This post is inspired by the making of AOM Retold and the developers' welcome attention to this treasure of a game. I have been passionately playing Age of Mythology since 2004 on and off, and in the 5 years I have paid particular attention to myth units, in Editor, Random Maps, and pro matches. Sometimes I only track the myth units in skirmishes and fights to see what they do versus what actually happens to them, especially in the hands of pro players. As it has stood for as many patches as I remember knowing about in the last 10 years; Age of Mythology is categorically designed against Myth Units in a way that undermines its mythological aspect, visual consistency, and internal logic, and constrains unit diversity for no good reason. Too often, the game ends up being armies of humans and siege units in a way that is not only unfair to a whole category of units in-game, but also to all the work put into them during development.

There have been other posts in the recent past regarding the weakness of Myth Units, such as:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AgeofMythology/comments/1fw57h3/are_myth_units_too_easily_countered/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AgeofMythology/comments/1lgz08u/just_me_or_do_heroes_do_too_much_damage_to_myth/

Contributing factors to their weakness in depth

Myth Units are balanced and countered not only from one angle, but multiple:

1. They are more expensive than human units, mainly by way of Favor. Favor has to be invested in with other resources, whether that is in the Classical-Heroic, or a late game investment. Also, Favor for most factions other than Norse cannot be as singularly maximized quickly as with other resources, like redirecting 20 workers from Wood to Food. Except for the Greeks who should have good reason to invest so many Villagers into Favor; which, with the weakness of Myth Units, is a path more often ruled out. Finally, recast God Powers compete with Myth Units for Favor, further deciding against building them in the first place. If the game only stuck to this path of balancing Myth Units, they would still be balanced in small numbers, because human units already kill them fairly easily in economically proportionate numbers. For example, Scorpion Men can be killed reasonably quickly by a group of generalist ranged human soldiers like Chariot Archers and Arci. Correspondingly, Behemoths can be intercepted and brought down by melee human soldiers due to their low Hack Armor. Also, Myth Units can counter other Myth Units through their bonus damage, making the presence of Heroes a further unnecessary penalty for Myth Units. On the other hand, Heroes are cheaper and are either uncounterable through bonus damage (unique Heroes), or counterable with less extreme bonuses (spammable Heroes).

2. Heroes do (too) much damage to them. Compounded by the above, the entry of even small numbers of Heroes into the scene of multiple enemy Myth Units (a more expensive investment), serves to negate the Myth Units. Heroes kill Myth Units in a way that seems less like a rock paper scissors and more like eradication. With the introduction of the Snare mechanic, Myth Units cannot even run from Heroes as easily. I would say the scaling of Myth Units per Age is counteracted by the Snare mechanic, as when they are chased down and hit by Heroes, they take too much damage for their scaled HP to count. And their damage takes us to the next point.

3. Many or most Myth Units, while having good impact with their special abilities, do not actually have such high hack and pierce attacks as to justify their cost, and more importantly, the ease with which Heroes kill them. Some Myth Units have good enough damage to be acceptable, such as the Qinglong, Taotie, and multi-headed Hydras. Others, like the Minotaur with its relatively tiny hack damage, the Scorpion Man, Anubite, Einheri, Nemean Lion, and others, do not inflict nearly as much damage prior to their subsequent eradication by the ever-present Heroes. If Heroes did not exist in the state they do in the game, Myth Units' attacks would be more easily explainable. But often, while the Heroes are attacking them, the Myth Units are not doing enough to justify their presence, even taking their special abilities into account. The Scorpion Man, for example, does not even do much with his special ability before inevitably being hunted down.

More importantly here is the game does not allow Myth Units to do full damage to Heroes. The ubiquity of Heroes in every army, even ones that are not expecting many more enemy Myth Units, makes it even more difficult for Myth Units to have an impact. Many times, they end up attacking Heroes to whom they do nearly no damage. In a smaller scaled RTS like Warcraft 3, this would be less of a problem, as heavy micromanagement is enabled by the small count of units on the field. In Age of Mythology with its pronounced macromanagement and hard counter system, other units already deserve micromanagement. Katapeltes would die too fast to Axemen if not positioned well, for example. On top of this, Myth Units are often larger and have distinct profiles, unlike the human-sized Heroes who simply cannot be clicked on as easily as Myth Units can be during a fight. This means that the already extreme countering Heroes can be tasked on Myth Units more easily than enemy Heroes can be by your human soldiers. Likewise, Myth Units can more easily end up attacking Heroes with their negligible damage to them, unless a disproportionate amount of time is dedicated to microing the Myth Units just so they are not being useless in a fight.

4. Some Myth Units are ideally suited to be anti-Myth Units, like the Medusa, Frost Giant, and Lampades, making the prospects of building Myth Units even more punishing.

Suggestions

It would be curious to see if developers come up with creative solutions to this problem. For now though, considering that revolutionizing the game would be too off-setting to internal logics and balance and Campaign concerns the game is already build on, I have a number of easier suggestions for the game to make Myth Units (and mythological aspects) viable. Since the game is set against Myth Units not only through economy, but the presence of extreme-countering Heroes, and Myth Units' lower basic impact (against them), I find it necessary that Myth Units' be amended in a similarly multi-pronged approach rather than one. Setting aside that some Myth Units are better balanced than others and that weaker ones may need individual attention, these are my suggestions by slight order of preference:

1. (Non-Titan) Myth Units' hack and pierce damage are increased (or equivalent basic action is strengthened, such as for the Caladria), while their damage bonus from Wonders is proportionally decreased + their damage penalty versus spammable Heroes is removed or greatly reduced + Relics provide much more Favor.

This would make Myth Units more basically impactful, penalize them less against Heroes, and make them, and consequently God Powers, more available to the player that prioritizes the mythological aspect of the game. This way, the Greek and Chinese factions and Campaign balance would be less affected per their reliance on Unique Heroes. Relics are made more relevant to the game outside the realm of RNG, and Myth Unit builds actually become a viable way to play to the interested player in which microing them would be rewarding rather than a waste. Anti-Myth Unit Myth Units would also hit harder than they already are, which would apply to spammable Heroes as well as Myth Units, if the latter's spammage becomes a problem beyond making Heroes. This would also make fights involving Myth Units more volatile, with Myth Units actually able to retaliate against Heroes, but still doing so inefficiently.

2. Heroes do less damage to (non-Titan) Myth Units + Heroes are more expensive (including with Favor), making them similarly punished for spamming + Relics provide much more Favor

This is more straightforward but somewhat less satisfying, and includes the Relic buffs that I would suggest for the game in general.

Bonus point about Relics

Along with affirming the mythological aspects of Age of Mythology, Relics enrich the game and collecting them should be more rewarding I feel. I mostly refer to pro matches in which Relics are usually ignored even when they are in close proximity to Heroes picking them up. I have seen many matches where pro players would have their Heroes carrying the Relic around the map, and in an extreme example I saw one of them die next to his Temple, dropping the Relic comically next to the Temple for the remainder of the match.