Guide to playing Isis
By Zhaz · vanilla
Zhaz’s original Isis guide explains an accessible Egyptian approach and the choices behind its economic development.
Why Isis?
Why pick Isis in the first place? I like Isis because of her easy play style. It enables you to do everything easily and efficiently. With other Egyptian gods you are more focused, and require more specific goals…you have less time to focus on the little things, like your unit micromanagement. A very helpful attribute to Isis’ open ended play style is her cheaper technologies…especially age advances. I don’t know how many times that I’ve messed up my start and have to wait for my food to roll in. I can assure you that I’ve then been very glad for that critical 40 less food that Isis need.
The Archaic Age
If there are any animals you can hunt within your LOS I’d advise going for these first. Then as your Priest scouts the map, you will hopefully find more hunting. When faced with a situation where you have no animals to hunt in your LOS, don’t send your villagers out into the fog hoping to find something but instead go for chickens or berries. On most maps I’d recommend getting Hunting Dogs. On Ghost Lake and Mediterranean, there is sparse with hunting and more herd animals so I’d usually advise getting Husbandry. (Keep in mind you should always get Husbandry anyway later on in classical.)
One of Isis’ bonuses determines how you usually scouting when playing as her. Isis’ priests can summon obelisks at a lower cost and a faster rate. While the priest has a small LOS and a low move rate, by strategically choosing locations to put up obelisks, you can open up a lot of the fog quickly. I usually try to place obelisks in areas of the map that enemy troops will have to approach from, and where I can see enemy units before being attacked. Most important are the areas around settlements, gold mines and in the center of the map – as this is where the action will most likely happen.
So when to head for Classical? With the Prosperity GP and the cheaper Classical advance Isis has definitely got the ability to rush … if you want to do so, you will probably want to aim for advancing at around 19 pop. For more standard play 23-25. Get the gold and wood upgrades during the age advance to help boost your economy. I usually also get the first monument up around now as it is fairly cheap and with Isis helps me protect a part of my base from enemy god powers.
Prosperity
Prosperity is a neat little GP which just simply double the speed of your gold gathering rate for 50 seconds. Some people choose to get this one while they’re heading for classical to give them a nice starting boost. That is very nice for aggressive strategies etc. Myself, I prefer to wait until I have a lot of miners and need gold fast to make the most of Prosperity.
Isis … The Byzantines of AoM?
Like AoK’s Byzantines, Isis can easily mass varied weak units in large numbers…overhelming your opponent by quantity rather than quality. This might not sound very attractive and perhaps it isn’t to you. But it is a viable way of playing and it can get you far. That added with a easily managed economy, easy micro and offensive GP’s makes Isis one of the strongest Classical age fighting machines. Of course, there are other ways to play Isis. Trying to take use of the Egyptian Migdols or Hathor’s Mercenaries for example.
The Classical Age
Anubis
MU: Anubite (Fairly tough cheap MU)
GP: Plague of Serpents
-Serpent Spear (Spearmen attack)
-Necropolis (Faster favor)
-Feet of the Jackal (Improves Anubite)
Bast
MU: Sphinx (Tough but expensive MU)
GP: Eclipse
-Sacred cats (Faster farming)
-Adze of Wepwawet (Faster wood)
-Criosphinx (Improves Sphinx)
– Hieracosphinx (Improves Sphinx)
Isis has Anubis and Bast to choose from in Classical. Of the two, the most popular one is definitely Anubis…chiefly for his god power. Bast’s Eclipse god power can be powerful, but requires specific planning. Her economic techs have a few problems, which makes them less popular. Leave Bast for more defensive games and perhaps save the eclipse until later ages where it can help out greatly.
As soon as you hit Classic, you want to spam out 3-4 barracks. (Or docks if you’re on Mediterranean.) Try to work out what units your opponent is planning on using, and adjust what you are building to counter to that.
*Normally* the combo of Spearmen and Slingers works great at most things. They are cheap, but weak…so don’t attack greater numbering forces with them. When you do fight, try to keep most of your focus on managing your Slingers… they have a tendency to target units close to them, rather than the ones they counter. If managed correctly though the Slingers eat Axemen, Throwing Axemen and Toxotes alive, allowing the Spearmen to do their intended work. In addition to Barracks units, it is always good to have a few priests – primarily to heal, but they can also counter enemy MU’s – and a couple of Anubites which provide the raw force Egypt often lacks. (And is a good way to spend that favor you get from your GP-protecting monument.)
Plague of Serpents: This one works great at helping turn the tide of early skirmishes, but throwing it anywhere near villagers or heroes (especially against Norse, they will have Hersir early on) is a bad idea as they tear them apart. Personally I prefer to use serpents rather early. Serpents aren’t that strong, so the use of this god power gets less the further you go into the game. Use it to win a hard battle, throwing it in the rear of the enemy army so that they both will attack his army at the current position, but also get a good shot at it if he tries to retreat.
As for Bast’s god power, Eclipse…I’d recommend saving it until later into the game when you have a lot of myth units and then can overhelm your opponent. An alternate (and popular) use is to use it to prevent the casting of enemy god powers. An enemy who is relying on Ceasefire to give him some leeway will take extra damage if he is suddenly unable to cast it. Same goes for other ‘life saver’ god powers like Ancestors, Frost, Flaming Weapons, Bronze…etc.
The Heroic Age
Nephthys
MU: Scorpion Man
GP: Ancestors
-Serpent Spear (Spearmen attack)
-Necropolis (Faster favor)
-Feet of the Jackal (Improves Anubite)
Hathor
MU: Petsuchos (Tough, long ranged)
MU: Roc (Flying transport)
GP: Locust Swarm
-Medjay (Mercs live longer)
-Sundried Mudbrick (Improves buildings)
-Crocodopolis (Impoves Petsuchos)
On advancing to Heroic it is very important to quickly use the advantages of this new age. Throwing Ancestors or Locust Swarm at the enemy, upgrading your units and taking over settlements are keys to getting Heroic age dominance. The importance here is to balance your economy so that you may get the upgrades as fast as possible. Look what upgrades cost and then focus on those resources. A few upgrades focused on your economy is also an easy way to both change the balance of income and increase your economic power. But for the most part keep focused on the military aspect of things.
Heroic does also offer the possibillity of building more Town Centers to boost your population limit. Do this when you’re at the pop limit (which you should be with a decent economy and a classical army) and have the important upgrades for your units. (The important ones, mind you…you don’t have to have every upgrade at the armory.) Make sure you can get the building up without your opponent beating you down or splitting your forces. But it is also a good idea to get Town Centers that can provide you with additional bulk in the important spots of the map…like in the center or around areas with gold mines. Focus on these before taking over safe settlements at home.
Most Isis users prefer the Ancestors god power, which is usually why Nephthys is more popular. This is understandable as it is very strong and can turn the tide of battle as long as your opponent hasn’t got a large amount of Heroes. Still Hathor can sometimes be preferable if you want that Medjay technology or to use her Petsuchos. Locust Swarm is also not only a great farm killer (which will make your enemy not very happy) but also excels at killing a large group of villagers that are packed close together…like for instance gold miners.
Upgrades
As AoK players will know, upgrades are crucial to maintaining a dominant game. You need to understand when to get them and what to get. Getting pierce armor vs an army of cavalry or farming without farming upgrade is waste of resources. In AoM there is also the special upgrades that each god has. These cost favor but are much stronger than normal upgrades and should be prioritized. For Isis perhaps the best are Serpent Spear, Sacred Cat, Nepthys priest upgrades, Desert of wind and Book of Thoth.
The Mythic Age
Osiris
MU: Mummy
GP: Son of Osiris
-Desert Wind (Greatly improved camels)
-New Kingdom (Two Pharaohs)
-Funeral Barge (Improves Arrow Ships)
-Atef Crown (Improves Mummies)
Thoth
MU: Phoenix (Flying splash damage MU)
GP: Meteor
-Book of Thoth (Food/Wood/Gold faster)
-Tusks of Apedemak (Improves Elephants)
-Valley of the Kings (Migdol units train faster)
This is probably Isis’ weakest age. Isis lack the punch of other civs here. (However, on the other hand she can more rapidly get the expensive Mythic techs more easily because they are cheaper.) You can switch over to Migdol units but I myself prefer to mass out Barracks units. With the great amount of nice technologies you have available to you in Mythic you might wanna try and outupgrade your opponent and to finish him off early. If the game becomes long you will just have to hope you are facing Set or Isis or you’ll be fighting a lopsided battle…though there is of course always the possibillity of setting up a strong trade route and massing out Mercenaries. Mercenaries will continue to rule late Heroic and Mythic games until the game is patched in 1.03.
No matter what you do though, remember that Mythic age is very much about map control. Make sure the enemy isn’t able to take your settlements nor your trade route. Some well placed Migdols and lots of Barracks’ will help to control areas and make it possible to quickly mass troops. Keep making these when you advance into enemy territory.
God powers…no question about the better choice here. Son of Osiris is the most powerful unit in the game and if managed right will gain you a lot. Keep him well protected and pay careful attention to him. Use him to empower or heal between battles.
I know Meteor has been considered a newbie god power due to its cool effects and brute force…however it really isn’t a bad one. In shorter games, probably better than Son of Osiris. For example, it can break a well held enemy area; it will both trash the units as well as taking down the buildings. (This is especially powerful vs Norse players due to their weaker buildings.) A smart player might try to avoid you getting a shot at this though.
Best Myth Units of Isis
When choosing which God to advance with there is usually in competitive AoM the focus on god powers and technologies. But one should not neglect the potential to utilize Mythological Units.
- Anubite vs Sphinx: Definitely Anubites are the best here. With their speed and cheap cost they are great in all Classical armies adding the punch Egypt tend to lack.
- Scorpion Man/Leviathan vs Petsuchos/Roc: Water is later in the game rarely the focus of the game and the minority of people that actually enjoyed The Scorpion King will find themselves very dissapointed with the Scorpion Men of AoM. On the other hand, Rocs bring forward lots of possible strategies (drop siege and then garisson it again when threatened etc.) and Petsuchos are very tough and long ranged units. Hathor’s myth units are probably the best Egypt as.
- Mummy vs Phoenix/Sea Turtle: The Phoenix has the advantage of flying and thus safe from hack attacks, it also has splash damage and a crush attack…it’s kinda like a buildable mini-Nidhogg. But I myself prefer Mummies due to their faster speed and range. As for the turtle – I said before water is mostly not an important factor in late game.
Isis in action
I maintain a strong philosophy that the best way to learn is to watch good players in action. This game is between Kasa, (LovingLady) who has been one of the best Isis players since the AoM first came out; and Korean expert Bodyguard. Download it here:
Kasa (Isis) vs BGM_BoDyGuArD (Odin) (130kb)
Kasa’s Ancestors god power helps turn the tide of a critical battle. (Click for full screen.)
At the start, watch how Kasa puts the Pharaoh on empowering the resource where the most villagers are working, thus making the most of this him. Also, due to this map always having lots of food to hunt he naturally gets the Hunting Dogs techonology. While managing the economy, he is scouting with his Priest and placing down obelisks to get visual control of as much of the map as possible. Knowledge is often the key to victory. Also note the use of the free Egyptian houses to cover weak buildings like Towers and Monuments. This leads to a much stronger defense and good use of houses you need to build anyway.
Kasa’s defense on the edge of his town marks the turning point of the game. (Click for full screen.)
An early Classical but with both gold and wood upgrades which Isis can support cheaper. Now here comes a very good move by Kasa. Empowering the building of the Barracks’ to get them up faster – Egyptians have a disadvantage otherwise with the slow speed of their builders. He makes the mistake though of going too heavy on wood, thus getting too few spears and too many slingers which Bodyguard’s cavalry slaughter. However, Kasa’s towers and walls help keeping him in control of his land and he smoothly manages his economy keeping it balanced and getting more food for spears. Most important of all he keeps his economy intact and doesn’t let enemy units interrupt it.
As Bodyguard enters Heroic Kasa faces a grim situation. He makes good use of his Towers to defend and priests to banish Bodyguard’s Walking Trees to stay alive. At this stage it almost seems Kasa is bound to lose, but he enters heroic and casts Ancestor GP which saves him from lossing a key battle. Bodyguard keeps his pressure up, but now the famous overpowered Merceneries help Kasa and the Norse Bodyguard is beaten back, and not wasting an opportunity, Kasa presses the attack and takes down Bodyguard’s base.
Bodyguard tries using Ragnarok for a desperate last stand. (Click for full screen.)
So the analyzation which you should do after every game you play. What decided the game? What were Kasa’s misstakes? Well to me it looks as Kasa went too heavy on wood and Slingers – which affected him throughout the most of the game. He thus wasn’t able to make enough Spearmen nor get appropriate upgrades. Having the Serpent Attack upgrade was nice, but not much help since he had so few spearmen.
However Kasa did play very well, making sure to not let Bodyguard in to destroy his economy. The Egyptian advantage of walls and towers were a key component in doing this. Still, the game should have been much tougher if it wasn’t for Bodyguard ignoring many upgrades and not using his advantage of having the whole map to strenghten his economy and army. Agree with me?
-Zhaz
Source: Zhaz · HeavenGames