Favor

Standard favor counter.

Favor beyond 100, when worshiping Zeus.

Favor is a resource exclusive to Age of Mythology and is a measure of the civilization's standing with its chosen god. Favor is used to train myth units, research myth technologies and build a few buildings such as Wonders. Greeks and Atlanteans also use Favor to create hero units.

Unlike other resources, favor has a maximum resource limit. This is set at 100, or 200 for Greeks worshiping Zeus. The symbol for Favor is a lightning bolt.

Earning Favor

Each civilization has a different way of gaining the favor of their gods.

Greeks

Greeks earn favor by praying to their gods. They do this simply by sending their Villagers to a Temple. The first villager praying generates 6.0 favor per minute. The more villagers pray, the more favor is earned, though this is on a scale of diminishing returns. Most of times having more than 8 villagers praying is excessive.

The Greeks therefore gather favor like they do other resources. This method is far more flexible than the other cultures' methods, is safe, consumes no resources and can be used to get the fastest favor generation rates – if the player is willing to commit that many villagers. On the other hand, praying ties up villagers that could be used on other tasks.

Egyptians

The Egyptians honor their gods by building Monuments. Once it is built, a monument provides a continuous stream of favor for as long as it stands. Egyptians can build five monuments. They cost increasing amounts of food and gold and must be built in this order (favor generation rates are given in brackets):

Monument to the Villagers (6.0 favor per minute)
Monument to the Soldiers (4.9)
Monument to the Priests (5.1)
Monument to the Pharaohs (5.7)
Monument to the Gods (6.9)

The Egyptians must invest resources and villager time (and Laborers are notoriously slow at building) to generate favor. Once they have done so, however, they are guaranteed a steady stream of favor, unless their town is ransacked.

Norse

The Norse please their gods by proving their prowess and honor in battle. They gain favor by causing damage to all units and all buildings except Walls. Each unit and building has a set total amount of favor that it can earn, and each blow dealt by a human unit earns a fraction of this total amount.

100 - Wonder
4.75 - All buildings not listed
2.36 - House, Drop-off buildings, Farm, myth units, heroes, Sentinel.
1.44 - Strong Animals of Set
1.19 - Obelisk. Human units, Siege Weapons, Ships, various minor Myth Units.
0.53 - Weak Animals of Set, other animals, Dryad, Militia.

Norse Heroes earn double the stated amount of favor. Hersirs also generate a trickle of favor – 0.6 per minute each – just by existing. Additionally, animals are worth favor, so workers gain a small amount of favor from doing damage to them, i.e. hunting. Note that Myth units can never earn favor.

Like with the Atlanteans, earning favor for the Norse is tied to strategy. If they do not fight, it is very difficult for the Norse to gain favor. This means that an attacking strategy that starts with raiding is practically a moral imperative for Norse players. Fortunately, they are an attacking culture anyway, and the more favor-generating units there are engaging the enemy, the faster favor is generated. In a pitched battle, Norse favor soars.

Atlanteans

Atlanteans win favor by spreading their civilization and reviving the Titans' influence. Each Atlantean Town Center contributes a continuous stream of favor for as long as it stands. The first Town Center generates 5.4 favor per minute, with subsequent ones generating 6.7 favor per minute.

The Atlanteans have an advantage over other cultures in that they start the game generating favor without doing anything. However, sooner or later, this favor rate will prove inadequate and players will be obliged to expand by building more Town Centers. Since the Atlanteans are a defensive civilization, their favor generation method has strategic implications.

Chinese

The Chinese gain favor by building Gardens, but the ones by Nü Wa have faster gather rate. The more Gardens a player control, the more favor they earn. The first Garden built costs 35 food, wood and gold, the second costs 50 food, wood and gold and every garden built afterwards costs 75 food, wood and gold even if the first two built are destroyed (Fu Xi's gardens cost less wood). Nü Wa get +20% favor generation bonuses, minor god Dabo Gong tech also gives +20% generation rate for all resources, including favor. The follow list shows how much favor will be generated per minute based on the number of gardens built (in parenthesis is favor generated per second):

2.85 (0.0475 per sec)
5.70
8.85
11.40
12.25
17.10
19.95
22.80
25.65
28.50

The Gardens can gather other resources instead. However, all of them must produce the same resource - changing the resource trickle on one Garden will change the production on all Gardens.

Comparison

Greek Zeus: 6 villagers praying generates about 28 favor per minute, 10 villagers generates about 35 favor per minute.
Greek Poseidon or Hades: 6 villagers generates about 23 favor per minute, 10 villagers generates about 29 favor per minute.
Egyptians: With all 5 monuments built, Egyptians get favor at rate of 28.60 per minute.
Atlanteans: 3 Town Centers generates 18.80 favor per minute, 4 Town Centers Generates 25.50 per minute.
Chinese Nüwa: With all 10 gardens built, Dabo Gong or Hebo favor generation tech researched, favor generation is 39.90 per minute.
Chinese Fuxi or Shennong: With all 10 gardens built, Dabo Gong or Hebo favor generation tech researched, favor generation is 34.20 per minute.
Chinese non-Nüwa: With all 10 gardens built (no upg tech), favor generation is 28.50 per minute.

Monuments vs Gardens Cost Comparison

Monument 1: 6.0 favor per minute, cost: 50f 50g, build points: 20, total hp: 450
2 gardens: 5.7 favor per minute, cost: 85f 85w 85g, build points: 66, total hp: 800
Monuments 1+2: 10.9 favor per minute, cost: 150f 150g, build points: 50, total hp: 1090
4 gardens: 11.4 favor per minute, cost: 235f 235w 235g, build points: 132, total hp: 1600
Monuments 1+2+3: 16.0 favor per minute, cost: 350f 350g, build points: 100, total hp: 2050
6 gardens: 17.1 favor per minute, cost: 385f 385w 385g, build points: 198, total hp: 2400
Monuments 1+2+3+4: 21.7 favor per minute, cost: 650f 650g, build points: 160, total hp: 3650
8 gardens: 22.8 favor per minute, cost: 535f 535w 535g, build points: 264, total hp: 3200
Monuments 1+2+3+4+5: 28.6 favor per minute, cost: 1050f 1050g, build points: 240, total hp: 6050
10 gardens: 28.5 favor per minute, cost: 685f 685w 685g, build points: 330, total hp: 4000