Greek

Greece refers to an ancient kingdom ruled by the Ancient Greeks who are native to this region. This civilization consists of many city states such as Athens and Sparta, which were once major cultural and economic centers. They are a playable civilization in Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, and Age of Empires Online and are primarily an offensive civilization.

Age of Empires
The Greeks are represented in the first main campaign story-line, which details their expansion from out of the last Ice-age into the city-states and finally under the banner of Alexander the Great. The Greeks are primarily an offensive civilization and are best if played from Bronze Age onward since their bonuses have little to no effect if played in short early games. Despite their wide selection of elite units, they can be a problematic faction to play since they lack advanced archer support and cannot train elite cavalry to support infantry. The Greeks make up for this in having all siege weapons, ships, and elite infantry trained from the Academy. Early-game weakness is more-than-made-up-for with most technologies and Centurions, Heavy Catapults and Heliopolii available for their armies to slowly wade through the enemy ranks with.

Features

 * Academy units +30% speed


 * War ships +30% speed

Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
 * Best if played in deathmatches.
 * Can train elite units with many hit points.
 * Excellent if played offensive.
 * Effective on both land and sea maps.

Weaknesses


 * No advanced archery support.
 * Cannot train elite cavalry.
 * Not as effective if played defensively.
 * Cannot fully upgrade priests.

Age of Mythology
The Greeks are one of three (four in the Titans expansion) civilizations in Age of Mythology. It is the first civilization players' control and fight against in the game's campaign. The Greeks are very versatile and play similarly to civilizations from the main series so are the easiest to start out with. Their military for example is created the same way. Infantry from a barracks, archers from an archery range, and cavalry from the stable. Greeks also possess the strongest heroes in the game but they cannot be mass produced, with a maximum of four (five with Poseidon).

Starting Conditions
The Greeks start out with three villagers, a Town Center, and a Kataskopos. The Kataskopos is a scout unit and is useful early on, though they can be replaced by a Pegasus fairly quickly.

Heroes
The Greeks have a different Hero for each major God, gaining a new hero every time the player advances an age. Unlike the heroes of the Norse and Egyptian civilizations they are effective against human soldiers in addition to myth units but can not be mass produced.

Favor
The Greeks gather Favor like a resource. Villagers pray at Temples, with more villagers equalling a faster favor rate. This makes regulating favor simple but takes up population space that could be dedicated somewhere else.

Titan
The Greek Titan in The Titans expansion is the three headed dog Cerberus.

Age of Empires Online
The Greek civilization was the first playable civilization during the beta release of the game. The Greeks were the first developed because "the ancient Greeks are a well-known civilization, and their history includes many interesting events and personalities that will be familiar to people. In going back to this era of history, the Greeks were a natural choice."

History
The Greeks were, unlike modern Greece, a fragmented group of independent city-states that were in a state of constant civil war, only uniting to fight a common enemy (ex. Persians or Romans). Greeks were major trade and colonial powers, setting up colonies in Italy, Crete, Cyprus and Asia Minor (now modern-day Turkey. The Greeks fought mostly using large phalanxes filled with Hoplite armies, and were famous for this formation. The Greeks played a major role in the ancient world, possibly saving Europe from invasions by Persia along with contributing most of the ancient philosophy, mathematics, and other sciences known world-wide today. The Greeks resided in city states that constantly competed for power, especially between the city states of Athens and Sparta. After the Pelopennesian wars, both Athens and Sparta (greatly weakened by their conflict) were annexed by Macedon under Philip 2nd. Greek civilization would reach its peak under Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world. His empire, though, was only as strong as he was, and after he died it quickly fragmented and lost power. The Greeks were eventually defeated by the emerging Roman Empire in 146 B.C.E., and were largely assimilated into their culture.

Greek influence did not die there, however. The Romans borrowed heavily from Greece, including architecture, religious basis, and military tactics. The Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire is commonly refrred to as the Greek half of Rome.