Ra: Economy, Build Orders, and Matchups
By StR_Bishop · titans
Build Ra’s economy around empowerment, select minor gods for each opponent, and coordinate stronghold units, siege, and late-game trade.
Complete Guide to Ra
By StR_Bishop
Introduction
When I started as an AoM/TT player I played Hades and Oranos at ~1650+ level. Joining StR'S Cavalry is where I was introduced to Ra. I owe my appreciation to StR_Monte, StR_Mania, and StR_Darklight.
General Economic Principles
Spread sheep around your TC to avoid villager bumping
Build mining camps on the largest side of the mine
Build farms with 1 villager per farm
Rebuild lumber camps as forests move
Move Pharaoh/Priest on the opposite side of the resource from villagers
Minimize idle villager time
Hunting around TC: if you need to garrison + ungarrison, ring town bell quickly
Ra Bonuses
Pharaoh
The Pharaoh is your most important unit.
+25% empower rate
Increases gather rate
Increases military production speed
Decreases tech and building construction times
Doubles TC arrows when empowering it (same with priests)
| Resource |
Egyptian villager |
Empowered villager |
| Hunt |
0.76 |
0.91 |
| Herdables |
0.65 |
0.65 |
| Farm |
0.63 |
0.76 |
| Wood |
0.98 |
1.18 |
| Gold |
0.82 |
0.98 |
Empowered Monument to the Villagers generates more favor than any other monument.
Rain (God Power)
Rain gives a huge eco boost: +300% farming for you, +200% for allies and enemies. Best used to set up a strong FH — you don't have to worry about farm micro during Rain.
Tip: Place 1 villager per farm instead of many on one — saves time.
Skin of Rhino (Tech)
Cost: 50 food, 5 favor. Increases villager combat stats:
Attack: 8 → 9
Hack armor: 25% → 47%
Pierce armor: 34% → 54%
Research time is 40 seconds (unempowered). Good to get on the first or second TC when preparing for defense.
Matchup Overview
vs Atlantean
The most efficient way to beat Atlantean is to defend your initial gold and villagers.
Analyze gold at game start, build 2nd Monument early
Advance with Bast
Build 2-3 Barracks and spam Slingers (a few Axemen/Spearmen are fine but can hurt eco)
Sphinx spam to claim 2nd gold — 3-4 eclipsed Sphinx can force Atlantean heroes to run
Alternative: 2nd TC in Classical (maybe securing gold) + Barracks units + Skin of Rhino. Ra villagers become scary vs Atlantean buildings.
vs Egyptian
Eggy wars are fun. Always FH or 2TC semi-FH vs Egyptian — too weak in Classical. Scarab rush is the main killer, but you can win without it. Eggy are nothing without gold, so focus on cutting gold or constant raids. Don't boom passively and rely only on Mercs — Egyptian can and should be aggressive.
vs Norse
Norse is one of the easiest matchups — Egyptian are very strong vs them. Main threats are Flaming Weapons and Ragnarok.
FH is fairly straightforward: mass Wadjets or other myth units, build Migdol, raid with Heavy Camels
Use Locust Swarm + Camel raids on food/gold, not wood
vs Flaming Weapons: Shifting Sands + good unit combo + hack armor. Shifting their army into your base or onto a cliff works well
vs Ragnarok: Sense when it's coming, mass Barracks, towers, upgrades, and prepare defense instead of procrastinating
vs Greek
Similar plan to vs Norse, but prefer Sphinx over Wadjets — Wadjets are slow and die to ranged heroes.
Ra on Water
Mediterranean — 4:20 Grush Build
1 villager builds dock
1 villager builds granary on hunt (empowered by Pharaoh)
Auto-queue fishing ships, house with dock villager
6 villagers to food (8 food villagers including ships)
3 villagers to wood (enough for 6-7 fishing ships)
2 villagers to gold
Rest to food, build second house
Garrison food for 4:20 advance
Transition: Move all food villagers to wood (10-11) with Pharaoh empower, some to gold (5-6). Build houses and 2nd dock. Sets up aggressive grush.
Rain Start FH Build
Used in ~95% of games.
Do not get Hunting Dogs.
1 villager builds Monument (Pharaoh empowers)
1 villager builds Granary (Pharaoh empowers)
Pharaoh does a lap around TC
7 villagers on food
2 villagers to wood
1 villager builds mining camp, research Pickaxe ASAP
1 villager builds houses + Temple + 2nd Monument
Another 4 villagers on gold (adjust based on food)
Research Husbandry ASAP
Rest of villagers on food (cows/sheep near TC)
Transition: Upon advance, send some villagers to gold and lay down ~11 farms. Cast Rain when you hit Classical.
Classical Age Options
Classic Fight
Possible but not ideal in TT — Skipper used it vs Norse on vanilla. If you classic fight, mass Barracks units with myth support.
2TC Semi-FH
Effective vs Egyptian or Norse on closed maps.
Advance with Ptah ~4:40-5:00
Shift villagers + Pharaoh to forward or nearby TC site
Build 2nd TC, research Shaduf, lay down ~15 farms
3TC Boom
Monte nearly perfected this. Combined with Shaduf + Rain it can be extremely strong but risky.
Minor Gods
Ptah (Classical)
Scalloped Axe: +10% Axeman attack — situational (vs aggressive Loki/Zeus)
Leather Framed Shield: +10% Spearman pierce armor — only if massing Horus Spearmen late-game
Electrum Bullets: +10% Slinger attack — priority vs Atlantean
Shaduf: Farms cost 47 gold instead of 70 — amazing on low-hunt maps (Oasis, Ghost Lake)
Shifting Sands (God Power)
Extremely flexible:
Shift Scarabs into enemy TC early (especially on water maps)
Build a small wall "cage" in your base, shift heroes (especially priests) inside
Shift units onto cliffs so they must be deleted (great during Flaming Weapons)
Wadjet
Great defensive myth unit but slow. Avoid vs Atlantean/Greek/Egyptian (die to ranged heroes). Very good vs Norse (slow heroes).
Bast (Classical)
Sacred Cats: Improves farmer productivity
Adze of Wepwawet: +10% wood gather rate — rumored to be glitchy without full wood upgrades
Criosphinx / Hieracosphinx: Sphinx upgrades; Hieracosphinx offers +20% speed, +20% hack, +50% crush
Eclipse (God Power)
Boosts all myth units for 65 seconds. Can also block enemy god powers.
In Classical, if you haven't defended your gold and villagers in Archaic, now is the time: houses, walls, etc. Make your base unraidable before going Heroic.
Heroic Age
Heroic Strategies
Heavy Camel Raids
Very effective vs Norse. Camels are fast, letting you raid and still return to defend. Keep myth units at home while raiding. Combine with Locust Swarm for maximum eco damage. Use 2 groups of 6-10 camels, rotate them, and block villager paths.
Scarab Rush
Classic Ra strategy: 3 Scarabs + support units. Eclipse before they get LOS so they can't use defensive GP. Very effective vs all Egyptian. vs Isis, bring 5-6 priests with range upgrade plus Pharaoh.
Roc Raiding
Two Rocs loaded with Petsuchos can annihilate eco. One shot from each Petsochos kills a villager. Very strong but very lame.
Hathor (Heroic)
Sun Dried Mud Brick: -15% building cost, +15% HP — research early if going Hathor
Medjay: +30 seconds Mercenary lifespan — good on large maps
Crocodopolis: +4 range to Crocodiles — generally too expensive
Petsuchos: Slow but very strong ranged myth unit — excellent with Rocs
Roc: Best transport unit; great for protecting SoO, raiding, or cliff placements
Locust Swarm (God Power)
Destroys villagers. Best used early on important eco, ideally to block escape paths (cast between villagers and safety).
Sekhmet (Heroic)
Bone Bow: +4 range for Chariot Archers — lets them outrange TCs
Slings of the Sun: +30% Slinger damage vs infantry
Ram of the West Wind: +20% Siege Tower crush damage
Scarab: Excellent siege myth; very intimidating in large numbers
Citadel: Upgrades TC defensively and +10 pop cap
Hathor vs Sekhmet:
vs Egyptian/Atlantean: Sekhmet is strong — Scarabs shred Atlantean buildings, Eclipsed Scarabs split attention off your army
vs Norse: Camel raids + Locust Swarm are very strong; Hathor also good for Roc raiding
After hitting Heroic, Migdol placement is top priority to claim gold (avoid forests vs Thor/Odin).
Mythic Age
Strategies
Cata Raids
Load Catapults into Rocs and drop near enemy TC (prefer cliffs). Snipe TCs while only ranged units can respond. Catapults have high pierce armor.
Horus Spearmen
Among the strongest units in the game; cheap (2 pop) and very hard to counter when fully upgraded.
Osiris (Mythic)
Desert Wind: +20% camel speed and attack — expensive but powerful
Funeral Barge: Doubles War Barge damage vs archer ships — niche use
New Kingdom: Grants second Pharaoh — one on trade, one in battle
Atef Crown: Doubles minion lifespan, +40% damage, +20% HP — good for Mummy spam
Mummy: One-shot myth killer (e.g., Colossus, Heka Giants) + spawns minions
Son of Osiris (God Power)
Extremely powerful — keep a Siege Tower or Roc nearby to protect vs archers. Cannot be healed and dies to Bolt in one shot (resurrects as normal Pharaoh). Ensure your Pharaoh is fully healed before casting.
Horus (Mythic)
Axe of Vengeance: Axemen do double damage to buildings — usually not worth it
Greatest of Fifty: +15% hack armor and +100% vs cavalry for melee units
Spears of the Horizon: Spearmen +30% HP, +10% attack — the "invincible" Horus Spearmen
Avenger: Expensive but very powerful melee myth unit
Tornado: Best used where enemy army is near key buildings (Migdols/TCs)
Relics & Other Tips
Relic placement is semi-patterned on some maps — e.g., Watering Hole: one on each side
In late-game stalemates, stop only massing units — try sneaky plays: cata snipes on TCs, wall off trade, small raids, etc.
Perfect Locust placement: cast between villagers and safety (e.g., between vills and TC) to force them into your raiders
Ra is a very strong civ — if you stick with him and push his potential, he will reward you with both skill and rating.
— StR_Bishop