Obsidian Mirror: manage tonalli and fight for lasting value
By AoM Guides · retold
An Aztec introduction that treats support positioning, infantry tempo, and sacrifice as economic decisions.
Learn the resource cycle before chasing a rush
Warrior Priests and religious buildings collect the tonalli released by fallen warriors. Position that support near battles your infantry can win, then turn the combat income into further military strength. Ritual sacrifice and temporary possession add options, each with a cost to the economy or army.
Put support near useful battles
Plan where your army expects to fight and how a Warrior Priest can approach without becoming the first target. Collection value is only practical when support survives to provide it. A Priest placed far behind every engagement may miss an opportunity; one isolated in front may hand the opponent an easy kill.
Religious buildings can make a region strategically meaningful, but they still require a defendable location. Build around a resource or route you want to keep. Scattered infrastructure that cannot support its neighbors is easier to remove than a connected position with a clear reinforcement path.
If the engagement turns bad, withdraw while the support can still leave with the army. Do not lose the entire force trying to collect every remaining benefit. The next fighting cycle requires both soldiers and the infrastructure that makes the civilization’s system work.
Use infantry mobility to choose the fight
The Aztecs do not use a conventional horse cavalry roster. Their infantry and elite Noble’s Hut warriors must be chosen for specific roles rather than treated as interchangeable fast attackers. Read the target bonuses of the War Hut counters and pair them with enough durable or damaging support to hold the intended formation.
Threaten exposed resources instead of repeatedly attacking a fortified center. Force the opponent to reveal where their defenders are, then use that information to protect your own expansion or approach from a better direction. Mobility is valuable because it creates choices; committing to the first visible target throws that advantage away.
Stealth and deception can improve information or positioning, but a hidden unit still needs a useful assignment. Scout a resource route, watch a flank, or prepare a coordinated strike. Leaving a valuable specialist idle in a decorative ambush does not create pressure by itself.
Treat sacrifice as a real cost
Sacrificing an economic unit gives up its future production as well as the resources required to replace it. Before committing, identify exactly what the favor or later perk will purchase and why that purchase matters now. A vague intention to make more myth units is weaker than a clear plan to complete an army and contest a particular resource.
Likewise, temporary divine possession should answer a problem your ordinary army cannot solve efficiently. Support the possessed unit, select an appropriate target, and plan for the temporary effect to end. Do not calculate the next engagement as though that burst of strength will remain permanently available.
Choose a god plan you can execute
Quetzalcoatl’s Tailwind can help a force reach a favorable engagement or leave a dangerous one. Decide which result is worth the cast before using it. Tezcatlipoca’s Obsidian Mirror makes the target player’s Archaic power relevant; choose by what the copied effect can accomplish in your position. Huitzilopochtli’s Blood Pact kills its affected unit afterward, so its temporary strength needs to buy something that survives the unit.
The three gods share civilization systems, but they do not share one universal timing. A defensive copied-power plan and an expansion-focused temporary burst make different demands on income, positioning, and scouting.
Practice one complete combat cycle
Start with a limited army and one support group. Choose a contested resource, move together, engage only with useful target access, and withdraw together if the fight deteriorates. Afterward, review ordinary resources spent, soldiers surviving, support surviving, and the territory gained. Add the tonalli and favor benefits to that picture. If they are the only positive result while your economy and army collapse, the cycle was not sustainable. Repeat until combat income strengthens a working position rather than masking an expensive loss.