Guide to Build Orders in Age of Mythology Retold

While the tutorial and campaign scenarios are useful for learning how to play Age of Mythology: Retold, it’s beneficial to practice building your settlements independently. If you’re new to Age of Mythology: Retold, this beginners’ guide will provide you with several straightforward build orders.

Best build orders for all Pantheons in Age of Mythology Retold

Each of the four Pantheons in Age of Mythology: Retold has an easy, beginner-friendly build guide outlined below. The Greek Pantheon is particularly recommended for those unfamiliar with the game.

Displayed here is a relic from Age of Mythology: Retold (refer to the image above). Relics appear as small lantern-like graphics on the map; you’ll need to approach them closely to recognize their appearance.

Throughout this guide, I took my time to build everything and capture screenshots, so please disregard the scoreboard and timer visible in the upper right corner of the screen.

Best Greek Civilization build order — Hades

While Zeus may seem like a tempting choice for a Greek Civilization build, starting with Hades is easier. Hades provides an ability that automatically generates more gold, which is essential for building your town.

Though the Greek Civilization is relatively straightforward and good for beginners, there’s still a lot of terminology to learn and numerous menus to navigate.

You’ll begin your game with four villagers in the Greek Pantheon.

1. Initially, dispatch your first four villagers to a nearby hunting area for meat.
2. Construct a Granary (for food storage) centrally in your settlement to facilitate easy food deposits for your villagers.
3. Once you’ve gathered enough meat, allocate a couple more villagers to the Gold Mine. Villagers cost 50 food each to create.
4. Send your Scout to explore the terrain—upon discovering livestock, click on your town center and activate the livestock feature in the menu (located at the bottom left when you select the Town Hall) to direct any livestock to your town.
5. When you have sufficient resources, build a Storehouse (for gold and wood storage) near both your Gold Mine and the closest trees.
6. Assign two additional villagers to gather wood, plus another two for any newly found livestock heading to your town center.
7. If population space starts to fill up, have one of your villagers construct a house and remember to return them to their previous tasks afterward.
8. Allocate three new villagers to food gathering.
9. Create a new villager, build a Temple (any location will do), and assign them to worship there.
10. Send three additional villagers to gather wood.
11. Advance to the Second Age with Athena (although Ares is an option if you prefer his God Power, Athena offers healing). You’ll secure your first Myth Unit upon completing this advancement.
12. After advancing, create two more villagers for gold mining and one more for wood gathering.
13. Form your first Hero—Ajax, if you’re playing as Hades. Explore the areas your Scout has uncovered for relics, and dispatch Ajax to collect them. He must return the item to the temple to officially gain it, a task you must manage manually, which can be slightly tedious but is crucial.
14. Establish a Military Academy and an Archery Range to begin fighter production.
15. Develop another Hero Unit—Achilles—by selecting him from the Temple menu on the bottom left corner.
16. Construct any additional houses necessary for your growing population.

This strategy should provide a solid foundation for your game, allowing you to produce more fighters and villagers as necessary. To gain more Myth Units, have additional villagers worship at the Temple.

Once your military is established, consider engaging your opponents. Ideally, aim for reaching the Heroic Age first (requiring either an Armory or Market) and adding defenses around your town. If you choose to attack, ensure you have a minimum of twenty fighters and familiarize yourself with your God Powers by hovering over the icons at the top of the screen.

You can also scout nearby territories to convert abandoned settlements into towns like yours, although this will increase the area you need to defend.

Egyptian Civilization build order — Set

For this guide, we’ll utilize Set, as the timing of your Temple construction significantly impacts your progress, unlike with other Egyptian gods.

You’re going to start with a Priest, a Pharaoh, a Baboon of Set, and four villagers. Initially, only your Pharaoh can collect relics, but they’ll be occupied, so we’ll need to address that.

1. Have three villagers gather food and two work on gold.
2. The Pharaoh should empower the Granary (for food storage) since this is where most villagers will be. This minimizes the need for additional food-gathering villagers.
3. Create a Mining Camp near your active gold mine. Egyptians require different structures for gold and wood (which you’ll construct in the next steps).
4. Add a fourth villager to the food-gathering team.
5. Build your first Monument to gain favor—there are several types of Monuments, but the first increases the favor you receive from your Civilization. Once it’s constructed, the area around it will appear red, which might be unsettling but is harmless.
6. Construct a house for your growing population.
7. Send your Scout (the Baboon of Set is ideal for this task).
8. Collect enough villagers to total eight food gatherers; you won’t need more for the Egyptian Civilization. Greeks require nine due to the lack of food-boosting Pharaohs. Don’t forget to activate the livestock feature in your menu to maximize available food sources.
9. Build the Temple and enable the Hand of the Pharaoh in the Temple menu, allowing your Priest to collect relics instead of your Pharaoh. Since your Pharaoh is tied up, utilizing the Priest makes efficient use of resources.
10. Create a couple of wood-gathering villagers; however, you don’t need too many as the Egyptians rely less on wood.
11. Build a Lumber Camp (specifically for wood collection) near the trees you’re cutting down.
12. Send two villagers to work at the Gold Mine.
13. Advance to the Second Age using any minor God. The choice is yours, so go with a power you prefer.
14. Since gold is critical for the Egyptian build, select the Pickaxe upgrade from the Mining Camp.
15. Establish another Granary next to a nearby food source, such as pigs, chickens, or goats.
16. Construct two Barracks—one for Slingers and one for Spearmen or Axemen, depending on your preference.
17. Build a second Monument, which will benefit your soldiers.

This setup should establish a solid foundation for the Egyptian Civilization. While they require less wood, they do necessitate more gold. Make sure to assign additional villagers to the Gold Mine and construct houses as needed.

From this point, commence military preparations via the Barracks and consider constructing an Armory. Once you’ve amassed enough resources, review the other available upgrades.

Norse Civilization build order — Thor

With four major gods available in the Norse Pantheon, you’ll need to purchase Freyr with real money to elect him as your God. Although I am a fan of Loki, this build focuses on Thor due to his popularity and unique setup.

Thor emphasizes Dwarves and the Armory, making him an advantageous choice for this build. Each upgrade you make to the Armory generates a Dwarf, optimizing your Dwarven strategy.

The Norse Civilization build is more complex due to the inclusion of Dwarves alongside regular villagers. You will start with three Dwarves, a Berserk, and an Ox Cart.

Note that the Norse Pantheon lacks a Scout. Use your Berserker for manual scouting when not engaged in combat.

1. Have your initial Dwarves chop down a tree for your first wood supply.
2. Construct a Dwarven Mine using Thor’s God Power (accessible at the top of the screen).
3. Direct your three Dwarves to the Dwarven Gold Mine. Dwarves outperform human villagers in gold mining, so it’s inefficient to assign humans here.
4. Create two human Gatherers (the Norse equivalent of villagers) to hunt for food.
5. Produce two Gatherers to gather wood. Utilize the Ox Cart, which acts as a Storehouse, placing it near the farthest group currently gathering resources.
6. Select your Berserk to construct a Dwarven Armory (found in the Berserk’s menu). Acquire the Copper Shield upgrade as soon as possible (this allows your fighters to penetrate armor). Send your free Dwarf to gather wood.
7. Build a house.
8. Generate two additional Berserks to assist with construction.
9. Produce more villagers to gather food, aiming for 12 food-gathering villagers overall. Though you don’t need all 12 immediately, try to reach eight before proceeding.
10. After achieving eight food-gathering villagers, obtain the Copper Armor upgrade from the Dwarven Armory. Dispatch your second free Dwarf for wood collection.
11. Construct the Temple (select your Berserk to locate the Temple menu).
12. Create your first Hero from the Temple. So far, you’ll have gained minimal Favor, and you will need more moving forward.
13. Advance to the Second Age, selecting any minor God of your choice. I selected Freyja for her Forest Fire ability, but Forseti’s healing is also valuable.
14. Deploy an Ox Cart to enhance your Gatherers’ efficiency. Aim to have three Ox Carts total—one for food, one for wood, and one for gold.
15. Build another house, as your need for space should have arisen by now.
16. Establish your military buildings—the Longhouse and the Great Hall.

You can now focus on producing your preferred Military Units and continue to expand and upgrade your settlement.

Dwarves, along with the Dwarven Armory and Gold Mine, are pivotal assets in this setup. However, if you are not playing with Thor as your God, switch to regular villagers, a standard Armory, and traditional Gold Mines. The differences are minimal.

Atlantean Civilization build order — Oranos

Starting with your Atlantean town, you’ll have two villagers and three Oracles, which are utilized for scouting and favor accumulation.

Playing as an Atlantean Civilization requires fewer villagers, making it another excellent option for beginners. It involves fewer steps than the Greek Pantheon, although less information is available for optimizing your Atlantean gameplay due to the longer history of Greek players in Age of Empires games.

Regularly check on your Oracles, as they will pause and start waving their sticks if they need to move on.

1. Send your first two villagers to the nearest food source.
2. Your three Oracles should be spaced out. Oracles can’t assist one another, so having them together inhibits their effectiveness. Scout in three distinct directions.
3. Create your first two villagers. Send one to the Gold Mine and the other to a wood source.
4. Construct a house (referred to as a Manor for the Atlanteans) to prepare for your growing population.
5. Create two additional villagers dedicated to food gathering.
6. Generate another villager for wood collection.
7. Establish a Temple and have a villager worship there for additional favor, if desired; it isn’t strictly necessary since your three Oracles should be managing favor collection effectively. However, the Temple offers other valuable upgrades, so do build it.
8. Create two more villagers—one for wood, and the other for gold.
9. Advance to the Second Age, selecting a minor God of your preference.
10. Construct an Economic Guild (a unique resource-building for the Atlanteans that enhances their economy).
11. Propose a Counter Barracks and a Military Barracks, using the Counter Barracks to produce ranged Turma soldiers and the Military Barracks for melee Murmillos.

Begin building your army and exploring upgrades you’re interested in.

Always make more Manors when necessary and keep an eye on your Oracles to prevent them from interfering with one another (this is greatly influenced by the map you’re playing).

The Atlantean build notably lacks storage facilities; once your Economic Guild is up, it essentially eliminates the need for them, as it functions similarly to the Granary in other civilizations.

This guide for easy build orders served as a reference for this article, aimed at simplifying the experience for new players. Thanks to Moose AOM for his contributions to the materials covered here.