Age of Mythology Retold: Gaia Build Order Guide (Eco Boom)

Gaia is the goddess of the earth in Age of Mythology: Retold and she excels when played with an eco boom playstyle.

Eco boom, or economical boom, is a playstyle that focuses primarily on resource gathering and production. It allows you to pump out units much faster than others, letting you win through sheer numbers! Generally, this also works best when played defensively, as well.

If this sounds like a solid playstyle for you, read on and we’ll give you a beginner-friendly build order for Gaia.

Gaia Build Order Guide (Eco Boom)

To start the eco boom build order for Gaia in Age of Mythology: Retold, you’ll want to have 1 of your first Civilians build an Economic Guild. Have this Civilian hunt for Food once they’re done building. While they build, set another Civilian to hunt for Food. In short, you should have 2 Civilians on Food and 1 Economic Guild built right away.

Once your first 3 Oracles spawn, send them in 3 different directions (known as a fork formation) to scout the map. At the same time, start researching Hand Axe and Pickaxe upgrades at the Economic Guild as early as possible.

You’ll also want to use your Gaia Forest at this point. Use it near your initial Town Center to lay down Gaia Trees, which will help you get a head start on Wood. Once you place it, train 2 Civilians and task them with gathering Wood from the Gaia Forest.

Next up, train 1 more Civilian and task them with mining at the Gold Mine. In summary, you should aim to have 2 Civilians on Food, 2 Civilians on Wood, 1 Civilian on Gold, and 3 Oracles scouting the map. Use this setup until you get 80 Wood.

Preparing to Advance

As soon as you get 80 Wood, take your Civilians from the Gold Mine and task them with building 1 Manor. Have them return to mining Gold once they’re done with construction. Train 3 more Civilians next and task them with hunting for Food as well. While managing this, make sure to move your Oracles around the map to scout more.

Once you get 5 Civilians total to hunt for Food, train 1 more Civilian. Task this last Civilian with building your Temple right away, then send them to the Gold Mine.

Now that your Temple is ready to go, you’ll want to work toward having the following Civilian spread: 5 on Food, 3 on Wood using the Gaia Forest, and 3 on Gold. Once you get 400 Food, choose to advance to the Classical Age. You can choose whichever Minor God you wish at this point, as they don’t really affect the build order for Gaia.

While advancing, make sure to lay down a second Gaia Forest. Try to place it in a way that helps you cover any potential entry points for enemy armies, if possible.

Classical Age Build Orders

At this point, there are two potential paths you could take early in the Classical Age. The first path is to stick to a single Town Center, which is a solid catch-all for every situation since it has a looser resource budget. If this is what you want, you just need to aim for the following conditions:

• 5 Civilians on Food
• 3 Civilians on Wood
• 3 Civilians on Gold
• Train 1 Extra Oracle
• Get the Shaft Mine and Bow Saw upgrades from the Economic Guild
• Build 2 Military Barracks and 1 Manor

The alternate build order path here is to instead get a Village Center as soon as you reach the Classical Age. This will allow you to get more Civilians faster as you progress, but it does have a tighter resource budget. You’ll need to be careful about Food in particular. Nonetheless, here’s what you need for this second option:

• 4 Civilians on Food
• 3 Civilians on Wood
• 4 Civilians on Gold
• Build 1 Village Center using 3 Gold Civilians and 1 Wood Civilian
• Get the Shaft Mine and Bow Saw upgrades from the Economic Guild
• Aim for 8 on Food, 4 on Wood, and 4 on Gold after construction and upgrades

Out of both of these options, we personally recommend the first one due to being easier to play. The second option is harder generally, though it does let you pump out Civilians much faster than any other civilization.

Either way, from now on you’ll need to rely on your preferences and dealing with the enemy’s behavior. As such, that concludes our build order guide aiming at an eco boom playstyle for Gaia in Age of Mythology: Retold!

If you’d rather dominate your enemies through more direct confrontation, check out our Set build order guide instead.