Age of Mythology Retold Fundamentals Series: Economy Basics

Objective

• Transition from zero experience in competitive RTS multiplayer to above-average skill.
• Focus on managing the economy effectively.

Importance of Economy in RTS

• Key Principle: "More stuff beats less stuff most of the time."
  • Better economic management leads to more units and advantages in battles.
  • Example: If the Blue player manages economy better, they have more surviving units post-battle, creating a snowball effect.

Steps to Manage Economy

Step 1: Constant Villager Production

• Continuously create villagers to grow the economy.
• Enable automatic villager training settings for efficiency.
  • Use Alt-Q to toggle automatic training.

Step 2: Efficient Use of Drop Sites

• Place drop sites close to resources to minimize travel time.
• Prioritize food sources: Huntables > Herdables & Chickens > Berries & Farms.
• Move drop sites as resources are depleted (e.g., after chopping trees).

Step 3: Mathematical Thinking

• Approach economy with a strategic mindset.
  • Example: Villager production cost vs. time: Costs 50 food, gathers 1 food/second.
  • Payback period for a villager: 50 seconds of hunting, post which is net gain.
• Calculate costs and income for optimal resource allocation.

Classical Age Transition

• Build essential structures with minimal resource allocation:
  • Temple (150 wood, 150 gold), Storehouses (wood/gold), House.
• Allocate villagers strategically to resources.
  • Example: First villager to gold, then wood.
  • Shift surplus resources to food for classical age upgrade.

Example Calculation

• Post-classical age: Manage wood and hero training.
  • Requires 200 wood in a minute for buildings.
  • Maintain 3.33 wood/second from villagers.
  • Allocate 5 villagers to wood for buffer.

Interactive Calculation

• Villager allocation for constant training of units (Hippeus & Hoplite).
  • Hoplites: 50 food, 40 gold, 12-second training.
  • Hippeus: 40 food, 80 gold, 12-second training.
  • Calculate based on food and gold rates.

Step 4: Avoid Being Housed

• Build houses before reaching the population cap.
  • Early game: Build one at a time as needed.
  • Later stages: Build multiple simultaneously to handle unit production spikes.

Step 5: Scale Resource Production

• Increase production buildings as your economy supports it.
• Adjust villager distribution based on unit types trained (e.g., archers need more wood).
• Expand town and village centers for villager growth and income increase.
• Economic upgrades should be timed based on current needs and villager count.

Strategic Decisions and Intuition

• Determine focus between economy and military based on game situation.
• Building intuition requires practice and adapting to dynamic game scenarios.

Conclusion

• A foundation of economic management fundamentals is crucial.
• More guides available for continued learning.
• Engage with content for updates and further guidance.