How to play as Thor

Thor was usually portrayed as a large, powerful man holding his mighty hammer Mjollnir with a red beard, flowing hair, hearty enjoyment of food and drink and eyes of lighting and. Despite his ferocious appearance, he was very popular as the protector of both gods and humans against the forces of evil.

Thor has always been very popular in the game as well. One of the reasons is that Thor is very versatile and you can decide whether you will focus more on economy or infantry which might confuse your opponent.

Thor focuses on dwarves and armory (infantry). He has a little bit stronger economy comparing to Loki / Odin (especially in the beggining), stronger units thanks to infantry upgrades available earlier in game than his opponents.

■ Thor's God Power
Thor's God Power is a Dwarven Mine. By invoking this power you will place a gold mine on a map. This is a very useful and often used right in the beggining of the map, placed next to the Town Center, so you don't need an Ox Cart for your gold miners. Amount of gold raises with ages.
Always use this GP, you just have to decide when. I personally use it in the beggining, if there's no gold near a Town Centre. If it is, rather use it in Heroic age, when the mine has 3000 gold, but if you need it at start (there are few maps) don't hesitate and invoke it. Also don't save it for Mythic Age, 'cause in many cases you will not even reach the MA in battles.

■ Dwarves
Unlike Odin and Loki, who start game with 2 Gatherers and Ox Cart, Thor starts with 2 dwarves and the OC. His dwarves are cheaper (60 Gold; Loki / Odin 70 Gold), and have almost the same speed of food and wood gathering as gatherers.

Although, they are not as fast as the gatherers, they are not much slower either and using them in the begging is not a bad option. (You could still find players using Dwarves Only strategy - it's not always efficient, but you could give it a try, maybe it will work for you).

(retrieved from: http://aom.heavengames.com/gameinfo/howitworks/villgatherrates)
*Dwarf / Gatherer's time to gather resource x time of gathering (in seconds) = amount of resources per selected time
f.e. (Dwarf - amount of food to gather in 50 seconds = 0,73 x 50 = 36,5 food in 50sec)

However, these rates do not include improvements. Including improvements from Ox Cart, Gatherers get faster, because dwarves are getting improvements from Loki/Odin dwarves speed rates (which are lower than Thor's), so Thor's speed bonus is most useful in the beggining while there are no improvements applied.

■ Armory
Thor's armory is available since the beggining for 75 Wood (150 Wood Odin / Loki - available since Classical age) and you should build it as soon as you can. Improvements are cheaper and gives you one extra level of upgrades.

This is very useful if you are about to attack in Classical / Heroic and it gives you an advantage of stronger units than your opponent (If you have enough resources for training/upgrades of course).

When the game starts, spawn Dwarven mine at TC (if there isn't another one close). Train 2-3 villagers and 2-3 dwarves. Those 2 dwarves you have from the beggining can be used both on Food or 1-1: Food - Gold, your choice. Once again, don't be afraid of using dwarves on Food, they are almost as quick as Gatherers (check Introduction - Gatherers vs. Dwarves resource rating time).

When gathering food, prefer hunting if you can. Killing a wild animal gives you 1 favor, which could be used for Thor's Wild Dogs bonus (food gathered faster from hunted animals - Ox Cart). Train more gatherers and slowly raise your population up to 20 - 22. You should reach Classical at 5 - 6th minute. Don't try to be quick, trying to save some food instead of having enough villagers (you will regret it later). Before advancing you should have around 10-12 food gatherers, 5-6 dwarves on gold and 5-6 wood gatherers.

Don't forget your Ulfsark, you have to scout an area nearby, and also check where your opponent is, where his resources are. You also have to build one house and temple so don't lose sight of your Ulfsark and keep him close.

If you are playing water map, you should consider building a dock and train fishing ships in the beggining. There are 2 choices:

If you can't find more fishing spots nearby or you have enough food on land nearby, go 1 Dock and food on land. In the beggining send both dwarves to gather food and build 3-4 villagers to chop wood and then 2-3 dwarves (1 gold, 2 food), use Thor's gold mine GP and place it near Town center and train 1-2 more gatherers on wood, 2-3 dwarves on gold. When you have enough food, send dwarves from food to gold and train 1-2 more villagers on food. Before entrering the Classical age you might have 2-3 fishings boats, 7-8 food gatherers, 4-5 wood gatherers and 4-6 dwarves on gold. Also don't forget your Ulfsark to scout area and but keep him around for dock and at least one house to increase population, because your population will cross 15. Build a temple and advance to the Classical Age. With 2 docks you need a lot of wood, so you will need at least 5-6 gatherers on wood to train enough fishing boats and have enough food. In the beggining use Thor's gold mine GP and send both dwarves on gold. Build 5 gatherers on wood and build a dock. Get 2-4 more dwarves on gold and 2-3 gatherers on wood. Build houses and a temple, advance to the Classical Age.

Once again, you should reach the Classical Age in around the 5-6th minute, don't try to rush without working economy.

Forseti

has GP Healing Spring, which can heal your and ally units. Very useful, healing rate 2.5HP / second. You just have to place it well.
Myth unit Troll is a useful ranged unit. Might be useful because Vikings have only Throwing Axemen with a very short range. In combo with infantry Trolls are pretty powerful, effective in group of at least 4, when they can easily kill opponent's infantry, plus they aren't too expensive and their HP regenerates. Hamarrtroll upgrade makes them stronger.
Mythril Breastplate makes your Ulfsarks stronger against sword attackers. Great one late game.
Hall of Thanes improves HP and speed of Hersirs. Not very useful for Thor. Hersirs are not Thor's first choice, use it late game when enough resources or when using too many Hersirs on opponents MU.

Freyja

and her GP Forest Fire burns down the trees / forest and a fire damages buildings. Very effective is to burn down a "safe" forest of your opponent so he has to chop wood further from his TC (great against Greeks and RA). In combination with early raids against villagers, you can make early advantage quickly.
MU Valkyrie is a great cavalry unit, heals units. As a MU she doesn't take that much damage from counter-cavalry units and she is not that expensive.
Aurora Borealis makes Valkyries stronger and let them heal units faster.
Thundering Hooves makes all cavalry units (including Valkyrie) faster. Great upgrade, especially for Jarls.

Who to choose?

Playing as Thor it's really a good thing to do early raids to slow down your opponent's economy and getting some favor. (check Last tips section) Freyja makes it easier with her very decent MU and cavalry upgrades. Also if your opponent is about to spam archers a lot (mostly Hades, Set) go Freyja.

Forseti focuses on upgrading Ulfsarks and Trolls are pretty powerful against any infantry with their pierce damage. Go Forseti if your opponent spams cavalry (mostly Odin, Poseidon) or if you are not sure whether your opponent doesn't want attack you early. Also with Forseti it is easier to advance to the Heroic age quicker, with Freyja you will spend more time in the Classical because of early raids you should attempt.

Skadi

has really interesting GP Frost, which might be used in many different situations (can be counterattacked with Hermes's GP Ceasefire). Useful in many situations (partly freeze opponent's army and take out the rest, freeze his whole army and damage his town or use it for defense...)
MU Frost Giant, tank unit, high HP and armor, but takes 5 population and lot of gold and favor from you, which could be used better. Rime upgrade makes him stronger.
Winter harvest makes your farmers 20% faster (with less animals nearby it's a perfect upgrade, one of 2 economy upgrades Norse have,).
Huntress axe makes your Throwing Axemen stronger. Great upgrades when using TA a lot, plus the extra armory upgrade makes Thor's axemen strongest among Norse.

Bragi

GP Flaming weapons gives an attack bonus to your human soldiers, and if not counterattacked (Ceasefire, Frost), it is really useful, don't use it in the beggining of the battle, wait for it. Use it in battles in which you don't have a clear advantage.
MU Golden Boar is not a bad one, it's fast, strong with powerful special attack (kicking nearby away units), but costs a lot of gold and favor.
Thurisaz Rune makes all your myth units moving faster.
Swine array gives Ulfsarks bonus damage against cavalry. This upgrade is almost a game-breaker if opponents like Poseidon spam a lot of cavalry (skilled players will not do that).
Call of Valhalla makes Ulfarks stronger against infantry. Helps fragile Ulfsarks to get stronger. Focus on Swine array first anyway.

Who to choose?

Bragi's upgrades are really interesting for your Ulfsarks. If your opponent uses cavalry a lot, not paying attention to your Ulfsark upgrades, you will slaughter him. Battle boar is also a great MU against infantry with its great HP and special attack and Fire weapons might help you in a big fight.

Choose Skadi if you are focusing more on economy (Winter harvest is really powerful upgrade) and when dealing with infantry based opponents, so you need stronger Axemen (Huntress axe). GP Frost is a nice power, useful in different situations.

Baldr

GP Ragnarok will transform all your Gatherers and Dwarves into Heroes of Ragnarok. Double edged sword, (use at max population), with instant 30-40+ warriors you can either make a perfect attack or get yourself killed by losing all villagers and ineffective use of your giant army.
MU Fire Giant is strong against everyone, including buildings, but once again 5 population, a lot of gold and favor. On the other hand, even one can make your army pretty strong. Despite the price, don't be afraid to use these, especially when attacking.
Sons of Sleipnir gives Raiding Cavalry bonus damage against Archers. Good one against other Norse, however against others, Huskars are more effective than cavalry against archers and also buildings. If you're going for it, combine it with Freyja's upgrade.
Arctic gale gives Longboats armor bonus.
Dwarven Auger is a bonus for artillery. Maybe the best Baldr has to offer. Portable rams trained quicker and fast almost as regular infantry, plus the damage bonus against buildings, these guys can take down your opponents buildings very quickly.

Tyr

gives you GP Fimbulwinter, spawning a wolfpack near enemy town centres. Drawback is that Mythic age is kinda too late to do some serious damage to your enemies and their economy. However it can be useful when you get your opponent into battle and also spawn this GP, so he gets into a trouble thinking if battle you or take care of his economy.
MU Fenris Wolf might be a poor Mythic Age unit (comparing to other Mythic Age units). But if you get a wolfpack of at least 6, 7 of them, their attack raises and you can get some deadly power. They are not very expensive MU, so spamming some solid wolfpack shouldn't be tough, but keep in mind they will catch attention of your opponent on the battlefield.
Jormund Elver is naval MU - strong against Arrow, hammer ships (good for dock protection).
Bravery gives bonus to Huskarls against Buildings. Great one, which makes Huskars even better against buildings and also the archers. Maybe avoid it when playing against Norse where you should use Cavalry and not Huskarls against Axemen.
Bersekergang once again improves Ulfsarks, this time their attack and hitpoints. If you previously chosed Forsetti and Bragi, this one strenghtens Ulfsarks even more and makes them one of the most effective cheap units ingame.

Who to choose?

It depends on your previous choices. If you chose Forsetti/Bragi, take Tyr for the Berserkergang.

If you chose Freyja, Baldr is a good option because he further improves cavalry. If your opponent has a strong defense, Baldr is a good choice for Dwarven auger and the Fire giant.

My usual choice is Tyr, upgrades are generally less specialized, and Fenris wolves are cheap (easy to spam) and very powerful when at least 6-7 of them.

■ Minor Gods
You should try all the minor gods and their upgrades in different combos. I just recommend you to focus more on their infantry and economical upgrades than myth units when playing online. In singleplayer, it doesn't matter that much and you can choose them, f.e. by the myth units you like.

■ Favor
As you probably know, Norse gain their favor primarily by battling. This means that if you want to outplay your opponents by using your special upgrades and myth units, you have to be aggressive to earn some serious favor. You can also use Hersirs, but the favor gain is not that big and Hersirs are not very useful with Thor. This can be done by attempting frequent raids against your opponent.

■ Raiding
Don't be afraid of spending some resources on a cavalry in the Classical or Heroic Age. Raiding your enemy is always efficient, because you are taking away his precious time to gather resources. Keep in mind that succesful raiding doesn't mean highest body count possible. Of course, it's better to kill some of the escaping villagers so your opponent has to waste food on new ones, but don't get your units killed, desperately trying to kill opponent's villagers. Everytime your enemy has to stop his villagers in resource gathering and take them back to his base, you did a good job. For example, if you are able to stop his 6 gold miners for 30 seconds, he will loose more than 200 gold and that could be a pretty good advantage for you. Raiding is powerful in combination with Freyja (check Minor gods section above - Classical age gods).

■ Have your own gameplay style
Don't forget you should always have your own gameplay style, so do not completely copy this guide, rather try to take few tips and apply them to your own unique gameplay style, that's how you will enjoy playing ;)

■ Have FUN!
The most important one :)

Thanks to all of you for all the positive and negative feedback in the comments. I was able to upgrade my guide by trying a new ways and combinations to find out that you were right that I wrote some misleading information, which in the end turned out to be pretty effective ingame.

I also added few more tips, mostly in the Minor Gods section and Who to choose? conclusion below each of the minor gods to make the +/- clearer to you. Hope it's gonna help you to improve your game.

Thanks for reading.
Mickey