hersir Make For Great Relic Collectors
Once you have your Temple up and running, you’ll be giftedtwo Ravens. These should immediately be used toscoutout the map.
It’s also a good idea to immediately recruit twoHersirs(at least two, anyway!). These should then be used tomake a beeline for any Relicsthat your Ravens discover during their scouting. Thanks to how quick and effective Ravens are at scouting (second only to an efficient Set player), you have a very good chance of snapping up all the good Relics before you foe ever discovers them.
Raiding Is Important
Since the Norseonly get Favor from combatand many of Odin’s crucial technologies (not to mention some really fantastic Myth Units) require it, it’s important that you’re sending raiding parties towards your foes very regularly. Without these, you’ll only ever receive a very minor trickle of Favor from villagers who go hunting.
It’s a good idea that your raiding partiesdo not include any Myth Unitsunless you are:
Use Your Ravens Wisely
Once you’ve scouted out the map, it’s a good idea touse your Ravens to keep an eye on key locations. Since they can only be targeted by ranged units, Ravens can easily stay safe on the outskirts of you foe’s base, allowing you to easily see when they’re making a forward push, where their Villagers are heading for resources, and when new buildings crop up.
Ravens will automatically get revived a while after dying, so don’t worry about losing them.
