Atlanteans Guide - Age of Mythology

Intro

This walkthrough-style guide covers how I approach Atlanteans in Age of Mythology: Retold, playing as Gaia but applying most of the advice to any Atlantean major god. I treat Atlanteans as one of the easier civs to run economically thanks to Citizens (villagers with donkeys), no drop-off buildings, and flexible hero promotion. Gaia layers Gaia’s Forest, cheaper promotions and guild techs, and Gaia Lush healing across the map. Below I’ve stripped play-by-play chatter and kept mechanics, build choices, and how I use god powers and buildings in a real match.

Citizens and economy

• Atlanteans use Citizens, not standard villagers: each rides a donkey, can build and gather, and needs no lumber camps, mining camps, or mills—click a resource and they gather immediately.
• Trade-off: without drop-off points it’s tempting to send Citizens far from safety; I stay mindful of overextension and raids.
• Population cost: Citizens cost more resources (extra wood and food vs typical villagers), take two population each instead of one, so I run fewer workers—but they’re stronger overall.
• Food priority: I treat farms as last resort: herdables, berries, fish first; farms are expensive, slow, and worst income—same general rule as other civs.

Oracles, favor, and scouting

• I start with three Oracles. They both scout and generate favor.
• Standing still: line of sight grows over time (I can turn radius display on in settings); moving shrinks vision until they stop again—risk/reward for map control.
• Favor scaling: Oracles generate more favor the farther apart they are; late game I park them in corners or safe zones I control once the map is mostly revealed.
• Cap: up to 10 Oracles for maximum favor generation.
• Hero Oracles: promoting an Oracle to hero boosts favor generation further—useful once I have a Temple.

Gaia: bonuses, Gaia’s Forest, and Gaia Lush

Major-god perks (Gaia):

• Citizen → Hero promotion costs 25% less than for Oranos or Kronos.
• Economic Guild technologies are 40% cheaper.
• Gaia Lush: verdant tiles around my buildings heal friendly units and buildings. I’m unsure whether Legacy’s “enemy can’t build on lush” rule still applies in Retold—worth testing.

Gaia’s Forest (reusable god power):

• Place it to spawn trees (about 250 wood each vs normal trees).
• Citizens gather faster from these trees.
• The power can be reused for free at least twice (maybe three—I’d verify in-game).
• Offensive/defensive use: I sometimes drop forests to block paths or choke approaches; it’s free, so there’s little downside to using it for wood or zoning.

Historical aside I mention in the video: Atlanteans and reusable Titan-era mechanics originated in the old Titans expansion; in Retold they’re base-game content, which I’m glad about.

Relics, temples, and hero promotion

• Any human unit (Citizen, Oracle, infantry, etc.) can be promoted to a Hero (I use H or the UI button); heroes gather and build faster on Citizens; military heroes hit harder.
• Relics: I need a Temple before pickup. My habit: scout with Oracles, then promote an Oracle to Hero to carry the relic—better than tying Citizens to courier duty (opportunity cost on economy).
• Gaia’s starting Citizens can work for relics if needed, but I prefer keeping Citizens on resources.
• Batch promote: I can multi-select Citizens, press H once, and promote a whole group together.

Manors and the Economic Guild

Manors (replace Houses):

• Max eight Manors.
• Each supports 20 population (I don’t need to max housing blindly).
• Each Manor can garrison two units—handy forward or near contested resources.

Economic Guild:

• Looks like a drop-off site but isn’t required for gathering; it’s where all economic upgrades live (pickaxe, hand axe, plow, husbandry, etc.).
• Very cheap (30 wood, 9 gold in the example)—easy early mini-structure.
• Gaia combo: Lush spreads from Gaia buildings. I sometimes drop extra Economic Guilds near expected fights so Lush gives in-combat regeneration for retreats—not every building needs to touch for Lush to grow.

Classical Age: barracks and farms

• Need a Temple to age up (same macro loop as other civs).
• Atlantean military splits into Military Barracks (core units) and Counter Barracks (counters)—labels match roles.
• Age 2 limitation: Military Barracks only trains base infantry—no baseline cavalry or archers until Age 3. Counter Barracks still builds full counter roster (e.g., anti-archer cav).
• Farms: because there’s no drop-off, I can place farms anywhere—but I still ring Town Centers like drop-offs so Citizens can garrison under raid, unlike farms stranded mid-map without towers/forts.

Heroic Age: Theia, cavalry, and Dryads

• Age 3 unlocks full Military Barracks lines including standard cav and archers.
• I argue Atlantean myth units can feel weak in mirrors: heroes counter myth, and Atlanteans mass-promote heroes—easy hard-counter if I over-invest myth blindly.
• Theia path (Heroic): focuses on cavalry.
  • Volcanic terrain / tree power: spawns a controllable tree that trains Dryads—wood-only myth infantry strong vs human soldiers. Enemy can capture the tree if they reach it, so I plant it in my base.
  • “Poseidon’s secret” steal: makes cavalry cheaper and faster and reduces hero promotion cost for cav—very strong.
  • Common strat: spam Military Barracks, mass cavalry, full upgrades, then hero promotions.

Mythic Age: minor gods and powers

I blur one minor-god name on commentary but the mechanics matter:

• Tartarian Gate line: spawns a gate that releases hostile-to-all demons until destroyed; paired myth can apply ranged chaos so affected units fight everyone. I avoid stacking hostile powers on my own army; I kite and let the gate distract while I heal in Lush.
• Atlas: Argus acid blobs delete many targets; Implosion god power (pull-in destroy).
• Rhea alternative (if skipping Theia cav): Traitor permanently converts a unit; Behemoths regenerate and excel vs buildings; Horns of Consecration grant slow passive favor forever.
• Leto (low tier for me): Automata feel weak despite repair chains; Spider Lair underwhelming vs Carnivora; Caladria (name approximate in VO)—ranged-only target, heals—still okay, but overall I’d rather other picks.

Other Atlantean major gods (quick contrast)

• Kronos: teleport buildings where I have line of sight—unique mobility.
• Oranos: Sky Passages for unit teleport between nodes—Gaia doesn’t get that.
• Gaia’s identity: map-wide Lush plus exceptional cavalry when I ride Theia.

Closing tips

• Citizens are stronger but 2 pop and pricier—plan housing and army size accordingly.
• Oracle placement = favor + intel; spread them when safe, anchor them late.
• Gaia’s Forest is free economy and sometimes terrain control—use it often.
• Economic Guild is both tech hub and, for Gaia, a cheap Lush anchor near fights.
• Atlanteans remain flexible: heavy cav is my showcased Gaia spike, but counter units and archers are still excellent—I’m not locked to one composition.