u/ShrekMcShrekFace

So, I was wondering why an "M" is included in the Gallery. Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I can't figure out why it was included. And it's not often that the game includes red herrings, so I assume it was put here for a reason. At first I thought maybe it could be used to make roman numerals, but that didn't work.

I was still so certain that I was missing something that I compiled a list of every possible word that could be formed with the available letters in this area: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Fourteen, Sixteen, Fire, Fish, Fort, Fox, Frog, Fruit, Fungi, Gem, Ghost, House, It, Me, Monster, Nose, Ring, Rose, Shirt, Sign, Sun, Tower, Tree, Trees, UFO, Vine, Worm, No, Not, Is, Write, On, Seeing, Move, Right, Turn, Hot, Win, More, Often, Green, and White.

I then tested all of these words in the Gallery and the only ones that were considered valid and created actual sentences were the numbers and the following: Me, Tree, Not, Is, Move, and Win. So, considering the only two words that include "M" in this list are Me and Move, I assumed that a sentence could be made using those words. However, despite trying all sorts of combinations, I couldn't figure out anything to do with those words. So, at this point I really don't know why "M" was included here. Does anyone have any ideas?

I can't believe I cut it so close. lol

Only in Magic the Gathering would a hobbit have the same power and toughness as a Maiar.

I've collected all of the available colossus animus in the game except for Metallossus in the Sinbad & the Iron Sultan Gauntlet, Volcanis Golem in Wysteria, Stone Elemental in Polaris, and Ritual Colossus in Dragonspyre. Also, I have all of the unique colossus pet skins except for the cloud colossus, earth walker, and spirit of nature.

A new set just released called Secret Lair x Turner Classic Movies: Icons of Cinema. I actually really like this set and I'm tempted to buy it. It contains five cards depicting main characters from groundbreaking films from 1939-1980, such as Dorothy Gale, Charles Foster Kane, Rick Blaine, and HAL 9000. However, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that they also included Wonder Man from the hit 1980 film. A lot of people nowadays don't seem to remember it, but it was cultural phenomenon at the time! I'm happy to see it get the recognition it deserves. After all, Wonder Man and Superman paved the way for the modern superhero film genre.

So inspiring.

All three of these lovely fellows are characters that Tim, Tom, and Zach play as during their Baldur's Gate 3 series.

Season 50 of Survivor just finished, so I kind of had to make this since I've got Survivor on the brain right now.

Since the first expansion pass was announced 79 days after the Japanese dlc release, that means that they potentially could announce another one around July 9th. So, I wanted to just collect my thoughts on what I hope they include in the next one (if they do plan on continuing with more content).

In the previous expansion pass they had four products: one medium-sized expansion (the Demeter god pack), one small cosmetic (the Ultimate Fan pack), another small cosmetic, but slightly larger than the first one (the Blood & Bones pack), and finally a large expansion (the Aztecs dlc).

To mirror that release schedule, here are my ideas:

1. Firstly, I’m hoping for an Egyptian god pack. They’ve already done the Norse and Greeks, so I think it’s only fair that they do the Egyptians next so all of the original civs get additional content before moving onto the newer civs. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did an Atlantean god pack first since people seem to be generally more excited for Nyx for the Atlanteans, whereas people seem to be divided as to whether they want Amun or Khnum for the Egyptians. Here are previous posts I made for ideas I have for both an Egyptian god pack ( https://www.reddit.com/r/AgeofMythology/comments/1t70dbn/ides_for_an_egyptian_god_pack_amun_or_tefnut/ ) and an Atlantean god pack ( https://www.reddit.com/r/AgeofMythology/comments/1thcvmf/ideas_for_an_atlantean_god_pack_three_versions_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button ).

2. For the next small cosmetic pack, I think they should take a note out of Extended Edition’s playbook and re-introduce the day/night cycle option. Also, I don’t know if it’d be too complicated, but I’d love more variable weather. I think it’d be neat to have thunderstorms during a battle. However, I’d still be fine with just getting the day/night cycle.

3. For the slightly larger small cosmetic pack, I’d suggest that they make unique titans for each major god. I think it makes sense considering each major god already has a unique wonder. I actually made a post a while back where I discussed which gods should have which titans ( https://www.reddit.com/r/AgeofMythology/comments/1lr5ty7/ideas_to_update_the_titans/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button ). I also included in that post options for map-wide effects to occur when each type of titan enters the battlefield. However, for the sake of making this a simpler cosmetic pack for the devs, I’d be okay with just getting titan reskins and nothing else. Additionally, since I originally made that post there have been four new major gods added to the game, so I’d like to suggest now what I think their titans should be (as well as what the titans should be for the Egyptian or Atlantean god pack):

Demeter: I have four ideas for what Demeter’s titan could be, but none work perfectly. My first three ideas are: 1. A primordial treant, 2. A Gegenees, or 3. Talos. A giant treant has no basis in Greek mythology (Tolkien created ents), but it’s closest to Demeter in terms of being nature-themed. Gegenees are from Greek mythology and they are six-armed giants called earth-born, implying they have some connection to the earth, so they ‘kind of’ work with Demeter. They could be themed to be more natural (maybe they could have moss or trees growing off of them). Talos, on the other hand, has absolutely nothing to do with Demeter, but he is cool-looking, which is why I considered him for the titan anyways. In fact, Zeus gifted Talos to Europa to defend Crete, so it would actually make more sense for Zeus to get Talos instead. Therefore, my fourth idea is to amend my original titan post by giving Zeus Talos, which would mean that Demeter would get Briareus, one of the Hecatoncheires. The Hecatoncheries helped save the Olympian gods from the titans, so I suppose they could be allies of any of the gods.

Amun/Khnum: Considering that Amun is the god of creation and Khnum is also heavily associated with creation, I think that a good titan for them would be Bennu, which was a deity that created itself and helped with the creation of the world. Bennu is a god, not a monster, but like Ammit, I think he would work as a titan and he would definitely look unique as the only non-humanoid bird titan (Bennu was specifically a grey heron). I think Bennu is definitely the best option (especially since there aren’t many Egyptian monsters left to choose from for the titan), but I do have a couple other potential ideas. Firstly, there’s the apshait, which was a large flesh-eating beetle from the Book of the Dead. So, it could be a giant humanoid beetle or just a giant beetle, but I’m hesitant about it because I don’t see how it has anything to do with Amun/Khnum. Finally, there’s the akhekh, which was a half-bird, half-oryx creature (similar to a gryphon), which could be made for the game into a large dragon-type titan. However, the akhekh was specifically associated with Set, which means if Set gets the akhekh then Amun/Khnum would have to get Apophis, which doesn’t make sense to me. Despite none of the gods being allied with Apophis, I think Set should probably have it as a titan since they’re at least both evil. So, I still think Bennu would be the best choice as the titan for Amun/Khnum.

Nyx: If Nyx is the major god for the Atlantean god pack, then her titan could be Echidna. Some sources say that Echidna was the daughter of Gaia and Tartarus, so Echidna is therefore the niece of Nyx and is closely-related enough that I would say she could work as being Nyx’s titan. The only other option I could think of would be for Nyx’s titan to be some generic space-themed primordial; a “titan of the night.”

Tezcatlipoca: According to legend, Tezcatlipoca sacrificed one of his feet to use as bait in order to lure the giant crocodile Cipactli closer so it could be captured. Therefore, I would say that Tezcatlipoca would keep the current Aztec titan for his own out of spite; wanting to make Cipactli work for him to atone for costing him his foot.

Huitzilopochtli: The weapon that Huitzilopochtli wields is actually made from a giant flaming serpent called Xiuhcoatl. Xiuhcoatl is the natural, or spirit form, of the Aztec fire god Xiuhtecuhtli. Hence, it can take on different forms, sometimes a weapon and sometimes a giant turquoise snake with fire coming off of it. It would make sense for Xiuhcoatl to be the titan for Huitzilopochtli since they’ve already worked together for so long (Huitzilopochtli famously killed his sister Coyolxauhqui with that weapon).

Quetzalcoatl: Xelhua was one of the ancient quinametzin who lived on the earth before the Great Flood. He was also one of the few giants who survived the flood by climbing up the mountain of Tlaloc (an ally of Quetzalcoatl). Xelhua then went on to build the Great Pyramid of Cholula, which was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl. Therefore, considering both of these ties to Quetzalcoatl, I think Xelhua would be a good fit for Quetzalcoatl’s titan. He would basically look like a bigger, fancier, more powerful version of the quinametzin already in the game.

4. Finally, the last part of this new expansion pass is the new civ dlc, and I gotta say that I’m a little conflicted. My personal request is for them to do the Celts next. However, I feel that the Incas and Babylonians are more likely. Firstly, the devs did the Japanese immediately after doing the Chinese, so it would logically follow that they would do the Incas after the Aztecs before they then move on to another continent. However, I also feel that the Babylonians would be a good pick because they’re from an entirely new geographical area, the Middle East. Plus, if they did the Babylonians, they’d be able to have all Seven Wonders ( https://www.reddit.com/r/AgeofMythology/comments/1tcoi91/if_babylon_is_the_next_civ_then_we_could_have_all/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button ).

TL;DR: I think for a new expansion pass the devs should do 1. An Egyptian god pack, 2. A day/night cycle pack, 3. A pack that provides unique titan skins for each major god, and 4. A new civ, which is either the Incas or the Babylonians.

The alleged four alien species are Mantis, Greys, Reptilians, and Nordics: https://www.instagram.com/p/DYoYBYovMvQ/

Just for clarification, I’m looking for pics that are naturally/unintentionally funny.

Disclaimer: I know nothing about balancing a video game, so it’s entirely likely that some of my ideas are overpowered or underpowered. I simply tried to come up with concepts that were interesting to me and seemed fresh mechanically. Also, I purposefully have not looked at any other posts that gave their own ideas of an Atlantean god pack, so any similarity is just coincidental. Finally, please note that I did not include all of the god benefits/technologies in these pictures because I just wanted to provide the gist of what they would be like.

As far as I can tell, people have been pretty unanimous in that Nyx should be the next major god. Therefore, the three different versions I did are basically which minor gods I wanted to go with her. I had three different approaches:

Firstly, I wanted to have all three minor gods be children of Nyx (and Erebus), so I went with Hypnos and Thanatos, who are twin brothers, and Hemera, who’s the opposite of Nyx.

Secondly, I wanted to complete the family of Titans that was started in the original game. Hyperion and Theia had three kids, one of whom was Helios. So, I wanted to include Helios’ two sisters, Eos and Selene, so that the whole family could be together. I then threw Erebus in with them so that there’d be at least one minor god who’s directly related to Nyx.

Thirdly, I wanted to flesh out more of the original twelve Titans, the children of Gaia and Oranos. We only have five of them so far: Kronos, Oceanus, Hyperion, Theia, and Rheia. I didn’t want to include Coeus and Crius because barely anything is known about them. I didn’t want to include Tethys, the wife of Oceanus, because I thought she’d be too similar to him thematically. And I didn’t want to include Iapetus because he was supposed to be locked away in Tartarus (and as far as we know he never escaped with Kronos). Therefore, that left Themis, Mnemosyne, and Phoebe.

As for the Wonder for Nyx, I feel like a building similar to the Colosseum would be neat. I know that’s a Roman building, but Atlanteans already borrow some aspects of Roman culture, so I thought it’d still fit thematically. The building could be themed as a giant oracle shrine with the inside being a space for committing animal sacrifices. It’d be like a giant version of the Tholos of Delphi.

Anyways, here are my explanations for some of the god powers and myth units I included:

Nyx’s major god benefits: I was debating about whether or not enemies can see the darkness emitted by oracles or if it was something that only the Nyx player could see (it wouldn’t block players’ sight into the area; it would just cast a shadow over everything). However, I then realized that if enemies could see the darkness, then they’d know the border of the oracle’s line of sight and could potentially guess where the oracle is standing. So, I figured the enemy shouldn’t be able to see the darkness, but they might notice they’re in it if their units’ line of sight gets reduced. As for stealth, I’m really glad that the Aztecs introduced it because it’s a neat mechanic. The Aztecs only have five units which can enter stealth mode when near trees. So, I figured Nyx should have fewer stealth units since that’s the Aztecs’ thing. I chose oracles since they’re the ones emitting the darkness, citizens so that way they’re protected when gathering resources away from town centers, and fanatics since they’re cultists and Nyx was associated with cults in real life. Also, the stealth is less limited for Nyx because they can stealth anywhere within the line of sight of oracles, not just near trees.

Gloom Shroud: You can’t target the same unit more than once with this god power. This god power is intended to function similar to Valor or like a Solar Shield that’s much less intense, but lasts indefinitely. This god power is also meant to get stronger over time, such as how Creation spawns more clay peasants in later ages.

Blinding Halo: This god power is meant to follow the targeted group around, not just stay in one spot.

Catoblepas: The history behind this myth is that the plants they eat are poisonous, which is what gives the catoblepas their poisonous breath. I figured this creature would work for Hemera because she’s the titaness of day and catoblepas shoot fire. I couldn’t really find a Greek creature that was inherently sun-based or light-based, so I just went with fire.

Insomnia: I was inspired to make this god power because of the Incarnates and other units with limited lifespans from the Aztecs. It’s a really fun concept and something that was underutilized in the past (the only things that came to mind were Egyptian mercenaries and Chinese terracotta riders). I thought it’d be cool to use it against an enemy instead of for yourself. In a way, it’s like the opposite of Purge. Instead of killing only one type of unit quickly, it kills all targeted units, but it takes longer.

Oneiroi: I thought having a shapeshifting creature would enable a bit more versatility for the player. I was inspired by the Obsidian Mirror god power which let you take any other archaic god power, as well as by the Chinese Sages who can summon mirror images of myth units. In this case, the Oneiroi literally become whatever myth unit they target, but they have the option of changing into another unit. Of course, this power couldn’t work on certain myth units, like titans, tartarian spawn, Son of Osiris, Nidhogg, Yinglong, honengyo, and maybe leviathans and rocs (those latter two would be iffy because I don’t know how coding would work if there are units garrisoned in an Oneiroi and then it turns into another form). Also, they revert back to their original form when they die, so they wouldn’t come back to life even if they’re transformed into a Shinigami.

Fated Demise: I really wanted to use the Fates, but I wasn’t sure how they could be used as a regular offensive unit. I suppose they could have worked like priests or sages where they attack from afar by snipping their shears at people, but then I was wondering why them snipping somebody’s lifeline only hurts them instead of killing them. I thought that when they snip, the person should die instantaneously. So, I decided that they could be a god power. They’d work similar to the tartarian gate, in that they are unaligned and attack anyone. But instead of being indefinite until destroyed (like the gate), they last for a limited amount time, continuously going from unit to unit killing them. And if there’s no one to kill, they search around until they find more people. I’m curious if it would be overpowered for them to be able to kill units that are garrisoned inside of buildings.

Charon: This is the only myth unit that I made up for this project. I thought that the titan Charon was too cool to leave out and I thought he’d make a sick myth unit. Charon are amphibious since they can summon boats to traverse water. I was toying with the idea of allowing a few units to garrison in a charon’s boat, but then I figured that the boat wouldn’t hold that many people, so it probably wouldn’t be worth it. Also, the reason that charon collect a trickle of gold when they kill a unit is because in mythology Charon collected a gold coin as a toll for helping souls cross the Styx. Finally, I should mention that when allied units are given temporary lifespans to stave off death, they cannot die until their short lifespan runs out, even if they take more damage, but they also cannot be healed or saved in any way; they’re dead men walking.

Khalkotauroi: I gave these to Eos for the same reason I gave catoblepas to Hemera. However, I specifically wanted Eos to have these because Hephaestus made them and she has connections to him. During the Trojan War Eos went to Hephaestus and asked him to make her son Memnos armor to save his life. So, I figured Hephaestus could have also gifted Eos his mechanical bulls at some point.

Metamorphosis: I named this power after Ovid’s Metamorphoses. I figured since the moon is often associated with change and transformation, that it’d be neat to have a moon god power that actually causes people to transform. I would have included Medusa or lykaons in this, except they’re already in the game (which kind of stinks since lykaons would have been especially appropriate in this case). I also thought it’d be poetic to have this god power change depending on the circumstance, which is why it has different options of various power levels. The strongest option is transforming a citizen into Arachne, who is a hero. This would be the Atlanteans’ first unique hero, similar to the Greeks’ heroes. I know that usually heroes are humans, but Poseidon does have Polyphemus, so there’s already a precedent for monstrous heroes. If you already have Arachne (or for some reason you don’t have any citizens available), then you can cast this god power on an animal (a huntable or herdable) to turn it into a peryton, which is weaker than Arachne, but still decent. I should note here that perytons are not from any ancient mythology. They were created by Jorge Luis Borges in his 1957 novel Book of Imaginary Beings, and he said that they were a half-stag half-bird animal that lived in Atlantis. I was hesitant at first to include perytons because they have no basis in mythology, but then I found out that the Atlanteans’ caladria myth unit isn’t an ancient mythological creature either. Caladria are based on the caladrius, a bird in medieval bestiaries (circa 1500s). That being said, I included the perytons in this god power because I thought they looked cool. Finally, if there are no animals available to convert, you can also cast the god power on the ground to summon a golem made of clay, which is the weakest of the things you can summon. I really wanted to find a way to include golems because they were originally going to be included in the game, but they were scrapped in favor of the colossus. Golems are from Jewish folklore, but considering the Atlanteans already have the behemoth, I think it’s fine to give them golems as well.

Basilisk/Cockatrice: I tried to find a Greek mythological creature related to the moon for Selene, but that proved to be tough since lykaons were already taken. Basilisks were at least born during a full moon, so I just went with them. While basilisks are indeed from Greek mythology, cockatrices were instead created in the 1300s and somehow became synonymous with the Greek basilisk despite them looking different (basilisks looking like a small snake and cockatrices looking like a big dragon with a rooster’s head). I personally think the cockatrice looks more unique (considering there are already several snake myth units in the game). Also, the reason kamaitachi are immune to the basilisk’s attacks is because in legend the basilisk's weakness is the odor of a weasel.

Call to Feed: I originally wanted to include keres as a myth unit, but in legend the keres could not kill, but they instead simply had to wait and feed on the dead. I know it’s possible for units to not have an attack if they can provide a utility, like caladria, but I instead wanted to go with erinyes as the myth units since they could actually attack. Thus, I made the keres into units summoned by a god power. The reason why the keres provide a little of each resource is because I felt that represented them gaining nutrients or lifeforce from dead bodies. I also wanted this god power to be loosely similar to Hephaestus’ Plenty god power, except that it can fluctuate, potentially giving you more or less than Penty depending on when you summon the keres. If you summon them as you make a big raid, they could generate a lot of resources for you. However, if you summon them at the end of a battle, they may run out of bodies and then despawn. I wasn’t sure if it’d be too overpowered to also have them give nearby allies an attack boost as that would ensure they consume more bodies. However, this god power would be cool because the keres would interact really well with the blood and bones pack.

Erinyes: Just to clarify, the humans that are summoned back once the erinyes dies are not exact copies of the units that were killed (like the eidolons summoned with Persephone’s Underworld Invasion god power); they’re new units called cthonian thralls, which are standardized and weaker. So, in a way erinyes are like mummies (or soul guides) except they summon all of their minions once they die instead of while they’re still alive.

Divination: I modeled this god power after Son of Osiris, except the hero unit it makes is a bit weaker since it’s a classical age god power. However, because the unit can benefit from fanatic upgrades, it allows it to become stronger over time. Phoebe, being the titaness of prophecy, was an owner of the site of the Oracle of Delphi (apparently it was made by Gaia who gifted it to Themis who gifted it to Phoebe who gifted it to Apollo). Therefore, I wanted to make a god power that created a pythia, which was the title of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Empusa: I gave these to Phoebe specifically (instead of Hemera or Eos) because according to legend the empusa work for Hekate and Hekate is the granddaughter of Phoebe. So, it’s possible that Hekate loaned these creatures to her grandmother.

Lotophagize: I tried to make an economical version of the Traitor god power. Instead of giving you a warrior unit, it gives you a worker. I thought the Lotophages (or lotus-eaters from the Odyssey) would be perfect for Mnemosyne because she is the titaness of memory, so it follows that she can remove memory as easily as she can preserve it. However, I don’t believe the Lotophages looked any different than normal humans, but I’d say AoM can take some liberties with their appearance to make them look like a nature-loving peaceful race (I mean, they definitely took some liberties with argus).

Muses: I wanted them to work similar to Fenris wolf brood in terms of the pack dynamics. However, instead of getting stronger, they can give more benefits to surrounding units. I’m not quite sure what benefits the Muses could provide whenever you add a new Muse to the group; this type of unit is definitely something that would need playtesting and balancing to ensure they’re not overpowered. Nine different benefits is a lot.

Gryphon: This was another unit (like the golem) that was cut from the game before release, so it would be nice to finally get the unit in the game for real. I figured it would fly and land to fight similar to the Qiongqi. The reason why I added gold-related abilities to it is because apparently gryphons were actually associated with the gold deposits of Central Asia. So, I tried my best to give the gryphon interesting gold-related abilities, however I’m not sure how useful they are by the time you get to the mythic age. There might not be many gold mines left by that point for the gryphon’s gold mine ability to be useful. I also don’t know if the market drop-off ability is useful either, but my thought process was that you could task your gryphons on your marketplace while there’s no fighting going on, and then you can grab them when needed.

I personally would prefer to get the Celts first, but I think for the sake of having all of the 7 Wonders and also to have a civilization from a new area (Babylonians were in Mesopotamia, whereas the Insular Celts were from the British Isles, which are pretty close Norway and also not too far from Greece either) that the Babylonians might be the best choice for the next civ.

Also, I think it’s neat that there are already some of the New 7 Wonders in the game. And by New 7 Wonders, I mean the ones that were apparently voted on in 2007. Out of the missing 5, I think three are possible for us to get in the future and two definitely aren’t. Firstly, the Colosseum of Rome could make an appearance. Now, I highly doubt that the Romans would ever be added since many of their gods are copies of the Greeks and also because the Atlanteans already borrow Roman elements in their culture. So, I could see a Colosseum-like building used as a wonder for a future Atlantean god pack. Additionally, Machu Picchu was a citadel for the Inca civilization, so if we ever get the Incas added as a civ, then I definitely think Machu Picchu could be a wonder for them. Considering that they did Japan immediately after China, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they could do Inca next instead of Babylon. Finally, I think the ancient Jordanian city of Petra could be used as a wonder, or more specifically the Al-Khazneh treasury. That treasury is called the “treasury of the pharaoh” because there’s a legend that the Egyptian pharaoh during Exodus survived the closing of the Red Sea, created the Al-Khazneh with magic to store his riches, and then continued in his pursuit of the Israelites. Additionally, all of the buildings of Petra were built with a blend of both Greek and Mesopotamian architecture. Therefore, the Al-Khazneh treasury has loose ties to both Egypt and Babylon, so it could be used as a wonder for an Egyptian god pack or for a new Babylon civ.

On the other hand, I’m pretty sure the final two New Wonders will not make it into the game. Firstly, there’s Christ the Redeemer and I don’t think they’ll ever touch the Abrahamic religions. Secondly, there’s the Taj Mahal and I think it’s very unlikely they’ll cover Hinduism since it’s still popularly practiced in India.

But even if we never get all of the New 7 Wonders, at least there’s a big possibility that we could essentially get all of the original 7 Wonders!

Disclaimer: I know nothing about balancing a video game, so it’s entirely likely that some of my ideas are overpowered or underpowered. I simply tried to come up with concepts that were interesting to me and seemed fresh mechanically. Also, I purposefully have not looked at any other posts that gave their own ideas of an Egyptian god pack, so any similarity is probably because there are barely any Egyptian mythological creatures left to choose from lol. Finally, please note that I did not include all of the major god benefits in these pictures because I just wanted to provide the gist of what they would be like.

As the title says, I came up with two ideas for an Egyptian major god pack. The first is for Amun and the second for Tefnut. The reason I picked those is to fulfill two different groups of gods.

Amun is a part of the Theban Triad, which was the family of gods worshipped in Thebes. This included Amun, his wife Mut, and his son Khonsu. Additionally, Hathor, Ma’at, Sekhmet, and Bast are all sisters of Mut, so all of the options are family. I created two versions of Amun because I couldn’t decide whether to include Mut or Ma’at for the mythic age.

Tefnut is a part of the Ennead, which was the family of gods born from Atum and worshipped in Heliopolis. Tefnut and Shu were born from Atum and they gave birth to Geb and Nut, who then gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Also, Bast is the sister of Shu and Tefnut (and also the daughter of Isis, which means she’s her own grand aunt??), so all of the options for this version stays within the family as well.

As for the Wonder for Amun/Tefnut, I felt like the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut would be perfect since it has a shrine to Hathor and a shrine to Amun. Also, it looks pretty neat with all of the pillars.

Anyways, here are my explanations for some of the god powers and myth units I included:

Amun’s major god benefits: My intention for the obelisks is that the player would need to spread out their obelisks across the map to get the extra favor (kind of like the Chinese favored land, where buildings are spread out, but still connected).

Moonbeam: I don’t know if empowering 100% is too powerful, but I want to provide a god power that can help if your pharaoh is dead or preoccupied. Additionally, it’s versatile since it provides a bit of defense if you’re in a pinch. The reason I chose to not include lykaons, shezmu, and tztzimitl in the damage is because they’re related in some way to the moon/stars, so I figured they’d have a natural resistance to it.

Shezmu: They’re based off of the god of the same name (so like how an anubite is a mini-Anubis). The oldest record of Khonsu mentions that he was a part of a group of demons (which Shezmu was also a part of) who were helpers in the Underworld. They were placed in the sky and were messengers of death. Shezmu was a god of blood, hence why the shezmu myth unit gets health from blood (they have lifesteal). I wanted to add a mechanic to this creature where they can regain health by standing on and absorbing pools of blood on the ground, but I wasn’t sure how to make that work for players that don’t have the Blood & Bones pack.

Flight: I figured making melee units unable to attack would make this more balanced. However, I suppose you could just target a group of ranged units to have a big air assault.

Fates of Seven/Seven Hathors: This is based off of some stories where Hathor took the form of seven human women that gave prophecies. It’s not clear if the Hathors in those stories are actually the same as THE Hathor, but I thought it was neat regardless. I’ve really enjoyed the god incarnate units from the Aztecs, so I wanted to have another unit that was a god coming down to earth. My other option for a Hathor myth unit was the apis bull, which could fight and also could be harvested for food like a cow, but I thought the Hathor incarnate idea was more interesting. I wasn’t sure whether it would be underpowered to limit this myth unit to seven at a time (which would be more thematic) or overpowered to not limit the number (I guess it depends on how big the auras of protection are and how much it reduces damages).

Monument to Motherhood: I thought it was a neat idea to add in a sixth monument, especially because it ties into Amun’s favor generation ability with obelisks, but I don’t know if this might be too op to give Egyptians this much favor generation compared to other civs. That’s why I included the idea of converting laborers to play more into Amun’s economy focus. That way if the favor generation part of this god power needs to be removed for balancing, there’s still the other benefit.

Serpopard: My reasoning for giving Mut this unit is because Mut apparently took on leonine traits at one point when she became associated with the “Eye of Ra.” It’s a stretch… but so is the serpopard’s neck.

Feather of Truth: I really am unsure of the balancing for this one. I kind of wanted to provide a pseudo-Ceasefire, but without stalling things by preventing combat or without slowing down construction. I figured it would allow the Amun player to have some safety for continuing to grow their economy, but at the same time allowing them to still fight and expand their territory. When it says enemy units flee, it means they have to run to the nearest spot outside of the line of sight for any of your buildings. If they can’t get out of line of sight (such as if there’s a river in the way), then they just stand there, but can still fight and defend themselves. My main reason for including this power was because I thought it would synergize well with Amun’s incentives to be spreading obelisks across the map.

Jinn: I know that jinn aren’t from Egyptian mythology, but then again, neither are rocs, leviathans, and phoenixes (sort of, they did originate in Greek mythology). I really wanted to include jinn because I don’t think we’ll ever get an Arabian civ and I absolutely love genies as a myth unit concept. I thought the shapechanging ability would be neat because you could hide your genies as laborers, and then surprise an enemy when they think a town center is unguarded. I also thought jinn could be used as spies by copying an enemy unit and then hiding in their territory. Additionally, since in legends they have magic and can grant wishes, I figured being able to empower like Ra priests would be a good representation of this.

Tefnut’s major god benefits: I honestly don’t know if this is underpowered or overpowered. I suppose dealing consistent damage is just the inverse of the healing aura that Isis grants, but I still don’t know how this would go over. I was kind of inspired by attrition damage from Rise of Nations. As for the Pharaohs being respawned instantly, I’m curious if there’s a way to cheese this….

Parthenogenesis: The reason I gave Tefnut this god power is because Tefnut herself was born from parthenogenesis (either from Atum’s saliva or snot). However, I don’t know if this god power could be balanced (it seems overpowered to me). I had it copy Nüwa’s Creation power, which creates more clay peasants in later ages, but I tried to balance it by having the copies add up to the hp of the original unit that’s being copied. That way they’ll die after the same amount of damage as the original, but they can deal more damage while they’re still alive. I figured this worked as a first age god power because it doesn’t steal the unit that’s being copied, unlike Traitor.

Nightfall: It works similar to the Aztec’s smoke trap, but it’s amplified. Instead of just doing a line of sight and movement debuff, it basically stuns the units (or buildings) until the darkness disappears. It could be used to stall a raiding army or to cripple an enemy when raiding them.

Indestructible Ones: This is the first of two myth units I included that are completely made up. That being said, I still based it on actual mythology. The Indestructibles is what the Egyptians named the two bright stars that used to circle the North Pole 4,500 years ago (since then the stars have shifted in the sky and Polaris is now over the North Pole). Additionally, Egyptians used to believe that the area of the sky above the North Pole where these two stars were was a portal for deceased pharaohs that led to the afterlife. Therefore, I figured that those deceased pharaohs could be called back to earth through that portal to fight. So, they’re called Indestructible Ones because they came from The Indestructibles. I figured these undead pharaohs would not have physical bodies (their Khet), but instead be in their spiritual bodies (their Sah). Hence, they look like shadows with constellations on them, referencing the sky where they came from.

Mirage: My idea here was that the illusory copies would look and act like real units, but if watched you’ll realize they aren’t doing anything. For example, an illusory laborer could do the action of chopping a tree, but they wouldn’t actually gather wood. An illusory pharaoh could act like it’s empowering a building, but none of the empowering effects would occur. During battle, the enemy player might notice that a fight is going on longer than it should because their units are neither dealing damage or taking damage. When I made this god power, I was inspired by the Create Decoys ability that generals have in Rise of Nations.

Sand Giant: This is the second unit that is completely made up, but I didn’t make the design. This unit is actually something that was developed for the original game and was scrapped. I thought it was neat-looking, so I wanted to include it. I based its power off of Aegir’s Grasp of Ran technology.

Sandstorm: This ability is 100% based on the Mummy. Lol I also thought it would be neat to be able to control the god power a little and aim for specific buildings or creatures, since most natural disaster god powers just do their thing without much player input besides simply choosing where it starts or where to aim. This god power would last longer and move slower, allowing for the player to turn it.

Aker lion: This is based off the god Aker, who is depicted as two lions guarding the sun. I gave these myth units to Shu because along with being the god of light, he is also the god of lions. I imagined that their ability would be a mix of the Aztec smoke trap and the Nightfall god power. It doesn’t go as far as completely stunning the enemies, but it does go further than just debuffing their line of sight and movement.

Edit: I realized there could be an issue with people killing their Tefnut pharaohs repeatedly and getting infinite Indestructible Ones, so I think it should be reworked so that if you delete your pharaoh it respawns at the normal rate rather than immediately and an Indestructible One isn't created if you delete the pharaoh. Maybe there could also be a timer on when another Indestructible One can be created. Additionally, I forgot to mention that I didn't think Indestructible Ones should be able to empower as I thought might be too powerful for a classical age myth unit. Finally, in the case of Parthenogenesis being used on a pharaoh, I don't think that a pharaoh should respawn immediately until after all pharaohs have died (unless you have the New Kingdom tech, in which case a new pharaoh respawns immediately after you only have one pharaoh left).

I was fighting a titan and it took me a while to get it down to about half health (maybe a third). Then, the moment I summon Huitzilopochtli, he takes the titan out ridiculously fast. I wish we could summon them more than once! Maybe it could work like the titan gate, where once you get into the wonder age you can summon another incarnate every ten minutes.