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Your choice of major god inAge of Mythology: Retoldwill drastically affect what sorts of strategies you can make work and which unbelievable powers you can wield against your enemies. The Greeks are rather similar at their hearts, but their bonuses and minor god choices can greatly affect their optimal plays.
Poseidon is, as you might expect, the god of naval strategies and cavalry. This guide will show you the ropes when it comes to his horse-heavy gameplay and give you some advice on which minor gods to pick, some key Poseidon-specific plays, and how to use his powers to your advantage.
Poseidon Overview
Poseidon very neatly rounds out the trio of Greek gods - while Zeus and Hades focus on infantry and archers, respectively, Poseidon is the cavalry god. He’s also, naturally, masterful when it comes to naval developments.
Militia spawn from destroyed buildings
Militia are ever so slightly weaker than Hoplites and make for great consolation whenyour buildingsare destroyed.
Myth Units, cavalry, and caravans are faster
Nothing but upsides with this boon - Myth Units being faster can come in clutch very quickly when it’s time to pick up Relics at the beginning of a match.
Stables and Markets are 30% cheaper
Cheaper Stables means it’s easier to getmore Stables. More Stables means it’s easier tosupply an army with cavalry. The Market being cheaper is also quite a boon - it allows for aquicker route to Mythic Age(i.e. not using an Armory for age purposes and saving it for later),
Market rates are improved by 15%
This is of variable utility based on how your economy and specific resources are doing.
A free Hippocampus at the first dock
While this unit is on the more useless side, building a Dock as soon as you’re able to in Classical Age and sending it out to scout immediately is a great way to get visual control of a map’s waters. This is obviously more applicable on water-heavy maps.
Start a match with 4 Sentry Towers
These will spawn at cardinal directions from your first Town Centre.
While all Greek gods can happily useHippeus, Poseidon does incredibly well with them, and can field entire armies of them, supported by Heroes and powerful Myth Units.
A typical strategy with Poseidon is tobuild two Stables quickly and use Hippeus as raider unitswhile you build your economy up and focus on reaching later ages. These cavalry units are rather cheap and quick to hire, so they’re pretty brilliant throughout the entire game.
As you progress in the match,build more Stables.
With theLure power, Poseidon’s ability to get a ton of Food in the early and mid-game before turning to Farms is incredible, making it very easy to age up quickly and use that advantage to grab early victories in battle or against entire enemy civilisations.
Minor God Choices
Ares
Ares has some interesting choices but they are ultimatelynot really suited towards Poseidon’s main strategy. The Cyclops is a fun Myth Unit, but is expensive and tends to waste time and opportunities thanks to its special throwing attack, and his technologies benefit archers, which you’ll find that cavalry are not. Pestilence is more useful than Ceasefire in general, but shouldn’t be the reason you pick Ares.
Hermes
Hermes is a great match for Poseidon.Centaursbenefit from many of the same technologies as cavalry (which you should be getting anyway) and they make for wonderful support units for you Hippeus armies. Winged Messenger is potentially useful for Pegasi, but can be skipped.
Aphrodite
Aphrodite is aneconomy-focused godand suits a Poseidon strategy quite well. Nemean Lions are good support units, being great at tackling enemy infantry, which the Hippeus can sometimes struggle with. She can also boost resource gathering with Divine Blood, which is fantastic for a spam-heavy strategy which works very well with Hippeus.
Dionysus
WithHydra and Scylla, Dionysus comes with some very attractive Myth Units. Hydra especially makes for a wonderful human-killer that can double as siege-lite, while also being self-sufficient if you research Cthonic Rites (and you absolutely should if you intend to recruit more Hydras than the initial freebie). He also getsThracian Horses, which will improve your overall survivability, which is a great boon for an overall fragile main unit.
Hephaestus
Colossi and ahuge reduction in Armorycosts make Hephaestus one of the best gods in the game almost by default, especially if you save the Armory technologies for later stages of a match. Add thePlenty powerto the mix, and you have an easy choice, easily boosting your economic power by strides.
Artemis
Artemis is a situational god. If you’re up against verypowerful Myth Units, are fielding hugearmies of Centaurs, or can decimate a tough foe with asingle Earthquake, she may be the way to go. Even in these cases, however, Hephaestus might have the last laugh.
General Tips
Militia Make For Great Siege Destroyers
When your buildings are destroyed,Militia will spawn in the ruins. These are almost as powerful as regular Hoplites, and if your buildings are falling tosiege weapons, they can easily be used tocounterattackand destroy them before they wreak more havoc.
This will put agreat pressure on your foe- either they lose time and resources to destroyed siege weapons, or they are forced to engage with your buildings slowly by making some of their military units support their siege against your Militia. Strike hard and fast to reinforce this idea.
Grab The Watch Tower Upgrade
Starting with abunch of Sentry Towersmeans that it’s quite beneficial to grab theWatch Towerupgrade once you hit Classical Age.
This will allow your towers to fire upon enemies, and will significantly help ward off enemy scouts and nearby gatherer units.
Cavalry And Centaurs Make For Great Villager Killers
Thanks to their high speed,Centaurs and Hippeus can quite easily dart into the heart of an enemy’s base and disrupt their economyby killing off a few gatherers.
Even a few killed can set a foe back enough to gain an even keener advantage, even if you end up sending a few units to their doom. With a strong economy, this is a great raiding tactic.
Against Atlanteans, however,beware Hero Citizens.
Use Ceasefire To Build Town Centres
Building a Town Centre close to a foeis a great offensive strategy in the mid to late-game. It can be risky however, with enemies quickly destroying an in-progress Town Centre to waste your time and resources.
UsingCeasefireto prevent any such counter attacks is a great way to get a firm footing on your forward base. Since you’ll pretty much always be picking Hermes as Poseidon, this is a reliable strategy to practice.
