one of the best real time strategy game!!!
now some information abou the game
Gameplay
Like many other real-time strategy games, Age of Mythology is based on building towns, gathering resources, creating armies, and ultimately destroying enemy units and buildings. In this way, players are able to defeat and conquer rival towns and civilizations. Players advance their tribe through four "Ages": starting in the Archaic Age, the player may upgrade to the Classical Age, the Heroic Age, and finally, the Mythic Age. Each upgrade to a higher Age unlocks new units and technologies for the player, which strengthens their settlement. Conversely, upgrading requires a sum of resources to be paid, and often, certain buildings to be built.[9]
In this screenshot, an Egyptian town under attack by the Norse, defending itself using the meteor god power.
There are three playable civilizations in Age of Mythology: the Greeks, Egyptians, and Norse. Each civilization has three "major gods"-deities such as Zeus or Odin. The player chooses their major god before the game begins. Every time a player advances to the next age, a "minor god" is selected. Minor gods are slightly less significant historically than their major counterparts. Some minor gods include Bast and Aphrodite.[10] All gods grant unique technologies, myth units, and a unique god power-which is a special ability that can either damage an opponent, or benefit the player that uses it-to the player.[11]
There are four major resources in Age of Mythology: food, wood, gold, and favor; unlike previous games by Ensemble Studios, this game does not include the stone resource. Resources can be used to train units, construct buildings, and research technologies, among other things. Civilian units-namely, the Greek villagers, Norse gatherers and dwarfs, the Egyptian laborers, and fishing boats-are used to gather resources. Hunting animals, gathering berries, harvesting livestock, farming, and fishing are all methods by which food can be gathered. Wood is gathered only by chopping down trees, and gold is gathered from either gold mines or from trade. Each civilization can purchase upgrades that increase the rate of gathering these resources. Favor is acquired in different ways by different civilizations: Greek players gain it by having villagers pray at temples; Egyptian players earn it by building monuments; and Norse players receive it by fighting or by possessing heroes.[12] Resources can be exchanged at a player's market.
[edit] Units
The bulk of each civilization's army is made of human soldiers. Each civilization has a maximum number of "population slots", although the player does not start with all of these available. Building additional houses or Town Centers-the main building in a player's town-increases the population capacity. Each unit takes up a different number of population slots: civilians take one, whilst some myth units can take up to five.[13] Most units can be upgraded, making them better at certain tasks.[14]
Units can be classified into seven categories; infantry, archers, cavalry,-the three of which are broadly classified as human units-siege weaponry, naval units, heroes, and myth units.[15] The rock-paper-scissors model governs most units in battle. For example, infantry do additional damage to cavalry, cavalry do additional damage to archers, and archers do additional damage to infantry. The same rock-paper-scissors formation exists in the three different types of naval units-arrow ships, siege ships, and hammer ships. Siege units are generally exempt from the rock-paper-scissors model, but are instead able to destroy buildings easily, while being vulnerable to cavalry attacks. Heroes are extremely effective against myth units, which in turn do large amounts of damage against human units.[16] Heroes are also able to collect relics, which grant the player additional economic or military bonuses when deposited in a player's temple.[17]
[edit] Buildings
Buildings in Age of Mythology can generally be split into three categories; economic buildings, military buildings, and defensive structures. The most important economic building is the Town Center, which is similar to the building of the same name in the Age of Empires series games. All civilian units are trained at the Town Center, as are some technologies. Most importantly, players advance Age via the building. The Town Center provides fifteen population slots, and building additional houses will earn the player ten additional slots per house.[13] Other economic buildings include the farm and market.
Buildings are able to research technologies and upgrades, as well as provide resources for the player.[13] All units except civilians are trained at military buildings. These buildings differ in name and usage between civilization, but all are able to train similar units. Military buildings are also used to research military specific technologies, such as armor upgrades, and attack improvements.[13]
Walls and towers are defensive structures, which are not able to train units, and are used only for the purposes of defense. They are able to research some upgrades, although these are generally only useful to the building performing the research.[13] Another type of building available to players, is a Wonder: a grand building that represents an architectural achievement of the civilization. In certain game modes, once a player builds a wonder, a ten minute countdown begins. If the wonder is still standing after the countdown ends, the player who built the wonder wins.[13]
[edit] Multiplayer
Multiplayer is a highly popular aspect of Age of Mythology. Most multiplayer games are played through Ensemble Studios Online (ESO), or via a direct LAN or IP connection.
Age of Mythology includes one free multiplayer account on ESO. Similar in function to Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net, ESO allows players to play matches, as well as chat with other players.[18]
In multiplayer games, there are seven different game types available, all of which are provided as standard with the game:[19] Supremacy-the standard game mode-includes randomly generated map and all gameplay aspects; Conquest is similar to Supremacy, but victory is only possible by defeating all other players; in Deathmatch players begin the game with high resources, but the game is otherwise the same as Supremacy; in Lightning, the gameplay is identical to Supremacy, but the game plays at twice the normal speed; in Nomad mode, players start with one civilian unit, and no Town Center, and must build up on a settlement; the goal of King of the Hill is to control a monument in the center of the map for a set period of time; and in Sudden Death, a player loses if their Town Center is destroyed, and they fail to rebuild it within a set period of time.
Multiplayer tournaments and LAN parties are popular throughout the world, with many players visiting to computer gaming lounges to participate.[20]
[edit] Scenario editor
The Age of Mythology scenario editor: visible is a large statue surrounded by deep water and the "rotate camera angle" controls, which allow for construction of more complex custom scenarios.
The Age of Mythology editor is far more advanced then that of its predecessor, the Age of Empires II scenario editor.[2] As well as standard unit placement facilities, the editor allows units to be overlapped, and it facilitates for large mountains, and steep terrain.[21] Triggers, a popular aspect of scenario design in Age of Empires II, are also present in Age of Mythology's editor, as well as cinematics and other special effects.[22]
[edit] Campaign
Unlike the campaign modes in Age of Empires and Age of Empires II, Age of Mythology only has one central campaign. The campaign is significantly longer than campaigns in previous games, however, with a total of 36 scenarios.[23]
Age of Mythology's campaign is entitled Fall of the Trident, and tells the story of Arkantos, an Atlantean admiral who is sent on a quest with the goal of regaining favor from Poseidon, God of the Atlantean people.[5]
Arkantos' quest takes him to the Trojan War, where he meets Ajax, Agamemnon, and Odysseus. After assisting them in winning the war, he continues in his travels and meets Chiron. Chiron advises him to follow the cyclops, Gargarensis, a follower of Poseidon.[24] Arkantos, Ajax, and Chiron travel through the Underworld in their search for Gargarensis, and end up in Egypt.
In Egypt, Arkantos meets Amanra, a mercenary queen, who asks for his assistance in domestic issues. He obliges and assists her in defeating an ally of Gargarensis, Kemsyt. While in Egypt, Arkantos learns the true story about Gargarensis: He hopes to gain immortality by freeing the Titan Kronos from Tartarus.[15] He continues North, still in search of Gargarensis.
In the Norse lands, Arkantos meets Reginleif, a valkyrie, and together they attempt to prevent Ragnarök from taking place. They encounter Gargarensis again, who traps them in a small valley with no escape in sight. In this valley, they must survive onslaughts from Gargarensis' forces while waiting for aid from Odysseus.[25]
Whilst the heroes are fighting Gargarensis' armies, he establishes himself in Atlantis, locking up its former leaders. To conclude the campaign, Arkantos and his allies march on Atlantis, and Zeus bestows his blessing upon Arkantos, giving him the power to defeat Poseidon and Gargarensis. After killing Poseidon's living statue and Gargarensis, Arkantos falls in exhaustion, and is then immortalized by Athena, becoming a god.
A new official campaign, entitled "The Golden Gift", and developed by Ensemble Studios, was also released to download from Microsoft's website. The campaign followed new adventures of Brokk and Eitri, two dwarves who appeared in the initial campaign.[26]