Loki Overview
By eX_WOLF · vanilla
A classic Loki overview that emphasizes reading the map, opponent and available resources before choosing a plan.
When playing Loki or any civ, you must not just follow a set build order. You have to take into account many different variables. Here are a few examples:
- Map type: This is a very important one. The map will have a huge affect on how you’re going to play.
- Opponent’s civ: This also must be taken into consideration. You must not treat an Odin opponent like you would treat a Poseidon opponent.
- Map Resources: Maps have different kinds of resource quantities. Generally it seems to be either high food or low food. For example, just because map is watering hole doesn’t mean you will have 8 deer near your TC. Sometimes you may only end up with 3.
- Opponent’s potential strategy: You can sometimes predict what your opponent will be attempting base upon what civ he is, but sometimes you might have to rely on little hints. Scouting is your best weapon for this and must be used well.
Archaic Age
As the game is loading, take a good look at the map type and your opponent’s civ. Already you’ve answered #1 and #2 above. As soon as your computer finishes loading press h+v+v+v+v. You want your TC working no matter what. Take your first 2 villagers and send to food source on land map, to wood on water map. Select your Ulfsark and send him scouting around your TC. The rest from here on depends on the factors above. (If you really want a specific build order for different situations then check out some of my recorded games.)
In Archaic age you have two main objectives:
1. Setting up economy: You want your economy to be built for what you need it for. If you plan on doing a Hersir rush, you need to find a build order that gets you the right resources for that strategy. If one game you find you have too much wood then needed, but not enough gold, next game put fewer guys on wood and more on gold. I like to come up with my own build orders as oppose to watching recorded games and copying. Because by doing this you will learn how to improve on your own and this is very important.
2. Scouting: You should start with a food source visible within your TC, along with a gold pile. After tasking your initial villagers to food, select your Ulfsark and run an arc around the dark area near your TC. After doing this it is important to find a second gold mine, a second and third food source and some more herdables. If it’s a water map, after tasking initial villagers to wood, send your Ulfsark right away to build dock. Then scout after dock is built. Once you get to pop 13/14 it’s time to build your first house. Normally I will just pop the house down wherever my Ulfsark is currently, but against Set, you should keep it near your base so animals can’t pick it off. After finding all the important resource locations, if you decide to execute a Loki rush, send your Ulfsark towards your enemies base to build temple. After temple is done, build 1 more house then scout the enemy’s base and place spy on an enemy unit. I like to put it on a villager or enemy Ulfsark for Norse. Seeing his economy or military composition can be very important. Against Eggies, I put it on villager or pharaoh. Against Greeks I place it on enemy villager. This is not the case every game, it’s just what I normally plan for.
Classical Age
I will continue assuming you decided to do a Loki rush. There will be two main things going on in classical: a) Economy and b) Military. In this article I will try to focus more on the military aspect of the game. But as a general note for economy, it is important to keep your TC producing villagers or dwarves. At first build Dwarves to save food for Hersirs, but then switch to villager production.
I choose Heimdall as my minor god for executing the rush. I believe he is superior in most cases. His God power Undermine allows you to take out a wall if your enemy has walled himself in, or a tower. If he has neither, save it for when you plan on taking out his TC if game goes to that point. It can also be used later on Forts. The Einherjar is one of the biggest weapons in a Loki rush. He is very powerful and good against buildings. His draw backs are his slow speed and vulnerability to archers.
Military: Loki vs. Norse
Once you reach classical you will immediately build longhouses with your Ulfsark and Hersir you’ve been building during age transition. How many depends on your resources and the map but I normally go initially with 2, adding more later on. Do not put all your men to build 1, then all men to build other. This is inefficient building. If you have 4 infantry units, divide them up to build (2 on each longhouse).
Try to keep all 3 military buildings including your temple producing men. I like to have my temple producing Hersirs, while my barracks produce throwing Axemen. Many players tend to go with Raiding cavalry first, but I like Throwing Axemen. The reason for this is because an early army at this point will be composed mainly of Hersirs, which your opponent built while advancing. Throwing Axemen when not massed aren’t as affective, but if they have a meat shield they still can be. Keep your Hersirs in front, block raiding cavalry from getting to your Throwing Axemen. Try to fight in choke points to take advantage of the throwing Axemen’s range.
Micro-management is very important. Make sure you target his Hersirs with you throwing Axemen, like that you protect your MUs (myth units). The more and more throwing Axemen you get the harder it will be for your opponent to counter you MUs. Target your Hersirs on enemy MUs. Whenever there is a battle always try to out micro your opponent. Another important fact is that trolls are great MU killers, almost as good as the Greek ranged hero. Always target your trolls on enemy MUs.
Assign numbers to your military buildings. Use control #(1,2,3…,9) to buildings. I use ctrl 1 for temple, ctrl 2 longhouses, and ctrl 3 docks on water and later on for hill forts. This way you can build more units without leaving the scene of a battle. You can simply press 1,r,r,2,t,t then right click on ground to set gathering point. This will send some Hersirs and throwing Axemen to this location.
Late Classical Army Composition: In late classical my army composition is normally Einherjars in front with 2,3 Hersirs and a pack of throwing Axemen behind. The throwing Axemen should protect your MUs from Hersirs if you micro them properly. If your opponent is turtling and you can’t finish him off in classical, go for Heroic.
Military: Loki vs. Egyptians
Against the Egyptians, similar rules apply. But you have to take into account the Egyptian units. Axemen will be a threat to early Hersirs, so it’s even more important to get those throwing Axemen out fast. I find that Raiding cavalry are more important now, because Eggie players will tend to build Axemen and slings, which raiding cavalry do well against.
Reminder: The Egyptian hero system. Priest and pharaohs although ranged are a lot easier to bring down then the Greek ranged hero. Kill these guys when you have the chance.
Military: Loki vs. Greeks and Set
Against these civs, it might not be the best idea to execute a Loki rush. Set’s animals will make short work of a forward base. Greeks have Toxotes which can camp out near TC whenever your Raiding cavalry charge. I find it very difficult to perform a Loki rush vs. these civs, so I tend to try something different. Possibilities include trying to fast heroic, going Forseti for hall of thanes upgrade and raiding enemy bases with raiding cavalry but not forward building. The choice is up to you, and should depend on the circumstances.
Heroic Age
This is Loki’s most weak age in my opinion. Unlike Odin, he does not gain any additional bonuses in this age. In Heroic age you have access to siege and powerful hill fort units. You also have the ability to capture more settlements giving you map control and more population space.
If you are in a winning situation and you just advanced to heroic to finish him off, I would choose Bragi. Flaming weapons is one of the most powerful heroic god powers if used correctly, even better then bronze. It doubles that attack of all human soldiers and heroes. It is global and affects all units. Use this when you have a large army and are ready to attack. This God power combine with siege should allow you to finish of a turtler. The myth unit that Bragi gets is the Battle boar. This unit is a walking tank and he’s fast. His special attack can be very useful if used properly. I use it to break up a formation of archers or Throwing Axemen so my cavalry can the surround them easier then when they were in tight formation. Thurisaz Rune increases the speed of MUs. I normally wait before getting this tech, it’s not that important. If your opponent is building cavalry, then swine array is a must. It doubles the attack of Ulfsarks against cavalry. If you are using Ulfsarks heavily, then Call of Valhalla is worth it. It increases Ulfsarks hit points. Bragi is the god I normally advance through.
The other heroic age God selection is Njord. I normally take Njord if it’s a water map or I need an instant army quickly. The reason for this is because walking woods can defiantly allow you to come back from behind if you are down. Cast it in your enemy’s base if you still have spy there or run a raiding cavalry by. Try to cast it where their wood cutters are and as far from heroes as possible. This should cause the necessary distraction for you to rebuild. Also on a water map, if there is still a water fight going on, the kraken is an amazing MU. Some say he is overpowered and he might be. He will usually win you the water battle unless the enemy has water MUs of his own. The Mountain Giant is even tougher then the Battle Boar, but is very slow. And you will get another chance to choose him in Mythic, under Hel. The only tech I would ever bother with under Njord is ring giver. This significantly helps your Jarls with a nice +25% hitpoints. If you are building a lot of jarls, I recommend getting this upgrade.
Mythic Age
So the game has lasted this long? That’s great because Loki becomes very powerful once again. The mythic age is the final age and you have one last minor god choice to make.
Tyr is one of the 2 choices. All Norse gods have the option to choose him. His god power Fimbulwinter is awesome. It will shut down your opponent’s economy for 35 seconds, will kill ox carts since they do not garrison automatically, will kill a lot of trade carts and supplement your military like a global ancestors. The downside to it is its pretty random and might not summon wolves where you want them. The Fenris wolf is a nice MU, but not really that effective unless it’s massed. Tyr does offer two very nice techs for your infantry. If you are building those units, get those upgrades.
Hel is the second of the two choices and the better one in most cases in my opinion. Unless your opponent is Zeus Nidhogg can be a real pain for them. He has many purpose since he can fly. He is most affective vs. Norse opponents since they have no ranged heroes. You can use him as a giant meat shield or you can harass enemy villagers with him. He is good against buildings, but beware of towers since they have a bonus against him. Don’t be afraid to sacrifice him sometimes as a meat shield. If you are in battle and your enemy has many Toxotes behind, summon Nidhogg there. If they all start to shoot at him, your troops should win up front, if they continue to shoot at your ground troops, then Nidhogg will waste them 5 at a time. Under Hel you gain all 3 giants. The Fire Giant being my personal favorite. He is extremely powerful if microed properly. Having two of these behind your army will supplement it extremely. They are also great against buildings, best siege MU in the game. They can also kill enemy siege in one or two shots. I always build as many as I can of these great units. The Fire giant’s downside is that it is very expensive at 300 gold 32 favor (for Loki). Keep them away from heroes. You don’t want to lose 3 Fire Giants to a few heroes, cause u weren’t paying attention. That’s 900 gold and 96 favor lost. Whenever you are low on gold, use your favor by building Mountain Giants. I rarely build Frost Giants since I use most of my gold for Fire giants. Hel’s techs improve her already powerful MUs even more. Granite Blood cost wood and favor, so it’s normally easy to do by Mythic. It improves all giant hit points by 100. But if your low on wood do not upgrade it. Rampage is nice by allowing MUs to train almost instantly, but I rather build more temples and save my gold for more Fire giants. But if you have a lot of excess gold then go ahead and do it.
In the mythic age I like to supplement my MUs, with a mix of troops. Which ones I do depend on what my opponent is building. Try to always have throwing Axemen in your army. They are great all purpose units. Don’t build as many Hersirs as you did in classical, but 4-5 should be enough to kill enemy MUs and summon a few of your own.
Source: eX_WOLF · HeavenGames