Expanded Mod

The Expanded Mod for Age of Mythology (originally known as Improvement Mod, and at one point AoM++) is a major content and overhaul modification that was originally released in 2015 for Age of Mythology: The Titans, and an open beta release for Age of Mythology: Extended Edition in 2019.

Background[]

Work on Improvement Mod was started on in December 2013, when XLightningStormL experienced issues with the AI from MasterFoozle's SPQR mod, and experimented with getting the AI to advance. Eventually within a couple of months, the Improvement Mod had a small issue of new technologies and units, mostly ported from Age of Empires. By January 2015, the first public release of Improvement Mod was released.

Eventually in mid-late 2015 for the release of v1.2b, Improvement Mod was renamed to Expanded Mod, due to the "lack of improvements, and the focus on too much expansion" as well as to separate it from the mod of the same name for Age of Empires III.

Steam-wise, Expanded Mod was originally ported and posted on Moddb in December 2015. However, it did not receive any updates or official release unto the Steam Workshop due to file size issues. However, development for a Steam version proper began in March 2017, with a Facebook post announcing that the Titans version was most likely going to be retired. In July 2019, the Expanded Mod finally released in an Open Beta state on the Steam Workshop for the Extended Edition, and is updated consistently bringing in new updates.

Much of Expanded Mod's content is inspired by the early development version of Age of Mythology (including much cut content features), Age of Empires, Age of Empires: Online and Age of Empires II.

Units[]

Improvement mod adds a large variety of units, boasting an impressive 105+ new RM units, with another several dozen Scenario Editor units. Units range from: Phalanxes, Griffons, Generals, Varangian Guards, and Medjay Agema to name a few of some 105+ trainable units.

Beta units[]

Griffon (Greek)
General (Greek)
Phalanx (Greek)

New units[]

Chalkaspides (Greek)
Pitati Archer (Egyptian)
Medjay Agema (Egyptian)
Varangian Guard (Norse)
Nordic Halberdier (Norse)

Features[]

Complete overhaul of population mechanics (most unmounted human units now fill one population, cavalry two, etc) with an increased 600 population on the Extended Edition version.
More emphasis on historical accuracy, human units no longer follow the bronze - silver - gold format when upgraded, but copper/leather - bronze - iron instead.
Hundreds of new units and buildings, Over 100 playable in random maps, with another extra 30-60 for scenarios. Many of the new units are also based upon historical units such as Chalkaspides, Egyptian Pitati Archers, and Nordic Halberdiers.
Several new Gaia units including Fish, Ostriches, Snowy Owls, and Fir Trees.
Over 100 new technologies such as Hand Cart, Alchemy, Divine Law and Trapping.
Three new Minor Gods: Sobek replacing Horus for Set and Frigg replacing Tyr for Odin, and Persephone replacing Hephaestus for Hades.
Re-integration and addition of pre-release content (such as Chariots, Shrines, and Apeps)
Several dozen community RMS maps are included, and modified exclusively for the mod.
Ability to create herdables after researching herdable-related technologies.
Homebrew balance changes based on information found on various Forums, the AoM Reddit and RTS Sanctuary. For example: weaker minor gods are tweaked, gain new technologies or units, all major gods get unique human units, etc.
Expanded Ambience and Aesthetic changes, such as trees swaying, crowd sound effects for Markets, farm variations, expanded ambience and much more.

Gallery[]

External links[]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/age-of-mythology-expanded-mod (Both The Titans and the Extended Edition)
https://www.facebook.com/aomimprove/?fref=ts
http://aom.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=11038 (The Titans)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1805606514 (Extended Edition)