Gaia

Gaia is an Atlantean major god in Age of Mythology who focuses on the economy and buildings.

Attributes

God Power

Name	Description
Gaia Forest	Grows an aspen forest; its trees each provide 250 wood.

Technology

Name	Description
Channels	Units move 15% faster on Lush.

Bonuses

Start with Hero Citizens and promoting Citizens to heroes costs -25%.
Economic Guilds cost -40%. Economic Guild upgrades cost -40% and can be researched an age early.
Economic buildings (Town Centers, Manors, Economic Guilds, and Markets) grow Lush.
Lush heals friendly units and buildings (1 hit point per second).

Minor Gods

Classical Age
Name	Focus
Leto	Automatons
Oceanus	Infantry

Heroic Age
Name	Focus
Rheia	Favor generation
Theia	Cavalry

Heroic Age
Name	Focus
Atlas	Buildings
Hekate	Myth Units

Lush

Her economic buildings (Town Centers, Village Centers, Manors, Economic Guilds, and Markets) generate Lush around themselves, growing outward till a range of 24, which provides regeneration to friendly units and buildings. With Channels researched, it also increases the movement speed of the player's ground units. Lush spreads over all terrain which is traversable by land units.

Gaia's discount to Economic Guilds pairs well with this mechanic, as the player can build additional Guilds to not only obtain economic technologies quickly, but primarily to cheaply spread Lush. The cheap Economic Guilds, despite having no purpose after its technologies are researched, are ideal for this, as the number of Town Centers and Manors are limited (with the former also being locational), Village Centers can become too expensive for their benefits, and additional Markets might interfere with intended trade routes while also occupying more space.

Before Retold, all buildings (except Tartarian Gates) of a Gaia player grew Lush.

Strengths

A Gaian civilization may appear weak in the beginning, but it has a strong defense and economy.

Gaia's stronger, cheaper Llama Caravans and Fishing Ships are less prone to raiding as they are more durable and can be replaced cheaply if killed. The Channels technology makes Citizens move faster, meaning that they can escape from enemy attacks more easily. Gaia also allows buildings to regenerate, making them survive longer and almost removing the need for repair. Her economic buildings also generate lush terrain around themselves growing outward till a distance, providing benefits.

Before Retold, even if an enemy destroyed a Town Center in the middle of an important base, they were be forced to clear out every single one of her buildings in the vicinity as the lush also prevented building new Town Centers.

Her god power, Gaia Forest, can be used defensively by arranging it to create a wall. This is especially true on maps with narrow passages, such as Jotunheim. Gaia is probably one of the best gods for turtling and booming strategies in Age of Mythology.

Gaia's economic bonuses are formidable. Faster Citizens can move between resources more quickly, meaning there is even less 'dead time.' Along with Fishing Ships and Caravans, all economic bonuses are cheaper too. This adds up to a large saving of resources over the course of a game. She also provides bonus wood (like Thor's Dwarven Mine) with her Gaia Forest god power. On more arid maps such as Savannah, this amounts to a significant benefit.

Finally, Gaia is highly valuable as an ally in online games. The lush does not prevent the construction of allied buildings, so players can supplement their allied bases with a few buildings to keep enemies from building nearby. Worshiping Oceanus in the Classical Age grants Gaia players a Caladria, which can also heal the units of allied players who lack a dedicated healer. The wood provided by Gaia's forests can also be shared with allies who need it more, but can also be used in combination with Freyja's Forest Fire god power.

If there are multiple Gaia players in the match, the ownership of a patch of lush can be seen by the colour of the flowers sprouting on the lush, which is the player colour. If two rival Gaia players finish constructing buildings next to each other before either's lush has spread to that location, the lush extends out of the new building and applies additively, such that neither player can construct buildings in the area covered by both players' lush.

Weaknesses

Gaia is regarded by competitive players as one of the weakest Major Gods in Age of Mythology, alongside Odin. Her scouting abilities are the weakest of the Atlantean Gods as her Oracles lack any speed benefits that would increase their usefulness in the early game. Although Gaia's buildings can regenerate, it is at a very slow rate so repeated attacks (particularly from siege weapons) will destroy them before their HP is fully replenished. Her most notable weakness is that she also lacks Prometheus or Hyperion in her Minor God roster so overall her heroes are always going to be more expensive and less durable. This means that Gaia worshipers will not be capable of fending off myth unit attacks as easily as players who have chosen Kronos or Oranos.

Mythology

"Gaia was the Mother Earth, born from Chaos, the great void of space. She gave birth without male intervention to Oranos (the sky) and Pontus (the sea), and took Oranos as her mate. Together they produced the Titans, and other gods and creatures. After the emasculation of Oranos, she mated with Pontus and protected Zeus prior to his overthrow of the Titans. As the goddess Mother Earth she was worshipped as the force behind all things in the world, living and inanimate."
In-game compendium