The Archaic Age is the first Age in Age of Mythology. There are 9 Archaic Age gods (12 by default if playing the Gold Edition or the Extended Edition, or if the Titans is installed on the original version, and Fifteen if one installs the Tale of the Dragon expansion); this is the only age where there is a choice between more than two gods.
Requirements
The Age advancement from the Archaic Age to the Classical Age requires:
- 400 food
- Temple
- 60 seconds of research time
Gods
- Atlanteans (Only in The Titans expansion)
Buildings
All civilizations start out with a Town Center.
Standard
(Shared, not unique)
Town Center (only 1 can be built, except for the Atlanteans, who have no limit)- House
- Wall
- Dock
- Temple
Greek
Egyptians
- Granary
- Lumber Camp
- Mining Camp
- Farm
- Monument (the Egyptian buildings used to earn Favor)
Norse
- Dwarven Foundry (Only available to Thor)
Atlanteans
- Economic Guild
- Manor
- Sky Passage (Only available to Oranos)
Chinese
Units
Standard
Greek
- Villager
- Kataskopos
- Pegasus
- Jason (Hero) (Zeus)
- Ajax (Hero) (Hades)
- Theseus (Hero) (Poseidon)
- Hippocampus (Poseidon)
- Militia (Poseidon)
Egyptians
Norse
Atlanteans
Chinese
- Peasant
- Immortal
- Scout Cavalry (Not trainable until Classical Age)
Technologies
Standard
- Pickaxe
- Hand Axe
- Husbandry
- Hunting Dogs
Myth Technologies
Greek
- Olympic Parentage (Zeus)
- Lord of Horses (Poseidon)
- Vaults of Erebus (Hades)
Egyptian
- Skin of the Rhino (Ra)
- Flood of the Nile (Isıs)
- Feral (Set)
Norse
- Pig Sticker (Thor)
- Eyes in the Forest (Loki)
- Lone Wanderer (Odin)
Atlanteans
- Focus (Kronos)
- Safe Passage (Oranos)
- Channels (Gaia)
Chinese
- Domestication (Fu Xi)
- Acupuncture (Nü Wa)
- Wheelbarrow (Shennong)
Strategy
Much like the Dark Age, Stone Age and Discovery Age in other titles, the Archaic Age has not much to offer. Even worse though, the player has little to no non-hero human soldiers (The Norse are exempt from this however, with the Ulfsark).
It is best advised to focus on hunting (researching Hunting Dogs) with at least 7 villagers, and 3 villagers on Wood (Egyptians can avoid this however) and Gold. Atlanteans instead can focus 3 villagers on food, while 1 on wood and gold.
If the player has the required resources for a Temple, one should build it with 3-5 villagers (2 for Atlanteans and 3 Ulfsarks for Norse) by the time they have at least 300 food.
Once the player has at least 400 food, and a Temple, they should advance to the next age as fast as possible.
Trivia
- Throughout most of Age of Mythology's development the Archaic Age was non-existent, instead the Classical Age was intended as the first age (which also functioned as both Classical and Archaic ages) however in early-mid 2002 the ages were split, and some of the technologies and units being shifted to the Archaic Age.
Template:Ages (Age of Mythology)