Guide to Poseidon
By Mokon · vanilla
Mokon’s original Poseidon reference connects his distinctive bonuses, heroes and strategic options across the ages.
Introduction
Poseidon is a force to be reckoned with in AoM. His win percentage is tied with Odin for the highest, at 53%. What gives him this success and how do you master it? This is the topic that will be covered in this guide so sit back and read!
Poseidon at a glance
- The first of his attributes is that cavalry cost 10% less reducing the cost from 80G, 40F to 72G, 36F (145.9 BVS to 131.3 BVS). This allows him to get out 10 hippikon for the cost of 9.
- Stables cost 25% less reducing the cost from 100 wood to 75 wood (92.6 BVS to 69.4 BVS). This helps the Poseidon player save wood early on and allows him to get more stables throughout the game.
- Market use cost only 10%. This can be helpful if the player ever has surplus of a resource so that he can go to the mythic age earlier.
- When Poseidon’s buildings are destroyed militia emerge from the rubble. Militia spawning is one of the most useful attributes of Poseidon. I will go into detail on them later.
- Gains a Hippocampus at the Dock when a Temple is built. Hippocampus spawning is very nice on water maps it allows you to monitor the enemy’s movements with ease.
- Poseidon’s GP is Lure. Lure is very nice early on in the game it allows you to stay in the safety of your town and still have hunting. It attracts up to 1000 Food.
- Poseidon’s technology, Lord of Horses, increases cavalry LOS by 4. This tech isn’t the greatest. Get it when you reach Mythic and have the resources to spare.
- In Mythic Poseidon gets the Hetairoi, great against buildings and archers but not worth its price in nearly all cases
Heroes
- Archaic Age: Theseus (Infantry): The basic Greek Archaic hero – nothing much to him.
- Classical Age: Hippolyta (Archer): High attack but low hit points. This makes her better against myth units but hinders her versus human units.
- Heroic Age: Atalanta (Infantry): The fastest hero, this makes her great for running to the nearest mythic unit.
- Mythic Age: Polyphemus (Cyclops hero, can throw units): This hero is a behemoth. He has the most HP for the Greek heroes and it thus the best versus the human units. He is also superb in obliterating the enemy myth units.
- Mythic Age: The Argo (Naval Hero): The only naval hero. This unit gives Poseidon an added advantage on water for it is easier for him to take on naval MU’s.
Pantheon
- Classical Age: Ares, Hermes
- Heroic Age: Aphrodite, Dionysus
- Mythic Age: Artemis, Hephaestus
Starting out
So now let’s get down to the game. You start the game with a Town Center, four Sentry Towers, Three Villagers, a Kataskopos, 250 Food, 250 W, 100 G, and a lure GP. As the game start click the hotkey for Town Center Selection and queue up five villagers. Look around for the nearest food source remember hunting is preferred. Once you find it put the gather point for the Town Center on this. You then want to select the three villagers that you have. Send them to the food source and build a mill. As you place the mill think because you want to eliminate as much waste time as possible. You then want to place your Lure GP place this next to your Town Center. You then want to select you Kataskopos group him to team one and send him scouting. Always keep him moving. Here are some things that you should watch for as you scout:
- Gold – This will be very important for you. You will want to keep tabs on these for until heroic this is the only supply of gold.
- Settlements – Once you hit heroic these will come into play. Try to build near them and once your enemy is in heroic keep them in constant surveillance and make sure he doesn’t get any of yours.
- Herdables – Look for these and send them back to you base whenever you see them they make a good supply of food.
- Choke Points – Look for these think of how they might come into play later in a game.
- Enemy Base – Once you find this keep constant surveillance try to see what he is building and where. Try to see how good of a player he is and see what upgrades he has. (Press F1 to see the upgrades) This also includes looking for the enemies’ forward base.
As you were scouting your Town Center has produced three villagers. Go to your Town Center and set the gather point to the nearest wood. Once your villager is built place a storehouse there. Next set the gather point of you Town Center to gold. Once your villager is produced create another storehouse near the gold. Many share storehouses with wood and gold – I only do this if they are very close. If you do this also remember to have it closest to the gold because gold is a static resource that takes a while to deplete, whereas treelines will recede as villagers chop trees down.
During this time don’t forget to scout.
- Put your next villager on wood.
- Next villager to to gold.
- Next villager to wood.
- Next villager to gold.
- Have one of your food villagers build a house. Return to food once he is done.
- The next villager should be used to create a temple and then another house. (Use the shift key so he does not start praying after completing the temple.) The next three villagers should be sent to food. Once your temple and house building villager is done, send him to gold. (Once again you can use the shift key so he does not go idle.)
- Next three villagers to wood. You may also want to research husbandry at this time.
- To end your archaic villager production send one to gold.
At this time you should have 400 food. Advance to the classical. If you don’t have 400 food continue to put villagers on gold until you have the needed resources. As you advance, research handaxe and pickaxe.
The Classical Age
Just before you advance take one villager off gold and two off wood send these to the front of your base. Once you hit classical queue up some villagers and send them to gold.
With the three villagers in the front of your base build three stables, then additional houses, and finally several archery ranges. Once your first stables go up, pump out hippikons. You will want to assign your stables to a hotkey, I like to use group one. When you have five Hippikons group them – I use group three – and send them to the enemy. Again, when your next five come out group them and send them to the enemy base. You will then want to start the infamous Poseidon raiding.
Your scouting should already have revealed the location of enemy gold miners. With your first cavalry group, hit this. As they do, hit the enemy wood gatherers with your second cavalry group.
As you hippikon production continues you should make a group five. From there just keep on raiding. If the enemy army chases after your Hippikons, just run them out of his base. Once the enemy has stopped the chase, return and continue raiding. Repeat. If the enemy researches the tower upgrade you will want to kill the towers. (Only do this if you have hurt his economy enough to slow him down.)
As you are raiding and spamming hippikons DON’T forget to produce villagers. Continue putting them on gold until you have 15. If you have a max pop, don’t worry. Just let them build when you free up the population as your units get killed. As your wood supply allows you will want to divide into three mines. This will deter enemy raiding, reduce the effects of successful enemy raids, and reduce crowding. Next focus on wood – around 15 villagers once again is a good goal. Divide these into several groups as well for exactly the same reasons. (Three is good, once again) Finally, focus on food. Remember first finish hunting, then go to herdables and farm last. Once you start farming you should get Plow.
Get the cavalry upgrade as soon as you hit max pop for the first time. Once you have this, you will want to consider investing in an armory and getting the appropriate armory techs. I would suggest getting hack armor first if they are Norse, and pierce first if they are Greek or Egyptian. The others should be gotten as needed. Get the tower upgrade whenever you have the money to help deter raiding.
This basically covers raiding and early classical for Poseidon. From then on, things diversify a bit.
Other things to do in classical
The Norse Forward build rush is one of the most popular currently on ESO. If you meet some one who is using this there are a few thing you should do differently. First get the tower upgrade and crenulations ASAP this will help tremendously. Next build your buildings in walls this will help ruin Raiding Cavalry pathing. Third get mass archers, Norse players hate this and if used in tight spaces they can defeat cavalry with relative ease. It is also a good idea to get heroes against the Norse for they are sure to come at you with myth units. To get the second hero put a wood villager on favor. Last and probably most importantly hit his economy. Few Norse players defend them and you can slow them down a lot if you hit their base. This will also make them less aggressive due to fear of you raiding.
Turtlers can sometimes foil you plans to raid them. If you ever get to the point where your armies are getting slaughtered in the enemy base then switch to a containment strategy. Make sure they can’t get anyone else while you boom. Come back later with siege and you should be able to defeat them.
Sometimes people can mass armies that your cavalry get whooped by. While you should still remember not to engage them if they do mass a counter cavalry army then get up a division of archers. Set this of to the side until the right moment. Then come in and whip out his army.
Naval Maps are definitely not my forte…but nevertheless there are some basic things to do. First of all switch some of the gold villagers to wood and build a dock. Try to get as many fishing ships as possible out early on as this really helps your econ. Once you temple is built you can send you Hippocampus to sniff out the enemy fishing. This gives you an advantage cause you know where they are. You can also use the Hippocampus as a decoy to mess up the targeting of enemy galleys. As I usually lose the water to skilled opponents, I have learned this is not always bad. If you start losing and are sure there is no way to win the sea, then only build just enough ships to keep him building ships. While he is busy conquering the sea build up your land army and hit him hard. Just remember that if this happens you need to stay away from the shores and he will have the advantage in a long game.
Now in my basic strategy I said just to advance. Well, now I would like to go into the specifics of advancing. For the Classical age most Poseidon players choose Hermes. This is due to the fact that he has the Spirited Charge improvement to Cavalry. His cease-fire also is very good – just some of its uses are:
- Eliminating the effects of time based GP’s. (Flaming Weapons, Ancestors, etc.)
- Killing short lived Mercenaries.
- Saving your self from a rush.
- Claiming a Town Center.
- Scouting the enemy town with impunity. (Towers and TC’s can’t fire at you…)
- Halting enemy fortress construction.
While most Poseidon players don’t get Ares, he can be useful to crush a forward build rush or to capture the sea due to his Pestilence GP.
Heroic and beyond
Now it is time for the Heroic Age. In Heroic, Poseidon gets Aphrodite or Dionysus to choose from. Poseidon players usually go for Dionysus because of his cavalry improvement, just like Hermes, and again his useful GP. Bronze can also be crucial to winning a battle. However, Aphrodite is often a good choice if the game drags out. Her economic bonuses are very good at this point, but Curse is not a very powerful GP, except against low HP ranged units.
Once you have a surplus of resources and have all the appropriate Classical Age upgrades, it is time to go Heroic. (Don’t advance if you might need the resources sometime soon, obviously.) I usually hit it at about 14:00. Once you’re in Heroic there are a couple of things to do. First, get the unit upgrades, (Heavy Cavalry and Archers.) just remember that if you have a small army that it is more important to build men than get upgrades. The second thing you want to do is to get the economic upgrades. These will help you a lot and pay for themselves quickly. Finally, the third thing you need to do on hitting heroic is queue more villagers. I would put several on favor so you can begin utilizing MU’s more heavily, and then more on the other resources according to what you need. With the favor you will be able to get the unique cavalry techs, fortresses, and myth units.
As soon as you can afford it, set up a market with at least ten caravans going. This will provide you with a solid, hard to disrupt source of gold – necessary for your expensive cavalry. Remember that the longer the distance is the money attained will exponentially grow, and that you get more gold from allied TC’s. Once you have the resources, start grabbing the Town Centers. These often mean the difference between you or your enemy winning. Once you have invested in all these things, begin getting the next tier of armory upgrades.
Again, when you find yourself with a surplus of resources, a large enough army and enough upgrades, you should go to Mythic. In the Mythic Age, Poseidon has the hardest time deciding on who to pick. You can go Artemis or Hephastus. Artemis is nice if the enemy is dying from you raids and has built up defenses – I have ended many a game with her Earthquake GP. Her archer improvement also complements Poseidon’s cavalry very well. Hephaestus on the other hand is nice you enemy has a sprawling base. Plenty also gives a major boost to your economy.
Once in Mythic, repeat the formula used on advancing to Heroic. Expand you economy, research upgrades, and grab land. In long games, don’t forget to get the levy and conscript techs because they can sometimes determine who wins or not. You should be aggressive at this stage, and it can also be smart to wall areas to prevent raiding. (Especially on your trade route.) If the game seems to go on for a while at this point then you should think about a wonder. Just remember that if you start building a wonder your enemy might do the same thus you want plenty of villagers and protection.
Militia
Militia spawning is a very nice attribute to Poseidon. The are helpful against some rushes and really can turn the tide in late games. One of the best things about them is that when someone uses a GP like Earthquake you get a large army to help your regular army. Some other things to note about them is that the give Norse only 0.48 Favor which is nice early on. If you’re having trouble with Set these guys also counter him somewhat. If he tries to kill a tower well then you have one of them to defend with. If the Set kills your dock with the animals you have two to defend with. Here is a list of how many militia you get with each building:
- 2: House, Granary, Storehouse, Tower, and Dock.
- 3: Academy, Stable and Archery Range.
- 4: Armory, Temple, and Market.
- 6: Fortress, Town Center.
- 10: Wonder.
Infantry?
Perhaps you noticed my strategy never mentioned infantry. I don’t use them that often, but they still have their place. The times I would recommend them are versus an Egyptian player that goes spearmen and slingers or versus some Norse rushers. Another place in which they excel is the late game surprise. If for most of the game you have not used them you enemy probably has not built their counters, getting them at the right time you can surprise your enemy, and maybe turn the tide of the game. This is most effective versus Egyptians.
Civ specifics
Ever wondered what to do against any given civ? Well here is a brief explanation…don’t only go by this, however. Scout and adapt.
- Zeus – Often, you can expect lots of Hoplites. Not to worry, though, just continue with your raiding for he won’t be able to catch you. Most of the time you can devastate their economy with very little losses. You should also get heroes quicker cause Zeus tends to like myth units. You should use the archer surprise strategy stated earlier as you hit heroic and then finish him with siege.
- Hades – These players tend to turtle. Your raiding will suffer a little but you can take the losses. Also remember that the sentinels come down easily if you just attack them. As you can probably guess they mostly use archers. Siege is helpful to finish them off.
- Poseidon – Make sure you get first strike against another of your kind. Most likely all hippikons will be the best choice. Once in heroic mix plenty of prodromos in with you men, and archers to kill enemy Prodromos.
- Ra – There are two types of Ra players – the fast heroic player and the classical age rusher. If he goes for the FH, then you will want to hit his gold and monuments while getting a good economy. Watch out for the camels and remember Prodromos counter them well.
- Isis – Isis plays a lot like Ra. Just be more aware of the classical rush. Also remember to try very hard to raid the enemy’s economy when they use prosperity. Most of the time you can find their gold pile because they usually click near there mine. This shows up on the mini-map.
- Set – Expect him to use animals and classical armies. Most of the time he rushes first but just remember if you can put them on the defense you gain a major advantage. Also watch for his GP’s. If he casts Serpents near you villagers use your villager to kill the serpents due to the fact that serpents get a .1 attack bonus against villagers. Villagers are also good at killing his animals.
- Thor- The Thor rushes tend to be Throwing Axemen backed by Raiding Cavalry. Also remember Thor has the strongest Norse economy. If Thor starts going Ulfsarks then get lots of Toxotes.
- Odin – Watch for the rush, as with all Norse they are very aggressive. Most of the time they go for lots of Raiding cavalry backed up by Throwing Axemen. Just remember to send at least one raiding party to hit them even if they are raiding your base. Build your buildings tight to minimize the cavalry usefulness versus your Toxotes. Also watch for the fast heroic. If Odin starts to FH hit him and get a good economy. To counter their Jarls get Prodromos.
- Loki – The second fastest rush, and you just have to expect a rush with this guy. Remember to get heroes early in classical. Most of the time the goes for a balanced army. Toxotes work the best against him.
I guarantee that some of you here almost never use Poseidon…well here is some thing for you, how to counter Poseidon.
- Norse – Rush early with raiding cavalry. Don’t engage his army if you can help it and hit his wood as hard as you can. Later on hit his gold often
- Egyptian – Go for a classical rush with Spearmen and Slingers – this is hard for most Poseidon players to beat. Build you base tight to prevent his rush. Later on hit his gold often.
- Greeks – Go heavy cavalry and build you base as tight as you can. Again, hit his gold often.
PAGE BREAK
Poseidon’s units
Most of the time you won’t use all units but nevertheless he is a little guide to the units of Poseidon.
Hoplite: Good against cavalry and spearmen, but very slow early on and thus not very useful. Cost: 60F 35G (125.4 BVS)
Use against: Hippikons, Prodromos, Hetairoi, Camerlry, War Elephants, Raiding Cavalry, and Jarls.
Don’t use against: Throwing Axemen, Axemen, Toxotes, Gastraphetes, and Hypaspists
Hippikon: Good against archers if they are not at critical mass, tough in general and good for raiding. Cost: 36F 72G (131.3 BVS)
Use against: Toxotes, Peltasts, Gastraphetes, Slingers, Axemen, Huskarls and Chariot Archers.
Don’t use against: (Massed) Throwing Axeman, Camerlry, Spearmen, Ulfsarks, Prodromos, Hoplites, and Jarls
Toxotes: Very good against infantry and useful to counter the rush. More effective in higher numbers, best at critical mass. Cost: 55W 35G (89.4 BVS)
Use against: Hoplites, Hypaspists, Gastraphetes, Myrmidon, Axeman, Throwing Axeman, Spearmen, Ulfsarks, Hersirs, and Chariot Archers.
Don’t use against: Raiding Cavalry, Camerlry, Huskarls, Slingers, Peltasts, Hippikons, Hetairoi, War Elephants, and Jarls
Hypaspists: Strong against infantry, useless versus anything else. Can beat non massed TA’s. Cost: 60F 20G (114.4 BVS)
Use against: Ulfsarks, Huskarls, Spearmen, Hoplites, and Myrmidon
Don’t use against: Toxotes, Camerlry, Slingers, Gastraphetes, Chariot Archers, and Jarls
Prodromos: Good against cavalry but weak against most others, especially archers. Cost: 72F 36G (145.4 BVS)
Use against: Hippikons, Hetairoi, Camerlry, War Elephants, Raiding Cavalry, War Elephants, and Jarls.
Don’t use against: Throwing Axeman, Hoplites, Spearmen, Ulfsarks, Toxotes, Hoplites, Axeman, and Chariot Archers
Peltasts: Strong against archers and worth their price, but have some targeting problems in large battles. Cost: 60W 20G (77.5 BVS)
Use against: Toxotes, Throwing Axeman, Gastraphetes, Slingers, and Chariot Archers.
Don’t use against: Hippikons, Camerlry, Hetairoi, War Elephants, Raiding Cavalry, Huskarls, and Jarls
Here are some other BVS Statistics:
- Hetairoi: 196.8
- Petrobolos: 358.7
- Helepolis: 497.6
- Caravan: 144.9
- Fishing Ship: 46.3
- Transport: 111.1
- Ramming Ship: 147.5
- Siege Ship: 202.5
- Trireme: 147.5
- Villager: 72.5
Knowing the map
Knowing the map that you are playing is very important here is a little guide to the maps and how you should play them with Poseidon.
- Alfheim – This map has a good amount of hunting and 2 extra relics. Walling is very easy and choke points abound. Later on Toxotes have a great importance in this map but you should raid early on still.
- Anatolia – This map has fishing, lots of sheep, and lots of hunting a ways from your base. Navy battles don’t occur much due to the two sides. Most of the gold is located in the center thus you want to play aggressively on this map.
- Ghost Lake – This map has lots of hunting. It also is one of the best for this strategy. The openness lets you raid as much as you want.
- Mediterranean – This map has little hunting but a good fishing opportunity. Be prepared to fight for the center. This map also has lots of Pigs. If you attain the sea use it to transport men and to assist against the enemy armies.
- Midgard – This map has lots of hunting and fishing. You should play this map aggressively.
- Oasis – This map has a good source of hunting but little is located near you. Make sure the enemy does not get control of the center wood supplies.
- Savannah – This map has plenty of hunting and is great for raiding. Just watch the Norse.
- Watering Hole – The best map for my style take full advantage of the hunting. Just be aware that the Norse also excels on this map. Exploration is key on this map and don’t forget that the shorelines leave wispy lines in the unrevealed map. Use it to your advantage.
Hotkeys
Hot Keys are what separate the Rooks from the Inters. I would suggest that you map you own keys to what fits your style best. Here is some of my mapping I find it very easy to use and nice because hand movement in minimal.
Center on Town Center – Ctrl Tab
Build Temple – Alt `
Build Farm – Ctrl `
Find Idle Villager – `
Build House – Q
Build Granary – W
Build Storehouse – E
Build Stable – Ctrl Q
Build Archery Range – Ctrl W
Build Academy – Ctrl E
Build Hippikon – Q
Build Prodromos – W
Build Toxotes – Q
Build Peltast – W
Build Hoplite – Q
Build Hypaspist – W
Poseidon in action
I recently have found that getting your early techs later is a better choice so here is the changes to my build order.
- 1-6 to Food : Build Mill, Research Hunting Dogs, and Cast Lure Near you Town Center.
- 7 Wood : Build Storehouse for Wood
- 8 Gold : Build Storehouse for Gold
- 9 Wood
- 10 Gold
- 11 Wood : W/ a Food Villager build a house then return to work.
- 12 Gold
- 13 Build Temple then House then put on Gold
- 14-17 Food
- 18 Wood
- 19-20 Food
- 21~ Gold
- Hit Classical Age at 4:20-5:20)
- W/ 1 vil from gold and 2 from wood
- Three Stables
- Three houses, more as pop constraints need
- Archery Ranges if being rushed, Armory if not
Check out this record to see this build demonstrated.
My example of rushing as Poseidon. I slack off after Heroic though, and my opponent is a bit of a newbie.
Watch FoX_EliteX play Poseidon.
-Mokon
Source: Mokon · HeavenGames