Choosing Gaia
If you want to be ‘different’ that everyone else, then Gaia is the way to go. She is by far the least played Atlantean civilisation.
She is essentially a defensive civilisation. So if you like Hades defending and Zues’s booming, then she is a nice Atlantean choice for you.
Gaia’s bonuses
Special Bonus:
All buildings are surrounded by Lush Terrain.
Lush terrain can not be built on by enemies.
Bonuses:
Buildings regenerate hitpoints
Fishing ships, Caravans more hitpoints & cheaper
Economic bonuses cheaper
God Power: Gaia’s Forest. Generates a forest, of which you can harvest from and use as a wall. This power is similar to the Dwarven Mine. Also, you can use Gaia’s Forest numerous times in a game.
Technology: Channels Ability. +20% Villager Speed
As most of you would already know, gaia gold is a defensive civilisation and her special units are her villagers. Now IMO this makes her harder to play because her military bonus is more indirect than other civilisations. E.G. Kronos specialises in Siege and Myth, well his bonuses are farely direct as you get a discount on these units. However with Gaia, you need to utilise her economic bonuses so that you are constantly ‘ahead’ of your opponent and so you will eventually out-econ, out-number your opponent.
So what does this mean? In order to get a military advantage out of her, you must master her economy. I play gaia gold in team games and I often find myself ALWAYS with extra resources and I can constantly be getting upgrades. To be honest, I thin she is better in team games and maybe not the nest choice if you just want to constantly win in 1v1. But she is interesting and different, so of you’re ever bored of Oranos or Zues, try Gaia!
Lets start from the beginning.
The Archaic Age
Firstly important to judge your enemy. E.g. don’t risk a late advance if you can see you are up against an aggressive Loki rusher. If you see you are against Egyptian/Hades (generally defensive civs) then GO FOR THE LATER ADVANCE. IT IS ALWAYS WORTH IT.
In archaic, you should:
-Use her forest GP. It’s a great economic and defensive GP, it’s not worth using all four on an organic wall. Use 2 just near your TC (not too close of you know that forest fire will be coming) and 2 around your most forward towers. A forest protected tower will always serve you well. Don’t go to other forests until you’ve chopped down your 2 forests near your TC. If you’ve taken the battle out of your own base, then you may be able to cut down your tower defending forests. But by the time you exhaust your 2 forests near your TC, the regular forests will do you fine, provided you have the wood cutting upgrades.