Thor: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively

← Older edit Newer edit →

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Revision as of 17:16, 5 November 2024

Odin is a Norse major god who focuses on Great Hall units.

Attributes

God Power

Name	Description
Dwarven Mine	Creates a Gold Mine wherever the player wants it to be placed. The Gold Mine holds more gold if cast in later Ages and is mined faster. Any player can mine from it.

Technology

Name	Description
Hammer of Thunder	Gives Hersirs 15% damage buff and increased favor gain.
Dwarven Weapons	All human soldiers, heroes, ships, and buildings have improved attack.
Meteoric Iron Armor	All human units, heroes, and ships have reduced hack vulnerability. Ships also have reduced crush vulnerability.
Dragonscale Shields	All human units, heroes, and ships have reduced pierce vulnerability.

Unique Building

Name	Description
Dwarven Armory	Building that replaces the Armory. It has no Age restriction on technology research and enables three additional technologies. It also spawns a Dwarf for every technology researched from it.

Bonuses

Start with three Dwarves instead of three Gatherers.
Dwarves cost -10 gold, and gather food and wood nearly as fast as Gatherers.
Builds Dwarven Armory instead of Armory. Dwarven Armory can be built and research upgrades in any age, and can research three additional technologies.
Receive a free Dwarf for each Dwarven Armory upgrade researched.

Minor Gods

Classical Age
Name	Focus
Freyja	Cavalry
Forseti	Berserks and Hersirs

Heroic Age
Name	Focus
Skadi	Throwing Axemen
Bragi	Berserks

Heroic Age
Name	Focus
Baldr	Siege and cavalry
Tyr	Infantry

Strengths

Although the Norse are generally considered weak in the economic department, Thor's economic power should not be underestimated.

All of his bonuses boost the player's economy, even if not directly. His most obvious bonus is the ability to build a Dwarven Armory instead of an Armory. This building costs half as much as a normal Armory and can be built as early as the Archaic Age, allowing the player to advance from the Classical Age to the Heroic Age more quickly. Its technologies are cheaper, can be researched without any Age restrictions and, most impressively, it provides a fourth line of technologies that are exclusive to Thor. This has the obvious benefit of making human soldiers stronger almost throughout the game, but can also benefit the player's economy by allowing them to focus less of their population on military and more on economy.

Thor also provides economic bonuses, focusing on Dwarves. Thor players start with two Dwarves instead of Gatherers, and their Dwarves are cheaper. Thor's Dwarves gather food as fast as Gatherers and wood only slightly slower; this is in addition to their ability to mine gold more quickly. If they start the game mostly mining gold instead of gathering food, it is plausible for a Thor player to build their economy based on Dwarves rather than Gatherers. The Dwarven Mine god power can facilitate this strategy, or more generally be used as a safe source of gold. Thor's myth technology, Pig Sticker, improves hunting which can be a useful benefit on some maps.

Weaknesses

The fourth line of upgrades available at Thor's Dwarven Armory is expensive, requiring a total of 1,500 for each resource (each fourth line upgrade costs 500 of each resource), and require previous technologies to be researched first. For their soldiers to be as strong as possible, players will need to invest a lot of resources. Although the cost of Dwarves is reduced, they still take slightly longer to train than Gatherers and remain more expensive. Under certain circumstances, such as when there is a shortage of safe gold mines, Dwarves will not be able to entirely replace Gatherers as the main means of collecting resources. Finally, the Dwarven Mine god power can unintentionally aid the enemy should they be able to gather from a mine placed in an undefended location.

Mythology

"The thunder god, Thor was the son of Odin and Fjorgyn, the goddess of earth. He was large for a god, immensely strong, and a big eater (a cow could be a single meal). He loved contests of strength and was the main champion of the gods against their enemies, the frost giants. Farmers who appreciated his simple honesty and revulsion of evil worshiped him, rather than Odin, who was more attractive to those with the raiding spirit. Thor's weapon was a magic war hammer (bolts of lightning) with a huge head and short handle that never missed its target. He wore magic iron gauntlets to handle the white-hot hammer shaft and a belt that doubled his strength. Thor enjoyed the company of Loki despite the trickster's penchant for getting them both in trouble. The tales of their adventures are some of the richest in Norse mythology. In the Norse pantheon, Thor was the destroyer of evil. At Ragnarok, Thor was aligned against his friend Loki who had gone over to the side of the evil frost giants. Thor was destined to kill the grim serpent Jormungand, spawn of Loki, but die in the struggle. Anglo-Saxons gave Thor's name to the fifth day of their week, Thursday."
In-game compendium

Trivia

According to the Age of Mythology guide book, Thor was originally going to have an additional bonus that enabled cavalry to produce gold when attacking buildings.
- A similar effect would eventually be introduced with the Vikings technology in Retold for worshippers of Njord, although the latter is not available to Thor.
In Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, the unlockable hero skin for the Community Event Challenge of March 2024 was Thor, replacing the Swedish Explorer. The custom Thor Explorer looks like the major god as portrayed in Age of Mythology, uses a large hammer in melee range, and reuses voice lines from Age of Mythology Norse, like Hersirs, with lower pitch.
Unlike the generic weapon and shield technologies, the ones unique to Thor do not change the visible equipment of units.

List of Gods

@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 ! Name !! Description
 |-
-| [[File:nrs-gp-great-hunt.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Great Hunt]] || Increases the number of animals in the target area. If there are none, it spawns a few Elk.
+| [[File:nrs-gp-dwarven-mine.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Dwarven Mine]] || Creates a Gold Mine wherever the player wants it to be placed. The Gold Mine holds more gold if cast in later Ages and is mined faster. Any player can mine from it.
 |}
@@ Line 111: / Line 111: @@
 ! Name !! Description
 |-
-| [[File:nrs-t-hamask.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Hamask]] || [[Berserk]]s move and attack faster as they lose hitpoints. (+0.25% for every missing 1% hit point)
+| [[File:nrs-t-hammer-of-thunder.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Hammer of Thunder]] || Gives Hersirs 15% damage buff and increased favor gain.
+|-
+| [[File:nrs-t-dwarven-weapons.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Dwarven Weapons]] || All human soldiers, heroes, ships, and buildings have improved attack.
+|-
+| [[File:nrs-t-meteoric-iron-armor.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Meteoric Iron Armor]] || All human units, heroes, and ships have reduced hack vulnerability. Ships also have reduced crush vulnerability.
+|-
+| [[File:nrs-t-dragonscale-shields.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Dragonscale Shields]] || All human units, heroes, and ships have reduced pierce vulnerability.
 |}
-===Unique Units===
+===Unique Building===
 {| class="wikitable"
 |-
 ! Name !! Description
 |-
-| [[File:raven.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Raven]] || Flying scout unit that has no attack. Two appear for free above the player's [[Temple]] as soon as one is built. The ravens reappear if killed.
+| [[File:nrs-bld-dwarven-armory.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Dwarven Armory]] || Building that replaces the Armory. It has no Age restriction on technology research and enables three additional technologies. It also spawns a Dwarf for every technology researched from it.
 |}
 ===Bonuses===
+* Start with three [[Dwarf|Dwarves]] instead of three [[Gatherer]]s.
-* Hunters gather 10% faster.
+* Dwarves cost -10 gold, and gather food and wood nearly as fast as Gatherers.
-* Great Hall units generate +25% favor in battle.
+* Builds [[Dwarven Armory]] instead of [[Armory]]. Dwarven Armory can be built and research upgrades in any age, and can research three additional technologies.
-* Human units and [[Heroes|heroes]] regenerate 0.5 hit points per second.
+* Receive a free Dwarf for each Dwarven Armory upgrade researched.
-* Two Raven scouts spawn once the first Temple is built, and respawn a short time after being killed.
@@ Line 138: / Line 144: @@
 | [[File:freyja icon.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Freyja]] || Cavalry
 |-
-| [[File:heimdall icon.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Heimdall]] || Towers and navy
+| [[File:forseti icon.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Forseti]] || [[Berserk]]s and [[Hersir]]s
 |}
@@ Line 150: / Line 156: @@
 | [[File:skadi icon.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Skadi]] || [[Throwing Axeman|Throwing Axemen]]
 |-
-| [[File:njord icon.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Njord]] || Ships and [[Hill Fort]]s
+| [[File:bragi icon.webp|50px]] &nbsp; [[Bragi]] || Berserks
 |}
@@ Line 166: / Line 172: @@
 ==Strengths==
+Although the Norse are generally considered weak in the economic department, Thor's economic power should not be underestimated.
-Odin's focus is on human soldiers (especially elite ones) and siege weapons.
+All of his bonuses boost the player's economy, even if not directly. His most obvious bonus is the ability to build a Dwarven Armory instead of an Armory. This building costs half as much as a normal Armory and can be built as early as the Archaic Age, allowing the player to advance from the Classical Age to the Heroic Age more quickly. Its technologies are cheaper, can be researched without any Age restrictions and, most impressively, it provides a fourth line of technologies that are exclusive to Thor. This has the obvious benefit of making human soldiers stronger almost throughout the game, but can also benefit the player's economy by allowing them to focus less of their population on military and more on economy.
-All his human soldiers regenerate hit points, which means that less resources need to be spent replacing fallen soldiers; this is a rare ability for the Norse. As a raiding god, Odin relies on early aggression to win a battle. This is made easier thanks to his minor god roster, many of whom improve cavalry. Odin also grants extra hit points to the powerful Hill Fort units, helping them to survive, especially his Huskarls and Jarls who regenerate as well. Furthermore, Norse siege weapons are weak, and extra hit points are welcome. The Lone Wanderer technology makes rushes with Berserks even quicker, and also makes them more efficient at scouting. A Berserk will also take less time to reach enemy territory where they can begin building a forward base. On water maps such as Islands, Odin also has access to numerous technologies that improve his navy and the Kraken myth unit (if Njord is worshiped in the Heroic Age), making him a fearsome opponent on the water.
+Thor also provides economic bonuses, focusing on Dwarves. Thor players start with two Dwarves instead of Gatherers, and their Dwarves are cheaper. Thor's Dwarves gather food as fast as Gatherers and wood only slightly slower; this is in addition to their ability to mine gold more quickly. If they start the game mostly mining gold instead of gathering food, it is plausible for a Thor player to build their economy based on Dwarves rather than Gatherers. The Dwarven Mine god power can facilitate this strategy, or more generally be used as a safe source of gold. Thor's myth technology, Pig Sticker, improves hunting which can be a useful benefit on some maps.
-In addition, from the Classical Age onward, Odin gains two Ravens. These are the only dedicated scouts available to Norse civilizations. In the Extended Edition, the Ravens now appear as soon as a Temple has been built, enabling Odin worshipers to scout even earlier. Finally, as of Patch v1.02, Odin makes hunting more efficient, which is a useful economic bonus on some maps. His god power, Great Hunt, ties in with this as it adds further huntable animals that are hunted more quickly.
 ==Weaknesses==
+The fourth line of upgrades available at Thor's Dwarven Armory is expensive, requiring a total of 1,500 for each resource (each fourth line upgrade costs 500 of each resource), and require previous technologies to be researched first. For their soldiers to be as strong as possible, players will need to invest a lot of resources. Although the cost of Dwarves is reduced, they still take slightly longer to train than Gatherers and remain more expensive. Under certain circumstances, such as when there is a shortage of safe gold mines, Dwarves will not be able to entirely replace Gatherers as the main means of collecting resources. Finally, the Dwarven Mine god power can unintentionally aid the enemy should they be able to gather from a mine placed in an undefended location.
-Alongside Gaia, Odin is considered one of the weakest Major Gods in Age of Mythology by competitive players. As of The Titans, Town Centers could be built as early as the Classical Age, making it harder for Odin to raid. His Jarls, who are his strongest soldiers, are still vulnerable to the arrows of defensive structures, especially once the enemy has researched Crenellations. Without access to Bragi in the Heroic Age, Odin is vulnerable to attacks consisting mainly of cavalry. The Norse lack a heavy cavalry counter unit, forcing them to rely on the Berserk who is a light counter. Without access to the Swine Array technology, Odin's Berserks will stand no chance, especially against an army of Cataphracts.
-Before Retold, although his human soldiers regenerate, the rate is very slow overall and even slower when a unit isn't idle. In Retold, the regeneration rate is constant irrespective of the state of the unit. Since the Norse are an aggressive civilization and their infantry are responsible for constructing buildings, soldiers will always be in movement, leaving no time for them to rest and regain their lost health.
 ==Mythology==
+{{Quote|The thunder god, Thor was the son of Odin and Fjorgyn, the goddess of earth. He was large for a god, immensely strong, and a big eater (a cow could be a single meal). He loved contests of strength and was the main champion of the gods against their enemies, the frost giants. Farmers who appreciated his simple honesty and revulsion of evil worshiped him, rather than Odin, who was more attractive to those with the raiding spirit. Thor's weapon was a magic war hammer (bolts of lightning) with a huge head and short handle that never missed its target. He wore magic iron gauntlets to handle the white-hot hammer shaft and a belt that doubled his strength.
-{{Quote|The oldest and chief of the Norse gods, Odin had risen to prominence in the pantheon because of his love of battle. This made him popular with the Vikings when they began raiding out of Scandinavia. To his great fortress hall Valhalla he gathered those slain in battle. Called the einherjar (glorious dead), these warriors were preserved by Odin to supplement the gods in their final battle against the giants at Ragnarok.
-Odin was not a warrior himself, but inspired warriors into going berserk in battle, feeling and fearing nothing. Sacrificial hangings were part of the worship of Odin, and suicide by hanging was thought to be a shortcut to Valhalla. Odin was held in high regard by jarls and other Norse nobility, while the common people feared Odin and worshipped Thor. Odin was also the god of wisdom. He had thrown one of his eyes into Mimir's well in trade for a drink of wisdom. He hung himself from the cosmic tree, Yggdrasil, to learn the knowledge of the dead, and then was revived by magic. He was kept informed about events elsewhere by his two ravens that scouted the world and reported back. Odin was to be killed during Ragnarok by Fenrir, the wolf spawned by Loki. Worship of Odin diminished as the Vikings gave up raiding for more peaceful pursuits. The Anglo-Saxons gave his name (Woden) to the fourth day of their week, Wednesday.
-"Odin gives whatever meat is set before him on the table to his two wolves, Geri and Freki, for he himself requires no food. For Him, mead is both meat and drink."
+Thor enjoyed the company of Loki despite the trickster's penchant for getting them both in trouble. The tales of their adventures are some of the richest in Norse mythology. In the Norse pantheon, Thor was the destroyer of evil. At Ragnarok, Thor was aligned against his friend Loki who had gone over to the side of the evil frost giants. Thor was destined to kill the grim serpent Jormungand, spawn of Loki, but die in the struggle. Anglo-Saxons gave Thor's name to the fifth day of their week, Thursday.|In-game compendium}}
--- Glyfaginning 39|In-game compendium}}
 ==Trivia==
-* Odin was originally going to have an additional bonus that enabled cavalry to produce gold when attacking buildings.
+* According to the Age of Mythology guide book, Thor was originally going to have an additional bonus that enabled cavalry to produce gold when attacking buildings.
+** A similar effect would eventually be introduced with the Vikings technology in Retold for worshippers of Njord, although the latter is not available to Thor.
-** The Age of Mythology guidebook incorrectly attributes this to Thor.
+* In Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, the unlockable hero skin for the Community Event Challenge of March 2024 was Thor, replacing the Swedish Explorer. The custom Thor Explorer looks like the major god as portrayed in Age of Mythology, uses a large hammer in melee range, and reuses voice lines from Age of Mythology Norse, like Hersirs, with lower pitch.
-** According to Greg Street on Age of Mythology Heaven, this was changed as it was "not very noticeable".
+* Unlike the generic weapon and shield technologies, the ones unique to Thor do not change the visible equipment of units.
 ==List of Gods==