18 Vils Fast Chickens Dark Age

This build is built around Chicken Arabia, and works on any game on that map. It's especially handy for dodging an early drush, since it gives you a consistent, safe start no matter what your opponent tries. The idea is simple: nail a good, repeatable Dark Age using your chickens, then bolt on whatever Feudal Age strategy you want afterward. Almost any Feudal Age plan works from this opening, though a Man-at-Arms rush needs a touch more wood sent early. The one thing this build doesn't support well is a reliable Dark Age drush, though a Feudal Age drush still works fine from here. Think of this as your Dark Age foundation: lock it in, then layer your real strategy on top.

  1. [Dark] Send 5 villagers to sheep (pop 5)
  2. [Dark] 3 to make mill on chickens (shift queue the vils on each chicken for maximum efficiency) (pop 8)
  3. [Dark] Send 1 villager to sheep (pop 9)
  4. [Dark] Send 1 villager to boar (pop 10)
  5. [Dark] 1 to make a house then go to straggler trees (pop 11)
  6. [Dark] 3 more to straggler trees (pop 14)
  7. [Dark] Send 1 villager to boar (pop 15)
  8. [Dark] Make a lumber camp with the 4 straggler trees
  9. [Dark] 3 more to hunt under tc (pop 18)
  10. [Dark] Research loom
  11. [Dark] Research Feudal Age (perfect landing time: 8:50)
  12. [Feudal] NOTE: If doing man at arms or feudal drush, add one more vil to the lumber camp right when you make it (5 total) and then go up 1 vil later (at 19 villagers)

What next: That wraps up the Dark Age portion, from here you can pivot into pretty much any Feudal Age plan. NOTE: aim for 6 villagers on berries once you reach Feudal Age, not 4, since 4 won't leave you enough wood income to seed farms afterward. Exactly when you build the mill and send those 6 villagers depends on which strategy you're heading into, but 6 on berries is the target either way. Going Scouts: follow the standard post-Dark-Age Scout build — send villagers from hunt to wood, then get a house followed by a Barracks. Going Archers: follow the standard post-Dark-Age Archer build — send villagers from hunt to wood, then set up a mining camp on gold. Going Man-at-Arms: age up at 19 villagers, and get your Barracks and a house up as soon as you can afford them, you'll also need a mining camp with 2 villagers on gold. Going a Feudal Age drush, it's the same idea as the Man-at-Arms plan. Whichever strategy you pick from there, it plays out as a normal game — but you've gotten full value from your chickens, and you'll clear them early in Feudal Age, letting you shift those villagers onto berries without needing to defend them any longer.

All AoE2 build orders · Analyze your replay free