17 Vils Japanese Man-at-Arms Rush

Plenty of civilizations can pull off a Man-at-Arms rush, but few do it as fast as the Japanese. The goal here is maximum pressure as early as possible. The first hit comes from a quick Man-at-Arms push, followed immediately by Archers with Fletching. This build is tight and leaves little room for walling or adapting on the fly, so holding the initiative matters a lot. After the initial Man-at-Arms and Archer push, wall up and move to Castle Age if you're ahead, or focus on stabilizing if you're behind. Right after luring your deer, scout efficiently to find your opponent as fast as you can, the sooner you know where they are, the better this build works.

  1. [Dark] Send 6 villagers to sheep (pop 6)
  2. [Dark] Send 2 villagers to wood (pop 8)
  3. [Dark] Send 1 villager to boar (pop 9)
  4. [Dark] Send 1 more vil to boar under TC (pop 10)
  5. [Dark] [Mandatory] Lure at least 2 deer
  6. [Dark] Send 1 vil to make house then go back to the hunt under TC (pop 11)
  7. [Dark] Next 2 vils to hunt under TC (get the second boar during this time) (pop 13)
  8. [Dark] Send 1 vil to make a barracks in the front of our base
  9. [Dark] Send 2 more vils to food under TC (pop 16)
  10. [Dark] Send 1 villager to wood (pop 17)
  11. [Dark] Research loom
  12. [Dark] Research Feudal Age (perfect landing time: 8:25) (pop 17)
  13. [Feudal] Immediately send 2 vils from hunt to gold and make a mining camp (pop 17)
  14. [Feudal] Make 3 militia then send them across the map to the enemy asap
  15. [Feudal] Send 4 vils from under TC to the initial lumber camp (pop 17)
  16. [Feudal] Make an archery range right away and start producing archers
  17. [Feudal] Research Man-at-arms. Target enemy vils with the men-at-arms + scout
  18. [Feudal] Make a blacksmith as soon as you can afford it
  19. [Feudal] Research Double-Bit Axe (may need to idle TC for 10 seconds to afford)
  20. [Feudal] Send 2 villagers to gold (pop 19)
  21. [Feudal] Send 1 vil to berries and make a mill (pop 20)
  22. [Feudal] Slowly add vils to farms/berries before sheep run out completely
  23. [Feudal] Research fletching as soon as you can afford it (Idling TC for 15-20 seconds is okay to prioritize fletching)
  24. [Feudal] Send your archers across the map and group with remaining MAA. This army can kill vils behind palisade walls + break buildings
  25. [Feudal] Keep making archers at home for defense + follow up

What next: After all that early aggression, it's a good time to start setting up some defense: Against Scouts: add a few Spears once you can afford them, and wall up. Against Archers: wall up immediately, and if they push, defend with Archers and a tower if needed. If your early aggression did real damage, feel free to wall up and hold until Castle Age once your forward army is spent. If it didn't accomplish much, you'll need to adapt and look for another win condition, since a lot was invested into that push. Once you reach Castle Age, play it like any standard Archer build and follow the same principles.

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